Finger of God I am sensible the Common Opinion presses me most with this Objection as if my Doctrine evacuated the conviction of our Saviour's Miracles and patroniz'd the Jews Infidelity in not believing for the Works sake But as has been observ'd by a Judicious Man this is a Dr. Jackson mistake for the Jews had a certain Rule of Tryal whereby to discern that the Works of Jesus were wrought in God and not in Beelzebub and that Rule was no other than the Spirit of Prophecy which like the Light as it Self-evidently manifests its own Divinity so by its Illustration it manifests other things which Spirit of Prophecy in the Old Testament those Oracles committed to the Jews had foretold that the Messiah so born so Rom. 3. 2. qualified so circumstantiated as Jesus and none other ever was should do these particular Works of wonder So that the Miracles of Christ were to them truly Signs and therefore convictive not solely because Divine operations for that was the question but because they were Contingencies determinately foretold And this is plain from our Saviour's Answer to the Pharisees requiring a Sign Matt. 16. 3. Can ye not discern the signs of the times or as St. Luke This time Chap. 12. 56. where in St. Luke Christ adds as awakening their Common reason Yea why do you not of your selves judge what is right which argues that they had a Rule to judge by i. e. why do ye not of your selves without my granting your request of a Sign judge out of the Prophets that I am the Messiah The works that I do in my Father's Name-bear witness of John 5. 36. me i. e. who I am Why how the Answer Christ made to John the Baptist Disciples Matt. 11. 4. resolves it Go tell John what ye see and hear the blind see the lame walk c. i. e. Go tell him that Isaiah's Prophecy you see is ALL Christ's Miracles were Signs to the Jews because presignified by the Prophets whom the Jews believed and in the Oeconomy of Grace the Messiah was therefore sent to that People first who had the Records of the Spirit of Prophecy I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel Why Mankind had as much interest in him as they but the most satisfactory convictive way of propagating his Faith to Mankind was from them which is the reason it was to be preach'd to all Nations Beginning from Jerusalem Luke 24. 46. fulfilled by me Isai 35. 6. and 61. 1. and then let him and you consider who I am Where Christ to that grand Question which was the Pharisees as well as John's in answer produceth the Testimony of the Spirit of Prophecy and hereby he proved his works to be Divine or that he was sent by the Father as he himself speaks and then I allow most unquestionable and demonstrative Convictions And why was not this that which aggrandiz'd their Sin into blasphemy against the Holy Ghost Matt. 12. that they wilfully withstood the Convictions not only of the Spirit of Power but of Prophecy too of which latter they were such competent Judges whatever they were of the former Nay 't is further observable in this matter that after Jesus had prest the Jews with the two first Witnesses in Heaven viz. the Father's Voice and the Son's Miracles Joh. 5. 36 37. he finally laies the stress of his Convictions on the Writings of the Prophets Had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me for he wrote of me i. e. Joh. 5. 46 the grand Witness I appeal to at the bar of mens Judgment is the Spirit of Prophecy in the written Records Search the Scriptures and all this to prove what Christ v. 39 had said v. 30. that the Father sent him Where after all the other Testimonies produc'd he finally relies upon the Spirit of Prophecy But if ye believe not his writings how shall ye believe my words where Jesus himself v. 47. plainly acknowledgeth That in humane Judgment the test both of his Words and Works and all his Pretensions of Divine mission mentioned v. 30 c. was the Spirit of Prophecy as predicting So that I see not but we may conclude without any derogation That Christ's Miracles receiv'd the force of their conviction from the Spirit of Prophecy not of Power only and so the Apostles Miracles did too for as Christ's Miracles were determinately foretold by Moses and the Prophets so the Apostles Miracles were by Christ Both were Signs i. e. foretold Christ's Works in all the Old Testament the Apostles Mark 16. 17. These Signs shall follow them and elsewhere And this was the Gospels Confirmation God bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and divers Heb. 2. 3 4. Miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost The first of Signs convictive as being the Testimony of Omniscient Verity the second of Miracles awakening the Senses and thereby the Understanding to consider that Conviction as the force of Omnipotence most effectually in this dull state can the last of Gifts as qualifying the Gospels Ministers to so difficult an employment Lastly After all their Miracles both Jesus and his Apostles back their Doctrine with this Testimony of the Spirit of Prophecy and hang the weight of their Convictions thereon This is that which was spoken or thus it is written throughout all the New Testament And I think 't is most remarkable That after all possible satisfaction given to their Senses Christ proves the truth of his Resurrection from this Testimony and 't is spoken signanter Then opened he their understandings that Luk. 24. 45 46. they might understand the Scriptures i. e. he explain'd the Scriptures intelligibly to them and said unto them Thus it is written c. From all which consider'd I may conclude this first Reason why the Spirit of Prophecy is The Testimony because 't was that Tally could not be counterfeited given therefore to prevent delusions for the Rules of Tryal were easie and certain and no Divination could bear the test but what had the Spirit of God its Author or else deserv'd not the name of Prophecy Secondly 'T is The Testimony because all Ages are under its conviction equally more than they are of any others abstracting from this And my reason is because this Testimony is permanent and the rest without this are transient though this adjoyned makes even them permanent too Ex. gr 1. The Father's Voice as I remember was only heard at the Baptism and Transfiguration of Jesus 2. The Word incarnate was personally present only in the Daies of Augustus and Tiberius 3. The Holy Ghost's Visible descent was but once at Jordan and once at Jerusalem the Day of Pentecost And these as generally interpreted are the Three in Heaven So likewise for the other Three on Earth 1. Holiness or Moral goodness is the pretence of every Philosopher a standing and laudable Testimony I confess and therefore the grand design
