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
sound ix 7. and his voice perhaps when he askt that question but as they saw no body so they did not hear the voice of him that spake to him xxii 9. But the light they all saw and were so afraid that there they stopt their journey and could not for the present stir a foot from that place For that 's the meaning of they stood speechless ix 7. They did not stand on their feet for they all fell to the ground as you read xxvi 14. but they remained fixt in that spot and could neither speak a word nor go on a step further As for Saul himself he trembled and was astonished and began to yield himself presently as a Captive to this Heavenly King saying Lord what wouldest thou have me to do To this our Lord made him again a distinct answer which shows this was no sudden fancy but that they continued for some time in a conference together and bade him get up and go into the City and there he should be directed by him what to do Accordingly our Lord appeared in a Vision to Ananias who had the charge it is likely of the Church at Damascus and ordered him to go in his name and to lay his hands upon him for the restoring of his sight ix 17. after which he told him that he must now go and tell all men what he had seen and what he had heard xxii 15. that is declare to all the world that Jesus was the King of glory And which is still more wonderful Saul himself as he lay there praying to the Lord for mercy had the like Vision ix 12. wherein he saw a man of this name coming in to do him this kindness Who no sooner had executed his commission and put his hands upon him but immediately the power of our Lord appeared after he himself in person was gone His eyes were presently opened though they were sealed up so fast as if a crust had grown over them And wonderful was the illumination of his understanding together with the restoring of his sight The light which had put out his eyes made him clearly see though he was not told so in express words that Jesus was the Son of God This Heavenly WORD you may observe doth not in all this story call himself by that name But he declaring himself to be Jesus and Saul seeing this Jesus in so bright a glory that it exceeded the light of the Sun at mid-day as he confesses to Agrippe xxvi 13. it did more than tell him that he was as S. Steven had preached the Son of God the King of glory For He appeared to him in his glory and then told him that he whom he beheld thus exceeding glorious was that very Jesus whom he was pursuing as a Blasphemer for affirming himself to be that which he now saw him with his own eyes to be What could be more convincing than this especially when he felt himself filled with the holy Ghost ix 17. merely by the laying on of the hands of one of Jesus his Disciples He durst not distrust much less resist so clear and evident a demonstration He saw there was nothing truer than that Jesus was the Son of God All his learning could not furnish him with an argument to confute or weaken this single proof which our Saviour gave him of his Divinity But straight-way upon this testimony from the WORD of God himself without requiring any further demonstration He preached Christ in the Synagogues that he is the Son of God ix 20. Ananias did not Catechise him in this Doctrine nor sent him to the Apostles to be instructed but He was made an Apostle as well as they by Jesus Christ himself i. Gal. 1. who acquainted him immediately with his will for he was not taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ ver 12. whom he preached without asking counsel of any body ver 16. as soon as God was pleased to reveal his Son in him I believe you will easily grant that he was as hard as any man living to be perswaded to receive this revelation which would force him not only to contradict all that he had formerly maintained but to condemn himself as the vilest wretch in the world To become a disciple to this faith and to assert it likewise so earnestly as he did what was it but to condemn together with himself all his Masters the grave Judges of the Nation from whom he had received a commission to destroy it It required great courage as well as honesty to confess a Truth which he knew by himself would be so furiously opposed He had been such a fiery persecutor of all those who believed it that he had taught his Country-men how to deal with him if he should now become a proselyte to it He was a man also of very great parts and learning and therefore was not like to be moved by a trivial argument And a person likewise of as great integrity who did not bear a malice against Christians but was only zealous for the Law and therefore would not embrace a new Religion unless he had learnt better reasons for it than those which supported him in the old Much less would he have suffered himself hastily to be carried out of his way unless he had met with some irresistible arguments which were able instantly to turn him about and incline him to the profession of that truth which he was then persecuting with an outragious violence And yet so it was that this man so resolved in another course so certainly undone if he forsook it of such understanding and uprightness was in a trice astonished and reduced to such a condition that he could neither eat nor drink and in three days space so wrought upon that straightway as you have heard without any further deliberation or taking more time to study the point He not only believed but undertook to prove that this person whom he had so zealously opposed was indeed the Son of God Must it not be some mighty Argument that could overcome all those reasons and interests too which had engaged him in the contrary belief Was it not a very clear demonstration which could open such a mans eyes in a moment and break through such strong opposition as lay before his mind to bar its entrance And yet it was nothing else but this testimony which the WORD bare to himself that effected this wonderful change Nothing but Jesus appearing in glory giving him a terrible rebuke and striking him blind which wrought such a strange cure upon him that as he himself speaks i. Gal. 23. He became a preacher of that faith which once he destroyed And therefore this Witness cannot but be very powerful to convince every body else which prevailed over a person so prejudiced and pre-engaged in an opposite perswasion as Saul was Who took this Testimony which our Lord had given to himself to be so strong and unanswerable that presently after this
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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
questioned For if we do not allow this way of conveying down a testimony to future times we can know nothing of what was done before us And by denying all credit to these writings we shall only teach posterity how little credit is due to any of ours Nay we shall shake all mens titles to their estates and Kings will not be able to keep their Crowns fast upon their heads Nothing will be certain but it may be questioned whether all the Records in the Tower and the publick Acts of former Kings and Parliaments be not mere Forgeries Besides no body in those days ever went about to disprove what these Witnesses of Christ preached and have writ Neither Jew nor Gentile undertook to show that these things were only devised for his credit There were too great Testimonies from Heaven still remaining in the Church for several Ages to confute such a slander And therefore all that the Devil himself could think of to shake mens belief was to set up some wonder-workers of his own to confront Jesus and as it were to vie miracles with him and his Disciples But all were so soon scattered like mists before the Sun that they appeared to be but thin shadows in comparison with the living SPIRIT of God that was in the Church which baffled and overcame them all Insomuch that Origen assures the Heathen and they never went about to confute him that there were not above thirty of Simon Magus his followers then to be found in the world though he had made diligent enquiry after them by travel into all parts They were all vanished though he made a great noise for a time whilest the followers of Jesus multiplied and increased even by their persecutions Nor could Apollonius afterward gain any Proselytes that continued but his fame soon died together with himself Whereas the authority of Jesus bare up it self against all the opposition of the Roman Empire and not only was supported but advanced and prevailed more and more their barbarous cruelties only making it grow the faster For herein as Lactantius observes the faith and constancy of Christians was bravely displayed Men thought they did not without cause abhor the Heathenish superstition when they saw them rather die than do that which others doing lived and enjoyed the greatest worldly prosperity It made them enquire what that good was which they defended even unto death which was dearer than all the pleasures and glory of this world The people heard them in the midst of torments glory in Christ Jesus And whilest they enquired who he was the truth of the Gospel was divulged and spread abroad among them Their sufferings brought many to see their Martyrdom and there they saw that which moved their enquiry and by their enquiry they were satisfied and learnt to believe in Jesus as those Martyrs did But it is time to put an end to this Chapter which I shall conclude with a few remarks upon some places of the holy Books relating to the testimony of the Apostles or those that followed them The first is in the 2 Cor. vi 4 5 6 c. where you read how the Apostles approved themselves as the ministers of God in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in watchings in fastings by pureness by knowledge by long-suffering by kindness by the Holy Ghost by love unfeigned by the word of truth c. In which words if they be well considered you will find every one of these three WITNESSES which S. John says gave testimony to our Saviour on Earth so that he might be said to come in the ministry of the Apostles by Water and Bloud and the Spirit They expressed the Holiness of his life by their pureness by their long-suffering by their kindness by love unfeigned by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left that is they were every way appointed and armed with integrity against all calumnies there was none that could touch their reputation and say that these men had any worldly design And as they witnessed to him thus in their holy lives so they did in their holy doctrine by knowledge and by the word of truth preaching the Gospel sincerely as those that studied not to please men but God who trieth the hearts And they were made conformable also to his death and thereby continued the witness of the BLOUD in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in imprisonments and all the rest of the hardships here mentioned which I need not transcribe again And lastly He forgets not to remember them of the Witness of the SPIRIT which they brought along with them For he says they approved themselves as ministers of God by the Holy Ghost and by the power of God That is beside all the other Divine gifts wherewith they appeared they confirmed their doctrine by many miraculous works which could not be done but by the power of God Thus they became not only his witnesses as our Saviour said they should xxiv Luke 48. but they witnessed to him after the very same manner that he had taught in his example by Water by Bloud and by the Spirit And therefore when he exhorts Timothy to preach the Gospel and to be strong in the grace of Jesus Christ and to commit the charge of preaching also to other faithful persons He enforces his perswasion by this argument that the things he was to deliver were only such as he had heard of him among or by MANY WITNESSES 2 Tim. ii 2. He learnt them by so many good evidences which S. Paul had given him that he need not fear to speak them to any man much less doubt to commend them to other faithful preachers upon the same account that he had received them that they might be able to instruct posterity Such one would think from what hath been said were those TWO WITNESSES mentioned in xi Rev. 3. men of an Apostolical spirit whom Jesus raised up after his prime Witnesses had left the world to justifie still by all manner of arguments that great Truth which they had preached and sealed with their Bloud and God had sealed by the testimony of the Spirit The next words indeed seem to import that the whole body of Christians whom they instructed joyned with them in this testimony But still these great ministers of Jesus Christ the guides and leaders of those Christians whosoever they were and in what times soever they lived I meddle not with such difficulties were his most eminent Witnesses Who preached the Gospel with such power that it excited against them the fury of unbelievers who could not endure that such Witnesses should speak for Jesus For they testified to him these three ways here mentioned which is all that I alledge this place for not taking upon me to interpose in the controversies there are about the explanation of this Vision by Water Bloud and the Spirit First by Water if
my self but he sent me For which reason he doth not discourse of immortall life as a Philosopher going about to prove it by reasons and arguments but onely asserts it as one that had Divine Authority for which he was to be believed and could himself make men eternally happy This was the onely thing that could be disputed and needed proof that he came from heaven to illuminate the world by his instructions And this he did not desire they should take upon his bare word but abundantly demonstrated it and told them ver 28. that after his death they should still see it made more evident that he did nothing of himself but as the Father had taught him he spake these things For then as you shall see in due place God the Father declared all these words to be true by raising him from the dead These things he said so often so openly so confidently and with such appeals to God who bare him witness as you have heard and never in the least contradicted what he said that we have great reason to believe he did not forge all this but delivered the mind and will of God as sincerely when he said he would give men Eternall Life as he did when he charged them to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Certain it is that He himself believed what he preached and had no doubt but a perfect assurance of it as will appear if we pass to the Second thing which we are briefly to consider II. His own most holy Life in the strictest obedience to God the Father This Abarbinell in his discourse upon xi Isa which I have so often mentioned makes one of the marks of the Messiah the perfect temper of his desires and affections and the direction of them according to the measures of the Divine Law Which he thinks is the meaning of those words ver 3. He shall be of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. This was so remarkable in Jesus who was so truly so compleatly and constantly pious that there never was any person so qualified to lay claim to this Dignity as he was His Life was so free from all blame such a perfect abstinence from all the pleasures of this world such a contempt of all that which we think most worthy of our indefatigable labours that it hath a strong force in it to perswade us that he indeed sought Eternall Glory and was fully assured he should be possessed of it for Himself and for all His. Who but a man so perswaded of his Doctrine would have lived in poverty when he might no question by the multitude and devotion of his followers have made himself incredibly rich What should incline him to remain all his days without an house so big as a fox or the smallest bird is owner of but an expectation of that house which is eternall in the heavens Could any thing move him to give away to the poor all that was given him but a certain knowledge of great treasures above We cannot conceive what should make him refuse the dignity of a King when the people intended to proclaim him if it were not this undoubted perswasion that he was the King of Heaven and should sit down at the right hand of the Throne of God Would any of those that doubt this labour as he did night and day for nothing Would any poor man cure multitudes of all diseases and take not a farthing for his pains Would any body live if he could help it and not know where he should eat the next meal's meat And who is he that can find in his heart to endure the hatred of the chiefest of the people and to be in perpetuall danger of snares and treacherous designs for the taking away his life without any hope to be a gainer by it Is there any likelihood that our Lord would have laboured in such sort as not to have leisure so much as to eat and after all that kind pains be content to be called Deceiver and Devill and to run the hazzard of being stoned and killed and yet have no assured expectation to reap some fruit hereafter from all his toil and trouble Let him believe it that loves to sting his fingers with nettles or to roll his naked body in snow we that have a more tender sense of our own pleasure must have leave to be of another mind Let any man try to perswade himself to lead such a life and by his unwillingness he will easily be convinced that our Lord who could look for nothing in this world from what he did and suffered would never have so chearfully freely and without any regret followed such a course had he not known as surely that he should be made glorious thereby hereafter as he knew that he must be made miserable by it here Ask his Poverty then and that will bear witness that he laid up treasures in the heavens Ask his Humility and that will tell you that he sought for the Glory of God onely Inquire of his Charity and Bounty his wonderfull bounty to all men and that will bear Record both that all fulness is in him and that he will not envy any thing he hath to his followers Let his Contentedness speak and that will assure you he was possessed of something greater then all worldly goods which he could tell better how to live without then others to live comfortably withall Examine his Labours and pains his travells and journeys trace his steps over sea and land and they will all confess that he sought a better Country which is an heavenly Ask him what he meant by his Patience his willing endurance of all reproaches calumnies hatreds persecutions and they will likewise conclude in the same testimony that he had a joy set before him which made him despise them all In short consult his Fasting forty days his enduring so many temptations of the Devill slighting his offers rejecting his counsels and you can have no account of them but this that he had indeed the meat that endures to everlasting life that he verily believed the voice from heaven which said he was the Son of God and that he knew he had a greater Glory then all the Kingdoms of the world which the Devill offered him And after all this I suppose there is no considering man but will think the unquestionable belief of such a person as he was to be of very great moment to settle ours in this weighty business It is safest for us without all dispute to follow the judgment of one so well able to discern truth from falshood that he was of as quick understanding in all things else as he was in the fear of the Lord. We have great reason to think that he was in the right and was no more deluded himself then he intended to delude others There was not the least flaw as I shewed in the former Treatise that appeared in his Understanding nor could
in the city and Gabriel to Mary and Elizabeth and Anna and Symeon to those in the Temple Nor were men and women onely transported with the pleasure but an infant that had not seen the light leapt in its mother's womb and all were strangely lifted up in hopes of what was a-coming These things all fell out straightway after his birth But when he appeared in the World there were more Miracles and greater then the former appeared again For not so little as a Star and the Heavens not Angels or Archangels not Gabriel or Michael but the Father himself proclaimed him from heaven and with the Father the Comforter came down with a voice and remained on him And therefore well might the Apostle say We have seen his glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father And not by these things alone but by those which followed after For now not merely Shepherds and an aged Prophetess and reverend men published the glad tidings of the Gospell but the voice it self of the things he did louder then the sound of any trumpet which was heard presently every-where For the fame of him saith the Evangelist went into all Syria and revealed him to all and cried every-where that the King of heaven was come to men For Daemons every-where fled and got away and the Devill departed and Death began to give place and not long after quite vanished and all manner of infirmities were loosed and the tombs dismissed the dead the Daemons left those that were mad and Diseases those that were sick Wonderfull and strange things were to be seen which the Prophets desired to see and did not For one might have seen eyes new made paralytick lims strengthened motion given to withered hands and lame feet ears that were stopt up opened and the tongues of the dumb loosed In one word like an excellent workman that comes into an house which is decayed and rotten by time he repaired or re-built rather humane Nature For who can tell how he made the Souls of men new which is a greater wonder then all the rest For the wills of men oppose their cure which the body doth not They will not yield we see no not to God himself And yet these were reformed by him and all kind of wickedness expelled Nor were they onely freed from Sin but like the bodies to which he gave the best habit after he had cured their diseases they were advanced to the highest degree of vertue A Publican became an Apostle A persecutour a blasphemer a reproacher of Christianity turned the Preacher of the Word A thief was made a Citizen of Paradise and a strumpet became illustrious by a great faith And abundance of others worse then these were listed in the number of the Disciples till whole cities and countries were strangely reformed by the Gospell Who is able to declare the wisedom of his Precepts the vertue of his heavenly Laws the excellent order of his Angelicall Conversation For he hath taught us such a life he hath given us such laws and instituted such a polity that they who use them though before the worst of men straightway become Angels and like to God according to our power The Evangelist therefore recollecting all these things the Miracles he wrought upon mens bodies upon their Souls and upon the elements the Precepts the secret Gifts the Laws the Polity the power of perswasion the future Promises his Sufferings he pronounced this wonderfull lofty voice We beheld his glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father full of grace and truth For they did not admire him onely for his Miracles but for his Sufferings As for example because he was nailed to a Cross and scourged because he was beaten because he was spit upon because those buffeted him to whom he had been a benefactour upon the account even of these which seem most shamefull that voice is worthy to be repeated again because he himself hath called this a Glory For then Death was destroyed the Curse was dissolved Daemons were put to shame and he triumphed over them openly and the hand-writing of sins or obligation to punishment was nailed to the Cross and cancelled And besides these wonders which were invisible there were others apparent unto all which shewed he was the onely-begotten Son of God and the Lord of all the Creation For while his blessed body yet hung upon the Cross the Sun withdrew its beams the earth was astonished and wrapt in darkness the ground shook the tombs were broke open a great many dead people walkt out of their graves and went into the City the stone upon his grave was rolled away and he arose He that was crucified he that was fastned with nails to the cross he that was dead arose and filling his Apostles with great power sent them to all the World as the common physicians of humane Nature the rectifiers of mens lives the sowers of the knowledge of heavenly Doctrine the loosers of the Devill 's tyranny the teachers of the great and hidden Goods the preachers of the glad tidings of the immortality of the Soul the Eternall life of the body and the rewards which as they pass all understanding so never have any end These and many more such like this blessed man beholding which he knew but was not able to write because the world could not have contained the Books he cried out We beheld his glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father full of grace and truth Who is now as able I may adde to give us new bodies and inconceivably-improved Souls and then to perpetuate the happiness of both in heaven as he was to cure diseases and raise dead bodies and purify mens minds when he was here on earth Let our conclusion therefore as he says elsewhere be sutable to our discourse Hom. xiii p. 607. 5. And what 's so sutable as Doxologies and giving glory to God in such manner as is worthy of him Not by our words onely that is but much more by our deeds So our Saviour himself exhorts us saying Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven For there is nothing more bright and shining then an excellent conversation as one of the wise men hath said The ways of the just shine like the light And they shine not onely to those that light their lamps by their works but to all that are near unto them Therefore let us pour oyl continually into these lamps that the flame may rise higher and the light shine more abundantly Having received such grace and truth by Jesus Christ Id. p. 611. let us not grow the lazier by the greatness of the gift For the greater honour hath been done us the more we are bound to excell in vertue Let that therefore be our business to purify our selves so throughly that being thought worthy to see Christ we may not at that Day
