David Reigned but that he should exercise a spiritual jurisdiction over The Israel of God as I have spoken before To this purpose also is that which Daniel speaks of The God of heavens setting up a Kingdom that should never be destroyed Dan. 2.44 which is spoken of the Kingdom of Christ And that Zechariah speaks of thus Behold thy King cometh unto thee Zechar. 9.9 which is applyed to our Saviour Mat. 21.7 By all this it is sufficiently evident to every sober and impartial eye that the Lord did promise to the Fathers of the Old Testament his own Son to become man and to be a Mediator between God and man and that accordingly the Spirit of God in the Law and the Prophets hath attributed to the Messiah who was promised such Names and Titles as speak him to be such a Person and withal that they foretel him to be designed by the Father to such Offices as were necessary to be performed in order to our Redemption and Salvation CHAP. VII The second Proposition confirmed by nine Arguments viz. That the time which was appointed by God for the accomplishing of these Promises and Prophesies and for the sending of the Son of God into the world in our Nature is long since expired so that we are certainly to believe that our Saviour is already come in the flesh THat God the Father was pleased in his wonderful goodness and tenderness toward Mankind to make very gracious promises concerning the sending of his own Son into the World to be our Redeemer and Saviour I think hath been made so evident that he who would go about to cavil at it must either bid open defiance to the belief of the Law and the Prophets or if he profess with his mouth that he believeth them yet he will shew indeed by his wresting of them that he bears very little reverence to them Now as we have seen how the inestimable love of God was manifest in that man had no sooner fallen from obedience to his Creatour and given him occasion to pronounce that sentence of the Law which his Justice did shew to be the due desert of sin but he did presently even in the midst of judgement remember mercy and promised unto man a Saviour that should deliver him from that curse of the Law which was but now denounced So now let us see the admirable faithfulness of God who hath fulfilled with his hand what he promised with his mouth and When the fulness of time was come Gal. 4.4 did send forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law The Apostle tells us that the Doctrine which they preached of Christ being then already come and crucified for our sins was to the Jews a stumbling-block 1 Cor. 1.23 44. and to the Greeks foolishness and we may add that what he told us before we have still reason to tell you weeping 2 Cor. 3.24 that to this day the vail is upon the hearts of the Jews even a double vail of ignorance and obstinacy so that though the wrath of God hath come upon this Nation to the utmost 1 Thes 2 16. and doth continue to this day by reason of their crucifying the Lord of Life yet will they not be sensible of it but still are ready to cry as their fathers formerly Mat. 27.25 His blood be on us and on our children And which is more sad many even amongst the Professours of Christianity are waxed so wanton in matters of Religion that they would be glad to finde out some new sawces to gratifie the vanity of their own appetites would fain finde some new matters in this great Mystery of godâ—iness God manifest in the flesh as if the old Doctrine of the Church of God in all ages were so old that it were time to lay it aside To obviate therefore the growing vanity of those that are so loose in the Profession of Christianity and to help to establish us all in the belief of that Faith into which we have been Baptized I shall endeavour by several Arguments to confirm this Truth that we are verily to believe the time to be come and long since past when the Son of God was to come in the flesh and to make himself an offering to Divine Justice for our sins First 1 Argument I argue from the calling of the Gentiles to the Knowledge and Service of the true God When God was pleased to make choice of Jacob and his Posterity for his peculiar people he gave them several Ordinances and Rites Eph. 2.14 which the Apostle calls a middle-wall of partition between them and the Gentiles God having appointed the observation of these to be the cognizance of his own people so that the Gentiles not observing these this made as it were a partition-wall to separate the Jews from the Gentiles And if we look into all the Writings of the Prophets whensoever we finde any thing spoken of the Conversion of the Gentiles we finde it tyed to the coming of the Messiah in the flesh So when the Prophet speaks of Christ Isa 49.6 and the forming of him from the womb he saith It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Judah I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles Isa 60.3 that thou mayst be my Salvation to the ends of the earth And afterwards speaking of the coming of Christ he saith The glory of the Lord shall arise upon the earth and the Gentiles shall come to thy light and the King to the brightness of thy rising I might instance in many other Prophesies concerning the Conversion of the Gentiles all which do foretel its coming to pass about the time of the coming of the Messiah in the flesh Eph. 2.14 15. who was to break down the middle-wall of partition that was between us and so of twain to make one people Now that the Gentiles have been many of them long since turned to the knowledge and obedience of the true God is evident Joh. 4. Christ himself preached the Gospel to the man of Samaria and afterward to the whole City and many of them believed in him And afterwards we finde that divers of the Apostles went and preached the Gospel to the Gentiles yea St. Paul is expresly stiled The Apostle of the Gentiles Eph. 3.2 3. And he saith Is he the God of the Jews only Is he not of the Gentiles also Rom. 3.29 30. Yes of the Gentiles also Seeing it is one God that will justifie the circumcision by Faith and the uncircumcision through Faith We read in the New Testament of the Churches of God at Rome at Corinth at Galatia at Ephesus and many other places which before were Heathenish places Yea to go no further then this our Island which was sometime of the number of the Gentile Nations yea of the remote parts of the Gentiles and yet as we know that at
and to the end of his coming into the world viz. to take away the sins thereof 4. The greatest and most Authentick Testimony that can be defired or imagined is that of the Father from Heaven concerning him This is my well beloved Son Mat. 3.17 Chap. 17.5 in whom I am well pleased That he was truly man was evident to those that were about him that he was God was evident by the Testimony of God himself who is the God of Truth 5. The passages of his life upon Earth doth shew him to be both truly God and truly Man His hungring and thirsting his weariness and faintness his sighing and weeping and such other fruits of humane infirmity were sufficient Arguments to prove him to be truly man And all the miraculous works of his Power which he wrought upon earth of which I have spoken before as they shew him to be the Messiah Isa 35.5 6. that was foretold by the Prophets of whom it was foretold that he should work such miracles so also that he was truly God Joh. 5.36 as himself argues 6. The Testimony of the Evangelists and Apostles doth confirm this Of St. Peter Mat. 16.16 Acts 2.36 Chap. 3.17 18. and Chap. 4.11 12. and Chap. 10.43 1 Pet. 1.19 20. Of St. Paul