WARD Mayor Martis XXV to die Januarii 1680. Annoque Regni Regis CAROLI Secundi Angl ' c. xxxii do UPon the motion of Sir John Lawrence Kt. and Alderman This Court doth desire Mr. Turner to print his Sermon sometime since Preached at the Guildhall-Chappel before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen Wagstaffe TESTIMONIVM JESV Or THE Demonstration of the Spirit FOR The Confirmation of Christian Faith and Conviction of all Infidelity A SERMON Preached before the Right Honourable THE LORD MAYOR and ALDERMEN OF THE City of LONDON AT THE GUILDHALL-CHAPPEL By BRYAN TVRNER B. D. Rector of Solderne Oxon and Chaplain to the Right Honourable CHARLES Earl of Carlisle LONDON Printed by S. Roycroft for Walter Kettleby at the Bishops-Head in St. Paul's Church-yard 1681. REVEL XIX 10. And I fell at his feet to worship him and he said unto me See thou do it not I am thy fellow Servant and of thy Brethren that have the Testimony of Jesus Worship God For the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy WHether St. John here was through Joy transported into too submiss a Reverence or he mistook the Person for Christ as the Angels telling him who he was seems rather to insinuate is not needful to determine If transported into too submiss a Reverence such as was usually appropriate to Divine Worship then it reads us this Lecture That on the one hand Bodily Adoration is within the list of Divine Worship and necessarily due by the Commandment Worship God and on the other hand to transfer it to Saints or Angels is Sacrilegious and Idolatrous See thou do it not Now what bodily gestures are appropriate to Divine Worship must not be measured from the gestures themselves for one may fall at the feet of their Superiour without a crime as Abigail did to David but from the circumstances of Customary 1 Sam 25. 24. time place and matter in hand as when they are tendred upon an Holy-day in a Temple or Oratory and when Religion Prayer and Devotion is the matter pretended But if the Crime the Apostle was here incurring was through mistake of the person thinking him to be Christ Then it us reads this Lecture That bodily adoration intended Right but mistaken in the object is yet peccant against the Commandment of Worship And both these would affright a considerative mind at the peril of Idolatry in the Church of Rome where if the Host be not mistaken the Sense of Mankind must and if all the Canoniz'd Saints be truly what they are esteemed yet doubtless no better than the Angel in the Text. Neither will the distinction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 salve the Crime objected in this latter case seeing there was no room for it in this of the Apostle and the Angel here For why could not this Angel have applied the distinction to salve the breach of the Commandment as well as the Angelical Doctor can But that when the Circumstances speak Religion there is indeed no distinction at all But 't is the importance of the last words I design to consider For the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy Which words are a reason why the Angel was the Apostles fellow Servant c. For whosoever by the Spirit of Prophecy revealed the Divine will was concerned in the common Testimony of Jesus because all Prophecy truly so called had Jesus and his Interests for its grand Subject therefore whosoever was employed therein whether Angel to Man or one Man to another whether before or after the exhibition of Jesus were as to that employment fellow Servants and had the Testimony of Jesus though subpaena'd to it as Balaam was by that Power that could give the man the Spirit of Prophecy as well as his Ass the Gift of Speaking And so Numb 24. 2. c. much may serve to account for the words as they are a reason why the Angel was the Apostle's fellow Servant and of Brethren I shall now consider them as a distinct proposition The Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy which in logical order is to be placed thus The Spirit of Prophecy is the Testimony of Jesus Not discussing the variety either the word Prophecy After Christ's Exhibition the Prophetical light shone clearer even to discover the obscurity of its own former shades so that in this illustration of the former ancient Prophets did the latter Spirit of Prophecy very much consist and hence in Apostolical days to Prophecy is to explain the intended or Evangelical meaning of the Old Testament 1 Cor. 14. 