Salutation to the blessed Virgin is after this manner recited in the Alcoran in the next Chapter to that before named O Mary God sends thee a good Messenger by his WORD which is out of himself His Name is Messias or Jesus Christ the Son of Mary powerful in this present World and in the World to come Where the forenamed Paraphrast says he was powerful in the present World by Prophecy and in the World to come by Intercession and Celestial preparation He should have added also what he said before that he was powerful here by that which is properly called power the healing Diseases opening blind Mens eyes and such like works of wonders the Divine Majesty resting on him and abiding in him in so glorious a manner that he might properly be called the Temple of God For whatsoever demonstrations there were of Gods presence in the Tabernacle of Moses or in the Temple of Solomon which were alike filled with the glory of the Lord xl Exod. 34 35. 2 Chron. v. 13 14. the very same tokens there were of his presence in our Saviour Nay it is easie to show that he manifested himself in all his glorious Attributes more in our Saviours Person than ever he did in either of those places And it will be such an evident demonstration of the truth I am asserting and give such light to this testimony of the Holy-Ghost who appeared in that excellent Majesty which descended on him that I think it will be worth my pains to make good the Parallel in some instances I. And first you may observe that from the holy place in the Tabernacle God declared his mind and will and made known to his People what he would have done There God told Moses he would meet and commune with him of all things which he would give him in commandment to the Children of Israel xxv Exod. 22. And we are told the manner of it vii Num. 89. When he was gone into the Tabernacle he heard the voice of one speaking to him from off the Mercy seat that was upon the Ark from between the two Cherubims From thence God gave out to Moses his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle calls them iii. Rom. 2. Oracles or such words of direction and command as were necessary for the good Government and preservation of his People whose Laws Statutes and Judgments came from the holy Oracle in the Sanctuary of God This was a marvellous favour of Heaven to them though nothing comparable to the manifestation of the wisdome and counsel and will of God by our blessed Saviour Who not only revealed his Mind more clearly and abundantly thereby showing he is the Temple of God but told us such things as never came from the former holy place things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither did they enter into the heart of man to conceive He was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or WORD of GOD in this sence as well as any other because he acquaints us with Gods mind and declares to all Mankind his sacred will and as from an holy Oracle utters things secret from the foundation of the World For the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth i. Joh. 14. The word full relates to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the WORD in the beginning of the Verse the other part of the Verse being inserted between in a Parenthesis and carries this sence in it that Jesus being fully acquainted with all the gracious counsels of God concerning Men hath declared them to us and made us also acquainted with them He was so full of truth that he calls himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the truth it self xiv Joh. 6. No man hath seen God at any time the onely begotten Son he hath declared him i. 18. That is he hath made God visible to us he as an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expounder or interpreter of anothers mind hath opened to us all his secrets concerning our Salvation and thereby declared that he is no less than the Wisdom of God When he appeared in the World then Wisdome built her self an house as Solomon speaks ix Prov. 1. Which words * Orat. 3. contra Arrian Athanasius not unfitly accommodates to our Lord Christ Whose body is the house of Wisdome And a most holy house the dwelling place of God from whence he hath revealed himself not to so few as one Nation but to all the World whom if they would open their eyes he hath illuminated with his Wisdome R. Bechai I remember will have the Ark from whence Moses heard God speaking to him to be called in their Language by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as much as to say because of the light which was there Which he will have to be the Law preserved in the Ark which was the Light of Israel And just thus writes S. John concerning this WORD of God 1.4 In him was life and the life was the light of men That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World v. 9. For so Jesus proclaimed himself saying viii 12. I am the LIGHT of the World And such a Light he was that all the wisdome which was discovered before from the Sanctuary of God was but Clouds and darkness in compare with that which was made manifest by our Saviour The best knowledge they had was covered and wrapt up in types and figures till God appeared in Jesus and rent those clouds in pieces by the brightness of his beams They had but such a confused apprehension of things in former times that S. Paul compares this discovery of God in Christ to the breaking forth of light out of the rude Chaos in the beginning of the world 2 Corinth iv 6. For God who commanded light to shine out of darkness i. Gen. 2 3. hath shined in our hearts the hearts of the Apostles to give the light of the knowledge of the GLORY OF GOD in the face of Jesus Christ Some flashes of which light and majesty of God in him came from his face not long after he entred into the World When he was but a Childe they wondred at his wisdome and were astonished at his understanding and answers ii Luk. 47. But when he was grown up and the Holy Ghost came down from Heaven upon him like the Glory of the Lord which filled the Tabernacle and Temple then his Wisdome appeared the more illustriously And was the more amazing because they knew he was not trained up in the Schools of Learning nor had any better breeding than a Carpenter's shop could give him For so his Countrymen say in S. Mark vi 2 3. Is not this the Carpenter the Son of Mary How comes he by these things and what wisdome is this which is given unto him They were astonished at his Doctrine and as S. Luke tells us iv 22. Wondred at the gracious words which proceeded out of his
verily I say unto you he that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life v. Joh. 24. let us take it for as express a declaration from God the Father as if that voice which required them to hear Jesus had said You that are obedient to my Son have everlasting life and are in no danger to perish being translated from the dominion of death to be heirs of life II. And now from the consideration of the words that were spoken let us pass to the manner wherein they were delivered which is so vastly different from that wherein God spake formerly to Moses and the children of Israel from another mountain that I cannot but think it was intended to signifie something of the grace of Eternall Life which Jesus brings to us When he was transfigured and his face shone as the Sun the Evangelist tells us moreover that his raiment became glistering exceeding white as snow and that a bright cloud also overshadowed them out of which the voice before named came saying This is my beloved Son c. Which if it be compared with former divine Manifestations of the same kind we may reasonably look upon as an indication that this Person came to discover 1. something more glorious then Moses had done and 2. something that expresses more abundant love and kindness of God towards men which is nothing else but Eternall Life First I say something more glorious and resplendent or as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. iv 6. the light of the knowledge of the glory of God which we behold in the face of Jesus Christ For the Mount to which Moses went up and where he and the people heard God speak to them was all covered with clouds and thick darkness Thus God himself told him beforehand he would appear xix Exod. 9. And so he did when the day prefixed for it came vers 16 18. Unto that thick darkness Moses drew near xx 21. And the people also stood underneath the mountain beholding it burn with fire into the midst of heaven with darkness clouds and thick darkness iv Deut. 11. xix Exod. 17. All which places the Reader may be pleased to consult together with xxiv Exod. 18. where we find that Moses went into the midst of this cloud and there was covered and quite obscured from their sight A very fit emblem of the obscurity of the knowledge which they then had of God and of his will and of the terrours of the Law which was a ministration of death as the Apostle speaks and so astonished them with the thunders and lightning which came out of the cloud that they fled and stood afar off xx Exod. 18. As on the other side God appearing now to our Saviour in a quite contrary manner on the top of another Mountain where there was no black cloud though it was in the night no smoak or sulphureous vapour much less a thick darkness hiding him from his Disciples sight nothing but a bright and lightsome cloud which overshadowed them and shewed them the glory wherein he shone it was a lively representation of the light which he the Light of the world came to give to them that sate in darkness and in the shadow of death and of the glory and bliss whereof he was the Minister unto which he invited mankind in words of grace and sweetness as he did his Disciples to stay here on the mountain by those chearfull beams wherewith the glory of the Lord surrounded them For this manner of appearing as I said Secondly plainly suggests some greater manifestation of the love and kindness the goodness and bounty of Heaven to mankind then had been made before in that way of revelation to Moses which was so much different from the sweetness and amiableness of this When Moses conversed with God upon mount Sinai he descended thither in Fire as the places before mentioned tell you And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire in the eyes of the children of Israel xxiv Exod. 17. v. Deut. 22 23. But when our Blessed Lord took his Apostles with him to a sight of the Divine Glory there was onely the appearance of a wonderfull bright and chearful light some mild rays from heaven which had nothing of terrour in them but ravished them with joy to find themselves in so glorious a Presence And therefore they were not left at the foot of this high mountain as Moses left the Israelites at the bottom of the other but he brought them up with him xvii Matth. 1. And they were not put into a fright as the Israelites were who removed their station at the sight of the fire on mount Sinai nor did they shriek as their Forefathers did there who cried out saying Why should we die for this great fire will consume us if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more we shall die Speak thou with us and we will hear but let not God speak with us lest we die v. Deuter 25. xx Exod. 19. But they were ravished out of themselves with the glory of this sight which was so inviting to their eyes that they wisht for no other station but desired to remain perpetually fixed there They were so far from running away that they said Let us make here three Tabernacles as if they meant to pitch there the place of their abode and never take their eyes from so beautifull a Light It is observable also that in the dark Mountain where Moses was together with the fire and thunder and lightnings there was the noise of a Trumpet exceeding loud which made not onely all the people tremble but the whole mount quaked greatly xix Exod. 16 18. And God spake likewise to the people with a great voice v. Deut. 22. wherewith both they were so astonished as to wish never to hear it more and Moses himself also so terrible was the sight together with the noise said I exceedingly fear and quake xii Heb. 21. Whereas on the Mountain where our Lord was transfigured there was not one such frightfull flash nor the least dreadfull sound nothing but his own glistering Body the splendour of Moses and Elias the brightness of a heavenly cloud and this one sweet voice which proclaimed nothing but love and grace in their ears This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him St. Matthew indeed tells us that when the Disciples heard they fell on their faces and were sore afraid xvii 6. But this doth not signify that they were seised with any horrour at the dreadfulness of the sound but onely amazed at the suddenness of the voice and the marvellous splendour of the Light And therefore the other Evangelists do not mention any such terrour after the voice which being accompanied with a glory they had never beheld might well amaze them but did not make them tremble The very
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
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
when he had further considered of the business and was increased in strength He even confounded the Jews that were at Damascus proving that this is very Christ ix Acts 22. So mightily did he convince them that they had no Answer wherewith to encounter his Arguments but only the Sword and therefore consulted ver 23. to kill him and take him out of the way who as long as he lived they saw would be the greatest witness unto Jesus But all these dangers he undervalued he ran innumerable hazards made strange adventures and indured matchless troubles that he might give testimony to Jesus who had shown himself to him to be the Lord of all Nay though he was told at his first setting out how great things he must suffer for his Names sake ix 16. he was nothing at all dismayed nor in the least discouraged having seen the bright Majesty of Jesus so clearly that flames themselves could not make him deny it no nor cease to preach it So great was the force of this glorious appearance of our Lord to him whereby he testified his own power and greatness that when S. Paul was actually fallen into the hands of his bloudy enemies and made a prisoner in order to his execution He had nothing of greater note to alledge for himself by which to justifie his preaching Jesus to be the Son of God than this that he had seen that Just one and heard the voice of his mouth for no other end but this That he should be his witness unto all men of what he had seen and heard xxii Acts 14 15. And as this was the best plea he had when he was to make his defence in that popular tumult so it was the thing that convinced the Apostles themselves that he was become a disciple For they doubted of it at first when he came to Jerusalem and were afraid to associate themselves with him till Barnabas told them how he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus ix 27. When he came also to answer for himself before Agrippa a Prince of great understanding and well versed in the Jewish Religion still he stands upon this that He who thought himself bound in conscience to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth whose servants he procured to be imprisoned banished and put to death was met by this very Jesus in the way to Damascus when he was going with Commission to do the same there that he had done at Jerusalem saw his exceeding great and incomparable glory was severely rebuked by him for his rage against his disciples and then received a Commission from him to act in his name and to preach against the former all which was so evident that he durst not be disobedient to the Heavenly Vision but had ever since called upon both Jews and Gentiles to repent and believe in Jesus though he had been crucified for it was the Mind of all the Prophets and Moses that their Christ should suffer and then be the first that should rise from the dead and shew light to the people and to the Gentiles This is the substance of his Apology in the xxvi Acts from which place we may learn two things which are very considerable First that when our Lord appeared to S. Paul he had a great deal of discourse with him and did not say so little as only those words I am Jesus whom thou persecutest c. but added those words which follow ver 16 17 18. Rise and stand upon thy feet for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose to make thee a Minister and a Witness both of these things which thou hast seen and of those in the which I will appear unto thee delivering thee from the people and the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me The Divine writers are wont to be very brief in their Relations and to mention only the principal things which were said and done leaving out the rest which perhaps they set down upon some other occasion And secondly in these words it is observable that he tells him he must be a witness not only of the things which he had seen now in the way to Damascus but of those in which he intended to appear unto him Which clearly intimates that there were other apparitions of the Lord Jesus unto him besides this Some of them we find recorded in this History of the Acts and other parts of the holy Book And a second sight which he had of our Lord was at Jerusalem as he was praying in the Temple When he fell into an ecstasie or rapture as he relates himself presently after the mention of the former xxii Acts 17. and saw him bidding him make haste away from that City where he was not like to do any good for they would not receive his testimony concerning him This was one of the times as some great men have thought when he was carried up to Heaven 2 Cor. xii 2. And again our Lord appeared to him the night after he had been questioned by the Council bidding him be of good chear for he should bear witness of him at Rome as he had done at Jerusalem xxiii 11. And to omit that apparition to him in a night Vision xviii 9. and the revelations which it is like were made to him in Arabia presently after his conversion He was caught up again into Paradise and there had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Visions as well as Revelations of the Lord 2 Cor. xii 1. When this was it is uncertain But there are persons of great note who imagine that when the Church of Antioch laid hands on him xiii Acts 3. not to ordain him an Apostle for so he was made by Jesus Christ himself but to send him out to exercise his Apostleship towards the Gentiles to which he had particularly appointed him then our Lord vouchsafed to lift him up into Heaven and to give him new Revelations For there could be no time more fit for it than this when he was to engage in a dangerous war against the whole Idolatrous world Then he was armed with an extraordinary resolution by conversation with Angels in the other world Where he heard things unutterable and was confirmed no doubt in the belief of the glory of the Lord Jesus by whose power he was thus transported and whom it is most likely he then again saw shining as the Sun among those stars of light in that Orb to which he was carried But this he speaks of so sparingly himself that I ought to pass it over as fast as he does The First is the chiefest and greatest evidence of all which he most depended on