Acts 9.22 and Chap. 13.23 34. Rom. 15.8 2 Cor. 1.10 2 Tim. 2.8 Of St John 1 John 2.22 and Chap. 5.2 15. Of St. Stephen the Proto-martyr Acts 7.52 Of St. Philip Acts 8.32 And many more Instances of this sort might be alledged but these are some of the chief 7. The general consent of the Catholick Church of Christ in all Ages ever since the time of Jesus and his Apostles who have held this Truth and made it a main Article of all their Creeds The concurrence of all Pious and Orthodox Fathers and Councils beside the chearful and undaunted sufferings of many thousands of Martyrs for the Profession of this Faith This I say together with the former Testimonies do argue this foundation of our Faith to be laid as so sure a Rock that The gates of Hell Mat. 16.18 shall never be able to prevail against it and that we may comfortably venture our selves upon this Truth that the same Jesus in whom we believe is both Lord and Christ God and Man Hypostatically united Secondly Let us proceed to the other Head viz. to prove that Christ did fully and in a true and proper sense make satisfaction to Gods justice for our sins And that Salvation is to be expected from him and no other way 1. It is very evident that the Apostles in the New Testament do affirm us to be reconciled to God and justified in his fight by the merits and sufferings of Christ Rom. 5.10 When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Which as it shews plainly that there was an enmity between God and man through the Fall and this enmity mutual God offended by mens transgression and man alienated from God by the depravation of his Nature So it shews whereby the Reconciliation was wrought between God and man even by the death of Christ the Son of God who did both by the merits of his death satisfie Gods justice and also by the efficacy of his Death and Resurrection take from us the stony heart and give us an heart of flesh And it is very observable Vers 19. how afterward the Apostle makes a direct Antithesis between the first and the second Adam the misery that befel us by the transgression of the first and the benefits we receive by the obedience and sufferings of the latter As by one mans disebedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Which words as they do suppose the Communication of the guilt of Adams sin to all his posterity whereby they are said to be made sinners and liable to Gods justice So they do plainly express the benefits of Christ's death to be communicated to the justification of as many as do believe in him And what can be a plainer proof of the point in hand Secondly The New Testament speaks of the blood of Christ being shed to make an attonement for us Phil. 2.8 Being found in fashion of a man having taken our Nature upon him and set himself in our stead in this nature and in our stead He humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the Cross And that we may know that he died for us shed his blood to make attonement to Divine Justice for our sins 1 Joh. 1.7 St. John tells us That the blood of Jesus Christ his Son 1 Pet. 2.24 cleanseth us from all our sins And St. Peter tells us That by his stripes we are healed Not healed only in a moral sense as good examples tend to heal and take away corrupt manners as if Christ had come into the world onely to give us an example of Holiness in his life and of Humility and Patience at his death and that were all the benefit which we were to expect by him But we are so healed by his stripes that our sins are thereby pardoned being punished on his back He suffered the just for the unjust to the end that he might justifie the ungodly that believe in him So himself tells us Luk. 22.20 that his blood was shed for many for the remission of sins He died that he might purchase at Gods hands the pardon of our sins by undergoing that punishment which we had deserved To this agrees that Character which the Baptist gives of Christ Joh. 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world This sheweth plainly that he was slain and offered up as a Propitiatory sacrifice to expiate the guilt of our sins 3. The New Testament sets him forth as the Substance of all the Legal purifications and ceremonial Oblations and Expiations which were used by the Law of Moses And this argues that he made an Attonement for us Certainly the great God of Heaven and Earth did not take their Cattel from the Jews because he had need of them or because he delighted in shedding the blood of innocent Beasts that were no wayes accessary to the sins of their Masters But we have reason to believe there were further matters intended by these Ceremonies of the Law God did appoint these Ceremonial washings and expiations after legal defilements that the people might be put in mind of the defiling nature of sin and might be warned to take heed of it as that which defiles the soul and accordingly might endeavour after they had fallen into it to wash their souls with tears of Repentance and Contrition He charged their Estates and caused them to sacrifice their Cattel that they might learn that Sin is very displeasing to God and did expose them to that and a worse death then the innocent beast did sustain And yet further to put
13. yea with Vzziah presumptuously to rush unto Gods Altar and incroach upon the Priests Office 2 Chro. 26.17 18 Much less that they should have gone so far in the way of Corah and his company as to tell the Priests of the Lord that they take too much upon them Num. 16.3 and that all the Lords people are holy in the same sense as they and as fit to dispence Gods Ordinances as those that were solemnly and orderly set apart to this Office Those that first began through the specious pretences of some false Teachers to scruple the baptizing of Infants did little think they should have made such progress in giddiness and unfoundness as to deny any such thing as an outward Baptism which was so expresly commanded by our Saviour and sanctified by his own example and practised without any interruption in the Church of God in all ages yea to account the holy Communion of Christs Body and Blood as a common and prophane thing to account the preaching of the Word no better then foolishness whereas the Apostle represents it as the onely outward and ordinary means for working of Faith Rom. 10.14 17. 1 Cor. 1.21 and that which God is wont to make use of for this end yea to esteem the prayers of our Church as no better then Popish superstition and Idolatry which were composed by them that laid down their lives for the witness of the Truth against Popish idolatry and errour And in a word according to their own prophane expression to esteem themselves above those Ordinances which are infinitely above the best of men Those that first begun to raise doubts concerning some points of our Faith were so short-fighted as not to see the pernicious consequents of disturbances and unsettlement in the Church and did little think to see raked out of the grave most of the old errours which had for so long time lain buried in forgetfulness that so many of the notions of the old Gnosticks of the Arians Macedonians Pelagians Socinians Antitrinitarians Antiscripturists should have been revived under the notion of new lights while in the mean time the good old Orthodox Faith is anathematized as Antichristian But such is the deceitfulness of mans heart and such the subtlety and unwearied industry of that enemy of the Church that it is an hard matter for men to set bounds to themselves when once they have transgressed bounds To have foretold these