David by the same Inspiration in many Psalms celebrates the Kingdom of the Messiah In Psal. 22. he is introduc'd speaking My praise shall be of thee in the great Congregation all the ends of the World shall remember and turn unto the Lord all the kindreds of the Nations shall worship before thee And in the 67 Psal. God be merciful to us and blessus and cause his Face to shine upon us Selah That thy way may be known upon Earth and thy saving health among all Nations Let the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee The Prophet Esay in his Revelations clearly speaks of the great design of God to bring the Gentiles to his service Thus in the second Chapter 't is prophesied And it shall come to pass in the last days that the Mountain of the Lords House shall be established in the tops of the Mountains and shall be exalted above the Hills And many People shall go and say Come ye let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us his ways and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the Lord and the Sword of the Lord out of Jerusalem And among all the rest none is more clear and express than what is recorded in Isa. 49. There first the Messiah is represented as declaring his Commission from God to go to the People of Israel The Lord hath called me from the womb from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my Name and he said unto me Thou art my Servant in whom I will be glorified And after complains of the obstinacy of the ingrateful Synagogue Then I said I have laboured in vain I have spent my strength for nought in vain yet surely my judgment is with the Lord and my work with God And immediately after 't is added And now saith the Lord that form'd me from the Womb to be his Servant to bring Jacob again to him though Israel be not gather'd yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my strength And he said it is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the Tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou maist be my Salvation to the ends of the Earth This Oracle is precise and full for it speaks of the Nations in opposition to the Tribes of Israel and directly foretels that the Jews would neglect the instructions of the Messiah and that upon their Infidelity God would by the Messiah give saving knowledge to all Nations And in the same sense he speaks in the 54th Chapter Sing O Barren thou that didst not bear break forth into singing and cry aloud thou that didst not travel with Child for more are the Children of the desolate than of the married saith the Lord. Who is the desolate and barren but the Gentiles without God in the World whiles the Jews were honour'd and blest in the Mystical Marriage with him And who are the Children of the forsaken that should be far more numerous than those of the married but the Believers of the Christian Church in opposition to the Jewish Church And the other succeeding Prophets concur in this prediction Malachy the last speaks of it in such express terms as are capable to convince any that does not wilfully renounce the use of his Eyes and Understanding After God is introduc'd rejecting the Jews and their Temple Service I have no pleasure in you saith the Lord of Hosts neither will I accept an Offering at your hands He adds to signifie the calling of a new Church for from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same my Name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place Incense shall be offer'd to my Name and a pure Offering for my Name shall be great among the Heathen saith the Lord of Hosts Thus that great wonder was clearly foretold by the Prophets and as a work to be performed by the glorious Power of God And accordingly it is accomplish'd For who but God could have inspir'd the Apostles to undertake an Enterprise so contrary to Humane Prudence being equally dangerous and impossible And who else could have made it successful beyond all imagination When the Pride of Pharoah was humbled and his Strength broken by the most despicable creatures even the Magicians were compelled to acknowledge it to be the Finger of God but his Arm was revealed when the Spiritual Pharoah with all his Powers of Darkness were overcome by such weak Instruments What furious Winds from all parts of the World conspir'd to extinguish the first springing Light of the Gospel The Heathen Emperours destroyed innumerable Persons presuming to drown the Memory of Christ in the Blood of the Christians But such were the Faith and Love of Believers of all conditions to their Crucified Redeemer that with the same joy they ran to suffer the most terrible punishments as if they had been to receive Crowns In vain the strongest Combinations were made against the Truth For the knowledge of the only true God and his incarnate Son Jesus Christ overcame Impiety with all its Idols and Ignorance with all its numerous Masters What is become of all the Heathen Deities so honour'd so fear'd so obstinately