of God And there is none can continue in this unworthy slavery but he must lay aside these thoughts also that the WORD was made flesh and the Image of the invisible God hath taken up his abode in our Nature By this he hath called us to the greatest sanctity He remembers us what excellent Creatures we are and how Glorious he is desirous to make us And who is there that need despair of recovering himself by the grace of God though he be sunk never so much below himself now that God is come on purpose to lift him up He hath sent Salvation to us by one that is mighty to save He hath revealed himself so graciously and made such discoveries of his Love and Power and Glory to all mankind that they may confidently hope if they will not cast away all care of themselves to be restored to the image and likeness of God again But this Discourse will come in more seasonably when we have joyned the strength of the other three Witnesses to these and heard them all together some from Heaven others from Earth proclaiming this in our ears Behold the Son of God Jesus is your Lord for he is the Lord of all things And we shall be the more ready for a surrender to him when we see withall how much we are beholden to God Almighty for his marvellous inconceiveable love in calling us so many ways by so many arguments to Repentance Faith Obedience and Everlasting Salvation That which I have now explained deserves to be remembred with the most affectionate acknowledgments and we shall be better disposed to hearken to the rest if we give him hearty thanks for what we understand already and say A PRAYER ADored be thy inestimable love O thou Holy Spirit of Grace and Truth the mighty Power of God who hast given such gifts unto men even to the rebellious also that the LORD God might DWELL among them Blessed be thy Goodness who didst anoint our Lord with that oil of gladness which hath run down to the meannest of his subjects Great and wonderful was that Heavenly Power and Love which appeared in such visible Majesty upon him and filled him with the Holy Ghest so that he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil And much more marvellous was that Almighty Goodness which promoted him to the throne of Glory in the Heavens that he might fill all things Praised be that astonishing Love which first filled the Apostles minds with such Heavenly light and inflamed their wills with such fervent heat that they boldly preached the Gospel to all the world For ever magnified be that diffusive Grace which afterwards spread it self in such variety of gifts wrought by one and the self same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he pleased Let the whole Church be giving continual thanks to thee O Lord for stretching forth thy hand in such signs and wonders to glorifie thy holy child Jesus for giving by the Spirit to some a gift of wisdom to others a gift of healing to others divers kind of tongues to others prophecy and for making some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers that every knee might bow to Jesus and every tongue confess that he is the Lord. I confess him with all my Soul I honour him as my Dearest Lord. I see thy Glory O blessed Jesus by the light of the Holy Ghost which hath shone so oft from Heaven upon us I see the Power thou hast at Gods right hand I see the royal bounty of thy love Now I know that thou knowest all things and believe that thou art the faithful and the true whose words shall never fail O how much ought I and every Christian Soul to rejoyce in the consolations of the Holy Ghost which hath brought us new assurances from Heaven that our Saviour lives and reigns and sits inthroned at the right hand of God in incomparable majesty and glory Inspire all our minds and hearts O thou quickning Spirit inspire them O Lord and Giver of Life with such ardent love and devotion towards him that we may hope to reign with him and then shall we rejoyce before-hand in this hope with joy unspeakable and full of glory Do not wholly absent they self from us O thou Guide and Comforter of our Souls though we have not been so grateful to thee nor followed thy directions and counsels as we ought but still let thy gracious presence fill every part of the Christian Church Though we have not that UNCTION from above which endued them heretofore with the gifts of tongues and prophecy and healing and working of miracles Yet pour down every where much of the spirit of knowledge and love and devotion and purity and fortitude and undaunted resolution and fervent Zeal which may be ever glorifying the great God and our Saviour Christ Jesus O thou who didst open the eyes of the blind and loose the tongue of the dumb enlighten our minds to see more of those wonders which may inflame our love and incourage our hope and open our lips that our mouths may shew forth thy Praise Still let there be hearts full of Faith in the blessed Jesus full of love to all mankind full of ardent desire to see his Kingdom come full of wisdom to open the mysteries of Salvation to instruct men in the truth as it is in Jesus and to convince them mightily and perswade them to be obedient to it That so by the same Heavenly power whereby the Faith of Christ was planted in the world it may be graciously preserved and promoted and we may see it go forward and advance more and more till every Nation now on Earth speak in their own tongues the wonderful works of God Let all the people praise thee O God Let all the people praise thee Kindle in them such devout affections as may offer up continually the sacrifice of praise to thee Let them praise thee with pure minds and upright hearts and unspotted lives and in perfect unity and godly love say every where Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen CHAP. V. Concerning the Witnesses on Earth and first of the WATER HAVING given a brief account of the Testimony of the first Three Witnesses and finding much satisfaction in their perfect agreement we have the greater encouragement to go to the other Three who are also nearer to us than the former and take that evidence which they are willing to afford us for our further confirmation in this belief that Jesus is the Son of God These three you read in the eighth Verse are such as bear witness on EARTH whereby we may be the better acquainted with them and they are the more undeniable and furthest off from all question or exception For should any be so bold as to dispute that there might
not here proving Jesus Christ to be a true man consisting of Body and Soul like ours and that this Body and Soul were so separated that he was really dead but something far greater and more excellent viz. that he was God's Son which the Water and Bloud that came out of his side were no competent argument to prove That Water and Bloud therefore if they have any relation to these Witnesses here mentioned were only emblems and adumbrations of these two grand Proofs of our Saviours being the CHRIST viz. his PURITY and innocence which appeared in his whole preaching and life to which the Water bears a resemblance and his constant confession of the truth even unto the DEATH which was lively represented by that Bloud These two flowed from him with such force that they have overspread the world with his Faith and the knowledge of the glory of the Lord hath covered the Earth even like to the waters which cover the Sea 2. The second Observation is That they who by apostasie from the Faith of Jesus denied him to be the CHRIST after they had acknowledged it are said to tread under foot the Son of God and to count his BLOUD an unholy thing x. Heb. 29. Which expression could not be justified if the Apostles had not lookt upon his Bloud as an unreproveable Witness to him For the meaning is that those men who fell back to their old Religion again and deserted Christianity made nothing of the Testimony which God had given of his Son As for his Resurrection they did not give any credit to that though so strongly attested but TROD UNDER FOOT the Son of God as if he lay still in his grave and as for his Bloud which was shed at his Death they look'd upon that as if it were but COMMON BLOUD so the word UNHOLY may be taken or rather as if it were the bloud of a malefactor which may be properly called impure and unholy Which is the reason that he says they shall be judged worthy of sorer punishment than the contemners of Moses because these men in effect made Jesus who was infinitely greater than He to be a mere Impostor a false Prophet and a Blasphemer who had done things worthy of the vilest death They justified those that murdered him and crucified the Son of God afresh as it is in a parallel place vi Hebr. 6. by disowning him and denying that he was the CHRIST For this was to acknowledge that he was justly put to death for taking upon him that office and that if he were upon Earth again they saw no reason why they should not treat him as the Jews had done This was the sence of every Christians apostasie it renewed the charge of imposture against Jesus and put him as the Apostle there speaks to open shame They did as bad as publickly declare him to be a deceiver and that he deserved to lose his life in that infamous manner wherein he suffered upon the Cross For which cause such vilifiers of Jesus deserved to partake in that judgment and fiery indignation which he says was ready to devour the adversaries ver 27. that is those who actually crucified Christ and now persecuted his servants for they had his BLOUD in the same contempt and made no more of it than of the bloud of one of the Thieves that were crucified with him Now from hence it follows that his BLOUD testified his innocence as I have shown and was look'd upon by others as well as by S. John to be a witness that he was the Son of God Else they could not have been guilty of so great a crime and faln under such an heavy punishment who despised his Bloud and were no more moved by it than if it had been common like the bloud of other men nay relinquished him as if his bloud had been profane like that of the malefactors who suffered with him This was their condemnation that they cast such a vile reflection on that bloud which heretofore they thought so powerful that thereby they were SANCTIFIED that is perswaded to devote themselves to his service as the only means to obtain remission of their sins which they had by his Bloud This is a sign that they look'd upon it once not only as a thing most sacred but also most powerful to make men believe in Jesus And this increased the sin and guilt of dishonouring his Bloud by Apostasie because it was of great authority and force to draw men to the Faith and to preserve them in it which by forsaking the Faith it confirmed they made to be of no efficacy nor consideration at all Moses his Covenant and Law were sealed only by the bloud of Bulls and Goats and yet those men suffered death without mercy as the Apostle here observes who either fell away to other gods or did any thing presumptuously in contempt of his precepts By which we may judge says he what they are like to suffer a much sorer punishment sure who renounce the Christian Religion which was confirmed by a much greater person and by a more noble bloud even by the bloud of the Mediator of this better Covenant Who did more than Moses ever thought of to attest what he delivered and to prove that he came from God and that all his promises should be made good for he sealed them with his own bloud and therefore might justly expect that men should prove more faithful to him and remain firmer in his obedience at least not be so presumptuous as to despise him by reproaching his precious Bloud Now if his Bloud was not an argument to induce men to believe and to continue in the state of Christianity they could not be charged with such disrespect to it when they left this Religion nor be punished for the undervaluing or rather scorning that which was of no force to tye them to the Faith But if they were guilty of great contempt of it and were to suffer sorely extream sorely upon this account that they gave no more reverence to his bloud then we ought to conclude the Apostles thought it of great efficacy to engage their belief and make them constantly adhere to Christ by the witness that it bare to him Which testimony together with the rest those apostates plainly rejecting they became liable to a far heavier condemnation than any formerly could fall into for affronting Christ and all those who were his Witnesses In short they who did not look upon his bloud as Holy must condemn him for a Malefactor But they that did confess the sacredness of it which appears many ways must needs acknowledge him not to have been a Criminal as the Jews pretended but the Son of God as at his death he professed himself A PRAYER I DO again acknowledge thee O blessed Jesus to be the Son of God most High I behold thy Glory shining through the blackest cloud of thy shameful sufferings Then thou appearedst to be the chosen of God
to lurk in the dark and put off their stuff when no body can see what it is who know it is deceitfully wrought and will not abide the light They do wisely and as cunning Merchants who make up in words and great assurances of their honesty what is wanting in the goodness of their wares But why we should have so little wit as to take their words who can tell We must answer for this folly no doubt to Almighty God who hath given us more understanding if we would use it and taught us by himself to call for good witnesses of that which is offered to us for a truth And the more strictly we examine these which S. John here alledges the better we shall be satisfied that they intend not to deceive us Which is a mark we should always have much in our eye when we are enquiring after Truth If the more we search consider and ponder the proofs which are brought the better they appear and the clearer they grow it is a very good sign there is nothing wanting to make it fully entertain'd but only longer thoughts and greater and more serious consideration As on the other hand we have great reason to suspect and turn away from that which the longer we weigh its proofs the lighter they seem and the propounders of them also begin to shift and shuffle till they have put all into a mist in which we can see nothing but that they are at a loss and are fain to puzzle us because they cannot clear that which they were about Thanks be to God there is nothing of this in the evidences we give for the true Christian Religion They are plain and perspicuous and show themselves in a greater brightness the more we look upon them and the better we are acquainted with them Search and try what has been said and the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ will shine with greater lustre in your eyes and you will confess with S. Peter 2 i. 3. that he hath called us to the knowledge of him by glory and vertue that is by a most amazing power of God which declared him to be his only Son our Lord. II. Let us therefore in the next place consider seriously how excellent and perfectly rational the Faith of Christians is There is nothing founded upon such Authority as our most holy Religion It is no childish silly thing to be a believer A man doth not betray his weakness and easie credulity when upon examination and search he suffers his Soul to be planted with these new Principles but demonstrates the strength the nobleness and ingenuity of his mind which can discern and judge aright for nothing can pretend to so much reason as they There are a vast heap of things which I could here accumulate beside those which I have treated of to make good this assertion But because the method of the Apostle which I have followed is so clear and easie and the Witnesses so full and pregnant that every one of them affords us many evidences I will content my self with a brief review of what hath been said Which will be sufficient to convince us that our Faith is the highest improvement of our Reason and doth not debase but clevate and raise our understanding upon the surest grounds of Divine demonstration For if you consider what Testimonials they brought along with them who have pretended to speak