things in the beginning of our Civil and Ecclesiastical confusions would have seemed to many wel-meaning but injudicious people not onely to have foretold strange and unlikely matters but also to have prophesied evil and not good meerly out of prejudice against those specious pretences But as the Maxims of Policy do shew and the sad experience of our Age doth confirm that in the Civil State it is far easier to find faults in a Government then to exchange it for a better and that Vnsettlement must needs resolve it self into Anarchy at last So in Church matters it hath alwayes been observed to be a dangerous course to remove a stone out of the Foundations of our Faith though with never so fair pretences of better polishing it and protestations of placing it there again A man of clear Reason and unbyassed Judgment might partly have foreseen the tendency of these things in the beginning And I hope all succeeding Ages will learn this from the calamities which we have felt that it is better for every Christian to exercise his Patience in bearing with and his Devotion in praying for the Reformation of some mistakes and comings-short in Church-Government then to pull down the whole Edifice under pretence of a through-Reformation lest the Remedy prove far more dangerous than the Disease How sad a pass are we come to in matters of Faith when some talk so presumptuously of a Light within that should be sufficient to lead a man to Heaven if he walk answerably to it which must either be perfect Pelagianism or Socinianism denying any such depravation of our Natures as doth disable us from doing that which is good by our own strength or that there is any such distance between God and man as should make us stand in need of a Mediator to work out a Reconciliation Or else we must take it to be a meer Meteor exhaled by the heat of a misguided Zeal from the Dunghil of Popery and elevated unto the middle Region of their Brain the seat of Fancy a Vapour not well understood by them that are impregnated with it a Tympany that swells them up to a conceit that they are big bellyed of some great matters which yet in the bringing of it forth into the World appears to be like the birth of the Mountains A Glow-Worm that is set in the dark to amuse the minds of those that are Children in understanding A New nothing blown up like a Bladder by the unsavory breath of men of putrid Lungs and laid in the way to cause men to stumble and fall short of Christ who is the Way Jo. 14.6 the Truth and the Life How sad is it to see others turn Scepticks and such as shame not to profess themselves to be to seek whether there be any true Church of Christ upon Earth or any Ordinances to be attended on While in the mean time both these and the former neglect that means of Knowledge whereby they might be convinced of their Errors and instructed in the way of Truth forsake the holy Ordinances of God which He hath appointed us to attend upon for our own good alway their Families are of the number of those that call not upon Gods Name Jer. 10.25 either at their lying down and rising up or at their partaking of the good Creatures of God which the Apostle tells us are to be received with thanksgiving 1 Tim. 4.5 and are sanctified to our use by the Word of God and Prayer It behoves therefore every good Christian to take heed That he be not drawn away with the Error of the wicked to depart from his own stedfastness but to grow in Grace Acts 3.17 18. and in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ And those whom God hath set to watch for the souls of others as they that must give an account ought to be diligent and faithful in preaching Christ crucified 1 Cor. 1.23 24. who though he be to the Jews a stumbling blook and to the Greeks foolishness yet to them that are effectually called both of the Jews and Greeks he is Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God Not but that we know that the Church of Christ is so built upon a Rock that all the malice and subtilty Mat. 16.18 of the gates of Hell shall never be able to prevail against it But yet it is our duty to give testimony to the Truth whereby through Gods blessing those that stand fast may be the more setled and those that are
Elect Angels to procure the confirmation of them in their estate of holiness and happiness But in this I determine nothing because the holy Scriptures are so sparing in speaking of it The usual acception of this word Mediator is to signifie him that reconciles parties that be at difference and in this sense Jesus Christ the word made flesh is truely and properly called a Mediator to reconcile God and man because he interposeth himself between God and us in this difference that sin hath made to reconcile Gods justice to us by making satisfaction for our sin and to reconcile us to God by sanctifying our natures and making us conformable to his will in this life inchoatly and at death perfectly CHAP. V. The holy Scriptures being owned at least in outward profession by men of all professions that lay claim to the common name of Christianity we may therefore take it for granted that Arguments drawn from them should put an end to all strife amongst us The design and method of the four following Chapters proposed THe Reverence we owe to the authority of the holy Scriptures doth oblige every good Christian not onely to account it a necessary piece of humility to subscribe to the doctrine thereof as the will and pleasure of him that made us and to whom we owe all obedience but also to esteem it the safest and most prudential course to entertain and embrace the truths thereof as the Word of him who is Wisdom it self and therefore cannot err or be deceived and Goodness it self and therefore we may be sure he will not endeavour to seduce or delude us So that though there be divers things contained in this Sacred Volume which our shallow capacities cannot reach to comprehend yet we finde reason enough to impute it to the defects of our Nature and not to any over-sight in those Sacred Writings that we cannot always see a reason of every thing therein delivered And the Soveraign Authority and infinite Wisdom of him that inspired those holy men that wrote these Books is a sufficient argument to move us to a reverent submission to those matters of Faith which surpass the reach of our reason and therefore as every sober Professor of Christianity makes the Word of God the foundation of his Faith so the best Arguments that can be produced for the confirming of our Belief in that Faith which hath been delivered unto us will be such as are fetched from this Sacred Promptuary of holy Writ And as I was mentioning it before Chap. 2. for the honour of the Word of God that men of all Sects and perswasions who center in the common Profession of the Christian Religion do at least pretend great reverence to these Writings and whether in good earnest or in design to put off their opinions the more plausibly in the world do endeavour to represent even their most heterodox and incredible Notions as the Doctrine of the Spirit of God in the Scripture we may therefore very reasonably expect that Arguments drawn from the Scriptures should be convineing to them and an end of all strife And further that the fair and plain meaning of the words of Scripture which is most obvious to every man of understanding and which hath been received by the Church of God in all ages should be embraced by them as well as by us as the ground upon which all Arguments are to be built It being as absurd in matters of Reason and Faith for one