it is a plain demonstration that he is dear to God and hath his very Spirit in him Now next to this there is nothing more necessary and desirable to be known than how we may obtain this great and matchless victory over every thing in the world that opposes our Christian resolution and so undoubtedly approve our selves heroical persons as they were anciently called that are born from above And here also the Apostle lends us his assistance telling us in the latter end of that fourth Verse that we must atchieve it by Faith And this is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith So couragious so powerful so successful is an hearty lively Faith that you see he calls it by the name of victory it self If we believe stedfastly we shall tread the world under our feet and easily despise all its temptations as those valiant Worthies did whose example another Apostle sets before us in the Eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews A portion of Scripture which he that means to be a conqueror should think he can never read too oft But there is a farther enquiry remaining which every body will be apt to make and that is what this Faith may be which is so victorious and triumphant And therefore the Apostle takes care to satisfie us in this matter also when he tells us Verse 5. it is nothing else but to believe that Jesus is the Son of God To be heartily perswaded he means that that great person who was born of the Virgin Mary and was known by the name of Jesus and overcame the world so gloriously was indeed sent from God unto us and owned by him as the express image of his person so that we may as infallibly depend upon the truth of what he hath said either of himself or concerning us as we can upon any thing of Sense or Reason by which we think our selves bound to guide and determine our resolutions and actions in this life But still after all this there is one thing more that we cannot but desire to be very sure of without which all the rest will stand us in no stead but we shall flag and despair of success viz. That Jesus is indeed the Son of God This if it be not well proved by substantial arguments we can have no solid faith and so no victory and so no son-ship no hope in another world The Apostle therefore that he may serve us in bringing some evident demonstration of this so important a truth tells us in the next words Verse 6. that Jesus did not only say he was God's Son and confidently affirm himself to be the Divine person so long look'd for to come into the world but that he came with very sufficient and unreproveable witnesses of it viz. the WATER the BLOUD and the SPIRIT which made this truth good to all those who considered their testimony If the first of these WATER should not be thought great enough to merit belief yet the BLOUD joyned with it adds great force to its perswasion Or if both these seem too weak yet this last the SPIRIT the Apostle doubts not is so strong to conquer mens minds and make them believe in Jesus that he says The Spirit is truth That is such an undoubted proof that Jesus was what he pretended to be the Son of God that no man can be deceived who relies upon it and no man can refuse if he give heed to it to rely and depend upon such a witness Now this was a thing notorious in those days and needed no proof at all the whole Country of Judaea could witness it that he came by or rather with Water Bloud and the Spirit And therefore the Apostle doth not go about to make this good that there were such Witnesses it being a matter confessed but rather repeats it over again as the strongest proof of his Divine Authority adding moreover there-withal that there were three other Witnesses who by their concurrent testimony would unanimously justifie this Truth For saith he in the words I have chosen to explain There are three that bear record or witness in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one And there are three that bear witness in Earth the Spirit and the Water and the Bloud and these three agree in one As if he had said You cannot reasonably doubt of that which we preach concerning Jesus if you go but to those three witnesses to which I have sent you the Water the Bloud and the Spirit for they all affirm with one mouth that he was the Son of God And as they testifie this to you upon the Earth so there are three other Witnesses also who declare it to you from Heaven to whom I first direct you and then to those three that here on Earth as I have told you bear their record to him There are not a few Copies of the New Testament it must be confessed which leave out the Testimony of these three Witnesses that speak from Heaven not reading the seventh Verse as is noted not only by Socinus and his followers but by Erasmus Grotius Curcellaeus and our Learned Selden whose collections to this purpose far exceed all former observations But yet this last named Great Author hath said so much * L. 2. de Syned cap. 4. num 4. to justifie the Antiquity of our present Reading and to keep the seventh Verse in the place wherein it now stands that I make no question these are the words of S. John concerning the three Heavenly Witnesses the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and accordingly I shall in the first place appeal to their testimony for the confirming of this Truth and for the supporting thereby of our Faith that Jesus is the Son of God And if any body shall say What need is there of this in a Christian Country There are no Infidels sure among us nor are we in danger to turn Pagans Turks or Jews who blaspheme the Lord Jesus I shall not labour to stop their mouths by casting reproaches on others nor complain of the apostasie which some think they have reason to lay to the charge of too many in this present untoward generation But desire them to take their Answer from S. John himself in the thirteenth Verse of this very Chapter Where they will find that he thought it not unnecessary to write these things to them that believe on the name of the Son of God that they might know how happy a thing it was to be a Christian and that they might believe i. e. continue to believe on the name of the Son of God And I may modestly suppose that what he thought good to assert here with so much care and exactness it will not be thought an unprofitable diligence if I study to expound and enlarge for the benefit of believers It will be some satisfaction to me however to have had it in my heart to do some honour to my Saviour
pregnant Reasons accompanying it to win credit to it self If that which stands as a reason for all that a man says be not it self grounded upon the clearest and most undeniable it turns against him and proves nothing but a confutation of all that it was brought to assert Now Jesus pretending not only to this honour of coming from God which is a sufficient Argument for any thing that he says in his Name but also to an higher Dignity of being his Son and so of being privy to all his secrets of lying in his very bosom and being invested with a power equal to the Almighties if He and his Apostles who affirmed the same of him after he was put to death and that as a Malefactor should be defective in their proofs of so lofty and weighty a pretension He would be rendred of all other the most contemptible and they become men most ridiculous for obtruding him on the world in such a quality upon slight or no demonstrations For the greater and more concerning any Assertion is which we propound to mens belief the stronger and more plentiful Arguments they justly expect to induce a perswasion Which if they be wanting it is so far from being a fault not to surrender their Souls to that proposition that it is a vertue to refuse admittance and they could not excuse themselves from a great guilt should they be so easie as to let it find entertainment Nay it is a commendable piece of caution and wariness to suspend our belief in a matter of very great importance though there be some considerable proofs offered if they be not proportionable to the weight of the thing unto which we are to deliver up no less than our Souls Let us see therefore what evidence this Follower and Favourite as I may call him of Jesus produces and lays before us to make good this which he preached for a certain truth that He is no less than the Son of God Let us hear what his Witnesses say for so he calls his proofs to this great point and consider whether they speak so home to it that we cannot reasonably refuse to believe it The office of a witness is to give in all the evidence he can for the clearing of any matter in question for this very end that there by the controversie may be decided upon his credit When the Apostle therefore calls for his Witnesses who are ready he saith to justifie this which he asserts if any body make a doubt of it or be not well setled in this belief his meaning is that it relies upon such solid grounds that no man shall be able to deny Jesus to be the only begotten of the Father the Christ of God unless he can disprove the Authority of his witnesses which he was sure would never be in any mans power to do they were of such known verity If this be called in question whether Jesus be the Son of God or no if any list to bring it to trial and examine it before the bar of impartial Reason S. John here offers his witnesses faithful and just of undoubted Truth and Integrity who shall make it good So that if you will hear them and consider what they say and then give sentence according to their evidence you must needs judge that he is what he said he was The Son of God most high and quit him in your Consciences of all the calumnies aspersions of the Jews who said he was a deceiver of the people Now the witnesses that he brings you see dwell in two very distant places three of them in the Heavens and the other three in the Earth From these two several regions they give their Testimony the former from above the later here beneath For when the Apostle says that there are three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 testifying or bearing witness in the Heaven and as many that do the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the Earth the meaning is not that the First three gave their testimony to those that are in Heaven and the last three to those that are on Earth but that the First three witnesses are themselves in Heaven and the other three were on Earth and so from thence they gave their testimony to Jesus They that dwell in Heaven delivered their testimony and justified this Truth from above and the other residing on the Earth did there speak to it and make it good Let us first hear these supreme and Heavenly witnesses and take under examination what they declare concerning him whom we acknowledge for our Lord and what Authority he hath according to their testimony to exact all obedience of us as he is the Son of God And first of all let us begin with the witness of the FATHER for the truth is that as he is the First and the Beginning of all things so he did first testifie of Jesus and by his voice from Heaven proclaimed him to be his Son before He or any else was so bold as to affirm it And as he being the First did bear witness to him before any of the rest spoke a word so according to the number of these Heavenly witnesses He gave his Testimony of him three times I. The first time was when our Saviour began to appear publickly among the people coming out of his privacy from Nazareth of Galilee to be baptized of John in Jordan Matt. 3.13 Mark 1.9 He had no need indeed of that Baptism as John affirmed and our Saviour did not deny but as became one who had put himself into the state of our meanness and appeared in our sinful flesh he would omit nothing that belonged to the duty of a pious person And therefore he would have the Baptist do to him as he did to others knowing that he exercised this Ministry by the appointment of God whose institutions ought to be reverenced and to whose will all good men ought to conform themselves Now he had no sooner given this example of humble obedience but as he came out of the Water God the Father of Heaven declared him in express terms to be what S. John here says he was his only Son Which testimony of his is recorded by no less than three Evangelists as you may find if you read iii. Matth. 17. i. Mark 11. iii. Luke 22. who tells us that he saw the Heavens at that time opened to him and a Divine Glory come from thence and settle upon him which was followed with a voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased So S. Matthew reports the words of God the FATHER from whom this voice came it is plain because he calls Jesus his Son or as they may be rendred more emphatically This is that Son of mine that beloved one whom the Prophets promised particularly xlii Isaiah 1. God would send to them as Tertullian well expounds it who is most dear to me and shall declare my whole will and pleasure There
the voice spake of him alone and none else there being no body but He to be seen by his Disciples when it came forth from the presence of God So you read in all the Evangelists that the cloud which appeared over-shadowed them viz. Moses and Elias whereupon the Disciples were afraid as S. Luke tells us ix 34. as they that is Moses and Elias entred â—â—to the cloud imagining it is like that it would approach nearer and spread it self over them who dreaded to enter into it as they saw those two persons did But there was no danger it only parted Moses and Elias from Jesus and left him alone and then came the voice out of that cloud where Moses and Elias were with God giving their assent to what it said This is my beloved Son hear him Him I say Non Mosen jam Eliam as Tertullian * L. 4. adv Marc. C. 22. I now observe interprets it Not Moses and Elias who were shown as his language is in the prerogative of brightness and then dismissed as being now discharged both of their office and of their honour Thus I have briefly explained the second Testimony which God the Father gave him in the audience of three of his Disciples who had a vision also at the same time of the glory wherein he was to shine after his departure out of this world To which testimony our Saviour would not have those Disciples as yet to add theirs but to keep this as a secret till he was risen again from the dead xvii Matth. 9. It was fit for the Father alone to speak now from whom they were to learn what Jesus was that being fully satisfied they might be the better able to speak of him then upon their own knowledge who had been eye and ear-witnesses of the honour and glory which he received from God the Father when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And this voice S. Peter I told you openly avers 2 i. 17 18. he and others heard when they were with him in the holy mount But if any one should be so suspicious and distrustful as to think that the Testimony of three persons is not sufficient to beget belief in us of such a wonderful thing as this is that God declared Jesus to be his Son though there is no just reason to doubt of any thing that is established out of the mouth of but two good witnesses yet such was the condescension of God the Father Almighty that he was pleased a little before our Saviours decease which Moses and Elias spake of to give his testimony to him again and to declare this more publickly which was shortly to be proclaimed in all the world III. For this Third voice which the Father was pleased to send from Heaven to bear witness to him was not heard by so few as two or three but by a great multitude of people which makes our belief of this Truth to rely still upon surer grounds For you read in the xii John 1 2 c. that a great company of people having heard what a miracle our Saviour had wrought upon Lazarus whom he raised from the dead a little before at a neighbouring town flockt out of Jerusalem to meet him as he was coming thither to the seast of the Passeover And being convinced that he was that King of Israel whom the Lord by his Prophets had promised to send in his name they met him with Palms of joy and triumph in their hands and with the loudest acclamations of praise in their mouths spreading their garments also in the way as other Evangelists tell us to do him the greater honour and wishing him all prosperity in his new Kingdom In this croud or among the rest of the people who were come to worship at the feast there were certain Greeks as you read ver 20. who were desirous to see Jesus whom the multitude thus magnified and it is likely wish'd to have some proof given them that he was such a person as fame reported him Now the first thing our Saviour answers to those who presented them to him which must be diligently noted is that ere long He should be glorified But first he must take the Cross in his way and then the glory he should attain thereby would be exceeding great for his death would produce most precious fruit and be the means of enlarging his Kingdom and bringing innumerable such Gentiles as these were unto God ver 23 24. And thereupon He perswades his Disciples ver 25 26. to adventure their lives according to his example for the good of mankind which would redound also very much to their own honour As they might see already in Moses and Elias who appeared S. Chrysostom thinks for this end among others to strengthen and encourage their Christian resolution in their sufferings * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. 56. in Matth. but should be more fully satisfied when they saw him ascend to that glory after his sufferings of which they had beheld but a shadow when those two illustrious persons came to wait upon him A difficult work indeed it was at the thoughts of which He himself could not but be something sad ver 27. and wisht according to the inclinations of Nature there were some other way if God pleased to deliver mankind But since he had sent him into the world for this end that he should lay down his life for our Redemption he resolves presently to submit to God and desires only this one thing of him ver 28. Father glorifie thy Name As much as to say I know thou art my FATHER and since it is thy pleasure to which I will always submit behold I offer my self now to be an instrument of thy glory by my passion as I have been hitherto by my preaching and the works thou hast done by my hands I am content to receive the glory which I expect and just now told my Disciples I shall receive in this way of humble suffering thy will and pleasure I am desirous thou shouldest first be glorified and if my death will serve that end I am ready to part with my life for I know thou wilt be much more glorified by my Resurrection and Ascension to Heaven There is no reasonable doubt to be made of the truth of this interpretation for they glorifie God most remarkably who die for the testimony of the Truth xxi John 19. It is a great honour to him that they love him more than their lives and will take his word for their recompense in an invisible world This our Saviour himself calls Gods being glorified in him xiii John 31. and therefore I make no question he desires here that his Fathers Name may be glorified by the same means Now to this humble request of his God the Father replies by a voice from Heaven saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie
others are said to have seen God who beheld some very bright appearance an extraordinary light shining before their eyes which excelled all that ever they had seen or could imagine and was the token of the Divine presence Thus Moses was afraid to look upon God iii. Exod. 6. and the Elders of Israel are said to see the God of Israel xxiv 20. which places Maimonides thinks are to be understood of the Vision of God with the eyes of the mind But the Text is plainly against him which tells us there was a visible appearance of some unusual astonishing brightness And therefore he confesses that if any man do conceive those words are to be interpreted of some created light as he speaks * More Nevoch Part. 1. cap. 5. and many other places that is the visible apparition of a Divine Majesty or of an Angel there is no danger in such an apprehension And indeed no man can seriously read the Books of Moses but he will see plainly they speak of a sensible glory which was exceeding dazling and sometimes too great for the weak eyes of men to behold I have described it before when I told you it was nothing else but a flaming light which shone from that amazing devouring Fire which appeared in the cloud to the children of Israel Thus Abarbanel expounds that place I mentioned before xvi Exod. 7. In the morning then ye shall see the glory of the Lord. Which is not to be understood of the providing them bread or flesh in an extraordinary manner but of the Fire which appeared to all the people to reprove and punish them for their murmurings And so Lyra says it was an unusual refulgent brightness or lightning representing the Divine power ready to chastise them for their mutiny against his servants And it is very common in the New Testament to cal◠such a great splendour by the name of glory As the shining of Moses his face i◠called by S. Paul 2 Cor. iii. 7. the glory 〈◊〉 his countenance And in the same stile he◠speaks of the light of the Heavenly bodies when he says 1 Cor. xv 41. There is on◠glory of the Sun another glory of the Moon and another glory of the Stars for one Star differeth from another Star in glory that is in the brightness and splendour of its light Such a glory it was that now S. Steven beheld but far more splendid more pure and illustrious than the light of the Sun or any other that has been mentioned which was a representation of the presence of the Divine Majesty who used in this manner to make men sensible of his transcendent invisible glory And there in the Divine presence he saw our Lord in the most high and honourable place next to God the Father himself For that 's the meaning of his appearing at the right hand of God or of that great glory he saw in the Heavens the right hand being the principal place belonging to the Heir of the Crown when he appears together with the King his Father And therefore the Divine writer to the Hebrews says there never was any Angel seen there They only stand or minister before God or before his Throne but to which of them did he say at any time Sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy foot-stool i. Hebr. 13. This is the prerogative of Christ alone the great King the Heir of all things whose glory the Psalmist describes in that place cx Psal 1. from whence these words are cited that is prophecies of his Kingly power in the Heavens as S. Paul clearly expounds this phrase of sitting at Gods right hand 1 Cor. xv 25. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet He is a King and he reigns and he hath a Throne i. Hebr. 8. but when he is compared with God the Father Almighty the fountain of all power and authority and when he appears together with him to show that he reigns under him and for him he is represented as sitting at the right hand of God or the right hand of the Throne of God For so his Kingly power is expressed in other places He is set down on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens Hebr. viii 1. xii 2. that is He reigns together with God the Father in the Celestial glory For the throne of God signifying in the Scripture phrase as the forenamed Maimonides observes that place where God's Majesty manifests it self in a visible splendour and glory the sitting of our Saviour at the right hand of that Throne or that glory denotes nothing else but his being seated in the highest honour that can be given to any one in the Heavenly places next in greatness power and majesty to God himself under whom he is the King of Angels and Men and all Creatures There was nothing of which this holy Martyr was more assured To whom this Heavenly King appeared not in his usual posture of sitting at God's right hand as one possessed of his royal power but standing there as if he was ministring in the Heavenly Sanctuary in the quality of a royal high-Priest for that was the posture of those that ministred in the Temple cxxxiv. Psal 1. for the comfort of all Christian people and of himself especially or rather as ready to come to take vengeance of those implacable enemies who had killed him and now persecuted his servants which was a notable instance of his royal power at God's right hand For there the Psalmist says he must reign till he hath subdued all those that oppose his authority and troden them under his feet And as for the second enquiry how he could know this to be Jesus whom he saw in this Heavenly Majesty It is easily resolved that He appeared to him with such a countenance as he had here upon Earth only more shining and bright as being now in the glory of the Father And so he tells the Jews I see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God That very person he means who used to call himself the Son of man whom you crucified and dishonourably treated I now see so exalted that I had rather die as he did than not confess him to be the Son of God as he said he was when he died This is the first testimony which was given to this truth by the WORD Who bore witness in a most illustrious manner to himself when he appeared thus to a person of the greatest credit in the Divine glory and in the highest place of Celestial dignity as the King of Heaven that is and risen up from his Throne as if he was coming to be avenged of his adversaries to succour all his servants and to welcome this Martyr into glory with himself So S. Steven verily thought for he resigns up his Soul to Jesus with the same confidence and almost in the same words that Jesus gave up his to God the
Father The last words of our Saviour were Father into thy hands I commend my spirit xxiii Luke 46. And they stoned Steven calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit vii Acts 59. He died with these and the following devout words in his mouth crying again with a loud voice Lord lay not this sin to their charge In which he expressed as much charity to men as in the other he did faith in Christ And openly declared himself a person of such piety and goodness such admirable candor and sweetness of spirit so utterly void of all rancor and gall when he had the highest provocations from his bitter enemies that as we may be sure he could not be guilty of devising a lye to the deceiving of others so we may reasonably believe that God Almighty would not let such an excellent man be deceived to the ruine of himself and the casting away so precious a life II. But that jealousie and suspicion might have no pretence left nor any man justly call in question the truth of this apparition our Saviour was pleased a second time both to show himself and also to speak very audibly unto another person of great integrity and authority and that was S. Paul Whose testimony concerning this is the more considerable because he was a person of considerable note in the Nation of the Jews both for his descent and for his education and for his zeal in their Religion iii. Phil. 5. He was an Hebrew both by his Fathers side and his Mothers a Scholar of Gamaliel's i. Gal. 14. under whom he made an exceeding great proficiency xxvi Acts 5. and was addicted to the most strict Sect of Religion then among them whereby he became full of flaming zeal for the Law of which he was a rigid observer even according to the expositions they had made of it by the traditions of their Elders These he held so sacred that the name of Jesus was odious to him because he little regarded them And he was transported with so bloudy a rage against his disciples that his intention was to send as many of them as he could meet withall after S. Steven to whose death he was consenting viii Acts 1. xxii 20. that is He approved the fact of those seditious Zealots who were the authors of it or as the words may well be rendred out of the Syriack translation he was as well pleased with the killing of him as any of the company The lenity of his Master was no example for him to follow He learnt no meekness in the School of Gamaliel but suffered himself to be hurried away with the furious spirit of the multitude whom he accompanied in that tumult For he undertook to secure the garments of those who stript themselves to throw the first stone at that blessed Martyr of Christ Jesus Nor did his fury rest here but he gave his voice against other Saints when the sentence of death passed on them xxvi Acts 10. And not content to make havock of the poor Church at Jerusalem he enlarged his cruel projects and stretches his wrath as far as Damascus thither he goes armed with authority from the Senate xxii 5. whose Commissioner he was now as he had been for some time which shows he was a person of no small condition in that Nation For He tells us himself that what he did at Jerusalem was by authority from the chief Priests xxvi 10. who gave him letters also to those at Damascus that they should assist him in the apprehending all the Christians that were there ix 2. xxii 5. He brought the Decree of the Senate along with him which had been made against them and lest any should question whether he was deputed to see that order put in execution he was ready to satisfie them of that by showing his Commission xxvi 12. In short he breathed forth nothing but fire and sword as we speak against the worshippers of the Lord Jesus being exceeding mad against them according to the account S. Luke gives of him viii Acts 3. ix 1. and which he gives of himself xxii 4. xxvi 11. Now who would expect that such a man as this should himself become a Disciple of Jesus much less a preacher of his Religion A man so noted for his violence the other way and whose name was so terrible to Christian people that Ananias was afraid to go and deliver a message to him from our Lord after he was told something of his conversion Was there any hopes that he should ever confess and publish the very same thing for which S. Steven was stoned And yet so powerful were the prayers of that holy Martyr which adds much to the force of his testimony that our Lord answered them ere long by pardoning and converting this enraged Zealot To whom he was graciously pleased to appear as he had done to that Saint more than once as we find recorded in the Sacred story from his own mouth The first time and the most remarkable was when he was upon the rode to Damascus Then our Lord met him not far from that City when he had no such thing in his thoughts but was possessed with quite contrary designs and made him fall down and worship him whose Name he so hated that he would have forced all Christians to blaspheme him Read the ix Acts 3 c. and there you will find him who little regarded what S. Steven said and perhaps took him for a frantick fellow when he told them he saw Jesus glorified surrounded himself with such a glorious light from Heaven as left him no power to resist this truth which he had so bitterly persecuted For in that wonderful brightness there was a person appeared to him with such a dazling lustre that after he had beheld it he lost his eyes and could not see by reason of the glory of that light xxii 11. which was the cause I believe that he askt with no small astonishment Who art thou Lord The Angels appeared sometimes in great glory but never with such a splendour as to hurt the sight much less to take it away and therefore he now concluded that this person was of an higher condition much greater than the Angelical Ministers whose brightness was never known to be so amazing And to give satisfaction to his doubt our Lord the WORD of God told him in plain terms with an audible voice I am Jesus whom thou persecutest And wisht him not to proceed any further in this course which he might easily see would prove destructive to him For to contend with him still who was so glorious what would it be but to wound and ruine himself and by seeking to ease himself of one trouble to run upon a greater just as a beast does that kicks against the pricks which are to quicken it and put it forward This voice he alone heard who was to be instructed by it The company that was with him heard only a confused