1 2 3 4 5 13 19 c. hence the phrase Liberty of Prophecying c. or Testimony may admit in their significations elsewhere I shall take them here as I judge they ought to be in their most obvious and primary sense A Testimony is a declarative proof to make good his cause for whom it is produc'd Prophecy most properly implies two things First Revelation of the Divine will or mind and Secondly Prediction which latter is annex'd to the former as a sign or rational evidence of the Truth and Divinity of the Revelation For God offers no Revelation to Mankind but upon grounds of rational satisfaction that it is from himself i. e. under some convictive Characters of Divinity and Truth Now Prediction is this Character annex'd to the Revelation as a Seal for humane Satisfaction that 't is Divine or from God himself This being a presumptive Rule with Humane Nature That what Gody saies is indubitably true and what he commands ought instantly to be obeyed And 't is upon these grounds of Natures allowance that all divine Revelation is founded But that which convictively proves the Word or Revelation to be Divine is the determinate prediction of things future not necessary in their causes Thus that Pharaoh should let Israel go was the Revelation Exod. 7. 16 17 18 c. and that Moses would at such a time work such a Wonder was the Prediction i. e. the Sign given to prove the Revelation from God Therefore his Wonders 1 Kin. 22. 25 28. 1 Sam. 10. 2 3 4 5 7. are called Signs not only because Wonders or Miracles for all Prophetical Signs were not so but because presignified and therein when fulfilled Significators of Divinity in the Revelation Seeing then that the Revelation which I conceive is alwaies a Precept or Prohibition with Promises or Threatnings annext in its acceptance with men depends upon Prediction as the Commission doth upon the Seal The Spirit of Prophecy is most properly the Spirit of Prediction or that Spirit which can confirm the Revelation by foretelling Futurities of a contingent nature i. e. things only within the sphere of Omniscience For I judge the weight of this Text lies here and not in the abstract notion of Revelation as the late Tract upon it seems to apprehend And this being premised for the sense I take the words in every word in the
Proposition seems pregnant with a peculiar Observation which I shall offer you in these Three Particulars First The Spirit of Prophecy is the Testimony of Jesus i. e. his and none beside Secondly 'T is not the Person employed Man or Angel upon whom the validity of this Testimony depends but 't is The Spirit of Prophecy Thirdly That primarily and above all others the Spirit of Prophecy is The Testimony This last because little considered by any that I have seen or not so much as the Argument in my apprehension deserves is that I mainly intend and therefore without occurring to all the Objections I foresee in the two former I shall dispatch them briefly First The Spirit of Prophecy is the Testimony of Jesus so peculiarly his that it never was produced to abet any cause or interest but his and what related to it The first time the Spirit of Prophecy appeared in the World was in the concerns of Jesus to foretel his coming and his undertakings The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head Gen. 3. 15. 'T is true the Divine Spirit before reduc'd the Creation into order when it moved or brooded upon the Gen. 1. 2. face of the Waters and as that word imports hatch'd the World into a lively form but this it did as a Spirit of Power not as a Spirit of Prophecy When it exerted it self as a Spirit of Prophecy from first to last it treated solely of Jesus and his Interests such as were either antecedently concomitantly or consequently relating to his exhibition and undertakings as all things relating to his Church in all Ages or its Enemies were as in Egypts case the Nations the four Monarchies Whether this Spirit stept abroad into the Heathen World as in the Baalamitick and Sybilline or it confin'd it self as generally to the Patriarchal and Israelitish part as in the Prophetical Oracles its chief Errand was to give Testimony to Jesus and mentioned other matters as Cyrus the Nations the four Monarchies for the connexions sake of him and his Church The grand Objection that I here foresee is that of the Heathen Divinations in matters where Jesus or his Interests were unconcerned but sure would the limits of this Discourse permit they might all be shewed to fall much short of the Spirit of Prophecy For First Premonitions by Dreams either in the first Ages or our own which I will not absolutely reject I esteem no other than the Preventive acts of a gracious Providence the like to which may by wise men be observed in other various Instances of common life which naturally awaken the Mind to caution and reflection but will not amount to the Spirit of Prophecy or else if ever they arose to the dignity of that title it will be found they were in order to the Testimony of Jesus as Abimelechs might be shewed to be for I can never Gen. 20. think that any other causes besides what related to him as Sarahs did should be vouchsafed the honour of so divine a Testimony Isai 41. 21 c. Chap. 43. 9. and Chap. 44. 7. 24 c. Secondly Humane prudence may conjecture and sometimes hit it it cannot certainly foretel future Contingencies without this Spirit Thirdly Angelical Sagacity may with great probability foresee Contingencies near at hand when once conceived and animated in the womb of Second causes as the issue of a Battel or a cause depending but this presaging faculty of Angels whether good or bad is ever defective in two properties requisite to the Spirit of Prophecy First In the certainty of their foresight Secondly In the distance of the things fore-seen For defect in Certainty the most renowned Heathen Oracles were generally ambiguous thereby to salve their Reputation be the event what it would And for defect in Distance they were seldom I think or never consulted but about the success of a Actions already on the Wheel or prepared for And I suppose these two Considerations may help us to account for all the arts of Heathen Divination for why might not a prudent man that understood the temper and interest of both Armies have satisfied young Pompey the night before the Pharsalian field as well as the Witch of Thessaly by her familiar Daemon Lucan lib. 6. especially if acquainted with Daniel's Prophecy as no doubt the