or a few men to expect that his or their single Vote for some singular meaning of a plain Text of Scripture should be heard in opposition to the judgement of the Church of God in all ages as in matters of sense it would be for one man confidently and contentiously to pronounce that colour to be white or red which all his Neighbours and people of all Ages before him have received under the notion of black We may therefore take it for granted that Arguments drawn from the plain and obvious sense of the Scripture such as hath been received by the Church in all Ages should be accounted sufficient both to confirm the faith of those that are serious in Christianity and also to convince or at least put to silence those that are dissenting from us In order therefore to the confirming of us in the belief of this Truth which is the substance of the whole Doctrine of the Gospel that The Word made flesh or God the Son manifest in the flesh hath truely and really undertaken and performed the Office of a Mediator to reconcile God and man I shall propound these four general Heads to be considered and confirmed First That the Lord did promise to Adam after his fall and to all the Fathers and Prophets of the Old Testament his own Son to become man and in the Union of these two Natures to perform all those Offices which were necessary in order to our Redemption and Salvation Secondly That the Time which was appointed for the accomplishing of these promises and Prophesies and for the sending of the Son of God into the World is long since expired and consequently that we ought stedfastly to believe that our Saviour is already come in the flesh Thirdly That we have full and sufficient grounds to believe that the same Jesus whom the New Testament holds forth unto us and in whom we and all the Churches of God in all Ages have believed is that very Person who was promised to the Fathers to come as the Messiah or Saviour of the World Fourthly That the Apostles and Evangelists in the New Testament do hold forth unto us such a Christ as was really and truly God and Man Hypostatically united in one Person and who did in a real and proper sense satisfie Gods Justice for our sins and purchase eternal Salvation for us by his Merits On this Rock is the Church of God built Matt. 16.18 On this have every one of us built our particular Faith and in this we had need to be fully and persectly setled And he that is confirmed in the truth of these four Positions is confirmed in the whole Doctrine of the Gospel Let us then proceed by the assistance of the good Spirit of God to the opening and confirming of them in order CHAP. VI. The first Proposition confirmed in its two Branches viz. First That God did promise to the Fathers of the Old Testament to send his Son into the World to take our Nature upon him Secondly That he promised that in the Vnion of these two Natures he should perform all those Offices which were necessary in order to our Redemption and Salvation ALL the Promises of God are Yea 2 Cor. 1.20 and Amen Faithfulness and Truth as being the Words of the God of Truth Tit. 1.2 who cannot lye Hath he spoken it and shall it not stand Hath he promised and shall he not make it good Mat. 5.18 Behold Heaven and Earth shall pass
imagine that the sins of the Children should hinder the fulfilling of them at the time appointed Secondly the promises concerning the Messiah were absolutely expressed without any respect to the worthiness or unworthiness of the people Jacob doth not say Gen. 49.10 If the people be obedient Shiloh shall come when the Scepter departs but speaks it absolutely The seventy weeks are said to be determined Dan. 9. not conditionally if the people did please God but absolutely And if the sins of the people did not hinder the fulfilling of other Prophesies of this Nature why should they be thought to have hindred this Doubtless this is but a Cavil invented by the Jews of latter ages for their fathers that lived about the time of Christs Birth did look upon them as absolute and did expect the Messiah about that time as I shewed before and this cavil is only invented to defend the obstinacy of this Nation at this day Nay let us hear what a promise the Psalmist mentioneth If the children of David do break my laws and keep not my commandments Psal 89.30 31 32. c. then will I visit their transgressions with a rod and their sins with stripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail my Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gon out of my lips And this must needs be understood of the Covenant concerning the sending of the Messiah so that their sins could not hinder the fulfilling of it in due time Thirdly the Messiah was promised to be a blessing to all Nations Gen. 21.16 and therefore the sins of one Nation could not hinder the sending of him in due time God promised Abraham that in his seed all the Nations of the earth should be blessed and Isaiah speaking from the Lord unto Christ Isa 49.6 saith It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the Tribes of Judah I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayst be my Salvation to the ends of the earth The Gentiles were to receive benefit by his coming into the world as well as the Jews as I have before shewed and therefore it would be unreasonable to imagine that the sins of that one Nation should hinder the coming of Him who was to be a blessing to all Nations Ezek. 18.20 God saith The soul that sinneth shall dye the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him Now if God will not punish the sins of the father on the son who is not accessary to his father's faults much less will he punish the sins of the Jews upon all the whole world who were not accessary to their sins Fourthly Dan. 9.24 The Messiah was promised to come for this end that he might take away sin to finish Transgression and to make an end of sin and to bring in everlasting Righteousness Isa 53.5 and to be wounded for our Transgressions c. as I have said before And therefore why should we think that the abounding of sin should hinder his coming Doth the sickness of the Patient hinder the Physitian from coming whose office is to cure Diseases and there would be no need of him if men were not sick Yea some of the Learned do tell us that the Jewish Rabbies that lived before Christ did foretel that when the Messiah should come there would be a great abounding of Iniquity in the world and therefore we may conclude this to be onely a Cavil of the later Jews to excuse their obstinate slighting of the true Christ whom their Fathers crucified As for that fond conceit of some of the Jews who say that the Messiah is indeed come but is hidden at the gates of Rome and that it shall be some time before he be discovered This is so far lighter than vanity that I shall take no further notice of it then to put you in mind thereby of that heavy curse of God that lies upon them That though the Prophet Malachi Mal. 3.1 for about two thousand years ago did tell them that the Lord should suddenly come into his Temple yet they will believe that he is still to come Yea though they have felt the heavy wrath of God lying upon them to the utmost for so many Ages yea though their condition be so sad that they have no Prophets to tell them how long it shall last yet still they perfist in denying and opposing the true Christ Let us pray for their Conversion and endeavour to be setled our selves in this Article of the Christian Faith that the Messiah who was promised to the Fathers is long since come in the flesh