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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
of God And there is none can continue in this unworthy slavery but he must lay aside these thoughts also that the WORD was made flesh and the Image of the invisible God hath taken up his abode in our Nature By this he hath called us to the greatest sanctity He remembers us what excellent Creatures we are and how Glorious he is desirous to make us And who is there that need despair of recovering himself by the grace of God though he be sunk never so much below himself now that God is come on purpose to lift him up He hath sent Salvation to us by one that is mighty to save He hath revealed himself so graciously and made such discoveries of his Love and Power and Glory to all mankind that they may confidently hope if they will not cast away all care of themselves to be restored to the image and likeness of God again But this Discourse will come in more seasonably when we have joyned the strength of the other three Witnesses to these and heard them all together some from Heaven others from Earth proclaiming this in our ears Behold the Son of God Jesus is your Lord for he is the Lord of all things And we shall be the more ready for a surrender to him when we see withall how much we are beholden to God Almighty for his marvellous inconceiveable love in calling us so many ways by so many arguments to Repentance Faith Obedience and Everlasting Salvation That which I have now explained deserves to be remembred with the most affectionate acknowledgments and we shall be better disposed to hearken to the rest if we give him hearty thanks for what we understand already and say A PRAYER ADored be thy inestimable love O thou Holy Spirit of Grace and Truth the mighty Power of God who hast given such gifts unto men even to the rebellious also that the LORD God might DWELL among them Blessed be thy Goodness who didst anoint our Lord with that oil of gladness which hath run down to the meannest of his subjects Great and wonderful was that Heavenly Power and Love which appeared in such visible Majesty upon him and filled him with the Holy Ghest so that he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil And much more marvellous was that Almighty Goodness which promoted him to the throne of Glory in the Heavens that he might fill all things Praised be that astonishing Love which first filled the Apostles minds with such Heavenly light and inflamed their wills with such fervent heat that they boldly preached the Gospel to all the world For ever magnified be that diffusive Grace which afterwards spread it self in such variety of gifts wrought by one and the self same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he pleased Let the whole Church be giving continual thanks to thee O Lord for stretching forth thy hand in such signs and wonders to glorifie thy holy child Jesus for giving by the Spirit to some a gift of wisdom to others a gift of healing to others divers kind of tongues to others prophecy and for making some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers that every knee might bow to Jesus and every tongue confess that he is the Lord. I confess him with all my Soul I honour him as my Dearest Lord. I see thy Glory O blessed Jesus by the light of the Holy Ghost which hath shone so oft from Heaven upon us I see the Power thou hast at Gods right hand I see the royal bounty of thy love Now I know that thou knowest all things and believe that thou art the faithful and the true whose words shall never fail O how much ought I and every Christian Soul to rejoyce in the consolations of the Holy Ghost which hath brought us new assurances from Heaven that our Saviour lives and reigns and sits inthroned at the right hand of God in incomparable majesty and glory Inspire all our minds and hearts O thou quickning Spirit inspire them O Lord and Giver of Life with such ardent love and devotion towards him that we may hope to reign with him and then shall we rejoyce before-hand in this hope with joy unspeakable and full of glory Do not wholly absent they self from us O thou Guide and Comforter of our Souls though we have not been so grateful to thee nor followed thy directions and counsels as we ought but still let thy gracious presence fill every part of the Christian Church Though we have not that UNCTION from above which endued them heretofore with the gifts of tongues and prophecy and healing and working of miracles Yet pour down every where much of the spirit of knowledge and love and devotion and purity and fortitude and undaunted resolution and fervent Zeal which may be ever glorifying the great God and our Saviour Christ Jesus O thou who didst open the eyes of the blind and loose the tongue of the dumb enlighten our minds to see more of those wonders which may inflame our love and incourage our hope and open our lips that our mouths may shew forth thy Praise Still let there be hearts full of Faith in the blessed Jesus full of love to all mankind full of ardent desire to see his Kingdom come full of wisdom to open the mysteries of Salvation to instruct men in the truth as it is in Jesus and to convince them mightily and perswade them to be obedient to it That so by the same Heavenly power whereby the Faith of Christ was planted in the world it may be graciously preserved and promoted and we may see it go forward and advance more and more till every Nation now on Earth speak in their own tongues the wonderful works of God Let all the people praise thee O God Let all the people praise thee Kindle in them such devout affections as may offer up continually the sacrifice of praise to thee Let them praise thee with pure minds and upright hearts and unspotted lives and in perfect unity and godly love say every where Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen CHAP. V. Concerning the Witnesses on Earth and first of the WATER HAVING given a brief account of the Testimony of the first Three Witnesses and finding much satisfaction in their perfect agreement we have the greater encouragement to go to the other Three who are also nearer to us than the former and take that evidence which they are willing to afford us for our further confirmation in this belief that Jesus is the Son of God These three you read in the eighth Verse are such as bear witness on EARTH whereby we may be the better acquainted with them and they are the more undeniable and furthest off from all question or exception For should any be so bold as to dispute that there might
but thy will be done To all which you must add that he was thus pure and undefiled thus perfectly pious just and good in an Age that was levened with the doctrine of the Pharisees who by their Traditions had made void the Law of God Then he was complete in all manner of God-like qualities when the strictest Sect of Religious people were utterly void even of common honesty In those days he did all things that God required when it was counted the greatest sanctity to do little but what men prescribed When vertue was despised when Faith and Judgment and the Love of God were hated when there was nothing but the very dregs of Abrahams Piety remaining among his Children then Jesus testified to them that their deeds were evil then this light shined in that darkness and this Son of God entred upon a more than Herculean labour of cleansing the Temple and the People that were fuller of filth than the Augaean Stable And it is moreover to be considered that though he opposed those idle traditions of theirs which evacuated the Laws of God yet he neglected none of the Ceremonial ordinances of Moses but therein fulfilled all righteousness No body could accuse him for the breach of any Commandment that had a Divine stamp upon it When they quarrelled with him for healing on the Sabbath day He soon stopt their mouths by showing them that they themselves would not deny such a charity to an Oxe or an Asse upon that day if it were in danger of perishing or stood in need to be led away to watering Nor was this so great a labour in him as it was for them to pull a beast out of a pit for he did but speak a word and the cure was done without any further pains They did but discover therefore in these exceptions their own rancorous malice and base hypocrisie who scrupled such charitable actions as these on the Sabbath day but made no bones as we say at any time to undo even a poor widow whose house their Conscience was wide enough to swallow By his sharp but necessary reproof of such crimes he incurred their hatred Which could not dishearten him in his duty but still he continued his free admonitions and reprehensions though he knew it might cost him the loss of his life The doing of Gods will was a great deal dearer to him than that For this end he came into the world as he told Pilate that he might bear witness to the Truth And therefore it was his meat his great delight to do the will of him that sent him and to finish his work To conclude this so free from all spot was the Holy Jesus that the Devils malice could not tell what fault to charge upon him But as Eusebius * Lib. 3. demonstr Evang. recites from the Heathen Oracles was forced to acknowledge him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as he says a little after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is a most Religious person and made immortal after death an inhabitant of the celestial Orbs. Porphyry himself a great factor for the old Paganish worship but one that had tasted of Christianity and knew what was in it durst not as he there notes say any thing to his disparagement but from his own beloved Oracles though he regarded not the holy Scriptures was constrained to give the forementioned testimony of him All that he was able to say in detraction from his honour was this that Christians did foolishly to worship him Though he granted him to be carried to Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Pious men are wont to be and therefore advises his own Scholars not to blaspheme i. e. speak evil of Jesus but only to pity the ignorance of his followers It was very cautiously spoken and moved no doubt the pity of Christian people towards one that thought himself so knowing For whatsoever he unskilfully determined we are able to make it appear that we do well to worship and honour him even as we honour the Father of all since his life is confessed by his Enemies to be perfectly pure and unspotted and his Doctrine teaches men nothing but to do as he did This conclusion we shall easily draw from the premises if they be but diligently considered And 1. First of all it seems to me incredible that any one but he that was in the very bosom of God that is knew his mind most intimately as I have said before should be able to declare his will so fully and to give such a Divine Rule of holiness as Jesus hath done even by the mouth of those who were skilled in nothing but how to mend a Net or catch Fish or some such poor artifice till he inspired them All the words that he spake himself both for the matter and manner of them do not sound like the words of a Man but of a God Never man spake like this man say they that did not go to be instructed by him but to apprehend him vii John 46. The report of others did not make him so great as they found him when they came to see and hear him themselves Bad men are commonly more odious to us when we enter into conversation with them than they were whilest we remained strangers and had nothing to do with them Nay persons of known worth are sometimes more magnified by same than they appear when we approach nearer them But Jesus was every where admired and glorified and never more than when men grew the most familiar with him None could despise though they might hate him unless it was when he thought good to say nothing and to work no miracles which made Herod and his men of war set him at naught When he opened his mouth they that did not believe on him wondred as you have heard at the gracious words which thence proceeded For beside that his Discourses were incomparably beyond the common pitch of wise men his delivery of them was altogether Divine for he spake with authority and was a Prophet as the Disciples going to Emaus relate to himself Mighty in deed and word before God and all the people xxiv 19. And such were those poor ignorant men whom he chose to be his Apostles Who not only convinced gain-sayers with the strength of Divine Arguments but also delivered Instructions for good Manners with such exactness and such plainness of speech so familiarly and so agreeably to the noblest inclinations of humane nature that it is manifest they understood it better than the greatest Philosopher of them all None of them ever described the several duties of mankind and urged them with such proper arguments in so few words and yet so clearly and fully as these illiterate men did Nor was there ever a set of men so affectionately desirous of the good of others as these men were who were willing to impart unto them not only the Gospel of God but their own Souls also because they were dear
unto them So S. Paul writes to the Thessalonians 1 ii 8. every one of whom he exhorted and comforted and charged as a Father doth his children ver 11. But he never used any flattering words towards them nor spake as pleasing men but God who trieth the hearts nor carried on any design of covetousness or winning of glory to himself nor would be in the least burdensom to them but was gentle among them even as a nurse cherisheth her own children ver 4 5 6 7. Show me the man that ever spoke with such wisdom and judgment as they did and with so much tenderness of heart None but their Master ever preached or wrote with so Divine a Spirit which John the Baptist describes in such words with which I shall content my self as prove the excellence of his Person from the excellence of his Doctrine which he delivered unto men They are in the iii. John 31. where he says He that COMETH from above is above all He that is of the Earth is Earthly and speaketh of the Earth He that COMETH from Heaven is above all That is He who appears from Heaven with such a Divine Authority who delivers the mind of God in so rare a manner that one may see he hath been with God must needs excel all other persons in dignity Moses and the Prophets and me also who am of an Earthly extraction born like other men and can speak only like a man poor and low things in comparison with those which that Heavenly teacher delivers who I must needs again confess is far superiour to me because he is not a mere man but comes from Heaven and so is above all Prophets whatsoever who had more of the Earth than of Heaven in them that is knew none of those secret counsels of God concerning mans everlasting bliss nor could direct us in so short but plain and sure a way to it as he hath done And then it follows ver 32 33. And what he hath seen and heard that he testifieth c. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God That is he speaks such things that a man may easily see he is the only begotten of the Father who is in his bosom and knows his very mind having as certain an understanding of Heavenly things as we have of what we see and hear And therefore whosoever believes him does no more but assent to God whose words he speaks by a particular commission he received from him to act in his Name It is very observable that just after the mention of these Witnesses 1 John v. 10. S. John adds that He who believes not this record which God gives of his Son hath made him a liar as on the other side John the Baptist here says That he who doth receive his testimony i. e. believes solemnly acknowledges God to be true From whence I conclude that what is said in this Epistle hath a relation to that which is writ in the Gospel which I take to be no more than this That the Divineness of Jesus his Doctrine the purity and Heavenly strain of his discourses his preaching as if he had heard and seen the Father and knew the state of things above his speaking the Words of God not as anothers like the Prophets before him but as his own was a great testimony to him that he was sent of God in that quality that he pretended So that they who received him did but rely upon the Truth of God and give up their faith to him who hereby as well as other ways perswaded them that this was his Son 2. But then that which I mainly insist upon is this second consideration That his pure most holy Doctrine and Life was a great argument of his Divinity because this was part of his Doctrine that he was the Son of God For who can think that a person of his vertue who taught men both by word and deed such reverence to God and such justice and charity to men could be guilty of putting such an open affront upon the one and such an abuse upon the other as to challenge this title and propound himself to be received in this quality if he had not a just and undoubted right to it He that came with so much sanctity and holiness in all his other words and all his other actions one cannot but conclude was as holy and free from sin in this as much as in any thing else that he said he was the Christ and perswaded the people to believe he was the Son of the blessed This is certain He affirmed himself to be the Christ the Son of God first to his Disciples And that both before his sufferings xvi Matth. 16 17. ix Mark 41. and also after his resurrection xxiv Luke 46. And then to others also who were as yet none of them as 1. to the woman of Samaria iv John 26. Then 2. to the blind man whose eyes he opened ix John 35 36 37. And lastly he asserted it when he was brought before his Judges as you have heard already and this very matter was brought in question yea when they adjured him by the true God and as he bare any respect to him to tell them the very truth in this thing Now who is there that would not infer from hence that all the rest of his Doctrine being so opposite to all lying and every other vice and his whole life giving such a proof of his perfect vertue that they had nothing to ground a charge upon against him but merely this profession of his own wherein if he had pleased he might have been silent it is not in the least credible that a person of his integrity should after so long speaking truth now at the last be guilty of speaking a lye And 2. a lye of such a dangerous consequence as this by which if it were one he and a world of Souls must be undone Yea 3. that he should tell it so often to so many persons And that 4. before the Magistrates who are Gods in this world And that 5. when they were desirous and very importunate to know the truth Yea 6. before God himself by whose name he was solemnly adjured to speak nothing but the truth How is it possible that such a man as he should be so void of all fear of God as to offend him in so high a manner There are none sure whose unstandings are sound or whose consciences are not crackt who can so much as fancy much less perswade themselves to believe that a person whose innocence was so great that all the false witnesses they could find men who cared not for their own lives could not be masters of his should now in such a serious manner when he was going out of the world put such an horrid cheat upon it and with the loss of his life too upon a shameful gibbet as
to say that he came from God if he had no warrant for it All sober men must rather confidently believe that He who arrived as I have often said at such an height of blameless purity in all other points whatsoever was as free from blame in this also and said nothing but the very Truth when He so solemnly and so frequently before God and before men in his life-time and at his death professed that he was the Son of God And if any man still object that his uprightness indeed was so great that without all doubt he would not invent such a tale as this and affirm what he did not believe but yet he might be mistaken and believe that which was not true He may answer himself from his own concessions For if he consider how free our Saviour was from all ambitious desires how modestly he refused to be advanced how void he was of covetousness and all other worldly appetites which may blind a mans reason and abuse his understanding and likewise how admirably he discourses how rational and convincing how sublime and heavenly all his Sermons are He will soon be satisfied that it is not credible a person of his wisdom should be ruled by mere fancy or of his goodness be carried into a vain dream by any sensual affections which had no place in him This is the first acception of the word WATER which you see clears our Lord from all imputation of fraud and washes off all aspersions that might be cast upon him of imposture For there is not the least spot or blemish appears in the whole course of his Life to render him suspected of any guile much less of so great a deceit as this to feign himself the Son of God Nay his Doctrine is so Divine so much beyond the strain of the wisest men that ever spake that it demonstrates he was as little obnoxious to be deluded himself as he was inclined and disposed to delude others II. Let us now proceed to see what testimony may be drawn from this WATER in behalf of our Lord if we take it in the other sence for BAPTISM in which we make a profession of PURITY And there is a twofold BAPTISM by which our Lord may be said to COME that is to appear a Person sent of God as his only begotten Son The first is the Baptism of John the second is his own Baptism I. As for the Baptism of John it may be said that our Saviour CAME by or with this WATER both because John when he baptized men with Water preached that He was coming iii. Matth. 11. i. John 30. and because He brought this Baptism along with him or rather sent it a little before him as a testimony of him which would prepare his way and dispose their hearts to receive him as the Christ of God For it is manifest that it was intendded as a proof of this from those words of our Saviour himself by which he stopt the mouths of the Pharisees and took away all matter of cavil from them when he asserted his supreme Authority both over them and over their Temple xxi Matth. 23 24 25 26. There you read that our Saviour having come in Triumph to Jerusalem ver 8 9. and there received Hosanna's from old and young and been saluted as the Son of David that is their KING who the Prophet had said ver 5. should come unto them meek and sitting upon the Foal of an Asse and he having cast the buyers and sellers out of the Temple ver 12. and prohibited them to carry so much as a vessel through it as S. Mark tells us xi 16. and being now teaching the people there the Chief Priests and the Elders came to him and examined him by what Authority he did these things and who gave him this Authority That is they bid him produce his Commission if he had any and show them from whom he was SENT and CAME to take this Office not only of a Teacher but of a Reformer and that of the Temple it self and likewise who warranted him to ride in such pomp to Jerusalem as the Son of David the Lord of that Country The Answer of our Saviour to this question is that they might soon be resolved if they would but satisfie him in another question concerning another person who was come also in an unusual manner among them And that was whether John had a Commission from God to baptize or came of himself by the allowance of men only Answer me but this question says he and I will tell you by what authority I do these things Consider of it and tell me what you think whence was John's Baptism from Heaven or of Men That is who gave him his power to preach to reprove to call men to repentance to receive confession of sins and to do all other things belonging to his Ministry which Baptism accompanied and constantly waited upon Did God bid him go or was it from a motion of his own While they consulted for an Answer to this question of our Saviours they clearly saw their own answered And they were not so dull but that they could easily discern our Lord would irrefragably prove his Divine Authority and make them confess he was the Messias unless they would adventure to say that which all the Country would decry not only as a falsity but an egregious calumny For if they had affirmed that John entred upon the Office of Baptizing and Teaching the people out of his own private will and inclination or by commission from some men in this opinion they knew they should be singular because all the people held him to be a Prophet That is it was the sence of the whole Nation then and so it was afterward as appears by Josephus that the Baptist was a Divine Man inspired by God and sent of him to do what he did which would have made them the publick scorn and hatred if without a reason able to confute all the Country they should have denied it But then if they should grant this and say He was sent of God which was the only thing they could say with safety if they would affirm either they saw themselves in as ill or worse a case another way being as much afraid of what Jesus would say if this were confessed as they were of what the people would say if it were contradicted For as the people would have cried shame on them if they had disparaged John's ministry so if they allowed it to be from Heaven then they knew Jesus would unanswerably prove his Commission to be from Heaven too and tell them that John whom they took for a Divine Man should acquaint them with his authority and from whom he had it for he bare witness in express words that he was the Christ the Son of God They thought it a safer course therefore to leave this question undetermined and to say they could not tell whence his Baptism was than by
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