Devils were concerning the Fourth Monarchy which now call'd for its proper head in Caesar and was inconsistent longer under Pompey's Cause i. e. the Senates Fourthly How far soever into the future the Contrivances of Men or Angels may succeed without this Spirit of Prophecy yet in all such matters two things are observable First That the last results of such plots and contrivances proved ever something beside if not contrary to the grand intendment of the Projector of which instances in all politick Gests recorded are innumerable Secondly The most projecting Politician abstracting from this Spirit ever found some link in the Chain of his Contrivances broken which he was forced to piece up anew as the circumstances of his affairs would permit And to let all men see that only the All-seeing Councels of God shall stand all other Consults even at their height have fallen as in the Four Monarchies whereof the best account that can be given is that the utmost created Foresight is short and defectible and therefore the best laid Projects subject to defeat Whereas the unerring Spirit of Prophecy is both certain and extended to the most distant futurity so that it has determinately foretold ex gr the rise and fall of the Four Monarchies that so it might make * For the Communication the World enjoyed by being under one Monarchy did extreamly facilitate the Gospels propagation and being foretold to be in the Fourth Monarchy did in all reason oblige it to 〈◊〉 submission as to the Ordinance of Heaven way for Jesus and his everlasting Kingdom Lastly what looks with the face of the most difficult Objection the Oracles and Divinations of the Heathen for I shall say nothing of our Astrological vanity were apparently acted by the Sophistry of evil Men or Angels and were as far below the Spirit of Prophecy as Liegerdu-main is of working of Miracles And that the Prince of Devils though so ambitious to be like God could never reach the Spirit of Prophecy this to me is a demonstration viz. That in the daies of his celebrated Oracles when it was properest he has not foretold the coming of some successful Antichristian Power as The boldest attempt in a determinate Prediction that I remember amongst the Heathens is that mentioned by St. Austin de Civit lib 18. cap. 53. Excogitaverunt nescio quos versus Graecos tanquam consulenti cuidam divino Oraculo effusos ut Coleretur Christi nomen per 365 annos deinde completo memorato numero annorum sine morâ sumeret finem This as he in the next Chapter computes should have been fulfilled in the Consulship of Honorius and
Divinity itself and happy were it would men consider the grounds of their Faith that they might with the Apostle amidst all the oppositions of the World stand firm with a Nevertheless I am not ashamed for I 2 Tim. 1. 12. know whom I have believed And that Mankind might have rational and satisfactory grounds for Faith in Jesus The Divine Spirit which ever gave Testimony to him exerted it self both as a Spirit of Omnipotency in Miracles and of Omniscience in Prophecy to the end Men might believe the great concerns of Revelation upon the demonstrative grounds of Divine perfection This I take to be St. Paul's meaning when he says My preaching was not with enticing words of man's 1 Cor 2. v. 4 wisdom but in Demonstration of the Spirit and of power i. e. of Miracles wrought by the Spirit of Omnipotency and of Demonstrative conviction out of the Prophets who appear to have been acted by the Spirit of Omniscience and Truth itself by the Events answering their Predictions That your Faith saies he should Verse 5. not stand in the wisdom of men either the Authority of the Civil State with the Leviathan or strong Probability with Others but in the Power of God i. e. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 4. the Divinity itself which when it gives Testimony Natural light unquestionably concludes it true And if it be demanded which way the Apostle made his Demonstrations in the Spirit I suppose he tells us v. 13. We speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth i. e. according to the studied Rules of Arts now in Greece but which the Holy Ghost teacheth Comparing spiritual things with spiritual i. e. comparing the Doctrine and Transactions of the New Testament with the Prophecies of the Old and hereby the Faith of Jesus is Demonstrated to be Divine because attested by the Spirit of Prophecy for in the 9th verse he had quoted the Prophet Isaiah and so in all his preaching as Acts 17. 2 3. and for studying this Demonstration or comparing the New Testament with the Old the Bereans are so much commended v. 11. and nothing is plainer than that all the Evangelists and Apostles and even Christ himself did thus argue or convince out of the Old Testament Prophets The force therefore of the Testimony depends solely upon the Spirit of Prophecy or that 't is the Testimony of the Prime and Omniscient Verity I must not stay to clear my hand of the Tractatus Theologico-politicus who has resolv'd the Spirit of Prophecy not as St. Peter did into being Moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet 1. 