in God's name you will find there is nothing comparable to the Witness which God hath given of his Son No not in that Religion which was really founded by his Authority much less in that where there was only the Name of God pretended without any Power I. Mahomet I mean to begin first with the latter of these took upon him to be the Apostle and the Prophet of God greater not only than Moses but than Jesus himself And such was his confident brags of Revelations from God that among a company of wild Arabians whom Algazel acknowledges to have approached the nearest to Beasts of all other men He made some proselytes to his belief But what proof did he give that he was divinely sent Was it ever heard that God spake to him so much as once as he did often to our Saviour At what time or in what place and in whose audience did God say to him Thou art my Prophet When did a voice from Heaven come to any three or but one man and say This is the Apostle of God hear him It is a marvellous Providence of God that this Impostor who wanted no confidence should never adventure in all the relations he hath made of himself quite contrary to our Lord who wrote nothing of his own life but left all to his Disciples to tell any such story as this for his greater credit and glory among his followers We read indeed of some idle tales which he reports of an Angel speaking to him and of his ascension into Heaven I know not how many millions of miles But what witness was there of these things what was his name who saw the Angel appear to him or who stood by when he was transported and carried out of sight as he dreamed Or when and to whom did Moses or any one else appear and verifie it that he had been with them in glory If we must take his own word which is all we can hear of to vouch it then we must not refuse to believe every foolish fellow who has impudence enough to pretend to prophesie But what then will become of the faith of Mahomet himself if the sword were out of his hand Let us hear such a man as John the Baptist whose piety and vertue is attested by those who were no Friends of our Religion affirm that he heard and saw such things as he reports and we will be content to abate them the Apostles and such a multitude of people as heard God say he would Glorifie his Name in our Saviour And in what Glory hath that false Prophet appeared since he left the World Whose eyes hath he struck out with the brightness of his countenance Nay by whom hath he been so much as seen since he was buried I need not put the question about his Resurrection for they never pretended it Only the sottish people would not believe when he died that he was really dead but said he was taken up to Heaven as Jesus was And Omar one of his successors threatned death to them that should say he was dead for he was only gone away as Moses did into the Mount and would return again From whence perhaps arose that vulgar error among us that the Mahumedans expect the return of their Prophet * See Poceek in Gregor Abul Phar. p. 180. 264. But Abu Becri proved to them out of the Alcoran that He was to die as other Prophets before him and so appeased Omar and the multitude And was it ever heard that the Holy Ghost sell down upon him in a
phrase so known and the translation of the word to this use saith * More Nev. par 1. c. 42. Maimonides is so frequent that all good and wholsome Doctrine is called Chajah that is LIFE and thence our Masters say The just are called LIVING even in their death and the wicked are called DEAD even while they are alive because the one were happy and the other miserable in those contrary conditions The true reason of which dialect or manner of speech I take to be this that LIFE being the foundation upon which all felicity is built the root out of which it grows it being impossible to enjoy any thing unless we be alive and it abiding and continuing also when the pleasures and other circumstances of life are often interrupted it was thought the aptest thing to express that felicity which we partake of in life yea the fullest felicity the fruition of the compleatest Good when life shall be made eternal And if this be not sufficient to demonstrate that the Holy Writers intend by Eternal Life all the good we are or shall be capable to enjoy you may farther observe that they describe it by all things that are excellent and desirable having borrowed from the glory of the whole World whatsoever is lovely and illustrious to help to represent it to us Shall I put together the severall lines whereby it is described in as handsome an order and composure as I can and so leave every one to judge of the rare beauty of this Life when it shall have all its fillings up which in its ruder draught appears so amiable in our eyes This LIFE then that it may be understood to be the enjoyment of a fuller good then we can conceive a good beyond the bold desires of the most inlarged and luxurious appetite is expressed by the hugest heaps of Treasures such as the Heavens onely are great enough to contain by the possession of an immortall Inheritance reserved there for us and by Pearls and Jewels of a price so invaluable that he is stupid who sells not all he hath if they are not to be had at a lower rate to make a purchace of them These expressions and the rest that follow are so well known that I need not stay to set down the particular places of Holy Scripture where they may be found but proceed to tell you that this Life is there also set forth by feeding upon the delight of the most exquisite pleasures and being entertained without any satiety and in the most noble company at the most sumptuous Feast by exaltation withall to the sublimest pitch of Honour such as the power of Kings the majesty of Thrones and the glory of Crowns which Holy men call in to their assistence that they may serve to lift up our minds to conceive the height of this happy Life and make it seem the more royal and magnificent To which you may adde that they make use of the names of Rest and Refreshment and Peace and Joy or Contentment For as we reade of entring into Life so we do of entring into Rest and into the Joy of our Lord and dwelling in Peace because these are the onely things on earth which can compleat and perfect the happiness of those who enjoy Princely dignity and power But then when the Earth can afford no more colours for the drawing a picture of this most excellent Life or supreme Felicity those Holy men ascend up to Heaven and fetch from thence not onely some rays of light but the very Sun it self and that in the top of its glory to illustrate by its brightness the incomparable beauty of it For it is called the Inheritance of the Saints in light and our Blessed Lord is called the Light of the world who promises the Just that they shall have the Light of life and shine like the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father But alas it is not in the power of such words as these to express its excellence And therefore when all things that fall under our eyes and our taste are spent in the description of it we reade then of melodious Songs and Thanksgivings and the joyfull voice of those who triumph continually Nay the whole World as big as it is is introduced as a small resemblance of this Happiness wherein victorious Souls are said to inherit all things and to be made equal to the Angels who joyn in consort with them and bear their part in those heavenly Anthems and Hymns wherewith they bless and praise the Great Lord of all But if all the goodly things that are or ever have been in the whole world should meet together and falling down at the feet of one man should with a joynt consent conspire to make him happy they could never advance him near the height of this celestial Bliss whose incomparable excellence cannot be expressed without the assistence of words called down from the highest Heavens the place of God's Habitation And therefore nothing below the Kingdom of Heaven a Mansion in our heavenly Father's House a Building of God in the Heavens is made the portion of such happy Souls And as if the Heavens yea the Heaven of Heavens could afford nothing great enough to represent this Blessedness Holy men lead us at last to God himself whom they bid us behold in the High and Holy place as in his Chamber of Presence And this LIFE is called Seeing GOD and beholding his Glory and being with our LORD which are names of such transcendent greatness that we had need enjoy this Happiness to understand them But thus the Men of God from things sensible lead us by the hand to those that are spirituall and invisible And now that they have placed our thoughts in the presence of God there they leave them to take as full a view as they can of him and to spread themselves in the largest contemplations of his Perfections For they were not able to go any farther then onely to tell us that we shall be made like to him whose Perfections shine so gloriously in our eyes This is the highest pitch to which they carry our meditations Here they bid us rest our thoughts and now that they have advanced them above the Earth and Heavens to consider with our selves what it is to See God till we resemble him and be perfectly transform'd into his most blessed Nature and Life All they can doe more for us is onely to tell us what GOD is the enjoyment of whom is our Happiness and who we are to understand will be infinitely far more to our whole man then Kingdoms and Thrones then Crowns and Jewels then Feasts and Songs then the Sun it self and all the sweet influences of Heaven with the rest of the things forementioned could be were they all united in one design to make us happy The wisest of the Jews as blind as that Nation is are sensible of this how disproportionable all the words which even divinely-inspired
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
Schoolmen imagine is the Aureola or little golden Crown which the Judge will give to rare Vertues By which they mean some accidentall reward superadded to the essentiall Blessedness Like the little crown of gold wherewith the other crown upon the Table of Shew-bread was finished as the Vulg. Lat. renders xxv Exod. 25. from whence this expression seems to be borrowed But that the overplus of reward which Christ will give to some shall consist onely in a peculiar brightness of their body I see no ground to determine because God hath so many other ways to crown the faith and love and hope of those whom he delights to honour It is better to conclude all this discourse with the words of the same Father which follow a little after * Ib. cap. 21. What and how great the spirituall grace of the Body will be because the time is not come to make experiment I am afraid lest all that we say of it be rashly spoken And therefore I shall onely adde of which we may be certain that as Macarius observes whether it be a greater or a lesser glory that we attain we shall all shine together in one most blessed and glorious place His words are these As Birds produce feathers of a different kind Homil. 32. and some fly nearer to the earth others farther off but all fly in one common air or as there is one Heaven which hath many Stars in it some greater then others but all fixed in heaven So the Saints shall be differently planted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in one Heaven of the Divinity and in one invisible country Thither let us all direct our paths thither let us continually aspire saying as he does in another place to which I shall adde the words of another great man O how ineffable are the promises of Christians Macarius Homil. 4. who have such glorious expectations that the Faith and riches of one single Soul cannot be equalled by the glory and beauty of heaven and earth though we take in all their furniture and treasures and variety and goodliness and bravery And yet how fairly do these things shine in our eyes and with what pleasure do we behold their beauty Anselm in Protolog If then the created life be so good how good is that Life which creates If the salvation we receive be so pleasant how sweet is that Salvation which gives all Salvation If that wisedom be so lovely which understands the works of God how lovely is that Wisedom which of nothing contrived them all Finally if there be so many and so great delights in delectable things what and how great is that Delight which is in him that made all things delectable He that shall enjoy this Good what shall he have what shall he not have He shall have what he will and what he would not he shall not have If honour and riches be desired God will make his good and faithful servants rulers over many things Nay they shall be called Sons of God and Gods and where his Son is there they shall be heirs of God and coheirs with Christ If they desire true security there is none like that for certainly they shall be as certain that these or rather this Good shall never by any means be wanting to them as they are certain they shall never leave it of themselves nor God their Lover ever take it away against the will of those he loves nor any thing stronger then He be able to separate them and God They shall rejoyce therefore perpetually And they shall rejoyce as much as they love and love as much as they know And how much O Lord shall they know thee then how much shall they love thee Certainly neither eye hath seen nor ear heard nor hath it entred into the heart of man in this life how much they shall know thee and how much they shall love thee in that I beseech thee O God let me know thee let me love thee that I may rejoyce in thee And if I cannot do it to the full in this life O that I may profit every day untill it come to the full Let thy Knowledge grow in me here and there be made full let thy Love increase and there also be full that here my Joy may in hope be great and there in possession full Amen CHAP. IV. Of the ETERNITY of this LIFE FRom this larger then was at first designed consideration of the nature of this LIFE pass we now to a short Meditation of the ETERNITY of it which indeed is the Crown that God sets upon its head the Circle if I may so speak which wreathing it self about this Happiness makes it to be our sovereign Good And it may not be unworthy our observation that this Eternity of Life is as far above the continuance of all other blessings heretofore promised as the Life it self is LIFE among the Jews according to the letter of their Law signifying onely all earthly good things there was onely a long life not an eternall in the land of Canaan promised to them that kept that Law But quite otherwise the LIFE promised by Christ consisting onely in the enjoyment of spirituall and heavenly blessings it is not a long but an eternall never-ending life in the possession of these good things which he hath assured to us It being but fit that as the Life exceeds that which Moses promised so the duration of it also should as much out-run his as for ever extends it self beyond an Age. Now the word ETERNALL may be conceived to comprehend in it these Three things I. First that there is nothing but LIFE in this state of Blessedness which shall not be interrupted by any dolefull accident Life and Death I told you in the holy language signifie the same with Blessedness and Misery And therefore the Eternity of life must include in its notion a state of pure happiness of mere and unmixed pleasure without any thing that deserves the name of Death to give it the least annoyance There we may hope to be so happy as to know without mistake and to be wise without folly and to increase in knowledge without our present toil to acquire it Love is there without hatred jealousy or envy joy without any sighing or sorrow praises without complaints obedience without reluctance speed and alacrity without dulness and heaviness in one word perfect purity and holiness without spot or blemish to sully the glory of it As this lower region of the air we see is the place of clouds and darkness thunder and lightning storm and tempest but to the dwellings of the Sun and fixed Stars none of these pitchy vapours ascend to obscure their brightness or trouble their peace just so is this World the scene of misery and vexation confusion and disorder our bodies are tossed with severall storms and our Souls many times hurried with more violent tempests the fierce gusts of their own passions but when