had been the mark of folly added to that of insincerity that he was a shameless deceiver And therefore I conclude that he would have witnessed a good confession by denying all that he had said concerning his being the Son of God if he had not known assuredly that he had said nothing but that great Truth which must not be denied whatsoever miseries and disgraces it cost him to make it good V. And this truly is much to be considered that if he had been wont to cheat and speak falsely there could not have been a more seasonable time to make use of some lye than now that it would cost him his life to assert this which no doubt he took for a truth If he would but have denied this one thing and said that he was not the Son of God all their malice as I said could not have found a crime great enough to warrant the taking away of his life according to their Law And therefore supposing him an Impostor and deceiver as the Jews called him he must be a very silly one who would not now make use of his art to save himself when that one little word NO would have done it in answer to the question that the High Priest put to him For what reason can be imagined why he should now scruple to tell an untruth if he were a man of that stamp which would bring such a great advantage to him as the preservation of his life VI. He might at least especially if he had dealt with Beelzebub as the Pharisees calumniated him have put some trick or other upon them and shifted himself out of the hands of his enemies for that would have got him more credit and fame than dying for a lye Why did he not escape from them if he had not both believed this that he was the Son of God and thought it necessary also to attest it even with his BLOUD Had he not opportunity to run away or rather might he not have kept himself among his friends far enough out of their reach Was it not a question whether he would come to the feast or not xi John 56. Nay after the assembly of the wicked had inclosed him as the Psalmist speaks had he not power to break through them and make his escape Yes sure for what else is the meaning of that which you read xviii John 6. that the band of men which came to apprehend him went backward and fell to the ground when he did but tell them that He was the man whom they sought for Was not this a fit time to flye and get away when they had no strength to lay hold on him Had not he power as well to depart as to weaken their hands that they could not approach him Nay was it not far easier to go away himself than to make them lie prostrate there No doubt of it only he would stand to it as I said and make it good by his Bloud that he was the Son of God He showed that he had not lost his power to baffle them but his will was not to use it His death was a voluntary Sacrifice He laid down his life of his own accord and no man took it from him as it is x. John 18. All their Armies had they compassed him about to speak in the Psalmists phrase as strong Bulls of Bashan had they gaped upon him with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring Lion i. e. with the most greedy desire to devour him could not have touched him unless he had been pleased to deliver himself up to their fury and chosen to become their prey that they might do execution upon him And therefore it is most absurd and contrary to nature to imagine that He would have thus freely exposed himself to such cruelties and vile usage as he saw was intended for him unless he had certainly thought it a most eligible and honourable thing to endure them in defence of a great Truth which it concerned all the world to have well asserted and vindicated from all suspicion of falshood Would it not have angred any man but Him to be betrayed by a domestick servant by a Friend one whom he had freely chosen to be a great Minister in his Kingdom and had made at present the keeper of his purse besides many other favours conferred on him Was it not a vile dishonour first to be brought before the Magistrate as a Criminal and then to be abused there by base souldiers and the dregs of the people as if there had not been a more contemptible wretch in the whole Country What was it then to be beaten and cudgelled to be spit upon and mocked to be loaden with lyes and forgeries to be condemned to suffer among thieves to be counted less worthy to live than a murderer to be scourged to be crowned with thorns to be crucified that is to endure a tedious a disgraceful a painful and accursed death and after all this to be unpitied to be laught at even upon the Cross and called a senseless deceiver who had not the wit to keep some of his kindness for himself but having saved the lives of others could not now at last save his own Can you think of any one that would have the heart to offer himself freely to suffer such things but only He who took all this so patiently that he did not utter one discontented or angry word And who can think that he would have endured them when he might have easily avoided it unless he had thought it necessary and worthy to submit himself to such torments and reproaches that he might confirm this Truth and make it live by his bloudy death VII Which had the greater efficacy in it to show the importance of this Truth and the certainty which he had of it because he affirmed it not only before the High Priest when it was apparent they intended mischief against him but before Pontius Pilate also as I observed above from xviii John 37. when they were importunately desiring him to condemn him If we could imagine it was his rashness and heat that made him say as he did before the Council of Jerusalem yet he had time enough sure to have cooled himself before he came to be tried at this other tribunal of the Gentiles Why did he not think of some other answer now that he saw the Jews were not in a sudden passion and transported with a fit of rage to condemn him but by a concocted hatred were resolved to pursue him till they had his bloud There can no account be given of it but this That his Death was an advised thing and his BLOUD deliberately shed to obtain the greater belief to him because he professed again and again though he knew he must die for it that He was CHRIST their KING VIII And observe likewise that even when he was in the midst of his sufferings and when he was ready to give up the ghost He again
the raising of Lazarus which had drawn many of the Jews to him and he promises shortly to make it appear more brightly by raising up Jesus from the dead which would draw also many such Gentiles as these to believe on his name To conclude this that which the above named Jewish writer pretends in favour of Moses that he appeared and did his wonders in an age when the world was full of wisdom and knowledge is a great deal truer of our blessed Saviour For as he rightly notes * Sepher Cosri Par. 1. Sect. 63. that Learning still went along with the Monarchies so it never was at a greater height than in the greatest Empire that of the Romans and in the highest pitch of that Empire when our Saviour appeared Upon which account there cannot be any suspicion of fraud in this or the rest of our Saviours miracles which were not wrought in an ignorant age nor in an obscure and barbarous Nation nor in some blind corner of the Country but openly near a famous City for Bethany was hard by Jerusalem where there were professors of wisdom and in a time when men could easily distinguish between a real miracle and a mere delusion This therefore ought to have opened their eyes to see who he was whose miraculous works they could not but see And it is justly mentioned to their eternal reproach in the conclusion of this story xii John 37. that though he had done so many miracles before them yet they believed not on him For they could not with any colour ascribe them to any power but that of Gods who hereby told them what the voice from Heaven told him that this was his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased II. And truly there can no good reason be given which is the second thing that I told you should be considered why the Apostles should spend so great a part of the short History they have left of his Life in relating his miraculous works if they had not both known them to be evident and notorious things which all the Country could witness and likewise esteemed them mighty demonstrations that he was the Son of God Why else are they so large in describing his cures of several sorts with the manner of them if they were not sure that they could not be contradicted and if they did not desire they should be carefully heeded and concluded likewise that if they were men would acknowledge him to be the CHRIST whom God had sanctified and sent into the world to declare his will to them Which belief if it were once rooted deeply in their hearts the Apostles knew very well would irresistibly constrain them to be obedient to him in every thing This is that which gives his words such authority which makes them sink into our hearts and possesses them of our very Souls and turns all other opinions and perswasions which are inconsistent with them out of doors a belief that our Creator speaks unto us by his mouth They were well aware that it was no easie thing to perswade the world of this but that men might justly doubt of so strange a report For there is such a vast distance between God and us as the Jews make that Gentile King Cosar discourse in the foremention'd Book called after his Name that a man will be apt to think the Majesty of Heaven will not enter into such familiarity and friendship with flesh and bloud as to talk with them Before we can believe this says He we must see prodigies and miracles and behold the course of nature inverted by such astonishing works as can be done by none but him that created all things And it is well if after all this the mind of man will rest satisfied that the Lord of the World the Lord of the Sun and Moon and Stars the Lord of Angels as well as all inferiour Creatures will have society with such vile clay such contemptible dirt as we are And therefore as the Jew in that Discourse with him declares how God demonstrated his presence with Moses by mighty miracles seen by all the people and by their enemies too which were the fittest argument for God to use far beyond the little reasonings and disputings of Philosophers even so the Apostles prove to us that God was in our Saviour and that we ought to believe what he says of himself or concerning us by enumerating many of the mighty wonders which he did in the midst of the people wonders that amazed all beholders and of which they could give no account but that God was with him and spake by him as his Son else he could not have done those things which so much exceeded all the power of Creatures nay all that his own power had wrought for the honour of his servant Moses It was unreasonable that they should in those days ask any greater tokens of a Divine authority and when they did our Saviour told them they should have none but the sign of the Prophet Jonas that is his Resurrection of which I shall speak presently And it is as unreasonable in us now to expect any thing should be better attested than this truth That our Saviour did all those things which the Apostles have recorded We have them reported from those that saw them and that had all opportunities to examine them from those that beheld more of them than they could number men of great fidelity and admirable vertue men that had no interest so great as this to declare the truth for the good of mankind whatsoever they lost by it Unless we will demand that Christ should come again in every Age and also work his wonders in every Nation in every place before every particular mans eyes we can have no better assurance than we have of these things Now how absurdly unreasonable is he who will not be satisfied without such a new descent of our blessed Saviour from Heaven continually repeated and unless he may see him crucified afresh before his eyes For men may as well disbelieve that part of the story as all the rest and require that they may see all those barbarous cruelties and indignities which we read of acted over again upon our Saviour perpetually to the end of the World The very mention of which as it is horrible so should it be done it would destroy the very nature of faith which is the receiving of something upon report And that is one sure way of conveying the notice of things to us which we could not otherwise know And things so made known if the Witnesses be good are accounted by all mankind to be as sufficient a ground to proceed upon in the most considerable actions of humane life as the knowledge of them by seeing feeling and by the rest of our senses is Let us therefore receive the Testimony of the Apostles of our Lord seeing there is no exception as you may hear more before I have done that lies against their
it was no common thing but the BLOUD of the Holy one of God It witnessed to that WITNESS and proved that as he did not speak contrary to his knowledge so he did not speak contrary to the truth And if the SPIRIT could not be believed in this it would have lost all its credit and never have been believed more we could never have known any thing by the greatest wonders it can work if such things had been done for a deceiver as it is apparent were done for Jesus For that he was raised up to life again we are assured by the testimony of the Apostles and by the testimony of the Holy Ghost of which none can reasonably doubt as it were easie to show if it were not my present business rather to demonstrate that this was an irrefragable testimony of the SPIRIT to him a most powerful means to beget faith and assurance in mens minds that Jesus is the Son of God It was for this very end that S. John wrote the History of his Resurrection and the several signs and tokens they had of it as he tells us in those words xx John 30 31. Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his Disciples which are not written in this Book But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name For this plainly reversed the sentence of condemnation which the Jews had pass'd upon him It showed that he was acquitted in a far higher Court than that which judged him worthy of death Whose decree it rescinded and openly declared that he was no Blasphemer when he said he was the Son of God If he had God would have been more concern'd than they to have kept him fast in his grave for ever that there so great a lye might have been buried together with himself For the further clearing of which it will be fit to consider briefly these three things First that before he died he promised his Apostles that he would rise again and gave this also as a sign to all the people whereby they should know that he was the Christ And secondly that he declared this to be the greatest sign he had to give of it And thirdly that his very enemies confess it is a sufficient sign and satisfactory testimony of any truth I. For the first of these that it was a sign promised to his Apostles and predicted to the people there is nothing more easie to be observed in the Gospel story For he tells his Apostles very often that they should see him betrayed and killed but on the third day he would rise again No sooner had S. Peter confessed that he was the CHRIST but from that time forth Jesus began to shew them how that he must go to Jerusalem and there suffer many things and be killed and be raised again the third day xvi Matth. 21. For he would not have them expect a Christ that should reign here on Earth but in Heaven And till he went thither he would not have them so much as preach that he was the CHRIST ver 20. And what he had said here at Caesarea he repeats again when they were in Galilee xvii Matth. 22 23. And again when they were going up to Jerusalem xx 19. And not many hours before he was apprehended he said again A little while and ye shall not see me and again a little while and ye shall see me because I go to the Father xvi John 16. At which words they were greatly troubled because they minded more what he said about his death than they regarded his resurrection which was to follow But the greater their trouble was then the greater their satisfaction was afterwards when they saw him alive again The less disposed they were to believe it the more confident they grew when they saw such a wonder They wept and lamented when he was gone as he told them they would ver 20. But when he came to see them again their heart rejoyced with such a joy as none could dispoil them of ver 22. The ground of which joy you shall see presently when I have also remembred you how he foretold his Resurrection to the people as a testimony that he was the CHRIST It was their wont in all Ages and with great reason to ask for a sign that a man was sent of God And therefore now that Jesus came with such authority as to redress many abuses among them and to reform that Nation and Temple they ask him what sign shewest thou unto us seeing that thou doest these things ii Joh. 18. He had given them signs enough already and therefore makes no other answer but this to let them know what should be the last sign Destroy this Temple pointing to his own body and in three days I will raise it up vers 19. From whence we may safely argue that Jesus having given this as a sign and token whereby it should evidently appear more than by all his miracles that he was the Son of God the Almighty would never have fulfilled this promise and prediction if He had usurped his authority and taken upon him to be his ANOINTED without his leave Nothing was more easie than to quash all his pretences which relyed upon his Resurrection without which his Apostles as I told you had no authority to Preach that he was the Christ It had been but letting him rot in his grave as all men naturally do when they are dead and all the World would have been of the mind of the Pharisees that he was a Deceiver And God sure hath not so little care of the World as to deny them such ready and obvious means of satisfaction about the most important truth We ought to think rather that he would have concerned himself to see that this Temple which he spake of should lye for ever in its ruines and be turned to dust and ashes He who alone could do it would have been so far from rearing it up again that he would have provided it should be prophaned and made the vilest rubbish in the World But there being very good proofs many infallible proofs as S. Luke speaks i. Act. 3. that it was quite otherwayes and that indeed it was raised after three days as he had told the People it was a Testimony from God most high that He dwelt in that Temple and that it was his Holy place where he manifested his glory He declared to them by this that Jesus was no Deceiver but that they ought to believe he was the Christ of God For that a man should be raised from the dead by any other power than that of God's all the World concludes is impossible If any of those lying spirits which love to cheat and abuse the world could do such feats why do we not see this frequently happen that so they might break the force of this testimony and overthrow our belief Above
all things they should be concerned one would think to work this wonder for then we should be forced to confess that there is nothing so eminent and singular in this thing as to move us to give credit unto Jesus But since it never has been done but only in this instance and it was also a fulfilling of his word when he gave it as a token of this truth we have reason to conclude as S. Paul did after he had seen him alive that this is very CHRIST Upon this ground it was that the Apostles so much rejoyced when they saw him again for now as S. John tells us ii 22. when he was risen from the dead they remembred that he had said this unto them concerning the raising up the Temple of his Body and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said Now they were assured they had not been deluded and yielded their assent all this while to a fancy They saw clearly that he was their KING though he had been vilely disgraced and crucified And therefore when they parted with him again after his Resurrection they did not lament and mourn as they had done before but worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the Temple praising and blessing God xxiv Luk. 52 53. II. But it is time to add that as it was a sign which he gave them before-hand of this Truth so he told them it was the greatest sign which he had to give He had done many things in his life time to perswade the Jews that he was the CHRIST But still they were so perverse as to ask for more signs of it Though he had done more miracles than ever Moses or all the Prophets had done from the beginning yet the Pharisees continue to say Master we would see a sign from thee xii Matth. 38. One would think they had a mind to learn of him since they call him Master but it was only a complement as S. Luke informs us xi 16. And therefore our Saviour calls them an evil and adulterous generation who were degenerated from the manners of their pious ancestors for they were contented with less proofs of that which God required them to believe and would have been ashamed to seek after a sign as these men did after such evident tokens of a Divine presence in him as they beheld Why should he gratifie men of so naughty a humour whom nothing would satisfie but a sign from Heaven which S. Luke says they demanded nor would be convinced then neither he clearly discerned by their frivolous cavils at all that he had already done Therefore he tells them no sign shall be given them but the sign of the Prophet Jonas which was not a sign from Heaven but from the bowels of the Earth For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the Whales belly so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth vers 39 40. Which was as much as to say It is in vain to attempt the conviction of such corrupt and depraved minds as yours are by such means as these And therefore I must tell you all that is remaining for the opening your eyes and conquering your perversness is my Resurrection As Jonas was miraculously restored again to live upon the earth after he had been swallowed up by a Whale in the Sea and layn there three days which was a notable sign that he was a Prophet and could not but obtain him credit with the Ninevites when they came to the knowledge of this wonder So will I be restored again to life after you have killed me and I have layn three days in the bowels of the earth and if this will not satiffie you there is no other sign to follow this for your conviction But let me tell you as he adds vers 41. if you still persist in unbelief when this is fulfilled the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with you and condemn you for they repented at Jonas his preaching and behold a greater than Jonas is here That is though Jonas was not really dead but only had his life wonderfully preserved yet the report of it wrought faith and the fruits of faith repentance and amendment in the hearts of the Ninevites and what a condemnation will it prove to you if after you have seen me actually dead and it be demonstrated to you that I am raised to life again you will not believe on me The very same thing is repeated again xvi Matth. 4. where they having once more demanded a sign from Heaven ver 1. He answers them that they should have none but this of Jonas and he left them and departed As if he had said I have nothing more to say to you now all that remains is that I dye and rise again which is the last and greatest token that I am the CHRIST And indeed this was a sign so great that it gave force and strength to the other signs which had been given of this Truth For in the next Chapter Matth. xvii 9. we read that Three Apostles having been confirmed in this belief by a voice from Heaven which said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him Jesus charges them saying Tell the Vision to no man until the Son of man be risen again from the dead Till He had taken possession of his Kingdom and was set upon his Throne and thence sent the Holy Ghost He saw it would be to no purpose for the Apostles to publish this testimony of God the Father to him For they had already slighted the testimony of John Baptist who heard the like Voice from Heaven at his Baptism and thereupon bare witness that Jesus was the Christ And therefore it was not likely that they would listen to the Apostles when they came and testified that the same words were spoken in their hearing until their testimony should be justified by the authority of such a proof as this that he was risen from the dead This would mightily back all that they said and make it undeniable by any but those who would still deny his Resurrection which was wilfully and without any reason not only to call them lyars but to affront the Holy Ghost who witnessed together with them that he was risen from the dead Which being a proof of such strength that our Saviour relyed upon it above all other it is manifest to common reason that if there be a God as we are sure there is who loves sincerity and truth he should above all things have taken order that this should not have had such evidence as it hath if indeed Jesus was not his Son Though he had suffered wonders to be done by him and voices from Heaven had been heard yet still he gained not much belief in the most considerable part of the Jewish Nation and therefore appealing in conclusion to this Grand Testimony sure there
together to believe it Were they drawn away with mere words And with the danger of their lives followed a poor despicable Preacher when they saw nothing that was wonderful for strange to perswade them to this worship What vain senseless imaginations are these Therefore they believed and suffered themselves to be torn in pieces rather than deny it because they saw all these things done by him and by his Preachers who were sent through the whole world to carry the benefits of our Father to mankind and to bestow the gifts of healing both on their Souls and Bodies But our Writers have not set these things down faithfully They have extolled small matters and ambitiously magnified them beyond their just proportions Why so I beseech you By what reason shall we believe any of your writings if this History of ours must be rejected In which but a few things of the many that were done are recorded by men of truth and honesty Did any God come down from Heaven and write with his own hand the stories that you believe Or is there any thing of that nature writ against ours Then you believe men and so do we Your Books were writ by men and so were ours And whatsoever you will say of ours look for the same to be retorted upon your own Will you have all things contained in your writings to be true so are all contained in ours Do you say ours are false the same we say of yours And how will you help your selves You cannot say that you saw the things that you believe no more than we But others saw them and therefore you believe them and so do we But ours were writ by rude and unlearned men and therefore not to be believed Consider if this be not an advantage to our cause and a stronger reason to conclude that these writings are stained with no lies but delivered with a simple mind ignorant how to amplifie things and so set them off with deceitful dresses As for that which follows concerning the trivial sordid stile wherein they said the Apostles writ it does not in the least render the faithfulness of their relations suspected and therefore I pass it over and omit his reply to it though I cannot well neglect this pertinent observation of Erasmus in his Preface to his Paraphrase upon S. Lukes Gospel The language says he of the Gospel is so simple and rude that if any body compare it with the History of Thucydides or Livy he will want abundance of things and be offended at as many How many things do the Evangelists pass by How many do they but just touch in two or three words In how many places do they disagree in the order of their Narration and in how many others do they seem to thwart one another These things might make a Reader less like them and not give such credit to what he reads For on the contrary they that wrote humane Histories how solicitous were they about their entrance upon their work How scrupulously did they weigh their words What care did they imploy to observe a decent order to set down nothing but what was plausible and exactly described And with what art do they endeavour to set things lively before our eyes With what pleasures do they intice and detain the minds of the Readers that they may not at all grow weary of them And yet these elaborate Monuments for the greatest part are lost and those that remain are not read with any assurance that they report nothing but the truth For who is so credulous as to believe that Titus Livius tells never a tale in his History But there are millions of men found who had rather die ten times than think there is one sentence false in the Evangelical story Is it not plain by this that it is not a business of humane power and prudence but conducted by a Divine vertue What Philosopher is there that ever had the confidence to propound such Paradoxes as these with hope to be believed That one Jesus was crucified and by his death saved mankind that he was God and Man born of a Virgin that he rose again from the dead and sits at the right hand of God the Father that he taught they were blessed men who mourned hungred and thirsted were afflicted ill-spoken of and killed for the profession of his name and that one day they should live again and see him sit in judgment to give immortality to the pious and endless pains to the ungodly What is there plausible and taking in all this And yet the humble low stile of the Gospel perswaded men of this so that thousands millions will rather forsake their lives than this plain truth which a few private unknown poor mean disciples of his delivered to the World What should move us then to distrust these records of the faithful WITNESSES of Christ which are come down to us through the hands of all Ages since so as they were delivered to them What do we see now more than our Forefathers did in Arnobius his days or those which succeeded that gives us any cause to suspect their truth Are they altered from what they were If any company of men had been so bold as to venture at such a change they would first have mended the stile no doubt and placed things in greater order and method according to the exactest rules of art But that they are untained an uncorrupted and in no material passage vary from what they were in former Ages appears by what all Christian Writers have transcribed out of them into their Books which agrees with that which we now read They are the same now that ever they were They contain a relation of those things which converted as Arnobius says the incredulous world who did not want wit nor learning no more than we but saw great reason to renounce all the fables which had been told of their Gods and to believe what they read here concerning Jesus For it is the testimony of God Almighty they evidently perceived that is recorded in those Books Which when we receive our faith will not be less divine than theirs in the first Age because we both receive the Witness of God only they saw or heard it and we read the record of what they saw and heard Which makes no considerable difference 〈◊〉 the nature of the testimony For the 〈◊〉 â—â—ny of any man standing upon aâ—â—â—â—ed record is as good an evidence 〈◊〉 he were alive in person to give it No man loses his cause when his Witnesses die if they have already given their evidence in any Court of Record And therefore there is no reason that our Lord Jesus should lose his authority among us because the Apostles his WITNESSES have left the world and so has the WITNESS of the Spirit and the Holy Ghost since that which they testified to mankind stands upon authentick record in the holy Gospel which cannot with any show of reason be