defended Where are their Altars their Statues their Sacrilegious Priests and Sacrifices They are buried in the ruines of their own Temples in the darkness of eternal oblivion Where are all the Sects of Philosophers the Platonists the Peripateticks the Stoicks the Epicureans and the rest that fill'd Greece with their Fame and so many Volumes with their Fancies and Errour Like a Torrent that rouls down with great noise from the top of a Mountain so for a time the Speculations of their lofty Minds poured along in a floud of swelling froathy Eloquence but now and for how many Ages since the very channel is dryed up wherein they ran so that scarce any visible ruines remain in Athens it self of the Schools where they taught The greatest among them Plato adorn'd with the title of Divine could never see his Commonwealth fram'd by him with so much study to be establish'd in one City Whereas if we consider the Gospel of Christ 't is hard to determine whether the Doctrine be more simple or the Apostles the first Masters of it to outward appearance Yet without Learning or humane strength in a short space they triumphed over the Eloquence of the Greeks the Power of the Romans the Rage of Barbarous Nations They abrogated Laws chang'd Customs and renewed the face of the World In this the Prophetick Parable was fulfill'd The Kingdom of Heaven that is the dispensation of the Gospel is like to a grain of Mustard-seed one of the smallest grains but of that spirit and quality that it suddenly springs up and
Beasts and creeping things This was the state of the Pagan World till the Gospel appear'd and directed the natural religious inclination of mankind into its proper channel to the only true God 2. The Religion of the Jews is to be considered This the Christians acknowledg with them was Divine in its Authority Doctrine Moral part Worship and Promises God himself was the Author and confirm'd it by many illustrious Miracles 'T is deliver'd in the most antient authentick and venerable Writings in the World It instructs us concerning the Nature of God his Works of Creation and Providence and the Judgment to come It commands the love of God and to serve him only and the love of our Neighbour as our selves The ceremonial part was a full conviction of the guilt of Sin a visible discovery of the rights of eternal Justice and a powerful means to humble Men before the Infinite and offended Majesty of the Creator It propounds temporal rewards as the marks of Gods favour sutable to the Church then in its minority but under that Vaile the most excellent and eternal rewards This Religion in its Ceremonial external part was to continue till the coming of the Messiah and then to be abolish'd To make this evident I shall thus proceed 1. That the ceremonial part contain'd nothing that was morally and unchangeably good for then it had been obligatory to all Nations and from the beginning whereas it was prescribed only to the Jews and after a long space of time wherein many holy Men though ignorant of that part of the Law yet received a Divine testimony that they pleased God 2. 'T was of impossible performance to all other Nations as appears by the Precepts concerning Sacrifices that were to be offered only in Jerusalem and by the Levitical Priests and their solemn Festivals so many times in the Year Now the Worship of God being an essential Duty of the reasonable Creature 't is absurd to imagine that it necessarily consists in such things that cannot be done by all Men. 3. God himself often declar'd that the Rituals of the Law were of no price with him absolutely consider'd 4. They were enjoynd the Jews for peculiar reasons principally that by those imperfect rudiments they might be prepar'd for the times of Reformation God had drawn in the Legal Ministration numberless Images of the Messiah their Temple and High-Priest their Ark and Offerings with all their Ceremonial Service did signally point at him And this is a ninfallible evidence that a mind superiour to Moses's design'd all that Work with a final respect to Christ that the Jewish Nation having the Idea of him always present might not mistake him when he should appear And that heavy yoke of Ceremonies with the spirit of servile fear that attended it was to excite in them earnest longings after the Messiah the Desire of all Nations that with unspeakable joy they might receive him at his coming Now that the Legal Institution should expire for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof and a Divine Sacrifice be offer'd up of infinite value and vertue to reconcile God and purifie the Consciences of Men was declared whilst the service of the Temple was perform'd with the greatest Pomp. Thus the Messiah spake by the mouth of David Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire my heart hast thou open'd Burnt-offering and Sin-offering hast thou not required then said I lo I come in the volume of the Book 't is written of me I delight to do thy will O