it a disparagement to their Master Moses did they not satisfie themselves with this ridiculous reason for it to be spoken unto after such a manner as the Scripture of truth relates then by their own confession it is a great honour to our Lord and Master and argues his high dignity that the Divine Majesty spake to him in such a way as they cannot but esteem most perfect and agreeable to his Divine Goodness And we may look upon this pure Light in which God is said to dwell as a sign that Heaven was to be opened by this Person and that he would restore us to the Glory of God of which we we all faln short and bring mankind to that joy and satisfaction of heart which the Disciples began to feel in themselves at this most comfortable sight And I make no question had not the holy Books told us so expresly that God spake to them in clouds and fire and vapour they would have fabled that he appeared to their Master in pure light and shone about him in the brightness of his glory without the least darkness to obscure it For I find that many of those things which the holy Story of the New Testament reports in honour of John Baptist or of our Blessed Saviour they have thrust into the Story of Moses where he himself in his Books hath not confessed the contrary to keep him in the greater credit with their Nation in this time of their calamitous desertion It being recorded for example that John Baptist was born when his parents were very old and could not believe it was possible for them to have a child which makes his birth a wonder being out of the course of Nature they have made bold to tell the same of Moses but with a large addition of years whose mother Jochebed they say was no less then an hundred and thirty years old when she was delivered of him which Aben Ezra in his Notes upon the text * A. Ezra in ii Exod. ver 1. is desirous should pass for a current truth And as we reade that when our Saviour came into the world the Glory of the LORD an exceeding great light from heaven shone round about the shepherds who had the first news of it which was intended as a note of his Divinity and heavenly descent So they have devised * R. Solomon in ii Exod. 3. that at the Nativity of Moses the house where he was born was filled with such a light that they could not see by reason of its splendour In like manner the Apostle proves our Lord to be greater then the Angels far above all principality and power c. i. Heb. 3 4. i. Eph. 19 20. and therefore Moses forsooth must be raised to this wondrous pitch â— Moses Haccozi whom some of their Rabbins all are not so immodest will have to be higher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then the Angels of Ministry far above all creatures as another expresses it both superiour and inferiour R. Joshuah F. Sobib in xxx Exod. As if they meant to equall him with that great Lord who we believe is raised far above every name that is named not onely in this world but also in that which is to come And because also our Lord we affirm and are sure is now the Minister of the heavenly Sanctuary where he presents his own bloud before God for us as Aaron did the bloud of beasts in the earthly Sanctuary therefore they likewise have feigned as Maimonides relates from the mouth of their Doctours * Ludov. Capell ex prâ—fat in Talm. Not. in xvii Matth. 3. that their Master Moses is not dead but ascended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and ministers to God in the heavenly places And because our Lord is here said to be transfigured on this Mountain and his face shone like the Sun they have therefore transformed Moses also who they say was found by the Angel of death whom God sent to the Mountain whether he was gone up to take away his life writing the great Name of God and his face was as the Sun and he himself like an Angel of the Lord. I have observed the same before about the Bath kol voice from heaven which spake to our Saviour whose glory they study to eclipse by spreading abroad a number of tales concerning the like approbation given to their Doctours I am bold to call these reports by that name and to ascribe them to that cause because there are no footsteps of such things in the history which Moses wrote of himself who by all just ways endeavoured to beget in them a belief that he was a Prophet sent of God and because such inventions might easily come into the minds of those obstinate persons who knew not how to confute Christianity which interest and prejudice would not let them receive but were desirous by any means though never so false to raise Moses to the same degree of greatness and esteem with the Authour and finisher of our faith But it is to be considered then that they suppose such things to be a notable sign of the excellency of that person to whom they really belong and consequently that our Lord Jesus who hath these very marks upon him which they would ingrave on Moses being thus described in those Books that are certainly Divine among us as clearly as Moses is in any other regards commended in those that are truly holy among them is a Great Prophet indeed far greater then Moses who never durst say any such thing of himself nor is so magnified by any of the succeeding Prophets the Authour of a better Covenant and of more divine Promises such as this of ETERNALL LIFE which it is most agreeable for him to bestow whose Kingdom was not in this world as Moses's was but he reigns in the other world Lord of all for evermore III. To him God the Father hath given a third Testimony unto which it is now time to pass and it is a very express Record of this Truth that we have Eternall Life and that it is in his Son It is set down you know in the xii Joh. 28. where upon our Saviour's request to God that he would glorifie his own Name a voice from heaven gave this answer I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again The particle it hath nothing answering to it in the Greek but is put in by the Translatours to supply the sense And some are of the opinion that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be understood and the meaning to be thus rendred I have both glorified thee and will glorifie thee again But there is no need of this we may as well refer the word glorifie to Name as our translation doth and it will come at last to the same sense for God's name was glorified by glorifying his Son Fragment L. viii in Joh. as appears from xi Joh. 4. And so St. Cyrill of Alexandria observed
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
hath so contemned it as to prefer a little of this World before it be used as favourably in hell as if he had never heard of it What doth our Saviour mean then when he saith It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment then for those places where the Gospell of God's grace was preached This very thing will make the fire more devouring to think for what poor pleasures or gains they set at nought so stupendious a grace and that withall they have lost those things for which they lost Heaven When they see how inconsiderable all their past delights were it will make the madness seem greater and the more distract and torment their inraged Minds to think how dear they now pay for them The miserable Soul will then continually pour upon it self the hottest and most scalding thoughts of its own gross stupidity and senseless negligence It will flame with anger and burning wrath against it self for the frantick choice which it hath made And rolling it self in the fire of its own fretfull and impatient displeasure will take such a furious revenge upon it self as to become its own dreadfull executioner In this misery it will lie frying for ever sibique perpetuum pabulum subministrabit and afford to it self perpetuall fewell to keep alive the boiling rage and fierce displeasure it hath conceived against it self The stings thereof will be sharper and more frequently returning then any pain which we are now sensible of can represent The flashes of Lightning are not so searching and they will be as quick as the thoughts of a Spirit And what the hideous and dolefull groans of a Spirit are we cannot tell especially that lies under the load of this thought that it might have been as happy as now it is miserable You may take a review of what was said in the beginning concerning ETERNALL LIFE and by that make some judgment of the Misery of those who are so unhappy as to lose it They will be deprived of all that Bliss which the Souls and bodies of the just shall injoy and not be able to avoid the sorest pains which even from thence will necessarily arise For the greater you can suppose their knowledge of God to be in the other World which is the Life of pious Souls so muâ—â— the greater will their sorrow and heaviness be to think that they have lost the favour of the Creatour of the World the Fountain of all Good And when they behold the glory wherein the just appear with our Blessed Lord this will be a new grief to them and most miserably afflict their hearts whensoever they think what praise is given to those holy men whom they despised in what glory they shine and unto what dignity they are preferred and on the other side consider their own shame and reproach and how vilely they lie under a perpetuall curse pronounced against them before Angels and men by the Lord of all And it will increase the torment to consider that they are the cause of all this misery which they have drawn upon themselves Their negligence will come to mind which gave no heed to the Divine illuminations Their contumacy also which resisted the Divine motions Their horrid wickedness into which they ran against the cries even of their own consciences And these considerations they will not be able to avoid nor put off the thoughts of the greatness of their misery But they will stick close to them and perpetually sting them so that all their Knowledge which is so comfortable to others will breed in them the most exquisite grief and sorrow This our Saviour means by outer darkness into which they shall be cast From whence we may guess in what conditions their Wills and their Affections must needs be in which there will be no love of God at all nothing that we can conceive but envy at the glory of the blessed hatred of themselves as the cause of all this mischief vexation of heart to see how great it is and desperation of seeing it grow less But I shall pursue it no farther because it would take up too much room in this discourse which already begins to grow too big I shall onely adde that none knows what flames the breath of the Lord will kindle The power of his anger is inconceivable especially when incensed by the slighting of his love And therefore what can we say of the dolours which the fire that never goes out and the worm that never dies when they meet together will cause both in the Souls and bodies of such contemptuous sinners Who will begin then to wish they had never been acquainted with the glad tidings of Salvation that so they might have lain in some more private corner of the miserable World in a bed of softer and more gentle flames and without that open disgrace to which they will be exposed What an ease would they think it if they might but have the favour to houl among the poor Indians and shriek no louder then other wicked Pagans and have no worse Devills to lash them then the leud Mahometans who never had a thought of any thing higher then a fleshly Paradise And yet the Pagans themselves thought their condition would be bad enough if they lived impiously and that it was impossible to escape a just punishment in another world As appears among a number of other records from that discourse I mentioned of Gobryas who saith the first place men come into when they depart this life is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Field of truth So called because there Judges sit to examine how every one hath passed his life and there is no way to evade their sentence by subterfuges or lies as his words are but they will dispose of all men with exact justice according as they deserve What they had some dark fancy of is now plainly and clearly revealed unto us who are instructed that God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead xvii Act. 31. And therefore we ought to be afraid of treasuring up unto our selves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God Who will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory honour and immortality eternall life But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath Tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of man that doeth evill of the Jew we may say Christian first and also of the Gentile ii Romans 5 6 7 8 9. VI. Consider then I beseech you once more which is all the questions I shall ask what you are now resolved to doe Will you put it to the venture whether you be immortally happy or no Is it
evidences which He produced while he was on Earth to justifie his high Authority which is comprehended under the Name of the Son of God but enquire after those only which He hath given of it since He went to Heaven and ascended to the Throne of his glory From whence this Word of God hath been pleased to speak or in some very remarkable manner to assert this Truth upon no less than three several occasions I. First of all He showed himself to his first Martyr S. Steven in a sensible Majesty standing at the right hand of God in the splendor of the Divine glory Read but the vii Acts 55 56. and there you will find He made himself so plainly appear to be the Son of God and that with power as S. Paul you have heard speaks in 1. Rom. 4. that is the King of Heaven and Earth next to the most supreme Majesty of God the Father Almighty that nothing can be said against it unless any man will be so audacious as to fancy that this holy and glorious Martyr was strongly deluded But there is a clear demonstration against that from the whole story of his Life and Death For He was a man of great note and eminency in the Church who held the very first place among the seven Deacons vi Acts 5. that were chosen to attend the daily ministration to the poor The feeding of whose bodies He did not think the only thing belonging to his charge but such was his zeal he likewise broke and dispensed the Bread of life to all his neighbours He justified the Christian Faith of which he was full vi Acts 5 8 10. against all opposers with singular wisdom great fervour and mighty demonstrations by the power of the holy Ghost He confounded all those whom he disputed withall though he could not overcome them He stopt their mouths by the wisdom and spirit wherewith he spake which made them wish they could stop his though there was no other way they saw to silence him but by taking away his life They suborned therefore false witnesses against him whom they knew not how to confute They brought him before their Great Council to be tried Where all his Judges fixing their eyes upon him saw he was so far from being at all daunted that there was a sparkling Majesty in his countenance like that of an Angel when he appeared to their forefathers vi Acts 15. They could never devise or fancy any thing greater to say of them or of their most eminent Doctors than now they beheld in this illustrious person The face of the Patriarch Isaac they tell us was so changed when the holy Spirit rested on him that a Divine light or splendor came from his face And they would have us believe that Phineas his countenance did burn and flame like a Torch by the inhabitation of the holy Ghost in him Nay Maimonides himself to omit the other Authors in which I find these reports will have the Prophets to be Angels So he interprets more than once the first and the fourth verses of the second Chapter of the Book of Judges Where by the Angel of the Lord he understands a Prophet whom God sent to them to bring them to repentance And expresly says * More Nevoch part 2. cap. 42. that their wise men have told them This was Phineas for at that time when the Majesty of God dwelt upon him He was like to an Angel of the Lord. And it is the opinion of some of them whose Names are not worth mentioning that in the Prophetical visions the form of a man vanished and the appearance of an Angel came in the room thereof till such time as the Vision ceased The light which shone within was so great that it broke through their bodies and externally appeared if we could believe these Doctors who would fain adorn their wise men with that glory which they really beheld in this man of God S. Steven Who was so full of the holy Ghost and had such glorious illuminations in his mind that there was indeed an amazing lustre in his face and he lookt more like an Angel than a man This emboldened him to speak to that grave Senate with all the assurance in the world and to reprove them for resisting the holy Ghost Which so cut them to the heart that it enraged them to the highest degree of fury and they lookt upon him as if they would eat him up But he still full of the holy Ghost and nothing fearing what he saw he must suffer from an exasperated multitude cast up his eyes above and fastned them stedfastly upon the Heavens from whence cometh our help Where He bade them all take notice vii Acts 54 55 56. that he saw the glory of God and Jesus shining at his right hand in a far greater glory than they had seen in his face That was only a glimpse of the Majesty of Jesus whom he preached to them and now feared not to affirm that he saw in his royal splendour and greatness incomparably above all the Angels in Heaven And is it not a great deal more reasonable to believe that He indeed saw Jesus there than to think that he would obtrude thus boldly a mere imagination upon them with the certain loss of his own life If he had not been sure that he beheld him whom they crucified now most highly glorified a person of his wisdom and spirit would have been more cautious than to follow him in that bloudy path to which this assertion led him when if he would have held his tongue there lay a fairer and smoother way before him But so visible was the royal Majesty of our Saviour that he could not but proclaim it aloud and speak as S. Peter said the things which he had seen though he knew they would call it blasphemy and punish him for it with present death He was willing to suffer that for the honour of his Master and to testifie his love to him who told him his Faith was no fancy as he might see by the glory wherein he appeared Which abundantly satisfied him that he was the Son of the Highest able to reward all his faithful servants with immortal glory It is true we read of never a word that our Lord spake to this Saint but the splendour of his appearance in such glory and Majesty at God's right hand was as significant as any words could be and bid him be assured of the truth of what S. John is here proving that indeed he is the Christ the anointed of God anointed with the oil of gladness above all his fellows made the Lord of all things inferior to none but only him who hath put all things in subjection under his feet If any one ask me how he could see the glory of God and how he knew this to be Jesus who appeared at Gods right hand I Answer to the first enquiry that He saw God's glory in the same sence that
