Selected quad for the lemma: hand_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
hand_n	behold_v	lord_n	see_v	5,856	5	3.6061	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66425	A sermon upon the resurrection preached before the Right Honourable Sir Edward Clark, Lord-Mayor, the Aldermen, and Governors of the several hospitals of the city, at St. Bridget's Church, on Easter-Monday, April 5, 1697 : being one of the anniversary spittal-sermons / by John Lord Bishop of Chichester.	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.	1697 (1697)	Wing W2732; ESTC R7557	14,394	37

him away whilst we slept When there is such a Perverseness of Mind they will cavil eternally and will question their own Senses rather than own that which they do not like and is to be and may be proved by that means to them Thus our Saviour resolves the point Luke 16. 31. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead It was to little purpose to labour to convince such it was in our Saviour's Phrase to cast Pearl before Swine to give them an occasion of renewing their invectives and reproaches Such as these were not worthy of such favours So Lactantius saith He would not shew himself to the Jews lest he should bring them to repentance and heal the wicked For 3. The nature of the thing would not admit it that he should thus be shewn to all the people For Faith is all along made a necessary qualification for Salvation If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10. 9. But where had there been any room or occasion for the Exercise of this so celebrated a Grace if our Saviour had openly been shewn and appeared to all the People after his Resurrection This had been such Evidence as none could have gainsaid And then there would have been no Mark nor Character by which the Believer and Sincere could have been distinguished from the Unbeliever and Caviller nor would Faith have been a Virtue worthy of Praise or Reward more than the Exercise of our Senses is upon their proper and natural Objects Our Saviour said to Thomas John 20. 25. c. Who when he beheld in his Hands the print of the Nails and thrust his Hand into his Side acknowledged him and said My Lord and my God Thomas because thou hast seen me thou hast believed blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed To believe that Christ was risen when he saw him and put his Finger into the print of the Nails and thrust his Hand into his wounded Side was an Evidence no more to be questioned than whether he himself was alive and sensible And therefore if there was to be such a thing as Faith or a believing where they have not seen If Faith is a Virtue commendable and worthy of such a Reward as Eternal Life 't is fit there should be a way of trial by which the candid and ingenuous the honest and sincere may be distinguished from the perverse and obstinate And as the Apostle saith there must be Heresies and Sects that they which are approved and sincere may be made manifest So 't is fit that there should not be the utmost Evidence given that can be or that Cavillers may require for the trial of sincerity and whether persons will use that attention and diligence in inquiring that candour and sincerity in entertaining as Faith is not to be obtained nor can truly be called Faith without And this is a reason why Christ after his Resurrection was openly shew'd to chosen Witnesses and not to all the People Thus Tertullian saith He did not offer himself to the view of the People lest the Wicked should be delivered from their error He adds and that Faith which has assigned to it no small reward might meet with difficulty Then it is Faith and Faith is a Virtue as it was in those St. Peter speaks of Whom having not seen ye love And in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory But yet however Though Faith in Christ and a Belief of his Resurrection be thus necessary to all to those that saw him not as well as to those that saw him yet there must be an Evidence sufficient to induce them to believe that did not see and to render them inexcusable that believe not which should be the Subject of the next General viz. 3. That it is a sufficient Proof of Christ's Resurrection and a sufficient reason for our belief of it That he was thus openly shewn to such Witnesses though not to all the People There was an absolute necessity for the Proof of Christ's Resurrection that he should appear plainly and visibly to some and to whom sooner than to those that had been before conversant with him and were chosen by God Himself to be the Witnesses of it But when this was done and they were sufficiently empowred to testify of it there was no necessity that the same Evidence should be given to others that was given to them for the reasons before laid down Where I have already prevented my self so that I need not further to inlarge upon this Argument And so I shall proceed to the 4th General which is 4. To consider the Testimony which is given by Christ's Resurrection to the Doctrine Taught by the chosen Witnesses and that is Christ's being ordained by God to be the Judge of Quick and Dead In which there are these Four Things to be considered 1. That there is a Time of Reckoning and a Judgment to Come when all men shall give an account of themselves to God and be determined to Happiness or Misery according to what they have done in this Life 2. That Christ is ordained to be at that Time the Judge of Quick and Dead 3. That this is as certain so to be as that God raised up Christ from the Dead 4. That this is a Doctrine of such importance and universal concernment to all Mankind that it is to be preached to all the People 1. That there is a Judgment to come This World is a state of Trial where every person has a Work to Do an Office to Discharge a Talent to Improve and a Time for it But the time of reckoning when a Person is to give an account of his Stewardship is reserved to another Life And indeed the nature of this state will not admit that it should be otherwise and that persons here should receive their finall Doom For here God rules in an ordinary way by the Ministry of Men and under these circumstances it is not possible to lay Judgment to the Line and Righteousness to the Plummet and to bring all things to a right and unerring determination For men can judge only according to outward appearance and cannot understand what are the secret and original Springs of Action which often are lodged very deep and yet which must be known if we would pass an impartial Judgment Again There are Actions of the Heart which betray not themselves by any External Signs and Indications and so are only knowable to God the searcher of the Heart Again There are even some External Actions that a person is himself only privy to as secret Injustice on one side and private Charity on the other when the left hand knows not what the right hand doth Again There

