determination of our Saviour when the Apostles were contending about this very thing which of them should be accounted the greatest he thus quickly decides the case The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them and they that are great exercise authority upon them But ye shall not be so but whosover will be great among you let him be your Minister and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your Servant Than which nothing could have been more peremptorily spoken to rebuke this naughty spirit of preheminence Nor do we ever find S. Peter himself laying claim to any such power or the Apostles giving him the least shadow of it In the whole course of his affairs there are no intimations of this matter in his Epistle he styles himself but their fellow-Presbyter and expresly forbids the governours of the Church to Lord it over God's heritage When dispatched by the rest of the Apostles upon a message to Samaria he never disputes their authority to do it when accused by them for going in unto the Gentiles does he stand upon his prerogative no but submissively apologizes for himself nay when smartly reprov'd by S. Paul at Antioch when if ever his credit lay at stake do we find him excepting against it as an affront to his supremacy and a sawcy controlling his superiour surely the quite contrary he quietly submitted to the reproof as one that was sensible how justly he had 〈◊〉 it Nor can it be supposed but that S. Paul would have carried it towards him with a greater reverence had any such peculiar soveraignty been then known to the World How confidently does S. Paul assert himself to be no whit inferiour to the chiefest Apostles not to Peter himself the Gospel of the uncircumcision being committed to him as that of the circumcision was to Peter Is Peter oft named first among the Apostles elsewhere others sometimes James sometimes Paul and Apollos are placed before him Did Christ honour him with some singular commendations an honourable elogium conveys no super-eminent power and soveraignty Was he dear to Christ we know another that was the beloved Disciple So little warrant is there to exalt one above the rest where Christ made all alike If from Scripture we descend to the ancient Writers of the Church we shall find that though the Fathers bestow very great and honourable Titles upon Peter yet they give the same or what are equivalent to others of the Apostles Hesychius stiles S. James the Great the Brother of our Lord the Commander of the new Jerusalem the Prince of Priests the Exarch or chief of the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the top or crown amongst the heads the great light amongst the Lamps the most illustrious and resplendent amongst the stars 't was Peter that preach'd but 't was James that made the determination c. Of S. Andrew he gives this encomium that he was the sacerdotal Trumpet the first born of the Apostolick Quire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prime and firm Pillar of the Church Peter before Peter the foundation of the foundation the first fruits of the beginning Peter and John are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equally honourable by S. Cyril with his whole Synod of Alexandria S. John says Chrysostom was Christ's beloved the Pillar of all the Churches in the world who had the Keys of Heaven drank of his Lords cup was wash'd with his Baptism and with confidence lay in his bosome And of S. Paul he tells us that he was the most excellent of all men the Teacher of the world the Bridegroom of Christ the Planter of the Church the wise Master-builder greater than the Apostles and much more to the same purpose Elsewhere he says that the care of the whole world was committed to him that nothing could be more noble or illustrious yea that his Miracles considered he was more excellent than Kings themselves And a little after he calls him the tongue of the earth the light of the Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the foundation of the faith the pillar and ground of truth And in a discourse on purpose wherein he compares Peter and Paul together he makes them of equal esteem and vertue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What greater than Peter What equal to Paul a Blessed pair 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who had the Souls of the whole world committed to their charge But instances of this nature were endless and infinite If the Fathers at any time style Peter Prince of the Apostles they mean no more by it than the best and purest Latine writers mean by princeps the first or chief person of the number more considerable than the rest either for his age or zeal Thus Eusebius tells us Peter was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prolocutor of all the rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the greatness and generosity of his mind that is in Chrysostome's language he was the mouth and chief of the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because eager and forward at every turn and ready to answer those questions which were put to others In short as he had no Prerogative above the rest besides his being the Chair-man and President of the Assembly so was it granted to him upon no other considerations than those of his age zeal and gravity for which he was more eminent than the rest VIII We proceed next to enquire into the fitness and qualification of the Persons commissionated for this employment and we shall finde them admirably qualified to discharge it if we consider this following account First They immediately received the Doctrine of the Gospel from the mouth of Christ himself he intended them for Legati à latere his peculiar Embassaders to the World and therefore furnished them with instructions from his own mouth and in order hereunto he train'd them up for some years under his own Discipline and institution he made them to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when to others it was not given treated them with the affection of a Father and the freedom and familiarity of a friend Henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you They heard all his Sermons were privy both to his publick and private discourses what he preach'd abroad he expounded to them at home he gradually instructed them in the knowledge of Divine things and imparted to them the notions and mysteries of the Gospel not all at once but as they were able to bear them By which means they were sufficiently capable of giving a satisfactory account of that doctrine to others which had been so immediately so frequently communicated to themselves Secondly They were insallibly secured from error in delivering the Doctrins and Principles of Christianity for though they were
to a single Person as to the man of Judah prophesying against the Altar of Bethel or to a Nation as to the Jews at Sinai or to all Mankind as to the world descending from Noah it was nothing else but a trial or an instance of our Obedience a particular prosecution of the Law of Nature whereby we are obliged to do honour to God which was to be done by such expressions which are natural entercourses between God and us or such as he hath made to be so Now in Christianity we are wholly left to that manner of prosecuting this first natural Law which is natural and proportionable to the nature of the thing which the Holy Jesus calls worshipping God in spirit and truth In spirit that is with our Souls heartily and devoutly so as to exclude hypocrisie and 〈◊〉 and In truth that is without a lie without vain imaginations and phantastick resemblances of him which were introduced by the evil customs of the Gentiles and without such false guises and absurd undecencies which as they are contrary to man's Reason so are they contrary to the Glory and reputation of God such as was that universal Custom of all Nations of sacrificing in man's bloud and offering festival lusts and impurities in the solemnities of their Religion for these being against the purpose and design of God and against right Reason are a Lie and enemies to the truth of a natural and proper Religion The Holy Jesus only commanded us to pray often and to praise God to speak honour of his Name not to use it lightly and vainly to believe him to revere the instruments and ministers of Religion to ask for what we need to put our trust in God to worship him to obey him and to love him for all these are but the expressions of Love And this is all Christ spake concerning the first natural Law the Law of Religion For concerning the Ceremonies or Sacraments which he instituted they are but few and they become matter of duty but by accident as being instruments and rites of consigning those effects and mercies which God sent to the world by the means of this Law and relate rather to the contract and stipulation which Christ made for us than to the natural order between Duty and Felicity 28. Now all these are nothing but what we are taught by natural Reason that is what God enabled us to understand to be fit instruments of entercourse between God and us and what was practised and taught by sober men in all Ages and all