till he went to hear what the Lord would command concerning the persons who were in doubt ix Numb 8. Our Lord had no need at all to go any whither to make such enquiries but in every place even in Samaria knew the greatest secrets iv Joh. 18 19. For he himself was the Tabernacle of God He was the Tent which God had pitched among Men separated unto him as the Tabernacle and Temple were by the visible descent of the Divine Glory upon him and by its residing in him So that wheresoever he was he had an Oracle continually within himself and without any addresses to the most Holy place or any other knew all things and revealed the mind of God to Men. And all this was so conspicuous that it was far better known than the presence of the Lord upon the Ark. For that was confined to one place whereas Jesus went about doing good Which may be the meaning of that famous Prophecy iii. Jer. 16 17. Where he says they should not make mention of the Ark any more that is worship God before that as the only place But Jerusalem should be the THRONE OF THE LORD to which all Nations should be gathered that is in every part of the City and Country too he would appear as gloriously as he had done formerly in the most holy place of the Temple which could be at no other time but when Jesus appeared among them and sent by his Apostles the Law out of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem to all Nations ii Isa 3 4. The THRONE OF THE LORD I have told you already is in their Language as Maimonides teaches us Every place which God separates for the manifestation of his Divine glory So the Heaven is called his Throne lxvi Isa 1. And by that name Jeremiah calls their Sanctuary xvii Jer. 12. A glorious high Throne from the beginning is the place of our Sanctuary And so I told you the Ark is called because that was the peculiar place in the Sanctuary where he resided But at last you see all Jerusalem by which we may understand the whole Nation was to become the THRONE of the LORD As it did when Jesus appeared who in person was sent to that Nation alone in whom the Divine glory shone illustriously in all places wheresoever he came They beheld the Wisdome the Power the Love of God in him not only in the Temple where he oft appeared but in every part of the holy City In the streets nay in the high wayes in the fields in the wilderness upon the sea there was a most glorious appearance of God such as never was when the Ark alone was the THRONE of the LORD VI. Which puts me in mind and then I shall end this that the Unity of God is as much nay more discovered in our blessed Saviour as it was at the Tabernacle or Temple in former times As there was but one place where God put his Name among the Children of Israel and they were all to go to the very same Oracle whereby they were preserved in the belief and worship of one God So now God hath manifested that this is his ONLY begotten Son and that there is no name given under Heaven whereby we can be saved but only His and that we must seek to no other Mediator but this One in whom now God appears in such a glory as he never did any where else And this is also to keep us in the belief that God is one which may hence also appear by this manifestation of God in the flesh For whereas we call God by several attributes the most holy the most wise the most powerful and the like yet we see all these were in one person Christ Jesus Which may well instruct us that they all together are but One God and that it is one eternal Majesty who is so holy wise powerful and good But as I said this was better made known by our Saviour than by the Divine Majesty residing at the Temple For during all the time that the Holy Oracle of God stood at Jerusalem there were also Oracles which pretended gods maintained among the Gentiles This upheld the Opinion concerning a multitude of gods And all that Moses or the Prophets could do did not destroy this belief in the World no not root it out of Israel till God appeared in our Lord and Saviour Then these other Oracles grew mute and it was held ridiculous to believe any more Gods than One. The Devils lost all their power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the coming of our Saviour among Men. They are the words of Eusebius who produces a sworn enemy of Christianity to avouch what he delivers Porphyry by name who makes this ingenuous confession * Lib. V. Praepar Cap. 1. that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. ever since JESUS was honoured none ever perceived any publick help and succour from the Gods Aesculapius and the rest of the Gods have withdrawn themselves from men and do not converse with them From whence Eusebius argues very rationally on this manner How come you to know those whom you worship to be gods Why did not Aesculapius and the rest of his Companions overthrow the power of Jesus and make it of none effect If he be a mortal Man as you say nay perhaps you call him a jugler and a deceiver and they indeed be Saviours and gods What is the matter that they flee before him and turn their backs of one that is so inconsiderable Why do they yield up all the World to his power and abandon all their subjects in this shameful manner If you have any sence you must conclude that he is stronger than they and that what he speaks is true For though he be but one and as one would suppose alone yet He hath driven away a vast number of gods and made them leave the World He hath abolished their worship and service and exposed them to such contempt that as they appear no longer gods so they can do just nothing They are not able so much as to show themselves as they were wont to their followers But plainly discover that they were Daemons not Gods But on the contrary the worship of this JESUS and that ONE GOD who he saith sent him into the World is every day more and more propagated and takes deeper root in the minds of all People One would have thought that these gods should have bestirred themselves at his coming more than ever They should have made combinations and joyned all their forces against him Their Oracles which were so famous should now above all other times have been frequented and spoken most loudly so that all the World might hear them against this person who came to destroy that Religion and take away all that reverence which was paid them Or if one Oracle had been dumb upon any particular cause yet all of them together one would think should not have lost their voice
at Bethabara a note they imagined of his inferiority to John and yet had a testimony from thy self that he was sent of God too does not only now take upon him thy office and thereby lessen and extenuate thy authority but quite eclipses and obscures thee baptizing far more than thou dost Which shows that they began to conceive John was not the man they had taken him for but that Jesus rather should enjoy that name which they had been apt hitherto to bestow upon him and their Argument was because Jesus baptized more Disciples than the other did To this John answers in the next words ver 27. A man can receive or take unto himself nothing except it be given him from Heaven That is let not this trouble you that Jesus Baptizes and all come to him it is no more than I told you that I was no body in comparison with him For no man can honestly assume more authority to himself than his Commission gives him And for that reason I could not do so much as Jesus does because I have not received so much nor can pretend so large a power from God who alone can give it And then he adds that it is strange they should forget what he had told them in express words ver 28. Ye your selves bear me witness that I said I AM NOT THE CHRIST but that I am sent before him That is it is a wonder you raise this dispute when I never gave you any occasion to fancy me to be as great as he but told you plainly as you your selves may remember that I was not your KING anointed by God to rule over you all the honour that I had being no more than this to be ordered to come and prepare his way for him I never intended that my washing you with Water or gathering Disciples should be a mark that I was the CHRIST Alas I only baptized you with the water of repentance that you might be disposed to believe on him who I told you was coming To whom you would do well now that he is come to go and be baptized of him For he brings a nobler baptism than that of mine being as much above me as the Bridegroom at a wedding is above him who only waits upon him and prepares things belonging to the marriage That 's the sence of the 30. verse I never intended to set up my self as the Principal person in this business that we are come about For I know very well that he who hath the bride is the bridegroom that is he is the Head of the Church or people of God to whom God hath designed that high honour And that is Jesus not I who am only his Friend sent before to make things ready for him It is a great honour for me to be one of his Disciples and to receive his instructions And I am glad with all my heart that I live to hear him preach It is an exceeding great pleasure to me all the joy I can desire to hear him the Bridegroom speaking to his Bride the Church and telling her himself what he intends to do for her and what he would have her to do Question no more therefore to whom you should go for purifying from your sins nor think it strange that he Baptizes more than I. For He must increase but I must decrease ver 30. There remains now nothing for me to do but I must be obscure as Theophylact glosses like the day-Star when the Sun arises All must become his Disciples even they who now are mine and I my self too as in truth I am For he says the Friend of the Bridegroom that is himself standeth which was the posture of a Scholar before his Master and heareth him rejoycing greatly because of his voice that is because he is come to teach who could do it better than himself For there is as much difference he presently adds in the next words ver 31. which I have explained before between their two doctrines as there is between the Heaven and the Earth And therefore they must needs be inexcusable who did not receive his testimony ver 32. and become his Disciples Who came with such authority from God ver 33. and had not the Spirit by measure ver 34. but the power to reveal the whole will of God and do all his pleasure ver 35. For as he concludes everlasting life is the portion of him who believeth on Jesus but if a man believe not he shall never see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Thus you see John himself directs them again unto Jesus and bids them go to his Baptism become his Disciples and no longer doubt whether he was the Christ or not For as he did not pretend to an equality with Jesus so they should see his fame continually decline and grow less by the growth of the Glory of Jesus who should shine alone by himself and quite darken him So Gregory * Hom. 20. in Evang. the Great expounds those words now mentioned ver 30. He must increase and I must decrease the sence of which he seems to have hit better than any that I have seen when he says In what was John diminished and our Saviour advanced but in this that the people seeing the abstinence of John and his retirement from the society of the world imagined him to be the Christ whereas our Saviour whom they beheld eating with Publicans and keeping the company of sinners they fancied was not the Christ but only a Prophet But when in process of time both Jesus who was taken for a Prophet appeared to be the Christ and John who was taken for the Christ was discovered to be but a Prophet then was fulfilled what he had foretold He must increase and I must decrease For both our Saviour increased in the esteem of the people because he was acknowledged to be what he was and John decreased because he ceased to be called what he was not 2. And this leads me to the next consideration which I shall but briefly mention That as John directed them to prefer our Saviours Baptism before his and to become the Disciples of a far greater Master so the end of the Baptism of Jesus was to entertain men for his Disciples that thereby they might make profession of their belief in him And here now our Saviour began to eclipse the lustre of John and showed himself much superiour to him both in that he did not administer Baptism himself by his own hands as John did but appointed his Disciples to do it who thereby became equal with John and that he gathered Disciples to himself whereas John Baptized them into the belief of him that was to come after him as you read expresly xix Acts 4. None I suppose can doubt of this but that they who received baptism from our Saviour's Disciples who waited constantly upon him did thereby own Jesus for a Teacher or Master sent of God as Nicodemus speaks
xvii Rev. 5 6. that the mother of harlots that one City Babylon was even drunk with the BLOUD of the Saints and with the BLOUD of the MARTYRS of Jesus A Sea of BLOUD flowed from their veins to cover the Earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord for whose cause they suffered themselves to be slain as so many innocent sheep that make no resistance This gave them the name of MARTYRS in English WITNESSES because they were beheaded for the WITNESS of Jesus and for the Word of God xx Rev. 4. that is they constantly affirmed him to be the LORD and chose rather to die and seal it with their BLOUD than not preach this Truth for which S. John also was now an Exile in a desolate place 1 Rev. 9. What was it think you that made them thus hot and eager to be the most miserable of all mankind to despoil themselves of all the comforts of life and to endure perpetually the pains of death From what cause was it that their bloud thus boiled in their veins and they were so zealously forward to have it let out It could be nothing but only this that they loved Jesus ardently and were extremely desirous if he thâ—ught it best to die in his service knowing that he would hear the cry of their bloud and reward them abundantly for all their sufferings S John beheld the Souls of those who were slain for the Word of â—od and the TESTIMONY which they held under the Alâ—ar vi Rev. 9. which signifies that they were sacrifices to God when they witnessed thus unto Jesus For by Souls in the language of the old Scriptures is often meant the Bloud i. e. the life which here was represented at the fooâ— of the Altar where the bloud of the acrifice used to be poured out They died in an holy cause they were very well assured and should be an offering well pleasing and of a sweet savour unto God else they would never have thus willingly offered their throats to the sacrificing knife of their bloudy persecutors No when it came to that they would have confest the truth sure if they had not preached it before A few of their sufferings would have taught them more wit than to lose their heads for the testimony of Jesus if they had not been verily perswaded they were in the right and ought to be his WITNESSES even with their bloud The scoffs of the Heathen would have been very reasonable if they had not dealt sincerely and been certain their Testimony was the Truth Who were wont to say as we read in Minutius Nec resurgitis miseri nec interim vivitis Miserable wretches you do but fancy you shall rise again and in the mean time you do not live You are hungry and pale and enjoy none of the pleasures of life and have no hope of being better you are dead To which he replies after a long demonstration of the evidence they had of what they believed Ita beati resurgimus futuri contemplatione jam vivimus So you see we shall rise again to blessedness and we live now in the blissful contemplation of it Yea they not only lived but they rejoyced and more than that they gloried in tribulations Which they could not have done had not their integrity been as great as this confidence and their sincere intentions upheld and supported their boldness Which was the greater you may be sure because as they bare witness to Jesus so God bare WITNESS to them as you read expresly ii Heb. 4. both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his will whereby he testified to them that they were honest men and did not cunningly follow devised fables when they made known to men the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were as the professed eye-witnesses of his Majesty Which is the next thing to be considered III. Hitherto I have only proved that they had all things necessary to make them credible witnesses being void of guile and such as could not be reasonably supposed to be mere inventors of what they preached Men who both knew what they said and did not speak contrary to their knowledge Nay men of eminent knowledge sanctity and zeal which made them more than common witnesses But still they were only humane Witnesses not divine nor could all this put it quite out of doubt and give a full assurance that what they said was true but only that they thought it to be true and were not likely to be deceived And therefore that they and those who heard their testimony might be sure and have infallible proofs as S. Lukes words are that they were not deceived and that the faith which relied upon their testimony might be Divine there followed the Witness of the SPIRIT which accompanied them as it had done our Saviour together with the Witness of the HOLY GHOST which he had promised to send them that they might be his Witnesses in all the world This was an undoubted evidence that they were men sent of God upon this message to preach Jesus and testifie that he was the Lord of all This made the faith of those who heard and believed them to be more than an humane perswasion because it relied not only on the word of men but upon the testimony of the Spirit of God It might have been a very strong faith without this because the men who reported it were persons of great vertue void of all fraud or worldly design but it could not have been Divine had not this Witness come and joyned its testimony with theirs For they would but have received the testimony of very pious and good men it was no more till the testimony of God himself came in such signs wonders miracles and various gifts as you have heard already and as you read of in many other places They went forth saith S. Mark speaking of all the Apostles and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word which they preached with signs following xvi 20. All places were filled with wonder as they were with the HOLY GHOST At Jerusalem for instance S. Steven as well as the Apostles full of faith and power did great wonders and miracles among the people vi Acts 8. In Samaria S. Philip preached Christ and the people with one accord gave heed to the things which he spake hearing and seeing the miracles which he did for unclean Spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many that were possessed with them and many taken with palsies and that were lame were healed viii 6 7. And at Thessalonica S. Paul tells them that his Gospel came not in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance And at Iconium both he and Barnabas stai'd a long time speaking boldly in the Lord who gave testimony unto the Word of his grace and granted signs and wonders to be done
