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A56675 Jesus and the resurrection justified by witnesses in heaven and in earth in two parts : the first shewing that Jesus is the Son of God, the second that in him we have eternall life / by Symon Patrick ... Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707. 1677 (1677) Wing P816 585,896 1,396

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blast of outward accidents sometimes this way and sometimes the quite contrary in good company and after some pathetick exhortations doing well and then crossing all again when a new temptation to sin solicits him Sure such men as can believe thus fansy heaven a void and empty space where company is wanting and imagine our Saviour cares not who comes thither so it be but filled They live as if all the regions above the glorious Paradise of God were but so much waste ground which needs a Colony of Planters it matters not of what quality they are so it be but inhabited O vile thoughts that can imagine God wants the company of such as care not for him and that Heaven which threw out the Angels that sinned will entertain those who joyn with them in their foul rebellion It is a wonderful grace that he will invite us on any terms to his most blessed society We doe him no kindness but our selves in seeking his heavenly Kingdom Into which if we will not enter at such a gate as he sets open we shall be shut out and perish in our perverse ingratitude or foolish presumption Consider I beseech you what do all these WITNESSES say concerning the way to it Do they not tell us that streight is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life vii Matt. 14. that we must strive to enter xiii Luke 24. and that there shall in no wise enter into the holy city any thing that defileth xxi Rev. 27. and that without holiness no man shall see the Lord xii Hebr. 14. Which we must therefore excite our selves by his promises to perfect in the fear of God having cleansed our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit 2 Cor. vii 1. And giving all diligence adde to our faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity For so an entrance shall be ministred to us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. i. 5 6 7 11. Examine every one of them and they will tell you as much The FATHER by a voice from heaven bids us hear his Son who says Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven vii Matt. 21. And the WORD saith Blessed are they that doe his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the cit● xxii Rev. 14. Wherefore as the HOLY G●OST saith To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts iii. Heb. 7 8. This was its language of old and it was poured also on the Apostles that repentance and remission of sins might be preached in our Saviour's name among all nations xxiv Luk. 47 49. Which is the end also of our being washed with WATER in his name for we are baptized into his death and therefore ought to reckon our selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortall body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof vi Rom. 3 11 12. For his BLOUD was shed that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works ii Tit. 14. For which end also he was raised from the dead by the Eternall SPIRIT that he might bless us in turning every one of us from his iniquities iii. Act. 26. And therefore this the APOSTLES say and testifie in the Lord that we henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk iv Eph. 17. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness He therefore that despiseth despiseth not man but God saith St. Paul who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit 1 Thess iv 7 8. And if I should now send you to inquire and ask for the old paths as Jeremiah speaks would you find that the ancient Christians knew any other way to bliss then this Did they who while they were in the flesh lived not according to it who being upon earth had their conversation in heaven whose lives excelled the best laws and statutes of their severall countries which they strictly obeyed who loved all though persecuted by all who blessed when they were cursed honoured those that treated them despitefully did good to those who punished them as evill doers * Vid pl. apud Ju●●in Mart. Epist ad D●ognet p. 497. c. did these men I say believe that Heaven might be wone onely by their prayers or by perpetuall disputing about that Religion which they did not practise How come we then to have so great a fondness for our selves as to think that we shall carry that by the name and the profession of Christianity which they could not get without so much labour and to have such cheap thoughts of the Crown of glory as to imagine it will bow and come down to those idle wishes unto which there is nothing so mean in this world but scorns to stoop That one thought is sufficient to convince us what we have to doe to be happy I need not send you so far as those elder times go but to your selves and enquire how you doe in the affairs of this world Sure men never got their estates with so little care as they hope to get Heaven Ask a man why he follows his business so close and he will tell you that an estate is not got by wishing that a family cannot be provided for by lying in bed or sitting by the fire-side that there are opportunities which must be narrowly watcht and cheats which are not easily discovered And yet to see the imprudence and inconsiderateness of Mankind The same person thinks to go to Heaven and possess all the treasures there by his Prayers alone though cold too and but little observed or by a lame Repentance which wants its effects nay by a death-bed groan a few forced tears and promises never performed by some short snatches of Religion a careless behaviour and an unwatchfull life He minds no occasion of doing or receiving good is indifferent whether he lay hold of opportunities and good seasons seldom thinks of the place whither he would go denies himself nothing to which he hath a mind bridles no appetite curbs no passion nay will be drunk for company and swear rather then be thought such a coward as to stand in awe of God or to want the breeding of a Gentleman and in brief doth not half so much upon the account of Eternall Life as many a man does for a single-peny What a strange dulness is this to imagine that all ends which we aim at must be compassed by means proportionable to their greatness but onely the very greatest and last End of all The Souldier gets not
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