hast divulged the mysteries of the Prophets but thou wilt prostitute also the secrets of the Holy Ghost So the good man desisted and durst not do the Angels any further service who came to listen to him as he was expounding the Prophets Which is as true I make no doubt as all the rest and we may as well believe the Earth quaked for forty mile together when he began his Paraphrase and that if a fly did but sit upon his Book in which he wrote fire came down from Heaven and destroyed it leaving the Book untoucht as believe a syllable of these voices speaking from Heaven to him for they have all the very same Authors Who having got this by the end know not when to have done with it but tell us for the honour of R. Chanina who saw the destruction of the last temple by Titus that a voice came from Heaven which said as David Ganz reports it in his Chronology * Ad An. 4768. The whole world is sustained for the sake of R. Chanina my son A very likely matter that he should lay an obligation on so many and no body know it but this obscure writer Why did not all the world follow him as they did Jesus if he were God's Son and they so much indebted to him This is but a wretchedly dull counterfeit of what they had read of our Saviour who was Gods Son Upholding all things by the word of his power i. Hebr. 2 3. And so are the other tales they tell in the Talmudical Title so often named Chapter the first of a Bath col which came from Heaven as the wise men sat in Council at Jericho saying There is one here who is worthy that the Divine majesty or glory by which they mean sometime the Holy Ghost should rest upon him as it did on Moses but the age wherein he lives is not worthy of that favour Whereupon they all cast their eyes on Hillel a famous man among them And of another voice as they were sitting together at Jafne which said the very same words again and turned all their eyes towards R. Samuel the less And to name but one more R. Juda the Holy Doctor they would have it believed was assured by this voice from Heaven that his Prayer was heard just as our Saviours was in the place I have before open'd For when he was dying and it was not many days before our Saviour's death that he prayed in those words Father glorifie thy name he lift up his ten fingers and said Lord of the world it is known to thee that I have laboured in the Law with my ten fingers and have not received the least advantage thereby no not in my little finger May it please thee that I may have peace in my rest And then out came the Bath col saying those words of Isaiah lvii 2. He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds Which together with all other of the same kind deserve to be put under no other Title than that of the Jewish Fables mentioned by S. Paul i. Tit. 14. or old-Wives tales 1 Tim. iv 7. wherewith little children are wont to be entertained being invented it is likely in imitation of the Gospel story to adorn and support the ruinous doctrine of their Rabbins and to bring it into some esteem with their sottish posterity But we may as well believe the idle tale which the factious Donatists told concerning the Father of their Sect August Tract 13. in Johan to whom God gave an answer from Heaven they said as he was praying to him as give ear to this Fable of R. Judah who must be magnified by them because he was the compiler of their traditional Law And as for R. Samuel the less whom I mentioned before he was the man who composed the famous Prayer against Hereticks for their publick Devotions wherein they desire God that he would destroy all Hereticks whereby they mean Christians who began in those days to grow apace And therefore it is no wonder that he is cried up to the skies and must be honoured with praises from Heaven But the best of it is these petty stories want vouchers or those who offer themselves had need to bring some better men to be bound for their honesty They have no John Baptists to attest any thing much less such men as the Apostles who with the power of Miracles and Prophecy were ready on all occasions to pawn their lives that they did not follow cunningly devised Fables when they made known the power and coming of our Lord Jesus but were eye-witnesses as you have heard of his Majesty and heard the voice when they were with him in the holy Mount which said This is my well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Those Masters in Israel also are not so cunning in their contrivances nor such masters of their craft but they forget the old Rule which admonishes a Lyar to have a good memory For they contradict themselves while they tell us this Bath col was but the fag end of a voice a kind of Eccho leaping out of another voice and yet make it deliver such long sentences And what likelihood is there that God should grace such men as they who had turned their Religion into vain janglings and idle disputes witness the quarrel between the School of that Hillel now mentioned and the Schoolof Schammai with such Elogiums from Heaven as were fit to be given only to the best of men yea to the Son of God himself One of these four things is far more probable Either that their latter writers have strained the words of their forefathers too far who meant perhaps no more by their hearing a Bath col but that the thing whereof they write was as evident to them as if they had had a Divine testimony for it For in Pirke Avoth I observe R. Joshuah says that jotzeth Bath col the daughter of a voice goeth forth day by day from mount Horeb and proclaims saying Wo to men because of their contempt of the Law Which can signifie no more but that if men would listen to the Law which God gave there they would hear how dangerous it is to disobey it Or secondly there was something of a conjuration in it For in Pirke Elieser I find * Chap. 8. that when there was a dispute only about the Leap-year the Governour of the School pronounced the Name with four Letters and presently they heard a voice saying The Lord spake to Moses and Aaron c. As if they could have this voice whensoever they did but pronounce that single word Or thirdly they were men of a strong imagination which made them fancy they heard a voice from Heaven when it was only a blast of melancholy fumes and vapours whistling in their brain For this may be a fair account of those who thought as some among us have done that they heard such or such a place of
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 prâfat in Talm. Not. in xvii Matth. 3. that their Master Moses is not dead but ascended ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
adv Marcionem C. 22. was going in the same manner to give testimony to them concerning his Son Jesus and to confirm them in the belief of whatsoever he should teach them For thirdly this was not Mutâ Nubes as the same Tertullian there speaks a dumb cloud a silent glory but a voice came out of it which was Novum Patris testimonium super filio the Fathers New testimony concerning his Son In which testimony He was pleased to apply those very words to Jesus which had been spoken by Moses concerning a Prophet whom he had bid them look for after him For in the xviii of Deuteronomy he tells them from God himself ver 17. that there should be raised up to them a Prophet like unto him into whose mouth ver 18. the Lord would put his own words and who should speak all that he should command him UNTO HIM SHALL YE HEARKEN ver 15. as much as to say Be sure you attend to his words and give obedience to them Now these very words and syllables HEAR HIM are by that God who made that promise to Moses spoken in this place to the Disciples with a manifest application to Jesus clearly denoting him to be the person whom Moses foretold the Lord their God would send to declare his mind unto them as he himself already had done And that this was really the voice of God as much as that voice which spake to Moses we have the greater reason to conclude from this following which is the fourth observation That Moses now stood by and heard it and from thence learnt a great deal more than he knew when he wrote his Book that this person of whom he spoke was more than a Prophet being the Son of Gods dearest love For these words which declared him so were spoken there where he was present who durst not contradict them as sure he would have done had he not known them to be the very voice of God and no delusion I need not enlarge this because the Evangelists tell us so plainly that not only He appeared in glory talking with our Saviour upon this Mountain but Elias also accompanied him which is next to be considered Who being a great Prophet might pretend as fairly as any other man to be the person designed by Moses in the words forenamed and yet consented by his silence to the same undoubted Truth that the prophecy of Moses was not till now fufilled but had its utmost completion in Jesus And indeed this voice from Heaven making such an open Proclamation concerning Jesus before him that gave the Law and before the chiefest of the Prophets who had asserted it and being heard by them with the profoundest silence without any contradiction it did as good as tell the Apostles that they might be assured this was He of whom the Law and the Prophets had spoken whom they were now to give ear unto and that the Law and the Prophets must from henceforth give way to an higher Revelation from God by this Jesus If this had not been true we cannot but think that this great Zealot Elias who had been always so jealous for the Lord of hosts 1 Kings xix 14. and this trusty servant of God Moses who was so faithful in all his house xii Num. 7. would have presently entred their protestation against it and required the Apostles in the Name of God to give heed only to their voice but not to this Which now might the rather be believed to come from Heaven because these inspired persons reverence it and dare not venture in the least to speak against it when they were highly concerned so to do if it had not been the voice of God And if any one shall ask how these Disciples could tell that these two were Moses and Elias whom they never saw I think Theophylact hath well resolved it that they knew them not by their faces but by their discourse Certain it is that persons living in far distant Countries known to others merely by their works and manner of writing have after a little converse at an unexpected meeting been challenged by the Names that their Books carried without the help of any noted character in their face to distinguish them Nothing is more common than the story of Erasmus whom his Friend here in England greeted by his name after a few repartees pass'd between them though he had never seen him and little thought then to embrace him Now we are expresly told by all the three Evangelists that Moses and Elias talked with Jesus and by S. Luke that their discourse was concerning his decease or departure out of this world which he should accomplish at Jerusalem and consequently it is very probable of the glory that was to follow it by his Resurrection Which conference the Apostles hearing they might easily know though not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by their pictures which many of that Nation held it unlawful to be made yet ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from their words and discourse wherein either Jesus or they before it was done had occasion to mention their Names or their offices or to describe their persons that they were none else but those two men who then appeared to them And it is possible as Theophylact adds that Moses might say I acknowledge thee to be the person whose death I prefigured by the Lamb which was slain at the Passeover And Elias might joyn with him and say Thou art He whose Resurrection I did likewise fore-show by calling again the Widow's son to life Some such kind of discourse we may reasonably conceive passed between them whereby they discovered themselves to be the one the Law-giver the other the noblest of all the Prophets who now came to wait upon Jesus and acknowledge that he was greater than they as the voice from Heaven presently testified which declared him the beloved Son of God to whom now all must attend as they had formerly done to them And therefore it is very remarkable which is the last thing I shall observe that no sooner was this voice heard but Moses and Elias vanished and were seen no more As much as to say That Jesus alone was now to be heard the Law and the Prophets were gone and had nothing to do but only to serve him So S. Mark relates ix 8. that suddenly when they had looked round about after the hearing of this voice they saw no man any more save Jesus only with themselves They turned their eyes every way to look for Moses and Elias but there was no further news of them Nay S. Luke tells us ix 36. that in the very uttering of the voice from that Heavenly glory they disappeared So those words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã plainly signifie While the voice was speaking Jesus was found alone The clould out of which it came covered them and took them into it At the same time it opened it self to manifest him and to obscure them that it might be evident
it again You remember what S. Peter says in the place often cited already 2 i. 17. that our Lord by the former voice from Heaven received honour and glory from God the Father and there is as much cause to think that in this there was the same design to do him honour by a declaration of the glory he should shortly receive at the right hand of God The very connexion of these words with the foregoing will not let us expound them otherwise For having told his Disciples the Son of man should shortly be glorified but first he must glorifie God by his passion and then he doubted not but God would glorifie him with himself as he speaks xiii 32. that is by the very same means glorifie both himself and his Son who had glorified him Yes says God himself from Heaven I have both glorified my Name by what he had done for Jesus and by him and will glorifie it again by that which remained still to be done And indeed 1. it did him a great honour that God was pleased to return any answer to him who had before called himself his Son x. 36. and had just now addressed himself to him as his Father calling upon him twice by this Name Father save me from this hour ver 27. Father glorifie thy Name ver 28. It was as much as to say He owned the relation allowed his pretences and intended to justifie them more and more by his Divine approbation For 2. the Answer it self is a plain promise of the honour he would confer upon him hereafter by his Resurrection and Exaltation when he again glorified himself by glorifying the Lord Jesas You read expresly in the foregoing Chapter that the Glory he had gotten before was by glorifying of his Son for he says xi 4. the sickness of Lazarus was for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby And therefore when he says he will glorifie himself again the meaning is that as they had seen his glory xi 40. in the raising of Lazarus from the dead and in all the other miraculous works which Jesus had done for which the people gave him glory v. Luke 26. vii 16. xix 37. So he would glorifie himself more by the Resurrection of Jesus himself from the dead and by his Exaltation to an Heavenly Kingdom For it was the working of the might of his power as the Apostle S. Paul speaks i. Ephes 19. which he wrought in Christ when the Father of glory raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come Now he glorified his Son Jesus indeed as S. Peter speaks iii. Acts 13. and gave him a name which is above every name that every knee should bow to him and every tongue confess him to be the Lord but it was to the glory of God the Father as S. Paul tells us expresly ii Philip. 11. Hereby he glorified his own name as by this voice from Heaven he said he would whose power goodness and wisdom will be for ever magnified and celebrated with the highest praises by the whole Christian Church for setting such a glorious Prince over them who is not ashamed to call them Brethren and yet hath all things put in subjection under his feet that he may protect succour and bless them here and eternally Now by making this promise to the Lord Jesus of glorifying himself by glorifying him in this manner He plainly bare witness to him that he was what he pretended to be very dear to him his only begotten Son and no deceiver as they falsely and blasphemously said who were loth to be governed by him They ought presently to have glorified God by honouring his Son and acknowledging him for their Lord and Master who had such power with God already that he would give him whatsoever he askt xi John 22. and was shortly to receive greater even all power in Heaven and in Earth xvii 1 2. For this voice you may observe was uttered at such a time and so loud that the people who stood by heard it ver 29. Those who were at some distance indeed hearing only the sound thought it had been a clap of thunder but they who were nearer heard it so distinctly that they were of opinion an Angel spake to him God that is by the Ministry of an Angel For what is said in one place of Scripture to be done by Angels who are his principal servants is in another said to be done by God As the Angel of the Lord we read vii Acts 30. appeared to Moses in the bush and in the next verse it is the voice of the Lord which from thence is said to come to him In like manner the Angel is said ver 38. to speak with him in mount Sinai where we are told in the book of Exodus xix 20. the Lord came down and called Moses up to the top of the Mount and there spake to him as here he did to our Saviour Who tells the people it was not for his sake that God spake now to him it was for theirs whom he would have to know that when he was lifted up from the Earth by hanging upon the Cross which was a step contrary to all mens opinion to his Exaltation in the Heavens he would draw all men to him bring even the Gentile world into subjection to him and bow their hearts to acknowledge his Divine authority which the Jews opposed He needed no further confirmation of this truth himself who knew how dear he was to God and that he would glorifie his Name in him but that his Disciples might be more confident of it and the people more inclined to believe it when they heard it preached God spake the very same now in the ears of a great many which he had done before to him and a few besides in the former voices from Heaven It is true indeed He is not called here Gods beloved Son in express terms as he is in the other places But this is so plainly supposed and strongly inferr'd as I said from the voice which now spake that it puts the matter out of doubt as much as the former If he had falsely and proudly laid claim to this high relation to God whom he calls his Father we may be confident God would never have honoured him with such an answer but either have been silent or said the quite contrary telling him before all the company that he would not glorifie himself by preferring but by putting to shame such an one as he who thus arrogantly took upon him to be the Son of God It is contrary to all reason to think that God would stoop to seek the glory of any person as our Saviour expresses the honour he had done him viii John 50. but one who
When the LXX Elders were to receive a portion of Moses his Spirit God ordered them to be brought unto the Tabernacle of the Congregation and says he would come down and talk with Moses there and take of the Spirit which was upon him and put it upon them xi Numb 16 17. Accordingly you read ver 24. that as they stood round about the Tabernacle the Lord came down in a cloud ver 25. that is in such a manner as now the Holy Ghost descended at our Lord's Baptism But He came not down upon them who were about the Tabernacle but rather as in the next story xii 5. and at other times stood in the door of the Tabernacle from whence he spake to Moses and took of the Spirit which was on him and gave it to the seventy Elders Whereas here the Holy Ghost came down in a visible glory and pitched upon Jesus himself who was the Tabernacle now where God chose to dwell For this Schekinah as you have heard or Divine majesty not only lighted on him but rested there and remained in him as if God had told him who saw it both descend and abide on him Here will I dwell for ever for therein do I delight This demonstrated him to be more than any ever was not merely a great Prophet but the very Son of God Never was there such a Crown prepared for any mans head but his Never before did the hand of Heaven put such a Diadem of Glory upon any person as this which encircled and as I may say was bound about our Saviour This can be accounted nothing less than the testimony of the HOLY GHOST to him that he was the Holy one of God the anointed from above the King of God's people and the heir of all things Thus S. Peter you know expresses the honour which was now done him when he tells Cornelius and his company x. Acts 38. that God ANOINTED him with the Holy Ghost and with power The HOLY GHOST came down as an holy oil from the Heavenly Sanctuary which being poured on him in such a glorious Majesty gave him authority to be called the Son of God and made him his King So John Baptist acknowledged him you remember as soon as he beheld this strange sight and bare record of it unto others that this person thus anointed was the Son of God i. John 34. He was now invested with a royal power for that 's the meaning of his being ANOINTED and we ought I shall show you to look upon this as a solemn inauguration of him in his Kingdom to which he had now a title given him together with some part of a Kingly Authority And if there be any truth in the Traditions of the Hebrews concerning their own Ceremonies there was something remarkable in it that this ANOINTING him with the holy oil from above was immediately after he came up out of the waters of Jordan For Maimonides and the Doctors in the Talmud tell us that they never anointed a King of the house of David but at the side of a Fountain or of a River of water Which was the reason that David commanded his servants to bring his son Solomon down to GIHON 1 Kings i. 33. and there anoint him King over Israel For this GIHON was a little River as R. Solomon there notes or the head of a River nigh Jerusalem which discharged it self into the brook Kidron and in the Chaldee Paraphrase is called by the newer name of Siloah It was made very famous afterward by that memorable work of Hezekiah 2 Chron. xxxii 30. who to take away the advantage any Enemy might make of it in a siege stopt up the course of its water and brought it by Chanels under-ground into the City of David At this place without the walls of Jerusalem not in the City Zadok and Nathan anointed King Solomon That is one of them poured out the oil and the other anointed his head drawing a circle with the oil upon it For so they all say that Kings were anointed in the form of a Crown to denote the royal dignity Which if it be true and that they made choice of such a place to show as they will have it the perpetuity of their Kingdom because Rivers run alway though the Cities which stand by them decay and may be demolished then it is very observable that our Lord was ANOINTED or Crowned with the Holy Ghost by the River JORDAN rather than in any other place to denote him indeed to be the King of Israel who should sit upon the throne of his Father David as the Angel said for ever and ever But this I mention only by the way The chief thing to be noted is that now he began to reign and entred upon his Kingdom called the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven which John Baptist told them was at hand For this descent of the HOLY GHOST in such a visible majesty did not merely give him a title to the Divine Kingdom which was to be erected by him in the world and assured him that he was God's Christ or ANOINTED that is his King and endued him with such royal qualities as fitted him for that office But it made him a King by conferring several branches of the Regal power on him and by giving him authority to exercise them in the world It is true indeed he did not actually take possession of his Kingdom nor exercise his royal power completely and the time of his inthroning was deferred till he had accomplished the will of God other ways and by the suffering of death was crowned with glory and honour in the Heavens But that he did not act only as a Prophet all his life-time but likewise took upon him the person of a King or acted as a Royal Prophet doing many things which only the royal Authority could do is a most manifest Truth in the Holy story Which cannot be better explained than by the parallel case of his Father David who was the exact type and figure of him He was anointed by Samuel some years before he sate upon the throne of the Lord. But as that Unction was the designation of him to the royal dignity and a pawn or pledge of the possession of it in due time so ever after he atchieved very great things which spoke him to be the person designed by God for his Kingdom as it is called I told you 2 Chron. ix 8. and he also received some portion of it before he enjoyed it all entirely 2 Sam. ii 4.9 v. 3. Just thus did our blessed Saviour after he was ANOINTED with the Holy Ghost give several proofs that he was a King which is the meaning you have heard of the word CHRIST and had received some of the power belonging to that high office For first he cast out Devils and cured all diseases at any time when he pleased only with his powerful word and for nothing Which were Acts of such royal bounty
to prove the truth of that which the person that wrought them delivered And therefore as their miracles demonstrated the truth of that message which Moses and the Prophets brought from God So our Saviour's evinced the truth of his which was that they were only the Servants but He the Son of God This was as strongly attested by what he did as any thing the Men of God taught in former times was by their works Yea his miracles bare as fair a proportion in their bigness and number to this high and great thing which they were to prove that he was Gods Son as the miracles of Moses and the Prophets bare to those lesser truths which they were brought to establish And here for to put a period to this part of my discourse it will be very useful to observe the different way of proceeding for the establishing and promoting a Religion instituted by men and a Religion whose author is God This I find very well noted to my hand in a learned Writer of the Jewish Nation whom I have already mentioned * Sepher COSRI Part 1. sect 80 c When men says he make Laws and setle a Religion whose original is from their own minds and devised by themselves though they may pretend that it comes from God yet they are not able to make it take place without the power of the Sword or the countenance and assistance of some Prince who by his Authority shall cause it to be received But a Religion that is indeed Divine is planted in a Divine manner When Laws are derived from God he establishes them by his power and might and over-aws men by such wonders as without any humane force procure obedience Thus says he our Religion began When the Children of Israel were in grievous servitude and when the Land promised to their Fathers was in the hand of potent Kings God sent Moses and Aaron armed with no power but that of working miracles changing the ordinary and usual course of Nature and inflicting in a moment grievous plagues upon the Water the Earth the Air the Plants the Beasts and the Bodies of Men throughout all the Land of Egypt whereby the Prince that kept them in bondage was forced to let them go And in their Journey they were conducted by the guidance of a bright Cloud and they passed through the Sea and they were fed with Manna in the Wilderness XL. Years and saw one Miracle after another which convinced them they ought to submit to that Word of the Lord which Moses spake unto them To this purpose that Writer very rationally discourses Now just as He shows that Moses proved his Mission from God so I have briefly related how our Saviour likewise demonstrated that he was the Royal Prophet whom Moses foretold God would send into the World In an Age when they not only groaned under the Roman Yoke but were also superstitiously inthral'd to a number of Rites and Ceremonies devised by their Elders superadded to all the burden of the Law of Moses and moreover grievously oppressed by the Devil as all the rest of the World likewise were far more than they God raised up a mighty Salvation to them out of the house of his servant David Our Lord that is on a sudden appeared as a Redeemer and Deliverer from the bondage in which they lay not with any worldly policy or force but meerly with the Spirit and Power of God 1 Cor. ii 5. who sent an Herald but without the power of Miracles to proclaim his coming And as soon as he had done crying his mouth being stopt by Herod's throwing him into Prison our Lord presently came forth shining most gloriously in the illustrious works that he did every where which were such as that time called for as Moses his miracles were proper to the occasions and necessities of his days And some of them were very like those wrought by Moses and others bear as great a resemblance to them as twins are wont to do to each other who lie together in the same womb He healed more than Moses killed He turned their water into wine as Moses did the water of the River into bloud He walkt upon the very surface of the Sea and called one of his Disciples to accompany him there He fed multitudes with a little quantity of bread as Moses had fed the Israelites in the Wilderness This he did more than once and that in a Desart too showing what he was able to do if there had been the like need that there was in former times Then they should not have asked what sign shewest thou equal to Moses they mean what dost thou work vi John 30. For it was plain enough he could have fed them forty years in that manner as well as once which was the thing they seem to desire when they say in the next words ver 31. Our Fathers did eat Manna in the Desart as it is written He gave them bread from Heaven to eat That is He did not feed them for one day or two as thou hast done but a long time and that from Heaven let us see thee do so that we may leave him and follow thee And if he had not done enough already to work faith in them and they had lived now alway in a Desart as their Fathers did then no doubt he would for that he could was evident else how should he have fed them thus miraculously at all Many other miracles also declared that he had the same power in the Air that he had on the Earth and could as easily have brought bread from Heaven as multiplied the Loaves which had now filled so many of them The very Devils were as subject to him as the meanest creature in the World And He raised the Dead by his powerful word which Moses never did All which is recorded by the Apostles to show what cause they had to believe in Jesus and how his Religion was planted and propagated in the world as the other wonders are recorded by Moses to show with what authority he came and how he setled the Israelites in the belief of his Laws And there is no more cause to question whether Jesus be the Son of God the Lord of the World who came with such a SPIRIT than there was then to doubt whether Moses was his servant and the Lawgiver of that people among whom he did such wonders Nor so much neither for the greater his pretences were the greater reason there was that they should have been discountenanced by such a SPIRIT as was in him if they had not been true It is incredible that God should let the world be abused so long by so many miracles and so great that never was the like without any the least confutation and abused by a lye of so dangerous a nature and so reproachful to his Name and so directly opposite to his Government which this Person if he were an Impostor and said he was his Son
meerly by the power of the Spirit and the Holy Ghost so being thus propagated all the learned part of the World is of our Religion They that are of any other are ignorant of good learning as their great enemy But this fears not to be tried because it is sure that knowledge is its Friend and that wisdome as our Saviour said will be justified of her Children Who clearly see even from their own Writings that Mahomet at the best was but an hot Enthusiast who took his own warm thoughts for inspiration But he had no assurance of what he said As the humour wrought he was for new illuminations It was not his fault that his Disciples had not another Book which should have put down the Alcoran For as our famous Professor of this Learning * Mr. Pocock Ib. p. 178. has observed out of Alsharestanius when he lay sick of the Fever of which he dyed he called for Pen and Ink that he might write them an infallible Book it seems as yet he had not done it to keep them from erring when he was dead This Omar lookt upon as a frenzy though Mahomet took it for an inspiration and said Alas the sickness of the Apostle of God is very strong It is sufficient that we have the Book of God i. e. the Alcoran there needs no more But some were of another mind and while the Company that stood by contended and strove among themselves some calling for the Pen and Ink and others agreeing with Omar that he was beside himself Mahomet cryed out Get ye gone it doth not become you to dispute before me and so there was an end But some bewail this as a great misfortune that he did not write them such a Book as he then had in his Head that is more frenzies and ravings of his brain-sick imagination But it is time to have done with this which I have said not meerly to show how senceless that Religion is which hath over-spread so great a part of the World but how happy we are who are taught by our Lord and Master Christ Jesus Whose faith relies upon such certain evident and divine grounds that if we did but live according to it we need not fear but by its power and force it would overcome and vanquish the other though supported by never so numerous followers The Lord of his infinite mercy quicken our Faith that we may out-live them for it is plain we can so far out-reason them that there is no more comparison between our grounds and theirs than there is between the wisest man that ever was and those blocks of Mecca that could neither write nor read II. The only Religion that can come into any competition with ours is that of Moses who indeed was sent of God and as became a faithful servant of his in the House or Family committed to his charge followed his orders and honestly testified and reported those things which God commanded him to speak iii. Hebr. 5. But if you seriously weigh what hath been said you will find the Jews had not such weighty Arguments to perswade them to believe on Moses as we have to believe in Jesus who hath abrogated a great part of that Religion And first for the Witness of the FATHER the Jews say ix Joh. 29. We know that God spake to Moses But how did they know it What evidence were they able to give themselves of it If it had pleased them to lay aside their passion and look beyond the prejudices of their education the proof of it would have appeared so slender in comparison with the assurances they might have had of his speaking to Jesus that they would never have added those scornful words which there follow as for this fellow we know not whence he is God appeared indeed to Moses in the Bush and said to him iii. Exod 6. I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And bids him say to the Children of Israel to whom he ordered him to go I am hath sent me to you vers 14. But which of the Israelites stood by when God spake these words to him What person was there like John Baptist to be a Witness of this Voice which was his Commission What Creature was there with him but the Flock he was feeding that could come afterward and say I was present and heard God call to him out of the Bush Doth the Voice say any where I am hath sent HIM as if it spake to others besides himself or what words did he himself hear comparable to those which God spake to our Saviour saying Thou art my Son my well-beloved Son Nor was the manner alike wherein these two Voices were delivered One out of the Bush the other from Heaven And the Glory wherewith this came to Moses was much inferiour to the glorious appearance of the Holy Ghost descending upon Jesus An Angel of the Lord you read appeared then to Moses in a flame of fire vers 2. But the flame was in the midst of the Bush not upon Moses Whereas the Holy Ghost not an Angel of the Lord came down at our Saviour's Baptism when he was sent and not into some distant place but lighted upon HIM and there remained God therefore is said to DWELL in the Bush xxxiii Deut. 16. but never to dwell in Moses and the dwelling of God there was only by the Presence and Ministry of an Angel Whereas now Jesus himself is the dwelling place of God as I have proved and it is God himself that dwells in him The Divine Majesty came upon him and there it setled its abode in his Person Who is God manifested in the flesh and whose Glory we behold the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father which cannot be said of any other man All this is so plain that Moses himself saw this appearance of God to him though sufficient to perswade him that he was sent of God because he heard him speak to him out of the Bush would not prove a demonstration to others who did not hear or see any thing to make them believe him nor had any credible witnesses to justifie this beside himself He says as much afterward to him that sent him Behold they will not believe me nor hearken to my voice for they will say the Lord hath not appeared unto thee iv Exod. 1. And how could he confute them when they made this exception unless he had some sensible demonstration to give them that God was with him which God immediately furnishes him withall ver 2. though nothing like to the Power of our Saviour as you shall hear presently All the miracles he wrought were as short of our Lords as His first Commission was which you see plainly was nothing so noble nothing so clear as that of our blessed Saviour's Moses himself is sensible of it and confesses he wanted some Witness that God spake to him and that he knew not what to say
when the Israelites bade him prove it But our Lord needed not to call for any Witness John the Baptist a great Prophet as they themselves allowed was ready of himself for it was his office to declare openly that he saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a Dove and abiding on him He saw and bare record that this is the Son of God as the Voice from Heaven in his audience also pronounced him Which a great many People if need were could afterward certifie who concluded that an Angel spake to him as you have heard from S. John's testimony .xii. 29. 2. Now if you proceed further and ask for some Witness of Moses his authority like to that of the WORD the second Witness to our Saviour who can hear any thing of it Do we ever read a word of Moses his appearing in such a Glory as our Lord Jesus did to his first Martyr S. Steven and to S. Paul and to his beloved Disciple Nay where are the Witnesses that say he was so much as transfigured when he was upon the Mount or doth he himself ever affirm it When was his Rayment made as white as Snow or where as I shall examine more hereafter was the bright cloud covering the Mount which was all cloathed with darkness we read indeed that when he came down his face shone but not in so bright and glorious a manner as our Saviour's did when he went up into the Holy Mount and especially after he ascended into Heaven Then S. Steven as I have said saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing at his right hand an honour never given to any Angel in Heaven And the Apostle of the Gentiles saw him again in a light greater than that of the Sun at Noon-day And to S. John he appeared as the KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS in such a Majesty as he was not able to bear but made him fall at his feet as dead He that weighs such things as these will see that all the glory of Moses to use S. Paul's words 2 Cor. iii. 10. was no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth 3. Then if you look for the Testimony of the HOLY-GHOST I have already noted that it never came down upon him as it did upon the Founder of our Religion Much less did he send it upon some select Men after he was dead who should do as great wonders as himself And still much less did he bestow it upon all the People as our Lord did for a while upon all Believers There is not the smallest foot-step of any such Honour or Power that he had For He did not communicate a portion of his Spirit to the LXX Elders who were chosen to be his Assistants but the Lord said to him I will come down and take of the Spirit which is upon thee and put it upon them xi Num. 17. which words do not signifie it is true that he had less but only that they had more of the Spirit than before yet He did not so much as lay his hands upon them that they might receive it but God took of the Spirit which was on him and gave it to the LXX Elders even to those two who were not there present at the Tabernacle but remained still in the camp ver 25 26. 4. If you go therefore next to the Testimony of WATER how transparent is the Purity of our Saviours Doctrine above that of Moses Whose Laws though they contained nothing dishonest yet burdened the people to prevent a greater mischief of their running into Idolatry with a number of precepts which in themselves had no goodness at all to commend them Nay the Letter of the very moral Law laid restraints only upon the outward man so that they who were subject to it little regarded the purifying of their spirits from those irregular passions and naughty affections which our Lord expresly prohibits There were many things also indulged in those days which our Lord doth not allow Whose design was not only to purge the heart and make the spirit of men much better by all his precepts but to advance them to the noblest degree of purity and goodness Where do you read in the Books of Moses such precepts of meekness of mortifying fleshly lusts of kindness to all and tender compassion of trust in God of contentedness with the present and hope of his mercy in another world as are frequent and obvious in the Gospel of Christ Nay in what place of the Law do you find so much as one command or exhortation to Pray much less to Pray without ceasing and to Pray not for riches and victory over enemies and long life but for the Divine Grace and favour for the Holy Spirit for remission of sins and for Eternal Life And now I mention that word I cannot but desire you to consider how low and poor the Promises of Moses were compared with those of our Saviour who hath brought in a better Hope Of which they could see so little so dim was the light in the Law of Moses that a whole Sect of men who believed in him and received his Law cast away all hope of obtaining good things in another life and denied the Resurrection of the Dead And we must add to all this that Moses was but the Light of that one Nation whereas our Lord says more than once I am the Light of the WORLD viii John 12. ix 5. Moses washed the Bodies of the Jews but now the hearts of the unclean Gentiles are purified by Faith xv Acts 9. And if you enquire further into the purity of Moses his life you will find it was not without flaws and blemishes for he spake unadvisedly with his lips and could not bring the people to their rest But our Lord was perfectly free from all spot the Lamb of God without blemish who never spake the least word amiss no not in the midst of such torments as Moses never endured 5. For if you pass on to consider what sufferings and BLOUD testifie Alas what is the Bloud of Bulls and of Goats to the precious Bloud of Jesus Did Moses seal that Covenant of which he was the Minister or did he sprinkle the Book of the Covenant with his own bloud Did he purge away the sins of the people by himself as our Saviour we read did 1. Hebr. 3. or sanctifie them by the offering of his own body once for all as it is x. Hebr. 10 Did he die to bear Witness to the Truth or witness such a good confession before Pharaoh as Jesus before Pontius Pilate Was it ever heard that by the enduring of a shameful and cruel death he declared to all the certainty of his Prophecy Upon what Altar was he offered And for what cause did he become a sacrifice This was peculiar to Jesus to suffer such things as no man ever did and for this very cause because he said He was the Son of God 6.