Verse why they gave themselves as whole burnt offerings to Christ but that by the example of their Faith and Martyrdom they might instruct many more to be Martyrs Nay their BLOUD did not only water many young plants and made them grow to their perfection but He tells us a little after in his exposition of the same Psalm Plures scimus c. We know many who were wholly ignorant of the Divine Sacraments i. e. the Christian Religion that by the example of the Martyrs run to Martyrdom No wonder then that these above all others have been called the WITNESSES of Jesus for that 's the interpretation of the word MARTYR and that Christians were forward even to kiss their wounds and to embrace their dead bodies as the remains of those who had done most eminent service to our Lord. Who himself therefore witnessed to them after they were dead and declared that their bloud was very dear and precious in his sight and that it had sealed nothing but the truth For there can no other reason be given but this why at the Monuments of these MARTYRS or WITNESSES our Saviour was pleased to have so many miracles wrought afterward and before such a number of people that Porphyry himself as we learn both from S. Cyril and S. Hierom though an avowed enemy of our Religion could not but acknowledge them They still spake and bare Witness to Jesus by these wonderful works when they were dead or rather Jesus spake for them as I said and declared from Heaven that these were his faithful Witnesses whose word ought to be believed whereby they had declared him to be the Lord. A PRAYER WHO would not believe on thee O Lord who would not magnifie thy Name For great and marvellous are thy works just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints All Nations ought to come and worship before thee whose Majesty and Glory is so many ways made manifest Thou hast raised poor and ignorant men to be mighty Ministers of thy Grace and Witnesses of thy Resurrection and co-workers with thee for the illumination and conversion of the world Blessed be thy name for all the glorious Lights which have been in thy Church in every Age by whom thy holy Faith hath been preserved and propagated to our days Blessed be thy name for all the Martyrs who sealed it with their Bloud and for all the Confessors who freely acknowledged thee with the danger of their lives Great was thy glory which shone in their most exemplary holiness fortitude patience love unseigned both to friends and enemies and in that mighty power whereby they approved themselves as the Ministers of God Thanks be to thee O God the Lord of Heaven and Earth for the comfort of thy holy Scriptures wherein we read the story of our Saviours wondrous love and of that most miraculous power which appeared in him to testifie unto him and at last raised him from the dead and advanced him to the throne of Glory From whence he sent the Holy Ghost to endue his Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers with power from on high that they might be his Witnesses and commit that which they had received to faithful men who should be able to teach others also O God I cannot but again adore thy incomprehensible love which can never be sufficiently praised Who can understand the exceeding riches of thy grace that thou whose naked glory is too bright for our weak minds to fix their eyes upon wouldest be pleased in most admirable condescending love to manifest thy self and visit us in our flesh Thou art infinitely above the greatest of us who are far less worthy to approach thee than the lowest creature in this world is fit for our friendship and society So much the more marvellous is thy unheard of love that thou wouldest admit us to such a near relation unto thee So much the greater is our happiness that in Christ Jesus thou hast made thy self our portion and designed us to be eternally blessed with thee Great was his care and kindness all the days of his flesh towards the most miserable wretches who received the greatest tokens of his love I rejoyce now to think with what tenderness he received the poor fed the hungry visited the sick cured the diseased and when he had left the world communicated the same power unto others that they might exercise the same charity that he had done I see both the power and goodness of our Lord in all those works of wonder which he did I see that his mercy endureth for ever which hath preserved a faithful record of these things that we through patience and comfort of the holy Scriptures might have hope Now the God of all grace inspire me and all other Christian Souls with the same faith love and ardent zeal which was in those burning and shining Lights the Witnesses of Christ. That we may be followers of them as they were of him and acknowledging the same Lord being members of the same body partaking of the same Sacraments and living upon the same Heavenly food we may lead the same holy lives in hope to shine one day with them in the same celestial glory Help us to continue in the things which we have learnt and have been assured of knowing of whom we have learnt them that we may not at any time let them slip For how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him thou O God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to thine own will May we always carefully lay up and preserve these sacred truths in our heart which were in so glorious a manner delivered to us May they work there perpetually with great power and be reverenced as the holy Oracles of God! May they be the spring of all our motions throughout the whole course of our life That with an even steddy pace whatsoever dangers come in our way we may walk on towards that happy place where those holy ones rejoyce for ever with our Lord. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be given by us and by those glorified Spirits and by all the Angels in Heaven everlasting Praises Amen CHAP. IX The Vse we are to make of their Testimony IT is time now to bring this Discourse to an issue and having examined all these Divine Witnesses taken their proofs and depositions and found their testimony upon due enquiry to be good and legal to consider with our selves what we have to do and what judgment we will pass now that we have heard their evidence God the Father of all says that Jesus is his Son the Word himself appeared oft to justifie this Truth the Holy Ghost came down from Heaven to attest it the Prophet of the Highest proclaimed it the holy life of our
Moses then had need to do some miracles to confirm his prophecy since he fell short in many other things of giving satisfaction Such as we have I mean who abound in Witnesses to our belief and hear even this Witness on which the Jews heretofore relied speak more plainly and powerfully to us than it did to them The SPIRIT of the Lord was upon Moses the people saw by the wonders he did which moved them to follow him Though now they are so foolishly mad against our Saviour that to rob us of this Argument the Jews say Moses his miracles did not prove him to be sent of God yet it is manifest by their story they were in a manner his only glory I am sure the principal or that which first induced their forefathers to give any credit to him For when he asked of God a sign to give the people who otherwise he foresaw would question the apparition of the Angel to him that they might believe as much as himself and acknowledge that God sent him He granted him a power of doing such wonders as flesh and bloud could not do which it seems he thought the properest means to convince them What is that in thy hand saith the Lord immediately after the words mentioned before iv Exod. 1. and he said a rod. And the Lord said Cast it on the ground And he cast it on the ground and it became a Serpent and Moses fled from before it And the Lord said unto him again Put forth thine hand and take it by the tail and he put forth his hand and caught it and it became a rod in his hand that they may believe the Lord God of their Fathers hath appeared unto thee ver 2 3 4 5. This was the end for which this miracle was to be wrought To which he adds another that if they would not believe him nor hearken to the voice of the first they might be convinced by the second or if they would believe neither he gave him power to do a third and bade him turn the water of the river into bloud ver 7 8. And accordingly you read he went and did the signs in the sight of the people and the people believed and when they heard God had visited them bowed their heads and worshipped ver 30 31. After this indeed they disbelieved again till God drowned their enemies in the red Sea and then the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his servant Moses xiv Exod. 31. But were any of these works so wonderful and so powerful to move belief as those which our Saviour did It may deserve a discourse on a fitting occasion on purpose to show how much Moses came behind him in this as well as in all the rest Both the number and greatness of our Saviour's works were as far beyond his as the strength of a Gyant is beyond that of an Infant He was cut off in the midst of his days and yet in that three years and an half wherein he lived after the SPIRIT of God came upon him at his Baptism he did more wonders than Moses did in forty years nay more than had been done from the beginning of the world to that time And if you regard the quality of them Moses his taking the Serpent by the tail and turning it into a rod again was not comparable to our Saviour's casting out Devils treading upon the old Serpent breaking in pieces all his power by healing all manner of sickness and disease and giving his Disciples also the same authority and power which was visible in himself Nor was Moses his hand becoming leprous when he put it into his bosom and its being restored again by the same means any thing like to the miracles of Jesus in curing so many old Lepers of all forts both Jews and Samaritans wheresoever they came to him to implore his charity Moses brought a strong East wind which caused the Sea to go back and leave the bottom dry for the Israelites to march through but this was nothing so wonderful as our Lord 's walking upon the Sea as it had been dry land and commanding Peter to accompany him in the midst of a boisterous wind and his laying his commands upon such tempests and raging waves and the fishes also which all obeyed him Nay that great miracle of feeding them with Manna was not so strange as our Lord 's satisfying great multitudes with five or seven loaves and two small fishes which were not proportionable to so many thousand stomachs as were filled by them as the quantity of Manna was to the Armies of the Israelites Besides that you never read a word of Moses his opening the eyes of the blind much less of his raising the dead which our Lord did sundry times I need say no more to show how inferiour he was to Jesus even in regard of his miracles concerning which the multitude said truly It never was so seen in Israel ix Matth. 33. And yet this was the only thing that convinced that Nation at the first and made them believe in Moses as I have prov'd before they heard God speak to them by an Angel from mount Sinai at the giving of the Law That was the most amazing thing of all but was after they came out of Egypt and a great while after they had believed Moses was sent of God as they saw then more fully and was nothing comparable neither to Jesus's speaking himself to some of the Apostles out of Heaven and sending the Holy Ghost from thence with the gift of tongues and divers others upon them all And after all that hath been said of the miracles which the SPIRIT wrought by him where are the miracles that it wrought for him Did Moses prove himself a true Prophet by rising again after he was dead and buried To whom did he appear With whom did he eat and drink Or who can say that he ascended up into Heaven To whom did he appear in glory except it was to our Saviour and some of his Disciples in honour of whom it seems he had then the favour and not before to shine in that lustre wherein they beheld him In short God gave not the Spirit by measure unto Jesus as you have heard before He had not such a limited portion of it as Moses had who appears by these things to have been only a servant over the house of God in which our Saviour had a power as a Son and that over his own house iii. Hebr. 5 6. Thus much hath been said to show the great honour God hath done us in making us Christians Whose Faith you see stands upon such well-laid grounds that even they who were taught by God had none comparable to them Herein we have a felicity above all other men that have ever been if we be but sensible of it that we are not required to receive any thing from God but upon such reasons as far excel those which demanded belief of
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
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
those who overcome includes in it the bestowing on us the most excellent benefits Because he will be our GOD in a more excellent manner then he ever was yet to men such a GOD as he was to our Blessed Lord himself He will prefer us to live with him in great splendour and glory He will give us an inheritance in a better Country which is an heavenly where all delights flow and never cease to spring up to those happy Souls who shall enjoy the eternall fruits of his greatest love For so he adds 4. and he shall be to me a Son A Son you know expects the Inheritance of his Father because to him it properly belongs and upon him it descends And therefore to be to GOD a Son is to be made like him and to live with him in that very happiness and bliss which he enjoys So St. Paul expresses it viii Rom. 17. he shall be an heir of GOD a co-heir with Jesus who as the Son of God inherits his Glory He shall participate that is with God in his everlasting life kingdom honour and joy which what it is we are not able to tell no more then we can comprehend what his Majesty is who possesses heaven and earth and is infinite in all perfections But we have the greatest reason that can be to expect so great a bliss because we know that God loves his Son Jesus and hath given ALL THINGS into his hand iii. Joh. 35. We are sure that God hath made him most blessed for ever He hath made him exceeding glad with his countenance Honour and Majesty hath he laid upon him and his glory is great in his Salvation xxi Psal 5 6. Now it is most evident you may again observe 5. that the generall intendment of this promise is to put us in hope of being made like to Christ our Elder Brother For he is not ashamed to call us by that name And this being his great Prerogative that he is Heir of all things when the Father of mercy assures us that we shall inherit all things it is as much as to say we shall share with Christ in his large possessions It is easy to note how the Holy Gospell describes our expected felicity in the same terms wherein it speaks of that which Christ our Head enjoys with whom St. Paul says we shall appear in glory and reign with him and have a glorious body like his and in order to it be caught up in the clouds 1 Thess iv 17. which was the manner of his ascension to heaven i. Act. 9. And accordingly here God promises to him that overcomes that he shall inherit all things in conformity still with our Saviour whom he hath appointed heir of all things i. Heb. 2. I cannot say there is any allusion in these words to the Olympick rewards given to the Conquerours in those Combats but so it is that they who overcame there were accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equall to their Gods that is their Hero's or deified men Fabri Agonist L. ii c. 11.16 17. and therefore had Statues erected to their honour and an annuall Pension settled on them for their more noble maintenance But what was this to the reall Divine honour and glory which God will give to victorious Souls To whom he promises not a small Pension or Annuity but an inheritance and that of all things i. e. to shine in the glory of our Blessed Saviour who is King of kings and