Verse why they gave themselves as whole burnt offerings to Christ but that by the example of their Faith and Martyrdom they might instruct many more to be Martyrs Nay their BLOUD did not only water many young plants and made them grow to their perfection but He tells us a little after in his exposition of the same Psalm Plures scimus c. We know many who were wholly ignorant of the Divine Sacraments i. e. the Christian Religion that by the example of the Martyrs run to Martyrdom No wonder then that these above all others have been called the WITNESSES of Jesus for that 's the interpretation of the word MARTYR and that Christians were forward even to kiss their wounds and to embrace their dead bodies as the remains of those who had done most eminent service to our Lord. Who himself therefore witnessed to them after they were dead and declared that their bloud was very dear and precious in his sight and that it had sealed nothing but the truth For there can no other reason be given but this why at the Monuments of these MARTYRS or WITNESSES our Saviour was pleased to have so many miracles wrought afterward and before such a number of people that Porphyry himself as we learn both from S. Cyril and S. Hierom though an avowed enemy of our Religion could not but acknowledge them They still spake and bare Witness to Jesus by these wonderful works when they were dead or rather Jesus spake for them as I said and declared from Heaven that these were his faithful Witnesses whose word ought to be believed whereby they had declared him to be the Lord. A PRAYER WHO would not believe on thee O Lord who would not magnifie thy Name For great and marvellous are thy works just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints All Nations ought to come and worship before thee whose Majesty and Glory is so many ways made manifest Thou hast raised poor and ignorant men to be mighty Ministers of thy Grace and Witnesses of thy Resurrection and co-workers with thee for the illumination and conversion of the world Blessed be thy name for all the glorious Lights which have been in thy Church in every Age by whom thy holy Faith hath been preserved and propagated to our days Blessed be thy name for all the Martyrs who sealed it with their Bloud and for all the Confessors who freely acknowledged thee with the danger of their lives Great was thy glory which shone in their most exemplary holiness fortitude patience love unseigned both to friends and enemies and in that mighty power whereby they approved themselves as the Ministers of God Thanks be to thee O God the Lord of Heaven and Earth for the comfort of thy holy Scriptures wherein we read the story of our Saviours wondrous love and of that most miraculous power which appeared in him to testifie unto him and at last raised him from the dead and advanced him to the throne of Glory From whence he sent the Holy Ghost to endue his Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers with power from on high that they might be his Witnesses and commit that which they had received to faithful men who should be able to teach others also O God I cannot but again adore thy incomprehensible love which can never be sufficiently praised Who can understand the exceeding riches of thy grace that thou whose naked glory is too bright for our weak minds to fix their eyes upon wouldest be pleased in most admirable condescending love to manifest thy self and visit us in our flesh Thou art infinitely above the greatest of us who are far less worthy to approach thee than the lowest creature in this world is fit for our friendship and society So much the more marvellous is thy unheard of love that thou wouldest admit us to such a near relation unto thee So much the greater is our happiness that in Christ Jesus thou hast made thy self our portion and designed us to be eternally blessed with thee Great was his care and kindness all the days of his flesh towards the most miserable wretches who received the greatest tokens of his love I rejoyce now to think with what tenderness he received the poor fed the hungry visited the sick cured the diseased and when he had left the world communicated the same power unto others that they might exercise the same charity that he had done I see both the power and goodness of our Lord in all those works of wonder which he did I see that his mercy endureth for ever which hath preserved a faithful record of these things that we through patience and comfort of the holy Scriptures might have hope Now the God of all grace inspire me and all other Christian Souls with the same faith love and ardent zeal which was in those burning and shining Lights the Witnesses of Christ. That we may be followers of them as they were of him and acknowledging the same Lord being members of the same body partaking of the same Sacraments and living upon the same Heavenly food we may lead the same holy lives in hope to shine one day with them in the same celestial glory Help us to continue in the things which we have learnt and have been assured of knowing of whom we have learnt them that we may not at any time let them slip For how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him thou O God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to thine own will May we always carefully lay up and preserve these sacred truths in our heart which were in so glorious a manner delivered to us May they work there perpetually with great power and be reverenced as the holy Oracles of God! May they be the spring of all our motions throughout the whole course of our life That with an even steddy pace whatsoever dangers come in our way we may walk on towards that happy place where those holy ones rejoyce for ever with our Lord. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be given by us and by those glorified Spirits and by all the Angels in Heaven everlasting Praises Amen CHAP. IX The Vse we are to make of their Testimony IT is time now to bring this Discourse to an issue and having examined all these Divine Witnesses taken their proofs and depositions and found their testimony upon due enquiry to be good and legal to consider with our selves what we have to do and what judgment we will pass now that we have heard their evidence God the Father of all says that Jesus is his Son the Word himself appeared oft to justifie this Truth the Holy Ghost came down from Heaven to attest it the Prophet of the Highest proclaimed it the holy life of our
Saviour spake as much and his Bloudy Death sealed it to which the Spirit set its seal also and undeniably witnessed that bloud was sacred which he shed for a testimony upon the Cross All these have done their part all that Witnesses by their office are to do for the making of this good that Jesus is the Son of God That which remains is our task who are bound to consider and seriously ponder and impartially judge and then faithfully improve their sacred Testimony that Jesus may have the glory that is due unto him and we may have that benefit which God by him designs to bestow upon us I. And first of all let us consider a-while the great weight and importance of this Truth that Jesus is Gods Son If the whole frame of Christian Religion did not rely upon it there would not have been such care taken to settle it and lay it deep in our hearts by so much labour and strength of argument It is equally blameable to be laborious about a trifle and to be superficial and slight in things of greatest moment No man of sense will with a great deal of diligence summon together a number of Witnesses to make good that which when it is proved it is indifferent as to any thing that depends upon it whether it be true or false No question there is a considerable interest of ours which is concerned in this truth else the Holy men of God would not have called HEAVEN AND EARTH TO WITNESS and bear their testimony to it The Father the Word the Holy-Ghost would not have concurred with the Water the Bloud and the Spirit to assert and maintain it but that all is little enough to justifie it and that it is a thing of which we cannot but desire the greatest assurance It is 1. the Foundation of all other Truths in the Christian Religion as you may read 1 Cor. iii. 11. xvi Matth. 17 18. It is the Rock on which the Church is built the Ground that supports the whole Fabrick which if it be infirm and rotten all falls to rubbish and confusion And therefore 2. the Devil laboured to undermine this Truth above all others Like a subtile Enemy when the Apostles as wise Master-builders had laid this foundation he imployed false Teachers and counterfeit Apostles as so many Pioneers to work under this and lay their trains to blow it up which he knew was a nearer way to ruine all than to plant his Batteries against the building onely The History of the first times afford too plentiful instances of this For we find there arose many Anti-christs 1 Joh. ii 18. and many false Prophets went out into the World iv 1. And the very spirit of Antichrist as he tells us vers 3. was this to deny that Jesus who came in flesh in a mortal condition and subject to our miseries was Christ. They would not have it thought that any one who suffered so vilely was the great KING that had been so long expected Or if they believed Jesus to be a great Prophet and that he was raised from the dead and rewarded for his labours in Heaven as other Prophets were yet they denied that he was made LORD OF ALL the Head of the Church and of all Principalities and Powers who was to be honoured by all Men even as they honour the Father And therefore 3. the Apostles imployed as great care and earnest indeavour for to strengthen and support this weighty truth as the Enemies of Religion laboured might and main as we say to weaken and overthrow the belief of it This was the thing they every where preached as you read in the History of the Acts of the Apostles And for this very end S. John wrote this Epistle to confirm his Disciples in this Faith against all the subtile opposition of their adversaries as you may collect from many passages beside that which I have expounded And it was the thing aimed at also in his second Epistle where he rejoyces to hear that they walkt in the truth vers 3. and cautions them against those deceivers and Antichrists vers 7. And indeed 4. it was the great note of difference between the true Prophets and the false as you may see 1 Cor. xii 3. and in the place now mentioned in this Epistle iv 1 2. which also 5. makes him command his Disciples that if any one pretending to the Spirit did not acknowledge this they should not use the common civility to him of bidding him God speed ii Epist 10. And if any man apostatiz'd from this faith which is the last thing I shall mention S. Paul pronounces a most dreadful curse upon him and wishes or predicts the Lord would come and speedily execute it 1 Corinth xvi 22. For whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of CHRIST hath not God 2. epist of S. Joh. 9. This being a truth therefore of so great moment as appears by these considerations and by the many Witnesses to which S. John here appeals for the proof of it let us be sure to settle a sense of its concernment to us in our hearts and then to think often of it and study it so thoroughly that we may perceive both the truth and importance of it or else we shall prove our selves despisers of God who do as bad as say that it was a needless pains which he bestowed in giving so many evidences of that for which we have no regard or no list to bring to trial and examination And that truly I doubt is the temper of most Christian People at this day They think all discourses on this subject useless or little worth because they prove that which they believe already Heathens might reap some profit by them but what say they have we to do with them But while such thoughts as these have too long possessed the drowsie Christian world they remain alas in the very dregs of Heathenism with a little smack or taste of Christianity It is a sad thing to consider but so it is that they who cannot endure to think upon what ground their belief stands because they would not put themselves to the trouble of understanding it are of that base temper which is the mother of Idolatry of Mahometism and of all spurious Religions in the World For what is it makes Men worship the Sun Moon and Stars or address their services to dead men nay to a piece of wood or a red cloth or some such paultry thing what makes Mahomet so reverenced by a great part of the World as the Prophet of the Highest but that they have ever been so taught and it is the custome to honour him They examine no further nor enquire for any other reason that is do not observe that there is no other reason for their belief Upon the very same account do many receive Jesus for the Son of God He hath no better footing in their Souls nor stands upon firmer grounds than Mahomet or
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
Are not the Witnesses good who affirm that Jesus is the Son of God Have we not examined them and find no cause why we should reject them Or will you receive nothing upon the credit of a Witness That 's a very strange obstinacy which rejects so certain a way of knowing many things that cannot be otherways known For the notices of things do not come to us all one way but by divers means either by our Senses or by our Reason and Discourse or by Report By all these ways the knowledge of things is conveyed to our Mind And if we refuse to be informed by any of them there are a great number of things certainly true and of great consequence to us of which we must remain ignorant That there are other Countries far distant from this where we live and that such and such things are there to be had and have been there done most Men can know by no means but only by report for there are but few that can go and see And he that will not receive the testimony of another in this case deprives himself of a considerable piece of knowledge whereof others partake and which might be as useful to him as it proves to them But if for this wilful loss he shall pretend to assign a just cause saying that he cannot believe any thing unless it be demonstrated to him by clear and evident consequences from Principles of known reason he will become ridiculous For it is absurd to expect the knowledge of any thing in any other way but that which is proper for its conveyance to us To demand a proof of a matter of reason from our senses or for what we discern by our senses from our reason is equally ridiculous and so it is to demand an evidence for things of Faith which we know by report only either from our Senses or our Reason That there are some things come to our notice only by Faith is plain from what passes every day And it is as plain that they must be proved to be true in their proper way that is by the soundness of the Testimony upon which we receive them As no man requires a reason for what he sees and feels nor asks that he may see with his eyes that of which he reasons and discourses so he ought not to seek for a testimony of sense or reason for that which he can know by no way but by report As for example no Man demands a reason to prove that the Sun shines In this his sense gives him satisfaction and if he were born blind no reason could prove to him that it was not Night Nor does any man that is in his wits require that he may behold God with his eyes whom he knows by discourse and the reason of his mind and knows him also by that to be invisible In like manner it is altogether preposterous when a man comes and reports that such a person dyed on such a day to ask for a reason to prove it or to demand that he may see it for it is impossible to see him dye again upon that day That is not a thing to be known either of those ways by sense or reason but only by the testimony of others who were present at that time and are we think worthy of belief Why do we ask then for any other proof that Jesus was born of a Virgin at such a time did such wonderful works preached such an holy Doctrine was crucified dead and buried rose again from the dead ascended to Heaven and sent from thence the Holy Ghost These are not things now to be seen or felt nor can we gather them from the meer discourse of our own reason which tells us nothing of them But we have them by report from a great many Witnesses who say they saw and heard and felt all that which they would have us believe There is no other use of reason in this case but only to examine and judge whether this report be credible and founded in the testimony of God Now that is evident to any impartial enquirer from what hath been said concerning these Witnesses whose report there is no reason to suspect as it is certain it can never be disproved Why should we then be so much our own enemies as to deprive our selves of this saving knowledge of Jesus Christ That is why do we not give credit to the report of these Witnesses concerning Jesus since by the only proper means whereby such things can be proved I have made it good that the Father declared him to be his Son and He appeared in Glory to testify to himself and the Holy Ghost demonstrated he could be no less and his Life Death Resurrection and all the rest of which there were so many upright Witnesses assure us that it is a certain truth Would we be so difficult to be perswaded to go to a Man or a Place where several honest neighbours informed us upon their word nay upon their life we should be promoted to great honor or be possessed of a fair estate Do we not believe one another in our daily traffick and drive considerable bargains merely upon the credit we give to some persons who inform us of the advantage we may make by them Do not men undertake long journeys and more dangerous voyages merely because they are told that such an one is dead to whom they are heir or that such rich commodities are to be had in exchange for meaner goods Who is there that does not desire his Witnesses may be accepted and their testimony taken for good proof either to clear his innocence or to settle his estate Now says the Apostle immediately after the alledging of all these Witnesses in Heaven and in Earth to prove the truth of Christianity If we receive the Witness of men the Witness of God is greater for this is the Witness of God which he hath testified of his Son The meaning of which is this If men whose honesty you cannot impeach give their testimony in a Court of Judicature it is never disallowed nor can you be permitted to set it by and make nothing of it but it is necessarily admitted for an end of strife The weightiest causes are decided all matters depending are determined and judged according to the evidence that is given by witnesses of unblemished faith In the mouth of two or three witnesses as the known saying was every word or rather matter is established That is brought to an issue and concluded if any controversie have arose to unsettle it Nay the testimony of one man if we have no reason to suspect his credit is in our own private thoughts though not in Law satisfaction great enough to assure us of the truth of what he says And we think it such a reproach to give him the lye that we cannot but believe him finding a desire in the same case to be believed our selves Now if things stand thus between us and
our neighbours will we not allow God says the Apostle as much as we yield to them Shall not his word determine and conclude us When he gives evidence of a thing shall we still dispute it with him That besides the undutifulness of it is too great a stubborness We may rather be taught how to behave our selves towards him by the measure men expect from us and we from them Yea God does more deserve credit than any man for as he adds the witness of God is GREATER i. e. is of far more validity and certainty it may more securely be relied on than the witness of any men whatsoever God is not only greater than men but his Witness also or Testimony is greater which must be carefully noted it is of more force and strength to support any conclusion we may more undoubtedly found our faith upon it because it is not liable to any of those exceptions which may prejudice the best testimony of men Two things there are that lessen the testimony of men if we compare it with God's and make it to be of a nature more weak and infirm The one is that though a man be reputed honest and therefore we cannot legally except against his Testimony yet it is possible he may be a deceiver and we cannot look into his heart to know whether he be or no. We may not be able to prove the least deceit by him in what he says or ever has said or done and it is possible he never delivered any thing contrary to truth or did any thing contrary to justice but yet we can never free our mind from this thought since we know not his inward man that there is a possibility also it may be otherwise with him But then secondly suppose him perfectly honest and that it is impossible he should put a cheat upon us yet it will be always possible that he may be cheated himself because all men are fallible and may be mistaken The greatest integrity in the world cannot secure a man but the weakness of his understanding and the subtilty of others may sometimes impose upon him so that though he thinks what he says to be true it may be otherwise in it self than it is in his thoughts Herein therefore the Testimony of God is GREATER than the testimony of men that it is not liable to either of these suspicions it being utterly impossible that he should either be deceived himself or that he should deceive us He can neither lead us into an error which we all acknowledge to be contrary to his Goodness and Truth nor fall into one himself which is as contrary to the perfection of his understanding and his Omnipresent being The testimony of God then being so indubitable that it is above the testimony of any men it ought with all reverence to be received when he declares that Jesus is his Son for if it were but equal to humane testimony it ought not to be refused Now this is the WITNESS OF GOD says the Apostle which he hath testified of his Son That is It being granted to be most rational that we should receive the testimony of God nay give it greater respect than we bear to that of men I assure you that the evidence which we give you concerning Jesus is the very testimony of God and therefore do not slight it It is not we that bear witness to him so much as God We do not desire you to hear merely what we say but what God himself hath said who hath given many assurances of this truth If there were but two of them they might by your own rules very well expect to find entertainment but there are no less than six witnesses every one of them Divine they all speak from God and therefore you cannot deny your assent to what they prove For the first witness is God the Father himself who called Jesus his well-beloved Son And the second is the Word of God upon which account whatsoever he says is God's testimony also The Holy Ghost which is the third that proceeds from the Father and came on purpose to bear witness to his Son As for the fourth Water the Doctrine was of GOD his life was the life of GOD John's Baptism was from Heaven and he is called i. John 6. a man sent from GOD. Then for the Bloud which is the fifth witness it is called GOD's own Bloud xx Acts 28. And it appeared to be his by his gathering it up again after it was shed and taking it into the Heavens where he appears with it in the presence of God for us And the last of these witnesses is expresly called the Spirit of GOD xii Matth. 28. So that it is GOD you see who so many ways bears witness of his Son there is something Divine in every one of these Witnesses in those on Earth as well as in those in Heaven and therefore we cannot without an affront to GOD reject their testimony For then He would have worse measure from us than men have and we should give less respect to six Witnesses of his than to two or three of our neighbours If Jesus came not with clear demonstrations with fulness of proof then deny him any admittance but if God hath so many ways justified him to be his Son if his Life was so excellent his Bloud so holy his Spirit so Divine then we shall never be able to justifie it before any knowing man much less before God if we do not believe him and that heartily and fully in every thing no more doubting of the truth of what he says than we do of those things which our eyes and our ears report to us or of those which are delivered unto us upon the faith of the whole world For which end it should be our endeavour that our Faith may rest upon a sure and strong foundation and be laid on such grounds that it may stand the faster in a time of temptation The ignorant man's Faith indeed may be as strong as his that knows most and what he hath learnt by Education may be so confirmed by Custom that he will never stir from it but is only the effect of Nature which produces the same resolutions in those who are of other Religions The Christian way of obtaining a strong Faith is first to see the Son and then to believe on him to everlasting life as our Saviour himself teaches us vi John 40. To see him is to perceive and discern by evident tokens that he is the Son of God the true way to life upon which sight and plain demonstrations we ought to believe in him and submit unto him as our Lord. That 's the true Christian Faith which flows from knowledge and is founded upon the understanding of what such Witnesses as these say concerning Jesus It relies upon the testimony of the Father of the Word and of the Holy Ghost is wrought by the Spirit and confirmed by Water and Bloud And
see their Departure is at hand In which regards I doubt not this Treatise will be acceptable to your Grace because it contains a Description and full Assurance of that happy Life which you shortly expect For there is nothing so reviving in our declining Age as to think that the passage out of this Life leads us not to Death but to Immortality and that it will not take away our Happiness from us but give us a purer enjoyment of it Pleasure not mixed with a mortall body but sincere and free from Grief and Sorrow For when we shall be set at liberty and delivered from this Prison we shall come thither where there is no Labour no Sighing nor Old age but a Life of perfect ease and tranquillity that breeds no trouble nor any other evill but is serene and clear in an immovable Rest and Peace Where the happy Inhabitants sweetly contemplate the nature of things and philosophize not for Popularity and the Theatre but for the finding out solid and everlasting Truth I have but translated the words of Plato * in Axiocho p. 370. or of some other Philosopher that hath borrowed his name who was much pleased in such thoughts as these though he made but uncertain guesses at that blessed state which our Lord hath so clearly revealed and so strongly demonstrated that we have reason with never-ceasing joy both in life and death to give him thanks for so great a Grace For as there is nothing beyond this that the heart of man can wish so nothing of such importance to our present Happiness in this World For which cause the Jews have thought fit to expunge those from the number of Israelites who do not believe the Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection of the dead and to resolve that they shall have no part in the World to come though they otherwise live orderly and observe the Precepts of the Law For such men they saw opened a door to all licentiousness and could never doe so much good by any other means as they did hurt by subverting this Belief Which I have endeavoured therefore to establish by such Arguments as they were ignorant of till our Blessed Lord and Saviour appeared who as St. Matthew observes out of the Psalmist uttered things which had been kept secret from the foundation of the World Maimonides himself saith in his last Chapter of his Book concerning Kings that at the coming of Christ things hidden and profound shall be laid open and revealed to all Which is true of nothing more I have shewn then of that which is the greatest desire of all mankind immortall Life Of which though I have not treated according to the dignity of the Subject yet I am confident I have laid a good Foundation to be improved by the labours of those who have more skill and more leisure And it is a very great satisfaction to have done any thing though never so small for the honour of our ever-Blessed Lord and Master whom it is the highest glory in the world to serve in faithfulness and truth For He will not fail to reward such services with an ample recompence being a Prince so great that nothing is beyond his Power and so gracious that his Servants have reason to expect the best effects of his Good will Which may very well content us whatsoever usage we meet withall at present And should mightily excite us as St. Chrysostom often and earnestly exhorts * Homil. 87. in Matth. p. 539. neglecting the suspicions and the reproaches and the praises too of men to study this one thing alone how to be conscious to our selves of no evill which will bring us in the end both here and hereafter the greater glory The God of all Grace bless this Work to the settling and increasing this holy Faith and Resolution in all our hearts whereby we shall also obtain the sweetest foretasts of the Joys of the future State And may your Grace be blest with many of them to support the infirmities of Old age and having finished your days have an easie passage to that better Life and there receive from the Chief Pastour when he shall appear the Crown of glory which fadeth not away Which is the hearty Prayer of My Lord Your GRACE's in all dutifull Observance SY PATRICK TO THE READER I Have no other reason to give for adding one more to that heap of Books which men complain is already grown too great but the hope I have of doing some service to our Lord by making a farther search as I promised in the conclusion of the former Part of this Work into the Testimony of these Divine Witnesses concerning ETERNALL LIFE The Hope of which is the most precious Legacy the Son of God hath left us the Hindge upon which all Religion turns without which it would be the greatest Vanity as Lactantius * Lib. vi c. 9. vii 1. often speaks to obey the commands of Vertue for whose sake we must endure not onely many Labours but ofttimes sore Calamities We were born as he discourses elsewhere * Lib. vii 6. to acknowledge God the Maker of us and of the World whom we therefore acknowledge that we may worship him and therefore worship him that we may receive Immortality for a reward of our labours because his service ingages us in the greatest and therefore Immortality is bestowed on us for a recompenc◠that being made like to the Angels we may serve the Father and Lord of all for ever and be the Eternall Kingdom of God This is the Chief of all things this is the Secret of God this is the Mystery of the World to which they are strangers who following their present pleasures have addicted themselves to terrestriall and frail goods and sunk their Souls born to celestiall enjoyments into delights as deadly as they are muddy and dirty And it is the singular Priviledge of Christians as I have demonstrated to be assured of a Good so great by so many most credible Witnesses whose Testimony none can refuse but they that will be so absurd as to believe none at all The Father the Word the Holy Ghost the Water the Bloud and the Spirit declare so unanimously and so plainly that the Lord Jesus will give Eternall Life to his followers that what the Oratours said in flattery to the Athenians in the time of the Chremonidian War may in truth be said to us if we alter but one word that other things indeed are common to us with the rest of the World Athenzus in Deipnosoph L. vi p. 250. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the way that leads men to heaven is known to Christians alone Who have a manifold grace bestowed on them enjoying not onely a Promise of Eternall Life which the World never had before but that Promise attested by so many Witnesses who tell us also it is in the power of him that died for us to conferr it on us as well