to think their offences have made their enemy is a thing that can never be certainly resolved without a Revelation Without which also we can have little security of the immortality of our Souls and of the life to come Which hath inclined all Mankind to listen after a Revelation and to catch at any thing which pretends to come from God to them For as Plato acknowledges when he ordains there should be no alterations made in the ancient Customes about Sacrifices because it is not possible for mortal nature to know any thing of these matters without it No says he not long after in the same Book * In Epinom as no body shall ever perswade me that there is any greater Piety than true Vertue and as there is nothing more excellent can be taught than how those that honour Vertue should rightly worship God with Sacrifices and other rites of purifying So none can teach this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã unless God show him the way and be his Guide and Leader in so excellent a work But if we search into all the records that are in the World what is there that can stand in competition with the Christian way of worshipping God or pretend to come with such authority from him I have examined those that have most to say for themselves and they can produce no such WITNESSES as Christianity doth No not that ancient Revelation made by God to Moses As for the old Pagan ways which were very various I am ashamed to mention them It is manifest they suffered themselves to be cheated by impure Spirits and took the answers of Daemons for the Oracles of God But ask now of the days that are past which were before us since the day that God created Man upon the Earth and ask from the one side of Heaven unto the other whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is or hath been heard like it that God indeed appeared among Men and was manifest in the flesh as is evident by all the signs and wonders and mighty deeds by voices from Heaven by his Resurrection from the dead and all the other Witnesses which have testified this truth to the world Ask again hath God ever assured Men of any thing by so many and such evident testimonies as those which I have produced Unto us it was shown that we might know that Jesus is the Lord and beside him there is no other if I may again allude to the words of Moses iv Deut. 34 35. out of Heaven he hath made us hear his voice that he might instruct us and upon Earth he hath shown us his great wonders that every tongue might confess Jesus is the Lord to the Glory of God the Father III. That now is the next thing I am to press as a necessary consequence of what hath been said in the foregoing Treatise Though there were such slender proofs in comparison with ours that God spake to Moses and though others as I said were drawn away by the subtilties of evil Angels yet they all believed and gave great reverence to that which was delivered to them Every Nation gladly received and held fast that which did but pretend to come from Heaven Which must needs extremely reproach us and put us to eternal shame if we having better evidences should not only be Believers but have a stronger faith in Jesus That which Plato thought was to be wisht for is now come to pass God is come to be our Guide and Director The very wisdome of the Father hath appeared to teach us He that made all the World is come down hither to reform us The WORD IS MADE FLESH that as he had Principalum in coelis to use the words of Irenaeus * L. 4. cap. 37. the Lordship in Heaven so he might have Principatum in terra the same Soveraignty upon Earth He hath appeared also in wonderful and astonisht brightness to convince us of his authority and to make us know assuredly that he is God blessed for ever Shall we not then hear his words shall we not deliver up our selves to receive his Heavenly instruction which came with such powerful demonstration God forbid that any of us should be so perverse as hearing such WITNESSES speak unto us for the Lord Jesus we should give no credit to them I cannot but believe as S. Austin * L. de vera Relig. cap. 3. excellently discourses that if Plato now lived and would vouchsafe to answer my Questions or rather if any Scholar of his being perswaded that truth is not to be seen with corporeal eyes but by a pure mind and that nothing hinders the sight more than a life addicted to lust and false Images of sensible things which impressed on us beget various errors and that therefore the mind is to be purified that it may behold that unchangeable beauty which is always the same and always like it self If I say a Scholar of his thus taught by him should ask him whether in case there should be a Man Great and Divine that should perswade the People at least to believe such things though they could not perceive them or if they did perceive them were so ingaged in vulgar errors that they durst not or could not oppose them He would not judge him worthy of Divine honour I believe he would Answer that this could not be done by Man unless perhaps the very power and wisdome of God should honour some person who was not taught of men but from the Cradle illuminated by the most intimate knowledge of things with so great a grace and strengthen him with such resolution and bear him up with such a majesty that contemning all things that evil Men desire and induring all things that they dread and doing all things that they admire he should convert Mankind with equal kindness and authority to so wholesome a Faith And he would add that it was to no purpose to ask him what the Honours are which ought to be given to such a person when it is easie to be discerned what honour is due to the wisdome of God by the guidance and governance of which he would singularly deserve of Mankind and do some thing for their Salvation proper only to himself and which was above Men to do Now if these things which I have supposed be really done if there be good records of them if from a Country in which alone One God was worshipped and where such a person was to be born there came chosen men who by their Vertues and their Sermons have kindled in Mens breasts the flame of the Divine love and have left the inlightned Earth under a most wholesome Discipline if every where it is preached that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God if to the perceiving and embracing this that the Soul may be cured and recover strength to entertain so great a light the covetous hear such
hope in him with the loss of their lives And as long as they live they will find it the highest of all pleasures to think that they shall never die Of which happiness we can by no means be so well secured as by the Christian Religion All the Philosophers of greatest fame as Eusebius * Lib. 1. Prapar Evang. c. 4. observes talkt like Children about the Immortality of the Soul in comparison with Christians Among whom saith he boys and girls and those Barbarians too and the most despicable people declare this truth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not so much by their discourses as by their deeds which they perform by the power and cooperation of our Saviour The Discourses of Aristotle about this matter are justly said by Saint Greg. Nazianzen * Orat. xxxiii p. 535. to be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because as Jacobus Billius hath demonstrated he thought the Souls of men to be mortall And accordingly Theodoret ranks him in this regard with Democritus and Epicurus who boldly said they were corruptible So little force was there as he also observes * Lib. v. Therapentices p. 546. 556. in the many discourses of the most wise Plato to prove the Soul's Immortality which could not make his greatest Scholar in love with his Opinion Whereas our Fishermen and Publicans and Shoemakers perswaded both Greeks and Romans and Egyptians and all other Nations of mankind to believe it And you shall see saith he not onely the Doctours of the Church but Smiths and Weavers and other Artizans both men and women that understand these things And not onely such people as live in cities but poor country-men are so well instructed that one may find a Ditcher or a Neatherd discoursing of the Holy Trinity of the Creation of the World and that knows more of humane Nature then either Aristotle or Plato For Plato himself was not constant in his Opinions about the state of the Soul after it departed this body But sometimes speaks of great torments which the wicked endure in dark prisons and describes their punishments to be dreadfull by the sentence of impartiall Judges and otherwhere he talks as if those Souls were at liberty to chuse what body they will please to go into and that it pleases them better to be a Bird or perhaps an Ass then formerly it did to be a Man Which contrariety of opinion is observed and handsomely represented by Eusebius * Lib. xiii Praepar c. 16. whose words I shall not transcribe For we find the Philosophers talking so discontentedly concerning the present state of mankind who are subject they say to more calamities and therefore in a worse condition then any other Creature upon the face of the earth that it is sufficient to convince us how little certainty they had of a future state The stedfast belief of which being taught as Theodoret observes with one mouth and without any disagreement or doubting by all the Apostles and Followers of Christ made all Christian people not onely contented with their portion though more calamitous in those days then any other mens but also chearfull under the sorest burthens that oppressed them And though the ancient Hebrews were taught by holy men of God to know better then the Philosophers and God in his infinite goodness was pleased when they were in danger of grievous troubles for Religion sake then to give them still more and more hope of another life as Grotius wisely observes both upon the story of Elijah's calling the Soul of the Widow's Son back again 1 King xvii 21. and upon the dead man's rising again when he touched the bones of Elisha 2 King xiii 21. and may be farther verified from the story of the Maeeabees yet it must be acknowledged there was no particular promise made to them of Eternall Life either before the giving of the Law or in that Covenant made with them by Moses nor any clear and express promise in after-times untill the coming of our Lord Christ Who hath made a New Covenant with us which is established upon better promises then those in the Old as the holy Writer to the Hebrews speaks viii 6. For the promises of the Covenant made with them by Moses were onely that they should possess the land of Canaan and lead a happy life there while they observed his Precepts But the promises of the Gospell are that by obedience to our Lord we shall come to live eternally with him in the heavens So the Church of Christ hath always understood it as any one may be satisfied who can reade the Answer of Ger. Cap. xxiii Vossius to Ravenspergerus Where he shews that the ancient Doctours especially Saint Augustine lookt upon the Old Testament as containing properly and directly the promises onely of earthly and temporall things which were the Figures of those that are celestiall and eternall The words of Saint Augustine are very memorable to this purpose in a little Book of his Epist cxx cap. 2 3. wherein he answers to five Questions put to him by Honoratus to which he adds another of his own concerning the Grace of the New Testament in which that Grace is revealed which was hid in the Old God willing to shew saith he that even earthly and temporall felicity is his gift and ought not to be expected but from him alone though fit long ago to dispense the Old Testament which belongs to the Old man from whom this life must needs begin But those felicities of the Fathers are proclaimed to be granted by the bounty of God though belonging to this transitory life For those earthly gifts were the things that were openly and apparently promised and given Covertly indeed the New Testament was figuratively foretold in all those things and was understood by a few whom the same Grace was pleased to honour with the gift of prophecy By which gift bestowed not upon a few persons in one Nation but as their Prophets foretold upon all flesh these things which were then lockt up in secret are now laid open to the view of all and so plainly revealed that we reade of ETERNALL LIFE oftner in the New Testament then they did of health and riches and victory and long life in the Old Blessed be the tender mercy of our God should all those that have any faith say who hath called us into his marvellous light whereby we see such things as eye never saw and see them so clearly that we cannot reasonably doubt of them We enjoy the body of that whereof they had but the shadow We have that in substance which they had but in picture The promise of that is ours which they had onely in the type We have the proof the evidence the demonstration of that which was onely represented to them in mysticall figures So far are we illuminated beyond those great Souls who were the glory of their times that we understand the meaning of their own Books and the signification
may read ver 34 35 36. If they were called Gods in old time to whom the Word of God came i. e. who received commission and authority from God to be the Judges and Rulers of his people then it could be no offence much less a blasphemy for him whom God had sanctified i. e. set apart and anointed to this office of being their Lord and King to call himself the Son of God For so he was by his place and there was no need he should say any thing of the Divine nature that was in him Well then to be the Son of God and to be the Christ being but different expressions of the same thing and the word Christ signifying anointed one set apart to an high office and in its eminent sence that person who was to sustain the place of God in this world to be the King of Israel yea the Governour and Ruler of all mankind we must conclude that when the Apostle says here Jesus is the Son of God his meaning is that He is the Holy one of God the person whom he sanctified by the unction of the Holy Ghost and sent into the World to whom he hath now given all power in Heaven and in Earth that every knee should bow to him as the Sovereign Lord of the World whom we are to hear and obey and depend upon in all things For this is the stile you may observe of the Old Testament from whence you may learn the rise and original of this manner of speech which calls those Kings who derived their authority immediately from God by the name of his Sons Because when they were anointed by his order they were made what they were not before and begotten as they spoke again And being created by God to their new dignity they are therefore called his Sons The first time we meet with the phrase is in the story of the first King of Israel 1 Sam. xiii 1. where Saul is called as the words are in the Hebrew the Son of one year in his Kingdom Because there was but a year passed since the time of his unction by which he was born Gods Vicegerent and as you read x. 6. turned into another man And indeed we find this imitated in Ethnick writers who call the day their Emperors entred upon their Reign their Birth-day So we read in Spartianus that Adrian being informed by Letters that Trajan had named him for his Successor caused the birth-day of his adoption to be celebrated And two days after hearing of his death he ordered they should keep the birth-day of his Empire * Natalem imperii instituit celebrandum But I do not intend to launch out of the holy story where we find this more plainly delivered in the History of the succeeding Kings of Israel For when the Philistins the Moabites the Syrians the Ammonites and other neighbouring People with their Princes conspired after they had been conquered by David against the Lord and against his anointed resolving to cast off their yoke the Psalmist shews Psal 2. how vain and idle their attempt would prove because God had appointed him whom he sent a Prophet to anoint to be his King This decree of God he averrs and openly declares ver 6 7. that the Lord said unto him Thou art my Son this day i. e. when he anointed him I have begotten thee So that to rise against him was to war with God Almighty whose Son that is Vicegerent he was in those Countries And therefore if they were well advised he exhorts them all to go and kiss the Son ver 12. i. e. submit themselves by that token of humble subjection to him who had his Authority immediately from God Nay was his first-born the most eminent Prince that is that ever he made lxxxix Psal 27. And therefore he was the prime type of our Lord Christ to whom these words are applied because he was the Son of David that great King who was to reign over them for ever as the Angel said i. Luke 33. And if you pass from hence to the next King Solomon who had a particular unction also and in whose reign was prefigured the glorious Kingdom of our Saviour you will find that God says by a Prophet concerning him I will be his Father and he shall be my Son 2 Sam. vii 14. Which words are a promise to make Solomon King and settle him on the Throne of his Father David So He understood it as appears by the speech which David made not long before his death to all the great men of his Kingdom 1 Chron. xxviii where he tells them ver 4. that as Jesse had many Sons Yet God liked him only to make him King over all Israel So of the many Sons which the Lord had given him ver 5. He had chosen Solomon to sit upon the Throne of the Kingdom of the Lord. As is evident saith he from those words of God spoken by Nathan ver 6. I have chosen him to be my SON and I will be hit FATHER i. e. made choice of him to be King of Israel in thy room and as I have been to thee so I will be to him Thus Solomon one would think interpreted these words when he prays God who had made good one part of his promise to perform the other also 2 Chron. i. 8 9. Thou hast shewed great mercy unto David my Father and hast made me reign in his stead as much as to say made me thy Son now O Lord God let thy promise unto my Father be established that is of being a Father to me now that I am become thy son and set by thee over a people like the dust of the Earth in multitude By this time I suppose it will be no wonder to any intelligent person that these Kings are called the Sons of God who did not only govern in that Country which was called it is well known God's land and the inhabitants whereof were his peculiar people but were appointed by his special direction and anointed with his holy oil lxxxix Psal 20. and had as it were their being and birth from God who promoted them to sit upon his Throne and to be Kings for the Lord God as you read 2 Chron. ix 8. so that the Kingdom it self is called in that Book the Kingdom of the Lord xiii 8. And the Judges also in the Courts of that Kingdom are said to exercise the Judgment of the Lord and not of man xix 6. that is to sit there in God's stead to do men justice And because of this great power and trust committed to them by him are called as you heard lxxxii Psal 1 6. Gods and the children of the most High whose deputies they were and for whom they judged And therefore it is the less wonder that when this Great Prince came among them to whom all judgment is committed and who hath all power in Heaven and in Earth and is Lord of all and appointed by God
Scripture sounding in their ears as an answer to their prayers or their doubts Or lastly there being many Jews in our Saviours time and afterward who knew very well what had been reported of him but yet continued sworn enemies to his Religion they ventured to report the same of their own Doctors and perswaded the people that they were approved by voices from Heaven and therefore ought to be received by all posterity as men of a Divine stamp who had the highest testimony from Almighty God This I am sure of there is nothing to make it credible that any man among them in those Ages was thus honoured by God No body appears that dare say they heard it Nor does any of them pretend that they saw these Rabbies shine in the least glimpse of such glory as our Saviour did when he was honoured with that glorious testimony from Heaven which pronounced him the Head of all principality and power Much less were they as S. Luke speaks by many infallible proofs for we rely not upon the voice from Heaven by it self alone declared to be the men of God And therefore that which to me seems nearest to the truth in this matter is that there had been a perfect deep silence since the death of the latter Prophets and no Revelation made of Gods mind of any sort whatsoever in that Nation till John the Baptist came who was filled with the Holy Ghost and sent by God in the spirit and power of Elias to prepare the way of our Lord. Who when he first appeared had such an approbation given him by God the Father in the audience of John as had not been vouchsafed to any person and in such a manner by a voice from Heaven as had not been in use for many ages but yet was the most ancient way of his communicating his mind to men Thus God called to Adam in the Garden and thus he spake to Abraham and Moses and Samuel and therefore so he now speaks to him who was the second Adam the true seed promised to Abraham the Prophet like to Moses Testifying both to him and to others by his own voice from Heaven which was the old way of Revelation before all others and a clearer way there cannot be that he was his only begotten Son And here perhaps it may not be amiss to observe that this voice anciently was very low like a small whisper in ones ear whereas the voice to our Saviour was loud and strong making a great noise in the ears of those that heard it So Eliphaz tells us iv Job 16. that in a vision which he had There was silence and I heard a voice The Hebrew is exactly rendred by Mercer I heard silence and a voice that is a still voice as the Margin of our Bible hath it And so Elias is said to hear a voice of silence 1 Kings xix 12. a still small voice as we render it a speech next to silence which did but whisper very low and made no noise at all in his ears On the contrary you read in the place last expounded xii John the voice which spake of our Saviour was so loud and audible that the people who were at some distance thought it had been a clap of thunder It did not silently creep into their ears but rent the clouds to make its way with a great deal of power and force into them I cannot say that the other voice was so loud which the Disciples heard on the holy Mount but it was so clear and piercing that when they heard it xvii Matth. 6. they were astonished and fell flat upon their faces The light wherein he appeared was not more visible than the voice which testified to him was audible and both were very amazing Which may very well denote the excellency of our Saviours person and the efficacy of his doctrine above all that had been before him He declared Gods mind more fully and perfectly and spake it more plainly and perspicuously He transcended all others in both these as much as a full voice is above a little murmur or whisper in the ear or a speech distinctly pronounced is to be preferred before the lisping of imperfect words But whatsoever become of this we may certainly conclude from the audibleness and clearness of the voice whereby God gave his testimony to Jesus that they are the more to be believed who affirm they heard this voice from Heaven and report it to us it not being easie for them to be deceived This voice was like that of an Herald who proclaims a Prince and it said in effect I have set my King upon my holy hill of Sion Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Which had a most eminent and full completion at his Resurrection and Exaltation but began to be fulfilled when he was tranfigured upon this holy hill and had a representation of his future glory made to him Which he did not assume to himself as the Apostle discourses v. Hebr. 4 5. but was called unto it by him that said then Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and said now This is my well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him And thus you see having made an enquiry into the Testimony of one of these Witnesses the first and greatest we find it so full and clear on his behalf that we must either disbelieve God or else believe in Jesus and receive him for the Son of God For he received more than once honour and glory from God the Father Who was so highly glorified also by Him that he hath now completely glorified him with himself and therefore expects that his Name should be perpetually glorified and praised by us in some such words as these A PRAYER ADored be thy love O Lord of Heaven and Earth adored be thy great and wonderful love which hath thus glorified thy Son Jesus and given us such abundant satufaction that in him thou art well pleased Lord what is man that thou shouldest speak from Heaven with so much kindness to him that thou shouldest so often tell us thou hast sent thy dearly beloved Son in great humility to visit us what an amazing love is this that thou shouldest admit any of us into such a familiarity with thy self as to hear thy voice and behold the brightness of thy glory Our heart ought to answer thee again with the voice of joy thanksgiving and praise Thy high praises ought to be in all our mouths It becomes us to say continually with the most elevated minds and hearts Glory be to thee O Lord Glory be to thee O Lord who dwellest on high and yet humblest thy self to behold the things that are in Heaven and in Earth For ever be thy Name glorified by us and by all mankind who hast honoured our Nature so highly in the person of thy only begotten Son Christ Jesus whom after thou hadst several ways glorified on Earth thou hast now advanced
to the Throne of thy glory in Heaven The hearts of all mankind with all the love they have is too small a Sacrifice to be offered unto thee whose love is like thy self far beyond all that we are able to express O that our love and affection to thee were so likewise a most grateful resentment of thy kindness to us greater than can be uttered O that our minds and wills to make some poor expressions of their thankfulness may most humbly bow themselves and perfectly stoop to thee who hast thus graciously condescended unto us That we may with the most thankful hearts receive thy testimony concerning thy Son sincerely reverence him as our Lord and Saviour and obediently hearken to his voice believing his Revelations following his Instructions submitting to his Precepts and rejoycing for ever in the comfort of his precious Promises There is all reason that we should thus study to approve our selves to thee And it is our interest also to be careful to fulfil all righteousness as our Saviour did That we may have the testimony of a good Conscience at present and a joyful hope to be openly commended and praised by thee hereafter when we shall hear that voice of the King of glory calling to us and saying Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Amen CHAP. III. Concerning the Testimony of the WORD IT is time now to proceed to the Examination of the next Witness which is the WORD and to weigh the evidence which He gives concerning Jesus that is concerning him who was born of the blessed Virgin Mary and called by that Name who said He was the Son of God I make no doubt but we shall find his testimony as full and as strong as the former to verifie this when we have in a few words according to my intended brevity declared who this WORD is who now comes and desires to be heard as a Witness for Jesus And we are told by this very Apostle in the first Verse of his Gospel that the WORD is a Divine being which had a subsistence in the beginning of all things For he was then with God the World was made by him and therefore He was God That is God of God the Father to whom he hath such a relation to speak in the words of S. Greg. Nazianzen as a word or inward thought hath to the mind Not only in regard of his generation ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Orat. 36. without any passion but because of his intimate conjunction with Him and of his power to declare Him For the Father is known by the Son who is a brief and easie demonstration of the nature of the Father as every thing that is begotten is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the silent Word of that which begat it Now this WORD whom the Ancients call the Eternal Reason the Wisdom the Power of the Father S. John there tells us ver 14. was made flesh and became so related to that Man who was born of the Blessed Virgin as to dwell in Him and be made one with Him A mystery as Gregory Thaumaturgus excellently speaks ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Serm. 3. in Innunc which is to be adored not scrupulously and nicely weighed to be discoursed of in Divine words not measured by humane reasons And therefore I shall say no more of it but that from hence it is that afterward the whole person God-man is called the WORD as you read in the very entrance of this Epistle of S. John Where the WORD is described to be such a person as may be seen and felt and handled as well as heard And He is very properly called by this Name because it is his office to declare the mind and will of God to men as we by our speech declare ours one to another which otherways we could not know For no man hath seen God at any time i. John 18. the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him In these words we have a plain and full account why our Lord Jesus is called the WORD of God Not merely because he hath revealed to us the Counsel and the pleasure of God for so did the ancient Prophets and the holy Apostles but First because he was the immediate Interpreter of the Divine mind and will as the word which we speak is of ours For he was in the very bosom of the Father that is knew his mind not by the instructions of an Angel not by Visions or Dreams nor only by the Holy Ghost but by a more intimate discovery of Gods counsels and purposes to him as a person that was one with him We cannot understand less by his being in his Fathers bosom which is a phrase that signifies He had the nearest familiarity with Him and was privy to his most secret counsels Which He was able also to accomplish and bring to pass and for that reason which is the second may be called the WORD of God Because he hath such a power in Heaven and Earth that at his word or command all things are presently done according to his will For Jesus being represented you may observe in a vision to S. John as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords clothed in a purple i.e. a royal robe is called by the name of the Word of God xix Rev. 13 after he had done publishing God's mind and will and was then only executing some of his Decrees by that power which he hath at God's right hand A power so great that he can by his Word alone as the Scripture speaks in other cases of God Almighty xxxiii Psalm 6. without any visible means to effect it compass his ends and fulfil what he hath spoken either in his threats or promises And lastly the Article before this Name ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the WORD denotes Him to be the person to whom this Title so particularly and eminently belongs that it can be given to none else Because he hath most perfectly declared God's mind and will to us and revealed to us all his secret purposes concerning us in the fullest manner that can be and hath a power far surmounting all creatures to do every thing as he hath declared And thus I suppose we are to take the word in this place for the WORD made flesh that is for Jesus himself Who manifested his own greatness and glory as you have begun to discern already and bare witness concerning himself in a very eminent and glorious manner that he was the Son of God But you must not expect that I should here produce all the demonstrations which He gave of this Truth from the time of his being made flesh and coming to dwell among us No we are to consider that the Apostle is now speaking of those Witnesses which are in Heaven and thence give their testimony And therefore we must not at present seek for any
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
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
and whereby he justified himself against all accusers This was his warrant to this he appeals upon all occasions that He saw Jesus in the way to Damascus And he had great reason to stick to it for he knew that no body could shame him by so much as pretending that he lied and that there was no such thing as this apparition of Jesus to him He had his companions in his journey to be witnesses of the Miraculous glory which on a sudden surprised them as well as him xxvi Acts 15. They heard then the voice of some body discoursing with him though they did not distinctly hear the words It became presently notorious every where for this thing as he tells Agrippa ver 26. was not done in a corner but openly and at noon-day to the astonishment of divers persons who attended him And it left a sensible effect upon his body and upon his mind He could neither see nor eat nor drink for three days In which space he saw a vision of a man named Ananias coming to him and bidding him receive his sight All which proved true and together with his sight he received a new spirit whereby he confounded the Jews at Damascus For they could not deny all this and yet were loth to believe in Jesus They were amazed to hear him preached by a man who they knew was come thither with a quite contrary intent ix 21. They could not but ask what is the matter whence comes this marvellous change Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this Name in Jerusalem And is not that the business for which he came hither to bring them bound unto the chief Priests What ailes him now that he thus justifies them and condemns himself And there is no doubt but to answer such Questions he took the opportunity to tell them what he had seen and what he had heard for so Ananias charged him xxii 15. He did not keep this as a secret it was not carried in privacy but presently divulged that all might inquire if they pleased into the circumstances of the fact Which was so strange that as it amazed and confounded them at Damascus so King Agrippa ' knew not what to say to it but was almost perswaded to be a Christian xxvi Acts 28. No man of sence could think that a person of his education and learning would venture the loss of his ease of his reputation of all the preferment he had and of all that he might justly hope for from the Sanhedrim without the least expectation of any gain unless of that only which Jesus could give him if he had not been fully assured it was no delusion when he presented himself to him as the Lord of glory Much less could any man imagine that a person of his vertue and unblameable life under the Law and of such strange piety and perfect contempt of all worldly things after his receiving Christianity would feign and devise such a story by which if it were false he could get nothing in the other world and if it were true he could get nothing in this Nothing but misery trouble infamy and reproach which attended him every where and never left him till it had brought him to a shameful death If you will but consider what he quitted for Christ's sake after he had thus appeared to him and how the world treated him when he became a preacher of this Gospel as you find it described by himself in several Epistles particularly iii. Philip. 8. 1 Cor. iv 9 10 11 c. 2 Cor. vi 4 5 c. xi 23 24 c. you will soon be satisfied that he was more in his wits than either to invent this story or publish it without strong assurance of its truth He was as sure that he saw the Lord Jesus in his glory and heard the voice of his mouth as every body else that knew him was sure he had been a blasphemer of him and a persecutor of his servants And therefore whatsoever it cost him he would be obedient to that Heavenly Vision And having a Ministry from him as he speaks in the 2 Cor. iv 1 2 3. according as he had received mercy so he accounted it a very great favour to become one of his Ministers he did not faint nor discharge his office sluggishly Nor did he think of making up his losses by this new profession of preaching the Gospel but abhorred such a dishonest thought and utterly renounced all such base and shameful arts though never so secretly managed and covered over with never such specious pretences He did not walk in craftiness nor appear other than he really was Much less would he to please any men handle the word of God deceitfully either by concealing any thing that was true or by mixing any false stories of his own inventing No by plain truth he commended himself to every mans conscience as in the presence of that God who is the avenger of all fraud and imposture And therefore he justly concludes that if any man did not receive these things nor think them evident enough it was because he deserved to perish for the love he bore to some naughty affection or other which would not let him submit to Jesus For it was him the Apostles preached ver 5. not themselves they did not do their own business but his only whom they proclaimed to be the Lord and themselves no more but his servants nay the servants of all Christian people for his sake But I must no longer follow the story of this great man who became so strong in the Lord and in the power of his might after He had from Heaven appeared and spoken to him that as nothing could daunt him so nothing could hinder the sucecess of his labours He became the most eminent servant of the Lord Jesus and prevailed so mightily against all the opposition which the Devil or men raised to frustrate his endeavours that he gives thanks to God in the second Chapter of that Epistle ver 14. Who always caused him to triumph in Christ and made manifest the odour of his knowledge by him in every place All his travels and long journeys proved in the issue as if they had been but the carrying of him about in a triumphal Chariot to make him a glorious spectacle in all those places as the Syriack translates it where in spite of all that the most powerful cruelty and rage could do he was still victorious and brought divers Souls into a chearful subjection to his Master Christ Jesus III. Who was pleased last of all but more frequently than to any other to show himself after he went to Heaven to this very Apostle whose words I am expounding his beloved Disciple S. John By whom he comforts and encourages all other Christians to continue stedfast in their Religion and to take their share with him in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ Who many ways declared to him
that he was the Son of God the King of glory able to reward his patient servants and moreover sent Letters by him to several Churches of the Saints testifying the very same things which He made him see and hear in several visions They are recorded in that Book which tells us in the very first words of it that it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ which he sent and signified by the Ministery of his Angel to his servant John Who had already born record so the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is to be rendred ver 2. of the WORD of God and of the testimony of Jesus and of all things that he saw Had declared that is in his Gospel Jesus to be the WORD of God and made known that which he testified to be Gods will concerning men together with all the evidences by Miracles and other ways which he had seen of the truth of that which Jesus testified There could not be a fitter person than he who perhaps also was the only Apostle now remaining in the world to hold communication with this WORD of God and receive new revelations from Jesus He being at this time likewise banished and confined to the Isle which is called Patmos ver 9. for the cause now named that is for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ In this lonesome place separated from the rest of the Earth our Lord opened Heaven to him and shewed him the glory which he had there For he fell into a rapture on the Lords day ver 10. and heard one speak behind him with a voice as loud as a trumpet saying I am before and after all things that is God blessed for ever Write what thou seest in a Book and send it to the seven Churches which are in Asia whose names are there expressed ver 11. Whereupon he turn'd about to see whence this voice came and then he beheld in the midst of seven golden Candlesticks representing those Churches a very glorious person appearing in the most royal majesty and power He did not ask him as S. Paul did who he was for he had been long acquainted heretofore with that countenance and knew him perfectly well to be our blessed Saviour Who by his very habit wherein he appeared declared himself to be as he had said the Lord of all who had no superiour nor any second in that Kingdom which God the Father had given him but disposed all things according to the sole pleasure of his will For he beheld him clothed with a garment down to the foot and girt about the paps with a golden girdle c. ver 13 14 15 16. He saw that is as Irenaeus truly expresses it L. 4. cap. 37. Sacerdotalem gloriosum regni ejus adventum him appear in his Priestly and glorious Kingdom For a long Robe and a golden Girdle belonged both to Kings and to the High-Priest in the Jewish Nation And all the rest of the description it were easie to show is a plain representation of a person shining in the glory of God the Father and invested with such an irresistible power in the Heavens as might justy make all his Friends rejoyce who acknowledged him to be the Son of God most high and all his Enemies quake and tremble who opposed his sovereign Authority In short so glorious was the sight that S. John himself was not able to bear it but when he saw him fell at his feet as dead ver 17. till the WORD as Irenaeus speaks in the same place on whose breast he had reposed himself at his last Supper revived and comforted him with these gracious words Fear not I am the first and the last I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the keys of Hell and of Death As much as to say Thou wast not deceived when thou thoughtest thou saw the Son of man appear to thee It is I indeed therefore be not so afraid though now thou beholdest me in such Heavenly Majesty and Divine glory for thou oughtest rather to rejoyce to think that I am the eternal God I whom thou knewest when I lived upon Earth and whom thou sawest shamefully put to death am now alive as thou seest also never to die any more and am intrusted with a power to rescue you from death and raise you out of your graves It would be too long if I should tell you all that he says in his Letters to those Churches to assert his title to the Name of the Son of God which he expresly takes to himself in one of them ii Rev. 18. and to declare his royal power which he exercises in all the world especially in his Church the house of the living God where he hath such an absolute authority expressed by having the keys of the house of David c. iii. 7. that none can contradict him either by preserving any man in the Divine favour if he reject him or by excluding any man from it if he receive him It may suffice to observe these two things First that there is not one of those Letters but it begins with some such description of our Saviour's sovereign Majesty as this now mentioned For the character he had given of himself in the first Chapter is again repeated by parts in the following messages to the Churches Where he sometimes calls himself He that walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks ii 1. that is inspects and governs them Sometime the first and the last which was dead and is alive ver 8. that is the Lord God who can raise him from the dead who parts with his life for me And to name no more he calls himself ver 12. He that hath the sharp sword with two edges to cut in pieces either them or their enemies according as they deserved of him And indeed it being the office of a King which is the second thing to be observed or a supreme Governour to punish offenders and to reward vertuous persons he constantly assumes both these powers to himself in every one of these seven Letters telling them what evil should befall them from his hand if they did not amend and what blessings he would bestow upon them if they did overcome Which is a plain declaration of his Regal power and authority which he now hath at the right hand of the Throne of God There S. John saw him in a second Vision as Irenaeus calls it v. Rev. 6. where he appears in such power with God that none hath the like For there was a majesty represented to the Apostle sitting on a Throne with a Book in his right hand ver 1. which none could open or read or so much as look into And then behold this Lamb of God who had been slain comes and appears in the midst of the Throne being the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah as one of the Elders calls him ver 5. that royal person whom