Lord of lords and can prefer all his Subjects to such a greatness that they shall be more like Gods then men So St. Greg. Nazianzen often speaks that * Orat. xxxvi p. 592. we shall be made Gods in the other World by him that was made Man for us in this It is hard to tell what Heraclitus meant by that speech recorded in Clemens Alexandrinus * L. iii. Padag c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men are Gods Gods are men But it is verified in the Christian Religion which reveals a Divine state to which we shall ascend when we leave the earth by him who came down from Heaven into a vile condition that he might promote us thither Let us study then these words very hard and think often what it is to have ALL THINGS that the love of the Almighty will bestow when in the most eminent sense and in another World he shall become OUR GOD and what it is to have an estate in him that can never be cut off but remains as firm as the Throne on which he sate when he spake these words And then if you believe in him it will fill you with unspeakable joy without entring into particular enquiries to think that you shall be so happy as to be his Sons and Heirs who want nothing that can be desired or he can give And indeed these other words ETERNALL LIFE wherein God's gracious promise commonly runs are of the same import and force with those now mentioned All that we hope for is contained in them As 1. Pardon of Sin without which we cannot take one step toward so great a bliss For death the fruit and punishment of sin will still remain unless sin be pardoned and then what hope can we have of life much less of Eternall life which is therefore perhaps called by the name of Righteousness v. Gal. 5. because it includes our perfect justification and absolution from the guilt of sin without which we could not attain it And 2. it supposes the Adoption of Sons which is begun in this life but not perfected till the next when we shall be made the children of God by receiving a new life from him at the Resurrection of the dead And 3. the Redemption of the Body is another blessing included in it For being raised again it will be freed from its present weaknesses alterations and pains to which it is obnoxious and stand in need of not so much as food and raiment And therefore the time when he will bestow it is called the day of our Redemption iv Eph. 30. To which must be added 4. the carrying of it up to heaven to meet the Lord For being raised a spirituall body it will not be fit for this World but for the other Where 5. we shall rest with him in the celestiall Inheritance and enjoy all the happiness it affords for LIFE you have heard signifies all good things And lastly the Perpetuity of them is plainly expressed in the word ETERNALL which makes the happiness of this heavenly LIFE appear so exceeding great that our present Life compared to it is as Censorinus says of Time in regard of Eternity no more then a Winter's day Let this then suffice us to know that we shall have a perfect enjoyment of all the Good we are capable to receive when we are made greater then we are by the change that shall be wrought in us at our departure hence and at the resurrection of the dead And let our pains
wicked Whatsoever it was God told him he could not comprehend it but must be content with the sight onely of his back parts not of his face xxxiii Exod. ult That is saith Maimonides with the knowledge of something of his Essence or as he elsewhere expounds it * More Nev. p. i. c. 21. of his Works and Attributes of which he had such an obscure knowledge as we have of a man whose back parts we have seen but never beheld his face To be so intimately acquainted with God and his mind as he wish'd was the priviledge of the Messiah alone who had the clearest and fullest sight of the Glory of the Father both of his Essence and his Will and his gracious intentions towards us for he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the bosome of the Father and therefore sees his face as the Scripture speaks and hath not merely some obscure representations of him like that of a man when he turns his back to us but a full view of him in all his perfections of which he himself is the very Image And what he saw he hath by God's express will revealed to us and discovered those things which eye never beheld but were kept secret from the foundation of the world concerning the glorious rewards which his love will give to all pious persons For since I have proved that he is his Son we cannot imagine that he presumed to say more then he knew or told us things out of his own mind onely when he spake of ETERNALL LIFE as he frequently did but what he hath seen and heard that he testifieth as it is iii. John 32. We cannot believe otherwise 3. when we look upon him as the Son of God but that he must needs speak the very truth to us As he could not but know the Mind of God if he was so one with him so he could not but speak to us according to what he knew of his Mind For as the Father is Truth so is the Son because he is perfectly the same with the Father We worship the Father of Truth and the Son the Truth who are two in person but one in consent and agreement and identity of will as Origen * L. viii contra Celsum speaks explaining those words of our Saviour I and the Father are one x. Joh. 30. and I am the Truth xiv 6. We may be confident that the words of both are equally faithfull and true So God the Father bad St. John write of his own sayings as I observed before xxi Rev. 5. And in the same style our Saviour commands him to write of himself These things saith the Amen the faithfull and true witness iii. Rev. 14. John Baptist had said as much before iii. Joh. 34. He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God To which the words of our Saviour in another place of that Gospell perfectly accord xii 49 50. I have not spoken of my self but the Father which sent me he gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak And I know that his commandment is EVERLASTING LIFE whatsoever I speak therefore even as the Father said unto me so I speak And 4. he hath no less Power then he hath Truth but being the Son of God the heir of all things can make good his gracious promises and put us into the possession of the Eternall Inheritance which we expect as coheirs with him He was declared the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead i. Rom. 4. according to his own prayer just before he offered up himself to God Father the hour is come glorify thy Son that thy Son may glorify thee As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternall life to as many as thou hast given him xvii Joh. 1 2. And can we think 5. that he will not faithfully execute this trust and imploy his power for the end to which it was given him He would not then be like his Father who keepeth Truth for ever As he also most certainly will being the same Jesus yesterday and to day and for ever xiii Heb. 8. For if Moses was faithfull in the house of another wherein he was but a Servant no doubt our Lord who is a Son over his own house or family iii. Heb. 6. will not fail to discharge his royall office with all exactness but manifest himself to be like his Name The Word of God xix Rev. 13. Faithfull and true ver 11. This RECORD concerning him St. John thought so weighty and secure an evidence that he concludes all good Christians as sure of Eternall Life as if it were already in their hands For after he had said here in the words I am explaining that God hath given us i.e. made us a promise of Eternall Life which is in his Son he adds immediately which is the Second thing I intended to note that we have eternall life Which cannot signify less then that we have such a good right to it that we may account it ours The reason is because he that effectually believes in Jesus hath him in whose power it is to give it and who hath passed his word many a time that he will bestow it So you reade ver 12. He that hath the Son hath life He may be as sure of it as if it were in his present possession for by faith in Christ he is united to him who is the fountain and well-spring of life and bliss and stands ingaged divers ways to make all the Members of his Body happy with himself For to as many as received him he gave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power or authority to become the Sons of God i. Joh. 12. who may legally claim the consummation of their adoption in the Eternall Inheritance They are by his grant unquestionable heirs of it and have such a strong title to it that they can never be defeated of it This heavenly Estate is in them as Lawyers speak though they be not in it They have an indisputable right I mean to it and may call it theirs though they be not yet seised of it and have not taken possession which in due time none can hinder or debar them of So the Apostle would have the Faithfull stedfastly believe for this was the very end for which he recorded the Evidences forementioned that they might know they have eternall life ver 13. which he repeats often in his Gospell as you may reade iii. Joh. 36. v. 24. vi 47. where he asserts this in the most earnest manner and assures them that he spake of this matter out of certain knowledge Verily verily I say unto you He that believeth on me hath everlasting life He is a most happy man and may look upon himself as owner of more then all this world is worth Which he can never lose though he be not yet entred upon his inheritance because it is in the custody of him who hath
apparition of Angels was wont to be so surprising as to dazzle mens eyes and make them bow their faces to the ground xxiv Luk. 5. And therefore such a glorious splendour as this equalling that of the Sun might well make the Apostles fall prostrate upon the earth in great fear or amazement But then our Lord presently came and comforted them by a gracious touch bidding them arise and not be afraid though they saw such a light and heard such a voice as this to which indeed they had not been accustomed but was the most amiable and ought to be the most welcome of any that could salute the eyes and ears of mankind St. Mark it is observable says that before this voice came out of the heavenly glory they were sore afraid ix 6. i. e. were so amazed at such an unwonted sight or as Proclus * Orat. viii in Transfigur Domini calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the strangeness and unexpectedness of the Divine Brightness shining on them that it put them quite beside themselves But that it was a sweet mixture of those devout passions fear and joy is manifest from the foregoing verse with which those words cohere where you reade they were so delighted and ravished with the sight that they thought not of going down from thence any more but were projecting for their perpetuall habitation in that happy place Which Rapture seems to have been a foretaste of the joy which they were to expect when he should ascend to that glorious state which was now represented in his Transfiguration on the Mount Before I conclude this I shall here take notice as I pass to what remains of something that may help to prove our Lord Jesus is the person by whom God always intended to speak his mind to the World For it was at this very time when the Israelites by reason of the terrible sights and thundring noises desired God they might hear his voice no more that he promised to speak to them by such a Prophet as Moses and in a more familiar manner requiring them to hear that person when he came and spake as they themselves desired So you reade xviii Deut. 15 16 17 18. where when they say Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God neither let me see this great fire any more that I die not the Lord said They have well spoken I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and I will put my word in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I have commanded him Which was perfectly fulfilled in our Blessed Saviour whatsoever lesser meaning it might have before who spake the words of God and not of himself but as the Father gave him commandment and was a Prophet like to Moses as in other regards so in this that he was with God upon the Mount heard him speak there to these Israelites his Disciples is commended to them as the person they should hear but in a voice so sweet and in a way so agreeable that they did not wish never to hear it more but rather always to be so happy as to have such friendly converse with Heaven and receive such tokens of God's Fatherly love For as the fire and smoak and darkness together with those terrible noises were testimonies from God to Moses that they who would not hear him but transgressed his Laws should be the objects of his dreadfull displeasure and be destroyed from among their neighbours So this universall light and brightness which smiled on them in the cloud and in his raiment and in his countenance and in his company when these gracious words sounded in their ears were most manifest tokens from heaven of the extraordinary favour of God towards those that obey the Lord Jesus who shall be saved from death and made exceeding happy and glorious The far greater part of the Precepts of the Law being negative as is evident even from the Ten Commandments to say nothing of the computation which the Jews have made of the whole it abounds more with Threatnings and fearfull denunciations of Judgement then it doth with gracious and inviting Promises But most of the Precepts of the Gospell being affirmative obliging us to doe all the good we can and to be abundant in the work of our Lord you reade therefore more frequently of exceeding great and precious Promises to incourage our labour of love then of Threatnings to deterr us from evill doing And consonant to this as that frightfull appearance of old on Mount Sinai was to shew God's anger and fiery indignation against offenders so this comfortable Presence now on Mount Tabor was to represent his loving-kindness and tender mercy to all obedient persons And as the anger of God declared by the fire and smoak was his inflicting Death upon them so his good will declared by this friendly light and clearness in the heavens is his bestowing upon us Life And as by the former Moses was noted by God to be the Minister of death to all transgressours so our Lord was hereby represented as the Minister of Life and Righteousness to all that in him live godly Now that all these Observations are not the product of mere fancy but have some reall truth in them this is none of the least arguments That the Jews themselves * Pirke Eliezer c. xl make it a Question worth the answering why God uttered his voice to Moses out of the midst of the fire and darkness and not rather out of the midst of light Which is a plain acknowledgment of the nobleness and perfection of this way wherein God manifested himself upon the Holy Mount as St. Peter calls it and that it was far more desirable then that wherein he appeared to Moses else they would not have moved this doubt and endeavoured so laboriously to solve it pretending that it was onely to shew in what a dismall condition they were without the Law which was not to be sent till after forty days were past during all which time the Court of the heavenly King was hung with black and not with white Which as it is a frivolous conceit so hath no truth in it For God spake the Ten Words or Commandments out of the fire and smoak before Moses went to stay in the Mount forty days where he onely received the pattern of God's House which he was to make and all belonging to it together with the Two Tables whereon those X Commandments were engraven All the rest of the Laws were spoken to him out of the Tabernacle of the Congregation after he had built it i. Levit. 1. and we do not find then the heavens hung with white to use their phrase as they were now when he spake concerning our Saviour and bad his disciples hear him But I intend not to trouble my self with confuting their idle fancies The use that I make of this Question is That if they would have thought
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