Nations whose Records we have received as I shall remark at the Margent of the several Precepts For to make these appear certainly and naturally necessary there was no more requisite but that Man should know there was a GOD that is an eternal Being which gave him all that he had or was and to know what himself was that is indigent and necessitous of himself needing help of all the Creatures exposed to accidents and calamity and 〈◊〉 no ways but by the same hand that made him Creation and Conservation in the Philosophy of all the world being but the same act continuing and flowing on him from an instant to duration as a Line from its Mathematical Point And for this God took sufficient care for he conversed with Man in the very first in such clear and certain and perceptible transaction that a man could as certainly know that God was as that Man was And in all Ages of the world he hath not left himself without witness but gave such testimonies of himself that were sufficient for they did actually perswade all Nations barbarous and civil into the belief of a God And it is but a nicety to consider whether or no that Proposition can be naturally demonstrated For it was sufficient to all God's purposes and to all Man's that the Proposition was actually believed the instances were therefore sufficient to make faith because they did it And a man may remove himself so far 〈◊〉 all the degrees of aptness to believe a Proposition that nothing shall make them joyn For if there were a Sect of witty men that durst not believe their Senses because they thought them fallible it is no wonder if some men should think every Reason reproveable But in such cases Demonstration is a relative term and signifies every probation greater or lesser which does actually make faith in any Proposition And in this God hath never been deficient but hath to all men that believe him given sufficient to confirm them to those few that believed not sufficient to reprove them 29. Now in all these actions of Religion which are naturally consequent to this belief there is no scruple but in the instance of Faith which is presented to be an infused Grace an immission from God and that for its object it hath principles supernatural that is naturally incredible and therefore Faith is supposed a Grace above the greatest strength of Reason But in this I consider that if we look into all the Sermons of Christ we shall not easily find any Doctrine that in any sense troubles natural Philosophy but only that of the Resurrection for I do not think those mystical expressions of plain truths such as are being born again eating the flesh of the Son of man being in the Father and the Father in him to be exceptions in this assertion And although some Gentiles did believe and deliver that article and particularly Chrysippus and the Thracians as Mela and Solinus report of them yet they could not naturally discourse themselves into it but had it from the imperfect report and opinion of some Jews that dwelt among them And it was certainly a revelation or a proposition sent into the world by God But then the believing it is so far from being above or against Nature that there is nothing in the world more reasonable than to believe any thing which God tells us or which is told us by a man sent from God with mighty demonstration of his power and veracity Naturally our bodies cannot rise that is there is no natural agent or natural cause sufficient to produce that effect but this is an effect of a Divine power and he hath but a little stock of natural Reason who cannot conclude that the same power which made us out of nothing can also restore us to the same condition as well and easily from dust and ashes certainly as from mere nothing And in this and in all the like cases Faith is a submission of the understanding to the Word of God and is nothing else but a confessing that God is Truth and that he is omnipotent that is he can do what he will and he will when he hath once said it And we are now as ignorant of the essence and nature of forms and of that which substantially distinguishes Man from Man or an Angel from an Angel as we were of the greatest Article of our Religon before it was
revealed and we shall remain ignorant for ever of many natural things unless they be revealed and unless we knew all the secrets of Philosophy the mysteries of Nature and the rules and propositions of all things and all creatures we are fools if we say that what we call an Article of Faith I mean truly such is against natural Reason It may be indeed as much against our natural reasonings as those reasonings are against truth But if we remember how great an ignorance dwells upon us all it will be found the most reasonable thing in the world only to enquire whether God hath revealed any such Proposition and then not to say It is against natural Reason and therefore an Article of Faith but I am told a truth which I knew not till now and so my Reason is become instructed into a new Proposition And although Christ hath given us no new moral Precepts but such which were essentially and naturally reasonable in order to the End of Man's Creation yet we may easily suppose him to teach us many a new Truth which we knew not and to explicate to us many particulars of that estate which God designed for Man in his first production but yet did not then declare to him and to furnish him with new Revelations and to signifie the greatness of the designed End to become so many arguments of indearment to secure his Duty that is indeed to secure his Happiness by the infallible using the instruments of attaining it 30. This is all I am to say concerning the Precepts of Religion Jesus taught us he took off those many superinduced Rites which God injoyned to the Jews and reduced us to the natural Religion that is to such expressions of Duty which all wise men and Nations used save only that he took away the Rite of sacrificing Beasts because it was now determined in the great Sacrifice of Himself which sufficiently and eternally reconciled all the world to God All the other things as Prayers and Adoration and Eucharist and Faith in God are of a natural order and an unalterable expression And in the nature of the thing there is no other way of address to God than these no other expression of his Glories and our needs both which must for ever be signified 31. Secondly Concerning the Second natural Precept Christian Religion hath also added nothing beyond the first obligation but explained it all Whatsoever ye would men should do to you do ye so to them that is the eternal rule of Justice and that binds contracts keeps promises affirms truth makes Subjects obedient and Princes just it gives security to Marts and Banks and introduces an equality of condition upon all the world save only when an inequality is necessary that is in the relations of Government for the preservation of the common rights of equal titles and possessions that there be some common term indued with power who is to be the Father of all men by an equal provision that every man's rights be secured by that fear which naturally we shall bear to him who can and will punish all unreasonable and unjust violations of Property And concerning this also the Holy Jesus hath added an express Precept of paying Tribute and all Caesar's dues to Caesar in all other particulars it is necessary that the instances and minutes of Justice be appointed by the Laws and Customs of the several Kingdoms and Republicks And therefore it was that Christianity so well combined with the Government of Heathen Princes because whatsoever was naturally just or declared so by the Political power their Religion bound them to observe making Obedience to be a double duty a duty both of Justice and Religion And the societies of Christians growing up from Conventicles to Assemblies from Assemblies to Societies introduced no change in the Government but by little and little turned the Commonwealth into a Church till the World being Christian and Justice also being Religion Obedience to Princes observation of Laws honesty in Contracts faithfulness in promises gratitude to benefactors simplicity in discourse and ingenuity in all pretences and transactions became the Characterisms of Christian men and the word of a Christian the greatest solemnity of stipulation in the world 32. But concerning the general I consider that in two very great instances it was remonstrated that Christianity was the greatest prosecution of natural Justice and equality in the whole world The one was in an election of an A postle into the place of Judas when there were two equal Candidates of the same pretension and capacity the Question was determined by Lots which naturally was the arbitration in questions whose parts were wholly indifferent and as it was used in all times so it is to this day used with us in many places where lest there be a disagreement concerning the manner of tithing some creatures and to prevent unequal arts and unjust practices they are tithed by lot and their sortuitous passing through the door of their sold. The other is in the Coenobitick life of the first Christians and