my God And the same inspired Prophet declar'd when the Levitical Priesthood was in the greatest splendour that there was another order of Priesthood than that of Aaron established in a more solemn manner and of everlasting efficacy The Lord hath sworn and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec That this Prophecy respected the Messiah even the Pharisees could not deny For when Jesus Christ askt them whose Son Christ was to be they answered Davids And demanding again why David call'd him Lord in those words of the Psalms The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand till I have made thine enemies thy foot-stool they could answer nothing Their silence was a clear acknowledgment that the Messiah was the Person there intended The Apostle also who wrote to the Jews takes it for granted by the universal consent of that Nation that that Psalm respected the Messiah and proves it was accomplish'd in Jesus Christ. Besides 't was foretold by the Prophet Jeremiah that another Covenant should be made wherein the real benefits of the pardon of Sin and true Holiness that were tipified by the Legal purifications and observances should be conferred on God's People Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the House of Israel different from that made with their Fathers when they came out of the Land of Aegypt I will put my Law into their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my People And they shall no more teach every Man his Neighbour and every Man his Brother saying Know the Lord for they shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquities and I will remember their sin no more In short there are abundant Declarations in the Prophets that the carnal Religion of the Jews should expire and a Religion all Spirit and Life should succeed in its place and be diffused among all Nations This was to be introduc'd by the Messiah Thus Moses foretold The Lord thy God shall raise up a Prophet from among thy Brethren like unto me Him ye shall hear 'T was the singular prerogative of Moses above the rest of the Prophets that he was a Lawgiver and Mediatour of the Covenant between God and Israel and accordingly the Messiah was to be a Lawgiver and Mediatour of a new Covenant Now if the Mosaic Institutions were to remain after his coming the Parallel would not hold between them in those principal respects Besides 't was prophesied that the Messiah should be a King sitting on the Throne of David and commanding the Kings of the Earth By which 't is evident that his Laws must be of another nature than those of Moses that were proper only to the Church whilst confin'd to the Jewish pale but not for the government of the World And whereas the Jews object that some of their Rites were ordain'd to continue for ever The answer is clear That was only to distinguish them from some temporary injunctions that were of force only while they were in the Wilderness or when they were inhabitants of Canaan but were to be practis'd in all places till by a new signification of the Divine Will they were forbidden And 't is observable that in the Jewish Law the term for ever when applied either to a Mans right or
be true or false as they are favourable or disagreeing to them Carnal persons fortify every Objection that may render the Mysteries of Godliness unlikely and incredible and will be partial for Sensuality Of this we have a great instance in the first rejection of the Gospel The Jews expected the Messiah would come with pompous Wonders and external Magnificence that he would deliver them from the Roman Yoke and found an Universal Monarchy for them and according to those carnal fancies they would understand the Promises concerning him Now though JESUS CHRIST approved himself to be the Son of God the true Messiah by the Sanctity of his Life the Rectitude of his Doctrine and the Divinity of his Miracles yet for the poverty and meanness of his Condition being without any sensible shew of Greatness and Glory they despised him as most unworthy that Divine Relation and Office Tho in him all the Characters of the Messiah were conspicuous and the Scriptures declare expresly that the Messiah the Prince should be cut off but not for himself but to make reconciliation for Iniquity and to bring in everlasting Righteousness yet they were so prepossest with the Ideas of a Terrene Felicity that they would interpret all the Scriptures by that measure as if the Messiah should come into the World to repair no other ruines but of their Temporal State and Liberty Therefore they spake of him with scornful titles as for this Fellow we know not from whence he is And is not this the Carpenter Shall the glorious Prophecies of the Messiah be accomplish'd in him Shall he have Dominion from Sea to Sea and from the River to the ends of the Earth Shall all Kings bow down before him and all Nations serve him There was nothing to satisfie their sight in his outward appearance and Retinue and his