things and so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him But this brings on the Second General viz. 2. Why was not Christ shewn after his Resurrection to all the people as well as unto chosen Witnesses Our B. Saviour in the time of his Three Years Ministry went about doing good v. 38. and came as he saith of himself eating and drinking and freely conversed as there was occasion but though he abode 40 days upon the Earth after his Resurrection he seemed then rather to retire from Conversation than to use it as before and his Visits were rather occasional than continued Now it might be thought to have render'd his Resurrection more unquestionable and would have been more to the satisfaction of Mankind if he had as commonly and publickly shewn himself alive after his Resurrection as before his Death to all the people For in such a case what a Man sees himself is better than a Thousand Witnesses and the more there are that see it the stronger is the Evidence to those that have not seen Our Apostle foresaw this Objection and that the Jews at that time might cavil at what the Witnesses Taught concerning our Saviour's Resurrection and would probably say If he were risen Why did he not appear to us as well as to you We heard him Teach for Years together before his Death We saw him Crucified and knew that he died And if he is risen from the Dead the best Proof of it to us is to have him shew himself to us to be alive as ye say he did to you Therefore the Apostle prevents this when he saith God shewed him openly not to all the people but unto witnesses chosen before of God even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead Where the Apostle grants That Christ was not shewn to all the People after the Resurrection but withal he insinuates this to be no prejudice to the proof of it forasmuch as he was manifested to Witnesses chosen before of God and that did Eat and Drink with him afterwards In which there are several things included As 1. That it was not necessary that Christ should be openly shewn to all the people to induce and oblige them to the belief of his Resurrection 2. That if there were sufficient Testimony of it by persons in all respects credible and as far as Testimony could go That was a sufficient Motive for credibility and a sufficient Argument to oblige those to believe that did not see Indeed there is no other way than Testimony to induce those to the belief of it that had not the opportunity of Seeing Hearing Eating and Drinking and Conversing with our Saviour in matters depending upon Testimony and where there cannot be any other Evidence as it is in Matters of Fact remote in time or place all that is to be relied on is the reasonableness and possibility of the thing and the credibility of the Testificators As to the possibility it may with great reason be asked as it is Acts 26. 8. Why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead Or that a Dead Person should revive And as to the credibility of the Persons What can be a greater Evidence than that they saw and felt that he had Flesh and Bones beheld his Wounds Eat and Drank and for 40 days together on and off conversed with him So that the proofs they had were infallible and of the greatest certainty They had such an Evidence as was to themselves undeniable and which shewed him to be the self-same person that they conversed with before his Death and that they saw Dead Thus St. John represents it in a sensible way That which was seen from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of Life For the Life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness c. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you And the Evidence they gave to others was as convincing they professed it boldly in the midst of the most apparent dangers and notwithstanding the threats of a provoked and implacable Adversary were ready to and did seal it with their Blood And that nothing might be wanting to give the greatest corroboration and strength to their Evidence they did work such Miracles as were manifestly the effect of a Divine Power and which they professed to work only in the name of Christ whom they affirmed to be risen from the Dead Acts 3. 16. 4. 10. So that if ever there was sufficient Evidence for a Matter of Fact this is the Evidence And where this was there needed no more But however because it may still be urged That there was a shorter way to this and there needed no Witnesses nor Miracles if he had appeared to the People and therefore why was not this allowed to them as well as the Apostles I Answer 1. It was allowed to a sufficient Number besides the Apostolical Witnesses for besides his first Apparition and the casual Visits he gave to the Apostles there was a solemn Assembly in a Mountain of Galilee where he appointed to meet them And there or elsewhere was he seen by above Five hundred Bretbren at once Nay we are told That he was seen of them Forty days and talked with them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God 2. The Christians are called always in the Phrase of this Book of the Acts the Brethren Believers or Disciples But by the People is meant the Promiscuous Multitude of the Jews And then we are to consider what the mass of that People was they were the obstinate incredulous People that imputed his Works to Beelzebub that cried out Crucify him and wished his Blood to be upon them and their Children They were such as were no longer to be a People and whose House and Temple Church and Nation were to be laid desolate And so had no Pretence to such a Saviour But as for such among them as were sincere and ingenuous and could be prevailed with here was Evidence sufficient and if upon such Evidence they could not be prevailed with to believe nothing would prevail upon them nor was any other means due to them Thus we find it was with the Jews in another Case some of whom that saw Lazarus after his Resurrection went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done John 11. 46. And the Chief Priests when the Watch gave them an account of what happened upon the Resurrection of our Saviour and told them how the Angel appeared and came and roll'd back the Stone and that for fear of him they did shake and became as dead Men yet remained obstinate and by large Money prevailed upon the Soldiers to say His disciples came by night and stole