Apostles they had all things in common which was that state of nature in which men lived charitably and without injustice before the distinction of dominions and private rights But from this manner of life they were soon driven by the publick necessity and constitution of affairs 33. Thirdly Whatsoever else is in the Christian Law concerns the natural precept of Sobriety in which there is some variety and some difficulty In the matter of 〈◊〉 the Holy Jesus did clearly reduce us to the first institution of Marriage in Paradise allowing no other mixture but what was first intended in the creation and first sacramental union and in the instance he so permitted us to the natural Law that he was pleased to mention no instance of forbidden Lust but in general and comprehensive terms of Adultery and Fornication in the other which are still more unnatural as their names are concealed and hidden in shame and secrecy we are to have no instructer but the modesty and order of Nature 34. As an instance of this Law of Sobriety Christ superadded the whole doctrine of Humility which Moses did not and which seem'd almost to be extinguished in the world and it is called by S. Paul sapere ad sobrietatem the reasonableness or wisdom of sobriety And it is all the reason in the world that a man should think of himself but just as he is He is deceived that thinks otherwise and is a fool And when we consider that Pride makes wars and causes affronts and no man loves a proud man and he loves no man but himself and his flatterers we shall understand that the Precept of Humility is an excellent art and a happy instrument towards humane Felicity And it is no way contradicted by a natural desire of Honour it only appoints just and reasonable ways of obtaining it We are not forbidden to
powers to reject any proposition and to believe well is an effect of a singular predestination and is a Gift in order to a Grace as that Grace is in order to Salvation But the insufficiency of an argument or disability to prove our Religion is so far from disabling the goodness of an ignorant man's Faith that as it may be as strong as the Faith of the greatest Scholar so it hath full as much excellency not of nature but in order to Divine acceptance For as he who believes upon the only stock of Education made no election of his Faith so he who believes what is demonstrably proved is forced by the demonstration to his choice Neither of them did 〈◊〉 and both of them may equally love the Article 3. So that since a 〈◊〉 Argument in a weak understanding does the same work that a strong Argument in a more 〈◊〉 and learned that is it convinces and makes Faith and yet neither of them is matter of choice if the thing believed be good and matter of 〈◊〉 or necessity the Faith is not rejected by God upon the weakness of the first nor accepted upon the strength of the latter principles when we are once in it will not be enquired by what entrance we passed thither whether God leads us or drives us in whether we come by Discourse or by Inspiration by the guide of an Angel or the conduct of Moses whether we be born or made Christians it is indifferent so we be there where we should be for this is but the gate of Duty and the entrance to Felicity For thus far Faith is but an act of the Understanding which is a natural Faculty serving indeed as an instrument to Godliness but of it self no part of it and it is just like fire producing its act inevitably and burning as long as it can without power to interrupt or suspend its action and therefore we cannot be more pleasing to God for understanding rightly than the fire is for burning clearly which puts us evidently upon this consideration that Christian Faith that glorious Duty which gives to Christians a great degree of approximation to God by Jesus Christ must have a great proportion of that ingredient which makes actions good or bad that is of choice and effect 4. For the Faith of a Christian hath more in it of the Will than of the Understanding Faith is that great mark of distinction which separates and gives formality to the Covenant of the Gospel which is a Law of Faith The Faith of a Christian is his Religion that is it is that whole conformity to the Institution or Discipline of Jesus Christ which distinguishes him from the believers of false Religions And to be one of the faithful signifies the same with being a Disciple and that contains Obedience as well as believing For to the same sense are all those appellatives in Scripture the Faithful Brethren Believers the Saints Disciples all representing the duty of a Christian A Believer and a Saint or a holy person is the same thing Brethren signifies Charity and Believers Faith in the intellectual sence the Faithful and Disciples signifie both for besides the consent to the Proposition the first of them is also used for Perseverance and Sanctity and the greatest of Charity mixt with a confident Faith up to the height of Martyrdom Be faithful unto the death said the Holy Spirit and I will give thee the Crown of life And when the Apostles by way of abbreviation express all the body of Christian Religion they call it Faith working by Love which also S. Paul in a parallel place calls a New Creature it is a keeping of the Commandments of God that is the Faith of a Christian into whose desinition Charity is ingredient whose sence is the same with keeping of God's Commandments so that if we desine Faith we must first distinguish it The faith of a natural person or the saith of Devils is a 〈◊〉 believing a certain number of Propositions upon conviction of the Understanding But the Faith of a Christian the Faith that justifies and saves him is Faith working by Charity or Faith keeping the Commandments of God They are distinct Faiths in order to different ends and therefore of different constitution and the instrument of distinction is Charity or Obedience 5. And this great Truth is clear in the perpetual testimony of Holy Scripture For Abraham is called the Father of the Faithful and yet our Blessed Saviour told the Jews that if they had been the sons of Abraham they would have done the works of Abraham and therefore Good works are by the Apostle called the sootsteps of the Faith of our Father Abraham For Faith in every of its stages at its first beginning at its increment at its greatest perfection is a Duty made up of the concurrence of the Will and the Understanding when it pretends to the Divine acceptance Faith and Repentance begin the Christian course Repent and believe the Gospel was the summ of the Apostles Sermons and all the way after it is Faith working by Love Repentance puts the first spirit and life into Faith and Charity preserves it and gives it nourishment and increase it self also growing by a mutual supply of spirits and nutriment from Faith Whoever does heartily believe a Resurrection and Life eternal upon certain Conditions will certainly endeavour to acquire the Promises by the Purchase of Obedience and observation of the Conditions For it is not in the nature or power of man directly to despise and reject so 〈◊〉 a good So that Faith supplies Charity with argument and maintenance and Charity supplies Faith with life and motion Faith makes Charity reasonable and Charity makes Faith living and effectual And therefore the old Greeks called Faith and Charity a miraculous Chariot or Yoke they bear the burthen of the Lord with an equal consederation these are like 〈◊〉 twins they live and die together Indeed Faith is the first-born of the twins but they must come both at a birth or else they die being strangled at the gates of the womb But if Charity like Jacob lays hold upon his elder brother's heel it makes a timely and a prosperous birth and gives certain title to the eternal Promises For let us give the right of primogeniture to Faith yet the Blessing yea and the Inheritance too will at last fall to Charity Not that Faith is disinherited but that Charity only enters into the possession The nature of Faith passes into the excellency of Charity before they can be rewarded and that both may have their estimate that which justifies and saves us keeps the name of Faith but doth not do the deed till it hath the nature of Charity For to think well or to have a good opinion or an excellent or a fortunate understanding entitles us not to the love of God and the consequent inheritance but to chuse the ways of the Spirit and