CHAP. VIII The third Proposition viz. That we have full and sufficient Grounds to believe that the same Jesus which is held forth unto us in the New Testament and in whom we and all the Churches of God in all Ages have believed is that very Person who was promised to the Fathers to come as the Messiah or Saviour of the World Confirmed by the Miracles which he wrought to confirm this Truth and by the fulfilling of all Prophesies in him THat a Saviour was promised to the Fathers of Old and that these promises are long since out of date you have seen confirmed so that consequently we must look backward with the Eye of our Faith to a Christ already exhibited and not forward to one yet to come The next thing in which it will be necessary to have our Faith setled is that we are not deceived as to that particular Person upon whom we and all the Churches of God for this sixteen hundred years and upward have pitched as our Messiah or Saviour And though the consent of the Church in all Ages be a very good Argument to satisfie us in this point yet it may be necessary in these fickle times to look for a firmer Ground to build our Faith upon in this which is a matter of so great moment First then 1 Argument I argue from the many Miracles which Jesus wrought when he was upon the Earth for the confirmation of this Truth that he was indeed the Messiah that was promised A Miracle is a work that exceeds the power of any created cause to produce by his own strength and therefore whosoever can do miracles is either God or hath received power from God in a special and supernatural manner And as Gods giving power to any person to work Miracles for the confirming of any point that he teacheth is to be accounted as Gods setting his Seal to the truth thereof So it would be unreasonable as well as impious to imagin that the God of Truth should set his Seal to a ly and consequently whatever Doctrine hath been confirmed by
6. Those that spend more Zeal in crying out against indifferent things then in reproving apparent ungodliness may justly be suspected by us Rom. 2.22 Thou that abhorrest Idols saith the Apostle dost thou commit Sacriledge It is true that in respect of the Authority of him that commands there is no small commandment and the breach of any of Gods Laws is a great sin But yet in respect of the nature of the Command Christ sometimes speaks of a first and great Commandment Mat. 22.38 Mat. 5.19 and sometimes of one of the least Commandments and he that is scrupulous in smaller matters and careless in greater doth betray himself to have a diseased Conscience Sermon on Acts 26.9 as I have elsewhere shewed And therefore those that Cry out with such a loud and bitter cry against things which in the judgement of the soberest of themselves are in their own Nature indifferent as if they were palpable Idolatry and yet have made no bones of sacriledge injustice and shedding of innocent blood it is a shrewd sign that they are Seducers and have a design to impose upon us 7. Those that contradict the sense of the Church of God in all ages are to be suspected as Innovators and that their opinions are rather new then good It is true that the antiquity of an errour doth not excuse it for there have been errours in the Church ever since the time of the Apostles But yet the constant judgement of the Church of God in all Ages concerning any point in controversie or concerning the meaning of any controverted Scripture gives us good encouragement to believe it and to disbelieve them that oppose it because it is not probable that our gracious God would leave his Church in the dark through so many ages and never discover the Truth till now of late 8. Lastly we may know them from the direction that God himself gives us Deut. 18. ult VVhen a Prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord if the thing follow not nor come to pass that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously thou shalt not be affraid of him Those that pretend to a gift of prophecy as many have done in our age though they should by often shooting at random hit the Mark sometimes yet if they miss in anything that they foretel as we have seen it in our frequent experience this is a sure sign that the Lord hath not sent them but they speak of their own heads and we have reason to fear that they have not onely belyed the Lord in saying Thus saith the Lord Jer. 23.31 when the Lord hath not spoken but also that they have had a further design even to entice us to the embracing of their errours by these pretences Upon whomsoever we see any of these Marks we have reason to suspect them to be of those that lye in wait to deceive and therefore should avoid them and take Solomons counsel Prov. 19.27 to Cease or forbear to hear the instruction that tends to cause us to err from the ways of Wisdom To conclude I shall give you a recapitulation of what hath been spoken a little varying from my former Method You have heard 1. That there are many Winds of false doctrine stirring to try who are stable 2. That Seducers use a great deal of subtilty and diligence lying in wait to deceive 3. That a great number are by them tossed to and fro and carried about 4. That even those that are of honest affections and good lives are in danger of being ensnared by them and therefore he that thinketh he standeth should take heed lest he fall 5. That especially those that are children and weak in knowledge are in great danger and consequently that we should labour to be men and not children in understanding 6. Lastly that God hath appointed the Office of the Ministry in the Church as a special preservation from errours Now the Lord Joh. 5.29 of his Mercy grant to all of us Grace and Wisdom to search the Scriptures 1 Joh. 4.1 and to try the spirits whether they be of God and to hold fast the Faith and a good Conscience 1 Tim. 1.19 now when so many have made shipwrack of both that so we may not be drawn away with the errour of the wicked to depart from our own stedfastness 2 Pet. 3.17 18. but may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Grant this O Lord we beseech thee through the Merits of thy dear Son and the working of thy Holy Spirit To which glorious Trinity God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory world without end Amen FINIS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR HEAVENLY WISDOM described by its seven Properties An ASSIZE SERMON Preached in the CATHEDRAL at SARVM July 9th 1665. at the Wiltshire-Assizes Before the Right Honourable his Majesties Judges of Assize and Nisi Prius for the WESTERN Circuit In the Sheriffalty and at the request of THOMAS MOMPESSON Esquire By Paul Lathom M. A. Pro. 4.7 Wisdom is the principal thing therefore get Wisdom and with all thy getting get Vnderstanding Printed by T. M. 1666. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR Heavenly WISDOM described By its Seven PROPERTIES James 3.17 But the Wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated full of Mercy and good Fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie WIsdom is the soul of Nature the eye of the Soul the light of the Eye the sun of that Light the copy of Heaven the standard of the Earth the helm of Reason the guardian of Life the glory of Men the mirror of Angels the shaddow or reflection of God himself who is as the Psalmist speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 covered with Light as with a Garment Psal 104.2 It is Wisdom that makes a man Denizon of the upper Regent of the lower World correspondent of both Without which we should be but clods of moving Earth steept to dirt in Phlegm and kneaded into humane shape This general term Wisdom divides it self ut analogum in sua analogata into worldly Policy moral Prudence and Christian Wisdom Worldly Policy trades in the World as its City from whence it seems to take its name Now all that is in the world is either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 2.18 or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pleasures Profits or Honours That which designes riches as its end our Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earthly that which designes pleasures Jam. 3.15 he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sensual that which designes honour he stiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Devilish because it imitates that great sin of the Devil Pride And of all worldly wisdom in general St. Paul pronounceth that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foolishness before God 1 Cor. 3.19 Moral Prudence whether we take it for a practical
