of the Holy Spirit which was to be upon the Messiah for that of him and not of Solomon that Psalm was written is clear from the foregoing Verse where speaking of the same Person he saith Ver. 6. Heb. 1.8 9. Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever And therefore by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews is rightly applied unto our Saviour Joh. 3.34 of whom John Baptist gives this Testimony That God gave unto him the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. not in that stinted and limited measure wherein formerly it was dispensed but suited to the Largeness of an Immence Donor and to the Capacity of an Infinite Receiver who was God as well as Man and by that neer Union did infuse into his Manhood whatever is conceiveable of Power Purity or Perfection And that this is the meaning of Jesus being the Christ i.e. anointed with the Spirit two places amongst many other will clear one is that of our Saviour in his Sermon Luk. 4.18 wherein he applies unto himself that passage in the Prophet Isay The Spirit of the Lord is upon me wherefore he hath anointed me i. e. By putting his Spirit upon me he hath abundantly fitted me for my employment Another place is that of the Disciples in their Prayer to God Act. 4.27 where applying Davids words in the second Psalm unto our Saviour Herod say they and Pilate together with the people of Israel were gathered against thy holy Child Jesus whom thou hast anointed i. e. as Peter explains it in another place Whom thou hast anointed with the Holy Spirit and with Power Act. 10.38 thereby enabling and qualifying him for so great and weighty an undertaking And so much for the first Observation Doctrine 2 The second Observation is this That the way infallibly to prove that our Saviour is the true Messiah is impartially to weigh the truth of his Predictions Before I address my self to the proof of this I must answer an Objection which many may be ready to make viz. That this is a thing sufficiently believed already and therefore it will be only lost labour to go about to prove it To which I answer 1. That the greatest part of those who call themselves Christians are not so indeed For as the Apostle saies of his Thessalonians so may we say of most in our respective Auditories 1 Thes 3.2 All have not Faith There being in all places many too many whose Conversation should the Apostle have seen he would have told them as he did the Philippians weeping That they were enemies of the Cross of Christ for their belly was their God and they gloried in their shame Phil. 3.18 19. For let us not deceive our selves as if Viciousness and Pravity of Life could be reconciled with Sincerity and Truth of Faith but rather let us argue with David The wickedness saith he Psal 36.1 of the wicked saith in my heart there is no fear of God before his eyes i.e. when I see the Actions of wicked men I do as evidently perceive that inwardly they fear not God as if they did in express terms proclaim and avouch it So may we without any uncharitableness conclude from the Lives of most Christians that their hearts are full of Unbelief For there is so necessary so inseparable a Connexion between Faith and Obedience that they can no more be severed than Fire and Heat And therefore since the fruits of Unbelief are so apparent every where it is our duty not only to Preach but to Prove Jesus to be Christ that so we may root out those innate and soul-destroying Seeds 2. My second Answer to that Objection is That the firmest and best rooted Faith is yet capable of an Encrease and Progress He that believeth a little ought to believe much and he that believeth much may believe more and therefore Arguments which do enforce grounds of Faith can never be unseasonable for which reason it is that though these Disciples did believe on our Saviour had confessed him and in token of firm affiance did promise to dye with him rather than to forsake him yet our Saviour thought fit to fortifie and strengthen them by yet more urging this new Motive Sc. the event of his Predictions Having thus cleared my way to the Doctrine and shewed the necessity of preaching it I affirm That the way to be infallibly assured that our Saviour is the Messiah is to observe the Event of his Precitions Because First Reason 1 This is the way which our Saviour laies most stress upon both here and in other places here it was the very scope and design of his foretelling the Treachery of Judas I tell you saith he before it comes to pass that when it doth come to pass you may believe that I am And again when he had told them of his own departure Joh. 14.29 and that he would send the Comforter that is the Holy Spirit to supply his room and to make up their Joyes he adds And now I tell you before it come to pass Joh. 16.4 that when it doth come to pass ye might believe Again when he had told his Disciples of that violent and inhumane Usage they should meet with These things saith he have I told you that when the time shall come ye may remember that I told you of them i. e. And from thence gather a full and peremptory assurance of my Truth and Veracity So in those many Predictions which we have in Mat. 24. our Saviour subjoyns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mar. 13.23 but you look