persons use are to the Nobleness of this Life In which saith Maimonides Cap. viii de Poenitent there is no room for meat and drink and such like pleasures but the just sit with Crowns on their heads and delight themselves in the Splendour of the Divine Majesty There are many names whereby this Life is called Derech Mashal after the figurative way of speaking in the Holy Books For example the Mountain of the Lord the place of his Holiness the Courts of the Lord the Beauty or Sweetness of the Lord the Tabernacle of God the House of God his holy Temple the Gate of the Lord. And after the same way of similitude and figurative speech Wise men call this Good prepared for the Just by the name of a Banquet or Feast and most commonly the World to come Let not this Good seem light to thee nor do thou imagine the reward of Piety to be so little as to drink the richest wines to eat the best victuals to have the most beautifull wives to be cloathed in silk and scarlet to dwell in ivory palaces and to have all the furniture of gold and silver and such like things But understand that there is no Good in this world to which that supreme Good can be compared but onely by way of figure and similitude In truth there is no proportion between the Good of the Soul in the other World and the Goods of the Body such as meat and drink in this But that Great Good is incomprehensible and incomparable according to those words of David xxxi Psal 19. O how great good hast thou laid up for those that fear thee He could not tell how great but with what desire did he long after the life of that world when he said xxvii Psal 13. I believe to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living That 's another name whereby they called this place of Bliss For wheresoever their ancient Wise men saith their Mysticall exposition of the Psalms meet with this phrase in Scripture the land of the living Manasseh Ben Isr Probl. xvii de Creatione they expound it of Paradise because that is the country where men live for ever But there are no words like those of our Blessed Lord to represent this surpassing Happiness of the pure in heart who he promises shall SEE GOD. Let us therefore here fix our minds and stay a while before we pass on any farther to search into the meaning of this phrase which is the sublimest and most comprehensive of all other whereby this ETERNALL LIFE is described to us I. And the least that can be meant by it is that we shall be there where He hath his most special residence and shall dwell in his House in the Heavens where there are so many Mansions There the Angels are said to stand before God to behold the face of our heavenly Father And therefore for us to see GOD or behold him must in generall denote that we shall be more like Angels then Men and being admitted into the society of those heavenly Ministers shall take up our habitation in the same place where they wait upon the Divine Majesty Whence it is that as the Angels are called the Sons of God i. Job 6. ii 1. so are all those who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection of the Dead xx Luk. 35. We are now the Sons of GOD saith St. John 1. Epist iii. 1 2. in a state that is of great favour with him and therefore need not care if the world hate us But we have far greater things in hope and look for a more excellent relation to him it not appearing yet what we shall be The meaning of which last words in all probability is this that the manner wherein we shall be the Sons of God in the other world is not now manifest There is no body knows how near we shall be to him when we shall be the Children of God being the children of the Resurrection as our Saviour speaks in the place before mentioned Onely this is certain as I said just now that we shall be Companions of Angels and such Sons of God as they are And withall St. John here tells us that when He or it shall appear we shall be like him it being naturall that the Child should bear some resemblance to its Father II. Now from hence it follows that to SEE GOD is to enjoy such favours as He will be pleased to impart unto us in that high and holy place where he dwells yea to have some participation with him in his Blessedness who is most Blessed for evermore For to See in the language of the Hebrews is to enjoy when it is applied to a thing desirable or to be in that state when it is applied to that which is hurtfull Thus to see good xxxiv Psal 12. is to possess it and to lead an happy life and to see the good of Jerusalem cxxviii 5. is to partake of its peace and prosperity and to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living xxvii Psalm 13. is in its first sense to be delivered by God and to enjoy the sweet fruits of it before he died Nor is there any other meaning of seeing life and seeing the kingdom of God but this that the parties to whom those promises are made shall be put into the possession of such blessings And on the other side to see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds xxvi Matth. 64. is to feel his heavy wrath the stroke of his revengefull hand upon their nation as may be gathered from i. Revel 7. And to see death lxxxix Psal 48. ii Luk. 26. is no more then to die This is so plain that those things that belong to other senses yet are said to be seen which can signifie nothing else but that they are perceived or enjoyed O generation saith Jeremiah ii 31. see ye the word of the Lord that is hear it mind and consider it or as Maimonides expounds it * More Nev. par 1. c. 46. the intention of the Prophet is that they should apprehend the sense of God's word And that likewise which is said to be seen in one place is said to be tasted in another as to see death viii Joh. 51. is the same with tasting of death ver 52. Which is a demonstration that to See in their language is frequently used for having a sense perception or enjoyment of any object And therefore we cannot necessarily draw any more out of these words of our Saviour which promise that we shall see God but that we shall have as reall an enjoyment of him and as sensibly perceive him as we do now any good in this world though the manner of it be not certainly known as not so plainly deducible from these words Let us conceive with our selves as well as we can what his
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 o◠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
which they apprehend and receive such impressions as they are able to make there But by this means the Soul touches and strikes it self sealing those impressions deeper and pressing them harder upon our spirit The presence of a Friend without asking our leave excites a joy and sudden passion of pleasure in our heart upon his very first approaches But when we consider with our selves not onely that he is our Friend but how good a Friend he hath been and what joy he hath now and many other times given us we then affect our selves with his presence and sweet company and make the joy greater by minding how great it is For it is the highest kind oâ— life in this world which hath an apprehension that it lives This makes the life of a man above the life of beasts and his pleasures above those that they enjoy This is it also which makes a man in â— Lethargy to be no better then dead because he hath no perception of his own life The quicker therefore and the more lively this apprehension of our LIFE and of the happiness and contentment of it grows the more blessed and joyfull will the LIFE it self be which we shall then lead If by loving without seeing we rejoyce in this world with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. i. 8. how glorious will the joy be there when Sight or Knowledge shall be if I may so speak in its high-noon and Love at its full sea and when there will be no declension much leâ— night nor the least ebbe any more and when we shall with the most accurate quickness instantly apprehend and observe every circumstance that adds to our unconceivable happiness We have many considerations left us now in the Gospel of Christ to refresh our minds withall from his great Love in becoming a Man for us from his Cross from his Resurrection from his Ascension and sitting at God's right hand from his promise of coming again and the hope we have of reigning with him for ever but by not attending to such blessed Truths as these we lose the comfort of them And when they are mightily urged upon us by others and the Holy Spirit of God also touches us and makes us sensible of the glad tidings that they bring us we lose still a great deal of the pleasure by not pressing them farther upon our hearts marking how they are affected with them And when all this is done we shall still feel a damp upon our spirits unless we can comfortably reflect upon our own sincere love to God and assure our selves that we are persons qualified for this supreme Joy But there will be no danger of any such defects in that happy World above where holy Souls will as readily improve as they easily discern every thing that gives them satisfaction As nothing will escape their observation which brings any joy along with it so they will please themselves in the contemplation of their own pleasures till they grow greater And so far they will be from wanting any reflexions on themselves as the persons whom God loves and delights to honour that they cannot but perceive it and be transported with the joyfull sense of it For if we should speak strictly this Joy will be so great that it will need no attention to it It s own strength will make it be most sensibly felt and as some have ventured to express so sublime a state it will by the transcendent force of its delight essentially reflect upon it self 4. But let us come down from these heights and consider again that as much as the Joy which God hath in himself exceeds all other satisfaction so much will the Joy which we shall have in him exceed all that we have or can enjoy in any other thing In his presence says the Psalmist xvi 11. is fulness of joy and pleasures everlasting which cannot fail to be the portion of those who shall be admitted into his presence and have the happiness to See him For since by our sight of him we shall be assimilated to him as was said before and made in a manner such as he is we must needs be partakers with him in his Joy as well as in other things and have such a measure of it as exceeds all the measures that our scanty apprehensions can now take of so full a Good It is too little to say that this Joy alone exceeds all worldly pleasures as far as the longest life exceeds a moment or this whole World the least mote we see in the Sun-beams rather we may say as far as God surmounts this World or Eternity Time between which there is scarce any comparison to be reasonably made 5. To all which you may subjoyn this as the highest consideration of all that such are the Perfections of the Divine Nature such is his infinite Bounty that they who are united to him in Love will meet with an infinite Satisfaction All objects of our delight here may be comprehended by our Understanding and we may see an end of all their perfection For which reason they may be slighted by our Will as less then our selves and unable to give us the contentment we desire It is at our choice whether we will love them or no or at least what portion of our love we will bestow upon them and therefore it is no great joy that they can give to one who feels how much he is above them But God now is so full so infinitely above us that he intirely satiates the heart of those that love him We cannot refuse him when we are perfectly acquainted with him nor is it at our liberty to love him but to such a measure No He will force our Soul then to love him and delight in him as much as it can yea more then naturally it could without the presence of such a Good more then it believed it should ever have been able to love And this is not a force of which the Soul grows weary as in other cases when it is strained beyond its present capacity but a plesing violence to which it opens it self and perceiving the power of that great Good would willingly be more possessed of it The pleasure that it feels sweetly dilates it and with a gratefull constraint so stretches and widens it that the extension becomes natural to it And with all this New Love created in it the joyfull Soul will for ever remain thus big embracing its most beloved Good and delighting it self in this largeness of Love This is the incomparable pleasure of the LIFE that Christ promises All other joys are but cold and dull in respect of the flames and spirits of this It is but a dream of drowzy delight which we enjoy here in comparison with that substantiall sprightly pleasure which our Souls will find in the bosom of God's Love wherein they will repose themselves with such a transport as if they would lose themselves to be all one with
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 prâ—fat in Talm. Not. in xvii Matth. 3. that their Master Moses is not dead but ascended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
risen from the dead and after all my sufferings such as you must endure for my sake am alive as thou seest and in a far better condition then I was before when thou wast not thus afraid of me Though in my first attempt to raise a Church I suffered death and laid the foundation of it in my bloud yet it is apparent I have overcome death and now live in greater splendour then ever If our Lord had stopt here and said no more this had been sufficient to convince him of his power to present to himself a glorious Church and from the lowest and most afflicted condition to raise it to the greatest honour here and to eternall glory in the other world But he proceeds for the stronger confirmation of his faith and says Behold more then this I am alive for evermore I have Eternall Life and can never lose this power and therefore thou mayst believe me when I say that I am the Omega whom thou knowest to be the Alpha for I can perfect what I have undertaken and bring to an happy issue all the good I have begun to work for you The latest posterity shall find that I am alive and able to promote them to everlasting bliss Fear not these words are all true and therefore I conclude them with an AMEN wherewith I was wont thou mayst remember to confirm my sayings that thou mayst rest assured I now say nothing but the certain indubitable truth when I tell thee I am he that was dead and now am alive and that I live for evermore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Andreas Caesariensis conceives his meaning How canst thou imagine then that thou art in danger to suffer any harm by my appearing to thee since the power which thou seest me have is to give life not death unto my servants I never used thou mayst remember to kill men but to save them and therefore thus thou mayst be confident I will still imploy my omnipotent power for I am Alpha and Omega the same at last that I was at first I am come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly And indeed as he still goes on I have the keys of hell and of death or as we render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here translated hell in 1 Cor. xv 55. the keys of the grave and of death I can open the graves as I did at my death and can loose the bands of death as I did at my resurrection I can bring you out of that dark estate where no body sees you and restore you to life again nay raise you to that Light wherein thou beholdest me shine And here again it is observable that our Saviour takes to himself that very power which is ascribed to Almighty God by Hannah who says in her Song 1 Sam. ii 6. The Lord killeth and maketh alive he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up Whereby he would suggest to St. John that all things are committed to his trust and are in his power for that is frequently denoted in the holy language by Keys the badge of a Steward's authority and power in a family and therefore it is not too hard for him to overcome the great Conquerour of all men to open the prison-doors that have been so long shut and fast locked to loose the chains of death and overthrow him quite who hath the power of it that is the Devill But this he would have us stedfastly believe and therefore immediately bids him not lie as a man dead but get up and write the things that thou hast seen ver 19. That is Let my Church know that I am alive and that I bear the same affection to them that I ever had Send them this comfort from me that I not onely live but always live and have all power committed to me even over the grave and death so that if any man lose his life for me I can give it him again with such an increase of dignity and glory as thou seest me enjoy And we must needs confess that there is an exceeding great comfort in this assurance which he gave thus in his own person and with his own mouth to this holy Apostle who knows as he speaks in another case xix Joh. 35. that he saith true For hereby we rest satisfied of one part of the Record which is to be proved that Life is in Jesus and see moreover much reason to believe the other part that he intends to bestow it on us VI. But for a fuller evidence of that you may consider in the last place that this WORD of God gave frequent testimonies of it to St. John in the following Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia Where they are so obvious that I may leave it to the most careless hand to gather them To one he saith I will give to him that overcometh to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God ii Rev. 7. To another I will give him a crown of life and He shall not be hurt of the second death ver 10 11. To a third I will give him the white Stone c. a certain knowledge and assurance i.e. as I hope to shew in another place of the promised reward ver 17. To another He shall be cloathed in white raiment and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels iii. 5. And to name no more he promises to grant to him that overcometh to sit down with him in his throne ver 21. Which though it may have some respect to the high place and dignity he should injoy in the Church in this world yet had not its full completion but in the other life where he will crown the fidelity of all victorious Souls with the greatest glory and honour How can we doubt of it when we hear such express promises of immortall bliss so oft repeated from the mouth of the WORD of God himself after he went to heaven Great is our assurance great is the confidence we may take from such a Record as this if we be in the number of those that overcome remain constant that is and fixed in our Christian resolution notwithstanding any assaults that are made upon us either by the good or bad things of this world to tempt us to revolt from our duty For St. John saw and heard these things from the Lord Jesus himself upon his own Day the day of his resurrection from the dead and in a glory so bright that it was an emblem of the happiness he will bestow upon us and with such earnest asseverations of their truth and certainty as are sufficient to awake the dullest and most lethargick Souls to attend to what he says For thus he begins his Letter to the Church of Laodicea who were grown strangely chill and indevout These things saith the Amen the faithfull
can doe for our Souls in the other World He inspired them with such Understanding by the power of the Holy Ghost that the greatest Doctours in Israel were not able to resist the Wisedom whereby they spake They understood clearly all the ancient Prophecies There was no veil or cloud any longer upon them but the Holy Ghost made them see the whole Mystery which was wrapt up in them It revealed all Types explained all Figures led them into the Sanctuary and Most holy place shew'd them the true meaning of the Mercy-seat and laid all those things which did but obscurely point at ETERNALL LIFE so open and naked that none could chuse but see if he did not shut his eyes they were not the same men that they had been but just before and were made thus learned without any humane helps of instruction A convincing argument of his power to raise our Minds when we depart this World and have not the clouds of this Body before our eyes to as great a pitch of knowledge as I discoursed of in the beginning of this Treatise And the suddenness of this change was as clear an argument that he can doe it without difficulty and that there is not so great a distance between this present state and that which we expect but he can presently translate us to it And 4. this Knowledge you may consider farther being accompanied with a mighty Power whereby the Holy Ghost inabled them not onely to give eyes to the blind feet to the lame health to the sick but life also to the dead as was very well known in those days was an undoubted testimony that He from whom it came is able also to change these vile bodies and make them like to his own most glorious body For it is visible he hath a power whereby he can subdue all things to himself To take away life you may think is no such great matter that we should take any notice of it yet to doe even this with a word for lying to the HOLY GHOST was an argument of a mighty power residing in the Apostles And when Abarbinell speaks of the power of the Messiah to work Miracles from that Prophecy of Isaiah xi he alledges these words to prove it vers 4. He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked Which was never literally fulfilled during our Saviour's stay on Earth where he did nothing but good to men but was made good after he went to Heaven by his power in his Ministers who smote that wicked couple mentioned Act. v. without any hands merely with the breath of their mouth What shall we think then of their restoring men to life after they were dead for which they were more notorious We cannot but look on this as a great witness of the wonderfull power of Jesus in them and consequently of the life and glory he intended to bestow on sinfull dust and ashes He would not have filled them thus full of his Spirit if he had not meant thereby to raise their expectations above all that even by its power they at present felt Had it not been his design to make them hereafter like to God he would not have preferred them to such a resemblance of his Wisedom and Power here in this World They that could raise others from the dead had no reason to doubt of being raised up themselves When they saw themselves made the conveyers of such great blessings to all mankind they must needs stand fair they could not but conclude for a very large portion of his favour to their own persons For the truth is 5. these gifts which were then given to men proclaimed aloud the marvellous bounty of our Saviour as well as his power and would not let them doubt of a far more glorious exercise of it in the other World then they saw and were the instruments of in this And if any imagine that though this might be a testimony to them of Eternall Life yet it is none to us the contrary will soon be evident if you do but consider 6. that our Lord having made a promise of Eternall Life not onely to his Apostles but to all that believe on his Name the HOLY GHOST puts us in strong hope of it by demonstrating his faithfulness to his word For the Effusion of it was the performance of a promise which he had frequently made when he was with them both before his death xiv Joh. 16. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter and after his Resurrection xxiv Luk. 49. Behold I send the promise of my Father upon you c. i. Act. 4 5. Being assembled together with them he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father which said he you have heard of me For you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence And therefore we have great reason to look for the promise of Eternall Life with much confidence because He who made it was so faithfull and just in fulfilling his former promise at the time appointed Especially since he thereby demonstrated that he hath sufficient power to doe for us according to his word For he who made such an extraordinary change in them on the day of Pentecost that they were able in an instant to speak all languages to prophesy and understand the secret counsels of God can change us we need not question from glory to glory and at last transform us so perfectly as to make us like to himself And I may adde to strengthen this consideration 7. that our Lord declared he would send the HOLY GHOST for this very purpose that they might believe the rest of his holy promises particularly this great one of Eternall Life Which is the meaning of that which you reade in xiv Joh. 12. where after he had told them ver 9 10 11. that God appeared to them and shew'd himself in the Works that He did which demonstrated that the Father dwelt in him and consequently that he would go and prepare a place for them and take them up to himself he adds these remarkable words Verily verily I say unto you He that believeth in me the works that I doe shall he doe also and greater works then these shall he doe because I go unto my Father As if he had said Mark now what I farther declare to you and rely upon it as a certain truth The works that I have done are sufficient to convince you but for a greater confirmation of your faith that I am going to the Father and am the Way the Truth and the Life I tell you that after I am departed these wonderfull things shall be repeated before the eyes of the world by those that believe on me Nay some things shall be done which your eyes have not yet seen because I go to my Father i. e. have power in the Heavens