21. but into the Crasis of the Imaginative faculty that so you may know him the First-born of the Leviathan and by their Hypotheses whose Scholars Tract p. 7 c. both were even his who resolv'd the Creation of the Universe into the fortuitous concurs of Atoms Neither may I reflect upon that Moral Probability which some seem to think a sufficient foundation for Faith further than to say That matters reveal'd and confirm'd by the Spirit of Prophecy are and ought to be so far as reveal'd as certain Truths as any Demonstrations in the World besides I fear not after St. Paul to say that matters of a Moral and Spiritual nature may be demonstrated taking Demonstration not in the confin'd signification which the School of Heathen Philosophy affixt to it but in the reality of the thing and with respect to the end for which Demonstration serves viz. a Proof that creates a knowledge certain and indubitable and this the Spirit of Prophecy not as revealing but as confirming Revelation by Prediction doth Which brings me to the Third and chief design'd Particular Thirdly That of all other Testimonies of Jesus the Spirit of Prophecy is The Testimony My meaning is There is no such standing satisfactory and demonstrative proof of the Divinity of JESVS's Transactions Faith and Doctrine as the Spirit of Prophecy is There are indeed many other Testimonies of Jesus better than most or any other cause beside his can produce First The Testimony of Angels both good and bad the good in obsequious attendancies upon his Birth his Luke 2. 13. 22. 43 c. Agonies his Resurrection and Ascension The bad in flying Fears concluding at least strongly suspecting by Luke 8. 28. Mark 1. 24. the Predictions of the Old Prophets who it was they now had to deal with in Humane Nature even the Holy One of God or the Seed promised to break the Serpent's head Secondly The Testimony of Men both his Friends and Enemies His Friends extol adore him die for him his Enemies of all sorts confess him an extraordinary Person though a deceiver as Celsus Jalian Mahomed the Jew the Philosopher the Apostate the Impostor the Infidel Mahomed is kindest of all the rest for he will allow him to be his Pew-fellow in Prophecy upon condition he may but sit above him Nay Thirdly There are more venerable Witnesses than either Angels or Men I mean those Three in Heaven 1 Joh. 5. 7 8. and those Three on Earth where though the Divine Spirit make One in either Three yet which I wonder is no more observed and insisted on the Spirit as 't is in this sence explain'd The Spirit of Prophecy is however to my apprehension The Testimony Not in preference to the Others consider'd in themselves but consider'd with reference to Mankind who are to be Judges of their Evidence and whose Judging faculties are more susceptive of satisfaction from the Spirit as a Spirit of Prophecy or infinite Science in truth than from the same Spirit in any other way of Evidence the reason of which I conceive to be this That the convictions of the Spirit in the way of Prophecy or in the display of Omniscience is more directly accommodate to humane Intellect our faculty of Science than any other operation of the Spirit is For the strongest tendencies of Intellect are to the Science of Truth and therefore acts of Omniscient Truth are more accommodate to Humane understanding than acts of Power Wisdom being that it is more delighted in than Strength If any Revelation be from God by the foresaid Rule of Natural knowledge it ought to be accepted and submitted to But whether that which pretends Revelation be from God or no is the only Question Now the Argument from Miracles is prest by all this of Prediction by few or none but without depreciating the former I must confess ever since I consider'd it the latter is weightier and more convictive with me for I am more fully satisfied That the whole Series of Scriptural Revelation is Divine because I find all along the Spirit of Prediction interwoven than because I read such and such Miracles done For I find the Alcharon pretending Miracles but not daring to pretend Prediction So that of all the innate Characters of Divinity pretended to in any written Law this of Prediction is peculiar to the Scriptures This
c. your God proveth you The meaning is In matters of Immorality the Case is not to be try'd by the Rule of Signs but by the primary Rule that of a former Law whether in Creation which we call Natural Religion or in some well-grounded former Revelation as this of Moses's was in respect of all following Prophets and so the Gospel in respect of all New light c. For whatever has any intrinsecal Evil necessarily adherent or repugnant to a former Law surely believ'd to be Divine whatever overthrows Humanity the natural Notions of Good and Evil Truth and Falshood which is Natural Religion or the Law of Creation upon whose bottoms all Supernatural stands let it pretend Catholicisme and Infallibility on the one hand or Spiritual giftedness and Inspiration on the other 't is certainly not Divine but Diabolical though strengthned with Signs and Wonders And 't is then men are given up to strong delusions to believe Lies when through pretences of Inspiration they have not received the love of this Truth but let go this grand and primary Rule of Tryal for doubtless were the pretences of new Revelations and Inspirations examin'd closely by this Rule and observ'd how they overthrow Natural Religion or the plain Maxims and Duties of Christians it would discover the Impostures of Popery Fanaticism Mahometism as well as Gentilism But what pretends to Prophetical Revelation or to be God's Will being not peccant against this first Rule and is confirm'd with Signs or Prediction fulfill'd must be allowed to be Divine as having the Seal of God annext and no mark left to discern the counterfeit by which is a case Omnipotent and Omniscient Truth is concern'd to Isai 44. 