to it behold I have foretold you all things So that our Saviour so often urging and insisting upon his Prophesies seems to intimate that he was not unwilling to venture his whole Cause upon the force of that single Argument Secondly Reason 2 This is the way which God himself did long before point to and warrant us in the Use of For he foretels by Moses I will raise them up a Prophet from among their Brethren Deut. 18.18 like unto thee and I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him This Prophesie our Saviour hath a peculiar respect to throughout all this Gospel of John as Ch. 5.46 Had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me for he wrote of me And Chap. 6.38 I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me And Chap. 7.16 My Doctrine is not mine but his that sent me which he oftentimes repeats from whence many of the people Ver 40. who heard him conclude This is of a truth the Prophet i. e. That Prophet whose coming Moses had foretold So in that last Prayer which our Saviour made on earth in behalf of his Disciples Joh. 17.6.8 he useth these words I have manifested thy Name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the World For I have given unto
Rev. 19.20 So that our Saviour and his Apostles do both grant that Miracles may be done by a false Power and likewise affirm that whoever hath nothing else to alledge for his Religion but meerly Miracles that same is Antichrist For Truth stands not in need of such outward Circumstances to underprop it and according to the Scripture Miracles are not to prove the Doctrine but the Doctrine is to prove the Miracles whether they are from God or not But yet saith our Saviour with those Arts and waies he shall so far prevail as even almost to stagger the belief of the very Elect Many shall follow their destructive Doctrines 2 Pet. 2.2 Rev. 13. saith Peter the World shall wonder after the Beast saith John and he shall deceive the Inhabitants of the earth c. all which places do note an almost Universal seduction And if any ask how it comes to pass that Corruption so contrary to the received Tenets and Maximes of Christianity should be so generally embraced 2 Thes 2 10 11 the Apostle Paul hath given it Because men have not received the love of the Truth that they might be saved therefore shall God send upon them the strong working of deceit 2 Thes 2.9 that they should believe a Lye i.e. Men being unwilling to give themselves up to the guidance of Truth which shines clearly by its own Light both in Scriptures and in their own Understandings therefore shall God suffer them to be so brutish and Sottish as to quit their Reason and to be led up and down by any fond and ridiculous Errour as those Impostors shall guide them I have done with the Prediction of our Saviour concerning Antichrist V. Canenes Concil Trident. and if upon your enquiry you find that there is that Religion in the world which hath espoused and embodied into their Confession of Faith all the Opinions of Antichrist If there be that Church in the world which still pretends to do and for ought I know doth reall Miracles upon which they bottome their Plea to be the true Church if they maintain Persecution Violence and Fraud if they have dispirited and disenvigoured Religion by their worldly Pompe and Gallantry and make thriving in this world a sign that God doth love and favour them all which are Antichristian Tenets and Practices If there be that Person in the world who hath assumed the very stile of Antichrist who hath trampled upon Kings and trode upon the Necks of Emperours who in his Canon Law is called God and like God doth dispense with all both Divine and Humane Laws then first certainly Antichrist is already come and to deny it is to deny as great evidence and notoriety of fact as to deny it is day when the Sun shineth And secondly He which foretold that Antichrist should thus come with all these Circumstances that I have summed up he was undoubtedly a true Prophet the true Messiah for to repeat the Argument in my Text He told us these things before they came to pass and we find that they are come to pass and therefore he is The Use that I shall make of this whole Discourse is 1. To convince the Unresolved 2. To confirm those who are already setled Use 1 The first use shall be to convince the Unresolved I have already spoken something to awaken those that are resolute and peremptory Unbelievers but there are many who may be yet in their enquiring doubting and disputing state who are not unwilling to embrace the Faith of Christ but they find it to be so repugnant to every thing of natural Reason within them and likely to be attended with so much hazard and danger that they are either ashamed or afraid to own it but yet are not fixed in positive denial of it but through uncertainty they are alwaies Anxious and wavering Such as these ought to be tenderly and gently dealt with and two things I shall propose to them which may help to alleviate and to abate their Prejudices 1. That Christian Religion is in no part of it unreasonable for since the Proof of it in general depends upon the clearest Demonstration viz. The fulfilling of Prophesies then the belief of it must needs be rational I know very well that the things contained in the Scriptures