desertions and anguish of spirit expecting all should work together for the best according to the promise if you can strengthen your selves in God when you are weakest believe when you see no hope and entertain no jealousies or suspicions of God though you see nothing to make you confident then and then only you have Faith which in conjunction with its other parts is able to save your Souls For in this precise duty of trusting God there are the rays of hope and great proportions of Charity and Resignation 17. The summ is that pious and most Christian sentence of the Author of the ordinary Gloss To believe in God through Jesus Christ is by believing to love him to adhere to him to be united to him by Charity and Obedience and to be incorporated into Christ ' s mystical body in the Communion of Saints I conclude this with a collation of certain excellent words of S. Paul highly to the present purpose Examine your selves Brethren whether ye be in the Faith prove your own selves Well but how Know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates There 's the touchstone of Faith If Jesus Christ dwells in us then we are true Believers if he does not we are Reprobates we have no Faith But how shall we know whether Christ be in us or no Saint Paul tells us that too If Christ be in you the body is dead by reason of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness That 's the Christian's mark and the Characteristick of a true Believer A death unto sin and a living unto righteousness a mortified body and a quickned spirit This is plain enough and by this we see what we must trust to A man of a wicked life does in vain hope to be saved by his Faith for indeed his Faith is but equivocal and dead which as to his purpose is just none at all and therefore let him no more deceive himself For that I may still use the words of S. Paul This is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works For such and such only in the great scrutiny for Faith in the day of Doom shall have their portion in the bosom of faithful Abraham The PRAYER I. O Eternal GOD 〈◊〉 of all Truth and Holiness in whom to believe is life eternal let thy Grace descend with a mighty power into my Soul beating down every strong hold and vainer imagination and bringing every proud thought and my confident and ignorant understanding into the obedience of Jesus Take from me all disobdience and refractoriness of spirit all ambition and private and baser interests remove from me all prejudice and weakness of perswasion that I may wholly resign my Understanding to the perswasions of Christianity acknowledging Thee to be the principle of Truth and thy Word the measure of Knowledge and thy Laws the rule of my life and thy Promises the satisfaction of my hopes and an union with thee to be the consummation of Charity in the fruition of Glory Amen II. HOly JESUS make me to acknowledge thee to be my Lord and Master and my self a Servant and Disciple of thy holy Discipline and Institution let me love to sit at thy feet and suck in with my ears and heart the sweetness of thy holy Sermons Let my Soul be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace with a peaceable and docile disposition Give me great boldness in the publick Confession of thy Name and the Truth of thy Gospel in despite of all hostilities and temptations And grant I may always remember that thy Name is called upon me and I may so behave my self that I neither give scandal to others nor cause disreputation to the honour of Religion but that thou mayest be glorified in me and I by thy mercies after a strict observance of all the holy Laws of Christianity Amen III. O Holy and ever-Blessed SPIRIT let thy gracious influences be the perpetual guide of my rational Faculties Inspire me with Wisdom and Knowledge spiritual Understanding and a holy Faith and sanctifie my Faith that it may arise up to the confidence of Hope and the adherencies of Charity and be fruitful in a holy Conversation Mortifie in me all peevishness and pride of spirit all heretical dispositions and whatsoever is contrary to sound Doctrine that when the eternal Son of God the Author and Finisher of our Faith shall come to make scrutiny and an inquest for Faith I may receive the Promises laid up for them that believe in the Lord Jesus and wait for his coming in holiness and purity to whom with the Father and thee O Blessed Spirit be all honour and eternal adoration payed with all sanctity and joy and Eucharist now and for ever Amen SECT XI Of CHRIST's going to Jerusalem to the Passeover the first time after his Manifestation and what followed till the expiration of the Office of John the Baptist. The Visitation of the Temple Marke 11. 15. And Iesus went into y e Temple began to cast out them that sold bought in y e Temple and overthrew the tables of the money changers 16. And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the Temple The Conference with Nicodemus Iohn 3. 9. Nicodemus answered said unto him How can these things be 10. Iesus answered and sayd unto him Art thou a Master of Israel and knowest not these things 1. IMmediately after this Miracle Jesus abode a few days in Capernaum but because of the approach of the great Feast of Passeover he ascended to Jerusalem and the first publick act of record that he did was an act of holy Zeal and Religion in behalf of the honour of the Temple For divers Merchants and Exchangers of money made the Temple to be the Market and the Bank and brought Beasts thither to be sold for sacrifice against the great Paschal Solemnity At the sight of which Jesus being moved with zeal and indignation made a whip of cords and drave the Beasts out of the Temple overthrew the accounting Tables and commanded them that sold the Doves to take them from thence For his anger was holy and he would mingle no injury with it and therefore the Doves which if let loose would be detrimental to the owners he caused to be fairly removed and published the Religion of Holy places establishing their Sacredness for ever by his first Gospel-Sermon that he made at Jerusalem Take these things hence Make not my Father's House a house of merchandise for it shall be called a house of Prayer to all Nations And being required to give a sign of his Vocation for this being an action like the Religion of the Zelots among the Jews if it was not attested by something extraordinary might be abused into an excess of liberty he only foretold the
Institution 14. Two days before the 〈◊〉 the Scribes and Pharisees called a council to contrive crafty ways of 〈◊〉 Jesus they not daring to do it by open violence Of which meeting when Judas 〈◊〉 had notice for those assemblies were publick and notorious he ran from 〈◊〉 and offered himself to betray his Master to them if they would give him a considerable reward They agreed for thirty pieces of silver Of what value each piece was is uncertain but their own Nation hath given a rule that when a piece of silver is named in the Pentateuch it signifies a sicle if it be named in the Prophets it signifies a pound if in the other writings of the Old Testament it signifies a talent This therefore being alledged out of the Prophet Jeremy by one of the Evangelists it is probable the price at which Judas sold his Lord was thirty pound weight of silver a 〈◊〉 price for the Saviour of the world to be prized at by his undiscerning and unworthy Countreymen 15. The next day was the first day of 〈◊〉 bread on which it was necessary they should kill the Passeover therefore Jesus sent Peter and John to the City to a certain man whom they should 〈◊〉 carrying a pitcher of water to his house him they should follow and there prepare the Passeover They went and found the man in the same circumstances and prepared for Jesus and his Family who at the even came to celebrate the Passeover It was the house of John surnamed Mark which had always been open to this blessed Family where he was pleased to finish his last Supper and the mysteriousness of the Vespers of his Passion 16. When evening was come Jesus stood with his Disciples and 〈◊〉 the Paschal Lamb after which he girt himself with 〈◊〉 and taking a bason washed the feet of his Disciples not only by the ceremony but in his discourses instructing them in the doctrine of Humility which the Master by his so great 〈◊〉 to his Disciples had made sacred and imprinted the lesson in lasting characters by making it symbolical But Peter was unwilling to be washed by his Lord until he was told he must renounce his part in him unless he were washed which option being given to Peter he cried out Not my feet only but my hands and my head But Jesus said the ablution of the feet was sufficient for the purification of the whole man relating to the custom of those Countreys who used to go to supper immediately from the baths who therefore were sufficiently clean save only on their feet by reason of the dust contracted in their passage from the baths to the dining-rooms from which when by the hospitable master of the house they were caused to be cleansed they needed no more ablution and by it Jesus passing from the letter to the spirit meant that the body of sin was washed in the baths of Baptism and afterwards if we remained in the same state of purity it was only necessary to purge away the filth contracted in our passage from the Font to the Altar and then we are clean all over when the 〈◊〉 state is unaltered and the little adherencies of imperfection and passions are also washed off 17. But after the 〈◊〉 of the Paschal Lamb it was the custom of the Nation to sit down to a second Supper in which they ate herbs and unlevened bread the Major-domo first dipping his morsel and then the family after which the Father brake bread into pieces and distributed a part to every of the Guests and first drinking himself gave to the rest the chalice filled with wine according to the age and dignity