25 c. look to It will perhaps be demanded if this be so How could the several Ages of the World make Tryal of the Spirit of Prophecy in its Testimony to Jesus seeing they liv'd not to see the predicted Signs fulfilled To which I Answer They liv'd to see and know other Signs or Predictions fulfill'd which the same Spirit of Prophecy in connexion to the Testimony of Jesus had foretold and that was sufficient Ex. gr The Deluge was sign sufficient to Noah and all his Posterity till Abraham's daies Isaak's Birth was so to Abraham the Egyptian Bondage and Delivery precisely foretold to Abraham was so to Jacob and his Posterity till Moses and the Prophets arose and then there wanted none till Christ's time as might be easily shew'd So that in every Age God submitted to Tryal that Spirit of Prophecy that gave Testimony to Jesus by such Events or Predictions fulfill'd as peculiarly concern'd the sight or experienc'd knowledge of those Ages * Nam quae melior validior ratio de rebus talibus redditur quà m cum Omnipotens ea facere perhibetur Facturu dicitur quae praenunciasse Ibi legitur Ubi alia multa praenunciaâ—it quae Fecisse monstratuâ— Aug de Civit. lib. 21. cap. 7. and from hence 't was reasonable they should conclude That the same Spirit would not miscarry in its Testimony to Jesus or the Messiah promised and so particularly decipher'd And this was the foundation of Patriarchal Religion so far as 't was Supernatural i. e. of their * 1 Pet. 1. 10 11 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. v. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. v. 12. where Prediction and Revelation are distinguisht in the Spirit of Prophecy for the Revelation was v. 12 in the things they ministred or the same Gospel to us and them Heb. 4. 2. the prediction was in testifying beforehand v. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith as St. Paul calls it Heb. 11. From all which I hope I may conclude that the Spirit of Prophecy in this sence is THE Testimony of Jesus as being that Tally could not be counterfeited like the Roman Ancile by Mamurrius without discovery by the easie Rules of Tryal whereas to me all the other Testimonies without this seem liable to it And I am perswaded my freedom in saying so will not be esteemed impious by him that considers St. Peter has said as much before me who recognizing the Father's Voice which he himself heard on the Holy Mountain yet immediately subjoyns We have also a more sure word 2 Pet. 1. 18. 19. of Prophecy i. e. more sure than a Voice from Heaven For the question is not which is surer in itself the Father's Voice on Mount Tabor or the Spirits of Prophecy in the Scripture but which is surer unto us in the way of our discerning The one I conceive cannot be counterfeited without discovery but may not the other for a Voice in the Air from a good Angel has been heard why then not from a bad one We have no Rules of Tryal that I know of for the one as I have shew'd we have for the other therefore that other is surer to us And to evidence this further 't is observable That the Father witnessing refers to the Son hear him and the Matt. 17. 5. Joh. 5. 39. Son witnessing refers to the Spirit of Prophecy Search the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are they that testifie of me which is as much as I affirm from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text the Spirit of Prophecy is eminently The Testimony So that of the Three that bear record in Heaven to Vs the Spirit of Prophecy is the Test of the others as being that which cannot be counterfeited but may be discovered by the easie Rules of Tryal And as for those Three on Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood i. e. as they are generally interpreted Christ's Miracles wrought by the Spirit of Power his Holiness and Purity denoted by the Water and his Constancy to death imply'd by the Blood It may well be scrupled whether they may not all be so far counterfeited that without other Considerations they may not alwaies by us be discerned whether they attest a Divine Revelation or Imposture For First Holiness and Purity is a garb Hypocrites may put on so artificially that it may not be in our power to detect it Secondly Constancy to death is but what a strong delusion may animate a man to if it be but of the right Roman temper and Jesuitical mettal which the Instances of our Age surely have evinc'd Thirdly The Spirit of Power i. e. Miracles though I grant a divine Testimony in itself yet may not alwaies be so to us because not subjected to such easie Rules of Tryal as the Spirit of Prophecy is For how far sensible Nature may be under the power of Art or the Agency of evil Spirits who is so skilful as to determine the most that may be and the least that is So that a Beholder may be at a loss betwixt a true Miracle and a lying Wonder and not know who to believe Moses or the Magicians till one Party quits the field and confess the
of Jesus was to restore it effectually which he did by Supernatural helps whereas others essay'd it by the strength of Nature alone which after the Fall was impossible so that though Jesus in this surpast all Mankind yet some Rivals have been set up against him as Apollonius by Hierocles 2. To be a Martyr for a Lie when a man believes it as the Apostle tells us some shall is neither unusual nor 2 Thess 2. 11. unreasonable 3. The Age of Miracles excepting the wisdom and conduct of Providence which is not regarded is worn out for all the Legendary Impostures of that Church that still pretends them But that which strengthens all the rest by its connexion with them The Testimony of the Spirit of Prophecy stands like a fixed Star to give light to every hour of time call'd therefore The more sure Word and the 2 Pet. 1. 19. 1 Pet. 1. 25. Not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Word of God which abideth for ever to which we do well if we give heed My meaning is The Old and New Testaments are standing Witnesses to our Faith in Jesus all Ages may consult these Records and find the Testimony of the Spirit of Prophecy so interwoven in every part that it certainly evidenceth their Divinity and Truth Can any other Writing be produc'd that durst attempt to foretel such things and at such a distance to confirm any other pretended Revelation or Institution contradictory to this or doth not every Event in these answer its prediction Ex. gr Is not the disperst condition of the Jewish Nation a * On those words Psal 59. 