had to be offended at Christ or his Religion in General 2. I shall shew the particular Grounds and reasons upon which they were offended and also the weakness and unreasonableness of them 1. The Jews had little reason to be offended at Christ or his Religion in general if we consider 1. The great correspondency that is betwixt the Prophecies of the Law and the History of the Gospel how exactly the Gospel is the fulfilling of those Prophesies of the Messias which we meet withall in the Old Testament So that if the Jews had not given themselves up to an obstinate perverseness Moses himself would have lead them to Christ for how exactly do we find him described by the Prophets both as to the manner time and place of his Birth and the most remarkable Circumstances of his Life and Death these I shall not particularly insist upon as supposing them sufficiently known and manifest So that if it be possible to know a Person by any precedent Marks and Characters that may be given of him then we may be fully assured that Christ was that Messias which was Prophefied of in the Old Testament especially if we consider that there were some Marks and Characters which did and only could belong to himself as his being born of a Virgin and the manner and time of his Resurrection To these we may add the Consideration of those hard shifts and frivolous Evasions and forced Interpretations that the Jews make use of to evade the force of this Argument which tho' singly in their own Nature are no Proofs either of the truth of the Christian or falseness of the Jewish Doctrine in this particular yet to an Ingenuous and impartial Considerer they are additional confirmations of that truth which before we had more positive Grounds and Reasons to believe 2. The Jews had little reason to be offended at our Saviour if we consider the concurrence of those Qualifications which they themselves required in a true Prophet or at least in order to his tryal whether he was so or no Now the generally receiv'd Qualifications of this Nature were these 1. An eminent degree of Wisdome and Prudence 2. Of Courage and magnanimity 3. Of Vertue and Piety All which were so remarkable in our Saviour that the malice of Men and Devils was either forced to acknowledge them or not able to say any thing material against them To which if we add his Power of Working Miracles nothing further could be required in order to his being receiv'd as a true Prophet so that if the Jews would but either have admitted our Saviour to his tryal in this particular before they had condemn'd him or in judging made use of their own Rules in other ca'es of the like Nature they must have acknowledged Christ to have been a true Prophet So that he had both the Prophesies of the Law and the Principles and Practices of the Jews themselves in the like Cases in favour of him if any thing could have prevailed against Prejudice and Interest but they reject him by a Law which they themselves never acted by before and which they according to their own Principles must resolve shall never after be drawn into a precedent 3. The Jews had no reason to be offended at Christ or his Doctrine if we consider those many excellencies and advantages the Gospel had above the Law so that whatever it was the Jewish boasted it self above other Nations of the Gentile World even in those very things did the Gospel much outdo them As 1. We have under the Gospel a clearer Manifestation of those fundamental Truths which were but obscurely shadowed out under the Law Now are shadows turned into Substances and Types into Realities the Law came by Moses but Grace and Truth by Jesus Christ. I doubt not but the more divinely Instructed among the Jews did rightly understand and piously expect a future state of Immortality Yet 't is probable that the Common sort amongst them look'd no further then the Letter of the Law expecting no other reward of their Obedience then the enjoyment of a Land flowing with Milk and Honey it being the great Prerogative of the Gospel that it brought Life and Immortality to Light that is made a more full and clear discovery of it 2. We have a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit and divine assistance now under the Gospel then ever was known under the Law this was the time of which it was Prophefied that God would power out his Spirit upon all Flesh and that all from the highest to the lowest should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taught of God But this is not so to be understood as some of our late Enthusiasts do interpret it as if we should now expect any new Revelations either above or besides the Will of God made known to us in Scripture But this Prophesie was then fignally fulfilled when God powr'd out his Spirit upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost thereby furnishing them with Gifts and Graces for the planting of his Church and promulging the Gospel And it is also this