17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we the living the remaining that is the faithful which shall then be alive and remain upon the Earth St. Paul speaks of the Faithful here under a twofold denomination viz. of the Dead and the Living and speaking of the Living he uses the first Person Plural as being himself yet in the number of the Living not that he should be of that number at the Day of Judgment Thus frequent (c) Tollit animos Tullus Hostilius quasi ipse mandâ—sset spes inde nostris metus hostibus Flor. lib. 1. c. 3. Stipendiariam nobis Provinciam fecit Scipio Africanus Hispaniam lib. ii c. 17. Creticum Bellum si vera volumus noscere nos secimus lib. iii. c. 7. Examples are to be found where Historians Relating matters of Fact which happened long before their own Times use the expressions of we and our we Fought our Army Conquer'd that is the People of which I am now a Member or the Army of this People We the English Conquer'd France in the Reign of King Henry V. and if this had been Prophesy'd of it might have been said we shall Conquer c. Our Saviour speaking to the Jews says Moses gave you not that bread from Heaven when they had told him before our Fathers did eat Maâ—na in the Desart Joh. vi 31 32. And it might as well have been said to the Patriarchs you shall eat manna in the Wilderness as to the Jews of our Saviour's time you did eat it A Prophet foretelling things to come to pass after his own death might say We shall do so and so that is those of this Nation and People shall do it to which I belong and therefore reckon my self in the Number tho' I can have no share in the Action nor live to see it In the same manner St. Paul says we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed 1 Cor. xv 51. that is we who are not yet in the number of the Dead but are to â—e reckoned amongst the present and future Living As when he writes to the Ephesians among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by Nature the Children of wrath even as others Eph. ii 3. it is Paraphras'd by Dr. Hammond thus among who we of the Gentile Church of Rome from whence I write formerly lived c. It is certain St. Paul expected his own death 2 Tim. iv 6. but it is usual with him to speak in his own person by a Figure and sometimes even when he mentions himself by Name 1 Cor. iv 6. and he expresly declares that he did neither by word nor letter signifie that the Day of Christ was at hand 2 Thes ii 2. V. The Day of Judgment is describ'd with so much Solemnity and so many Particulars that it may seem impossible for them all to be dispatched in the compass not only of one but of many Days But (d) Mede Epist xx the Jews from whom our Saviour and his Apostles took the expression of the Day of Judgment understood by it a Time of many years continuance and sometimes the term even of a thousand years And by Day in the Language of the Scriptures is to be understood Season or any period and distinction of time with respect to some particular thing or occasion as these are the Generations of the Heavens and of the Earth when they were Created in the day that the Lord God made the Earth and the Heavens Gen. ii 4. that is in the Time consisting of six days the day of temptation in the Wilderness was forty years Heb. iii. 8 9. Nay St. Peter uses it to express Eternal Duration to him be Glory says he both now and for ever which in the Original is both now and to the day of Eternity 2 Pet. iii. 18. Day is us'd for Judgment itself 1 Cor. iv 3. and (e) Grot. ad 1 Cor. iv 3. so the Jews understood Days to be meant Job xxiv 1. In our Language Days-man signifies Judge or Umpire Job ix 33. and Diem dicere was the Law-term amongst the Romans for the Summons to a Tryal but it doth not follow from thence that the Cause must needs have been decided upon the same Day which was appointed for the hearing it (f) Itaque cum ego diem in Siciliam inquirendi perexiguam postulâssem invenit â—ste qui sibi in Achaiam biduo breviorem diem postularet non ut is idem conficeret diligemiâ industriâ suâ quod ego meo labore vigiliis consecutus sum Etenim ille Achaicus inquisitor ne Brundisium quidem pervenit Ego Siciliam totam quinquaginta diebus sic obij ut omnium populorum privatorùmque litter as injuriasque cognoscerem Cic. in Ver. Act. i. Tully by Day in his first Oration against Verres means the space of at least Fifty Days There is no Reason then to suppose that the Last Judgment must be confined to one or more Days but it will take up as much time as the Solemnity of the Proceedings require Hunc diem Judicii ultimum diem dicimus id est novissimum Tempus Nam per quot dies hoc judicium tendatur incertum est sed scripturarum more sanctarum diem poni solere pro tempore nemo qui literas illas quamlibet negligenter legerit nescit Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. xx c. 1. CHAP. XXIII Of Sacraments THO' the Jewish Law was very requisite at that time and for that People when it was in force and the wisest and best Institution that could have been yet it was indeed a yoke and such a yoke as was burthensome and not to have been born but in sure hopes and expectation of better things to