of the person adding to each distribution a form of benediction proper to the mystery which was Eucharistical and commemorative of their Deliverance from Egypt This Supper Jesus being to celebrate changed the forms of benediction turned the Ceremony into Mystery and gave his body and bloud in Sacrament and religious configuration so instituting the venerable Sacrament which from the time of its institution is called the Lord's Supper which rite Jesus commanded the Apostles to perpetuate in commemoration of him their Lord until his second coming And this was the first delegation of a perpetual Ministery which Jesus made to his Apostles in which they were to be succeeded to in all generations of the Church 18. But Jesus being troubled in spirit told his Apostles that one of them should betray him which Prediction he made that they might not be scandalized at the sadness of objection of the Passion but be confirmed in their belief seeing so great demonstration of his wisdom and spirit of Prophecy The Disciples were all troubled at this 〈◊〉 arrest looking one on another and doubting of whom he spake but they beckned to the beloved Disciple 〈◊〉 on Jesus's breast that he might ask for they who knew their own innocency and infirmity were desirous to satisfie their curiosity and to be rid of their indetermination and their fear But Jesus being asked gave them a sign and a 〈◊〉 to Judas commanding him to do what he list speedily for Jesus was extremely 〈◊〉 till he had drunk the chalice off and accomplished his mysterious and 〈◊〉 Baptism After Judas received the sop the Devil entred into him and Judas went forth immediately it being now night 19. When he was gone out Jesus began his Farewel-Sermon rarely mixt of sadness and joys and studded with mysteries as with Emeralds discoursing of the glorification of God in his Son and of those glories which the Father had prepared for him of his sudden departure and his migration to a place whither they could not come yet but afterwards they should meaning first to death and then to glory commanding them to love one another and foretelling to Peter who made consident protests that he would die with his Master that before the cock should crow twice he should deny him thrice But lest he should afflict them with too sad representments of his present condition he comforts them with the comforts of Faith with the intendments of his departure to prepare places in Heaven for them whither they might come by him who is the way the truth and the life adding a promise in order to their present support and future felicities that if they should ask of God any thing in his name they should receive it and upon condition they would love him and keep his Commandments he would pray for the Holy Ghost to come upon them to supply his room to furnish them with proportionable comforts to enable them with great Gifts to lead them into all truth and to abide with them for ever Then arming them against future Persecutions giving them divers holy Precepts discoursing of his emanation from the Father and of the necessity of his departure he gave them his blessing and prayed for them and then having sung a Hymn which was part of the great Allelujah beginning at the 114 Psalm
the Opinions of Men about him were various and different that some took him for John the Baptist lately risen from the dead between whose Doctrine Discipline and way of life in the main there was so great a Correspondence That others thought he was Elias probably judging so from the gravity of his Person freedom of his Preaching the fame and reputation of his Miracles especially since the Scriptures assured them he was not dead but taken up into Heaven and had so expresly foretold that he should return back again That others look'd upon him as the Prophet Jeremiah alive again of whose return the Jewes had great expectations in so much that some of them thought the Soul of Jeremias was re-inspired into 〈◊〉 Or if not thus at least that he was one of the more eminent of the ancient Prophets or that the Souls of some of these Persons had been breathed into him The Doctrine of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Transmigration of Souls first broached and propagated by Pythagoras being at this time current amongst the Jews and owned by the Pharisees as one of their prime Notions and Principles 2. THIS Account not 〈◊〉 our Lord comes closer and nearer to them tells them It was no wonder if the common People were divided into these wild thoughts concerning him but since they had been always with him had been hearers of his Sermons and Spectators of his Miracles he enquired what they themselves thought of him Peter ever forward to return an Answer and therefore by the Fathers frequently stiled The Mouth of the Apostles told him in the name of the rest That he was the Messiah The Son of the living God promised of old in the Law and the Prophets heartily desired and looked for by all good men anointed and set apart by God to be the King Priest and Prophet of his People To this excellent and comprehensive confession of Peter's Our Lord returns this great Eulogie and Commendation Blessed art thou Simon Bar Jonah Flesh and Blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven That is this Faith which thou hast now confessed is not humane contrived by Man's wit or built upon his testimony but upon those Notions and Principles which I was sent by God to reveal to the World and those mighty and solemn attestations which he has given from Heaven to the truth both of my Person and my Doctrine And because thou hast so freely made this Confession therefore I also say unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it That is that as thy Name signifies a Stone or Rock such shalt thou thy self be firm solid and immoveable in building of the Church which shall be so orderly erected by thy care and diligence and so firmly founded upon that faith which thou hast now confessed that all the assaults and attempts which the powers of Hell can make against it shall not be able to overturn it Moreover I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven That is thou shalt have that spiritual authority and power within the Church whereby as with Keys thou shalt be able to shut and lock out obstinate and impenitent sinners and upon their repentance to unlock the door and take them in again And what thou shalt thus regularly do shall be own'd in the Court above and ratified by God in Heaven 3. UPON these several passages the Champions of the Church of Rome mainly build the unlimited Supremacy and Infallibility of the Bishops of that See with how much truth and how little reason it is not my present purpose to discuss It may suffice here to remark that though this place does very much tend to exalt the honour of Saint Peter yet is there nothing herein personal and peculiar to him alone as distinct from and preserred above the rest of the Apostles Does he here make confession of Christ's being the Son of God Yet besides that herein he spake but the sence of all the rest this was no more than what others had said as well as he yea besore he was so much as call'd to be a Disciple Thus Nathanael at his first coming to Christ expresly told him Rabbi thou art the Son of God Thou art the King of Israel Does our Lord here stile him a Rock All the Apostles are elsewhere equally called Foundations yea said to be the Twelve Foundations upon which the Wall of the new Jerusalem that is the Evangelical Church is 〈◊〉 and sometimes others of them besides Peter are called Pillars as they have relation to the Church already built Does Christ here promise the Keys to Peter that is Power of Governing and of exercising Church-censures and of absolving penitent sinners The very same is elsewhere promised to all the Apostles and almost in the very same termes and words If thine offending Brother prove obstinate tell it unto the Church but if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen and a Publican Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven And elsewhere when ready to leave the World he tells them As my Father hath sent me even so send I you whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained By all which it is evident that our Lord did not here give any personal prerogative to S. Peter as Universal Pastor and Head of the Christian Church much less to those who were to be his Successors in the See of Rome But that as he made this Confession in the name of the rest of the Apostles so what was here promised unto him was equally intended unto all Nor did the more considering and judicious part of the Fathers however giving a mighty reverence to S. Peter ever understand it in any other sence Sure I am that Origen tells us that every true Christian that makes this confession with the same Spirit and Integrity which S. Peter did shall have the same blessing and commendation from Christ conferr'd upon him 4. THE Holy Jesus knowing the time of his Passion to draw on began to prepare the minds of his Apostles against that fatal Hour telling them what hard and bitter things he should suffer at Jerusalem what affronts and indignities he must undergo and be at last put to death with all the arts of torture and disgrace by the Decree of the Jewish Sanhedrim Peter whom our Lord had infinitely incouraged and indeared to him by the great things which he had lately said concerning him so that his spirits were now afloat and his