God promised to send to rule over them He takes the Book out of the right hand of him that sate on the Throne ver 7. which signifies that he is next to God the Father of all at whose right hand he stood in power and glory As appears also by his being seated in his Throne for the thrones of the Eastern Kings to which these expressions allude were wide like one of our Couches in which more than one may sit and by his having the principal Angels the seven spirits of God at his command to imploy where he pleased Who together with the rest of the Heavenly host and with the Christian Church make their acclamations to him ver 11 12. as worthy of the most supreme power and dignity which they express in as many Names of praise as there are principal Spirits of God when they say Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive 1. power and 2. riches and 3. wisdom and 4. strength and 5. honour and 6. glory and 7. blessing And then immediately he hears every Creature joyning him in their Doxology together with God the Father saying ver 13. Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever But the more fully to represent his Divine power you may observe that he appears in another Vision to him in the very same state and majesty wherein God was wont to make himself present in the times of old Then you read that the Lord made the clouds his chariot and walkt upon the wings of the wind ciii Psalm 3. that is came to them by the ministery of Angels who appeared in bright and shining clouds to do his will with great expedition every where For so it is expounded in the xviii Psalm 10. where instead of clouds it is said He rode upon a Cherub and did flie yea he did flie upon the wings of the wind That is there was a token of his presence by the majestick appearance of Angels who were ready to be imployed by him and immediately to execute his commands For to ride upon any thing as Maimonides observes * More Nevoch Part. 1. cap. 70. is in the Holy Language to rule to govern to have an absolute power over it and dispose of it as one pleases And therefore to ride upon a Cherub or to make the clouds his chariot which are the very same because the Angels appeared in glorious clouds is to send those Heavenly Ministers whither he thinks good to perform his pleasure Whence it is I suppose that the Psalmist says elsewhere lxviii 34. his strength is in the clouds because he is powerfully present by them in all places For as Andreas Caesariensis hath truly observed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. in his Commentaries upon the Revelation a cloud in the Sacred writings is ever a Minister about Divine businesses and perpetually imployed in them because they are above us and are very swift as the Angels are in their motions and are both dark and bright a fit emblem of the glory of the Divine Majesty which is inscrutable by us Now just in such a glorious Majesty and mighty power did S. John behold our blessed Saviour making the clouds that is the Angels his chariot in which he sate as a Lord to whom they were to do service So he tells us in xiv Rev. 14. And I looked and behold a white cloud and upon the cloud one sate like unto the Son of man having on his head a golden Crown and in his hand a sharp sickle Where by cloud the forementioned writer understands ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã some Angelical power of which this white that is bright cloud was a representation ministring to our Saviour For S. John saw him upon this cloud and sitting there as if it were the Throne or Royal Chariot of this Prince Who sate there with a Crown on his head denoting his Royal authority and that of Gold to show by what is most precious among us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the splendour and greatness of his Majesty and with a sickle in his hand to signifie that he hath such a power as to be able to cut down Kingdoms and States with as much ease as we mow a field of corn All these three last expressions set forth the highest dignity and most royal power and therefore so doth his sitting upon a cloud or being carried by Angels as Kings were anciently and still are in the Eastern Countries by their servants Which kind of speech and other such like phrases in the holy Language as riding upon the wings of Angels denoted by the clouds and wind signifie the exercise of his Kingly power by their Ministry Who are ready to fly any whither to convey his orders and execute them throughout the world Where he being present by them as a King is by his several Ministers in every part of his Dominions he is said to sit upon them as if whither-soever they go they carried him Thus the ancient Books speak of God the Creator and Governour of all and thus our Saviour teaches S. John to speak of him which is a sign that he is the Son of God who sends forth the Angels to minister for them especially who shall be heirs of salvation And therefore in another Vision which is all I need mention xix Rev. 11 12 c. He saw him again coming out of Heaven with the Royal ensigns of his victorious power over those who had opposed his authority For behold a white horse which was proper for a conqueror and one sitting upon him whose name was called the WORD of God Who was clothed he tells us with a vesture dipt in bloud that is with a purple garment such as Kings use to wear and his eyes sparkled or rather flamed like fire to denote how terrible he was to his Enemies and there were on his head many Crowns because he had already conquered several Kingdoms and Provinces and was now going to subdue more being attonded with all the armies in Heaven who waited upon him to minister to him in this war till as he was of right he was actually acknowledged by humble subjection to him to be KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS And what greater argument can there be of the power of our Lord and of the truth of these Visions whereby the WORD of God who hath the lineaments of future things in his mind as Irenaeus speaks represented how God would hereafter dispose of the affairs of the world than his possessing himself of a Kingdom and perswading so great a part of mankind to submit to him though a King invisible merely by the preaching of such men as S. John The event hath proved it was no delusion when he heard those great voices in Heaven saying xi 15. The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever
numbred with thy Saints in glory everlasting Amen CHAP. IV. Concerning the Testimony of the HOLY GHOST WE have heard the WORD speak enough in his own behalf and I do not think it needful to hear that Witness any further Let us attend now to the Testimony of the third person in the holy Trinity and hear what the HOLY GHOST saith who we shall find upon due examination agrees perfectly in the same thing and declares that Jesus is the Son of God Witness that glorious appearance of the Divine Spirit upon him when he was baptized and the great gifts and endowments thereof wherewith ever after that he was filled himself and filled others For here we may note three things as we did in the opening of the testimony of the other two Witnesses I. The first is that when the Spirit of God descended upon him immediately after his Baptism and in an illustrious manner remained on him as S. John Baptist testifies it did i. John 32 33. then the Holy Ghost bare witness of him that he was the Son of God In our reflections upon which we are to consider distinctly first how it descended and then that it remained and abode upon him And for the better understanding of both these we must know that when the Jews would express any visible appearance of the Majesty and glory of God they call it the SCHEKINAH that is the Habitation or dwelling because God showed himself thereby to be extraordinarily present and that he did as it were dwell in that place to afford those to whom he so manifested himself his gracious help comfort or instruction This is the name they give even to that Presence of God which was in the most holy place the Glory of the Lord which appeared upon the Cherubims because He dwelt there and took up his rest among them by this token of his presence with them So He himself had spoken xxv Exod. 8. Let them make me a Sanctuary that I may DWELL among them That is the Glory of the Lord which ABODE upon mount Sinai xxiv 16. came and took up its residence there in the Sanctuary From these two places they gave it the name of dwelling or abode And tell us that from the day that this Schekinah as they speak or Divine presence dwelling among them rested on mount Sinai at the giving of the Law it never departed from Israel till the destruction of the house of the first Sanctuary by the King of Babylon after that the Divinity or this glorious token of the Divine presence did not dwell among them They are the words of R. Bechai upon Gen. xlv But that which had been so long absent returned now in a far more glorious manner than ever not to dwell in an house of stone but in the Temple of our Saviours body as he calls ii John 21. For when Jesus was baptized Lo the Heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him iii. Matth. 16. Every word of this verse is very observable For the opening of the Heavens in the prophetical writings as Grotius hath observed upon xix Revel 11. still precedes some great Vision And that which he with John Baptist now saw was the Spirit of God that is such a glorious appearance of the Divine majesty as I before mentioned For the Rabbins often call the Ruach Hakkodesh or the HOLY GHOST by the name of Schekinah or the Divine presence gloriously appearing among them So Elias expresly tells us in his Tisbi * Vocab ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and gives this reason for it because it rested or dwelt upon the Prophets and was a great token I may add of God's presence with them Whence it is that where the Hebrew Text as he goes on saith The spirit of Jacob revived xlv Gen. 27. R. Solomon expounds it thus the Schekinah or the HOLY GHOST rested on him which was departed and as it were extinct before because of the grief and sorrow wherein he had been drown'd For the Holy Ghost say they rests not upon the melancholy but only on those who are of a chearful spirit Thus when Hannah said to Eli who fancied she was drunk No my Lord I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit the Talmud expounds it in this manner Thou art not to govern in this case the Schekinah and the Holy Ghost is not upon thee as appears by this that thou hast judged me guilty when I am innocent It is all one then in their Language as I observed also before in the conclusion of the second Chapter to say that the Divine Majesty or that the Holy Ghost is upon any person And therefore I doubt not but there was a glorious appearance of the Majesty of God at our Saviours Baptism some great unusual brightness signifying the Divine presence and the Spirit of God coming to dwell in him It is not indeed mentioned in express words that there was such a Schekinah or Majestical appearance of the Glory of the Lord but it must be understood to be meant by the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Spirit of God According to the dialect of that Nation who call the Holy Ghost as I said by the name of the Divine Majesty or Presence and so might call that Majesty by the name of the Holy Ghost or spirit of God And Justin Martyr saith expresly in his disputation with the Jew that at our Saviours Baptism ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A fire was lighted in Jordan That is as I understand it such a Divine glory appeared as there was among the ancient Israelites which had I told you the resemblance of a very bright fire Which so good a man would not have had the boldness to affirm if it had not been the constant tradition which passed among them or rather the constant sence they put upon this place Just as when the Apostles were baptized with the Holy Ghost a fiery substance gathered it self about their heads in token of a Divine presence among them so when our Lord himself was baptized with water there was the like but far more glorious appearance which spreading it self from his head round about made the River out of which he was newly come look as if it were on a flame as a sign that he should baptize not with water but with the Holy Ghost and with fire And so Grotius hath observed that in the Gospel of the Nazarens there were these words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã straight-way a great light shone round about the place which the Syrian Churches also acknowledge in their Liturgy All which make it apparent that Holy men thus understood the descent of the Holy Ghost as I have explained it And indeed S. Luke tells us iii. 22. that it descended ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in a bodily form or appearance There was some visible matter broke out of the Heavens which being the place of light and glory we can expound to be nothing
might have opened their eyes to see who our Saviour was without any further telling For what could He say of himself more than this Miracle spake which others reported not He It told them loudly enough would they have heard that he had the power of God in him one of whose prerogatives it is cxlvi Psal 8. to open the eyes of the blind And John Baptist also had told them plainly that he saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a Dove and it abode upon him i. 32. Here was an unexceptionable witness of the truth of this story which John presently published And they had reason to believe him because he that authorized him to administer that Baptism which they received gave him this for a sign whereby he should know the Christ when he saw him Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God ver 33 34. He could be no less on whom such a Divine Glory not only descended but also remained and took up its abode with him That 's the last thing to be considered and the chiefest of all He had not a mere glance of this visible Majesty which did not make a transient appearance but he saw it remaining on him It staid for some time there as if it intended to make him its habitation and dwelling place And so it did for as He saw the visible Divine majesty or glory remaining on him then so the thing signified by it continued alway and made all see if they would attend that he was the Sanctuary or most holy Place in which God was and had taken up his residence for ever The body of Jesus as I said before is now become the Temple of God not made by man but by God himself in the Virgins womb There God manifested himself perpetually by sensible effects as I shall show you presently declaring Jesus to be his Son in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily After this visible Majesty disappeared the presence of God within him was very apparent For he came away from Jordan saith S. Luke full of the Holy Ghost iv 1. And having been tempted a while in the wilderness he returned from thence in the power of the Spirit into Galilee ver 14. There he taught in his own City and opened the Book at that very place of Isaiah where he said The Spirit of the Lord is upon me which Scripture was that day fulfilled in their ears ver 18 21. And at Cana in that Country he began to work miracles and manifested forth his glory ii John 11. That is showed indeed that the Divine Majesty spoken of before remained in him Of which glory they did not see so little as a flash or two but they beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father i. 14. He cast about every where such rays of glory and majesty as declared him to be no less person than God's only begotten Son and these they beheld and were constant eye-witnesses of to the end of his life For he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil for God was with him x. Acts 38. This was all his business to bestow benefits upon mankind and to relieve those who were otherways helpless but only by a Divine power As was notorious in his frequent dispossession of Devils and opening the eyes of him who was blind from his birth and after that raising Lazarus from the dead in which great work they saw the glory of God xi John 40. Who did not give the Spirit by measure to him that is with such restriction as he himself gave it to his Apostles at the first But the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hands as the Baptist speaks iii. Joh. 34 35. It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell i. Coloss 19. So that none could have any thing of the Spirit but from his hands and he could communicate what he pleased Which is a sign that he was the place where the Divine majesty and the Holy Spirit now dwelt and had taken up its residence among men who must all repair to him if they would receive the Holy Ghost or any blessing from above What greater argument could there be that he was the Son of God than this that he had all things now put into his hands to do what he pleased on Earth and received the Holy Ghost in such a visible Majesty as a pledge that he should shortly have all power in Heaven too at the right hand of God It was fit that this glorious testimony of the Holy Ghost to him should be accompanied with the voice of God which came out of that or the like cloud saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased So we shall have still farther reasons to acknowledge him if we do but make these following Reflections upon what hath been here discoursed One is that here was not so little as the appearance of an Angel to him by whom God declared his will to the Prophets but a far more illustrious manifestation of the Divine Glory which came down upon him and declared him more than a Prophet Maimonides doubts not to say * More Nevoch Part. 3. cap. 45. that all Prophecy was by the mediation of Angels xvi Gen. 9. xxii 15. Moses himself began to be a Prophet by this means iii. Exod. 2. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in the Bush For which cause he thinks God afterward appointed two Cherubims to cover the Ark that the people might be bred up in the belief of Angels And God is said to dwell between them and to ride upon them because all Prophecy was carried by them from God to men But here is something far beyond this way of communication between God and Men. For not an Angel appeared or spake unto him But that Divine Glory which dwelt between the Cherubims descends upon him and makes him its resting place and God himself speaks to him at the same time out of that Glory calling him his Son and bidding all hear him This was a manifest declaration of his high and singular prerogative and a sign that no less than the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him So that he knew as I said before the mind of God not by Visions and Dreams or by mediation of Angels but by a more intimate familiarity with God dwelling and residing in him For you may observe further which is another thing very remarkable that though there had been formerly an appearance of a Schekinah of the Divine presence that is or glory of God when the gifts of the Holy Ghost were imparted to some persons Yet we never read that this Schekinah came down upon any man much less that it remained on him but upon Jesus only
taken the boldness to foretell and promise such a thing as this from God the Father what hope had he to make it good if he had not been sure that the Father and He were one as he speaks vers 20. of that xiv Joh. and that what He said was by his Authority who would justifie his word Nothing could have been more vain or done him greater discredit after all the glory he had got than to give this as a sign of his truth if he himself had not been sure that God had given all things into his hand and that he came out from God and was going unto God as it is xiii Joh. 3. And what greater argument could there be that he did not assume a Dignity or Title which he had no right unto than the verifying his word in so hard and difficult a case as this even then when his Enemies thought he could do nothing because he was dead and buried This must needs make the Apostles as sure as he was for his confident belief could not work belief in them and therefore He did fulfil his promise and indued them with such power from on high that in a moment He brought all things which he had taught them to their remembrance enabled them to speak with all manner of Tongues to make a Man whole with speaking a word nay to raise the Dead and to give the Holy Ghost likewise to others who believed their word How came He by this power if indeed He was not the Lord of all Why did nor his Word dye with Himself and fall to the ground if he usurped upon the prerogative of God and laid claim to a glory which was none of his How could it come into any Mans mind let me ask again to promise such a thing as this if he did not know what he could do And could any man do such a thing if he were not more than a man even the King of infinite power at the right hand of God So the Apostles could not but conclude when they felt the effects of his royal power in their own hearts and when they could make others feel them by innumerable benefits which they bestowed both on their Souls and Bodies To be able to do such things on Earth as he had done shewed plainly what He was but to be able to make others do more wonderful things when He had left the World was still a more convincing Argument that all things were put in subjection under his Feet Nothing now was more evident to them than this great Truth whatsoever distrust of it they might have before With this mighty Inspiration all their doubts were blown away like the Dust before the Wind. This fire which appeared on their Heads purged their Souls quite from all the reliques of Infidelity if there were any remaining They could do nothing now but speak the praises of Jesus and proclaim Him with these Tongues to all the world to be the Lord with a zeal as hot as fire The People indeed it may be said did not hear him foretell this glorious day and make any such promise of the Holy Ghost and therefore how could it convince them I answer it is confessed that He did not speak of this so plainly to them as He did to the Apostles and therefore I have not alledged it all this time for that purpose but only to show that they to whom he so often gave hopes of the coming of the Holy Ghost upon them had reason to rely upon its Testimony when it came even upon this account that it was the performance of his gracious promise to them There are many proofs which we produce seem to carry less force in them than really they have when careless minds stretch them too far to prove more than was intended The Jews were to be convinced by it upon another score not by the fulfilling of his particular promises to the Apostles which could work no further upon the People than they believed their testimony who came with such power from Jesus to them But I must add also that our Saviour had said something of this to all the people at a publick Feast vii John 38 39. And when he was arraigned he openly declared to the High Priest and the whole Senate that they should presently receive sensible tokens of his Majesty which now they so affronted For when they adjured him to tell them whether he was the Christ the Son of God xxvi Matth. 63. though he knew they would neither believe him if he told them nor give him a good reason if he argued with them why they did not believe xxii Luke 67 68. yet he told them in express terms that he was ver 64. And then adds these remarkable words Nevertheless I say unto you i. e. though now you do not believe what I have told you yet mind what I say hereafter from this moment ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã xxii Luke 69. or very few days hence you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power Which can refer to nothing but the mission of the Holy Ghost which presently ensued and was a certain argument that he was at God's right hand ii Acts 33. When this came they could not but see unless they would be wilfully blind that he was possessed of the Kingdom he had so much spoken of It was an irrefragable testimony that he was the Son of the Blessed and could the less be gain said because he told them before-hand they should see what they would not then believe That is have a manifest demonstration of his glorious Majesty in the Heavens Which if it would not move them nothing remained but to see him after another fashion coming in the clouds of Heaven as it there follows To destroy that is such incredulous wretches who killed their King and persisted so obstinately in their rebellion that they resisted the Holy Ghost whom he sent to convince them of their crime and convert them to his obedience So it is interpreted xxii Luke 27 31. II. For the power of it was so great that setting aside this consideration if he had said nothing at all to them or his Apostles of his sending the Holy Ghost yet its coming in this manner was an evident testimony both to them and all others that he made a just claim to be their King He could not else have scattered such royal gifts so bountifully among them as the manner of Emperors was in their Triumphs and of Kings at their Coronation This showed that indeed he had the power which the Jews denied him It vindicated his rights which they would have taken from him It made it appear he was what he pretended and that not He but they were the guilty persons who had condemned him for saying he was the Son of God This was the very end of its coming as our Saviour also told his Apostles a little before his death xvi John 7 8 9. where He
saith that if he went away he would send the PARACLETE that is his Advocate unto them whose office it should be to convince the World of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment Of this place I shall be able I hope to give a full account hereafter together with all those that relate to the Holy Ghost and therefore I shall say no more of it now than this That the end of the PARACLETE'S coming was to plead the Cause of our Saviour to maintain his innocence and to prove against all accusers that though he was condemned by men yet he was acquitted by God and had said nothing but the truth For observe but the crime whereof he was accused and for which he was sentenced by the Jews and you will soon see that nothing could clear him so much as this The great thing they laid to his charge as you have heard already was that he affirmed when they adjured him to speak his thought that he was the Christ the Son of the Blessed This was the blasphemy which they pretended wounded their hearts with grief when they heard it and for which they adjudged him to be worthy of death Now what could demonstrate the vileness of this calumny and prove him not guilty more than such a power possessing his followers even after he was dead as they saw in himself when he was alive Nay a far greater which declared as they truly said that he was Lord of all x. Acts 36. He could not have done such things as they beheld were wrought at the invoking of his Name if he were not truly the Son of God The Apostles might have called long enough upon him before they had made a man lame from his Mother's womb walk up and down and leap and praise God if he whom they crucified were not exalted by God's right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour And it had been the vainest thing of all for the Apostles to go and preach up the authority of a dead man and who was ignominiously crucified as a great Malefactor if they had not known that the Holy Ghost from him was ready at hand in every place and time to be his ADVOCATE and take his part against all gain-sayers This Heavenly Witness never failed to appear when there was need of him to justifie our Saviour and to set all things right in the opinion of the World by reversing their false judgment and by establishing and verifying the sentence he had passed on himself when he said that he was the Son of God The Tables were now turned by the appearance of this PARACLETE who pleaded so strongly and convincingly that many who had before accounted him an evil doer were now forced to alter their mind and confess him to be a righteous person They who had reviled him now gave him worship and honour They that cried Crucifie him said as the Centurion when they heard the HOLY GHOST speak on his behalf Sure this was the Son of God And all those who were so hardy as to resist the Holy Ghost vii Acts 51. were fain to oppose it with rage and throwing stones for in any other manner they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit whereby S. Steven a man full of the Holy Ghost spake to them and reasoned with them vi Acts 9 10. So great a testimony was this of the HOLY GHOST to Jesus that the Apostles were not fit to be his Witnesses till they had received it xxiv Luke 48. i. Acts 8. But after it came upon them and joyned its testimony with theirs then they defended his cause so successfully that a great company of the Priests the greatest enemies to it yielded themselves and became obedient to the faith vi Acts 7. Then if any one asked how dare you contradict the sentence of the High Court to which all men are bound upon pain of death to submit xvii Deut. 9 12. what can you say to justifie this presumption in maintaining his Righteousness whom the Grand Council of the Nation hath condemned to suffer death They could soon make this reply Let the HOLY GHOST answer you hear what he says to you If He do not speak enough for us and for Jesus to satisfie you then we refuse not to die you may deal with us as the despisers of God and his Law And so mightily were they astonished and perplexed by the pleadings of the HOLY GHOST that the Sanhedrim the Supreme Court of Judicature among them knew not what to say to the Apostles nor what to do with them They only clapt them in prison for preaching Jesus iv Acts 3. and threatned farther severity if they did not desist ver 21. but they durst not proceed to pass the sentence of death upon them according as the Law directed the people glorifying God so heartily for what they saw them do by the power of the Holy Ghost Nay so much were some of this great Council staggered that according to the perswasion of Gamaliel a great Master among them they let the Apostles go free after a second imprisonment lest perhaps they should be found fighters against God ver 39. If this be an humane project says that wise man do not trouble your selves about it for it will come to naught as the vain attempts of others have done who at the first drew much people after them But if these men prove to be authorized by God and he will have it so who can overthrow it We had best take heed how we proceed in a business wherein we may chance to have God against us It is better in my judgment to be quiet and see what the issue will be lest in stead of contending with men we be found to oppose God Almighty himself III. And the issue was this which is the last thing that by the power of this Advocate alone and no other our Lord Jesus actually obtained a Kingdom in spite of all the opposition that could be made against him This was the greatest testimony of the Holy Ghost to him which effectually proved him to be a King by winning him a Kingdom and perswading men to submit unto him though he was invisible and not like to reward their services in this World at all but only in another It proclaimed him all abroad in the World to be the Lord of life and glory and by the mere preaching of the Gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven as S. Peter speaks 1 i. 12. the Nations were subdued to him and acknowledged him for their Sovereign The High Priest and Council of Jerusalem as it there follows in v. Acts 40. desiring to discourage the Apostles in this preaching ordered them to be beaten and then commanded them to speak no more in the name of Jesus for fear of a worse punishment that might follow Alas vain men that thought to choak this Truth and bury this report concerning Jesus Did they think it was in their power to murder his
Name as they had done Him and by such means as these prevent his Faith from spreading it self any further They were mightily mistaken in the courage of these Twelve men who rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his Name and as unlearned and ignorant as they found them iv Acts 13. not only perswaded many in that Country to believe Jesus to be the Lord but carried the fame of him to all Nations For they received another kind of Mandate from him which they were resolved to obey nothing doubting but the power of the Holy Ghost would go along with them to prosper their attempt The Jewish Rulers said Speak not at all nor teach in the name of Jesus iv Acts 18. But Jesus their Master had said Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature xvi Mark 15. Or as it is in S. Matthew xxviii 19 20. Go ye and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you They durst not therefore but go especially when the power of the Holy Ghost came down upon them on purpose that they might be able to speak in his name and win him subjects in all the world by proving that he was perfectly Lord and Christ And so you read in S. Luke xxiv 47.48 49. It behoved Christ to die and rise again that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name among all Nations And ye are witnesses of these things And behold I send you the promise of my Father but tarry ye at Jerusalem that is before you go about this business until ye be indued with power from on high Now here do but consider with me these three things First the vastness of this design Secondly the poorness of the means and thirdly the weakness and ineptitude of the Instruments which were to be imployed by him and you will soon see what service the Holy Ghost did him without whose power he would never have attempted such things or never have atchieved them They are all in that place now mentioned xxviii Matth. 19. Go and teach all Nations c. See here what a compass he takes for his Kingdom no less than all the World Wherein he intends to settle new Laws and advance a government proper to himself established upon a Doctrine not at all taking with flesh and bloud Who is there that ever went about any such thing or had such a thought in his mind not only to conquer but to change the Religion of all the world and abolish those Laws and Customs which had stood for so many Ages What Arms or Ammunition did he provide them withal for this purpose With what forces did he send them Or by what means did he hope to win Kings and Princes to resign their Crowns to him and submit themselves to his Orders Behold here a new wonder which is the second thing I now named He bid them go and PREACH How could any one fancy he should overcome Nations with his breath Could he take words to have such force in them as to perswade whole Countries that never saw him to become his subjects What strange Orators must these be who could draw men of such different languages natures and inclinations in all the world after them Where were they bred to learn such powerful Rhetorick as should charm the hearts of all that heard them From what School did they come or by whom were they instructed in the art of catching Souls Alas they were very illiterate and ignorant men Fishermen and such like rustick people whom Christ called to be Fishers for Souls and sent to draw hearts to him And I remember Plato in his Phaedrus when he would express a block a rude and unbred fellow says he was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã bred up among Mariners Very unlikely Instruments these were for his purpose if he had been to take counsel of Philosophers and intended to teach men by no stronger arguments than theirs They were the most unfit men that could be chosen to be his Embassadors if he had not been another kind of Lord and Master and they had not gone with other kind of instructions than the world had known before And that is the third wonder enough to astonish any considering man that they who as Eusebius notes could scarce speak their own language well but were mockt for Galileans whose dialect was the most broad and ungentile of all the Nation that these I say should go to speak to all the Nations of the World with hope to perswade them Alas they were not fit to be Masters to so much as one single person much less to teach a Country School how then could they undertake to teach the whole World What King what Law-giver what Philosopher either Greek or Barbarian as the same Eusebius proceeds * Lib. 3. demonstr Evang. ever dreamt of any such design as this They held their labour well bestow'd if they could establish their Doctrine and Laws in one City or perhaps in one Country but never thought themselves able to spread them any further Whereas Jesus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã meditating nothing that was common to mortal men nothing that was merely humane says confidently to these contemptible men whom he had chosen to be his Emissaries Go now that I bid you and teach all Nations But suppose the Disciples should have said to him as well they might Though we are ready to do any thing for thy sake yet how shall we accomplish this How for example shall we speak to the Romans of whose language we are ignorant Or how shall we teach the Egyptians and the Indians and the Scythians who have but one tongue which we learnt of our Mothers and that but a rude one neither We shall stand dumb before them and say nothing They will take us for a company of fools and we shall look like mere statues and images of men Or if we could speak their languages what hope have we to prevail with them Who will be perswaded by such as we to forsake the Religion of their Countrie and to embrace thine who art a stranger to them Truly this had been but a rational question if our Saviour had not taken care to prevent it by adding those words to his Mandate Lo I am with you alway to the end of the world He had said a little before ver 18. All power in Heaven and Earth is given to me Go therefore and teach all Nations advance my authority and spread my Kingdom and do not doubt but you shall effect the business for I who have all power will be with you And so he was by the power of the Holy Ghost who was his Advocate for he gave them presently after the gift of tongues he accompanied them every where if they did but mention his Name with signs and miracles yea