bestow their time and pains in preparing Weapons to put into the hands of men of Atheistical mindes to sight against Christianity and to defend themselves in a sceptical or scornful neglect of the things that concern their souls everlasting health But it is not onely the Learned but many amongst the unlearned also that have made so bold with the Scriptures 2 Pet. 3.16 And the Apostle tells us that such are most apt to wrest the Scriptures to the destruction of themselves and others Whose heart would not bleed to see this Coat of Christ torn to pieces every man snatching at some rag or other of it to cover the nakedness of his own conceptions We need not envy but rather pitty the high conceits that many have entertained of themselves who will needs undertake the Apocalypse to understand it as well as he that wrote it before they be well catechised in the first Principles of the Oracles of God Some we finde despising the plainness of the Gospel as if it were â—utâ—â— dead letter and as if they had some thing within that were a better light to walk by than this Light of the Word of God Others that presume to advance the plainness of the Gospel and make it speak higher matters then our meaner understandings can apprehend therein And indeed these fancies have not onely flattered such people into errours but made others also to be at a stand as not knowing what to do with the Scriptures or when they may conclude themselves to have gained a right understanding of them and fearing lest the letter may rather do them hurt then good except they have these higher notions of it CHAP. III. As in vitious Courses so also in erronious Opinions men go from bad to worse The experience of our age hath sadly confirmed this The sad pass that many are come to at this day in matters of Religion THe ways of Truth and Virtue are to our corrupt nature like the steep ascent of an high Hill which we do not recover without much industry and difficulty But the wayes of vice and errour are like the descent which is not onely easie but precipitant If a man begin to run down a steep Hill he cannot stop when he will but may much endanger himself before he can recover the command of his own motion Even so men that with great heat of a misguided zeal have set themselves to run down this precipice of errours cannot set themselves bounds but are very apt to outrun those limits which they proposed to themselves at their first setting out and therefore they must needs be supposed to run in a very dangerous course What Solomon saith of strife Prov. 17.14 The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water therefore leave off contention before it be medled with may very fitly be applyed to errour Its beginnings are commonly small and modest but when we have given a little way to it it will enlarge its passage even beyond the expectation of him that began it which should therefore make every man afraid to medle with that which himself shall not be able to command in a while The Waters of the Sanctuary were at first so shallow Ezek. 47.4 5. as to be but up to the ankles then they rose up to the knees afterwards to the loyns and at last became a River that a man could not pass through The Cloud which the Prophets servant saw was at first in bigness but like a mans hand 1 Kin. 18.47 44. but in a while it overspread the whole Heaven and poured forth abundance of Rain upon the Earth even so those Notions and novel Opinions which in their beginning have seemed so inconsiderable as not to deserve any great opposition have proceeded by degrees to overspread the Firmament and to darken the Sun of the Gospel those waters which at first seemed so shallow that a Childe might play in them without danger have by degrees swelled like Jordan so as to overflow all their Banks and to threaten a deluge to the Church of God As in vicious practices it hath been observed that Nemo repente fuit turpissimus Men first hearken to the counsel of the ungodly and then proceed to walk in the way of sinners Psal 1.1 till at last they come to sit down in the seat of scorners at God and goodness Yea so insensibly do men slide into this gulph of sin that they do not foresee the dangerous course they are venturing upon but by giving way to vice do become by degrees so bad as they could not once have imagined it possible for them to be When the Prophet foretold Hazael what a bloody man he would be when he should come to the Kingdom of Syria he replyes 2 King 8.13 Is thy servant a dog that I should do such things and it is very likely that he did not imagine while he was a private person that he could have so much wickedness in him as by degrees he did manifest when he came to have power in his hands And the same we may say of errours in judgement that men have not onely taken their degrees in them from bad to worse and so as to outstrip in the succeeding year the errours which they held the year before but even to outstrip their own thoughts and to out-go those bounds and limits that they had set to themselves in their first entring upon these dangerous courses I believe that if any man had been so much a Prophet as for twenty or thirty years ago to have foretold to many persons of our age what they would have come to by this time they would have replyed as Hazael did to Elisha yea if they had but seen the picture of such a Monster represented unto them as now themselves are they would have been the first to have cast stones at it Those that begun first to scruple at the Ceremonial part of the worship of our Church did little expect to have grown to that pass as to disown that Church in which themselves were born and baptized as Antichristian Those that were so zealous for the purity of Gods Ordinances and for the powerful and frequent preaching of the Word as to forsake their own Parishes and go many miles to hear a Sermon did little think that they should have lived to see themselves become despisers and disowners of those Ordinances which they then did so highly value and scorners of that preaching which then they followed with so much diligence and pains-taking Those that began from a sense of the benefit and necessity of that great Christian Duty of counselling and stirring up one another to that which is good to proceed to appoint some set-times for private meetings for such purposes did little think to have improved themselves so far in spritual pride and self-conceit as to venture with Vzze to touch that Ark which it was onely lawful for the Levites to touch 1 Chron.