11. Slay them not lest my People forget Scatter them by thy power St. Austin applying Them to the Jews has this excellent remark Ne obliti legem Dei ad hoc de quo agimus testimonium nihil valerent quoniam si cum testimonio scripturarum in suâ tantummodo terrâ non ubique essent profecto Ecclesia quae ubique est eos Prophetiarum quae de Christo pramissae sunt testes in omnibus gentibus non haberet De Civit. lib. 18. cap. 46. And then concludes Ideo nihil est firmius ad convincendos quoslibet alienos si de hac re contenderint nostrosque fulciendos si rectè sapuerint quam ut Divina praedicla de Christo ea proferantur quae in Judaeorum scripta sunt Codicibus Quibus avulsis de sedibus proptils propter hoc Testimonium toto Orbe dispersis Christi usquequaque crevit Ecclesia Ibid. cap. 47. standing Sign to all Ages of the World since the Gospels promulgation and a permanent Rule of Tryal laid before all considerative men that both Testaments which foretold it proceeded from the unerring Spirit of Omniscience Or was there ever any parallel Case to theirs to continue so many hundred years without any Ty of National Government and yet not to be lost in the crowd of the Nations where so many mutations have happen'd nor at all like the Ten Tribes swallow'd up in their Dispersions as wide as the Universe I must not insist upon other permanent Signs confirming the Scriptural Revelation as the Case of the Four Monarchies the Conversion of the Gentiles and many more foretold in the Old and New Testament which our Age and others may see fulfilled and therefore are under the conviction of this Testimony equally I mean We of this and every Age are under the Convictions of that Revelation which the Spirit of Prophecy has attested in the Scriptures and therefore because it has so attested as much as those who liv'd in the daies of the Prophets or in the Age of Miracles for else I see not how Abraham's answer to Dives is good nay certainly Posterity is better enabled to judge of Prophecy than the Age in which it first appear'd And this after the Canon of Scripture shut up and universally receiv'd renders all New light and extraordinary Inspiration not only suspected but perfectly needless The design of my Discourse is chiefly this to shew That the Spirit of Prophecy thus explain'd which so apparently runs parallel to the whole lines of Scriptural Revelation doth most rationally convince us and all Ages of the Divine Truth of that Revelation And if so we gain two Points not only of great advantage alwaies but most needful at this day when Christian Religion is either look'd out of countenance by Atheism and Scepticism or looks itself we know not whither by the distortions of Popery and Phanaticism The First Point we gain is To confirm our Christian Faith in general upon most rational and accountable grounds that it may endure the concussions and mutations of the World The Second is To confirm the Divine Authority of the Scriptures in particular as our Sure Rule both of Faith and Duty for if we confess as cannot be deny'd till some other be produc'd as able that the Divine Spirit was Author of the Predictions in Scripture what reason can we have against the Institution of life Reveal'd It being in all mens allowance unreasonably unjust To allow the Testimony of the Record in one part that it declares and not in another unless we can better than by bold affirming prove it in that part corrupted To draw these Points out to the greater advantages let me reflect upon this Discourse and infer Three things First That the great design of our Merciful Creator in giving this Testimony is mens conviction in order to the Faith i. e. the Obedience of Jesus For in its most plentiful effusion and powerful operation this was its first grand end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It shall convince the World John 16. 18. which when it has done the Revelation itself becomes the undoubted Rule as to Believers but they who disbelieve the whole Revelation are principally to be convinc'd by this Testimony which I have asserted to be most demonstrative and satisfactory and such surely our Saviour thought it himself I have told you before that when it s come to pass ye may believe Joh. 13. 19. and 16. 4. Whether then the Unbelievers who pretend to a Primogeniture in Wit and Reason having this conviction offer'd them under all the advantages of Predictions fulfill'd more than the Scribes and Pharisees had as the Atheists and Scepticks of our Age may not by ascribing all to a cheat sin against the Holy Ghost as well as they in Matt. 12. is a question I will not absolutely determine in the affirmative but ought not methinks to be carried in the negative so dogmatically as by the Authors of our Age it has who led I believe Hales c. by their own native tenderness and benignity have concluded there 's no Meridian for that Sin to appear in now the Age of Miracles is past To confirm the Faith of Jesus the Spirit both of Power and Prophecy was given Believers as the Prophets and Jesus foretold and the manifest effects of this remain unto