come And at the approach of the Son of Righteousness these shadows vanished and the Types having attained their end and accomplishment were laid aside and in their room Christ has Instituted as few Rites as it was possible only the two Sacraments one for our Initiation and first Reception and the other for our Re-establishment and Confirmation in that Covenant which he has been pleas'd to make with us And yet even these are thought too many by some who as if they were all Soul and Spirit without Body are only for a Mental and Spiritual Worship To vindicate therefore the Institution and use of Sacraments I shall First Consider the Nature and Design of Sacraments in General Secondly I shall shew how fully the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper answer the End and Design of the Institution of Sacraments I. I will enquire into the Nature and Design of Sacraments in General Sacraments may be consider'd either 1. as outward and visible Signs of our entrance into Covenant with God or of our renewing our Covenant with him Or 2. As Pledges of God's Grace and Favour towards us Or. 3. As the Means
the word that we did tell thee in Aegypt saying Let us alone that we may serve the Aegyptians For it had been better for us to serve the Aegyptians than that we should die in the wilderness Exod. xiv 11 12. But the Israelites were purposely brought into this Distress by God's express Will and Command that he might get him honour upon Pharaoh and upon all his dost upon his chariots and upon his horse-men ver 17. And â—he Sea being divided at Moses's lifting up his Rod the Children of Israel went in the midst of it upon dry-ground and the waters were a wall unto them on the right hand and on the lest ver 22. And could they be ignorant whether they walked in the Water or upon dry Land whether they were the Men that had escaped or whether they had been all drowned The words are express that the Waters were on both sides of them in their passage and that they were separated to make way for them which could not fall out by any ebbing of the Sea for then they would have had Water but on one side of them whereas now the Waters stood equally on both hands And nothing can be supposed more absurd than it is to imagine that neither the Aegyptians nor the Israelites should understand the nature of the Red-Sea but that the course of the Tide should be known only to Moses At the giving of the Law the whole People of Israel had warning given them three days before that they might sanctifie and prepare themselves to make their Appearance before the Lord All the people saw the thunderings and lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and beheld the mountain smoaking and the Lord spake in the audience of the whole Assembly the words of the Ten Commandments and they were struck with such a terrour that they removed and stood afar off and desired Moses that he would acquaint them with what God should be pleased to give him in command concerning them that they might no longer hear God speaking to them lest they should die Exod. xx 18. Deut. v. 22. The clond of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day and fire was on it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys Exod. xl 38. whether it were two days or a month or a year that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle remaining thereon the children of Israel abode in their tents and journeyed not but when it was taken up they journeyed Num. ix 22. From the time of their escape out of Aegypt the Pillar of the Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by might the Manna with which they were â—fed during the whole time of their journeying in the Wilderness till the very day after they had eaten of the corn of the land of Canâ—â—n Exod. xvi 35. Jos v. 12. and their Garments lasting for so long a time without any decay Deut. xxix 5. these were constant and perpetual Miracles for forty years together and it is the most impossible thing in the world to suppose that a People consisting of so many Hundred Thousands should for so long a time be imposed upon in things of this nature their Eves and Taste and all their Senses were Witnesses that they were conducted and fed and cloathed by Miracle for Forty Years together Indeed it was impossible to lead so great a Multitude through a vast and barren Wilderness by so long and tedious Journeys without the help of Miracles If they had been under no other distress but want of Food in so barren a place it had been impossible for any number of Men and much more for so vast a multitude to subsist for any time without a Miracle but they were sed with Manna from Heaven not with such as the Manna is which is now any where to be found which is a kind of Honey-dew but with Manna which was fit for Nourishment not for physick and so hard as to be ground in Mills and beaten in Mortars and baked in Pans Num. xi 8. and yet it was melted by the Sun and bred Worms and stunk if it were kept but one night except it were on the night before the Sabbath though again when it was to be preserved for a Memorial to future Generations nothing was more lasting and it fell on