day fulfilled in the Hearts of all good Christians as God by his preventing and assisting Grace doth accompany particular Persons and assists them to Work out their own Salvation with Fear and Trembling And thus much for the first particular to show in general that the Jews had no just reason to be offended at Christ and his Doctrine and that it was rather Malice and Envy against his Religion that it had so much of Truth and Reason on its side rather than Contempt for the want of either that moved them to a dislike of it 2. I shall show the particular Grounds and Reasons upon which the Jews were offened at the Gospel which more especially were these two 1. They thought the Christian Religion not sufficiently confirmed with Signs and Wonders 2. They were offended at the meanness of Christs Life and the dishonour of his Death 1. They were affended at the Christian Religion as supposing it not sufficiently confirm'd by Miracles Verse 22. The Jews require a Sign But in Answer to this it will be sufficient only to remind you that Christ did Confirm his Doctrine and the truth of his mission with sufficient Signs and Miracles beyond the possibility of any reasonable Exception if we consider either the number or quality or manner of Performance or the end and design of them which was always either for the necessary Confirmation of his Doctrine or in Compassion to the Souls and Bodies of Men never to gratifie Curiosity in others or vain Glory or Ostentation in himself so that the manner of their performance sometimes only by a word together with the end and design of them the promoting the great Designs of Truth and Charity those seem still to add more Divinity to his Miracles And farther our Saviour at his having the World did invest his Apostles with the same Power of Working Miracles so far and so
THE REASONABLENESS OF THE Christian Religion A SERMON PREACHED At the Visitation held at Stoakesley in Cleveland in Yorkshire Being the first Visitation of the Reverend Mr. Long B. D. and Arch-Deacon of Cleveland By Ja. Lowde Rector of Esington in Cleveland and Chaplain to the Right Honourable John Earl of Bridgewater c. LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1684. To the Right Honourable JOHN Earl of BRIDGEWATER VISCOUNT BRACKLEY BARON of ELLESMERE Lord Lieutenant of the Counteys of BUCKINGHAM and HERTFORD And one of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council My Lord WHEN I was first desired to make this Sermon publick I was sensible that it wanted and yet was afraid to entitle it to so great a Patronage but the Knowledge and happy Experience I have of your noble and generous Temper together with the many and great Obligations I lie under from your Lordship do not only encourage but oblige me to take all Opportunities of testifying the Sence I have of your Favors and my Gratitude to the World so that I have this to plead in excuse of my Presumption that even Duty and Justice required this Dedication For you have a Right and Title to all the Results of my Studies of this Nature provided they were worthy of your Acceptance seeing it was your Lordships Favor to which I at first ow'd these quiet and happy Opportunities of a Studious Retirement And that which further adds to my Obligations is this that the Remoteness of the Place doth not put me beyond the Reach of that Continued Kindness whose Influence like that of Heaven challenges a kind of an Ubiquity Upon these Accounts my Lord I presume to prefix so great a Name before so mean a Piece Mean I call it not in Respect of the Subject Matter but as to the manner of my handling it The Subject is great and worthy containing the Reasons both of our Religion and Loyalty and whatever Defects I may be otherwise guilty of in treating of them I shall yet make this abundant Compensation to the World in propounding so great an Example of both as your Lordship is to its Imitation The Jews required a Sign and the Greeks looked after Wisdom Those Signs indeed are now ceas'd nor is this an Age of Miracles yet thanks be to God we can yet justly boast of such moral Miracles if I may so speak of Religion and Learning as your Lordship may be justly counted My Lord I shall only add my Prayers to God that the King and Kingdom that both Church and State may be long happy in your able and faithful Councils that Religion and Learning may long enjoy so great a Patron and Allegiance and Loyalty may be long encouraged and promoted by such a great and eminent Example and remain My Lord Your Lordships most dutiful and faithful Servant Ja. Lowde 1 COR. 1. 