this day as foretold in the Conversion of the Gentiles nay all Events by Jesus the Prophetical Writings and Apostolical foretold answer their Predictions to instance in the case of the Jewish Nation Therefore not only Jesus and his Apostles had the Spirit of Prophecy but the Revelation or Doctrine by them preach'd is confirm'd by it to be Divine and that as certainly as the Divine Spirit can demonstrate St. Paul saies it did demonstrate and I think it can as effectually as any Mathematician in the Universe whence I conclude 't is no defect in the Argument but Brutality in the recipient obstructs its force Secondly I infer That seeing the design of this Testimony was and is man's Conviction in order to the Faith of Jesus there is something in man capable of Conviction even before he can be said to be converted Thirdly Nothing in Man being capable of Divine conviction but the faculty of Reason I infer That the Faith of Jesus is and ought to be a Rational Faith For the declining this Proposition has encourag'd men of Parts and lovers of Pleasures to decline Christianity or men of weak Reason and strong Imagination to convert it into an Enthusiastick and Phantastical thing And to give this account for the Mysteries of Faith that the Prime Verity has affirm'd them as 't is all we can without vanity give in this state so if consider'd 't is as good and rational as of any other knowledge we pretend to for 't is demonstrable that the last resolution of See Job 38. 4 5 c. and 24 25 c. our Knowledge of all other things must upon a through scrutiny be into the First Cause Many more than the Leviathan think the want of Miracles mitigates the Crime of Infidelity which to me seems but Dives's vain opinion for if men will not believe the Testimony of the Spirit of Prophecy neither will they believe Miracles as being a Conviction that 's easier shifted than this which considered is more argumentative because Reason may with some colour seruple the one as the Jews did than they can the other for the proof of which I refer to John 5. 49. For I can never conceive that Miracles are of any signification but as they address to Reason to give it satisfaction i. e. as they prove the attestation of the Divinity and argue the Commission to be from God because his Seal is to it For to think that Miracles are terminated in the senses or designs any further upon them than only to Excite the Intellect to a Judicious conclusion is to think that something may be wrought upon a Beast by a Demonstration Neither is the proper Mathematical Demonstration in Scheme of any signification as 't is terminated in sight alone for then the Elephant that was taught to draw Pliny Nat. hist lib. 8. cap. 3. the Greek Alphabet might have been taught as well to demonstrate but as thereby it helps to present convictive Truth to Reason so that whatever convinceth Reason satisfactorily attains the end of Demonstration Now all Divine Revelation though usher'd in by sense for the stupidity's sake of our dull Understanding which otherwaies will hardly be awaken'd yet ever made its application to Reason therefore saies the Prophet Shew your selves men with reference to this very Isal 46. 8 9 10. Luk. 12. 56. 2 Thess 3. 2. Argument of Prediction Why do ye not of your selves judge what is right saies Jesus Pray that we may be delivered from unreasonable men for all men have not Faith saies the Apostle Neither is this Pelagianizing at all I acknowledge the necessity of God's Supernatural Grace and that Faith is his gift 't is possible it may be rejected but the Arguments that induce to it are most cogent because of God's making not our own what we do is but to shew our selves men i. e. to exert the Faculties with which he endu'd us in the first Institution of our Nature and with which he is ever ready to concur by his Grace So then whatever convinces Reason most confirms Faith best and Faith being so confirm'd is the highest Reason in the World for because its light and discoveveries proceed as my Reason tells me from a more unerring Intellect than mine own 't is most reasonable that it should supersede all the opposit acts of my own Mind and leaves me no Inquiry but whether the Spirit of God has said so or no which sufficiently discountenances all Socinianism For it will not follow by any Rule of Reason That things are therefore true or false because I can or cannot comprehend them this were for our Reason to make it self God but because they are or are not attested by the Prime Verity how far soever they may exceed the Idaeal comprehensions of our own finite Faculties as the discoveries of Infinity necessarily must do and in these all Christian Mysteries consist So that Faith without Reason is fancy as Reason opposing Faith is phrenzy For all the Mysteries which Gospel Christianity has made necessary this is good and sufficient Reason God has plainly reveal'd them and other matters beside Mysteries are evidently true from their congruity with our own reasonable minds as the excellency and goodness of its Precepts and the nobleness of its End And now if upon these grounds we have that due honour for our Christian Faith to assert it Reasonable as well as Holy then 't will follow That no man of Parts that 's willing to consider and Demonstrations signifie nothing else the Testimony of Jesus is Irreligious but he that is Irrational For no Interest opposit to that of Jesus can produce this Testimony unless it be to its own overthrow And therefore the grand Interests opposit or destructive to those of Jesus will alwaies dissemble and pretend this Testimony Thou art Peter upon this Rock will I build To thee I give the Keys feed my sheep so the Papal on one hand or on the other hand though in truth they are coincident They shall be all taught of God and that 's Infallible so the Enthusiast My meaning is That which endangers true Christianity is some Evil within its own Profession or Pale And though there be a numerous brood of Offenders herein yet there are Three who mainly threaten that Religion amongst our selves which God's wonderful Providence has preserv'd so long and we seem solicitous that it might be longer and they are in my apprehension these Three the Atheists the Papists and the vicious Protestant i. e. the Vnbelievers the Ill-believers and the Ill-livers allowing Vice its due latitude And these Three serve the mutual designs of one another though as 't is very subtil Popery gets the last advantage for Vice begets Atheism and Atheism at length devolves to Popery for Ill-livers 't is their interest to be Unbelievers and they that through the vice of Opinions and Sects have been alwaies unstable are very near the brink of this Precipice so Vice begets