apprehend S. Paul possibly under the notion of a Spy there being War at this time between the Romans and that King Hereupon the Gates were shut and extraordinary Guards set and all Engines that could be laid to take him But the Disciples to prevent their cruel designs at Night put him into a Basket and let him down over the City-wall And the place we are told is still shewed to Travellers not far from the Gate thence called S. Paul's Gate at this day 2. HAVING thus made his escape he set forwards for Jerusalem where when he arrived he addressed himself to the Church But they knowing the former temper and principles of the Man universally shunn'd his company till Barnabas brought him to Peter who was not yet cast into Prison and to James our Lord's Brother Bishop of Jerusalem acquainting them with the manner of his conversion and by them he was familiarly entertained Here he staid fifteen days preaching Christ and confuting the Hellenist Jews with a mighty courage and resolution But snares were here again laid to intrap him as malice can as well cease to be as to be restless and active Whereupon he was warned by God in a Vision that his Testimony would not find acceptance in that place that therefore he should leave it and betake himself to the Gentiles Accordingly being conducted by the Brethren to Caesarea he set saile for Tarsus his Native City from whence not long after he was fetched by Barnabas to Antioch to assist him in propagating Christianity in that place In which imployment they continued there a whole Year And now it was that the Disciples of the Religion were at this place first called Christians according to the manner of all other Institutions who were wont to take their denominations from the first Authors and Founders of them Before this they were usually stiled Nazarens as being the Disciples and followers of Jesus of Nazareth a Name by which the Jews in scorn call them to this day with the same intent that the Gentiles of old used to call them Galileans The name of Nazarenes was hence-forward fixed upon those Jewish converts who mixed the Law and the Gospel and compounded a Religion out of Judaism and Christianity The fixing this honourable Name upon the Disciples of the crucified Jesus was done at Antioch as an ancient Historian informs us about the beginning of Claudius his Reign Ten Years after Christ's Ascension nay he further adds that Euodius lately ordained Bishop of that place was the person that imposed this name upon them stiling them Christians who before were called Nazarenes and Galilaeans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as my Authors words are I may not omit what a learned Man has observed that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by S. Luke they were called implies the thing to have been done by some publick and solemn act and declaration of the whole Church such being the use of the word in the Imperial Edicts and proclamations of those times the Emperors being said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stile themselves when they publickly proclaimed by what titles they would be called When any Province submitted it self to the Roman Empire the Emperor was wont by publick Edict 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to entitle himself to the Government and Jurisdiction of it and the People to several great priviledges and immunities In a grateful sense whereof the People usually made this time the solemn date of their common Epocha or computation Thus as the forementioned Historian informs us it was in the particular case of Antioch and thence their publick AEra was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ascription of the People of Antioch Such being the general acception of the word S. Luke who was himself a Native of this City makes use of it to express that solemn declaration whereby the Disciples of the Religion entitled themselves to the Name of Christians 3. IT happened about this time that a terrible Famine foretold by Agabus afflicted several parts of the Roman Empire but especially Judaea The consideration whereof made the Christians at Antioch compassionate the case of their suffering Brethren and accordingly raised considerable contributions for their relief and succour which they sent to Jerusalem by Barnabas and Paul who having dispatched their Errand in that City went back to Antioch Where while they were joyning in the publick exercises of their Religion it was revealed to them by the H. Ghost that they should set apart Paul and Barnabas to preach the Gospel in other places Which was done accordingly and they by Prayer Fasting and Imposition of Hands immediately deputed for that service Hence they departed to Seleucia and thence sailed to Cyprus where at Salamis a great City in that Island they Preached in the Synagogues of the Jews Hence they removed to Paphos the residence of Sergius Paulus the Proconsul of the Island a Man of great wisdom and prudence but miserably seduced by the wicked Artifices of Barjesus a Jewish Impostor who called himself Elymas or the Magician vehemently opposed the Apostles and kept the Proconsul from embracing of the Faith Nay one who pretends to be ancient enough to know it seems to intimate that he not only spake but wrote against S. Paul's Doctrine and the Faith of Christ. However the Proconsul calls for the Apostles and S. Paul first takes Elymas to task and having severely checked him for his malicious opposing of the truth told him that the Divine Vengeance was now ready to seize upon him Upon which he was immediately struck blind The Vengeance of God observing herein a kind of just proportion that he should be punished with the loss of his Bodily eyes who had so wilfully and maliciously shut the eyes of his mind against the light of the Gospel and had indeavoured to keep not only himself but others under so much blindness and darkness This Miracle turned the Scale with the Proconsul and quickly brought him over a Convert to the Faith 4. AFTER this success in Cyprus he went to Perga in Pamphilia where taking Titus along with him in the room of Mark who was returned to Jerusalem they went to Antioch the Metropolis of Pisidia Where entring into the Jewish Synagogue on the Sabbath Day after some Sections of the Law were read they were invited by the Rulers of the Synagogue to discourse a little to the People Which S. Paul did in a large and eloquent Sermon wherein he put them in mind of the many great and particular blessings which God had heaped upon the Jewes from the first Originals of that Nation that he had crowned them all with the sending of his Son to be the Messiah and the Saviour that though the Jewes had ignorantly crucified this just innocent Person yet that God according to his own predictions had raised him up from the dead that through Him they preached forgiveness of sins and that by Him
Holy Ghost while you continued under the legal dispensation or since you embraced the Gospel and the faith of Christ and speaking afterwards of the state of the Jews 〈◊〉 the revelation of the Gospel says he before saith came we were kept under the Law i. e. before the Gospel came we were kept under the Discipline of the legal Oeconomy shut up unto the faith reserved for the discovery of the Evangelical dispensation which should afterwards in its due time be revealed to the World This in the following Chapter he discourses more at large Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law i. e. Ye Jews that so fondly dote upon the legal state Do ye not hear the Law i. e. Understand what your own Law does so clearly intimate and then goes on to unriddle what was wrapt up in the famous Allegory of Abraham's two Sons by his two Wives The one Ishmael born of Hagar the Bond-woman who denoted the Jewish Covenant made at Mount Sinai which according to the representation of her condition was a servile state The other Isaac born of Sarah the Free-woman was the Son of the promise denoting Jerusalem that is above and is free the mother of us all i. e. The state and covenant of the Gospel whereby all Christians as the spiritual children of Abraham are set free from the bondage of the Mosaic dispensation By all which it is evident that by Law and the works of the Law in this controversie the Apostle understands the Law of Moses and that obedience which the legal dispensation required at their hands 8. WE are secondly to enquire what the Apostle means by Faith and he commonly uses it two ways 1. More generally for the Gospel or that Evangelical way of justification and salvation which Christ has brought in in opposition to Circumcision and the observation of those Rites by which the Jews expected to be justified and this is plain from the preceding opposition where Faith as denoting the Gospel is frequently opposed to the Law of Moses 2. Faith is taken