every Day of the Week but the Sabbath The Manna therefore which is now of what sort soever it be is of quite a different Nature from this Miraculous Manna though it have its Name from it as a learned Physician (p) Jo Chrys Magnen de Manna c. 2. has proved Their Water was as miraculous as their Food and their Cloathing as either neither their Raiment decayed nor their Bread and Water failed till they arrived in the promised Land The March of the Greek Army out of Asia under the Conduct of Xenophon after the death of Cyrus is looked upon as a thing scarce to be equalled in all humane Story though that was but for one Year and three Months and the Difficulties they met with were nothing in comparison of those that beset the Israelites on every side in that great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought Deut. viii 15. a land of desarts and of pits of drought and of the shadow â—f death a land that no man passed through and where no man dwelt Jer. ii 6. Nothing but a Power of Miracles could have sustained them and nothing but the Sense of it could have kept them within any Bounds of Duty and Obedience We see how froward and rebellious they were upon all occasions notwithstanding the wonderful Power and Presence of God continually manifest amongst them they would have been content with the Aegyptian Slavery and the Aegyptian Gods too rather than endure the Hardships of the wilderness Moses complains that they were almost ready to stone him Exod. xvii 4. and out of despondency prayed that God would kill him out of hand rather than lay so great a burden upon him Num. xi 15. And whoever can believe that Moses by his own Skill and Management could lead such a Multitude through such a Wilderness so many Years Journey can it seems believe any thing rather than the Scriptures for this is one of the most incredible things that can be conceived but it is not in the least incredible that he might do it by the Divine Power and Assistance The Children of Israel tempted God ten times by their Murmurings and their distrust of his Power and Care over them Num. xiv 22. for which many of them were puniâ—h'd with death till at last the whole number of Men that were Twenty Years old and upwards had this Judgment denoâ—nced against them That for their Murmurings but two of them by name Caleb the Son of Jephunneh and Joshua the Son of Nun should be suffered to enter into the promised Land and the rest should all die in the Wilderness but that after
they were forsaken of all their former hopes of the Redemption of Israel by him Luke xxiv 21. which before they had imagined to themselves was to be performed by his raising himself from that meanness to a Throne not by his restoring himself to Life again after he had been buried three days The notion which the Jews had of a Resurrection was only that of the last day John xi 24. and whatever was said of any other Resurrection they looked upon it to be meant only in allusion to that they questioned one with another what the rising from the Dead should mean they understood not that saying and were afraid to ask him Mark ix 10 32. The Apostles therefore and other Disciples were so far from being credulous or forward to believe the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead that they were not only inquisitive and careful not to be imposed upon but they were exceeding diffident The Women that went to the Sepulchre were so far from expecting to find him risen from the Dead that they carried with them a preparation of Spices to embalm his Corps Mar. xvi 1. and not finding the Body of the Lord Jesus they were much perplext at it not remembring the words which Jesus had spoke to them concerning the Resurrection till the two Men who stood by them in shining Garments had put them in mind of them Luke xxiv 4.8 But when they returned from the Sepulchre and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest their words seemed to them as idle tales and they believed them not verse 9 11. And Mary Magdalen her self though she had seen this vision yet went to them with this complaint they have taken away the Lord out of the Sepulchre and we know not where they have laid him Jo. xx 2. Then Peter ran unto the Sepulchre and stooping down beheld the Linen clòths laid by themselves and departed wondering in himself at that which was come to pass Luke xxiv 12. St. John ran to the Sepulchre at the same time and going into it saw and believed but he declares that as yet they knew not the Scripture that he must rise again from the Dead Jo. xx 8 9. Mary Magdalen stands without still weeping and complains to the two Angels who asked her the cause they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him v. 13. and again to our Saviour himself not knowing him but supposing him to have been the Gardner Sir if thou have born him hence tell me where thou haste laid him and I will take him away v. 15. And after she was her self convinced of the Resurrection when she told his Disciples they believed not Mark xvi 11. When our Saviour appeared to the two Disciples in the way to Emaus he found them reasoning and talking together of all those things which