iii. John 2. and consequently professed themselves desirous to learn of him and ready to believe what he taught But I cannot say that they baptized them now into the Name of Jesus or into a belief that he was the Christ as they did after his ascension into Heaven For they were forbid to publish this openly xvi Matth. 20. men were to learn it by degrees under his discipline to which they delivered themselves by being baptized of him Yet this prepared them for the belief that he was their Christ which his Apostles afterward most zealously and strongly asserted by Baptism For when he was exalted at Gods right hand they went according to his Commission and Discipled all Nations baptizing them into his name as well as into the name of the Father That is they engaged them to believe that Jesus was the Christ the Son of God otherways they would not baptize them By this WATER therefore he may be said to come because he hereby made proselytes to himself whom he undertook to teach and instruct after the manner of the Prophets but with an authority which spoke him to be greater than all Prophets and because it was not a baptism like John's with simple water but was presently after accompanied with the Holy Ghost Nay the Baptism it self was a WITNESS to him joyned with what went before because it argued authority and such as was much superiour to that of John though he was greater than any Prophet which could be no other therefore but that of Christ For who beside could baptize the whole Nation and into an higher Institution than his whom they took for the Christ who confessed and asserted and no body appeared to contradict it that he was not that light by whom they must begin to be illuminated by Baptism but Jesus was the true light which coming into the world lighteneth every man John's baptism therefore as S. Basil * Exhort ad Bapt. aptly calls it was only ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã introductory to something else more perfect than it self that is to our Saviour's baptism which was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that which completed men in a full belief that he was the Christ 3. For lastly the Baptism which the Apostles administred especially after his Resurrection and Exaltation was an entrance of men into a new Religion For they did not baptize them into Moses but into another Name that of the Lord Jesus This was a sign that He who had so many ways been approved of God among them as S. Peter speaks was indeed the Christ For what greater mark could there be of supreme authority than the setting up in such a manner as he did an Institution and Discipline which was not known before and teaching those who received his baptism to observe a new Law without those rites which had been hitherto used Who could repeal the Ordinances of Moses nay abrogate Circumcision which was ancienter than Moses but only He who had the same power with him that gave the Law to Moses and Circumcision to Abraham their Father viz. the Son of God himself Yet this did our Jesus and Baptism was the Rite appointed by him for the admission of Disciples into the profession of this new Religion which took away the old as unprofitable By this they were born again and became his children that is his scholars for the sons or children of the Prophets were their disciples those who learnt of them whom he indued with his principles and called after his name And he plainly declared as you read in his discourse with Nicodemus that no man could have any part in that Kingdom which the Messiah was setting up in the world if he contented himself with the old Religion and were not by baptism born again that is suffered himself to be further informed and proceeded to entertain the Religion which he delivered Thus far Nicodemus was gone already to believe him to be a Master sent of God which was the opinion of others of their Rulers besides himself for he says WE know it Why then did he not own it by receiving his baptism and thereby put himself under the discipline of this Master That being instructed by him till he acknowledged that he was the Christ he might be taught at last by the Spirit when it came down upon the Apostles and so be perfectly born again or informed in the Christian Religion Till this was done he was but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as Gregory Nazianz * Orat. 16. calls him a lover of Christ by halves To make him an intire Christian he was to receive his Baptism and to own him to have full power and authority from God to make what change he pleased so far as to turn them into new men and to make them over again The Pharisees one would think saw very well that this was the consequence of his gathering so many disciples by baptism that he out-did John the Baptist For to avoid their rage which they had conceived against him upon this account but never expressed against John he left Judea where he was baptizing as you heard before iii. 22. because they had great power there and departed into Galilee again where their authority was less iv 1 2 3. They were afraid of an innovation in the state of things which they had a mind should continue as they were Their Baptism they saw would signifie nothing if he went on thus to make disciples Whom he informed according to his own mind and perswaded to believe on him as their King in whose Sovereign power it was to make all old things pass away and cause all things to become new By this WATER therefore He may be said to COME and it may be called one of his WITNESSES as he baptized that is gave his Apostles authority to baptize men not into Moses but into himself to learn new lessons of him and to leave the old though they had been taught by God himself Who found no fault at all with this baptism but justified it as you shall see many ways to be according to his mind and in pursuance of his will And so much pains may suffice about the examination of the first WITNESS of these three that speak on Earth which is WATER The Holiness of Jesus both in his Doctrine and Life and the Baptism both of John and of Jesus I wish that every one who considers how great and necessary a proof this was of Jesus his being the Son of God would labour to prove himself to be indeed born of him by the same argument of purity and holiness For as we could never have believed Jesus to have been God's Son unless he had come thus by Water no more can any man rationally conclude that he is one of those whom he will own for his children unless he conform to his holy will by washing himself from all filthiness and becoming clean every whit Read over the Sermons and the Life of Christ and
remember that your Baptism engages you to learn of him and to become like him Express that Honour towards God that Fear and that Love of him which he requires Imploy your selves carefully in all actions of Justice Charity and Sobriety Yea be prepared chearfully to follow him in suffering as well as in doing his blessed will This will be an infallible testimony that you are the children of God as on the contrary if you want this Witness all other evidence of it will fail you There is no reason to distrust this but the stronger your confidence is without it the more grosly you deceive your selves if you conclude your selves to be dear to him You find both these strongly asserted in this Epistle For the Affirmative read ii 29. If ye know that he is righteous know ye that every one that doth righteousness is born of him And iii. 7. Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous For the Negative read the following words ver 8 9 10. He that committeth sin is of the Devil for the Devil sinneth from the beginning For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his Brother And for your encouragement to purifie your Souls remember that the purity and holiness of Christ's Life and Doctrine secures you of the truth of all his gracious promises We may say with a greater assurance than the Psalmist did in his days xii Psal 6. The words of the Lord i. e. his promises are pure words as silver tried in a furnace of Earth purified seven times Which should make us value them more than thousands of Gold and Silver though never so perfectly refined and to say as he does in another place cxix 140. Thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loveth it Those Metals are not freer from Dross after they have passed never so oft through the Fining-pot than his promises are from all mixture of deceit We may rely upon them with the greatest confidence and be secure they will never fail us It is as certainly true that God will take us to be his Sons and Daughters that he will dwell in us and give us everlasting life as it is that Jesus is the Son of God He that says the one says the other too and he may be alike believed in both But then having these promises we must cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. vii 1. For the Son of God was manifested you heard for this purpose And this was the end for which he gave himself i. e. to die for us that he might sanctifie and cleanse his Church with the washing of Water by the Word v. Ephes 26. and redeeming us from all iniquity purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works i. Tit. 14. Which if we study sincerely then this WATER here spoken of is part of the Waters of Life and this Testimony gives us assurance that we shall have our share in those Eternal good things which he hath promised in his holy Gospel For he is the Truth and in him there is no Lye But of this more hereafter when we have heard the following Witnesses and given glory to Jesus and made our acknowledgments to him in some such words as these A PRAYER I Believe O Lord not only that thou art a Teacher come from God and speakest the words of God but that thou art above all the very WORD of God it self into whose hands the Father hath given all things I admire the holiness of all thy Precepts and rejoyce in the purity of thy exceeding great and precious promises Thou art the Truth the Holy one of God without spot or blemish in whose mouth was found no guile There is all reason that we should receive thy testimony which thou hast given of thy self and all that thou hast testified to us to be the will of God and believe that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Good Lord increase my Faith that as I see still further demonstrations of thy power and glory and cannot but acknowledge the perfect sanctity equity and goodness of all thy Laws and be in love with the beauty of thy most holy life so I may feel my heart inclined more and more to submit it self to be governed by thee to obey thy will and to imitate thy example Happy are those holy Souls who have learnt of thee to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world and whose hearts by that means are full of the blessed hope of immortality hereafter and of thy tender care of them while they are here There is nothing so desirable as to be holy even as thou who hast called us art holy in all manner of conversation It is the perfection of our Nature the end of our Being and the true satisfaction of our hearts to have thy image formed in us in righteousness and sincere holiness Imprint this sense deeper O blessed God in mine and every Christian heart That it may be our perpetual delight as well as our study to give thee the honour that is due unto thy Name to love thee with all our heart and soul and strength to preserve an holy fear of thee in our mind to trust in thee and cast our care upon thee to hope in thy never-failing mercies and to rejoyce evermore in thy love and that good hope which are better than life it self O that we may never cease to testifie our true love and honour and fear of thee with all other religious affections by praying without ceasing and offering the sacrifice of praise continually and in every thing giving thanks especially for the oblation which our Lord made of himself to thee which love may it be published with perpetual praise and thanks every where to the end of the world And give us the grace to add unto our love of thee a sincere and unfeigned love of all men That we may do to them whatsoever we desire that they should do to us Let this be the constant Rule of all our designs desires words and actions Let it ever be before our eyes to make us duly honour and observe our superiours pity succour relieve and comfort all those who are below us and be just faithful and friendly to all others O that every man would speak the truth with his neighbour and be charitable in their judgments one of another meek and gentle in all their words and behaviour ready to distribute and to do good studious of the things that make for peace forward to be reconciled to those
Pharisees that he hath sometimes suffered himself to be commanded by his Copartners it hath ever been with the same design that cunning Gamesters have who permit a meer bungler to beat them a set or two only to draw them in to play for a greater stake He never gives way to any of his Friends or seems to be afraid of their authority over him but it is to bring Men to an acknowledgment of his power or to seduce them to the performance of some magical services to him Whereas our Saviour demanded no other reward for all his charitable Cures but this alone that they whom he had thus obliged should thank GOD and give him glory and sin no more To this purpose Origen admirably discourses in the latter end of his first Book against Celsus It is senceless to think that any of his Miracles were done by Magick for there never was any Magician that called Men to the forsaking of the Devil and all Idolatry and perswaded them to amend their lives in good earnest They never instructed them in the fear of God by all their wonderful tricks nor taught those that saw them so to live as those that are to be tryed and judged by God This is none of their business They neither can nor will carry on such a design nor have any thing to do with the amendment of Mankind being themselves full of all filthiness and swarming with the most abominable Vices But he who by all the wonderful things he did called the spectators to the correction of their manners and the amendment of their lives propounded himself also not only to his familiar disciples but to all others ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a pattern and example of the best and most excellent life That so both his Disciples might be instructed to teach Men the will of God and others being taught by his Word and manners more than by his Miracles how to live might have respect to nothing else in all they did but how to please God Now if the life of Jesus was such as this what Man of sence is there that can compare him with Magicians and not rather believe him to be God appearing in an humane body ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to be a benefactor to Mankind and bestow the greatest blessings on us But because this Argument is very large let us draw it into a narrower compass and take particular notice onely of these two sorts of miraculous works casting out of Devils and raising the dead I. As for the former the casting of Devils out of a number of distracted and mad or melancholy People whose depraved imaginations were oft-times furiously moved by the power of evil spirits it is the more remarkable because it declares he had as great a power over the invisible World as they saw him have over the bodies of Men and over the water the winds and things growing upon the Earth all which yield some examples of his Miraculous works Who could this be but the Lord of Angels and Men and all other things who commanded the Prince of the power of the Air and all his Legions and they could not resist him Was it not an Argument that God was with him as S. Peter speaks when no created power whatsoever could withstand him For you may observe further 2. That there were no kind of Devils which did not presently give place when he required them to come out There might have been some colour as Athanasius well observes * Di incarn verbi p. 103. to say he cast out Devils by Beelzebub if he had not expelled all though never so numerous and never so outragious The Prince of Devils might have been supposed to have had power over the lesser fry But since it was apparent that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã all the fury and madness of Daemons fled before him at the very mention of his Name we must confess that our Lord and Saviour was no Daemonaical power but the very Son of God the Word as he speaks the Wisdome and the Power of the Father Nay 3. he not only expelled them himself but gave his Twelve Apostles authority to cast them out Thereby showing he came to deliver Men from the dominion of the Devil in that he gave the meanest Men such power over him Go ye says he x. Matth. 7.8 and preach saying The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand heal the sick cleanse the lepers raise the dead cast out Devils freely ye have received freely give This was long before they received the HOLY GHOST presently after they were called into his attendance and therefore was a portion of the SPIRIT which testified their CHRIST or KING was not far off but would shortly visit them For they were sent to prepare the people for him as seventy two Disciples more were afterward though with a less portion of the SPIRIT than the twelve Apostles had For when he sent them with the same commission to preach that the other had we read of no other power given them but to heal the sick in every City whereinto they came x. Luke 9. But they were possessed with such an high opinion of the power of their Master who sent them that they adventured further and in his name cast out Devils as well as healed sick people For when they returned back to give him an account they tell him with no small joy Lord even the Devils are subject unto us through thy name ver 17. Which might well have such power though they had no particular authority given them to cast out Devils by it since it was very terrible to them you may observe further 4. when pronounced by those who were not of our Saviours company So S. Mark relates ix 38. that S. John brought a report to him of a man whom they had seen casting out Devils in his name and yet was none of his followers for we forbad him says he because he followeth not us To which Jesus replies that there was no cause to prohibite him for this must needs prove a convincing argument to the man himself if not to others that he was the Christ ver 39. There is no man which shall do a miracle in my name that can lightly speak evil of me Of this sort they seem to have been to whom our Saviour appeals when the Pharisees accused him of confederacy with Beelzebub That 's strange saith He did you ever hear of a Devil cast out in the name of any Magician In my name there is even by those who are more related to you than they are to me Let them therefore determine this matter That seems to be the sence of those words xii Matth. 27. By whom then do your children cast them out therefore they shall be your Judges There are those who are none of my Disciples but yours that use my name for the casting out of Devils who immediately fly before them What do you think of them do they deal with Beelzebub I
whereby the nature of things is inverted so that it appears it could not have been done by any power but only by his who is the author of Nature and made all the things we see out of nothing at all And secondly this miracle must not be wrought in secret but to gain belief it must be done before the eyes of a multitude who may see it and be satisfied of the truth of it And lastly diligent inquiry must be made and it must be examined strictly that no doubt may be left in mens minds but they may be fully satisfied it is no fancy nor done by any trick or subtile imposture Now if we consult this History of Lazarus we shall find there is none of these wanting to settle the most doubtful mind in the belief of our Saviours Almighty power and authority For to raise the Dead is a work that exceeds all natural powers There is none that can restore life as has been said already but he who at the first gave it So much the Jewes themselves acknowledge who have a common saying that the Key of the Grave is one of the four keys which is kept in the hands of the Lord of the World alone ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Neither to Angel nor to Seraph as the Jerusalem Targum speaks upon xxx Gen. 22. that is neither to lowest nor the highest of the Celestial Ministers is this power given but it is reserved to him onely that made them and all things else Now that our Saviour indeed raised a dead man there were many witnesses as you heard before from xi Joh. 45. where it is said that many of the Jews which came with Mary and had seen these things which Jesus did believed on him And the fame of it was so great that it drew a greater concourse of People thither to be satisfied of the truth of the report For he tells us xii 9. that much People i. e. a multitude of the Jews came to that place not for Jesus his sake only but that they might see Lazarus also whom he had raised from the dead Nay the Pharisees as I told you had the news of it brought to them by some that were present and had seen the things which Jesus did xi 46. who were curious enough no doubt to inquire into the business and had satisfied themselves that indeed he was dead laid in his Grave and continued in that state till according to the course of Nature he must begin to turn to corruption and stink Which was all that needed any proof for that he was now alive their eyes were witnesses And therefore they could not deny this miracle vers 47. But to extinguish the light and take away the convincing power of it they thought it was best to remove Lazarus out of the way and to put him to death as well as our Saviour For the sight of him converted a great many as you read xii 10 11. The chief Priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus It was a thing confessed then that this wonderful work had been done There was the testimony of the man himself and of his Sisters and of our Saviour's Disciples and of MANY of the Jews who were come to comfort Martha and Mary concerning their Brother xi 19. In so much that not long after our Saviour coming to the Feast of the Passover at Jerusalem Much people went forth to meet him and brought him in with a triumph due only to so great a Person saying Hosanna blessed is the KING of Israel that cometh in the Name of the Lord xii 12. And if you would know what excited them to meet him it was the fame of this miracle which the eye-witnesses of it had brought to them as you read there ver 17 18. The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave and raised him from the dead BARE RECORD For this cause the people also met him for that they heard that he had done this miracle Here it is visible were two Troops or Companies both called much people one of which went from Jerusalem to Bethany to see Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead ver 9. The other met Jesus the next day as he was coming from Bethany to Jerusalem ver 12 13. For they had been informed by those who were present at the time when it was done that for certain Lazarus was raised from his grave by the word of Jesus and now they were confirmed in this belief by the company that went to Bethany the day before to enquire of it who testified to these that came to meet him that they found it to be an undoubted truth that he had been really dead and now was alive again by no other means but those words of his Lazarus come forth which might well make them all acknowledge him to be their KING who was come unto them in the name of the Lord as appeared by this miraculous work which none but the hand of Heaven could effect What heart would not be moved to bow to him who had such power over quick and dead who could think him to be less than the Lord of all who they saw was the Lord of life None but proud ambitious Pharisees who were afraid they should lose as much authority as he got These were more startled than ever to see such crouds of people flock after him to do him honour and to hear them applaud him as the great Son of David and follow him with their Hosanna's in the highest This made them despair of blasting his fame and discrediting him with the people as long as he lived and therefore they grew the more resolved to hasten the execution of their decree against him that he should be put to death For they said among themselves as you read in the following words ver 19. Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing behold the world that is vast multitudes is gone after him followed him that is as their KING notwithstanding all that had been done to disparage him They are forced here to speak more truth than they were aware of that it was in vain to oppose him For even when they had killed him they perceived presently that they prevailed nothing but found this literally true that indeed the world went after him Men of all Nations and not the Jews only followed him zealously and became his Disciples notwithstanding the scandal of the Cross which they had cast in their way to discourage them Of which there immediately follows in this story an illustrious presage For some Gentiles desiring to see our Saviour ver 20. there came a voice from Heaven upon his prayer that God would glorifie his own Name saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again ver 28. The glory of God that is had appeared lately as I have explained it before in
but continued blinder than the Egyptian Magicians when it did so many wonders would shut their eyes against any other means of conviction which could not be expected it must also be remembred because God himself had no higher evidence to give them than this of his SPIRIT But then you must not understand this speech of our Saviour as if he meant that those persons to whom he spake these words had run themselves at that instant into this unpardonable sin but that if they still proceeded to blaspheme it when the SPIRIT had finished its testimony that is done all those things which still were behind for their conviction then they would fall into it and remain in it irrecoverably For you must remember that under the word SPIRIT is comprehended the power that raised Christ from the dead and presented him to God in the Heavens that he might receive of him the promise of the Holy Ghost which he shed upon the Apostles abundantly as a witness of his Resurrection and glorious Exaltation If after this that Jesus was risen again from the dead ascended into Heaven and showed himself to be there by sending the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles they did not believe but still blasphemed the holy name of Jesus and the SPIRIT of God saying That they were drunk who were filled with the Holy Ghost as here they said Jesus had a Devil then they were uncapable of obtaining remission of sin because there was nothing more to be done for their conversion but they must be abandoned to the hardness and impenitence of their hearts This I am sure must be the meaning because our Lord himself after he had pronounced the Pharisees unpardonable who spake against the SPIRIT whereby he cast out Devils tells them expresly that there was one sign more remaining to convince them which is a demonstration they had not yet sinned incurably nor could not till that sign was past and that was the sign as you heard of the Prophet Jonas ver 39 40. which he grants them again xvi 4. should not be denied them Now every body understands by this His Death and Resurrection with those things that followed upon it the sending of the Holy Ghost to enable his Apostle to go and teach all Nations as Jonas went after he came as we may say out of his grave and preached to the great City Nineveh But then this was still the SPIRIT that was thus continued to them by that our Lord being raised and it working wonders also at his Death which if they continued to resist when it had fully done the whole office of a witness and was all poured forth then they were under the absolute sentence of condemnation In brief To blaspheme the SPIRIT in this comprehensive sence of the Word including the Resurrection and that which followed to prove it was the unpardonable sin and none else And thus our Saviour's meaning is to be expounded if one should speak a word against the Son of man that is Him despising him because of his poor Parentage and calling him the Son of a Carpenter or some such name this though blameable might be pardoned propter corporis vilitatem as S. Hierom speaks because of the meanness of his outward appearance Nay if a man proceeded so far as to call him a glutton a Wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and sinners this also might find pardon because he did not hitherto speak evil of the works proper to a God but only of those belonging to a man And more than this should he call him deceiver or seducer when he heard him teach the people it would not be unpardonable because no man is to be believed merely upon his own word But if when these men saw the mighty works of the SPIRIT justifying his preaching to be Divine they still continued to speak evil of him this was a very dangerous blasphemy because they could not after this call him a seducer or false Teacher but they must reproach the holy SPIRIT as well as him and call that the work of the Devil which was performed by the power of the Spirit of God And if when the HOLY GHOST was come from Heaven upon the Apostles witnessing that he was quickned by the SPIRIT and by the same SPIRIT presented to God in the Heavens they still went on to speak evil of him then there was no hope of remission because they blasphemed the last remedy for their recovery which was the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven to perswade them to repent and believe on his name And that we must take our Saviour in this sence is further apparent from the name of the HOLY GHOST which he uses when he speaks of this unpardonable sin never calling it the blasphemy against the SPIRIT but always the blasphemy against the HOLY GHOST which you know was not as yet given when our Saviour spake these words In the beginning of this discourse xii Matth. 28. he mentions only the SPIRIT But then coming to describe the danger of blaspheming it he doth not say that the blasphemy of the SPIRIT simply that is of those present works of his was unpardonable but that the blasphemy against the HOLY GHOST when it was come should never be forgiven Which must needs be understood as I have already argued concerning the contempt and reproachful usage of those following witnesses the Resurrection Ascension and the preaching of the Apostles endowed with power from on high because though the SPIRIT now wrought among them yet the HOLY GHOST was not come to be his ADVOCATE and plead his cause and therefore could not as yet be blasphemed by them By HOLY GHOST then in our Saviour's language here I suppose is meant all that was left still to be done for his Justification and that it is so wide a word in this place as to include in it the SPIRIT also For he was speaking before of the SPIRIT and therefore when he alters the phrase he doth not leave out the testimony of that but imbraces it within the compass of a larger word which it was necessary to use that he might show when that sin which they had begun in a desperate manner would be so complete that it could never be undone And that was when the HOLY GHOST had consecrated the Apostles to their great office which supposes his Resurrection and filled them with all Divine gifts among which you know was a power xiv John 12. to do greater works than these which our Saviour is here speaking of called the SPIRIT Then if they did not believe there was no remedy but they must perish in their infidelity But till then they to whom our Saviour speaks were not arrived at this hopeless condition because they had hitherto only blasphemed the SPIRIT not the HOLY GHOST which was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified But when it was given and they reproached that as they had done the SPIRIT then they were under irrecoverable condemnation
No man then had the impudence to deny the Eclipse of the Sun the Earthquake the rending of the veil of the Temple and the rest of the astonishing things that then hapned The first of them is mentioned by a Pagan-writer and though the Apostles published both that and all the other continually yet there is no book either of Jew or Gentile who were enemies great enough to his Religion that goes about to disprove them And as for his miraculous works they were generally done openly at Feasts in the Synagogues on the high-ways and were so commonly talkt of that the Rulers feared all the world would run after him xii John 19. Therefore the Apostles could not falsifie in the report of these things but they might be easily confuted Which no man ever attempted but both Jews and Gentiles acknowledged that he wrought Miracles for his Apostles also wrought them every where and so did their Successors in some Ages after To these the Ancient Christians appeal as an undoubted testimony to their Faith which they could not be so silly as to mention were there any dispute whether there had been Miracles wrought or no. His Resurrection also was attested by Five hundred people who saw him together at once and it was proved beyond contradiction by the strange descent of those miraculous gifts upon his Apostles according to his promise Which came upon them also at a Feast when all the Nation though living in far distant Countries were assembled together and a great company of Proselytes also and devout people were present to be witnesses of it Yea the Apostles themselves as is notoriously known went over all the world and openly showed the power of Jesus which was in them Now if all these be true Witnesses or rather if you grant there were such Witnesses which no sober man can deny they being visible here on Earth in the company of so much people there can be no doubt remaining of this that Jesus is the Son of God They proclaim this so loudly with one voice that S. John had reason to say We beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father They beheld it in his Preaching and Life they beheld it in his bloudy Death but especially in the power of his SPIRIT both before he died and in raising him up from the dead and they beheld it also when they were with him in the holy Mount and had the Testimony of the rest of the Heavenly Witnesses Which were heard on Earth though they were in Heaven as men of high quality and of unblemished integrity with the hazard of all they had did constantly affirm And though some of those Heavenly Witnesses might not be believed so much at the first which is the cause I suppose that our Saviour bids his Apostles as you have heard not declare what the voice from Heaven said till after his Resurrection xvii Matth. 9. yet when they had received such great testimony that they were good men and men of God by having the Holy Ghost bestowed on them to bestow upon others also and when by this they were able to demonstrate his Resurrection then all the rest that they alledged as a proof that he was the Son of God did highly merit belief also and there was no reason to suspect the truth of such reports as were verified in so authentick a manner For with great power gave the Apostles witness of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus iv Acts 33. And the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus was a powerful Witness that there was nothing so great said of him by the voices from Heaven but it ought to be received as the undoubted truth of God Who at sundry times and in divers manners testified to his Son Jesus that by some means or other the most obstinate hearts might be convinced and those tongues which blasphemed him might confess him to be the Lord. A PRAYER ALL thy works praise thee O holy Jesus they all show the greatness of thy power and declare thee to be the Lord. All thy Saints therefore ought to bless thee and to speak good of thy Name who didst manifest forth thy glory in such miraculous works upon Earth and art now crowned with such glory and honour in the Heavens Great was the glory of that Almighty love which gave health to the sick feet to the lame eyes to the blind and life to the dead How gloriously didst thou triumph over the Devil and all the powers of darkness declaring thy self to be the Redeemer of the World by delivering those who were oppressed by him Great was thy Majesty and therefore greatly to be praised Those triumphs ought to have been attended with the most joyful shouts of Praise and Thanksgiving to thee as the Saviour of men and the Lord of Men and Angels All that saw thy wonderful works ought with never-ceasing love to have glorified thee the great Lover of mankind the Repairer of our ruines the Restorer of our happiness our mighty Deliverer from all our Enemies and the inexhaustible Fountain of life and all other good things which thou every where dispensedst to them How ought all our hearts now to overflow with love to thee the blessings of whose goodness so overflowed in all places that none can tell the number of them Especially when we remember how by the mighty working of the same Spirit which glorified thee so on Earth thou art raised from the dead carried to Heaven set at the right hand of God and made the King of glory This is the Lord 's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes This is the sovereign Balsam of all our wounds This is our solace and comfort in the greatest troubles This raises our Spirits when they are oppressed and gives us life in death it self Be thou honoured and acknowledged by me and by all mankind with the humblest the most hearty and affectionate devotion to thy service Be thou ever praised as much as thou wast reproached and blasphemed Let thy Name be sweet and mentioned with delight and joy throughout all the World Live O blessed Jesus in the glory wherein thou art inthroned Sit and reign there till all thine Enemies become thy foot-stool For among the Gods there is none like unto thee O Lord neither are there any works like unto thy works All Nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy Name For thou art great and hast done wondrous things Thou art Lord alone O give unto the Lord ye kindreds of the people give unto the Lord glory and strength Ascribe unto the Lord the glory due unto his name O worship him in the beauty of holiness Say among the Heathen the Lord reigneth who was dead but is alive again and liveth for evermore O sing unto the Lord a new song sing unto the Lord all the Earth Yea sing unto the Lord a new song and worship him all ye Gods For thou
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
being separable from obedience that this is essentially included in it and freely flows from it if it may be but suffered to have its course and not be crossed in its clear intention and design If you be not convinced of this by what you feel you may learn it of S. John who tells you here what the natural issue of our faith is and what duty it exacts for it is the scope of these words which I have expounded to lay such a foundation of belief as may unavoidably inforce obedience unless we forget what our belief is He begins you know this Fifth Chapter of his Epistle with this Principle that every one who believes Jesus to be the Christ is born of God and from thence infers in that and in the second Verse that such a person cannot but love God and all his Brethren which Love cannot be discerned by any thing but by keeping his Commandments FOR THIS IS THE LOVE OF GOD ver 3. THAT WE KEEP HIS COMMANDEMENTS Here is the natural fruit of Faith This is its Progress if you do not stop its motions It begets in our heart a great Love and Love is to be Obedient and that to all God's Commandments which respect either our duty to him or to our Neighbour It is in vain to say we believe in Jesus if we do not heartily love God who sent him to us And it is in vain to pretend love to God if we keep not his Commandments And it is as vain to say we have a dutiful respect to his Commandments if our neighbour have any cause to complain of us For he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen And this Commandment we have from him that he who loveth God love his Brother also iv 20 21. Here now they who have less understanding of the grounds of Faith may make up what is wanting in their knowledge by the heartiness of their Devotion to God and the unfeignedness of their love to all their Brethren If they be mightily affected with what they believe and out of an honest love in their hearts to his holy Precepts be very diligent in their obedience it will supply the defect that is in their understanding of the Reasons why they believe in Jesus For if a small argument in a weak and dull understanding does the same work with a strong argument in a quick and piercing where lies the difference but only that the One can serve Religion more with his mind and discourse the other meerly with his good will and his pious life But will any man presume to be so impious as to imploy his will to find out ways to excuse his Obedience to him whom he acknowledges for his Lord He should rather consider seriously how reasonable and how necessary it is that he who knows so well what Jesus is and how he came should above all other Men do him the most faithful and zealous service For if we do but observe how many arguments here are to perswade us to this Faith in Jesus with what Authority he was sent and with what power he came to us we shall think it was for some very great work and fell it impossible while we are sensible of this not to do what he requires though now perhaps it seem impossible to be done He is not come of himself but hath the mark and stamp of the Supreme Lord upon him He evidently shows that he hath a Commission from God and brings as I may say the Broad-seal of Heaven with him to warrant what he demands though it be never so great a tribute of Obedience Here are Witnesses to him above all exception and they all bid us behave our selves submissively towards him and not deny to do any thing that he would have us Him hath God the Father sealed as he tells us vi Joh. 27. and by his Voice from Heaven commands us to HEAR HIM Which was as if he had said If you will believe him that cannot lye then Jesus is the TRUTH to every word of whose mouth we ought to hearken that is faithfully obey and observe For as God is said to hear us when he grants our desires so we hear him or his Son when we fulfill his pleasure The WORD likewise 2. when he appeared to S. Paul made him an Apostle for obedience to the faith among all Nations i. Rom. 5. And told him expresly that he appeared to him for this end that he might send him to the Gentiles to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God xxvi Act. 16 18. The HOLY GHOST likewise 3. is a Witness of this which was given to those that obeyed him v. Act. 32. But lookt upon all wickedness as an high affront to it at which it was grieved and by which it was quenched nay forced to depart as not induring to dwell in the same House with filthiness and impurity Unto which the Water 4. or the Holy life and purity of our Saviour in all his actions as well as his Doctrine was directly opposite And tells us that we must be obedient if there were no other reason for it but this alone that the Son of God himself was so in every thing Did God exact obedience of him that he might demand none of us Will he set us free from that duty and service to which his dearly beloved Son was strictly tyed He fulfilled all righteousness and observed even that Law of Ceremonies to which we have no obligation And do we think to be hereby excused from paying all those respects which are naturally due from Creatures to the author of their being and which we cannot but owe to those who are of the same kind with us What is it that hath so perverted the understanding of Christian People as to possess them with apprehensions quite contrary to common reason What ailes us that we cannot see the end of Christ's coming nay that we overlook the plain words of his holy Scriptures which tell us that he left us an example and expects that we should follow it and be made conformable to him and be renewed after his image in righteousness and true holiness without which no man shall see the Lord This the Bloud 5. speaks still more effectually For he would dye rather than disobey God He became obedient to death even the death of the Cross ii Philip. 8. which was the reason why God so highly exalted him and gave him that Name which he hath above every Name There was no other way whereby he could ascend up into Glory And therefore it is madness for us to think to leap up thither and skip over the holy life of Jesus Especially since he declares that his Bloud was shed to which perhaps we trust for redemption though we remain in our impurities that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of