Wisedom of God when he had quitted the empty pleasures of the World However fabulous this Story may prove which seems to have been composed in imitation of that Vision of Hercules which many Greek Writers mention you may make it true if you please For behold how the true Wisedom of God our Blessed Lord and Saviour presents himself to you He hath appeared in most admirable beauty and a glorious form to many of his Servants which they have described and left us the picture of In his Gospell he is so lively expressed that we cannot if we look upon him but behold him as the onely-begotten of the Father the brightness of his glory and the character of his person Would it would but please you to listen to the offers he makes you the portion of Life and Glory hereafter together with true peace and contentment here which he will assure to you O that you would but draw a lively image of these things in your mind and represent the King of glory as soliciting your heart to his service Do you not believe that it would be infinitely more obliging then such an apparition as that now named Would it not more easily make you abandon the sinfull pleasures of this world then the other made him forsake the lawfull Would not the beauty of our Saviour and the splendour of his glory in the heavens set before your eyes be more inamouring then any imaginary or reall beauty whatsoever Would not these words of his be more piercing then any other I will give to him that overcomes to inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son Would it not transport our hearts with joy to hear that he will be contracted to us and assure us of such a dowry with himself in the heavens Would it not make all his commands so far from being grievous that we should think them sweet and delicious above all the pleasures wherein sensuall men are drowned He can make no doubt of it that hath not lost his reason and is able to understand what the difference is between such a certain truth as this and a dream and between the commands of our Lord and the obedience which that youth undertook to perform Jesus is certainly in the heavens He sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high He unfeignedly wishes we would be espoused to him He will settle an eternall inheritance upon us and He doth not require us to go into Monasteries and deserts to live like Hermites and Anchorets to immure our selves from all society though if he did we should have no ill bargain of it but onely to retire seriously into our selves and there often meet with him to live soberly righteously and godly while we are in the world to let no company draw us from his precepts nor suffer any creature to rob him of our affection And what a reasonable demand this is you will then see when you heartily believe this ETERNALL LIFE which he hath promised Believe and then you will think there is nothing too much or too hard to be done or suffered for the attaining such a glorious Life with our Saviour Which moved St. Stephen to suffer stoning and St. Paul to be in deaths often and St. John to endure banishment in a most desolate Island and worse things afterward that they might be so happy And let us with honest hearts desirous to be what God would have us beg the assistence of the HOLY GHOST to guide us in this way of understanding which we shall find incomparably the best to settle in our mind a sense of the happiness to come For when the Soul comes to the perfection of the Spirit Macar Hom. xvi xviii wholly purged from all affections and united to the Spirit the Comforter by an unspeakable communion so that by this heavenly mixture it becomes worthy to be a spirit it is all Light all Eye all Spirit all Joy all Rest all Exultation all Love all Goodness and Sweetness It becomes hereby privy to the Counsels of the Heavenly King and knows his Secrets It hath a confidence in the Almighty and enters into his Palace where the Angels and the spirits of the Saints are though it be as yet in this world For though it hath not attained the intire inheritance prepared for it there yet it is secure from the Earnest it hath received as if it were crowned and possessed of the Kingdome Who would not labour then to be so happy not onely hereafter but also here Georg. Nicomed in concept S. Annae there in possession and here in hope What a work is it to ascend up into heaven What laborious steps can lead us to so great an height What are the sweats of this mortall life to those eternall recompences By what pains shall we be worthy of friendship with our Maker How shall we make our selves a proper habitation for him to dwell in For he hath said I and my Father will come and dwell in him that loves me and keeps my Commands This is the end of the Good we have in hope this is the heavenly Kingdom this is the enjoyment of eternall pleasure this is the never-ceasing joy the perpetuall triumph the retribution transcending all our labours nay all understanding There are no labours no not in thought equall to this recompence of reward They all fall so infinitely below it that for mean for inconsiderable pains our transcendently-good Lord will give an enjoyment far surpassing all our thoughts All humane endeavours are of no account though we should wear out a whole life in them compared with the future Blessedness Though we should sustain a perpetuall combate all our days though they should be prolonged to an hundred years or to twice as much or thrice or a thousand times and all this while we should contend in a vertuous course we shall seem to have done nothing when we come to confer it with what we shall receive And therefore let us gladly by such small and poor labours strive to purchase these super-sublime recompences and treasure up these never-consuming riches I call those poor and small which not onely seem so to all but the perpetuall combate of an whole Age the most unwearied pursuit of vertue the most incessant and fervent pains in its service For such are the Goods which our munificent Lord will give in exchange for them such are the superabundant riches of his retributions such is the Hyperbole of his loving-kindness and goodness that for few things he will give infinite for beggery the greatest riches for perishing things Goods that last for ever These let us seek and dedicating our selves wholly to the Lord make haste to the obtaining so inestimable a Good Let us consecrate Soul and body to him and be fastened to his Cross that we may be worthy of his Eternall Kingdom giving glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost for ever and ever
Amen CHAP. IX Concerning the Witnesses on Earth and first of the WATER YOU have seen already how many there are that solicit our affections and perswade us to believe in the Lord Jesus and heartily consent to him in whatsoever he requires So many that how we should deny him after He himself hath appeared so often with the promises of Eternall Life and the Father also and the Holy Ghost have commended him to us as the Prince of Peace and the Lord of Glory it is harder to give any reason then it is to prove that he is the Son of God and that in him is ETERNALL LIFE For as if these Witnesses were not sufficient or that we may be born down by numerous Testimonies there are Three more who are our Neighbours as I may say with whom we are well acquainted and whose witness none could ever deny that speak the very same thing and affirm it as strongly as the other that God hath given us Eternall Life and that it is in his Son Jesus Let us call them in too and hear what they say in the same order wherein we examined them before in the former business first taking the Testimony of the WATER then of the BLOUD and then of the SPIRIT Of the WATER BY Water I have shewn we are to understand either that Purity whereof it is the Instrument which was most eminent both in Christ's Doctrine and Life or else Baptism both John's and his own by which he appeared to be the Sâ—n of God Let us have so much patience as to hear all these once more and consider what they say to the point in hand I. And as for the Purity and Holiness of his Doctrine there is much in it to perswade us that he hath Life in himself and will bestow it upon his Followers Certain it is that 1. it naturally lifts up the Mind towards heaven and disposes those that entertain it to look for Eternall Life for which it is but a preparation For it teaches us to abstract our hearts from this Flesh wherewith we are cloathed and from this World wherein we live as not worthy of all those thoughts and that care which we are apt to bestow upon them The very intent and purpose of it we cannot but see is to wean our minds from earthly injoyments and to take off our affections from the pleasures of sense to make riches and the praise of men seem little things and to give us contentment with our portion of present goods though never so small in short â—o render us something like to God himself whilst we are at this distance from him What can any man make of this but that it is a preparation for another life an Institution which designs to form men and make them fit for an higher World Do but take a review of that Compendium which I have drawn of this Doctrine in my former Book and you will be satisfied that it is nothing else but a contrivance to make us heavenly and intends to guide us to such a Life as is a prevention of Heaven a beginning of the celestial state whereby we shall live in part as men of another World and not of this Which future World 2. it is manifest his heavenly Doctrine supposes or else it would be so far from that Wisedom which was eminent in him that it would be the greatest absurdity that can be imagined For it teaches us if his service require it to deny our selves even in the most innocent and lawfull injoyments of this life to forsake father and mother and houses and lands for his Name 's sake yea to lay down our very lives rather then forsake his Doctrine and violate his commands These are express Lessons which his Sermons teach his Disciples but are things so sublime so much above the reach of flesh and bloud that it would be the vainest thing in the world to propose them to mens observance without the hope of something in another life to reward such hard services He would have had no followers on these terms had he not made it as plain and evident as the rest of his Doctrine that He would be the Authour of Eternall Salvation to them that would obey him Men were not so fond of troubles and torments and death as to expose themselves to the danger of them if they had not seen the greatest reason to believe that their Master would recompense their present Sufferings with a future happiness so incomparably greater that it would be the highest folly to avoid them None can suppose the Authour of such a Religion to be so weak as not to understand that men would never embrace this profession unless at the same time that he called them to this high pitch of piety he called them also as the Apostle speaks to his kingdom and glory And therefore without all doubt our Lord took care to preach this as the principall thing and to give good assurance of a blessed state to come because without this it had been the most ungrounded and foolish undertaking that ever man went about to perswade the world to be so mortified to quit all present possessions and to part with their lives for his sake He must have been the most unreasonable of all other men in preaching such Doctrine and supposed the World void of all reason if he expected to have it believed had he not been certain himself and been able by evident proofs to perswade others that all those who hearkened to him should be no losers but exceeding great gainers by quitting all things upon his account If he had not held this truth in his hands as clear as the Sun that they who would follow him should be immortally happy he might have stretcht them out long enough before he had drawn so much as one follower after him The Trees would as soon have followed him as Men who would never have stirr'd a foot in such a narrow path unless he had shewn them plainly that it led to Everlasting Life Let us consider and illustrate this a little Would not he expose himself to laughter and scorn that should earnestly perswade his neighbours to go and labour hard in his fields all day by which they should get just nothing for their pains at night Would it not seem a piece of strange mockery and contempt of us and as strange a folly in him that should invite us to enter into his service which he confessed would make us sweat and ingage us in many toilsome imployments and when we inquired what wages he gave should be able to assure us never a farthing that lay in his power or will to bestow upon us Would they not be equally ridiculous he that should make and they that should embrace such a proposall Might not such a trifler expect rather to be kickt then to be followed by the multitude Should we not hear them expressing their indignation in such speeches as these What Do you take
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 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 3â—9 Tzemach David ad an 3761. it is delivered as a tradition among them that they hanged Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
they are one with him as light is with a candle Which had little truth in it till Christ our PASSEOVER was sacrificed for us when the mystery was explained and he invited all men to come and eat of his flesh and drink of his bloud and thereby have such a fellowship with him in his death that he might communicate to them his life For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens Alex. speaks * L 11. Paedag. cap. 2. This is to drink the bloud of Jesus to partake of the Lord's immortality And so our Lord explains himself when he adds in the next words ver 57. As the living Father who being the authour of life can give it again to the dead hath sent me and I live by the Father shall rise again though I give my flesh to be slain so he that eateth me believeth on me though crucified shall live by me that is be raised again to life by me as I by the Father For he gave his flesh as he says at the beginning of this discourse ver 51. that is delivered it to be made a bloudy sacrifice for the life of the world i. e. that all mankind might have remission of sins and eternall life Which he will as certainly give to those who do not refuse to participate of this Sacrifice by believing in him as the Father of life raised him from the dead to live for evermore These words seemed hard to some of his Disciples ver 60. who could not understand that there should be such virtue in his flesh as to give life unto the world But our Lord tells them there was no cause of being offended at this discourse for if they would but stay a while they should be convinced that he did not ascribe too much to it ver 62. What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before That is What will you say if you behold me raised up from the dead and ascend into heaven where I was before I took this flesh Will you not then confess that my Death which is meant by his giving his flesh to them had an exceeding great virtue in it being so acceptable to God as to be thus highly rewarded Will it then seem incredible to you that I should obtain thereby a power to raise the dead and to give eternall Life This sure will be a convincing argument that I have not said too much of my BLOUD nor promised greater things then it can doe for you You will then if you consider it joyn your selves heartily to me though now you are ready to fly off and not think my Cross such a scandall that it should hinder you from being Christians X. And that will be one of our next works in the following Chapter to shew the power of Christ's Resurrection to perswade us that by his Death He will give life to the world Let us first onely briefly consider that there are some other Circumstances besides this now mentioned which declare there was something exceeding remarkable in the Sufferings of Christ on the Cross to procure him great glory For we find that Nicodemus one of their Senatours who durst not publickly own our Saviour while he was in great savour with the people came now that he was crucified and exposed to scorn and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes about an hundred pound weight xix Joh. 39. to honour his Corps withall Which would be a stronger argument of the thorough conviction already wrought in his mind if there be any truth in the conjecture of a learned Man * Jac. Alâ—ing Schiâ—â— l. w. p 26. that these spices were intended not to embalm him but as the manner was upon great occasions to burn at his funerall Thus far he is certainly in the right that the honour of having sweet spices burnt at their funerals appertained to no other persons but onely their Kings 2 Chron. xvi ult and the Head of all the Doctours the Nasi as they called him of their Academies And he notes likewise truly out of Joseph ben Gorion that when the funerall pomp of Herod the Great was carried forth fifty of his servants are said to have scattered all the way they went those very things which Nicodemus brought viz. Myrrh and Aloes and all other sweet spices But whether we can hence conclude that Nicodemus now honoured him by these as the King of Israel and the Prince of all the prophets I cannot tell because the Evangelist ver 40. seems to tell us that the use they made of these spices was to imbalm his body which they wound in linen cloaths with the spices as the manner of the Jews was to bury Yet this we may safely conclude that he would never have put himself to so great a charge and laid out so much upon his dead body if he had not seen something which convinced him that this was that King of Israel who would give him a reward for his love and open confession of him in his heavenly Kingdome There was nothing to move him to such an expence upon such an hated person but onely a perswasion that Jesus was what he pretended and an assured hope that by this flesh which now lay dead the World should be restored to life Yea such power there was in his Death to affect mens hearts that not onely the Centurion confessed him to be a righteous man but all the people who were come together to that sight beholding the things that accompanied his sufferings were prickt in their consciences and smote their breasts xxiii Luk. 47 48. They could not that is but express their sorrow for this horrid fact of shedding his BLOUD and dread the dismall consequences of it Insomuch that Gem. Sanh c. vi though it was forbidden by the Constitutions of the Sanhedrin to make any lamentations for a malefactour yet they were not able on this occasion to forbear it Their own Writers tell us that it was a part of the honour they did to a deserving person when his funerall was carried out to accompany him with sighs and groans and tears and beating themselves and such like tokens of their inward grief for his loss With which the Holy Scripture agrees when it names this as part of the Curse of God upon Jehojakim that none should so much as sigh at his buriall nor make the usuall lamentation saying Ah my Brother Ah Lord or Ah his glory xxii Jer. 18. From whence it is likely they passed a Decree that when any person suffered by a publick sentence for a crime none should presume to grace him with any ceremony nor use the least outward sign of heaviness though in their hearts they might mourn for him But this Decree and Custome settled by the Authority of their supreme Court the esteem which our Saviour wone to himself even when he hung upon his Cross forced the people to break Their affection to him was stronger then all Laws and they
much as he desired and when they had done there were twelve baskets of fragments which remained over and above to them that had eaten This Miracle made the multitude conclude that certainly He was the Prophet who should come into the world and therefore they purposed whether he would or no to come and make him their King ver 14 15. And when he avoided it by crossing the sea privately ver 16 17 c. they also took shipping to follow after him and never rested till they had found him ver 24 25. Whereupon our Lord takes occasion to tell them how sorry he was to see them so industriously pursue the food of their bodies and not mind the food of their Souls to which his late Miracle led them and in plain terms tell them that Spirituall food was himself who was the Bread of life they should hunger after more then for the loaves wherewith they had been filled and that if they did eat of him they should have everlasting life and he would raise them up at the last day ver 26 27. and 35 c. This they might easily have believed if they had considered the Miracle of the loaves which was a token from God that he could support them eternally For why should not he be able to give life who so strangely preserved it and out of a little dust make a body as he had out of a few crums made so many loaves If their desires had been fixed upon this Eternall Life which he preached as much as upon the present they would as naturally have taken this Miracle for the Seal whereby God noted him to be the giver of it as they took it to be a mark that he could thus fill their bellies every day and save them the labour of seeking food after the manner that Moses fed their Fathers with Manna in the Wilderness V. And next to this if you consider how he dispossessed Devils which was a Wonder as frequent as any if told the world plainly that He was come to destroy the works of the Devil to overthrow his kingdom and devest him of his power unless they would still uphold him in it By Sin he held his Throne this gave him all the power he had over men and made them his vassals and slaves Who being so often rescued out of his hands and he so openly foiled it was a sign that Jesus was come to take away the sins of the world and thereby disarm him of the power of death and restore men again to that everlasting Life out of which the Devil had before thrown mankind as our Saviour now threw him out of them All this the Jews themselves confess shall be the work of the Messiah According to what we reade in the Authour of the Book concerning the Service of the Sanctuary who saith that the King Messiah shall restore all things to their first estate so that the intention of God shall be fulfilled which he had in the Creation of the World for the World shall return to that naturall perfection which it had before rebellious Adam sinned The Prophets are faithfull witnesses of this as it is written lxv Isa 19. I will rejoyce in Jerusalem and joy in my people and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying And so he speaks also in another place of that Book xxv 8. He will swallow up death in victory and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces The Authour also of Baal Hatturim as I find him cited by Hackspan * Cabala Judaica Sect. 72. confesses as much in his Notes upon xix Num. where he saith In the times of Salvation or the days of Christ there shall be no use of the Ashes of the red heifer according to that He will swallow up death in victory Which words are cited by St. Paul 1 Cor. xv 54. as the other part of that verse is by the voice St. John heard from heaven xxi Rev. 4. when he is treating of the Resurrection of the dead as the great comfort of Christian people Who may well expect it and all the blessings that attend upon it from our Lord Jesus the true Messiah if to all that hath been said we adde the consideration of what follows VI. That he raised even dead men to life again which was the greatest Miracle of all and at that time the greatest witness of the SPIRIT to him This shew'd that indeed he had Life in himself and would bestow it upon us as I have already noted for he raised them on purpose to declare what he was and what they might expect from him viz. a perfect victory over death and the grave Which appeared most remarkably in the resurrection of Lazarus who was the most famous instance of this power residing in him For the Miracle wrought on him was not so little as the recovering one who drew his last breath which was the case of the Centurion's Servant nor the restoring one to life who was newly dead as in the case of the Ruler of the Synagogue's daughter nor the raising a young man who was carried out towards his grave as the Widow's son was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Greg. Nyssen speaks * De Hominis opifici◠cap. xxv his Wonder-working proceeds to something more sublime A man of grown years not onely dead but musty already putrid and in a dissolution as he describes his condition so far gone toward corruption that his own friends thought it not fit our Lord should go to uncover his tomb because of the ill smell which might be expected this man I say with one word of our Lord's was restored again to life firm and compacted and though he was bound hand and foot with grave-cloaths it did not hinder his coming out of his grave which as Theophanes thinks was a Miracle little less then his Resurrection Who can chuse but look on this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use the same St. Gregory's words as the beginning the little Mysteries as I may call them of the Vniversall Resurrection into which Christ now initiated his Disciples For it is apparent by this He is the Lord of Life who can raise a putrid rotten carkass as well as those who are but newly departed the world And this was no private business transacted onely between him and his Disciples but a thing so notorious that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the multitude who were there present bare record of it xii Joh. 17. That is they affirmed it to be no vain report but told those of Jerusalem whither our Saviour was then going who had not seen the Miracle done that it was a certain Truth upon their knowledge Which they might affirm with the greater assurance because as Theophanes * Archiepis Taurom Hom. xxv observes they were confirmed in this belief by the testimony of all their senses By their own voice which shewed him the Tomb
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. Nâ—comed 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 thiâ—â—◠〈…〉 deeps and 〈…〉 never-decay 〈…〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
and the way to it This was the great end of our Saviour's appearing who brought that glimmering light that was in mens minds of the other world to a more perfect day And upon this errand the Apostles were sent as you have heard to call men to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess ii 14. Which made the Jews so unexcusable that they would not come unto our Lord that they might have life v. Joh. 40. though there was the greatest reason in the world to believe this Record that God hath given us Eternall life and this life is in his Son A voice from heaven I have shewn you often testified as much and so did the Holy Ghost which descended on our Saviour at his baptism and the many signs and wonders whereby God the Father sealed him and set as it were his mark stamp and character upon him that all might know who he was and believe his word as undoubtedly as if they heard God the Father himself speaking to them continually with his own voice out of heaven From thence our Saviour came it was apparent and therefore did not pretend to discover things of which he had no certain knowledge but onely revealed that happy Country from whence he descended So he professes to a very wise man among the Jews who was convinced by his many Miracles that he was a Teacher come from God iii. Joh. 2. Verily verily I say unto thee We speak that we do know and testify that we have seen ver 11. For as he came down from heaven as he farther tells him ver 13. so at that very moment he was there and had a most intimate familiarity and communication therewith and therefore might well say he had seen the things he reported from thence What they were you may reade in the following verses 15 16. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life c. The very same as I have likewise shewn John Baptist testified ver 36. And so did Moses and Elias who appeared in glory and discoursed with him concerning his return to the other world after he had done the will of God here ix Luke 30 31. At that time our Saviour was transfigured an evident token of the glorifying even of our bodies in the other state as three persons of integrity witness who saw his glory and the two men that stood with him ver 32. and were themselves overshadowed with a bright cloud an emblem of the glory to come in another World and so ravisht with the sight that they wisht they might always remain in that happy place Neither was this onely a sudden transport but it made such a lasting impression upon their minds that ever after they lookt upon it as a notable proof of the majesty and glory of our Saviour 2 Pet. i. 16 17. And so did the ancient Christians as appears by the Syriack Translatour of the New Testament who before the Epistle of St. James takes notice that now follow the Epistles of the three Disciples before whom our Lord was transfigured This we are to mark diligently and take it for an eminent token of the glory to which our Lord was to go and which he should be able to give For it relies upon the report of those who were persons of known worth and uprightness of heart who had no design in the world to serve but onely to promote such an important truth of which they were fully assured They appeal to all that had any acquaintance with them whether ever they saw or had reason to suspect any false or double dealing in them and had not rather been witnesses of their honesty and simplicity in the whole course of their Ministry For we are not as many saith St. Paul 2 Cor. ii 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that sell the word of God and make merchandize of it to inrich themselves thereby such might not stick to corrupt God's word as we render it and mix their own dreams with it but with all sincerity as men who are authorized by God and have him before our eyes to whom we must give an account of our actions we publish the Gospell of Christ Whom they accounted it a great mercy and favour from God to serve And therefore having received this ministry saith he iv 1 2. we are not sluggish in doing our duty nor do we perform it in a base unworthy manner but have so renounced or thrust away far from us all secret devices of inriching our selves that we do not blush to think of our designs for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are such practices as for mere shame men hide and cover pretending for instance onely the good of Souls when they intend nothing but to get their money nor do we walk in craftiness appearing one thing and being another nor corrupt the word of God by mixing any of our own inventions with it but in a free open and plain manner we commend our selves to all mens consciences as having God looking on us All that know us cannot but approve us if they be not led by passion more then reason and if they do not God doth This he repeats again Chap. vi where he gives a proof of their sincerity in the exercise of their Ministry from these two things first that they got nothing by it but many afflictions and then that they did nothing but good to others in recompence for all the trouble they gave them Of the former he speaks ver 4 5. of the second ver 6 7. and then returns to the other again Which argument he handles also at large towards the conclusion of the same Epistle xi 23 24 c. and once more xii 10. And thus he writes also to the Church of Thessalonica 1 Thess ii 4. who knew very well how faithfully they had discharged their trust and that they did not accommodate themselves to any man's humour but plainly delivered the message which God had committed to them No body could say that they had used any flattering speeches to sooth them up in a vain conceit of themselves ver 5. nor used any colours to hide a covetous design no as to their words and addresses the Thessalonians could testify the contrary and as to their mind and heart which God onely could know they call him to witness it never entred into their thoughts Nor did they seek glory and fame either from them or any body else but despised it as much as riches unless it were the honour of obliging them by communicating the blessings of the Gospell to them and receiving no reward from them ver 6. They might indeed have put them to charge and lived upon their cost as other Apostles of Christ did and that honestly too But He and his companions were among them with more gentleness ver 7. they parted that is from their own undoubted right to spare the Thessalonians and as a good nurse cherishes her children so they