the the working of apparent and undeniable Miracles we are to receive it as that which God himself hath commended to us as a Truth and himself born witness of it Indeed to determin what is the utmost that is in the Power of Natural Causes or Agents to produce without Supernatural Assistance and what is the least of those that are to be esteemed Supernatural Effects and which ought to be ascribed to a cause of Transcendent Power this is a matter of great difficulty But yet when such things are done as were never heard of from the Foundation of the World to be done by them that have made the greatest experiments of the strength and operation of Natural Causes yea which have directly crossed the course of Nature without using any Natural Causes to oppose one another I suppose that every rational man will account him absurd that will deny these to be Miracles and done by the immediate hand of God except he can shew any Natural cause that should be imagined to work these effects This we find our Saviour to stand much upon when he was on Earth for the confirmation of his being the true Messiah Joh. 5.36 I have a greater Witness then that of John though the Jews did most of them reverence him greatly for his strict life the works which my Father hath given me to finish the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me And afterward Joh. 10.25 when the Jews asked Jesus to tell them plainly whether he were the Messiah he sends them to his Works The works that I do in my Fathers Name Ver. 37 38. they bear witness of me And further saith If I do not the works of my Father believe me not but if I do though ye believe not me yet believe the works that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him And elsewhere Joh. 14.11 Believe me that the Father is in me and I in him or else believe me for the very works sake Joh. 15.24 And again If I had not done amongst them the works which no other man can do they had not had sin that is their sin had not been so great and inexcusable but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father Yea he tells those that were understanding persons among them that inasmuch as they had refisted and opposed that Doctrine which he had thus confirmed and had imputed these works to the evil Spirit Matt. 12.28 therefore they had sinned that sin against the holy Ghost which should never be forgiven Thus you see that Jesus himself laid great stress upon this Argument Mark 3.29 to prove himself to be the true Messiah because he had done such works to confirm this Truth as no other man could do yea such as none but God himself could do And that Jesus did work these Miracles to confirm the truth of his being the Messiah may be sufficiently evident both by what hath been spoken already and also by what he spake to the Disciples of John Baptist Matt. 11.4 When their Master sent them to him to be satisfied whether or no he were the true Messiah he answers them Go tell John the things that ye have seen and heard The blind receive their sight the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the dead are raised up And therefore do you judge who it is that hath power to do such works as these It would be a large task to reckon up all the Miracles of Christ which are upon record I shall onely set before you some of those which do most apparently shew themselves to be works peculiar to the Divine Power to effect (a) Joh. 2. He turned water into wine at Cana of Galilee (b) Mat. 14. He fed 5000 men with five loaves (c) Mat. 15. and 4000 with seven loaves (d) Joh. 9.1 He restored divers blind men to sight amongst which one that was born blind (e) Mar. 7.32 He restored to speech and hearing one that was deaf and dumb He calmed the Seas twice He raised three dead folks whereof (f) Joh. 11. Lazarus had been dead four days so that there could be no doubt but that he was really dead and past being recovered by natural Causes These works and many others which Jesus wrought being such as no man can reasonably deny to be the works of Gods immediate power and being wrought to confirm the truth of his being the true Messiah may be sufficient to establish our Faith in the belief of it If the unbelieving Jews and Atheistical persons amongst us do doubt of the truth of these matters of fact and consequently of the truth that they are brought to confirm alledging that we bring onely the Writings of the New Testament for the proof thereof which is of suspected credit with them I answer that we have as much cause Reason it self being judg to believe the History of the New Testament as any other Histories which are written in the world If we believe the Roman History written by Livie and Suetonius Tacitus and the English Chronicles written by divers of our own Nation and should account him very unreasonable that should deny the truth of the things therein reported without alledging any sufficient ground for his suspecting the integrity of these Writers then why should we not believe the matters of fact recorded by the Writers of the New Testament seeing we cannot alledge any sufficient ground of doubting either the sufficiency of these Writers or yet their integrity But have rather ground to conclude that no bad creature would write those things which tend so directly to the beating down of Satans Kingdom and terrifying of lewd and wicked men nor would any good creature so far take the name of God in vain or wrong the souls of well-meaning people as to report such matters in the name of God which they knew to be untruths and that therefore it is most reasonable to conclude these things to be written by good men and who did know themselves to write the truth Besides the Miracles that Christ is reported to have wrought were not done in a corner nor a great while before they were written He fed 5000 people at one time and 4000 at another miraculously yea most of Christ Miracles were wrought openly so that many of the Jews were present at the doing of them and they were written in the same age wherein they were done so that the unbelieving Jews who were such enemies to Jesus would certainly have contradicted them if they had written an untruth Yea other Writers besides the Evangelists do mention these Miracles See what testimony Josephus himself though a Jew Joseph Antiq. l. 18. c. 4. gives of Christ At that time was Jesus a wise man if it be lawful to call him a man for he was the performer of divers admirable works and the instructor of