Commandments which to a man that has spoil'd his Soul by following divers lusts are so far from being easie that he thinks them insupportable and impossible to be complied withall but when he has recovered himself by the faith of Christ and hath received the supply of these new and Heavenly principles they become to the very same man not only tolerable but sweet and delightful This faith would not be pleased to be excused from this burden it would take it ill not to draw in the same Yoke with Jesus it naturally makes us of his Spirit who said I delight to do thy will O God For what is it that we believe Is it not that Jesus is the Son of God his well-beloved Son And shall we complain of that work which was the business and the delight of God's best beloved when he was in the world It would be too grievous an accusation of God to think that after he had filled the Earth with joy and gladness for the coming of his Son He should instantly quench it all and turn it into heaviness by a number of such severe and intolerable Commandments as no man can look upon and not be melancholy And what are the grounds of our belief Are they not all that Heaven and Earth can afford us Are we not as sure as God can make us Phy for shame then what a reproach is it that any man should sigh and groan look four and sad as if he had all the burden of Heaven and Earth to carry when he has rather the aid and assistance of both to support and strengthen him under an easie load Certain it is that according to our knowledge and understanding so will be our Faith and according to our faith so will be our strength Now how can there be greater evidence and strength of Reason to induce us to believe than these six Witnesses have given us They fully satisfie our understandings they make it completely rational to acknowledge Jesus to be the Son of God And therefore why should not this Faith thus begot and standing on such sure foundations give us a very great strength courage chearfulness and spirit making difficult things become easie harsh things become sweet and the most tedious stay in this world comfortable by presenting us and that so strongly with the power and glory of the Lord Jesus This Faith you see rests upon these six Columns upon these two rows of Pillars as I may so speak on the one side stands the testimony of the FATHER the WORD and the HOLY GHOST on the other side the testimony of the WATER the BLOUD and the SPIRIT and therefore nothing will be too great a burden to lay upon it it will support any weight and never let us groan much less break under its load All things are EAST as well as POSSIBLE to him that believeth It is the observation of Seneca I remember that nothing is so hard but the mind of man can master it and make it familiar by constant thoughts and pains about it There are no motions so natural but some by labour have restrained them and made the forbearance of them easie and none again so unnatural but by the like daily practice and attention they have brought themselves to the delightful use of them As some have kept long and tedious fasts others perpetual silence and have lived out of the company of all mankind which are examples of the former kind And we see instances of the latter in those who learn to walk and dance upon ropes to work with their feet and to dive into the excessive depths of the Sea And can the mind of man alone when it buckles it self to the business be able to perform such difficult things with ease and satisfaction and yet remain utterly unable to take any contentment in obedience to Christ's Precepts though it be exalted by faith and a faith so strong as these six Witnesses if we attend will work in us May things to which nature is not inclined be accomplished at last and become habitual and we think God too severe to expect from us those duties which are most agreeable to our natures as all the actions of vertue are And shall a weaker power master those hard and unnatural tasks and a power stronger than all others sink under the burden of the most reasonable and in themselves most natural Commandments It cannot but put a considering person into a little indignation to hear men complain of the uneasiness of Christ's yoke when they lay more troublesome and unmerciful burdens upon themselves without any murmuring How can one see men without some impatience contend with swift horses and endeavour to out-run them and yet cry out of the tediousness of the race of God's Commandments Shall any man perswade us that it is not so easie to learn the way of God's testimonies as it is to work with his feet or go upon his hands Shall they make us believe it is so hard a business to bend their wills to God's when we see their bodies made as supple as wax that they may wreath them about at pleasure Can it be half so troublesome to lay a bridle on our tongues as it is never to speak at all O man where is thy Reason what is become of thy Soul that thou groanest in the service of God and canst make a sport of far more grievous things Thy own mind might teach thee better if thou wouldst but hearken to its instructions and therefore what may not God expect from the Faith I am speaking of which is a far more powerful Principle and hath made Men stop the mouths of Lions quench the violence of Fire indure torture and not accept deliverance when it was much weaker than our faith need now be I will ingage that if a man do but use himself frequently to ponder these words of S. John and perswade himself fully upon the testimony of these Witnesses that Jesus is the Son of God He will account it a small business to deny his own will as Jesus did He will never complain that he must refrain from any thing in obedience to him and whatsoever he requires him to do he will esteem it an excessive pleasure For there can remain no doubt in his mind that if he be the Son of God he hath power to help us that he wil ever be assistant to us and bless us because by this faith he dwelleth in us and we in him I have read of one of a Noble Family delicately educated and of a tender health who had a great mind to enter upon a Religious course of life as they speak in the Roman Church but was afrighted out of those thoughts by the apparent difficulty of the exercises wherein he was to be imployed for their ill diet retirement poverty watchings and such like hardships he imagined could not be endured Till one day reading those words of the Psalmist which like a flash of
lightning struck into his mind xviii Psal 33. He maketh my feet like Hindes feet and setteth me upon my high places which he expounded to this sense God will inable me with speed and easiness to run not only upon the even ground and over the plains but in craggy and steep places he will lead me not only upon the level but assist me to climb Mountains and to overtop the highest difficulties that are in my way to Heaven and immediately he found all his fears vanish his resolutions determined and such a courage put into him that from this time forward he was immoveably bent to that formerly dreadful kind of life Would not this word of God then think you which I have expounded inspire us with as manly a resolution and greatness of mind to obey God's unquestionable commands if we did but suffer it to penetrate into our hearts Did we but conceive that we heard the Father say to us perpetually This is my Son This that came by Water and Bloud that climbed even the cross it self that surmounted the highest difficulties He is my beloved Son and if we thought we heard the WORD say the Son of God is come God is manifested in the flesh and felt the Holy Ghost inspiring him with the same heavenly thoughts the whole glorious Trinity telling us they will assist us and afford us their continual help it could not but give wings as I may say to our feet and make us skip over the most mountainous discouragements and run the ways of God's commandments and not be tired that we might follow after and go to the blessed Jesus For the course of life which that Gentleman affected was that of a Religious Order as they call it where they are tied to do more than God commands to live by a Rule stricter than the Gospel and under the Will of a Superiour whom they are bound to obey as if he were Christ himself And it was not the literal sense of the place neither which thus animated him and put it into his heart to undergo such a servitude And therefore if he did the will of men so chearfully and undertook more than God requires of us and upon a weaker perswasion by accommodating the sense of an holy word to his own present thoughts there is no doubt but a right faith would indue us with the like power notwithstanding the appearance of great labours in the true service of God in obedience to his indispensable commands we having this word of God to strengthen our faith the prime and natural intention of which is to make us confident that He who leads us in this way the Captain that conducts us is Gods Son his most dearly beloved who cannot but be as faithful as he is powerful to make good all his promises to us And we should the rather strive to follow after him and to run with joy the race that is set before us because then we shall have the honour still to testify to him upon Earth we shall be his WITNESSES and prove at this day by his mighty power in our hearts and lives that he is the Son of God Turks and Jews that read not our Books cannot be convinced by any arguments at present so much as by this They see how we live but we can shew them no Miracles to convince them nor can we make them hear the voice from Heaven for their conversion till we can recommend our Bible to their serious consideration And the only way to do that is for us to live more justly soberly charitably and piously than the rest of the World By which means they may be brought to have better thoughts of Jesus by having good thoughts of us and be induced to read our Books by seeing so much of them in our good works And what happy days might we hope to see could we but use this argument to prove Jesus to be the Son of God that no men are so good so holy and pure so peaceable and kind-hearted so free from fraud all guile as those who are called by his Name How glorious then would the name of our Lord be over all the world His word would run and be glorified as the Apostle speaks 2 Thess iii. 1. just as it did in ancient days when they could say confidently Non de nostro sed ex illorum numero c. * Lact. lib. 5. cap. 19. They are not of our company but of theirs that follow the Heathen superstition who rob and steal by Sea and Land who murder and kill who cheat and cozen who drink and swill who prostitute their bodies and profane themselves by filthy fusts the Whores the Fornicators the Cheats the Forgers of Wills and Testaments the Drunkards the Thieves the perjured Persons and all the rest of the wicked crew are of their number nothing of this can be objected to our People whose whole Religion is to live without wickedness nay without any spot or blemish How would it stop the mouth of all the world nay make them fall down and confess that God is certainly among us could we but say thus in our days and make such a challenge to Turks and all other unbelievers Shall we always let our Saviour want this noble testimony Shall we do nothing but talk of him and prattle of our Faith and make our boast that we are right Believers and damn all Infidel People Alas alas these big words will do nothing As long as they see us live no better than they we shal not perswade them that we believe better And therefore let us have this worthy ambition in our hearts to become WITNESSES our selves unto Jesus Let us study how to show forth his praises or rather Powers * ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 Pet. 2.9 who hath called us into this marvellous light And since we cannot do it by Miracles let us do it by well doing and patient continuance in it So shall the Name of our Lord Jesus be glorified in us and we in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess i. 12. who at his appearing will bear WITNESS to us xi Hebr. 4. that we were faithful and righteous by receiving us as God did Abel's gifts up unto himself For hereby also we shall be instruments of conveying this Faith down to Posterity with some power Would you not have them believe the same that you do Is it not your desire that the next Age may confess him as well as this There is no such effectual means can be thought of to promote and propagate his Faith as the fruits of it in an holy life This will make men afraid now to speak evil of him and this will teach our Children after us to be zealous professors of Christianity and not such cold believers or such infidels as we see and hear of in the World Assure your selves it is Prophaneness which hath made so many unbelievers in this
Age. Increase of wickedness not only in themselves but others hath made some so impudent as to scoff at Religion and blaspheme Christ While they see those who acknowledge him do no better than themselves they are inclined to think that their belief makes them no more worth than those who have none at all Nay since they concur with them in their wicked practises they imagine that their fear of Hell and hope of Heaven is no part of their belief but only of their profession The hands of Infidels are strengthened in their impieties by the perfidiousness of ungodly believers They joyn with them to pull down Christian belief and make that be thought nothing which doth nothing above what infidelity doth And therefore let all those who love the memory of our Saviour who love their posterity and would not have them in danger to be drown'd in a deluge of infidelity put a stop to it by holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience 1 Tim. iii. 9. Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity and endeavour all he can to support the honour of his Name and of his Religion by a strict observance of all his holy commands They who believe not or mind not what they believe may think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot speaking evil of you 1 Pet. iv 4. But ye beloved building up your selves on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost keep your selves in love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life Jude 20.21 And that now is the next thing which flows from hence If we believe the Record or Witness which God hath given of his Son it contains in it the greatest joy in the World For this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son But I must refer that to another Discourse alone by it self Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy-Ghost GLory in the highest Let the Holy and undivided Trinity be for ever glorified by all Mankind especially by all Christian People who are made partakers of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him But God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit Blessed be God I most thankfully receive the manifold testimony which he hath given of his well beloved Son and humbly bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family of Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant me according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by the same spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in my heart by faith that being rooted and grounded in love I may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the bredth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that I may be filled with all the fulness of God And God forbid that any Soul who hears the voice of these Witnesses of God should refuse and turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven and hath declared to us the unsearchable riches of God's grace and the whole counsel of his will O that all they upon whom the glorious Gospel of Christ hath shined may most heartily believe in his Name Let them all be knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge And God forbid that any of them should hold the truth in unrighteousness But as they have received Christ Jesus the Lord so let them walk in him rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as they have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving And quicken that faith O thou author and finisher of it that it may work with great power in all Christian hearts and mightily bow their wills to forgo any of their own desires rather than displease thee and forfeit thy love and favour Let it inable them to overcome the World that they may be no longer slaves to the lusts of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life but conquering all these may yield themselves unto God to be the servants of righteousness and obey from the heart that form of doctrine which is delivered unto them And may the powerful working of faith and love and hope make all our duty easie to us that we may ever render thee cheerful as well as constant service May thy testimonies be our daily delight and the rejoycing of our heart May we love them above gold yea above fine gold May they be dearer unto us than thousands of gold and silver May we daily renew our strength and run and not be weary and walk and not faint May the holiness of our lives bear witness to the sincerity of our faith that others may glorifie thee our God for our professed subjection to the Gospel of Christ And we obtaining a good report by faith and carrying this testimony out of the world with us that we have pleased thee thou mayst receive us to thy self to be glorified with thee and to rejoyce in thy love towards us for ever Amen THE END Our Lords Ascension Acts. 1 9. And when he had spoken these things while they be held he was taken up a Cloud receiued him out of their sight to And while they stedfastly looked toward heaven behold two men stood by them in white apparell H. Which also said this same le sus shall so come as you haue seen him go into heaven THE WITNESSES TO CHRISTIANITY OR The Certainty of our FAITH and HOPE In a Discourse upon 1 S. JOHN V. 11. PART II. By SYMON PATRICK D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed by E. Flesher for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty MDCLXXVII TO The most Reverend Father in God GILBERT By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY Primate of all England and Metropolitan and one of His Majestie 's most Honourable Privy Council c. May it please Your Grace TO cast your eye upon the Second Part of that Work the First Part of which I took the confidence to address unto your Grace the last year It is concerning that ETERNALL LIFE which was with the Father as St. John speaks and now is manifested to us by his Son Jesus Christ who hath published the most gracious Purposes of God the Father towards us The thoughts of which as they cannot but be at all times exceeding welcome to Devout Christians especially to those who are faithfull Ministers in Christ's Kingdom so never more then when they
of all the types and shadows wherein these heavenly things were wrapt up and hidden better then they could do themselves For our Lord is risen from the dead and hath opened the Kingdom of heaven and tearing the veil in pieces hath set before our eyes the holy place not made with hands eternall in the heavens Into which he is entred as our Fore-runner to prepare a place for us and from thence hath sent a more abundant measure of the Holy Ghost to enlighten the eyes of our understanding that we may know what the hope of Christianity is and how exceeding glorious that celestiall inheritance which he intends to divide among us i. Eph. 17 18. But it is not sufficient to admire this grace I have demonstrated we must carefully improve it or else it will be worse with us then if we had never known it For if the Word spoken by Angels was so punctually verified that every breach of it was duly punished as it is ii Hebr. 2 3 4. there is no hope that we should escape the severest effects of God's displeasure if we neglect so great Salvation as this which ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã being first published to the world by our Lord Jesus was farther confirmed by the coming down of the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles We are the disciples of Him who spake as never man spake Whose word of Salvation as his Gospell is called we then neglect when we mind not what he saith or do not often think of it or having thought of it prefer every trifle before it and will not be moved by such a wonderfull grace to obey his precepts For by the opposition wherein this stands to the transgression and disobedience mentioned before against Moses his Law we are sufficiently informed wherein this neglect principally consists viz. in the transgressing those bounds our Lord hath set us and disobeying those commands to the observance of which he incites us by the promise of immortall Life It is a fearfull thing to think how miserable they will be who prove thus inconsiderate and in how great danger Christians are to be so by the means of that very deceit which plunged the Jews into so many calamities Because God had manifested more of his love to them then to other Nations had given them an excellent Law spoken to them by his Prophets instructed them how to offer Sacrifice and appointed a place where he would dwell among them they blessed themselves in the outward enjoyment of these singular priviledges they bragged that they were the seed of Abraham and that they had the Oracles of God and were a people separated to him from the rest of the world by many holy rites but they took no care to be obedient to his Laws and less regarded to be indued with the spirit of faithfull Abraham who left all those earthly goods in which they placed their chief treasure for God's sake Just thus men suffer themselves to be deluded at this day Because God hath granted us the preeminence even above the Jews themselves hath brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son made us the Children of Light and let us see such things as many Kings and Prophets desired to see but did not see them they content themselves with the bare profession of this Religion and think it enough to be called by such an honourable Name as that of Christ on whom they rest and rely as the Jews did on their Sacrifices never thinking of being indued with his blessed Nature and Spirit and offering their Wills intirely to God as he did Thus men perish even in the midst of so great light and means of being saved And there is no help for them unless they will grow serious and consider the design of the Christian Faith Which will teach them after a very few thoughts about it that our Lord Jesus is the authour of eternall Salvation to those onely that obey him v. Heb. 9. and will be so far from protecting others from destruction that he himself will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospell of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess i. 7 8. I end this Preface as St. Augustine begins his third Chapter of his first Book of the Trinity with the alteration of one word onely in the conclusion Whosoever reads this Book where he is convinced let him go along with me where he sticks let him enquire with me where he sees his own errour let him return to me where mine let him call me back to him Thus we shall all walk together in the way of charity tending to him of whom it is said Seek ye his face alway Whosoever therefore when he reads saith This is not well said for I do not understand it let him reprehend my speech but not my faith It might it is likely have been spoken more plainly but there is no man ever spoke so as in all things to please all The generall CONTENTS AN Introduction CHAP. I. Of Eternall Life in generall page 1. to 13. which our Saviour calls SEEING GOD explained in seven particulars p. 14. to 40. A Meditation p. 41. CHAP. II. A more particular discourse of this Life p. 43. wherein the happiness of the Soul is described in regard of its increase in the knowledge of God p. 46. to 62. and in its love to God to p. 72. and joy in God to p. 84. A Meditation out of St. Augustine p. 85. CHAP. III. A farther explication of the Happiness of this Life p. 87. in perpetuall Praises of God to p. 97. and in free uniform Obedience to him to p. 101. There the happiness of the body also is briefly touched to p. 108. A Meditation out of Macarius and others Ibid. CHAP. IV. Of the Eternity of this Life p. 111. being without intermixture of Misery p. 112. and without intermission p. 115 and without end p. 121. represented by the Sabbath p. 124. Particular expressions chosen to signifie that it never dies p. 127. A Meditation p. 133. CHAP. V. Of the Certainty of this Eternall Life p. 137. whose excellence is farther represented from xxi Rev. 7. in 5 particulars from p. 138. to 149. Two Observations about his RECORD p. 151. to 158. A Meditation p. 161. CHAP. VI. The Testimony of the FATHER concerning this Eternall Life p. 165. The first testimony illustrated to p. 172. The second testimony at large considered from thence to p. 195. The third testimony Ib. to p. 204. A Meditation p. 205. CHAP. VII The Testimony of the WORD to it p. 209. The first testimony p. 211. The second p. 220. The third p. 230. A Meditation out of St. Gregory Nazianzen p. 245. CHAP. VIII The Testimony of the HOLY GHOST p. 249. The first testimony Ib. to p. 258. The second Ib. to p. 270. The third testimony Ib. to p. 279. The sense of the Church about the Holy Trinity
we may be in danger of for Piety's sake Now looking a little farther into this Holy Writer who hath preserved the unquestionable Records concerning these matters I find there is as great a certainty of this Eternal Life by Jesus Christ as there is of his being the Son of God and that the very same Witnesses who so fully declare the one give no less strong Evidence for the proof of the other For THIS says He 1 John v. 11. IS THE RECORD or WITNESSE THAT GOD HATH GIVEN TO VS ETERNAL LIFE AND THIS LIFE IS IN HIS SON Which words being a continuation of the foregoing Discourse carry this sense in them There is great reason you should receive the Witness of God viz. of the Father Word and Holy Ghost and of the Water Bloud and Spirit not onely because it is greater then the Witness of men which you cannot justly reject v. 9. and because if you do reject it you make God a Liar which who can have the heart to do v. 10. but also because the thing which is testified to us by these Witnesses when they say that Jesus is the Son of God is of all other the most desirable viz. that God designs for us no less blessing then Eternal Life which the Lord Jesus hath in his hands to keep for us and to bestow upon us The ensuing Discourse then will necessarily fall into these two Parts First to shew what this Eternal Life is and secondly to prove the Certainty of it from the mouth of all those Witnesses Of the first of which I must treat with the greater brevity because it is not the Design of the Apostle in this place to give us an account what the Eternal Life is which God hath promised but to shew that he hath given us an undoubted right to it and that it is in the power of that Great Lord whose Servants we are by Faith in him to dispose of it THE WITNESSES TO Christianity PART II. CHAP. I. Of ETERNAL LIFE in generall AND now I launch out when I go about to speak of Eternal Life into a wide Sea of which it is but little that our eye can descry or our thoughts fathom and less that I must confine my self unto in this present Discourse There is more contained in these two words ETERNALL LIFE then all the world can discover though we have so good a Compass as the Book of God whereby to steer our course and to guide and assist us in our Inquiry We may venture as far as ever our thoughts will carry us into this depth but we shall still see something beyond all that we can conceive and be enabled by our search to discern more fully that it hath no bottom no bounds nor limits as will appear if you do but attend to this general Description of it out of the Holy Writings In whose style it is most certain it signifieth a full and constant enjoyment of all the happiness that our Being is capable to receive I say Happiness because as DEATH in the Sacred language denotes all manner of Misery affliction and trouble so by LIFE it expresses all kind of Felicity pleasure and contentment And I say full and constant happiness because the word ETERNALL must needs adde something to the other and that is compleatness firmness and solidity As Death if it be not eternall leaves some room for thoughts of happiness so Life if it want that addition doth not exclude all vexation and sadness But then on the contrary both the one and the other if this be annexed are made perfect without any hope of happiness in that Death or any fear of misery in this Life To clear our passage I judge it necessary to spend a few words in making good this Notion of Life and Death by producing some places of Holy Writ where they are so used And first for DEATH the very first time we meet with it in God's Book it is used to express all the Misery that man drew upon himself by his Sin ii Gen. 17. In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die i. e. fall into a most calamitous estate as it is explained iii. Gen. 16 17 18 19. till worn out with labour sorrow and pain he returned to the dust out of which he was taken Thus when the Locusts came upon the land of Egypt and destroyed every green thing Pharaoh intreats Moses x. Exod. 17. to pray to the Lord that he would take away this Death onely Which shews that all the plagues and disasters which fell upon that land went under this general name of DEATH though now it be restrained to the last and greatest of all punishments The like you reade in the second Book of the Kings iv 40. where the sons of the Prophets as they were eating of their pottage cry out Oman of God there is DEATH in the pot something that is very distastfull to the palate and perhaps hurtfull and poisonous to the body which made them they could not eat it In the New Testament also penned by men of the same country we find the very same language St. Paul saying that he was in Deaths often 2 Cor. xi 23. and that he died daily 1 Cor. xv 31. and wishing to be delivered from the body of this Death vii Rom. 24. i. e. of such misery that it made him sigh and groan sorely under the burthen of it And to name no more the Shadow of Death in these Books signifies nothing else but an horrible dangerous place or a dismall forlorn condition into which any miserable person is faln This being the notion then of the word DEATH in the speech of the Hebrews such must be the signification of the word LIFE which is opposite to it whereby they express all Felicity and comfortable enjoyments Thus when David says his enemies were lively or living as it is in the Hebrew text xxxviii Psal 19. he means they were in a flourishing prosperous condition abounding with all worldly goods while he was abandoned to contempt poverty and continual danger And when he says their heart shall live that seek God lxix Psal 32. his meaning is they shall enjoy true peace and contentment So when the people say 2 King xi 12. Let the King live which we render God save the King they wish him a prosperous and happy reign And when David acknowledges God to be the fountain of life xxxvi Psal 9. it is as much as to say an ever-running spring of all felicity from whom flows as the foregoing words are a river of pleasures Hence they are bid to keep to God's Commandments as their life xxxii Deut. 47. And this is said to be the excellency of knowledge that wisedom giveth LIFE to them that have it vii Eccles. 12. because by observing those wise precepts they were put into a most happy condition which could not be had by any other means but would certainly be lost by turning from those holy paths This is a
away where the former Tribulations which afflict the Body upon this Earth are no more remembred Thither will I goe where we shall lay down our Troubles where we shall have a reward of our Labours where is the Bosome of Abraham where the Propriety of Isaac where the Familiarity of Israel where are the Souls of the Saints where the Quires of Angels where the Voices of Archangels where is the Illumination of the Holy Ghost where the Kingdome of Christ where the never-ending Glory and the blessed Sight of the Eternall God the Father Thither will I go there I hope to arrive not complaining not finding fault much less cursing and blaspheming but blessing and praising and with giving of thanks saying The Lord gave the Lord hath taken away as it pleased the Lord so it is come to pass Whatsoever pleases God is good whatsoever pleases him is just It pleased him to give his pleasure was good it pleased him to take away his pleasure was just All that the Lord wills is Life is Light is Rest and Peace is eternall Blessedness Whatsoever pleases the Lord therefore whether to inrich or to impoverish all is incorruptible and endless Bliss Blessed is the man O Lord whom thou chastenest As pleases the Lord so it is Let the Name of the Lord be blessed world without End Amen CHAP. II. A more particular Discourse of this LIFE THERE is the greatest Reason that all Christians as the same Authour goes on should say and doe and think thus in all circumstances and in all things that occurre and say so with the devoutest the most humble and chearfull Submission to him since it is the will and pleasure you heard just now of this Great Lord that his Son Jesus should give us after our short labours or sufferings here Everlasting Life The very name of which sounds so delightfully that we cannot well presently cease to speak of it nor chuse but desire to be better acquainted if it be possible with so transcendent a Bliss It concerns us more then any thing else to understand it and to be sure of it For the Hope of it is our Refuge the Anchour the Stay yea the Joy and comfort of our hearts And therefore for the sake of those who desire to be led into a more particular knowledge of this Happiness I shall venture something farther in the description of it and know not how to conduct them better in this enquiry then by explaining as clearly as I can these two words LIFE and the ETERNALL duration of it And if the nature of the First be examined you will find that LIFE is nothing else but the exercise of all those faculties and powers which are proper and peculiar to us upon their true and naturall objects Whence it is that wicked men are said in the Sacred style to bedead because nothing that is reasonable nothing that constitutes the form of a man acts in them and on the other side they that are converted from Vice to Vertue are said to be made alive because such persons onely imploy and make use of all those powers which belong to reasonable creatures and have devoted themselves to the best improvement of them There is in a man as Philo excellently expresses it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a certain notion and sense that loves God and is a friend to Vertue which when it is extinguished in his Soul the man is dead and when it is revived he is then again made alive Since therefore St. John is speaking of the highest Life that man is capable of we are directed by this notion to look upon it as consisting in the most intended operation of all our Powers and that in their highest improvement upon the greatest and noblest Good which we saw before is God himself Let us then consider that man consists of Soul and Body as his essential parts and that the Soul as the better part must be most considered in this state of Bliss for from it Bliss will be derived to the Body and therefore consider again what the several Faculties and Operations of our own Souls are and farther how much they shall be inlarged and their force increased by the mighty change which shall be made in us at death and at the resurrection and lastly how that all these Faculties thus improved and made bigger then they themselves can now comprehend shall be filled to the brim with that fullest Good and we shall be able to frame in our mind some distinct apprehension of this blessed Life Now we all know there are two Faculties of our Soul the Vnderstanding and the Will upon which all Operations depend and it is as certain that the satisfaction and felicity of the Understanding can consist in nothing but in Knowledge and contemplation of the Truth and that the happiness of the Will consists in the Love of that which is Good And by necessary consequence the utmost satisfaction of both these is in the clearest Contemplation of the highest Truth and in the most ardent Love oâ the highest Good And therefore every one sees where we must begin to speak of this most Blessed LIFE I. Which consists in the greatest Treasures of Divine Knowledge by the contemplation of the fairest Object which is the exercise of the prime Faculty in man and the good of his Soul as it is rationall For the better understanding of which let us consider 1. that the Soul in it self is apt to receive the notice of all manner of things as we may easily discern if we do observe how things most cortrary in themselves can agree to lodge together in our Mind and we behold them one after another or both together without any disturbance yea with abundance of pleasure But 2. whatsoever our capacity now is we find it is very little that we actually know by reason of many impediments that we are clogg'd withall And yet that little when we are masters of any notion communicates so much pleasure to us that we are hugely desirous of having our minds enlarged to know more and think it necessary to our happiness that we should be put into a condition of more free and undisturbed converse with Truth When therefore 3. we shall be rid of this clog being either alone without this body or having it made so spiritual that it will be under absolute command and when we shall be in a still and quiet place and enjoy perfect settlement of mind and peace of conscience the want of which is the onely thing conceivable to disturb an uncloathed Soul in its contemplations we may reasonably hope to be put into that most desirable condition But we finding 4. even in this narrow condition wherein our Souls are pent up such an infinite thirst after Knowledge that the Mind of man is never satisfied we may guess by that how vehement this desire will grow when our Souls shall be no longer imprison'd and their