viz. The Incarnation of the Son of God three Persons of the Godhead the Immediate Acting of the Holy Spirit upon the heart of Believers and the like are all Mysterious and no waies reconcileable to Humane Apprehension but then we must consider that these things are not proposed to our Understandings to comprehend them but meerly to our Faith to believe them which where there is a firm and demonstrable ground of Beliefe may be done even to many things that we understand not And the great hindrance that hath kept Christian Faith from entring into the minds of men is want of attendance to that distinction for many have both confounded themselves and subverted the Faith of others by pressing upon them a comprehension of what is no waies by us Intelligible And therefore all those Disputes about Predestination Trinity Resurrection Incarnation and the like are for the greatest part of them unprofitable and dangerous because they are not content barely to assert the Truth which is then best done when it is put into the plainest and most unscholastick Language of Scripture but our Arguers do over and above enquire de modo and labour to give reasons for those stupendious and amazing Mysteries which the Apostle Paul cries out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon and for the most part ends the Dispute with a Reproof of the Disputer And therefore such of you as are not yet fixed in your belief set your selves purely upon this Article viz. to enquire whether Jesus be the Christ and never give it over till it hath pleased God fully to confirm you in it And my Reasons for this Advice are these three 1. Because this is the most effectual and ready way to prove unto you the Divine Authority of the Scriptures Those who set upon this work by endeavouring to prove the Scriptures to be the Word of God as they lye in gross and in their diffused Bulk proceeding by Chapter and Verse do undertake a Tedious and Impossible Task for there those ordinary and trivial Objections of mistakes and variations in Copies mistranslations and the like are never to be assoiled but if you draw the several lines in Scripture into their Center and contract them into Christ as you use to do the Sun-beams into a burning-glass then do they cast a quick and vigorous lustre sufficient to enlighten and warm even the most stiffe and rigid Opposer He that would demonstrate the Providence of God would not I suppose begin with the Minutiae mundi the lesser things of the World as Flies and Insects but he would fix as David doth upon the Sun or some noble and conspicuous part whose Use is undeniable and
them the words which thou gavest me wherein our Saviour uses the very expressions that are in the Prophesie of Moses Now if any should object as the Jews did Joh. 8.13 that our Saviour bore record of himself and therefore his Record was not true At least we ought to have some more convincing Arguments to prove his Truth than barely his own Testimony God hath in that Prophesie of Moses both made and answered that Objection If saith he Deu. 18.20 21. thou say in thy heart how shall we know the word or the Prediction which the Lord hath not spoken When a Prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord if the thing follow not nor come to pass that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken From whence it follows by the Rule of Contraries that if a thing be spoken in the name of the Lord and doth come to pass it is a certain sign that the Lord hath spoken it According unto that of Jeremy When a Prophet Prophecieth of peace Jer. 28.9 and so consequently of any thing else when the word of the Prophet shall come to pass then shall the Prophet be known that the Lord hath truly sent him So that while we are upon this way of enquiry after the truth of our Saviour by seeking whether his Predictions have been fulfilled or not we are in Gods way and have his advice to warrant us Lastly The fulfilling of Prophecies is a much more sure and satisfactory proof than the doing of Miracles As in Natural things an Argumentative and Rational evidence is more convincing than a sensible one for the one depends upon an alterable Principle that is the temper of the Body which is subject to many changes and mistakes but the other is bottomed upon an Eternal and Immutable Principle i.e. Right Reason which never varies but like Light is alwaies in every place the same Hence many Philosophers have doubted whether Fire be hot or Snow be white in their own Nature or not because were mans body less patible or his Eye of another Figure he would not feel that force in the one nor discern that colour in the other But none ever yet doubted whether Three Angles in a Triangle were equal to two right nor whether all Lines drawn from the same Center unto the same Circumference were equal with many such like Propositions because they are capable of such a Demonstration as passeth from the Eye into the Understanding So is it in spiritual things those who believe any thing meerly upon the Credit of Miracles have no firm Basis to ground upon because in spite of that received distinction that the devil can do Mira but he cannot do Miracula our Saviour tels us that Antichrist should do great Miracles for sure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Prodigies