defrauded themselves and took the meat as we speak out of their own mouths for the good of others whom they desired to breed up in Christian piety This shews the wonderfull innocency and goodness of these men who got nothing by the Gospell no not what they might have lawfully and justly taken but onely studied how to win Souls to Christ In short he calls them and God also to witness how holily how justly how unblamably they behaved themselves among those that believed ver 10. The first of which words refers to God the second to those actions which belong to humane society and the third to those which every man is bound unto severally by himself in none of which could He Silvanus and Timotheus be charged with any misdemeanour On which argument he once more insists 2 Tim. iii. 10 11. being so confident of his unreprovable vertue that he desired nothing more of all that knew him but to be followers of him and to walk so as they had him for an example 1 Cor. iv 16. iii. Phil. 17. All which I have the more particularly noted because it is from these men that we receive the testimony of Jesus Who they assure us chose to die the most shamefull death when he could have avoided it and with the greatest confidence when he was expiring commended his Spirit into the hands of God Which is an unquestionable argument that he believed and was assured that he should be with God when he went from hence and be able to doe for his followers all that he promised Which they tell us moreover God justified when he raised him from the dead and carried him in their sight up into heaven and afterward sent the Holy Ghost upon them to testify that he was still alive and possessed of an unseen glory In which they also tell us he appeared to severall persons as I have already related One of which was caught up into heaven and heard such things there as made him wish for nothing more then to leave this earth and to be with Christ To whom the Angels they also assure us witnessed upon severall occasions For they attended him at his birth and in his life and when he died and after his resurrection and when he ascended into heaven From whence he sent them many times as ministring Spirits to his Apostles of which we have very large testimonies in the whole book of the Revelation From all which we may safely conclude that there can no other reason in the world be given why any man thus informed should not believe the Gospell but onely his own desperate wickedness For the things propounded therein are most desirable above all other It reveals such a wonderfull love of God to mankind that all men would rejoyce to hear the news of it were they not averse to those pious and vertuous courses whereby they are told they must attain it Nothing attracts all hearts so much as the hope of a blessed immortality which is testified to us so credibly in the Gospell that nothing could make men turn their ears away from it by infidelity but onely the incurable wickedness of their Nature which will not let them part with those vices which the Gospell says they must quit for so great a Good In one word there is nothing in this Book but what is sutable to all mens desires save onely the holy rule of life and therefore it can be nothing else but their hatred to this which makes them reject all the rest They would follow their nobler appetite after those good things which the Gospell promises if they had not perfectly given up themselves to those baser appetites which must be denied for their sake For if our Gospell be hid saith St. Paul in the place before mentioned it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospell of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them 2 Cor. iv 3 4. That which the Gospell reports is as clear as the noon-day Nothing can be more visible then the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the light or the splendour of the Gospell of the glory of Christ By which saith Theophylact the Apostle means the belief of these great Truths that Jesus was crucified that he was received up into heaven and that he will give future rewards This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 splendour the Apostle speaks of which if any man do not see after such evident demonstrations of these things it is his wickedness hinders him And such men after they have long resisted the light fall under the power of the Devil so inevitably that he blinds their eyes Mark as St. Chrysostom observes that the Scripture calls severall things by the name of a God not from their own worth and excellence but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the weakness of those who are subject to them Thus Mammon is the God of some and the belly the God of others and the Devill the God of all such persons because they are basely inslaved to the love of mony and of their fleshly appetite and He rules and governs them as absolutely as if he were their God Yet he hath no power quite to blind their eyes as he farther observes before they disbelieve that which is so credibly reported by such Divine arguments for as the very words of St. Paul are he blinds the minds of them that believe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they became infidels of themselves and having given themselves over to unbelief against such miraculous evidence of the truth of the Christian Faith God gives them over to him to whose service they have so slavishly devoted themselves that they cannot be recovered but as they deserve must unavoidably perish From which miserable condition let all those who are inclined to infidelity take care to save themselves by timely considering those Divine demonstrations which these holy men of God have reported to us who beheld our Saviour's glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father full of grace and truth i. Joh. 14. Upon which words hear what the same eloquent Bishop writes who thus summs up a great part of the evidence we have for the Christian belief The Angels appeared in great glory upon the earth to Daniel S. Chrysostom Hom. xii in Johan David and Moses but they appeared as servants as those that had a Master It is the peculiar glory of our Saviour that he appeared as a Lord as having power over all and though in a poor and vile fashion yet even in that the Creation knew its Lord and Master A Star from heaven called the Wise men to worship him A great company of Angels often attended him and sang his praises To whom others succeeded who published his glory and delivered this secret Mystery one to another the Angels to the Shepherds and the Shepherds to those
be delivered over to the severe tormenting powers but to those that are able to bring us to the inheritance in heaven which is prepared for those that love him Which God grant we may all obtain through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen CHAP. XIV A farther improvement of this RECORD THE grounds of Christian belief you see are not so slender but I may take the confidence to say that he who will be at the pains to consider such things as these cannot any longer think it a piece of wit to be an infidel It is rank folly as well as baseness there being no reason in the earth to except against these Witnesses and to deny the Faith of Christ an entrance into our minds and hearts For what we know as I have shewn in the former Book by credible report is as certain as what we see and hear with our eyes and ears And what can be better attested then the holy Gospell Which is justly called the testimony of God 1 Cor. ii 1. and the testimony of Christ i. 6. Because God testified these things to us as his will by his Son Christ and Christ testified them to us by the holy Ghost For so St. Paul saith in the place last named ver 5 6. the Corinthians were inriched by our Lord with every gift even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed or established to be a truth among them After which mighty evidence whereby we are assured God intends to bestow so great a blessing on us as immortall Life it is of no weight whatsoever can be objected against this Doctrine particularly against that part of it which concerns the Resurrection of the body at the last day For that Great Lord who said it we are certain can perform it He knew his own power and would not have said I will raise you up at the last day unless he had been able to make his word good He hath also already fulfilled his word in other things which he foretold though no body would believe him till they saw it which is a good ground as St. Gregory Nyssen observes * De opificio hominis cap. xxv to expect this though it seem never so difficult and incredible had he not promised it Suppose saith he that an husbandman discoursing of the virtue of Seeds should not be believed by a by-stander that had never been bred in the country nor seen any thing of that nature would it not be sufficient for his satisfaction to take but one single grain out of an heap of corn and to tell him he should see in that the virtue of all the rest For he that sees one grain of wheat or barly cast into the ground coming up after some time a full ear will never doubt of the fruitfulness of all the rest of the same kind Even just so saith he it seems to me a sufficient testimony of the Resurrection that the truth of other things which he foretold cannot be denied In them we have an experiment whereby we may judg of every thing else that he hath said But to demand that every thing should be made out by reason before we receive it is to make us Philosophers not Christians whose name is Believers And besides the best Philosophers cannot tell us how the Corn I now mentioned grows up from a little Seed cast into the ground or a Man from so small a beginning in his mother's womb or any thing considerable of the manner how all naturall productions are performed And therefore what folly is it to resolve not to be satisfied unless we shew how a dead body can be raised It is sufficient to know that idoneus est reficere qui fecit as Tertullian speaks in this case He that made it at first is able to make it again It being more as he goes on to make then to re-make to give a beginning to a thing then to restore it after it is dissolved And we have this also to satisfy us that multitudes saw our Saviour raise men from the dead and by other miraculous works demonstrate that he wants not power to doe any thing he hath promised His word may well be taken for any thing to come who hath already done such wonders as are credibly reported to us by those that were spectatours of them in the Gospell And it is very remarkable how he deals with us as a Mother doth with her Child Greg. Nyss ibid. into whose tender mouth she first thrusts her breast to nourish it with milk and when the teeth come gives it bread and when it is grown stronger feeds it with solid meat Even so our Blessed Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. beginning with lower Miracles at the first prepares our faith by degrees for the highest He began with the cure of desperate diseases in which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he prefaced to his power of raising the dead For that which men thought impossible he shew'd hereby was not incredible Who could have thought that one sick of a burning fever should be made so well by speaking a word as to rise presently and minister to the company yet Simon 's wife's mother was an instance of this Miraculous power in our Saviour Who added something to this Miracle when he restored the Nobleman's son to health though he was at the point of death as his Father thought iv Joh. 47. and this without touching or coming near him For he did not stir from the place where he was at Cana and yet sent life to him as far as Capernaum by the sole power of his command After which he proceeded to an higher Miracle for he restored another Ruler's daughter to life who died before he came to her rescue And again he exceeded this Miracle by raising up the woman's son of Naim when he was carrying out to be buried And at last as hath been before observed he raised his wonder-working power so high that he called Lazarus out of his grave when he had been dead four days Thus he raises our minds by little and little to the highest pitch of Faith to believe that is the Resurrection of the dead He teaches us to expect that in generall the experiment of which he hath shewn in particulars For as the Apostle faith 1 Thess iv 16. the Lord shall descend with a shout c. at the restauration of all things to raise the dead to a state of incorruption even so now he that lay in his grave was awakened by the voice of our Saviour's command and shaking off his corruption came whole and sound out of his tomb the bands wherewith his hands and feet were tied nothing hindring Is this nothing to confirm our belief of the Resurrection when we have not onely our Lord's word for it but by those whom he restored to life we have in deed a demonstration of what he hath promised
even when thou wast scorned and rejected of men Great was the splendour of thy Majesty under the mockery of a Crown of Thorns and under the reproach of the Cross it self And great was thy Love O thou Lover of Souls who wouldst shed thy own most precious Bloud to work and confirm thy Faith in our hearts that believing on thee we might have life through thy Name O how expensive was thy Love which never thought it had done enough till thou hadst assured our hearts by giving thy self for us How infinitely are we indebted to thee who hast so dearly purchased our eternal joy with thy most bitter sorrows I ought to have the greater regard to all that thou hast said either concerning thy self or concerning the obedience I owe thee or the happiness thou hast promised me because thou hast sealed all in so sacred a manner and chosen to die that thou mightest bear witness to thy Truth For this end thou camest into the world and hast honoured thy self with the Name of the True and faithful witness the beginning of the Creation of God who hast shown us the path of life by thy bloudy and most ignominious death O that none of us who are called by thy Name may ever prove so base and unworthy so ungrateful and disrespectful to thee so insensible or forgetful of thine amazing goodness as to forsake that course which thou thy self hast begun and into which thou hast led us by thine own example Let none of us prove unlike thee who art the beginner and the finisher of our Faith Let us never degenerate from the Original from whence we come nor dishonour the very Author of what we are by actions unworthy of his children But be pleased graciously both to excite and assist our pious endeavours to follow thee and to witness a good confession as thou hast done at least in our lives and conversation That they may testifie to all how much we reverence thee by our observance of thy commands and justifie the truth of thy Word that thy yoke is easie and thy burden light by our chearful free and ready observance of them And if thou wilt have us to witness a good confession also by our bloud or by parting with any thing that is as dear unto us for thy names sake O that we may then imitate thee the true and faithful witness by continuing faithful to thee unto death Let no Soul of us ever faint in our mind much less draw back for fear of any thing that may befall us But still go on and couragiously meet whatsoever opposes us in our way to Heaven Help us to stand fast in the Faith to quit our selves like men and to be strong as becomes thy faithful servants and souldiers who have vowed to be true to thee unto our lives end O Blessed Jesus who can think that he does or endures too much for thee Who can complain of thy service or repine at the sufferings it may require When he thinks of thy labour and pains to secure our hope in God of an eternal redemption from all miseries and troubles and from all sin the cause of them by shedding thy own most holy bloud We are unworthy to bear the Name of thy servants if we should be so ungrateful to thy memory as not to celebrate that love with perpetual praises and thanksgivings And how fearfully shall we reproach our selves if we continue to commemorate it and yet grudge to deny any thing for thy sake or behave our selves as if we would renew thy sufferings by our continued sins Far be it from any of us to think any thing so dear to us as Truth and Righteousness that holy Truth which thou hast delivered to us O that we may read with such an affection the whole history of thy love and all the Laws thou hast left to govern us and the gracious grants thou hast made us as if we saw them written in thy most precious bloud By which thou hast testified the greatness and sincerity of thy love and assured us of the truth of thy Word and consecrated thy self also to be a merciful and faithful High Priest who canst have compassion on us and ever succour and relieve us when we are tempted as thou wast And may we be so sensibly affected herewith as to depend on thy intercession with the stronger Faith and with greater care and diligence tread in those steps which thou hast in such a manner markt out to us and persist in them so stedfastly that none of the terrors of this world may make us step aside and turn from thy Commandments Give us grace O Blessed Lord in the worst condition to express that resolution that undaunted resolution that constancy that confidence in God that zeal for his honour and glory that charity towards our enemies that humble resignation and that patient meekness which appeared in thee under thy greatest sufferings Arm us with the very same mind and spirit which we see in thy self That we who believe in a Saviour who abased and humbled himself so low who was so content to be poor and little regarded to bear all the slanders and scorn as well as the cruel torments which the malice of men could inflict upon him may not be proud and insolent covetous and ambitious impatient of pain or a little disparagement but constantly endeavouring to conform our selves to thy glorious pattern which we have before us may rejoyce in that faithful saying That if we be dead with thee we shall also live with thee if we suffer we shall also reign with thee Amen Now unto the faithful Witness the first-begotten from the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Bloud and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen CHAP. VII Concerning the Third Witness upon Earth the SPIRIT THere is one Witness more that remains still to be examined whose testimony was notorious and very well known for it was upon the Earth viz. that of the SPIRIT In the sixth verse S. John brings it in after the other two I have now treated of though in the eighth Verse it be set before them And there he adds this illustrious character of it which is not given to the two former it is the SPIRIT that beareth witness because the SPIRIT is the TRUTH Which is not to be understood as if the other two were not Witnesses for they are called so expresly in this eighth Verse or as if they were not truth for I have abundantly proved that they are But this mark is set upon the SPIRIT to denote it to be the most eminent Witness of the Three The witness or that Witness that which excels the other two in clearness and notoriousness that which was alwayes accounted most powerful to prove a truth that against which nothing
can be objected but with the greatest impudence and impiety that which adds greater strength and force unto the other two and together with them makes up a most compleat demonstration For whatsoever defect any one may think there is in the witness of the Water and of the Bloud alone the SPIRIT perfectly supplies it and proves beyond all doubt that a person who so lived and so dyed must needs be the Son of God Now by the SPIRIT we are not to understand either the descent of the Spirit of God upon our Saviour at his Baptism or the pouring of it upon the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost or any thing of like nature for this was the Testimony of the HOLY GHOST and that from Heaven But we are to understand thereby first the Miracles Wonders and Signs which were wrought by him before he dyed and secondly his more wonderful Resurrection to life again after he was crucified dead and buried I will not be too confident but I think there is a plain difference which is not observed between the HOLY GHOST and the SPIRIT in the phrase of the New Testament By the HOLY GHOST seems commonly to be meant the gifts of Tongues of Prophecy of Knowledge of Wisdom of Revelation and such like Whereas by the SPIRIT when it is used alone or in distinction from the other is generally meant the power of Miracles of healing Diseases casting out Devils feeding Multitudes with very little food and such like wonders For we read that the HOLY GHOST was not given while our Saviour lived vii John 39. And yet even then the Apostles had the power of casting out Devils and healing all manner of Diseases which was a portion of that SPIRIT which our Saviour had without measure but was not the HOLY GHOST Thus S. Peter says our Lord was anointed with the HOLY GHOST and with POWER x. Act. 38. Where by POWER is meant something distinct from the HOLY GHOST even that which is here called SPIRIT a faculty of doing wonders as the other signifies a faculty of knowing the heart of declaring the mind of God of foretelling things to come of prophecying and opening all the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven And thus I am sure it signifies in the Old Testament where when the SPIRIT of the Lord is said to come upon Othniel iii. Judg. 9. upon Gideon vi 34. upon Samson xiii 25. xiv 6. as I may have occasion to note more largely upon another occasion there is nothing intended of the HOLY GHOST or any gift of declaring God's mind that was then bestowed on them But they were then only made valorous and couragious and were indued with great strength to atchieve wonderful things above the power of Man And indeed in this consists one principal difference between the HOLY GHOST and the SPIRIT that the former consecrated Men to the office of interpreting God's mind but the latter did not making them only valiant as in those three now mentioned or fit for the Government of God's People as in the case of Saul All which is said briefly to show what we are here to understand by the SPIRIT viz. all the wonderful things that our Lord did and all that were done for him upon the Earth For whatsoever may be thought of the rest there is no doubt of this that when the HOLY GHOST and the SPIRIT are thus distinguished as they are here by S. John the one being a witness in Heaven the other on Earth SPIRIT must be taken in this limited and restrained signification I. And first I say All that he did as his cleansing the poor Lepers opening the eyes of the blind curing of the Palsie Bloudy-flux and indeed all manner of sickness and disease commanding the Wind and the Sea to be obedient to him walking upon the Water feeding many Thousands with a few Loaves and Fishes making an hundred times more fragments than there was meat casting out of Devils and raising of the Dead all these were notable witnesses to Jesus and hereby the SPIRIT bare record that He was the Son of God The Prophet Isaiah foretold that he being Gods beloved in whom his Soul was well pleased would appear in this manner for God he says would put his SPIRIT upon him This S. Matthew takes notice of and applies to Jesus x. 18. just after he had cured a Man who had his hand withered which shows what he understood by the SPIRIT And our Lord himself also expounds the meaning of it in the following Verses For after the recital of that Prophecy of Isaiah the Evangelist relates immediately how He healed a Man possessed with a Devil blind and dumb vers 22. which the Pharisees spitefully ascribing to the power of the Devil and not of God He confutes them by this argument that then the Devil would pull down his own Kingdom What men of sence could imagine him to be so foolish He was not yet so blind as the Pharisees were who ought to have concluded from these miraculous works vers 28. that if he by the SPIRIT of God east out Devils as it could be by nothing else according to the argument now named then it was apparent the Kingdom of God was come unto them Here he both tells us what the SPIRIT signifies viz. such a power as this of casting out Devils and also what was the end of giving the SPIRIT viz. that they might know the Messiah and his Kingdome was come And whom could they take to be their KING but he who appeared anointed with such a SPIRIT and who communicated the same power unto others For this was an evident demonstration that the voice was no empty sound which said Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and that it was no deception when John the Baptist thought he saw the SPIRIT descend and remain upon him It was plain by this that indeed he was very dear to God and that he had a Divine Power residing and dwelling in him which proved him to be as great as that voice proclaimed him That there was a mighty Power in him his sworn Enemies could not deny The very accusation of Magick which we find to this day in the Jewish Books against him does us this service that it is an open acknowledgment there were such miraculous things done as are recorded in the Gospel story Which being granted it is apparent the power that wrought them was Divine and that there was nothing of the Devil in the business by our Saviours argument in the place now named For how could the Devil be supposed to assist in such operations unless we will conceive him to have so little wit as to contrive the most effectual way to overthrow all his own authority The very end for which our Saviour dispossessed Devils and did all other miraculous cures was to win honour to God whereas the Devil in all that he doth hath the quite contrary drift If we should suppose with the