Miraculous Condescention so much below their expectations was more powerful to harden them in unbelief than all his supernatural Operations to induce them to believe in him And as the Jews from their affection to Secular things were enemies to the Gospel so the Heathen Philosophers from Spiritual Pride for they vainly affected the praise of Knowledge and Vertue as the fruit of their own mind and the product of their own will They did not consider God as the Fountain of Truth and whether the Ray of his Knowledg comes directly and immediately into us or by reflection from others the glory of it is entirely due to him Besides the great Mysteries of Godliness not being suitable to their first Opinions were rejected with disdain as foolish Impossibilities And in every Age since even in the pale of the Church there are some secret Infidels that esteem the Gospel a Fable and some who peremtorily deny the fundamental Articles of Christianity Those who are slaves to their eyes and appetites will raise Clouds to obscure that Truth that forbids their dear Lusts upon pain of Damnation The pretended difficulty of Belief is but a thin transparent pretence the difficulty of Practice is the true cause of their rejecting the Gospel They would not have the Precepts of it to be their duty and therfore are unwilling to acknowledg the Doctrines of it to be true And those who set up a Tribunal in their own Understandings to which Divine Revelation must submit will not believe what is above their presumptuous Reason But that the Soul exempt from passions and prejudice has no just temptation to disbeleive the Christian Doctrine is evident in that so many Persons in whom the concurrence of Wisdom and Vertue was equally flourishing and excellent after the most exact discussion imbrac'd it as the Heavenly Truth If there were falseness in its Principles or weakness in its Proof how could it scape their discovery And that they were sincere in their belief is above all doubt for they willingly sacrificed all that is valuable and dear in this life for the profession of it Now was it ever known that any person would knowingly choose an Errour so destructive The Will seduc'd by Sense imbraces sometimes that that is condemn'd by Reason but it never adheres to those things that are contrary both to Reason and Sense By this it appears that Infidelity has no just plea from the insufficiency of the proofs of the Christian Religion which have fully satisfied the wisest the most considerate and sincere part of Mankind A corrupt Heart is the spring and principle of the illusions of the mind in things that concern Salvation 2. The Gospel propounds to us the most proper and powerful motives of love to God In the visible World there is a Representation so conspicuous and full of his Divine Majesty Power Wisdom that form'd and regulates all things that 't is not possible but the attentive regarding of it will make impressions of reverence and fear will raise our esteem and admiration But those are dead sentiments without Love And that in the guilty Creature fearful of God's Wrath must be first excited by the hopes of his Pardoning Mercy Now the Love and Kindness of God our Saviour appear'd to Man in his Redemption in the most eminent manner Though in that blessed Work the Divine Perfections are relucent in various effects Wisdom design'd it Power accomplish'd it Holiness and Righteousness was gloriously declar'd in it yet as 't is applied to the benefit of Man 't is the sole effect of Wise Almighty Holy Tender Love Mercy soften'd God's Bowels open'd Heaven sent down his Son to be one with us in nature that he might exchange his Merits and Blessedness for our guilt and misery Miraculous Love to make his only begotten Son our Brother to humble him to the condition of a Servant that we most unworthy to be his Servants should be advanc'd to be his Children Nay to expose him to the death of a Malefactor equally ignominious and painful that we Malefactors might obtain Life and Glory If ever Love deserv'd the title of Excess 't is this for though not without Reason yet 't is without all bounds and measure 'T is so far above our thought that 't is hard to have a firm belief of it What the Psalmist speaks of the temporal Deliverance of the Church is more justly applicable to its Spiritual Eternal Deliverance When the Lord turned again the Captivity of Sion we were like to them that dream As if a poor man fancying in a dream that he is a King adorn'd with the Ensigns of Royalty and between hopes and fears should enquire of himself Am I awake and in my right mind Is this Scepter this Robe this Crown real Or is it all the pleasant deceit of Imagination And how can we reflect upon the amazing Grace of God that brings Salvation but such thoughts will arise Is it true that God did not spare his most innocent and dear Son to absolve us guilty Rebels Did he dye for his Father's Enemies and his own Unparallel'd Love only to be fully conceiv'd by an