and Wonders comprehend as much strangeness in them as the word Miracle amounts to And in the Law God cautions his People Deut. 13.1 2. that if a Prophet did give a sign or a Wonder yet if he taught false Doctrine he should not be hearkned to which plainly implies that a false Prophet may do Miracles so that he who relies wholly on them is not certain but he may be deceived Our Saviour therefore though he did many Miracles yet he doth not bottome his plea to be the Messiah meerly upon them Luk. 16. ult Joh. 5 31. but appeals altogether unto Moses and the Prophets and so did his Apostles after him and therefore the Apostle Peter after he had related that he had heard a voice from heaven 2 Pet. 1.19 whereby God owned Christ for his beloved Son and commanded all to hear him yet he concludes that we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prophesies recorded in the Old Testament and fulfilled by our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more firm and stable foundation of Faith than that Voice Because that was a Transient whereas the fulfilling of Prophecies is a standing Miracle Therefore as some argued about John Baptist Joh 10.41 John say they did no miracle but all things that John spake of this man were true whereupon many believed on our Saviour So now upon supposition that Miracles were ceased which I will never grant so long as I see daily supernatural effects of the Word in working Conversion which when I was last here I did demonstrate to be as great a Miracle as the raising of Christ from the dead and the Apostle Paul doth every where cite that as the greatest which ever God did but if Miracles were ceased yet if we find that all things which our Saviour said are true That what he foretold should come to pass is come to pass then have we an undoubted Evidence that he was the True Messiah and therefore to be believed and trusted in The Use I make of this Use 1 is to exhort all persons that they will take this method which our Saviour hath prescribed and by comparing his Predictions with their Events ascertain themselves that they have not followed 2 Pet. 1.16 as the Apostle Peter speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Artificially devised and well plotted Fables but that they may say with Paul 2 Tim. 1.12 Joh. 6.14 We know whom we have believed we have searched and tried and we find that this is indeed that Prophet which should come into the World And this scrutiny I earnestly recommend especially to two sorts of Persons 1. To Preachers of the Gospel how unfit they are to convert others which is the only duty and end of Preaching who are not yet converted themselves I need not mention And therefore it ought to be presumed of every Gospel Minister that he himself is abundantly satisfied with the truth of what he delivers and that he bespeaks his Hearers in Davids words Come unto me Psal 66.16 all ye that are yet in your doubts and I will tell you what God hath done for my soul i.e. What means God hath used to free me from the same unbelief which is natural to all Such an one who is thus furnished must not only barely Preach but he must Prove He must not only Instruct but he must Convince Gainsayers and leave the Unbeliever without excuse that he may have no retreat to defend his Disobedience but meerly his Obstinacy Act. 9.20 Thus did the Apostle Paul who as soon as ever he was converted went and preached Jesus in their Synagogues that he is the Son of God And again Ver. 22. saies the Text The more they raged the more confident he grew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arguing or strongly proving that Jesus is the very Christ Act. 28 23. And thus he dealt with those who came to him at Rome He expounded unto them the Kingdom of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Testifying or vehemently urging as the word signifies Act. 20.21 and perswading the things of Jesus from morning untill evening out of the Law and the Prophets Thus likewise
what they had seen untill the Son of man were risen from the dead The Evangelist adds that they kept the matter private to themselves but questioned or disputed with one another what the rising from the dead should mean at which time it seems they were so utterly ignorant of the thing that they scarce understood the meaning of the word Hence was it that even then when the Resurrection of our Saviour had cleared the Point 1 Cor. 15.12 and left scarce room for the least umbrage of suspition to enter yet there were some in the Church of Corinth who utterly denied it and other 2 Tim. 2.18 of the Sect of Hymenaeus and Philetus who affirmed that it was past already So hard a matter was it for this Doctrine to get ground in the world 1 Tim. 13.6 and therefore the Apostle when he sums up the Mystery of Godliness i.e. as it is revealed by our Saviour he makes this to be one great part of it that Christ was not only risen from the dead but believed on in the World The subduing of the world unto the perswasion and credence of our Saviours Resurrection being every whit as miraculous as the raising him The Reasons why this appears so to incredible to natural men are 1. Because naturally men do doubt the Immortality of the Soul I know very well that there