23 24. But we Preach Christ Crucified to the Jews a stumbling Block and to the Greeks Foolishness but to them that are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the Power of God and the Wisdome of God THere is nothing that affords us more Pious and more Profitable matter of Meditation then the Consideration of the Way and Method by which God first designed and in due time effected mans Salvation For hereby we come to the most excellent and most useful piece of Knowledge that we are capable of that is to the Knowledge of God and of our selves this Method when duly considered and rightly understood being not only the Illustration of all the Divine Attributes of Wisdome Justice Power and Goodness but hereby also we see the shortness of our own meer humane Apprehensions when we consider by what weak and improbable means at least in Mens esteem such God has effected the greatest things that ever Heaven designed or Earth bore Witness to thus giving an undeniable Argument of the Truth and Divinity of that Religion he then instituted But this admirable contrivance of Almighty God met not with an answerable Reception in the World for both Jews and Gentiles either out of weakness or wilfulness either out of ignorance or perverseness were offended at it these two sorts of Men tho' differing much among themselves yet both agreed against Christ and his Religion and thought it a very improbable thing to reconcile the World to the Cross of Christ and indeed a very unreasonable thing to perswade Men to Worship a crucified Saviour As for the Jews they were prepossessed with Apprehensions concerning the Eternity of their Law and the Splendor of their expected Messias so that nothing that was outwardly mean and humble did agree with that pompous Scene of things which they had fancied They expected a great Prince for their Messias who should indeed cause an alteration in the Government but none in their Religion For that they look'd upon as Eternal and never to undergo the least shadow of change And therefore for the Jews who were thus accustomed at least in their own thoughts to Pomp and Ceremony for them who look'd upon themselves as the Children of Abraham and so Heirs of all the Glorious Promises made to them in Scripture for them to embrace an humble persecuted and at last crucifi'd Saviour this they thought inconsistent with their Religion as Jews and with their Reason as Men. And Christ as he was to the Jews a stumbling Block so was he to the Greeks that is as they thought themselves the learneder part of the Gentile World Foolishness Now the Greeks were offended at the plainness and simplicity of the Gospel they looked upon it as an Ignorant and unlearned Institution they expected to have found it full of Philosophy or some kind of nice and curious Learning which was in request and esteem among them and being disappointed heroin they began to entertain low and mean thoughts concerning it as not worthy to enter into their Scholes and upon this account was the Gospel to the Greeks Foolishness These were the two Grand Imputations under which the Gospel then lay both from Jews and Gentiles to both which the Text is a direct Answere that what ever mean thoughts the Jews might entertain concerning the Crucified Jesus and what ever unworthy apprehensions the Greeks might have of his Doctrine yet upon a due Consideration of things to those that are called that is to those that become Christians for that is the plain and proper and usual sence of Calling in Scripture to those who Judge by better Principles and surer Rules it is the Power of God in Opposition to the Jews and the Wisdome of God in Opposition to the Gentiles These two Scandals here cast upon Christ and his Religion together with the respective Answers which the Apostle here gives to them are the general parts of the Text and shall be the Subject of my present discourse First in Answer to the Jews I shall do these two things 1. I shall shew what little reason the Jews
long as was necessary for the planting of his Church Which thing also is an Argument of the Truth and certainty of our Saviours being a true Prophet for that Impostors commonly are neither able nor willing to convey and communicate that Art to others which they pretend to themselves This being premis'd the unreasonableness of the Jews requiring still further Signs will appear upon these following Accounts 1. The too great frequency of Miracles tho' it would not destroy the Nature of 'em yet wou'd it make them less Solemn and Venerable less Cogent and Argumentative and more liable to the Cavils and Contempt of ill disposed Men for by how much any thing is more frequent and usual the nearer it comes to Common and Natural at least in the Apprehensions of some Men and familiarity even of Miracles as well as of other things would in time breed Contempt This would give too just an Occasion to that which yet the more improv'd Atheism of our Age asserts notwithstanding that there are no such things as Miracles in the World but that all things of this Kind are to be resolv'd into the fixed course of Nature In short if Men should once come to this to desire one Miracle for the Confirmation of another thus they might run on in Infinitum and end in Scepticisme 2. The Jews requiring Signs in that