to search how full it is Alas what shallow brains have we to contain a wide and deep Ocean what weak eyes to look stedfastly upon the most glorious Light of heaven How much too short and narrow are our thoughts to compass an Eternall duration When we have done all we can the best way I think to our satisfaction will be to have recourse to a passage from the mouth of God himself wherein we must rest our selves contented It is in the xxi Rev. 7. where St. John was told by him who sat upon the throne ver 5. that He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son A most marvellously-large Conveyance is here delivered to us from him who hath all that can be in his possession The Great Lord of Heaven and Earth makes us a grant in these words so exceeding full that we cannot desire it should run in more comprehensive terms For by this promise 1. He makes over to us ALL things Heart cannot wish more to make us compleatly happy then he settles upon us for there is no good thing that he will withhold from those that stedfastly adhere to him And observe 2. the tenure wherein we shall hold these vast and large possessions which is as an Inheritance We have an everlasting perpetuall estate made us in all things The terms of this writing are such as if it had run in these words By an eternall indefeasible right he shall possess all blessings For Inheritances it is well known among the Hebrews never failed nor went out of the family They could not be so alienated by sale or gift but they returned in the year of Jubilee to their first owner or his posterity Which makes the word INHERIT in the holy language to signify the enjoyment of a purchace or possession out of which the inheritour can never be thrown and which he cannot quit but shall remain settled in him to perpetuity This St. Paul calls the riches of the GLORY of his inhehitance i. Eph. 18. to signify that our celestiall Patrimony is not onely exceeding large and firmly settled on us but also most noble and brings along with it everlasting honour and renown Which is more fully explained you may note 3. and the reason of it given in the next words I will be GOD to him I will confer that is such benefits on him as are fit for the bounty of the omnipotent Goodness to bestow Look what He was to Abraham in this world to whom he promised to be a God xvii Gen. 7. that he will be to us eternally In blessing he will bless us and be our exceeding great reward The word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã GOD answers to the Hebrew word Elohim which doth not respect the Essence of the Almighty but his Providence as * in Psal xiv 1. Genebrard among others hath well observed and signifies as much as the Judge the Moderatour and Governour of the World from whence it is that Judges Magistrates and Rulers are called by this name to whom it belongs to give rewards and punishments And accordingly the Hebrew writers observe that it is never said the Lord will be the God of any persons but when he expresses some singularly-great kindness and stands in a speciall relation of love to them In particular Abarbinell notes upon Deut. vi that he is never called the God of Israel till he had brought them in a wonderfull manner out of the land of Egypt the house of bondage I find indeed that he promised to be their God before when he told Abraham that he would give him and his seed the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession xvii Gen. 8. But he did not begin to be so till he began to lead them thither and in token of their being his they had kept the Passeover and received his Law from Mount Sinai Before this Moses says We were bondmen in Egypt and the LORD brought us out with a mighty hand vi Deuter 21. And the LORD shewed signs and wonders great and sore upon Egypt upon Pharaoh and upon all his houshold before our eyes ver 22. He doth not say in all these words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the LORD our GOD but onely the LORD brought us out and the LORD shewed because he speaks of the time before the giving of the Law which was the greatest kindness he did them after they came out of Egypt But as soon as he had made mention of that says Abarbinel in the very next words ver 24. he alters his style and tells them The LORD commanded us to doe all these statutes to fear the LORD our GOD for our good always c. And ver 25. It shall be our righteousness if we observe to doe all these Commandments before the LORD our GOD as he hath commanded us And so he speaks vii 1. When the LORD thy GOD shall bring thee into the land c. and ver 2. When the LORD thy GOD shall deliver them before thee c. and ver 6. Thou art a holy people to the LORD thy GOD the LORD thy GOD hath chosen thee to be a speciall people to himself c. For from the time of his appearing on mount Sinai and so forward says that learned Hebrew Writer He was our God because then we took upon us his Divinity And I think I may as truly observe that till the Resurrection of our Lord from the dead which compleated that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã departure which Moses and Elias discoursed with him about and said he should accomplish at Jerusalem ix Luke 31. we never reade that the Father Almighty is called the God of those who believe in his Son Jesus Then he demonstrated beyond all contradiction that he was their Saviour and mighty Deliverer who would rescue them from the bondage of corruption the fear of death the power of the grave and give them immortall life And therefore then he bids Mary go and tell his Disciples whom he calls Brethren and say to them I ascend to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God xx Joh. 17. This is the first time he is called their God but ever after there is no language more common For as St. i. Eph. 3 17. 1 Pet. i. 3. Peter and St. Paul call him the GOD of our Lord Jesus Christ I suppose because he had raised him from the dead and highly glorified him for his obedient suffering of death so they address themselves to him as particularly related to them and ready to bestow upon them the like blessedness saying i. Rom. 8. 1 Cor. i. 4. iv Phil. 19. 1 Thess iii. 9. I thank MY GOD always c. MY GOD shall supply all your need We rejoyce before OVR GOD c. as you may reade in many places of St. Paul's Epistles Which shews that this promise in the Revelation made after our Saviour's Ascension of being the God of
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
all power in heaven and earth and hath said as it there follows ver 54. I will raise him up at the last day Well then seeing that these are the things we expect to have our sins blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come to be made children of the resurrection to be delivered from the wrath to come to have glorious bodies to reign with Christ and to be made heirs of all things and seeing we are said to have this bliss i.e. to have a certain right to it if we believe on him and seeing also that our right is apparent from the same Records or Witnesses whereby it was proved that Jesus is the Son of God All that I can apprehend remaining to be done to give us a fuller certainty of these promises is to make particular inquiry what every one of those Witnesses which testify to Jesus say to this point that God hath given us eternall life and that this life is in his Son This is the RECORD St. John saith i.e. this is the matter of it Let us examine if you please all these Six Witnesses one after another upon this matter and see if they do not give the same evidence of it that they have done of the other and make as infallible proofs that God hath given us this blessing and that it is in him as they do that Jesus is the Son of God and came from him There is no way like to this that I know of to attain a strong faith and hope of Eternall Life which it infinitely concerns us all to make sure and to have a well grounded perswasion of both that we may live comfortably in the midst of all troubles and that we may be able to overcome all temptations and that we may be willing to die and when nothing else will give us the least comfort we may lift up our heads with unspeakable joy For what can deject their hearts Macarius Hom xxxiv whose hope is firmly fixt in Heaven What should make them complain who have for their Inheritance everlasting Life Vnspeakable unconceivable are the glories innumerable are the good things which God hath prepared for those that love him As in things visible the plants the seeds the flowers are so numerous that none can count them nor is it possible to cast up the summe of all the other treasures of the Earth or as in the Sea the wit of man cannot comprehend the creatures in it either their number or their kinds or their differences or take the measure of its waters or of its place or as in the Air none can number the Birds or in the Heavens tell all the Stars So it is impossible to tell or conceive the riches of Christians in the invisible world their unmeasurable their infinite their incomprehensible Riches For if these Creatures are so infinite and incomprehensible by man how much more He that made and form'd them all And therefore it ought to fill every Christian heart with the greater joy and exultation of spirit because the Riches and Inheritance prepared for them so much surpasses all that can be uttered And with all diligence and humility should we buckle our selves to the Christian Combate that we may be partakers of their Riches For the Inheritance and the portion of Christians is God himself They may say with David The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance My lines are faln unto me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage Glory be to him who gives us himself Glory be to him for ever who mixes his own Nature with Christian Souls ãâ¦ã effable kindness of God who free ãâ¦ã less then himself upon us O the ineffable happiness of such Souls who are wholly in joy and mirth and peace as so many Kings and Lords and Gods Behold here thy Nobility Christianity is no vulgar or contemptible thing Thou art called to the dignity of a Kingdome not like that of earthly Princes whose glory and riches are corruptible and pass away but to the Kingdom of God to Riches divine and celestiall which never decay For there blessed Souls reign together with the heavenly King and in the heavenly company Since such good things therefore are set before us such glorious promises are made us such great good will of our Lord is manifested towards us let us not despise his kindness nor be slack in our motion towards Eternall Life but give up our selves intirely to the good pleasure of the Lord. And let us call upon him that by the power of his Divinity he would redeem us from the dark prison of dishonourable affections and vindicating his own Image and Workmanship cause it to shine most brightly till our Souls be so sound and pure that we be made worthy of the communion of the Spirit giving glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost for ever Amen CHAP. VI. Concerning the Testimony of the FATHER WE must begin as we did before with the Witnesses in Heaven the first of which you know is the FATHER who spake three times from Heaven by an audible voice to testify to our Lord Jesus And if you examine again all that he hath said you will find both these things recorded in his words that he hath given us ETERNALL LIFE and that this LIFE is in his Son I. The first time that God the FATHER spake from Heaven was at our Saviour's Baptism when the Heavens were opened and a Voice came from thence which said Thou art my beloved Son in thee I am well pleased iii. Luk. 22. In which words there are two things very remarkable which plainly testifie to the Truth of those two now mentioned that LIFE is in his Son and that we shall partake of it I. That He calls Jesus his SON and his beloved Son Which being spoken from heaven in such a glorious manner as the Gospell describes it must needs signifie him to be his SON in the most eminent sense for it was never said to any Angel in this sort Thou art my Son my beloved Son This declared him to have the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily to be invested with his own authority and power and to be that Seed promised who should bless all the World which is a thing too great for any one to doe but for GOD himself It was by an audible voice from heaven that the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham to tell him the LORD had sworn by himself that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed xxii Gen. ver 15 16 18. And so now to shew us the Seed was come who should be such a great Benefactour to mankind the LORD himself speaks by a voice from Heaven declaring Jesus to be his SON the Authour of that Universall Bliss which he had promised Which tells us plainly enough that LIFE is in him which is one of the things that St. John affirms upon this Record for else he
shone as the Sun though this may reasonably be thought as I shewed in the former Treatise to be a representation of his Ascension into heaven where he shines at the right hand of the Father and is the Lord of glory And therefore I shall onely observe two things first the words now added to the voice formerly delivered secondly the manner wherein they were spoken in the audience of those Apostles I. As for the words now added in this second voice to those of the first wherein he had declared him as he doth here again his beloved Son in whom he delighted they are these HEAR YE HIM Which are the very words that Moses spake to the Children of Israel when he prophesied of the Messiah and said xviii Deut. 15. unto him ye shall hearken And it may be one reason why Moses was now present when God spake these words in the Mount that he might consent to this truth which was now so solemnly pronounced in his hearing that Jesus was the Great person of whom he had prophesied Now God bidding the Apostles HEAR HIM and Moses himself to whom they had hearkened all this while being content that he should take his room it is an argument of something to be declared by him that Moses had not spoken And what should that be but onely the words of Eternall Life which was but obscurely intimated and shadowed in the ancient Law but by him was preached so clearly and distinctly that the voice of the Heavens is not more audible There is nothing I shall shew in due place that our Saviour preached so frequently nothing upon which he insisted so long and earnestly and took such pains to settle in mens minds as this belief that Eternall Life shall be the portion of all that doe well And therefore when God the Father bad them hear him who made it his principall business to publish this glad tidings to the World it was the very same as if this Voice had said in express words This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased believe it He shall give you eternall life This is the Commandment his Father gave him as you heard before xii Joh. 50. This is the will of him that sent him vi Joh. 40. This is the promise that he hath promised us even eternall life 1 Joh. ii 25. And therefore he stands engaged to bestow it and we agree with him for it when we enter into his service For you may observe farther that as to hear Moses was to embrace the Covenant that God made with them by him so we can understand no less by hearing the Son of God then our entring into the New Covenant of which he is the Mediatour which is founded upon better promises then the former whereby we have a title to a celestiall not an earthly inheritance whereof he is the Lord and to which he hath engaged himself to be our Conductour And indeed Moses and Elias who were never called the Sons of God much less by a voice from heaven so termed appearing now with our Saviour in glory it was a notable sign that He should be taken up to a far greater glory then theirs and have power of changing men into such a condition as that wherein he was now transfigured and in the mean time should preach that life and immortality which they saw conferred upon those two persons to honour him Whom the Disciples you may observe again saw in a glory so much greater then the Law-giver himself now had that if the voice from heaven had been silent it would have been an argument our Saviour should be the Lord of glory For when they desired to make their abode there and for that purpose to build three Tabernacles they say one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias putting him in the first place before the other two which they would not sure have done had not Moses and Elias done reverence to him as a greater person then themselves I shall end this with a Tradition among the Hebrews which if it signifie any thing may serve to shew that Jesus is their long-expected Christ For R. Bechai saith * in xlix Gen. 10. that when Jacob speaks of the coming of Schilo he comprehends not onely the last Redeemer the Messiah but the first Redeemer also i. e. Moses who shall have the honour then to attend upon the Messiah and enter into the holy land according to what the Masters say upon xv Exod. 1. where the words are then Moses ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã shall sing And in the great Commentary upon Deuteronomy they write as the same Authour goes on that God said to Moses Because thou didst give thy life for them in this world desiring that God would blot his name out of the book of life to preserve theirs in the world to come i.e. the days of the Messiah when I shall bring Elias to them you two shall enter in together Which may possibly be the meaning of those words i. Joh. 21. Art thou Elias and he said I am not Art thou that Prophet i. e. Moses who alone was worthy of the name of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Prophet above all others Now if there were any ground of such expectation that these two should come in their own persons you see it here fulfilled on this holy Mount where Moses who was so much in mount Horeb and Elias who used mount Carmel now appeared and had communication with him about his ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã departure out of this world unto his heavenly Kingdome ix Luk. 31. The Mount where they met and where Jesus was transfigured is generally believed to be Tabor as Hermon a little hill near Jordan there is a tradition was the place from whence Elias was taken up to heaven In these two Mountains saies Proclus * Orat. viii our Lord Jesus was proclaimed the Beloved Son of God from whom we may expect immortall bliss At Hermon when he was baptized in Jordan on Tabor when he was transfigured and appeared in a glory as much greater then Elias's as the high mountain Tabor was above the little hill of Hermon And so was fulfilled says he that prophecie of the Psalmist lxxxix 12. Tabor and Hermon shall rejoyce in thy Name In both places was published this joyfull news that God had sent his Son to be the Saviour of the World First in the mount from whence Elias was transported into heaven and then in the mount where he came to attend on our Lord when he was transfigured God the Father ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã confirming his Sonship proclaimed again with a loud voice This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him For he that heareth him heareth me as Proclus there glosses and he that is ashamed of him and his words of him will I be ashamed in my glory Let us listen to him therefore and since we hear him say as I noted before Verily
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
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
The testimony of worthy men as the Apostle here observes is readily received by us and therefore we ought to be afraid of being so rudely prophane as to reject the testimony of God which is of far greater weight then theirs and hath been solemnly given you see more then once for the confirmation of our Faith But God the Father willing more abundantly to shew if I may borrow those words in vi Heb. 17. unto the heirs of this promise the immutability of his counsel hath graciously vouchsafed us farther assurance and by his WORD hath told us as much as He himself declared by those voices from heaven What we are to understand by the WORD in this place I have shewn in the Former Treatise viz. the Lord Jesus himself God Man or God the WORD made flesh Orat. contra Gentes p. 49. who as St. Athanasius speaks is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Interpreter and Embassadour of his own Father For as by the word a man speaks we understand his Mind which is the fountain from whence it comes so but by a more lively representation and after an incomparably more excellent manner we beholding the power of the WORD come to the knowledge of his Father as our Saviour himself saith xiv Joh. 9. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also From him this Eternall WORD came down and was incarnate not onely to reveal his will but to die for our Sins and to seal what he had preached with his Bloud After which God raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the Heavens from whence he testified as loudly that he hath in him ETERNALL LIFE for us as he did that he is the SON OF GOD. This Witness therefore let us now examine and look over again the old Evidences which we formerly searched wherein I doubt not we shall find this Truth most clearly contained And the Testimony of the WORD you know as well as that of the FATHER was threefold once to St. Stephen a second time to St. Paul and a third to this beloved Disciple St. John I. For the First of these it stands upon record in so many words that St. Stephen being full of the Holy Ghost and looking up stedfastly to heaven saw the heavens opened and beheld the glory of God and Jesus standing at his right hand vii Act. 55 56. Thus he declares not to some simple people who perhaps might believe him for his confidence but to the great Councill of Jerusalem who he knew were very much disaffected nay perfectly opposite to this truth To them he protests in open Court when he was upon his triall and bids them mark it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Behold take notice of what I now tell you I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God And he said it though he knew he stood in certain perill of his life for this declaration It was for no other reason that Jesus himself was put to death but because he said He was the Son of God and that they should see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven And therefore for him to confirm so peremptorily this odious Truth after they had killed Him and thereby make them guilty of innocent bloud yea of the bloud of their great King was a Crime he might well expect they would punish with as great severity as was in their power to express which we may be confident he would never have provoked had he not been so sure of the Glory of our Saviour that he could not hold his peace For who is there so frantick as to expose himself to death for such an unprofitable lie It is not in the nature of man to suffer so shamefully as he did in his own person merely to bring a little false honour to another To fansy a person of his Wisedom guilty of such madness is a kind of distraction in him that supposes it who were he sober would be taught otherwise by the abhorrence he feels in himself to throw away his life for a trifle Since there is not the least reason then to question but that this Holy man beheld the glory of God and Jesus standing at his right hand i. e. the gates of Heaven being set open that he might have the favour to look into the celestiall palace the Majesty of God was there represented to him sitting on a Throne as it used to be in the propheticall Visions and he beheld the Lord Jesus the very next person to the Divine Majesty we may clearly see in this Vision both the things that St. John here asserts viz. that Eternall Life is in Jesus the Son of God to give to those that effectually believe on his Name I. As for the first the power wherewith he is invested to give Eternall LIFE it is visible from his standing at God's right hand which denotes his Omnipotent Virtue to effect what he pleases For by the right hand of God Jesus himself was exalted to the right hand of power as you reade ii Act. 33. v. 31. and therefore being placed there it signifies that he can doe for us what God hath done for him that is exalt us to the like glory in the heavens where he is And as this is a clear proof of one of the things here recorded that LIFE is in him so the other II. That God hath given the faithfull a right to this Eternall LIFE with him and that he will bestow it on us is no less evident from the very End of this Vision For we can see no other reason of this glorious appearance of our Saviour to him but to incourage him in his preaching and incite him to witness a good confession as he himself had done before this great Councill and before Pontius Pilate in hope that if it cost him his life as it had done our Saviour he should live and reign with him in that glorious place where he now beheld him This was the purpose of the heavenly WORD 's coming now to him that he might not doubt of his promises nor shrink in the least from what he had preached though he should die for it which would doe him no greater harm then to dispatch him presently to the celestiall habitations In the very beginning of his history we reade that he had no sooner heard the Indictment read which they had drawn up against him but before he spake a word for himself the whole Council behold his face as it had been the face of an Angel vi Act. 15. There appeared that is such a bright and sweet Majesty in his countenance as made him look like one of the celestial inhabitants who had already prevented the glorious state to which he was going And his Answer to their charge being ended their barbarous rage was not more apparent then it was that the heavens opened to receive his Spirit
then this to demonstrate the truth I am endeavouring to prove the great love of our most Blessed Lord would not deny it Who appear'd again as I shew'd in the former Treatise to a very learned person of great note and great sanctity among the Jews and as great an enemy to him being consenting as he himself confesses xxii Act. 20. unto his death when the bloud of his Martyr Stephen was shed St. Paul I mean who travelling towards Damascus in a burning rage and fury and with a sharp commission against Christians and therefore in no fit disposition to receive a truth or to fall into a fancy directly opposite to his present temper and interest was suddenly surprized with a great light from heaven and beheld that Jesus whom he no more thought to be so glorious then he did the Thieves that were crucified with him presenting himself and distinctly speaking to him in such a splendid manner that he fell down to the ground and could not see for the glory of that light vers 7 11. Whosoever will carefully observe what he was and how far as I said from any such thoughts and how desperately he had been lately ingaged against St. Stephen and now was prosecuting other of Christ's Disciples will easily conclude that he had now a reall sight of the Majesty of the Lord Jesus at whose feet he fell whom otherwise no man should have despised and blasphemed more then He. Now if the Vision be considered you will find that it contains in it this Truth that Jesus is possessed of Eternall Life to give unto us as well as that he is the Son of God For I. He beheld him appearing in such a brightness as that before mentioned far exceeding the splendour of the Sun at noon-day according as he himself tells the story xxvi Act. 13. Which plainly declared him to be the King of Glory cloathed with the Majesty of God and possessed of an heavenly Kingdom and therefore able to give ETERNALL LIFE to his servants which is one of the things that St. John here saith God hath testified to us How should he come by such a robe of light and how should he appear thus first to St. Stephen and now to St. Paul and how should he present himself thus near to him and perfectly astonish his bold spirit if he had not power to doe what he pleased And therefore St. Paul is told by our Lord at this very time when he saw him in such Majesty that he should be a witness of what he had seen Which had been to no purpose unless this Apparition had something remarkable in it to prove that he was what he pretended to be in his life-time the Son of God most High whom according to his word which he passed by a voice from heaven he had glorified and given him power over all flesh II. And accordingly you find that the thing St. Paul witnessed was that Jesus was over all God blessed for ever ix Rom. 5. and had sent him to preach the Resurrection and everlasting life xiii Act. 46. xvii 18. These doctrines our Lord himself had taught him when appearing and speaking to him in such a glorious light he said I am Jesus As much as to say I am he whom you buffeted Afterius ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. whom you scourged whom you dragged about first to Caiaphas then to Pilate whom you called continually the Carpenter's son whom you number among the dead laughing aloud at those that preach the Resurrection It is I that speak and therefore believe that which my servant Stephen saw though when he told you so you would not believe it Thus he learnt saith Asterius by experience that Christ was alive and was neither corrupted by death nor stoln away secretly by his Disciples but risen from the dead ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and reigned over the whole world This he preached with as great a zeal as before he persecuted He was such an Auxiliary as before he had been an enemy ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã both strong and resolute III. For you may observe that he did not merely rationally conclude from the glory wherein Jesus was that all he had said was true and that he was able to give Everlasting Life but he heard him also say expresly at this time when he appeared to him that he would bestow this celestial Inheritance upon us even us Gentiles who were shangers to the promises foreiners and aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel having no such hope There was nothing against which the Pharisaicall spirit was more imbittered then this that other Nations should share with them and be equall to them in the blessings of the Messiah The Religion wherein St. Paul had been bred was concerned in no principle more then this that the rest of the world were all unclean and never to be united to them unless they would be circumcised and observe the Law of Moses And therefore had he not been pressed with undeniable evidence he would never have consented to this truth which was so much against the grain of that spirit which possessed him and which he but once mentioning to his Country-men they were ready to tear him in pieces xxii Act. 21 22. And yet he reports this for a certain Truth from the mouth of Jesus himself who bad him as he relates this glorious Vision to Agrippa a Prince well skilled in the Law go unto the Gentiles to open their eyes as He had done his to turn them from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and INHERITANCE among them that are sanctified by faith in him xxvi Act. 17 18. And accordingly he went and preached every-where in obedience to this heavenly Vision the comfortable doctrine of the Resurrection and Eternall Life to us Gentiles as well as others witnessing both to small and great that as the Prophets had foretold Christ ought to suffer and should be the first that should rise from the dead and shew LIGHT unto the people of Israel that is and to the Gentiles vers 22 23. By Light in the holy language is meant the gladsome discovery of God's good will and pleasure For as by Darkness it expresses ignorance sorrow and heaviness so by its opposite knowledge joy and chearfulness And the Light which we have by Christ's sufferings and rising from the dead can be nothing else but the blessed hope of immortality This St. John tells us is the light of mankind i. 4. In him was LIFE and the life was the LIGHT of men that is their singular comfort and satisfaction which makes their life not to be irksome to them and with this Light St. Paul endeavoured to fill the world that they might all know how much they were indebted to Jesus who brought Life and immortality to light by his Gospell And can it enter into any man's thoughts that he would have set himself to preach this
doctrine of happiness to us which his own people so abhorred we should partake of if God the WORD had not made him infallibly assured of it Nay how could he have preached it so long unless as he there speaks he had obtained help of God who countenanced his preaching and approved this testimony of his concerning his Son Jesus by the mighty power of the Holy Ghost He himself also testified the strong belief he had of the Resurrection and of the Glory that shall be revealed by his labouring so abundantly as he did in the work of the Lord to whom he was desirous to express an extraordinary affection because his grace and love had so abounded towards him He thought he could never in the least requite his kindness and therefore would not gain one farthing not so much as a bit of bread by this preaching But though he might have lived by the Gospel chose rather to work with his own hands to support himself and those that were with him that he might win the more Souls to his Master by making Religion without charge to them A great argument of his zeal to serve his Lord and promote his honour and of his firm belief of immortall life where he desired onely to have his services rewarded Which is excellently expressed by the forenamed Asterius when he says that he refused so small a recompence of his infinite labours as a daily provision for his body which was so often beaten and bruised ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that receiving nothing upon Earth he might lay up all in Heaven VI. And therefore you may observe that his service was so acceptable to our Saviour that he gratified him here in this world above our mortall condition and to give him an earnest or pledge of the good things to come and the honour should be done him there he did him the favour to transport him into the Third heaven and another time into Paradise where he saw Visions and heard words too glorious for him to utter or us to understand in this present state 2 Cor. xii 3 4. This was a farther confirmation which the Eternall WORD gave of his power to give Eternall Life and of his intentions to take us up unto himself For he was carried thus above the clouds by the power and favour of Jesus who hereby bare witness to himself how glorious he is and how able to advance his faithfull Disciples to the same height of heavenly felicity For he says it was a man in Christ one who by the happiness of belonging to him had this noble priviledge bestowed on him And he gives this as an instance of the Visions and Revelations ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the LORD ver 1. which is the title of Jesus most frequently in the New Testament who is LORD of all x. Act. 36. He snatcht him up into the Heavens He transported him no body knows how to the celestiall habitations And either by a ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as St. Greg. Naz * Orat. ii ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã p. 550. distinguishes them a rapture of mind in the body or the ascension of his mind quite out of the body or the assumption of both for a time into those regions above he let him see strange sights and hear such words as are not to be spoken with our tongues Which was a very full demonstration of the Majesty of our Blessed Saviour and of his ability to translate us to those heavenly places and of his purposes likewise to make us at last so happy Behold here the glory of the Christian Religion whose Authour is so highly exalted that he exalts this Minister of his far above the greatest persons in former times The translation of Elias as the often named Asterius speaks * Ib. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. out of this world wherein we are is every-where celebrated as a wonder But ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã how far he went no Revelation hath explained Perhaps he was not carried very high above the Earth by that power which lifted him up to the place which was destined for his habitation But the translation of St. Paul was far more illustrious and famous the very place being noted to which he was carried and that no inferiour one but almost half way to the highest heavens of all Let the Hebrews hereafter cease to pride themselves in the honour that was done to Moses who alone went up to the top of mount Sinai and was in the midst of the clouds and darkness which appeared there My Paul in stead of a mountain ascended into heaven and in stead of a cloud was carried beyond the air that is above the clouds And very fitly for it became a Man of Christ to outstrip Moses as much as the Old Law was excelled by the Gospell that St. Paul preached which he calls the Mystery hid from ages and generations but now made manifest to the Saints or Christians to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in us the hope of glory i. Col. 26 27. III. And here now let us leave the history of this great Man and pass to the Third Testimony which the WORD gave of this truth to St. John Who as he is the onely person that after the other Evangelists had set down the genealogy of our Lord according to the flesh expounds ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as Proclus * ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã speaks the Eternall subsistence without any beginning of God the WORD and his generation of the Father before all worlds so he hath gathered here together more clearly then any of the rest all the Evidences and grounds of the Christian Faith and also received the most full and pregnant demonstrations of what he hath particularly recorded concerning Eternall life in the Son of God For when our Blessed Lord the WORD made flesh whom he beheld ascending into heaven appeared to him from thence in a most glorious manner you may observe I. That he sufficiently declares his power to doe what he pleases by taking to himself that very Name and Title whereby God the Father Almighty sometimes revealed himself to the Prophets You reade in the xli Isa 4. xliv 6. the Lord the King of Israel and his Redeemer saith I am the first and the last which is the very same with those words i. Rev. 8. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord c. those two being the names of the first and the last letters in the Greek Alphabet as A and Z are the first and last in our Christ-cross-row Now if you look farther into this book of the Revelation you will find that in this very style our Blessed Lord speaks of himself In the very beginning of the Visions there recorded St. John heard one call to him with a loud voice as of a trumpet saying I am Alpha and Omega the first
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
and have reserved something peculiar to be given as a testimony of it over and above what I have done my self And that was their speaking with all tongues on a sudden and their prophesying whereby they were inabled to preach to all Nations as he had done to the Jews alone and work the same wonders among the heathen which he had wrought onely in that Country A marvellous evidence this was of the power and glory of Christ to give eternall life in that being absent he did those things by his Apostles which were not performed whilst he was present with them And therefore 8. upon this account the HOLY GHOST thus given to the Apostles and those that believed by their word is called the earnest of the inheritance in their hearts untill the redemption of the purchased possession 2 Cor. i. 22. i. Eph. 14. It was something given them in hand before his second appearing for full redemption to assure them they should as certainly receive all that was behind as they had already received this pawn and pledge of his mighty love And indeed we have all much reason to think that he will doe very great things for us when he appears in his own person as the Holy Ghost assures us he will iii. Act. 19 20. since he hath done so much good to the world by the Apostles his Deputies who were men like to our selves If his Servants brought such blessings to men then what will the Lord himself bring with him at his coming If his Ministers restored dead men to life again the Master sure will bestow a life as much excelling that which they restored as he excells his Officers In short if the people lookt so earnestly on two poor Fisher-men when they had cured a man lame from his mother's womb iii. Act. 12. much more will the Lord of glory draw the eyes of the world to him by doing astonishing things for his people when he shall come as the Apostle speaks 2 Thess i. 10. to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe He will give such a glory to us as will be much for his own credit and reflect glory on himself He will not so much consult what is fit for us to receive as what is fit for such a Prince as he to give He will cloath us with such honour and glory that it will be an honour to him to have his followers appear in such rich and shining liveries It will set men into admiration to behold the bounty of his royall favour to them and much advance the greatness of this Prince to see such subjects attend him the meanest of which are Kings Nor do we strain our fancies and exalt our hopes above what we can reasonably expect when we look for such high dignities for that we shall be admitted into his heavenly Court and be thus sumptuously apparell'd and magnificently entertained by Angels to wait upon us and carry us to him we are assured by the testimony of the HOLY GHOST which cloathed poor men here with a power greater then the most absolute Monarch on earth ever enjoyed and enabled them to deal greater and richer gifts to men yea to scatter them abroad every day as they past along the streets or did but spred their shadow over them then Kings and Emperours could doe at their Coronation or Conquerours at their most magnificent Triumphs III. And as a farther proof of this we must observe once more that the HOLY GHOST gave its testimony of the Life that is in Jesus and shall be given to us when it fell down upon the common sort of believers as it had done upon the Apostles who were not desirous to keep the miraculous gifts of it to themselves alone but readily communicated them to others It was a great wonder to hear the Apostles speak with tongues and prophesy to see them cure the lame and restore the blind to their sight nay raise the dead to life onely by bidding them live and be well in the Name of Jesus things which no Potentates on Earth as I said before could bestow though they were forward to take to themselves the name of Gods and affected Divine honours But it was a greater wonder to see other illiterate Christians receive the same gifts by the laying on of their hands and invocation of the Name of the Lord Jesus who presently filled them with the HOLY GHOST This was a thing so strange that they could not but look upon it as a token of the most extraordinary Love of God to mankind from whence they might expect as much happiness as the word ETERNALL LIFE I told you imports For 1. nothing ever discovered the capacity of humane Souls so much as this effusion of the HOLY GHOST which shew'd how large and wide they are and how much they can contain and to what degree of excellence they may be improved and raised and that on a sudden by the power of God This gave them a strong tast of what was to come and both made them relish immortall life above all other things and also put them in hope to attain it by the favour of that person who had promoted them to such a sight of it in this vast measure of wisedom and love wherewith they were indued For 2. it could argue nothing less they might very well think then that they who wore such eminent marks of his favour as to have a Crown of life and glory set upon their heads in this world should be raised to far greater honours in the next when they should be more capable of his kindness and nearer to himself And indeed 3. since hereby he dwelt in them and they became the Temples of the Holy Ghost they might be confident he would not suffer so holy a place to be pulled down but in order to the building of it better And since the Holy Ghost also 4. wonderfully inlarged their hearts and made them exceeding desirous as well as instrumentall in conveying such exceeding great benefits to others they could not but look upon it as an undeniable argument of the most bounteous goodness of God who is far more inclinable to doe good then Men can be and more ready to reward our services then we can be to doe our work And considering moreover 5. the promise he had made of ETERNALL LIFE the gift of the Holy Ghost was a marvellous earnest of it and a kind of beginning of it in their Souls What shall an ignorant Sea-man be made a Prophet and speak with all tongues a poor Tent-maker unlock Mysteries and indite spirituall Songs and Hymns a man that yesterday could mend nothing but his Nets now cure a man of a bloudy-flux or mend a lame leg a rude Souldier command Devils and storm his strong holds more easily then a town without walls Lord what light is this might they justly say which shines in our dungeon what power is this wherewith we see frail