had happened and they were sorrowful at the thoughts of them and when he enquired the reason they give him such an account as shews the doubtful and desponding apprehensions they had of their present condition insomuch that he answers them with a severe rebuke O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken Luke xxiv 25. And afterwards when these two were convinced themselves and told the rest what had happened neither believed they them Mark xvi 13. And when immediately upon this Jesus stood in the midst of them they were yet only terrified and frightned and supposed that they had seen a spirit and when he spoke to them and discoursed with them why are ye troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts Behold my hands and my feet that it is I my self handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have and then shewed them his hands and his feet yet still after all this they believed not for joy but wondered and were not settled in their Belief of what they had seen and heard till he took meat and did eat it before them Luke xxiv 36. and then he opened their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures and declared them the Witnesses of his Resurrection And ye are Witnesses of these things v. 48. After all these Proofs St. Thomas one of the Twelve not being with them when Jesus had appeared to them the other Disciples told him they had seen the Lord but he was peremptory and resolute in it that he would not believe him to be alive again except he should see in his hands the print of the nails and put his finger into the print of the nails and thrust his hand into his side After eight days Jesus came to them again and to convince St. Thomas and take away all possible pretences of incredulity for the future he grants him the satisfaction he desired and says unto him Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless but believing and St. Thomas who before was so doubtful is now fully convinced by this infallible evidence and breaks out into this confession My Lord and my God Joh. xx 27 28. Thus did Christ shew himself alive to his Apostles after his passion by many infallible proofs being seen of them forty days Act. 1.3 and not of them only but of above five hundred brethren at once 1 Cor. xv 6. But the Apostles were his chosen Witnesses who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the Dead Act. x. 41. And when he ascended into Heaven he was taken up while they were in his presence and conveyed in a Cloud out of their sight and whilst they were looking up after him stedfastly into Heaven two Angels stood by them and assured them that as he ascended into Heaven so he shall in like mannner come down from thence to judge the World And he afcended not alone but with a great multitude of the Saints and Heavenly Host as we learn from a passage in a discourse of the Apostle (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Hist lib. 1. c. ult St. Thaddaeus preserved by Eusebius After his Aseension he was seen not only by St. Stephen to comfort and support him at his Martyrdom but by S. Paul who was thereby stopt in the full speed of his Persecutions his conversion was so sudden and so powerful that that alone might be thought sufficient but to give him the compleat qualifications of an Apostle to become a Witness of Christ's being risen from the Dead and ascended into Heaven he was pleased to appear to him from thence All circumstances therefore concur to shew that the Apostles had sufficient opportunity fully to inform themselves in all particulars that they used all means to do it with their utmost care and diligence that they were suspicious and distructful and that nothing but the clear conviction of all their senses could have satisfied them The Apostles had conversed with our Saviour for some years
in Sport Prov. xxvi 18 19. But what Description or Comparison can be found equal to his Madness who deceiveth and destroyeth himself and that Eternally and yet says Am not I in Sport Is not this the very perfection of Wit and Raillery Wo unto him that Striveth with his Maker Isai xlv 9. Do they provoke me to anger saith the Lord do they not provoke themseves to the Confusion of their own Faces Jer. vii 19. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord and that I have heard all thy Blasphemies Thus with your Mouth ye have boasted against me and have Multiplied your Words against me I have heard them Ezek. xxxv 12 13. Do we provoke the Lord to Jealousy are we stronger than he 1 Cor. x. 22. There shall come in the last days Scoffers walking after their own Lusts 2 Pet. iii. 3. But Beloved remember ye the Words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ how that they told you there should be Mockers in the last time who should Walk after their own ungodly Lusts Jude 17.18 If all that I have discoursed be insufficient to convince these Men yet let their own Arguments and even their own Blasphemies convince them for the very worst that they can say or do serves to fulfil the Prophecies and confirm the Authority of the Holy Scriptures FINIS ADDENDA The BOOK having been long ago fitted for the Press and