are many excellent Discourses about this in the Heathen Writers and Plato Phade in a certain Dialogue of his brings in his Master Socrates disputing about it with as much strength of Reason and clearness of Expression as the wit of man can possibly invent but after all his fine sayings he concludes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But expresly to affirm that the matter is indeed so as I have discoursed of doth by no means become an understanding man And so makes it at the best only a probable opinion without daring to think as our modern Demonstrators do that he had fully and satisfactorily cleared it And therefore his so much magnified Socrates when he was now to be led unto execution takes his farewell of the Judges in these words which discover nothing but his uncertainty Apol. I go to dye and you to live and which of us do go unto the best estate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Senect none knows but God alone So Tully the most Learned of the Romans calls Immortality an Errour which he will by no means part with because he is pleased and delighted with it Wherein he discovers his Wishes De Animâ rather than his Hopes For as Tertullian excellently argues to suppose the soul Immortal it was in the Heathen nothing else but a bold and vain presumption since it alwaies lay in his power to destroy the Soule who made it and whether he would or not he had not as to them revealed his pleasure And indeed the words of Job in his despair are the highest reasoning of most Philosophers c. 14.10 Man saith he dieth and wasteth away yea man giveth up the Ghost and where is he And Solomon in the person of a natural man asks a question which he challengeth the World to answer Eccl. 3.21 Who knoweth the spirit of a man that goeth upward and the spirit of a beast that goeth downward to the Earth Who knoweth i.e. upon the principles of meer Reason and Research of Natural Causes who is able to resolve it Whereupon among the Jews Act 23.8 the Sadduces who denied the Resurrection denied likewise both Angel and Spirit i. e. the surviving of the soul as well as the restoring of the body So that since men do naturally doubt of the less it is no wonder if they despair of the greater They who are apt to give the soul it self for lost how can they imagine that the body should ever be recovered 2. The second Reason why natural men are so apt to disbelieve the Resurrection is because they make a wrong estimate of Gods Power We see in this World nothing better and therefore we are ready to measure God by our selves and believe no more of his Power than what falls within the compass of Humane probability which is the true and fixed ground of all that Atheistical Distrust which in all times doth so much abound among men Who is the Lord said Pharaoh Exod. 5.2 that I should let Israel go And Who is Jehova saies Insulting Senacherib 2 Reg 18.35 that he should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand Nay not only these wicked men but the Saints of old have most stumbled when they have been put to Act Faith upon Gods Omnipotency Gen. 18.11 Thus Sarah when she heard the promise of a Son she laughed What saith she now I am old shall I have pleasure my Husband being old also Wherein she musters up Arguments to make her Distrust seem Rational So Moses finds out many excuses to avoid being sent upon Gods Errand I am not Eloquent faith he Exod. 4.10 but slow of speech and slow of Tongue And at last in plain terms he entreats that God would find out a fitter Messenger to go upon his Embassie And whence did this proceed Ver. 13. but from his distrust of Gods Power to Qualifie him first and to Protect him afterwards Thus David Jeremy Zachary nay almost all when a stress or difficulty hath been laid upon their Faith they have been ready to cry out with Nicodemus How can these things be Thus it fares in the Case of the Resurrection Men do first confine the Omnipotence of God to their own Notions and then deny what otherwise they would never have doubted of Mat. 22.29 Our Saviour therefore tells the unbelieving and gainsaying Sadduces Ye erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the Power of God not knowing the Scriptures which declare the Resurrection nor the Power of God which is able to effect it 3. The third Reason of this Unbelief is because Natural men are guided only by sensible Impressions what they see that they believe and are not without a great deal of difficulty carried one jot farther Hence were the Jews so importunate with our Saviour to shew them a sign from Heaven Mat. 16.1 And when our Saviour told fome of his Followers in answer to their Demand that it was the work of God i.e. well-pleasing to Joh. 6.30 31. and required by him to believe on him whom he had sent They presently reply upon him What sign shewst thou then that we may see and believe thee So those Scoffers in Isaiah when the Propher had denounced terrible things against them Let him make speed say they and hasten his work that we may see it That is you speak much to us of what shall come hereafter but we see no danger near and therefore we will not believe you Thus those wretched Pharisees when they had nailed our Saviour to the Cross Let him now say they come down from the Cross and we