blessed for ever Rom. 5.9 to be Davids Son Mat. 22.42 and Davids Lord also There were also some other things foretold concerning the Messiah As that he should call the Gentiles enter into the second Temple ruine the Idols of the Heathen silence their Oracles c. But of these I have spoken in the last Chapter Also there are some lesser matters as that he should be called a Nazarite that he should be brought up and preach in Galilee and the like But these things which I have mentioned are some of the chief things that are contained in the Prophesies concerning the Messiah To sum up therefore the Argument If all things that were foretold concerning the person of the Messiah or concerning what he should do and suffer upon earth did concur in that Jesus in whom we believe then may we conclude him to be the true Messiah But all things did concur in his person as to his Conception Birth c. and all things were done and suffered by him which the Prophers foretold concerning the Messiah Therefore we may undoubtedly believe that the same Jesils in whom we believe is the true Messiah who was promised to come into the world CHAP. IX The fourth Proposition confirmed viz. That the Apostles and Evangelists of the New Testament do hold forth unto us such a Christ as was really and in a proper sense God and Man hypostatically united in one Person And who did in a real and proper sense satisfie Gods justice for our sins and purchase eternal Salvation for us by his Merits WE have proceeded so far as to shew evident proof of these truths that the Son of God was promised to the fathers of the Old Testament to take our Nature upon him and to become our Saviour and that the time for the fulfilling of these Promises yea the set time is long since come and withal that the same Jesus in whom we believe is that very Messiah who was promised to the fathers And me-thinks to men of moderately clear Reason and competent Modesty this might be sufficient both to satisfie all doubts and also to stop their mouths from cavilling at or contradicting our Christian Faith But because first there are a generation of people so wise in their own eyes that they conceit themselves to see something more in the name of Christ then the Churches of God in all ages have seen And secondly do talk of a perfection of righteousness by walking up to the dictates of I know not what light within And thirdly do seek for the confirmation of all points of Faith out of the New Testament as if the Old Testament were too old to be good I shall therefore for the convincing of these men if possible or at least for the stopping of their mouths and withal for the strengthning of our Faith against the cavils of seducers without and the suggestions of Satan within endeavour from the writings of the Apostles and Evangelists to prove First that Christ was really such as we believe him to be and such as the Prophets foretold him to be The Son of God made Man or The Word made Flesh Secondly that he did fully and in a true and proper sense make satisfaction to Gods justice for our sins and that there is no way to be saved but by his Merits First That Christ was such as we believe him to be and such as the Prophets did foretel that he should be viz. God and Man or the Word made flesh Deut. 17.6 By the mouth of two or three witnesses saith God in the Law shall every word be established And it is our comfort that God hath given us not onely two or three witnesses Heb. â—2 1 but even a whole cloud of witnesses to establish this Word of Faith Christ chose twelve Apostles to be witnesses of what he did and spake upon earth and besides them there are many other witnesses of this Truth First the Angels whose Ministry God was pleased to use in the revealing of this great Mystery to the World Before he was conceived in the Womb the Angel speaking to Zacharias calls him The Lord as to his Divine Nature Luke 1.17 and speaks of his coming after John Baptist as to his humane Nature And speaking to the B. Virgin v. 30.31 he tells her that she should conceive in her Womb and bear a Son This notes his humane Nature And he shall be called The Son of the Highest and the Lord God shall â—ive him the Throne of his father David This notes the truth of his Divinity And â—hen he was conceived in the Womb Mat. 1.20 21. an Anâ—el tells Joseph that That which was conceived in the Blessed Virgin was of the holy Ghost and that she should call his Name Jesus because he should save his people from their sins Behold both his Humanity in his Conception and his Divinity in his Office to save his people And again when he was born the Angel saith to the Shepherds Luk. 2.10 11. To you is born a Saviour which is Christ the Lord he is born this notes his Humanity he is Christ the Lord that notes his Divinity Again after his Resurrection an Angel saith unto the Women that Christ who was crucified was risen up again Mat. 28.5 6. That shews that he was truely man Come see the place where the Lord lay Act. 1.11 That shews him to be truely God Yea after he was ascended into Heaven they say of him This same Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven shall come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven his Ascention which was a change of Place notes his Humanity his coming to Judge the world his Divine Power and Authority So that all along the Angels witness him to be truely God and truely Man 2. We have the testimony of many Pious Persons in the New Testament which though to a Jew or Heathen it be of little value yet to all that profess obedience to the holy Scriptures it is of great moment Let us see the confession of Zachary Luk. 1.68 He calls him the Lord God of Israel who had visited his people so as to Redeem them a clear testimony of both his Natures vers 43. And Elizabeth calleth the Blessed Virgin vers 47. The mother of her Lord. And the Blessed Virgin her self calls him that was conceived in her Womb The Lord her Sauiour a clear proof of his two Natures 3. John Baptist gives testimony to this whose testimony may well be reckoned distinctly from other Saints because he was sent especially about this Message to bear witness of Christ Joh. 1.29 He calls him The Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world Here he gives Testimony both to his Divinity in that he was able to make satisfaction to Gods justice and to take away sin and to his Humanity in that he was a Lamb that had a body to sacrifice