Israel And if we carefully enquite into it we shall find it to have been as clear a Witness that it is in his power and in his purpose to give Eternall Life to all his faithfull subjects I. For first the very end of its appearing was to invest him with the highest office and dignity which from this time he took upon him and exercised whereas before he had lived as a private person So you reade x. Act. 38. that he was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power Which being a ceremony whereby Kings are created we are to understand that by the coming down of the HOLY GHOST he was appointed our Lord and Sovereign one part of whose office is to bestow rewards on those that doe him good and faithfull service Now his Kingdom not being of this World as he professed and as was apparent by his life and death and yet he constantly asserting that he was a King and exercising severall acts of Royall Authority as I have formerly proved we must conclude that by this Vnction he was designed to be a King in the heavens where he disposes of all places and preferments and will promote all his loyall subjects to the greatest honours and dignities There is no reason to doubt of it for the Glory of the Lord which at his Baptism descended on him so as it had never done on any man was the Seal or if you will the Crown of God upon him which markt him to be the Lord of Glory from whom we may expect the blessing of Eternall Life The very opening also of the Heavens at the descent of the HOLY GHOST upon him signified as much as St. Chrysostom thinks and was a plain declaration of the exceeding great favour of God towards us Who now open'd to us as he speaks * Homil. xii in Matthaeum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those gates above and sent the Spirit from thence to call us to our celestiall Country and not simply to call us but with the greatest prerogative for he hath not made us Angels and Archangels but making us the Sons of God and his beloved Sons so he draws us to that heavenly portion II. Which we may with the greater confidence expect because the HOLY GHOST as I observed heretofore not onely came down upon him but rested or took up its abode in him It did not onely overshadow him as the Glory of the Lord did the blessed Virgin but descending on him settled it self in him as its habitation insomuch that every day one might see the Glory of the Lord shining in him Thus John Baptist who was a carefull observer of it relates in i. Joh. 32 33. where he twice takes notice of the abiding and the resting of the HOLY GHOST with him In which Isaac Abarbinel himself in xi Isa a known enemy to Jesus confesses the excellency of Christ's prophecy consists This being one of the Ten privileges which the Messiah he saith shall be indued withall that the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him xi Isa 2. So it did upon our Saviour as an undoubted Prophet testified in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily and therefore He must needs have Life in himself and out of his fulness as St. John speaks we may expect to receive grace for grace For he that bad John baptize you may farther consider told him that this person who had the HOLY GHOST not onely descending on him but residing in him was He that should baptize men with the Holy Ghost Be a King that is in the heavens and have all power committed to him as he would demonstrate by sending the Holy Ghost upon others as now it came upon him And till that time came it was as visible as the Light wherein the HOLY GHOST appeared that it did inhabit in him by the constant sensible effects of his Divine power every-where St. Luke as I observed in the First Part remembers how he returned immediately from Jordan where he was baptized full of the Holy Ghost iv Luk. 1. As was manifest not onely from a number of miraculous operations but from the no-less wonderfull wisedom whereby he spake and opened the ancient Oracles of God For to this end also he was anointed and herein he exercised the authority of a King as the very first place of the Propheticall Books which he expounded clearly tells us iv Luk. 18 19. Where you may note that the great business for which he was anointed by the Spirit was to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. The time of grace that is wherein the good will and pleasure of God was shewn to the world which consists principally in giving remission of sins and eternall Life This he came to proclaim and publish with the power of the HOLY GHOST having all those divine gifts mentioned in xi Isaiah to qualify him for this high office four of which belong to the Mind and was well represented by that luminous body which came down upon him at his Baptism and one to the Will and another to the power of action viz. Wisedome Vnderstanding Counsel Might Knowledge and the Fear of the Lord. He was able on all occasions to speak most divinely to teach as one that had authority to evade all the secret plots which his adversaries had upon him to search into their very hearts and desires to shew the straight way to that bliss which he preached to foil all the power of the Enemy and to raise even the dead to life again Which were evident demonstrations that the Spirit of the Lord rested on him and made him the greatest Prophet that ever was not onely the Preacher but the Giver of ETERNALL LIFE III. For as by this power of the Holy Ghost it was manifest he had Life in himself so God's intention to give this Life to us was apparent from the manner of its descent which is said to have been like a Dove The phrase indeed is dubious and may signify onely that this glorious Body which came down from heaven was in its descent or falling like the coming down of a Dove with its wings spred abroad Yet since St. Luke saith that it came in a bodily shape and the Church though the words do not necessarily inforce it hath thus understood it we may most probably conclude the word Like hath relation not onely to the coming down but to the Dove it self telling us that the form or figure of this celestiall glory which now appeared carried the resemblance of that creature Now to think that this form was assumed without any design at all would be very contrary to common reason which leads us rather to conceive that God would shew at the very first entrance of our Saviour upon his office by this known emblem of meekness and love what great favour and kindness he intended to shew to mankind and with what a tender spirit of gentleness and sweetness our Lord should exercise the Ministry
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
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
then all the glorious host of heaven are such things as they had no imagination of who expected the coming of Christ Much less did they think of being so promoted by him in his heavenly Kingdome that they should at last arrive at the same glory and this clod of earth should be lifted up to the dwellings of Angels and there be fashioned like unto the glorious body of Christ himself These are things as St. Austin you heard said before which are proper to the revelation of the Gospell wherein we reade this unheard-of love so plainly that every child may understand it But without this revelation even they that have got the words sink into the dullest and most gross apprehensions of the future State The Mahometans use these very words to express the felicity they expect in their Paradise saying God hath prepared for his servants such things as eye hath not seen nor the ear heard nor have come up into the heart of man * D. Pocock not ad Gregor Abul Pharaj p. 292. But they mean onely as they themselves explain it virgins with fairer and larger eyes then ever they beheld in this world and such like things which I am ashamed to name beyond which these blockish vicious Arabians were not able to lift their minds They are the words of Maimonides upon this occasion who talks more rationally I shew'd in the beginning of this Treatise then many of his Brethren in whom we find conceptions of the state of the other life little less sensuall then these of Mahomet Blessed be God therefore should we say who hath revealed these unseen unheard-of inconceivable things to his Apostles by his Spirit and made us understand what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints We can never thank him enough who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his leve By whom we understand that flesh and bloud cannot inherit the kingdom of God but we shall be changed and made spirituall and heavenly after the image of him who is the Lord from heaven III. And we are bound to the love of God above all other men in another regard also because he hath given us such Records such Witnesses of this Eternall life far greater then ever the World had seen or heard of before When men saw Abel that first-fruit of righteousness as Theodoret calls him hastily pluckt by the hand of violence before it was ripe and his murtherous Brother Cain survive and take root and build cities there was great danger that men should be tempted to think it was in vain to serve God faithfully there being as yet no hope of the Resurrection to 〈◊〉 mars Souls And therefore God was 〈◊〉 for this reason as * 〈…〉 Theodoret thinâ—â— to manslate Enocâ— a man whose play â—â—â—dingly pleased him to the othere world de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might comfort the hearts of thâ—se who resolutely opposed vice and coâ—â—â—nded for vertue in a wicked Age. And this was apt to revive in all mâ—â—s minds a belief of his Providence and perswade them that piety never went unrewarded but that he who thus honoured Enoch had taken care to recompense righteous Abel Such was the grace of God to men before the law And afterward when the Israelites were greatly degenerate and faln into Idolatry Elias their Prophet was carried in a chariot of fire by a whirlwind into heaven These things were mighty incouragements to good men and were apt to confirm all in the belief of a future life But who is there whose name stands upon record to testify that he saw Enoch snatcht from this mortall life and taken up to God And of Elias his transportation what witness is there more then one till our Saviour's time when three of his Apostles beheld him and Moses too which was more then they knew of appear in glory Whereas we have no â—â—ss then Six Witnesses three in Heaven and three on Earth who many ways testify to us that Jesus is gone into heaven and which is more is on the right hand of God Angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him 1 Pet. iii. 22. All his Apostles likewise saw him ascend thither and he hath appeared to more then one of them since his supereminent exaltation What a vast difference hath his goodness made between us and former times They beheld something of the life to come in Enoch justorum translationem praemonstrans as Irenaeus * Lib. v. cap. 5. speaks who foreshewed the translation of the just but we see it clearly in the Son of God who hath promised to take us up to himself They saw a few beams of this glory in the face of Moses which shone on them when he came down from the Mount but we in the face of Jesus Christ who all the time he was among men shone in such illustrious works that they beheld his glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father and after he ascended to heaven appeared severall times from thence in a light above the brightness of the Sun at mid-day What a vast difference is there between our times and theirs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For faith then was in Shadows as St. Greg. Naz * Orat. xx p. 366. speaks of Enoch's translation and they had not the things themselves clearly revealed to them as we have by the grace of the Gospell which when it appeared was so bright and full of glory that it scattered nay consumed as the other Gregory * Gregor Nyssen Hom. v. in Cantic p. 642. speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all that duskish umbratick representation in types and figures and inlightned all places with the beams of that true light of life and immortality And more then this there is not the least evidence no syllable of any record which testifies that any of these persons had life in themselves to give to their friends or so much as help them forward to Eternall Life No nor do they say that others who fear God shall have the same felicity to which they were carried though their very going thither put pious men in hope of being happy with them in heaven Whereas we have abundant testimonie in so many words that Jesus hath life in himself and is the Resurrection and the Life that we shall live by him and with him that none shall perish who believe on him nor any be able to pluck them out of his hands that He himself will raise them up at the last day and give unto them eternall life v. Joh. 26. vi 57. x. 28. xi 25. vi 40 44 54. Then indeed in those old times was the Infancy of the World and being little Children though they were heirs yet they differed not much from Servants They knew not what their Father intended for them nor understood the inheritance to which they
this testimony x. 34. Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods knowing in your selves that you have in heaven a better and enduring substance This consideration made them look upon the rapine which the seditious people committed in their houses without that dejection which on such occasions appears in other countenances And yet they were men like our selves who walked by faith and not by sight that is did not enjoy the thing it self which they expected 2 Cor. v. 7. And therefore what should hinder the same effect in our hearts if we believe as they did And to shew the mighty power of this heavenly principle these three things may be here pertinently noted out of the records they have left us of their spirit in all their sufferings I. And first I find that when the heaviest cross lay upon them the sense they had of things to come supported them under it with admirable resolution This was the least effect of their holy Faith which made them when the hearts of others sunk under the load and fell down as we say into their knees stand like a strong pillar which bears up the whole weight of the house and never yield at all The thoughts of what our Lord had promised not onely preserved them from murmuring and repining at their present condition knowing what good provision he had made for them hereafter but from fainting and being sluggish in their Ministry For which cause we faint not or do not grow lazy saith St. Paul knowing that is that he who raised up the Lord Jesus would raise up them also for though our outward man perish or wear away yet the inward man is renewed or grows more youthfull day by day 2 Cor. iv 14 16. And 2. this faith also preserved them from swounding fear either of disgrace or pain or death being in nothing terrified by their adversaries saith the same Apostle i. Phil. 28. who seeing them undaunted under all their sufferings had reason to look upon this as an evident token of their perdition and of the Salvation God would give to these his valiant Champions And 3. from sorrowing also and lamenting the loss of any thing because this Good they found was still secure 2 Cor. vi 10. Which made them as he there saith again to be always full of joy though in the eye of the world they lookt very sorrowfully And so lastly they kept their stedfastness and turned not away from the holy commandment delivered unto them Whereby they marvellously promoted Christianity And the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternall glory by Christ Jesus after that they had suffered a while made them perfect stablished strengthened settled them 1 Pet. v. 10. II. But the hope of Eternall life did not merely support and uphold their spirits it wonderfully refreshed and comforted them in all their afflictions so that they durst confidently promise to all other suffering Christians the same heavenly comforts from God Who comforteth us saith St. Paul in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God And our hope of you is stedfast knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings so shall ye be also of the consolation 2 Cor. i. 4 7. Their comfort and rejoycing was the testimony of their conscience that every-where they acted sincerely ver 12. and that they served a good Master who had promised them better fare in the next World where he reigns in full power and glory His Kingdom they knew was not of this World even as he was not of the World and therefore they did not expect he should give them a portion of good things here No He told them plainly in the World ye shall have tribulation but adds in the same breath be of good chear I have overcome the World xvi Joh. 33. III. Which victory of his over death and the grave incouraged them to follow him in all their tribulations not merely with simple comfort but with joy as I have observed already and more then that made them exceeding glad and even shout for joy So our Saviour himself required them to doe when they were reviled and persecuted for his Name sake v. Matt. 12. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven And so they did as St. Paul tells us v. Rom. 2 3. We rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and not onely so but we glory in tribulations also For they had this strong consolation as the Divine Writer to the Hebrews calls it First that nothing either in this World or the other could take away that heavenly Good from them As St. Paul also testifies in that triumph of his viii Rom. 38 39. I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. When their goods were taken away they could make their boast in Christ and say Our inheritance is immovable When they were driven from house and home as we speak they could triumph and say Our house is eternall in the heavens from which none can exclude us When they were in pain they still remembred our Saviour's own words Your joy shall no man take from you In death it self they could glory and say Jesus our Life dies not and because he lives we shall live also And 2. as they knew they could not lose their future Happiness so they knew it to be incomparably greater then all their sufferings viii Rom. 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory 2 Cor. iv 17. Where there is a Third Reason of their exceeding great joy because these afflictions which they endured for Christ's sake would increase their glory hereafter and make their crown beyond all expression heavier And more then that 4. hereby not onely their present afflictions were alleviated and seemed triviall but they gave them a clearer sight of that most excellent glory beforehand while they looked not as it there follows ver 18. at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen The removall of these things here below from before their eyes fixed them more stedfastly on the invisible World Now their joy was full as our Saviour speaks xvi Joh. 24. now it overflowed when all things else had forsaken them and nothing else but those unseen enjoyments remained to comfort them This heavenly glory shone brightest in the dark and horrible pit where their afflictions brought them sweeter contentment then ever was the fruit of any earthly pleasure And so we may still