out of the Author's Custody he could not insert the following Additions in their proper places CHAP. IV. p. 112. l. 3. after St. Mark and St. Luke add If either in the Epistle of St. Barnabas or St. Clement it be supposed that the Reasoning is not always just but is sometimes too Allegorical and sometimes founded upon Mistakes in Natural Philosophy yet it is certainly agreeable to the ways of Reasoning and the Philosophy of that Age so that nothing of this kind could then be any hindrance or prejudice to the Reception of these Epistles CHAP. X. p. 222. l. ult after Principles add And besides other Uses which may be found out hereafter one very considerable has been already made of the Satellites for the benefit of the World in rectifying Geography and determining the Longitude of Places Philos Burgund Tom. 5. c. 8. Disseâ—t 3 M. Cassini has drawn up Tables for this Purpose and Written a Treatise on the Subject And the Le Compte's Memoire p. 15. and 505. Missionaries by their Observations have discovered that the Empire of China is Five Hundred Leagues nearer Europe than Geographers have placed it CHAP. XI p. 226. l. 27. * after Opinion add The same Words which Joshua used is Translated to wait upon and wait for Ps LXII 1. LXV 1. So that all which can be Concluded from the Word is that the Sun attended he lengthned the Day and waited for the Victory or waited upon the Army of Israel CHAP. XIII p. 256. l. 24. after Christ's sake add A State of Damnation is a State of Death and the Soul which lies under the Divine Wrath is in that State tho' it be not irreversible during this Life So that the Death Threatned being Twofold viz. of the Soul and of the Body it was accordingly inflicted on both But it was not Threatned that this Death should be to the final Destruction either of Soul or Body but thro' the Redemption of Christ the Body might be recovered from the Death to which it became Subject to a Blessed and Glorious Resurrection and the Soul be restored from the Death into which it had faln to a State of Reconciliation and Favour with God CHAP. XV p. 325. l. 15. after in the New add Of the Assistance of Divine Grace we are Taught Deutr. XXX 6. Psalm XXV 4. XXVII 11. LI. 10 11 12. LXXXVI 11. CXIX 12 26 33 64 66 68. 108. 124. 135. CXLIII 10. Prov. 1.23 Isa XLIV 3. LIX 21 Jer. XXXI 8. XXXII 40. Ezek. XI 19. XXXVI 26 27. CHAP. XVI p. 338. l. 10. after Religion add The Soveraignty was in due time to be placed in the Tribe of Judah which was fulfilled in David's being advanced to the Kingdom and from that time the Scepter and the Lawgiver c. CHAP. XXII p. 391. l. 5. after expected add The Duration of the World is considered in the Scriptures with relation to Christ's coming and all the Time after his coming is stiled the last Days as in the Description of the Different States of Job's Life the space of an Hundred and Forty Years of it after his Sufferings is Stiled the latter end of his Life and all the precedent part is Termed the Beginning of it Job XLII 12 16. CHAP. XXVIII p. 486. l. after Prophet Jonas add Dr. Lightfoot in his Remains lately published has observed as the Reason why the Jews were so importunate for a Sign notwithstanding the many Miracles which our Saviour Wrought before them That their Traditions Taught them to expect these two Signs of the Messias when he came viz. that he should raise the Old Prophets and other Holy and famous Men from the Dead and that he should bring down Manna for them from Heaven In their Old Writings and Records he says they speak much of these Two things of their Expectation I am inclined to believe that these Traditions if they had been rightly understood were not so blind and foolish as that Learned Author Stiles them but had respect to the very Time and Occasion to which our Saviour refers the Jews when they required these Signs of him For at his Resurrection many Bodies of Saints which Slept arose Matt. xxvii 52. And speaking to them of the Manna or Bread which came down from Heaven he puts them in Mind of his Ascension What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before Joh. vi 62. Whereby he intimates that then would be the time of sending this Manna when upon his Ascension he would bestow the Gifts of the Holy Ghost The time was not yet come for these Miracles to be wrought they were not to be wrought at their Demand it was sufficient that they had Intimations given to expect them and in the mean time they ought to have been contented with others CHAP. XXX p. 519. l. 12. after he pleased add But it seems most of all strange that the excellent Emperour M. Antoninus who had so much of the Christian Morality both in the Speculation and in the Practice of it should not also be of the Christian Faich especially if he owned that a signal Miracle was by the Prayers of the Christians obtained for the deliverance of himself and his whole Army Apol. c. 5. ad Scap. c. 4. as Tertullian who could not be Ignorant of the Truth of it Declares But it should be considered that M. Anteninus was very superstitious in all the Heathen Worship and was so much addicted to the Philostr Vit. Sophist in Herod Hermag Aristid Adrian Sophists of his