5. is most lively represented there But this is not all that is intended by it for even those * Arias Montanus who in that sense were already mortified and renewed by receiving the Holy Ghost before their baptism as Cornelius and his family proceeded notwithstanding to receive that holy washing and by their submersion took upon them the likeness of the dead and by their emersion appeared as men risen again from the dead If there were no other death to be escaped but that in sin and no other resurrection to be expected but that to newness of life why were they who had attained these baptized as dead men and being already dead to sin why again sustained they the image of death out of which they believed and professed they should come This very action of theirs proves that they lookt for another resurrection after death which is the resurrection of the body And this profession of theirs was so much the more weighty as they were the more learned and instructed being already taught by the Holy Ghost By whose power they were already dead to sin and made alive to God and by whose instruction they professed to believe that as there is another death viz. that of the body so they should overcome it by the mighty power of Christ raising their very bodies from the dead There are severall other interpretations of this place as that of Epiphanius * Haeresi 38. who expounds it of those who received Baptism at the point of death but I shall not trouble the Reader with them because they all conclude the same thing that Baptism was a publick profession of the hope of immortality and a Seal also of the promises of God not onely to that particular person who at any time received it but to the whole Church both to the living and the dead Who as oft as Baptism was repeated had an open assurance given them from God by whose authority it was administred that they should rise again to everlasting life And so I shall dismiss this First Witness on Earth which is the more to be regarded because though it be not so great in it self as those which speak from heaven yet to us it is very considerable and cannot be denied by those who cavill at some of the other For all men acknowledge the Life and Doctrine of our Saviour to be incomparably excellent and John the Baptist stands upon record in Josephus for a person of severe and strict sanctity and the whole Christian Church who were not so childish as to build their hope on a sandy foundation but stood immovable as you shall hear like a house upon a rock when all the world storm'd and made the most furious assaults upon them believed thus from the beginning as appears by their holy profession which they made when they entred into the gates of the Church by Baptism The mighty power of which WATER OF LIFE they have thus celebrated with their praises Greg. Naz. Orat. xl Baptism is the Splendour of the Soul the Change of the life the Answer of the Conscience towards God It is the help of our weakness the putting off the flesh the attainment of the Spirit the Communion of the Word the Reformation of God's workmanship the drowning of Sin the participation of light and the destruction of darkness It is the Chariot which carries us to God our fellow-travelling with Christ the establishment of our faith the perfecting of our minds the key of the Kingdom of heaven the foundation of a second life * ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Orat. xi At this the heavens rejoyce this the Angels magnify as of kin to their brightness this is the Image of their blessedness We would willingly praise this if we could say any thing worthy of it Let us never cease however to give him thanks who is the Authour of such a gift Greg. Nyssen L. de Baptismo Christi returning him the small tribute of a chearfull voice for such great things as he hath bestowed on us For thou truly O Lord art the pure and perpetuall fountain of Goodness who wast justly offended at us but hast in much love had mercy on us who hatedst us but art reconciled to us who pronouncedst a curse upon us but hast given us thy blessing who didst expell us from Paradise but hast called us back again unto it Thou hast taken away the fig-leaf covering of our nakedness and cloathed us with a most precious garment Thou hast opened the prison-doors and dismissed those that stood condemned Thou hast sprinkled us with pure water and cleansed us from all our filthiness Adam if thou callest him will be no longer ashamed he will not hide himself nor run away from thee The flaming sword doth not now incircle Paradise making it inaccessible to those that approach it but all things are turned into joy to us who were heirs of sin and death Paradise and Heaven it self is now open to mankind The Creation both here and above consents to be friends after a long enmity Men and Angels are piously agreed in the same Theology For all which Blessings let us unanimously sing that Hymn of joy which the inspired mouth in ancient times loudly prophesied I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my Soul shall be joyfull in my God For he hath cloathed me with the garments of Salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness he hath decked me with ornaments as a bridegroom and as a bride adorned me with jewels lxi Isa 10. This adorner of the Bride is Christ who is and who was before and who will be blessed both now and for ever Amen CHAP. X. Concerning the Testimony of the BLOVD the Second Witness on Earth THE next Witness which comes in order to be examined is the BLOUD by which I told you we are to understand the Crucifixion and Death of the Lord Jesus with all the attendants of it This is a Witness which the greatest enemies of Christianity cannot but confess was heard to speak in his behalf The stubborn Jews who will be loth to grant that a voice from heaven declared him the Son of God cannot deny that their forefathers imbrued their hands in his bloud For in the Babylonian Talmud * Vid. Horae Hebr. in Matt. p. 3â9 Tzemach David ad an 3761. it is delivered as a tradition among them that they hanged Jesus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the evening of the Passeover and that a Crier went before him forty days saying He is to be carried forth to be stoned for conjuring and drawing Israel to Apostasy If any one can speak any thing for him to prove him innocent let him appear It is an hard matter to have any truth from these fabulous people without the mixture of a tale together with it When they cannot gainsay what we believe that their Nation were the great Instruments of his death they endeavour to find false reasons
and his wonders his mighty power and stretched-out arm all the greaâ acts of the Lord as they are called xi Deut. 7. which Chapter be pleased to reade unto that verse which were eminent tokens that GOD had taken theâ to be a peculiar or speciall people to himself as he frequently speaks and was able to fulfill his word to their Forefathers of giving them the Land wherein they were then strangers for their inheritance Just such as this is our case whom He hath called by his Son to an inheritance incorruptible and that fadeth not away reserved iâ heaven for us To obtain an eternall Redemption for us and deliver us out of the hands of all our enemies his own most precious BLOUD was shed as of a Lamb without spot or blemish Whereby also as you have heard he testified to the World that he was no Deceiver but came to them from God with the words of Eternall Life Many things concurred to make this BLOUD a witness of his Truth and of his power to fulfill his own promises And yet notwithstanding this was the very thing that offended many and kept them from following him They could not endure so much as to hear him speak of giving them his flesh to eat and his bloud to drink though he told them thereby he would give life to the World And therefore to strengthen this Testimony of his BLOUD and to convince them evidently that he was the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the World and gives life to it there was another Witness which attended it both before his BLOUD was shed and likewise afterward which was the SPIRIT That is as I shewed in the former Treatise on this subject the power he had to work wonders and the miraculous power which raised him from the dead and presented him to God in the heavens This was abundantly sufficient to prevent any offence they might take at Christ crucified and to settle in their hearts an unmovable belief that he was their mighty Redeemer who would bring them to the eternall Rest which he had promised For this is the last and greatest argument which St. John here produces ver 6. He came noâ onely by WATER but by BLOVD also and it is the SPIRIT that beareth witness for the SPIRIT is the Truth Or as Arias Montanus translates it the SPIRIT is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that Witness that undoubted testimony on which we may certainly rely For ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that SPIRIT which I speak of is truth anâ infallible Witness which cannot deceive you that Jesus is the Son of God And so it is likewise that Eternall Life is in him and that we shall enjoy it by his means for this RECORD of God is given to make us as sure of the one as we are of the other Let us briefly therefore consider first what his Miracles say to this and then secondly what force there is in his Resurrection and Exaltation to prove it I. And at our entrance upon the first of these let us before we go any farther weigh those words of this Apostle St. John in his Gospell xx 30 31. where he tells us that he wrote the signs which Jesus did suppose after his Resurrection in the presence of his disciples for this very purpose that they might believe that he was the Christ the Son of God and that believing they might have LIFE through his Name They were wrought by Him and recorded by his Disciples for these two ends that the World might be convinced He was the great Lord of all and that they might by faithfull subjecttion to him look for Eternall Life from his omnipotent love It was the design of all his wonderfull works throughout his whole life to which the Apostle may have respect as well as to those after his Resurrection to perswade men to believe that he would make his followers so happy For by these he manifested forth his glory as I observed before of the beginning of his Miracles in Cana of Galilee ii Joh. 11. and declared to the world he could work as great a change upon our mortall bodies as he did then upon the Water making them as much nobler then they are now as the Water excelled it self when it was become Wine They were mighty instances of his Power and of his Goodness too they made him appear to be the King of Israel who was to deliver and bring Salvation to them though much greater then they expected That our Lord did work Miracles is a truth which they that crucified him can no more deny then that he died The wisest of them could never find any colour to affirm that the Gospel-story was but a fabulous Legend which related Wonders that were never done For if they had been able to say this Maimonides the very best of them would not have been put to such distress as to let fall these words which we reade in his Treatise of Kings Cap. xi Do not imagine that the King Messiah shall have any need to work wonders or alter the course of Nature or restore the dead to life again with such like things that fools talk of Had he not known as well that these things could not be denied which are related of Jesus as he did that their force to prove any thing being granted they would be an unanswerable testimony to him he would never have thus slighted as he doth in many other Books things of this nature which brought the greatest reputation to Moses among their ancestours and were the cause why they believed on him though he attempted no such wonder as the raising dead men to life again Our Saviour he was not ignorant very often appealed to his works as the testimony of God to him and thought it sufficient to tell John's disciples when they came to inquire who he was that he opened blind mens eyes cleansed lepers and raised up the dead by which they might answer their own question And therefore something was to be said by this Jew to disparage these upon which he saw the credit of our Saviour in great part relied Now had it not been the readiest way to deny that there were such Miracles wrought Nothing but the notoriousness of the facts made him wave that course which drove him upon this wretched shift of denying utterly that Miracles are credible witnesses to him that works them By this means he thought to rob our Saviour of the glory they brought him and was so blind as not to see that at the same time he took away from his own Master the greatest support he had of his Authority And therefore herein he is deserted by his own Country-men particularly by Abarbinel who as I observed before makes the power of working Miracles one of the principall gifts of the Messiah In which our Lord it is apparent to his very enemies was so eminent that one cannot imagine why he did not believe on him unless with the
supposed for I shall say no more of it here there is no man can have the face to deny the Resurrection of the body and Life everlasting which Christ our Lord hath promised us There can be no truer reasoning then that of St. Paul 1 Thess iv 14. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him I. For thus much is evident at first sight and is included in the thing it self that this work of the SPIRIT proves a possibility of the Resurrection of the dead and shews that we mortal creatures who live on the earth may live in the heavens So the same Apostle argues elsewhere against those who denied this Truth 1 Cor. xv 12. If Christ be preached upon such credible testimonies as he mentions in the foregoing verses that he rose from the dead how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead It is the grossest absurdity that is to say there can be no such thing as the restoring of a dead body to life when it is so evidently verified in Christ's resurrection Which shews it is so far from being impossible or incredible that it is a thing which hath been done already as is very well attested by Witnesses that cannot with any equity be rejected And by the same reason he proves we ought not to despair of seeing our bodies made glorious and incorruptible For if He be not in his grave as none could shew him there after the third day but is made glorious why may not we partake of the same favour by that power which raised Christ from the dead and set him at God's right hand There is no reason to doubt of it but the greatest reason to hope and be confident that He who raised up the Lord Jesus as St. Paul speaks in the next Epistle 2 Cor. iv 14. will raise up us also by Jesus and set us in his presence in the heavens II. For by his Resurrection the SPIRIT proved the truth of all that the other Witnesses the Water the Bloud and his Miraculous Works too testified Particularly it demonstrated the truth of his Doctrine by which as you have seen life and immortality was brought to light If this had not been true that we shall live for ever by him Jesus would have perished and never have come to life again to deceive the World the second time But seeing God did not leave his Soul in hell nor suffer his Holy i. e. his anointed one to see corruption it is an uncontroulable argument that those who believe on him shall not perish neither but be made alive as he is Because He that said he would rise again the third day said likewise with the same assurance that at the last day he will raise up us also and bestow upon us everlasting Life When God who alone could doe it verified the one and according to his word raised up Jesus the third day He bid us be assured of the other that this Jesus hath Life in himself and will by his power raise up us according to his promise unto a never-dying life This is the Character He had given of himself I am the Resurrection and the Life that is the Authour the Cause of both He that believeth on me shall have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day nothing of him shall perish neither his Soul nor his body for even they that are in their graves shall hear his voice and shall rise again to lise This he often preached and proved many ways but after all he sealed it with his bloud and bad them expect a little and they should see it sealed by his resurrection from the dead Which insuing at the time appointed was a perfect demonstration that he said true when he affirmed that He is the Resurrection and the Life by whom we shall receive this inestimable benefit of rising again after death to live for ever with him Of this as well as the former Consideration I may possibly say so much elsewhere that I shall spare any farther pains about them now III. Let us rather remember how severall persons rose from the dead at that very time when he left his grave xxvii Matt. 52 53. which were notable instances of his power to give life and put us in hope that we shall all rise again as they did There is no cause but his Resurrection to be assigned of this Miracle which fell out the same time that he was missing in his grave as the opening of their tombs at that very moment when he died Never was any such thing heard of before or since and therefore it was intended to demonstrate the mighty power of his Resurrection when many bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of their graves and went into Jerusalem and appeared unto many Whose testimony none have had the confidence to contradict by endeavouring to disprove it but the Jews rather by some concessions of theirs confirm us in the belief of it For it is a common opinion now among their Doctours that the Kingdom of the Messiah shall begin with the Resurrection of the dead Bury me said R. Jeremiah with shoes on my feet and my staff in my hand and lay me on one side that when Christ comes I may be ready But of this conceit we can find no footsteps in the Old Scriptures which makes it probable that they have borrowed this as they have done many other things from the Holy Gospell in which it is recorded that he began his entrance upon his Kingdome with the Resurrection of some pious persons as an earnest of the restoring all the rest to Eternall Life And thus it is likely they have learnt to discourse of the bodies of the just after they are raised concerning which some of them speak so sublimely above the dull and gross conceptions of the rest of their Nation that one can scarce look upon it otherwise then as Christian language When the Soul is in the state of glory Vid. Jo. de Voysin in Pug. fid part iii. dist 2. c. 8. saith the Book Zohar it sustains it self with the light above wherewith it is also cloathed and when it shall return to the body it shall come with the same light and with the body shall shine as with the brightness of heaven More there is in other Authours to the same purpose which say God can give us bodies strong and vigorous like the Angels and that the bodies of the just after the resurrection shall be subtil like the globe of the Moon Vid. eum de Lege Div. in xxii Matt. 3â and so give no impediment to the Soul in its enjoyment of the Splendour of the Divine Majesty But supposing this to be their own language without any tincture they had received from the Christian Doctrine it will be still more remarkable that our Lord Jesus according to their expectations
thy Majesty O thou most mighty Jesus whose power is not the power of flesh and bloud but the power of God who raises those to life who are dead Great was the joy which filled thy Disciples hearts when they first saw thee alive from the dead and called thee their God Georg. Nâcomed Serm. ix None can understand the beauty of that sight O the brightness of that appearing What a light diffused it self then through the whole Creation What a fragrant smell did the very earthquake breath forth when like a publick crier it proclaimed the Resurrection What was the savour of the ointment which was then poured out How was the whole world then transformed and made new The Angels themselves leaped for joy to see it How sweet was the sound then of their doxologies With what divine splendours were they then adorned How beautifull did those preachers of thy resurrection appear and how great was the glory and the happiness which they came then to proclaim O those Words of theirs which brought us the news of victory over the Enemy which proclaimed the destruction of Death and published thee to the World the Resurrection and the Life O that sweet and above all things desirable voice of thine which by the women that were carrying spices to thy grave sounded joy to the World The Heavens then opened their gates and received the glad tidings which were brought to us as if they had been their own The Intellectuall powers rejoyced and took a pleasure in our happiness The Spirituall as well as Sensible World was inlightned The clouds of sadness were dispelled from one end of the world to the other and the rays of joy possessed all Guilty Nature put off the robes of heaviness and was cloathed with garments of light The hand-writing of the Curse was torn in pieces and promises of Blessing were sealed in the room thereof By that new Salutation when thou saidst ALL HAIL the world was filled with the sweetest and everlasting joy For thou art the Preacher and the Cause and the very Exultation of all joy the Authour of good things the giver of pleasure the joy which can never be taken away the sweet light the spectacle above all others desirable the intellectuall tranquillity and peace Wisedom it self and Power Incorruption and Eternity Security and Delight the onely unchangeable and inconceivable Beauty Sanctity it self and Honour and Righteousness and Glory above measure glorious O how many Names would my Mind bring forth to express thine unutterable excellency It is onely my weakness that hinders and want of words But thou who art the infinite not to be named Good far above all the titles that Mind can invent who regardest not words but rather an inflamed heart who thy self broughtest the joyfull news of thy Resurrection shine now into our Minds by the bright beams of thy appearing Let us see intellectually the superexcellent beauty of the intellectuall Sun Let us inwardly injoy the incomparable sight of our Lord and Master Let us hear his divine voice speaking some sweet and joyfull word to us O thou gracious Lord come and draw us from these present thiâââ ãâ¦ã deeps and ãâ¦ã never-decay ãâ¦ã the quires of those that keep perpetuall festivals above For thou art both light and life and resurrection and the joy of those that triumph in the heavens To thee it becomes us to give together with the Father and the Holy Ghost glory honour and adoration now and ever world without end Amen CHAP. XII Concerning the Testimony of the Holy APOSTLES of our Lord. THere is nothing now wanting to compleat this Discourse unless it be to shew that if the Testimony of the APOSTLES of our Lord be at all intended when St. John saith He CAME by Water and Bloud and the Spirit as in the former Treatise I proved we have reason to think it is they also bear Witness to this Truth and by them God hath given us this Record that we have Eternall Life and that this Life is in his Son That Jesus had Disciples the Talmudists themselves confess who tell us in the same place where they speak of his being hanged on the evening of the Passeover that they were five MATTHAI Talmud Bab. Tit. Sanhed c. vi NETZER NEKAI BUNI and THODA They do not love to speak the truth but to the Four Evangelists to which perhaps they have respect they have added one more and report not one of their names aright except the first and in the last have a little varied from the Name of Judas the Brother of St. James But thus much we gain from their own Records that known Disciples our Saviour had who professed to believe on him and owned him for their Lord and Master These persons we can make no question would be carefull to communicate to the World what they had received from him because they lookt upon him as the Son of God and estemed his words as so many Oracles which his Crucifixion could not disparage Accordingly there are Books that pass under their Names besides the four Gospels which no man ever laid any claim to or pretended to be the Authour of but onely themselves and therefore we have no cause to think they were not of their inditing Now if you examine them you will find that after his Ascension to heaven and the coming of the Holy Ghost their business was to go about and preach this Truth and the certainty of it to all the World as their Lord and Master had delivered it to them They were so fully perswaded of it that they could not forbear to publish such glad tidings of great joy to the whole Earth It was the very end of their Apostleship and that which moved them to undertake so great a task as St. Paul tells us when he calls himself an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God according to the promise of Life which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. i. 1. appointed by God that is to publish the promise of Eternall Life which he had received from Christ Jesus who would certainly give it to all that believed on him And it is the very Character which the other great Apostle gives of himself 1 Pet. v. 1. that he was a Partaker of the glory that shall be revealed This incouraged him to be a Witness of the sufferings of Christ as he saith just before and not to be daunted as he had been though he followed him to a cross because now he clearly saw he had a right as a Friend of his so the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifies Philem. 17 * Vid. Scipion. Gentil ibid. to a share in that unseen glory where He was which should one day be revealed In this they desired that all mankind might have a portion with them 1 Joh. i. 3. by becoming Members of their Society And therefore it was the constant strain of all their Sermons to invite them to it by shewing that Jesus
will reward well-doers with the Crown of Life and be so far from letting their labour be in vain that he will doe for them as his Father hath done for him viz. bring them into his own joy So St. John writes in the very beginning of his Gospel i. 4. that in him was life and the life was the light of men He brought the promise of Eternall Life that is to mankind and can himself bestow it which is the best news the greatest cordiall that can be thought of to revive our spirits like the honey on the top of Jonathan's rod inlightning our eyes and making us live most chearfully and happily if we believe it and prepare our selves for it This they laid as the very ground and foundation of all Christian piety unto which St. Paul saith it was his office to call men in hope of eternall life i. Tit. 1 2 c. which God that cannot lie promised of old but did not manifest till the preaching of the Gospell which was committed to him by the commandment of God our Saviour who authorized him to open this Doctrine more fully then it had been even by our Lord himself while he was on Earth For St. Paul shews that at the last day so often mentioned by our Lord he himself will appear again in person after a visible and glorious manner to consummate all the faithfull whose happiness begins as soon as they depart this life These two weighty Truths are notably asserted by this Apostle I. Who declares by the Word of the Lord that is a speciall revelation from our Saviour the manner of his coming again from heaven with the attendance of his Angels to raise the dead and to lift them up to himself and give them the Crown of righteousness which till that time shall not be bestowed Reade 1 Thess iv 15 16 c. 2 Tim. iv 8. where the splendour of that great day when he will openly appear as the Lord of all is described no less lovely then magnificently as I hope to shew in another place It is the day of rejoycing ii Phil. 16. because he will then most eminently appear as our life iii. Col. 4. as our Salvation 1 Cor. v. 5. ix Heb. 28. to the praise and honour and glory of our fidelity 1 Pet. i. 7. And therefore for this time Christians are said to wait and look 1 Cor. i. 7. ii Tit. 13. as the time that will compleat their felicity which till then the Apostles plainly suppose wants its Crown and perfection And so the Church hath from the beginning understood them Who describe Souls departed as in a state of Expectants waiting for the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ who will come out of his most holy Temple to perfect those who now stand as they speak ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the porch or entry of it in atriis as the Latin phrase is in the outward Court of the Temple or holy place of God For as the Children of Israel stood in the outward Court which yet was a part of the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Temple as we render it expecting the Priest every day to come out of the Sanctuary and the High-priest on the day of expiation to come out of the Holy of holies to give them the blessing In such manner do the Ancients describe the now blessed waiting and looking without though in Heaven of which the Sanctuary was a figure for that blessed hope of our Lord 's coming out of his Most holy place where he now is without sin unto their Salvation And thus the best of the Jews express their happiness saying that pious Souls are in the bundle of life as the most learned Dr. Pocock shews out of Judah Zabara * Not. miscell cap vi p. 176. in the high place in the treasury where they enjoy the splendour of the Divine Majesty being hidden under the throne of glory Which phrases signify a state of imperfection in comparison with that which our Lord Christ with whom saith the Apostle our life is hid and kept in safe custody will bring us unto at the day of his appearing II. But all this time they do not imagine that their Souls lie asleep without any sense of joy and pleasure no more then the Israelites did who were at their Prayers all the time that the Priest was in the Sanctuary desiring God to accept his intercession for them For what good doth it doe them to be in the Garden of Eden or pleasure as the Jews also call the place where they live if they have no taste of its fruits and happy enjoyments They would be as well any-where else as in the Bosome of Abraham by which the same Jews * Vid. Vcy ãâã de ãâã bil L. i. c. 16. as well as our Saviour describe this state if they do not feast there as that expression properly signifies and as the Parable of Lazarus supposes he did when it saith that now he was comforted or enjoyed his good things which made a recompence for all the evill he had here suffered The sense of the Christian Church in this matter is admirably expressed by St. Orat. x. p. 173. Greg. Nazianzen Who comforting himself and others for the losse of his Brother Caesarius concludes with these words I am perswaded by the words of the Wise that every Soul that is good and beloved of God when it is loosed from this body to which it is tied straightway ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã conceives a certain wonderfull pleasure and rejoyces exceedingly in the sense and contemplation of the good it expects Which makes it go most chearfully to its Master because being got out of its prison and having shaken off its fetters which pinion'd the wing of the mind ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it already injoys as it were an image of the Blessedness laid up for it And not long after receiving out of the earth from whence it came and where it is deposited its nearly-allied body in such a way as God who tied them together and dissolved them knows it shall together with it inherit the glory there And thus St. Paul also plainly teaches us 1. When he relates how he was transported into the third heaven and into Paradise and for any thing he knew out of his Body 2 Cor. xii 2 3. Which evidently shews he believed that Souls could act without their bodies and that they shall enjoy God and have a sense of heavenly things as soon as they depart this life And so much the Jews themselves well conclude from the Spirit of Prophecy whereby holy men of God were separated for a time from their bodies so as to perceive nothing either by their senses or their minds but onely what God presented to them The phantasms indeed which they had received from this sensible world were commonly used to represent those things which were then offered to them by Divine Revelation but without any assistence of the
motions of the body which lay then as if it was dead while the Soul enjoyed converse and familiar discourse with God In which condition it is manifest St. Paul's mind was so intent to what was communicated unto him that he did not at all observe whether he had a body about him or no. But there is more then this if you mark it in St. Paul's transport into Paradise where God spoke to him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã mysteries which he could not declare by any words because no phantasms or images of things he had seen or heard here in this world could express them Which is a sign he conceived them without any motion of his brain merely by his Spirit Of such transports the Hebrews themselves talk who say four men entred into Paradise * Sepher Câsri part 3. § lxv Tzemach David ad An. 498â that is by the spirit of prophecy one of them was too curious and died presently another proved distracted after it a third pluckt up the roots or denied the foundation of Religion saying ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I have already touched the mark I am come to perfection and therefore need not mind the work of the Law any longer a fourth entred in peace and came out again in peace Which I recite not as a truth for all these stories are told of men who lived since the spirit of prophecy left them but to shew that they think it not impossible for men to be transported as St. Paul was to whom I imagine they were ambitious to equall some of their Doctours but by the power of the Spirit they might enter while they were inhabitants of this world into Paradise Of the sweet enjoyments of which place therefore they cannot sure be uncapable when they have quite left this body since the Apostle supposes his spirit might go out of it in this rapture when it perceived and understood things without the use of phantasms after the manner of Intelligences 2. Wherewith he was so ravished and so fully assured of future bliss as soon as he died that he desired above all things to be dissolved and to be with Christ which he lookt upon as far better then to stay here any longer i. Phil. 23. This eager longing clearly shews what he expected as soon as he was got loose from this body and that he did not think death would stupefie his Soul and bereave it of all sensation but rather open to it a freer passage into that delightfull place whither he had some time been caught up For it would not have been better for him to depart and to be with Christ if he should not have had the favour to enjoy that sweet conversation with him there which was not denied him whilst he was here He tells us indeed that when our Lord shall appear then is the time when we shall appear with him in glory but before this he expected upon his departure to be with Christ though not in so full an injoyment of him as hereafter This made him so confident and well assured in his perpetuall conflicts with so great troubles and calamities because he lookt upon himself in this present bodily state but as a stranger who was absent from his own country and friends to whom he desired to return even in this way through the midst of many afflictions 2 Cor. v. 6. Which he repeats ver 8. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. So we render this phrase ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ver 6. when he speaks of his being in the body From which I conclude that he thought his Soul which while it did ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã inhabit the body had such a sense of future happiness as made him resolutely endure all manner of troubles to come at it would much more enjoy a blissfull sense of it when it did ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã dwell in its own country with the Lord. 3. Hence you reade that those who were dissolved or rather whose souls were torn out of their bodies by the hand of cruell persecutours cried unto God for vengeance on their murtherers vi Rev. 9. Which argues Souls departed do not sleep and think of nothing that passed here but are so awake as to remember the gracious promises of God which they live in expectation to see fulfilled It may be said indeed that by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Souls we are to understand onely their Bloud as the word is sometimes used in the Holy Scriptures and as I thought when I writ the former Treatise * Vid. Chap. viii p. 501. it might be taken here But upon farther consideration I find reason to correct that mistake For St. John I observe speaks of them as persons ver 11. who had fellow-servants and brethren here upon earth who were to finish their testimony to Christ by laying down their lives for him as they had done Till which time those Martyrs were to rest and acquiesce in what they enjoyed already having obtained very great honour For there was given ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to every one of them white robes Mark the place and you will be satisfied fully that he speaks not of their bloud For St. John saw these Souls ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã under or beneath the Altar of incense that is as a Great man hath proved * Mr. Thorndike Rights of the Church p. 95. 310. whereas the bloud of the Sacrifices was poured out at the bottom of the Altar in the outward court They were not without but in the Sanctuary though in the lower part of it beneath the Altar of incense not yet advanced to the higher part of it much less to the Holiest of all They were admitted that is unto a greater nearness to God then others as the Church always believed the Martyrs were though not yet consummated as the Apostle St. Paul supposes himself should not be till the day of Christ's appearing But St. John adds 2. that they had white Robes given them in that place where they were which signifies they were a kind of heavenly Ministers attending on the Divine Majesty or that they had exceeding great honour conferred on them xli Gen. 42. which would have done them no good at all if they had not been sensible of the favour of God therein and lived in great joy and festival pleasures which white raiment also in the holy languages uses to denote ix Eccles. 8. And thus the Jews themselves I observe are apt to speak of this matter making the description of the City and Temple in the latter end of Ezekiel to be a representation of the other World For when it is affirmed by one Doctour in the Talmud * Vid. Coch. exc Gem. Sanhedrin c. xi n. 30. that there were not above six and thirty just men in every Age that behold the face of God and another objects that the Court about the City