more particularly for a practical belief or such an assent to the Evangelical revelation as produces a sincere obedience to the Laws of it and indeed as concerned in this matter is usually taken not for this or that single vertue but for the intire condition of the New Covenant as comprehending all that duty that it requires of us than which nothing can be more plain and evident In Christ Jesus i. e. under the Gospel neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision 't is all one to Justification whether a Man be circumcised or no What then but Faith which worketh by love which afterwards he explains thus In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature a renewed and divine temper of mind and a new course and state of life And lest all this 〈◊〉 not be thought plain enough he elsewhere tells us that circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping the Commandments of God From which places there needs no skill to infer that that Faith whereby we are justified contains in it a new disposition and state both of heart and life and an observation of the Laws of Christ in which respect the Apostle does in the very same Verse expound believing by obeying of the Gospel Such he assures us was that very Faith by which Abraham was justified who against all probabilities of reason believed in God's promise he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong c. that is he so firmly believed what God had promised that he gave him the glory of his truth and faithfulness his infinite power and ability to do all things And how did he that by acting suitably in a way of intire resignation and sincere obedience to the divine will and pleasure so the Apostle elsewhere more expresly by Faith he obeyed and went out not knowing whither he went This Faith he tells us was imputed to Abraham for righteousness that is God by vertue of the New Covenant made in Christ was graciously pleased to look upon this obedience though in it self imperfect as that for which he accounted him and would deal with him as a just and a righteous Man And upon this account we find Abraham's faith opposed to a perfect and unsinning obedience for thus the Apostle tells us that Abraham was justified by faith in opposition to his being justified by such an absolute and compleat obedience as might have enabled him to challenge the reward by the strict Laws of Justice whereas now his being pardoned and accepted by God in the way of a mean and imperfect obedience it could not claim impunity much less a reward but must be intirely owing to the Divine grace and favour 9. HAVING thus cleared our way by restoring these words to their genuine and native sence we come to shew how the Apostle in his discourses does all along refer to the Original controversie between the Jewish and Gentile-Converts whether Justification was by the observation of the Mosaic Law or by the belief and practice of the Gospel and this will appear if we consider the persons that he has to deal with the way and manner of his arguing and that there was then no other controversie on foot to which these passages could refer The Persons whom he had to deal with were chiefly of two sorts pure Jews and Jewish Converts Pure Jews were those that kept themselves wholly to the Legal Oeconomy and expected to be justified and saved in no other way than the observation of the Law of Moses Indeed they laid a more peculiar stress upon Circumcision because this having been added as the Seal of that Covenant which God made with Abraham and the discriminating badge whereby they were to be distinguished from all other Nations they looked upon it as having a special efficacy in it to recommend them to the divine acceptance Accordingly we find in their Writings that they make this the main Basis and Foundation of their hope and confidence towards God For they tell us that the Precept of Circumcision is greater than all the rest and equivalent to the whole Law that the reason why God hears the Prayers of the Israelites but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Gentiles or Christians is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the vertue and merit of Circumcision yea that so great is the power and efficacy of the Law of Circumcision that no man that is circumcised shall go to Hell Nay according to the idle and 〈◊〉 humour of these Men they fetch down Abraham from the Seat of the Blessed and place him as Porter at the Gates of Hell upon no other errand than to keep circumcised Persons from entring into that miserable place However nothing is more evident than that Circumcision was the Fort and Sanctuary wherein they ordinarily placed their security
to have consisted in gathering the Customs of Commodities that came by the Sea of Galilee and the Tribute which Passengers were to pay that went by Water a thing frequently mentioned in the Jewish writings where we are also told of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ticket consisting of two greater Letters written in Paper or some such matter called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ticket or signature of the Publicans which the Passenger had with him to certifie them on the other side the Water that he had already paid the Toll or Custom upon which account the Hebrew Gospel of S. Matthew published by Munster renders Publican by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord of the Passage For this purpose they kept their Office or Custom-house by the Sea-side that they might be always near at hand and here it was as S. Mark intimates that Matthew had his Toll-booth where He sate at the Receipt of Custome 3. OUR Lord having lately cured a famous Paralytick retired out of Capernaum to walk by the Sea-side where he taught the People that flocked after him Here he espied Matthew sitting in his Custom-office whom he called to come and follow Him The Man was rich had a wealthy and a gainful Trade a wise and prudent Person no fools being put into that Office and understood no doubt what it would cost him to comply with this new imployment that he must exchange Wealth for Poverty a Custom-house for a Prison gainful Masters for a naked and despised Saviour But he overlooked all these considerations left all his Interests and Relations to become our Lord's Disciple and to embrace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chrysostom observes a more spiritual way of commerce and traffique We cannot suppose that he was before wholly unacquainted with our Saviour's Person or Doctrine especially living at Capernaum the place of Christ's usual residence where his Sermons and Miracles were so frequent by which he could not but in some measure be prepared to receive the impressions which our Saviour's call now made upon him And to shew that he was not discontented at his change nor apprehended himself a loser by this bargain he entertained our Lord and his Disciples at a great Dinner in his House whither he invited his Friends especially those of his own Profession piously hoping that they also might be caught by our Saviour's converse and company The Pharisees whose Eye was constantly evil where another Man 's was good and who would 〈◊〉 find or make occasions to snarle at him began to suggest to his Disciples that it was unbecoming so pure and holy a Person as their Master pretended himself to be thus familiarly to converse with the worst of men Publicans and sinners Persons infamous to a Proverb But he presently replied upon them that they were the sick that needed the Physician not the sound and healthy that his company was most suitable where the necessities of Souls did most require it that God himself preferred acts of Mercy and Charity especially in reclaiming sinners and doing good to Souls infinitely before all ritual observances and the nice rules of Persons conversing with one another and that the main design of his coming into the World was not to bring the righteous or those who like themselves proudly conceited themselves to be so and in a vain Opinion of their own strictness loftily scorned all Mankind besides but sinners modest humble self-convinced offenders to repentance and to reduce them to a better state and course of life 4. AFTER his election to the Apostolate he continued with the rest till our Lord's Ascension and then for the first eight Years at least Preached up and down 〈◊〉 After which being to betake himself to the Conversion of the Gentile-world he was intreated by the Convert Jewes to commit to Writing the History of our Saviour's Life and Actions and to leave it among them as the standing Record of what he had Preached to them which he did accordingly and so composed his Gospel whereof more in due place Little certainty can be had what Travails he underwent for the advancement of the Christian Faith so irrecoverably is truth lost in a crowd of Legendary stories AEthiopia is generally assigned as the Province of his Apostolical Ministry Metaphrastes tells us that he 〈◊〉 first into Parthia and having successfully planted Christianity in those Parts thence travailed into AEthiopia that is the Asiatick AEthiopia lying near