constant Auditours of Which made them the more confident to declare these things to others because they had them not at the second hand but immediately from himself And because it is the least of testimonies to say we have heard a thing therefore he adds in the second place that they had SEEN it beheld that is all the marvellous works he did to confirm this Doctrine which he delivered as the word Seen seems to be understood xv Joh. 24. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did they had not had sin but now they have SEEN and yet hated both me and my Father They saw the vast numbers that he fed with a little food the sick that he cured with speaking a word the dead that he raised when all their friends gave them for lost and despaired of seeing them again in this world In short so many instances of his Divine power and authority that if they should have been written every one this Apostle supposes the World would not have been able to contain the Books that should have been written xxi ult But these are recorded which we find in the Gospell as he concludes the foregoing Chapter that we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that believing we might have Life through his Name And lest any should imagine it was but a transient sight they had of these things and their eyes might be deluded as we sometimes are when a thing suddenly flies away from us or that they were but seldom spectatours of these things and so could not gather much from thence he adds in the third place that they had LOOKED on it that is had this evidence continually before their eyes They scarce saw any thing else but miracles They had not leisure ofttimes so much as to eat their meat by reason of the great multitude of people that came to be healed by him They conversed a long time with Lazarus after he was risen and our Lord himself was seen of them forty days after his resurrection speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God And when the Holy Ghost came they themselves to whom the Apostle here writes could testifie the wonderfull variety of spirituall gifts that were poured on believers But because we imagine that to feel a thing is far more considerable for our satisfaction then to see it or look upon it as St. Thomas would not believe those who had seen our Lord and heard him speak but he would put his hands into his wounds before he would be satisfied therefore the Apostle tells us farther that they declared nothing but what they had HANDLED of the word of life That is there was most palpable evidence and demonstration given of the truth of their report They were so near as to touch and feel that their eyes were not deceived when they thought they saw such miracles wrought For their own hands distributed the bread and the fish to the hungry multitude And some of them untied the grave-cloaths of Lazarus when he was raised from the dead And to give one instance for all when he himself rose again from his grave they not onely discoursed with him and saw him eat and drink and beheld him severall times and in severall places but he called them to him and said Behold my hands and my feet handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have xxiv Luk. 39. This very handling of him was a great argument of the Eternall Life which was with the Father but was hereby made manifest unto us for it proves his resurrection and that is a proof of ours Now they having thus heard and seen and beheld and handled these things how could they chuse but publish that Jesus is the Authour of Eternall Life And we receiving such testimony from them how can we refuse to believe their word that we may have fellowship with them in God and his Son i. e. be partakers as they were in that most blessed Life of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ If we do but believe there were such men as St. John and St. Paul and all the rest and if they had eyes and ears and hands like other men if they were men of sound brains and understandings as it appears by their writings they were if any credit may be given to sober persons who protest they heard those voices from heaven saw those miracles which they have recorded conversed with our Saviour after he rose from the dead as there are no Writers in the world deserve credit if they do not nay if they deserve more credit then any considering what they did and suffered as you shall hear for the testimony of that which they saw and heard and wrote to the world there is no doubt this Life was manifested most apparently to them and they had reason to bear witness of it and shew it to us And we cannot but rest satisfied that it is the will of God to give Eternall Life by his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. No question to be made of it unless we will question all Histories in the world and believe nothing that is reported and delivered to us by others Which if it were once resolved there would be an end of most of the trade commerce and business that is managed in the world And deeds and evidences which men have from their ancestours would become void and present possession would be the onely title they could have to their estates But for our farther satisfaction let me briefly shew that the APOSTLES gave a continued Testimony to this truth all the three ways whereby St. John saith He came by WATER by BLOVD and by the SPIRIT I. As for the purity of their Doctrine which is one part of the Testimony of Water I have given an account of it in the first part of this Discourse Which demonstrates it was of that nature that it had been an idle attempt to preach it and endeavour to plant it in the World had they not believed and been able to prove that their Master who employed them would give them and all those who obeyed their word the reward of Eternall Life To which if you adde the holiness of their Life which is another part of this Testimony you cannot think that men of such sincerity in all other things would have affirmed so confidently as they did that which they did not take to be true nor have protested they saw and heard and felt such things as they never had any notice of But if you will needs suppose they might be so vile which is very unreasonable yet who can think they would have denied themselves so much as they did for their Master's sake in which a great part of their piety consisted if they had not been sure that he would lead them by such means to everlasting life This extraordinary contempt of all present things even of life it self as you shall
hear plainly shewed they were not merely big words which they spake of being with God and our Saviour to see the Glory which the Father had given him but things which they heartily expected For does any man find such inclinations in himself as should make him imagine they would have left their trades their houses their possessions their wives kindred friends all that is desirable in this world and perswade those who were the dearest to them to doe so too if they had not had an assurance upon such grounds as were apt to convince others as well as them of the recompence they should meet withall hereafter in a better life Who can believe that St. Paul would have quitted all his Dignities his hopes of greater preferment his esteem and reputation with the wisest and chiefest persons in the Nation his ease and quiet and every thing else and betaken himself to the troublesome service of a despicable Master if he had not known and seen it as clearly as the Sun in the firmament that Jesus whom he served was raised from the dead and made the King of Glory and would prefer all those that proved faithfull to him unto the greatest honour in the heavens For what reason should those good men live as having nothing and all the time be as chearfull as if they possessed all things Did they not look upon themselves think you as heirs of a Kingdom which could not be taken away from them Reade St. Paul's description of himself to Timothy 2. iii. 10 11. who he says had fully known his doctrine and manner of life not onely what he had been wont to teach but how he had followed his own instructions what his purpose and aim had ever been his fidelity his lenity towards offenders his charity to all Christians his patience under troubles of all sorts for he was persecuted and endured great afflictions by that means at Antioch where they thrust him out of the city at Iconium where an assault was made upon him to stone him at Lystra where they actually stoned him And in how many other places he had been vilely used Timothy he says could not be ignorant having been a companion with him in his travels xvi Act. 3. Now what think you of such a person as this Do you take him for a dolt and an ignorant sot Was this great Apostle a mere lump of clay who was sensible of nothing and imagined others so senseless as that he might without any reason propound this example to Timothy for his imitation How came they to be so stupefied as to chuse rods and whips and stones and all other miseries when they might have lived in ease and peace Nay to glory in these things alone as if there had been nothing that could have done them such honour 2 Cor. xii 5 They did both hunger and thirst as I noted from the same Apostle in my former Book 2 Cor. iv 11. they were naked and buffetted they had no certain dwelling-place they laboured working with their own hands being reviled they blessed being persecuted they suffered it they were made as the filth of the world and the off-scouring of all things Which things no body in his wits can think men of their understanding would have endured if they had not been provided of meat which the world knew not of and been nourished and sustained with the hope of glory and assured of eternall mansions in the heavens and known that they should inherit a blessing and be made more honourable and glorious with Jesus for ever then the World for the present could make them vile and contemptible These things are so clear that the bare recitall of them is sufficient to satisfie us they were no deceivers nor men of light belief who took things upon trust without good evidence but had the greatest reason to endeavour to baptize all Nations into this belief as they did by an indefatigable diligence which was no small testimony of the power and glory of the Lord Jesus II. And their BLOUD speaks as much For as none of them saith St. Paul xiv Rom. 7. lived to himself so none of them died to himself but consecrated even his bloud to the Service of Christ if he pleased to command it Whereby they sealed to this Truth and shewed they were so far from doubting of immortall Life by the Lord Jesus that they unfeignedly desired to be dissolved and to be with him Witness St. Stephen who was stoned because he said he saw the Lord Jesus in the highest glory which he was never more assured of then when he died for then he recommended his Spirit to him as our Saviour had done his to God the Father Witness Antipas a faithfull Martyr Witness all those Souls whom St. John saw beneath the Altar who had all learnt from our Saviour what they must expect in his Service when he said The Brother shall deliver up the Brother to death and the Father the Child and the Children shall rise up against their Parents and cause them to be put to death And ye shall be hated of all men for my Name 's sake Under which afflictions they had nothing to support them but that which he immediately adds He that endureth to the end shall be saved x. Matth. 21 22. These few words were a sufficient incouragement to them and made them not regard their lives for the sake of Christ Jesus who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospell For the which cause saith St. Paul I suffer these things and am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day 2 Tim. i. 10 12. And for this cause he would not have Timothy to be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of him his prisoner ver 8. but to imitate him by being partaker of the afflictions of the Gospell which he endured as he adds in the next Chapter ver 10. for the elects sake that they also might obtain the Salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternall glory The Apostles nothing doubted that they themselves should obtain Salvation and immortall glory this way and they hoped likewise by their constant sufferings even to the death to draw others also to the faith or confirm them in it that they might have a share with them in this happiness and be willing to suffer for it For it is a faithfull saying he adds that if we be dead with him we shall also live with him if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him ver 11 12. I shall conclude this with that Discourse of St. Paul 1 Cor. xv 30 31 32. where he alledges this among other reasons to confirm that Church in the belief of the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come that He and the rest of the preachers of Christian Religion would not
godliness Rom. vi Col. iii. which they supposed all Christians had already felt these men fansied there was no other affirming the resurrection was past and none to come If they had onely doubted of it the Apostle it is like would not have so sharply punished them no more then he did the Corinthians But they blasphemed as he expresly tells us of Hymeneus 1 Tim. i. 20. that is reproached this Doctrine as a foolish opinion and reviled it is like the Apostles who were the preachers of it And therefore he inflicted on them the most grievous punishment by delivering them up to Satan which was not so little as merely banishing them the Christian Society but turning them over to the power of the Devill ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as unto a publick Executioner to torture and scourge them They are the words of St. Basil * Homil. in princip Proverb p. 439. with whom agree divers others of the ancient Doctours who think the Apostle speaks of surrendring such persons into his hands that he might inflict bodily diseases or pains upon them to humble and bring them down to submit to the Apostolicall doctrine when they felt the miraculous effects of their Authority For that 's the reason this punishment is called delivering up to Satan because it visibly appeared by some plagues on the body that they were faln under his power by being thrown out of the Church He was as a common Galoer and Executioner in a City or Kingdome the Apostles as the Magistrates and Governours as was said before sitting upon thrones to judge and pass sentence on men either by giving the Holy Ghost to those who sincerely believed or by delivering those to be tormented and set on the rack by this Evill spirit who blasphemed the Christian Religion There was then no other power in the Church to correct and punish them for so high a crime and this being done by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ as you reade 1 Cor. v. 4. was a notable testimony of the SPIRIT to the truth of Christianity and bad all men beware how they spake evill of this holy Doctrine especially of this fundamentall part of it that the Lord Jesus will give us everlasting life and raise us up at the last day The terrible execution which they saw done upon those who subverted this foundation of all piety was a great means to confirm all Christian people in the faith and to make them reverence those who had this mighty power either to give men ease or to torment them to restore men to life or to strike them dead to give them as was said before the gifts of the Holy Ghost or to put them into the possession of the Devill There is a great deal of difference it is observed by Tertullian * L. de Pudicitia c. xiii between an Angel of Satan sent to buffet a man and being delivered up or put into the possession of Satan himself To the former St. Paul himself was by the Divine permission obnoxious for his exercise 2 Cor. xii 7. The latter was the punishment of blasphemers and other horrid offenders for their cure But both served to give a testimony to our Saviour and to settle the hope of immortall Life For by the Angel of Satan which buffeted that is disgraced and vexed St. Paul a great many ancient Writers * S. Chrysostom Theodorer Photius apud Oecumen Ambros Theophylact understand those troubles and sore afflictions all sorts of injuries and reproaches which infidels and wicked men by the instinct of some of the Devil's agents tormented the Apostle withall Alexander the Coppersmith saith St. Chrysostom who did St. Paul so much mischief Hymeneus and Philetus all those that set themselves against the Gospell cast him into prison beat him drove him out of their cities were Ministers of Satan ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because they did Satan's business who by such instruments laboured all he could to dishearten the Apostles and hinder the free course of the Gospell Here now appeared the mighty power of Christ which rested as the Apostle speaks or took up its dwelling in them 2 Cor. xii 9. They were never so strong as when they were thus afflicted Then they mightily prevailed and advanced the Kingdom of Christ by whose powerfull grace they endured all hardships and distresses courageously and demonstrated they had a strong and immovable hope of being with him in that blessed place unto which St. Paul was rapt just before this Messenger of Satan as we render it raised such a terrible storm of persecution against him By that glorious sight he was fortified against it and standing as firm as a rock himself confirmed others in that faith which made him so invincible that he gloried and took pleasure in all those infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses which that Angel of Satan stirred up against him ver 9 10. That was all the Devill got by his ill usage of him which onely gave the Apostle matter of glory For when our Saviour pleased not to grant his desire of having this Angel removed but onely told him his grace should be sufficient for him immediately he adds that he would gladly glory more then ever in his afflictions Which plainly shews both what he meant by that Angel of Satan and how much hereby the Christian Religion was promoted and the Souls of believers strengthened in the faith They might easily believe he had been in the third heavens when they saw him so much superiour to all the power on earth and the powers of the air too who conspired to beat him down and oppress him All the art in the world could not so declare the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the unutterable words St. Paul heard which the impious Cainites and Gnosticks * Epiphan Haeres xxxviii in a Book of theirs called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã concerning St. Paul's ascent pretended to relate as this inexpressible power of Christ residing in him and supporting him under the greatest miseries which declared those words remained still imprinted in his Mind And that other power of Christ whereby the Apostle delivered up high offenders to Satan that he might inflict plagues and diseases or aches and pains on their bodies as evidently shewed what a great Minister he was in Christ's Kingdom and how credible the Doctrine was which he preached to them For he was ready to revenge all disobedience with remarkable punishments and alledges this power as a proof of his authority in the next Chapter 2 Cor. xiii 2 3 4. If I come again I will not spare since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me He is not weak indeed towards you but is mighty in you having given by me exceeding great demonstrations of his power and my Apostleship xii 12. Yet since you are not convinced it seems by what you have seen already and desire a farther proof that Christ speaks in me you shall
man much excelling all the modern Jews who could find no places to this purpose plainer then those cited by Albo some of which he alledges and adds others * in his Book ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã no less weak and obscure Such as that iv Deut. 4. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord are alive every one of you this day They that were good says he Moses onely acknowledges for the living and he witnesses to them immortality by adding ye are alive ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã this day For this to day is the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã world without end If he could have met with any plain promises who can think that a man of his parts would have used such sancifull proofs as this And yet this place I find R. Gamaliel most relied on when after a long dispute with the Sadducees who would not be satisfied that the Resurrection could be proved out of the Law he at last referred them hither * Manasseh ben Israel L. i. de Resur c. 1. But he explained the words thus As ye are all alive to day so you shall live also in the world to come For he supposes some of those whom Moses speaks of were dead and yet the text says they were alive because their union with God by cleaving to him made them immortall Which is not much better then the next proof which follows in Philo who fansies that in x. Lev. 2. where it is said Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the tokens of their immortality is proclaimed And that to say they died before the Lord is as good as to say they lived for it was not lawfull to bring a dead thing into the presence of God And this says he is that which the Lord presently adds I will be sanctified of those who draw nigh to me for the dead as it is in the Psalms praise not God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it is the work of the living Just thus he proves in another Book * ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. p. 164. with the like force that Abel lives ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an happy life in God because the Scripture saith the voice of his bloud cried out against his wicked Brother Now ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã how could he be able to speak if he was not in being An argument which rather proves Moses spake nothing clearly of these things for if he had this Writer would not have contented himself with such slender inferences Which are as weak as that of R. Johanan who proves the Resurrection from that in xviii Num. 28. where they are commanded to give the Lord 's Terumah to Aaron the Priest Who did not live saith he to enter into the land of Canaan and therefore must be raised again to receive the portion of the Lord in that good Land And yet this is as strong an argument as that of R. Solomon who concludes it merely from the two Jods in the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ii Gen. 7. where it is said the LORD God formed man c. This signifies says he that man must be formed twice once in this world and once in the next at the resurrection of the dead There are more of this nature in the Gemara of the Sanhedrin * Vid. Coch. c. xi n. 2 3 9. which I shall not trouble the Reader withall but onely note that the weakness and uncertainty of these proofs make the Samaritans brag of the advantage they have of the Jews because they say in their Pentateuch which therefore they would have to be the true copy of Moses his Law there is an express text to prove the Resurrection and the Life to come which the Jews cannot shew So desirous were all that had the possession of these Books to find these Truths plainly recorded there which even those words which the Samaritans pretend to be a part of their Law do not contain All is dark and doubtfull after their best glosses and inferences and we can conclude nothing certainly but that God did not reveal these things to Moses who was sent to make a covenant of another nature with the Israelites Whence it was that they were so much disputed by a great party among the Jews as every body knows the Pharisees affirming and the Sadducees denying Which left the minds of the multitude in much doubt while they saw these two Schools so resolutely opposing one the other And if we pass from the Law to the Prophets especially to the Prophet Isaiah who as Abarbinel says in his Preface to him speaks more clearly of the Resurrection of the dead then all the rest we shall not receive much greater satisfaction For the places from whence it is deduced do so evidently belong to another sense in the first intention of the Prophet that it forces us to confess this Doctrine was but obscurely delivered in those days and that we could not have been certain of any other sense without the benefit of a Revelation The proofs which Abarbinel brings are xviii Isa 4. xxiv 18 21 22 23. xxv 8. xxvi 19. lxvi 8 14 24. and such like which when we have seriously examined it will excite us with the greater admiration to acknowledge the infinite grace of God towards us who do not see these things through shadows nor have need of long discourses to extract this heavenly Doctrine out of our Books but in express terms reade So God loved the world that he gave his onely-begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life iii. Joh. 16. And this is the promise that he hath promised us even ETERNALL LIFE 1 Epist ii 25. What is there in all the Prophets like to this I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die xi Joh. 25 26. The clearest place is that in Daniel xii 2. And yet if we reade the words going before not to say Mr. Brightman * Ib. in xx Rev. 11. Grotius and other learned Writers upon the place we shall not be able to deny that he is speaking of a particular Resurrection from exceeding great oppression to a long state of prosperity Which typified indeed in a very admirable manner as Ezekiel's dry bones and many other things did the state of the Generall Resurrection and eternall Blessedness but did not plainly reveal it This was reserved for our Lord Jesus Christ who brought life and immortality to light by his Gospell and openly proclaimed that ALL not MANY as it is in Daniel that are in their graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation v. Joh. 28 29. II. But we shall see more reason to bless the infinite goodness of God towards us Christians
true that Jesus lives and is the Lord of all and will give Eternall life to his servants worth more then all the pains they can take for it but which cannot be wone by trifling and careless endeavours and yet offers it self graciously to those that will accept of it on most reasonable terms which we cannot refuse without the greatest disrespect to God and danger to our selves Consider then I beseech you what is the wisest course for him to take that believes all this and doth not think we have been all this time discoursing of a fiction Is every man that reads these things resolved to become a new creature and to say as St. Paul did after he had seen our Saviour Lord what wouldst thou have me to doe or as the Israelites who beheld no such sights as are set before our eyes All that the Lord our God speaks to us we will hear it and doe it O that there were such an heart as it there follows in every one of us that we would mind these things and no longer neglect such great Salvation For what will become of us if being thus convinced what we ought to doe we should put away this Blessedness from us and judge our selves unworthy of Eternall life God forbid that we should be so wicked and so miserable Shall such glorious things and so certain be proposed to us and few or none regard them A Kingdom a Crown of glory lie before us and we scornfully overlook it Wo be to us that the Father from heaven should speak so often and so loudly and we not hearken to his voice That the Eternall Word should appear in glory and we fools be taken more with fading beauties That the Holy Ghost should descend from heaven and the Devill still carry all before him That the Lord Jesus should shed his precious bloud for us and we not part with a vile affection What is become of our wit where do our Souls dwell or what company have they kept that they are grown so void of all reason Or do they think themselves so wise that they have found something better then God something more valuable then Eternall life and more certain too When did the World get it self made so great a Good On what day was it that it engaged hereafter to be more constant to its Friends Where are the Witnesses and the Seal to this bond Ah wretched fools that we are to let our Souls be cheated so easily of such an happiness or rather thus to impose upon our selves with such weak and childish imaginations Is any thing here grown so big that we cannot see the disproportion between it and Heaven or is this World of such grand concern to us that we cannot be at leisure to hear what our Saviour offers us Have we no greater regard to these Witnesses then to suffer them to be baffled by every fleshly reasoning though never so silly and inconsiderable Let us bethink our selves a little better Let us doe them so much right as to examine them impartially and then if they deserve not belief let the Devill and the World take all But if they declare beyond all exception that Jesus is the Lord and hath Eternall life and will bestow it on those that obey him let us not be so bold as to slight him any longer but go and humbly tender our hearts to him and give him thanks that he will accept them Is his yoke think you uneasy and his burthen too great a load What was the load then which he carried when all our sins were laid upon him what a yoke was the Cross it self and all the indignities that he suffered And yet for the joy that was set before him and which he hath now set before us he endured all with admirable patience And indeed what can be too hard for him who knows he labours for an infinite reward Do we not all part with things very desirable for a small gain we are to get by the exchange And how earnest how fierce are we to drive on such a bargain How contentedly can the tradesman lose his dinner on the market-day rather then lose a customer by whom he hopes to gain a shilling All the traffick in the world is carried on by giving one thing for another and many times upon a little advantage And therefore what makes us so unwilling to part with any thing in the world that God calls for when he offers to give us goods of inestimable value in the room of it It is not a small portion that he assures us in his love but he says we shall inherit all things and that for ever When we have served him threescore years and ten and who is there alas that serves him so much he doth not promise to settle on us an estate of so little as fourscore score or an hundred years of incomparable happiness in the next World though we count it no mean bargain here to part with a Lease of 70 years for one of 80 that is of equall value but more then so many Ages more then millions of lives even an Eternall life with himself in the heavens Is there not a vast difference Is not the disparity inconceivable between what we lay out and what we receive and between the bargains we are so greedy of here and this happy exchange which God offers us Why then is it neglected as if it were too dear at the rates on which it is proposed Are we not willing to give so much for it Or is not the security good which God gives us for those heavenly possessions Look over the Evidences again which we have examined and you will be ashamed to call them in question And if you be satisfied it will be a greater shame not to pursue this gainfull purchace with the same eagerness care and diligence that we do our severall imployments in this world We ought to account that day best spent not wherein we have got the most money but wherein we have made some considerable improvement in true wisedom and done some singular service to our Lord Jesus who is our hope And in all our externall affairs let us exercise such justice charity thankfulness and contented humility that we may be able to say if any body ask us what we are doing We work for Eternity And that we may doe so and not like Esau sell our inheritance for a mess of pottage which will not be worth the tears it will cost us in this world if ever we reflect upon our folly let us often cast our eyes upon this Happiness frequently meditate on the joy of our Lord and study seriously those holy Writings wherein these precious promises are recorded The Jews are so proud of their Law which hath no such Jewels in it neither that they fansy the Angels contended with Moses about it and would needs perswade him that it belonged to them * Pirke Elââzer Cap. XLVI I am sure St.
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
from the holy One and knew all things 1 John ii 20. The HOLY GHOST that is was their security from infection which is here called the UNCTION or anointing 1. because by the coming down of this upon our Saviour He was made the CHRIST or anointed of God x. Acts 38. And 2. the Apostles when they received it were made the principal Officers in his Kingdom and endued with such a power to remit sins and unloose men from the punishment of them as he had xx Joh. 22 23. And 3. all others to whom they imparted this gift were openly declared the children of God and if children then heirs heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ viii Rom. 16 17. This UNCTION made them all Kings and Priests unto God and they reigned with him on Earth v. Rev. 10. Enjoyed that is many royal priviledges and liberties at present for which they were bound perpetually to praise him beside the right it gave them to an Heavenly Kingdom where they should sit down with him in his Throne as He was in the Throne of his Father iii. Rev. 21. For the Thrones of the Eastern Princes were wide and large as I told you before where others might sit down by them if they pleased to admit any to that high honour which this King of Kings promises to grant to his faithful followers No wonder then that they who were designed to so great glory were also made partaker of the Earnest of it as this Unction by the Holy Spirit is called 2 Cor. i. 22. After God had filled the Apostles and other Apostolical men with the Holy Ghost who were ready to guide and direct all Christian people while they lived There were great numbers also in the Body of the Church who received so many of its gifts from the HOLY one that is God 2 Cor. i. 21. that it enabled them to discern truth from falshood and discover all those cheats and impostures which some went about to put upon them under the name of Christian Doctrine A very great Doctor the Holy Ghost was when they were anointed with it for thereby they KNEW ALL THINGS that is their whole Religion in which it made them so perfect that those pretenders to new Revelations could teach them nothing which they knew not already For it taught them that Jesus from whom it came was the Son of God and had revealed all God's will plainly and fully to them So S. John tells them in the following verses 21 22. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth but because ye know it and that no lye is of the truth Who is a lyar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ c. That is I do not speak of this because you are ignorant of Christianity but because you are well acquainted with it and thereby able to judge when any body contradicts it and to reject all those as lyars who deny Jesus to be anointed by God the Lord of all I know you are well principled in this truth by the UNCTION which he hath given you from the Father All that I desire is as he adds ver 24. that you would suffer that Truth which you have heard from the beginning to abide in you And indeed it was very unreasonable to start from that which had ever been acknowledged since the Holy Ghost first descended on Jesus himself and which the same UNCTION still testified whensoever the Apostles who preached Jesus did but lay their hands on any bodies head and pray to Jesus that he would bestow it on them They could not be seduced if they did but attend as he says ver 26 27. to this anointing which they had received and which was yet among them There was no need of any other teacher but this to instruct them Which gave such an evident demonstration of the power and glory of the Lord Jesus and was so far from being a lye or deceiving them that if they did but do it as it taught them they must needs abide in him This you see was accounted and that justly an infallible witness to him He could never have sent such an UNCTION nor would the Holy Ghost have ever come in his Name if he had not been the King of Heaven They that received this had an invincible proof of his glory and majesty within themselves They could not doubt of it any more than they could of what they felt Which proved likewise so convincing to others that it made unbelievers fall down on their faces and worship God and report that God was in them of a truth 1 Cor. xiv 25. For by this the Divine Majesty did in a proper sence DWELL among Christian people and walk with them as it did among the ancient Israelites 2 Cor. vi 16. This was a glorious Divine Presence in the Church whereby God and our Saviour made their ABODE with them xiv John 23. and they became the HABITATION of God or his Dwelling place through the Spirit ii Ephes 22. Which so constantly bare witness to him that no man who had this Spirit could possibly deny him but every one that spake by the Holy Ghost acknowledged Jesus to be the LORD 1 Cor. xii 3. And they were no small number who were made partakers of it For S. Peter promises it at the very first descent of it to all that would repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus at which word three thousand Souls were added to them ii Acts 38 41. And afterwards a vast company more as you may read in the first Epistle to the Corinthians Where some were endued with one power of the Holy Ghost some with another Chap. xii but in every thing they were enriched by him so that they came behind in NO GIFT Chap. i. 5 7. Wherein our Lord far excelled Moses who could not give his Spirit unto others much less unto the Gentiles whereas Jesus sent great abundance of his Spirit as you see upon his Disciples and gave even to the Gentiles the like gift as he did unto them xi Acts 17. For as S. Peter was preaching to Cornelius and his friends the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word to the great astonishment of the Jewish Christians who wondred to hear them speak with tongues and magnifie God x. Acts 44 45 46. But they should have considered that now he began to fulfil completely that prophecy of Joel mentioned ii Acts 17. which promised that God would pour out of his Spirit upon ALL flesh Now the inclosures were first broken down and that Divine Presence which had hitherto been confined to one Nation appeared in a most amazing lustre to the rest of the World In so much that in a little time great multitudes of all nations and kindred and people and tongues joyned their hearts and voices with the Heavenly Quire saying Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his GLORY Thus Esaias heard
the Angels sing vi 3. when he beheld our Saviours glory and spake of him xii John 39. And the Church of Christ from the beginning hath taken these words from their mouths and made them their own iv Rev. 8. when they actually saw this GLORY OF THE LORD filling the Earth with its most holy Presence For our Lord did not cease to pour out more and more of his Spirit on all flesh even after the Apostles were dead But as Justin Martyr tells the Jew in his time which was above an hundred years after this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã * Dial. cum Tryph. c. One might have seen among Christians both women and men who had gifts from the Spirit of God And so one might in the days of Origen * Lib. 1. contr Cels who lived as many years after that who to convince Celsus that it was no Fable which was reported of the descent of the Holy Ghost on our Saviour affirms that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. There were still remaining among them some footsteps of that Holy Spirit which was seen in the form of a Dove For they dispossessed Devils performed many cures and foresaw some things according to the will and pleasure of the WORD concerning what was to come Nay it were easie to show that this Heavenly power descended still much lower and did not quite leave the World in these Ages and that it did not work in some obscure corners only but in the most noted places in the World For the same Justin says in his first Apology that there were many healed by the Name of Jesus Christ in the City of Rome whom no other person could heal So that look how many Souls there were full of the Holy Ghost so many lasting Witnesses there were to our Saviour of his power and glory in every place But intending hereafter to treat of all these gifts of the Holy Ghost alone by themselves I shay say no more of them now having sufficiently shown how they were his Testimony to our Saviour It is possible I confess that there may be another thing included in the name of the HOLY GHOST and that is the old Prophets who received gifts from Heaven whereby they sometimes spake of the Messiah So the HOLY GHOST is said in the x. Hebr. 15. to be a witness of the perfection of our Saviours oblation and for a proof of it the testimony of the Prophet Jeremiah is alledged whose words are called the witness of the Holy Ghost From whence I might take occasion to show that all the predictions of the Prophets do so exactly agree to Jesus and are so perfectly fulfilled in him that we must needs grant him if we receive this testimony of the Holy Ghost and take them to have been inspired thereby to be the Son of God the King of Israel who they had long put that Nation in hope should come and reign over them But this would be a work of too great length and my intention is not to swell this Treatise into an huge Volume which makes me only mention this notion that you may consider with your selves as you have occasion what a resemblance there is between Jesus and that person whom the Prophets describe unto us For this will prove a great confirmation of your faith in him there being no doubt in the minds of the bitterest enemies of our Saviour but that those Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost I have done now with these witnesses who speak unto us from Heaven and who are one you see in their testimony as well as in their nature They all agree in this that Jesus is the Son of God There is not the least difference between them no doubtfulness in their testimony no backwardness to give it no obscurity that should make it difficult for us to understand it But with one mouth as we say they unanimously plainly readily and clearly pronounce him to be such a Divine person that if we should not hear him and obey him and depend upon him I know not what we shall be able to say to so many Witnesses who will be ready to appear against us whose testimony without any cause was slighted by us Look how many voices have been heard from Heaven how many witnesses have openly appeared in his behalf so many Divine reasons you are to conceive your self to be provided withall for every word that Jesus hath spoken Which you are therefore to take for infallible and to keep as the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. vi 14. without spot and unrebukeable until his second appearing Listen to those words of grace which come out of his mouth Abandon those sins which he requires you to forsake and betake your selves to the practice of those vertues which he so strictly injoyns For the FATHER the WORD and the HOLY GHOST declare that this is the Will of Heaven And what is there in this world so considerable as to perswade the contrary If he be not the Son of God if he do not prove it by undeniable arguments then do as you list But if he be then you are bound to yield him the humblest subjection and it will be a strange stupidity to dispute the matter with him There can be no colour for your refusal should you deny to be governed by him who comes with such Authority that the fulness of the Godhead as you have heard dwells in him bodily O what an honour hath God Almighty hereby done our nature how highly hath he advanced and dignified it by this strange and unexpected favour which he hath conferred on it in making it his Holy place Consider but what I have now said of the Testimony of the HOLY GHOST to Jesus which was an illustrious token likewise of Gods wonderful love to us Is it nothing that God should be manifested in our flesh that he should DWELL in us and make his abode with us and that we should become the habitation of God through the Spirit Look upon the Temple of old and see how it glittered with Gold how it was adorned with Cherubims and Seraphims which were an emblem of the Angelical attendance in that place but especially how it shined with the Glory of the Lord which appeared upon the mercy-seat And then reflect how precious how dear mankind are to Almighty God into whose Nature this Glory is translated whom he hath beautified with greater excellencies and made more splendid by a more intimate conjunction with it Could any man then after he had considered this profane that Nature which God hath so sanctified and separated to himself Could he find in his heart to prostitute himself to any of those base and filthy actions that are below the dignity of humane nature nakedly considered without such a presence of God in it None can submit sure to the government of any fleshly lust but he must first forget that he is a man created after the Image