to India here by Preaching and Miracles he mightily triumphed over error and Idolatry convinced and converted Multitudes ordained spiritual Guides and Pastors to confirm and build them up and bring over others to the Faith and then finished his own course As for what is related by Nicephorus of his going into the Country of the Cannibals constituting Plato one of his followers Bishop of Myrmena of Christ's appearing to him in the form of a beautiful Youth and giving him a Wand which he pitching into the ground immediately it grew up into a Tree of his strange converting the Prince of that Country of his numerous Miracles peaceable Death and sumptuous Funerals with abundance more of the same stamp and coin they are justly to be reckoned amongst those fabulous reports that have no Pillar nor ground either of truth or probability to support them Most probable it is what an Ancient Writer affirms that he suffered Martyrdom at Naddaber a City in AEthiopia but by what kind of Death is altogether uncertain Whether this Naddaber be the same with Beschberi where the Arabick Writer of his Life affirms him to have suffered Martyrdom let others enquire he also adds that he was buried Arthaganetu 〈◊〉 but where that is is to me unknown Dorotheus makes him honourably buried at Hierapolis in Parthia one of the first places to which he Preached the Gospel 5. HE was a great instance of the power of Religion how much a Man may be brought off to a better temper If we reflect upon his circumstances while yet a stranger to Christ we shall find that the World had very great advantages upon him He was become Master of a plentiful Estate engaged in a rich and a gainful Trade supported by the power and favour of the Romans prompted by covetous inclinations and these confirmed by long habits and customs And yet notwithstanding all this no sooner did Christ call but without the least scruple or dissatisfaction he flung up all at once and not only renounced as S. Basil observes his gainful incomes but ran an immediate hazard of the displeasure of his Masters that imployed him for quitting their service and leaving his accounts intangled and confused behind him Had our Saviour been a mighty Prince it had been no wonder that he should run over to his service but when he appeared under all the circumstances of meanness and disgrace when he seemed to promise his followers nothing but misery and suffering in this life
lances Baron Martyrolog Dec. 21 St. Thomas his Martyrdom Joh. 11. 16. Thomas which is called Didunus said unto his fellow-desciples Let us also goe that we may die with him The custom of the Jews to have both an Hebrew and a Roman name S. Thomas his name the same in Syriack and Greek His Country and Trade His call to the Apostleship His great affection to our Saviour Christ's discourse with him concerning the way to Eternal life His obstinate refusal to believe our Lord's Resurrection and the unreasonableness of his Infidelity Our Lord's convincing him by sensible demonstrations S. Thomas his deputing Thaddaeus to Abgarus of Edessa His Travels into Parthia Media Persia c. AEthiopia what and where situate His coming into India and the success of his Preaching there An account of his Acts in India from the relation of the Portugals at their first coming thither His converting the King of Malipur The manner of his Martyrdom by the Brachmans The Miracles said to be done at his Tomb. His Bones dug up by the Portugals A Cross and several Brass Tables with Inscriptions found there An account of the Indian or S. Thomas Christians their Number State Rites and way of life 1. IT was customary with the Jews when travelling into foreign Countries or familiarly conversing with the Greeks and Romans to assume to themselves a Greek or a Latin name of great affinity and sometimes of the very same signification with that of their own Country Thus our Lord was called Christ answering to his Hebrew title Mashiach or the 〈◊〉 Simon stiled Peter according to that of Cephas which our Lord put upon him Tabitha called 〈◊〉 both signifying a Goat Thus our S. Thomas according to the Syriack importance of his name had the title of Didymus which signifies a Twin Thomas which is called Didymus Accordingly the Syriack Version renders it 〈◊〉 which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thama that is a Twin The not understanding whereof imposed upon Nonnus the Greek Paraphrast who makes him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have had two distinct names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it being but the same name expressed in different Languages The History of the Gospel takes no particular notice either of the Country or Kindred of this Apostle That he was a Jew is certain and in all probability a Galilean He was born if we may believe Symeon Metaphrastes of very mean Parents who brought him up to the trade of Fishing but withall took care to give him a more useful education instructing him in the knowledge of the Scriptures whereby he learnt wisely to govern his life and manners He was together with the rest called to the Apostleship and not long after gave an eminent instance of his hearty willingness to undergo the saddest fate that might attend them For when the rest of the Apostles disswaded our Saviour from going into Judaea whither he was now resolved for the raising his dear Lazarus lately dead left the Jews should stone him as but a little before they had attempted it S. Thomas desires them not to hinder Christ's journey thither though it might cost their lives Let us also go that we may die with him probably concluding that instead of raising Lazarus from the dead they themselves should be sent with him to their own Graves So that he made up in pious affections what he seemed to want in the quickness and acumen of his understanding not readily apprehending some of our Lord's discourses nor over-forward to believe more than himself had seen When the holy Jesus a little before his fatal sufferings had been speaking to them of the joys of Heaven and had told them that he was going to prepare that they might follow him that they knew both the place whither he was going and the way thither Our Apostle replied that they knew not whither he went and much less the way that led to it To which our Lord returns this short but satisfactory answer That he was the true living way the person whom the Father had sent into the World to shew men the paths of Eternal life and that they could not miss of Heaven if they did but keep to that way which he had prescribed and chalked out before them 2. OUR Lord being dead 't is evident how much the Apostles were distracted between hopes and fears concerning his Resurrection not yet fully satisfied about it Which engaged him the sooner to hasten his appearance that by the sensible manifestations of himself he might put the case beyond all possibilities of dispute The very day whereon he arose he came into the house where they were while for fear of the Jews the doors were yet fast shut about them and gave them sufficient assurance that he was really risen from the dead At this meeting S. Thomas was absent having probably never recovered their company since their last dispersion in the Garden when every ones fears prompted him to consult his own safety At his return they told him that their Lord had appeared to them but he obstinately refused to give credit to what they said or to believe that it was he presuming it rather a phantasm or mere apparition unless he might see the very prints of the Nails and feel the wounds in his hands and sides A strange piece of infidelity Was this any more than what Moses and the Prophets had long since foretold had not our Lord frequently told them in plain terms that he must rise again the third day could he question the possibility of it who had so often seen him do the greatest miracles was it reasonable to reject the testimony of so many eye-witnesses ten to one against himself and of whose fidelity he was assured or could he think that either themselves should be deceived or that they would jest and trifle with him in so solemn and serious a matter A stubbornness that might have betrayed him into an eternal infidelity But our compassionate Saviour would not take the advantage of the mans refractory unbelief but on that day seven-night again came to them as they were solemnly met at their devotions and calling to Thomas bad him look upon his hands put his fingers into the prints of the Nails and thrust his hand into the hole of his side and satisfie his faith by a demonstration from sense The man was quickly convinced of his error and obstinacy confessing that he now acknowledged him to be his very Lord and Master a God omnipotent that was thus able to rescue himself from the powers of death Our Lord replied no more than that it was well he believed his own senses but that it was a more noble and commendable act of Faith to acquiesce in a rational evidence and to entertain the doctrines and relations of the Gospel upon such testimonies and assurances of the truth of things as will satisfie a wise and sober man though he did not