manner as they did was not only saucy and impudent but also would have been if granted a Lessening of that Evidence which otherwise our Saviour gave by denying them nothing would satisfie them but Signs suited to their own Humors and Fancies they must have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Signs from Heaven those they had too tho' those were more liable to Exception than these nearer and more palpable Signs which he more commonly shewed them The Chief Priests and Scribes told our Saviour when he hung upon the Cross that if he would come down that is save himself from Death they would believe Now what an unreasonable request was this they would disswade our Saviour from doing that upon which theirs and all Mankinds Salvation did depend but what if upon granting their request they would not yet have been as good as their Word They could not give our Saviour any good security for performance Yet further they did hereby indeed and in truth contradict their own pretences for if he had so come down from the Cross as to save himself from Death they could not upon just Grounds have believed him to be the true Messias In short if he had thus gratified them in their request he could not have given them that which was indeed a greater Sign than that which they demanded that is the raysing himself from the dead thus could he not have been true to his own Word whereby he promised to give them the Sign of the Prophet Jonas Mat. 12. 38. 3. Supposing what yet we cannot reasonably Suppose that the Jews who liv'd at the Writing of this Epistle had not been Eye-Witnesses of several Miracles done by the Apostles in their Days yet they had a constant universal and undoubted Tradition of these things delivered down to them from the former Age and they who will not believe such a Tradition as this that is when they have all the Evidence that a thing of that nature is capable of neither would they believe but either find or make some Occasion of cavilling at that which they saw done before their Eyes Our Saviour prefers the Faith of those who believe and yet have not seen before those who have and it is not to be supposed that he would commend a Groundless Faith or vain credulity if we should believe nothing now but what we saw this would destroy the end and use of all History and needlessly take up the greatest part of the time of one Age to act over again the things of another Thus much in Answer to the first Offence that the Jews took at the Gospel that they thought it not sufficiently confirm'd by Miracles but still requir'd a Sign 2. The Jews were offended at the meanness of Christs Life and the Dishonour of his Death In Answer to this in general Christs appearance in the World together with all the Circumstances of it according to a true estimate of things was as far above any thing that was mean and Vulgar as it was below that Phantastick Pomp and Splendor which the Jews unreasonably expected here I might Instance in thatGloriousQuire of Angels which first usher'd him into the World and that extraordinary Star that directed the Wise Men to the place of his residence both which spoke him to be no common or ordinary Person those several Attestations of the Divine Love and Approbation from Heaven and the forc'd acknowledgment that theDevils themselves made of him his Transfiguration in the Mount and tion into Heaven all these spoke him to be more than Man by all which and several other Instances of his Power this Sun of Righteousness tho' clouded in the Vailes of Flesh by such Vigorous Eradiations gave undeniable Testimonies to the World of his Divinity But more particularly the way and Method of Christs appearance in the World was the most proper and effectual means to prove himself to be what indeed he was the Power of God And this will appear upon these following Accounts 1. The way wherein Christ appeared in the World was the most proper means for the accomplishment of those ends for which he came into it which were 1. To offer himself a Sacrifice for Sin and so to reconcile Man to his offended Father 2. To leave us the most powerful Example of an Holy Life Now in order to the first he became Man that so he might put himself into a Capacity of dying for us and in order to the second he chose this mean Condition thereby to make his Vertues and Graces appear more eminently Divine thus by his Example encouraging and recommending those more weighty and difficult Duties of Christianity Humility Patience and Self-denial Christ very well knew that the whole Malice of Men and Devils would be vigorously employed to traduce his Actions and scandalize his Religion he therefore chose this Valley of a meaner Fortune wherein he might if possible not only be safe from but from whence also he might more easily repel them It he had appeared in the Pomp and Glorys of an Earthly Kingdome and so prevailed upon the easie World then had he wanted that Argument of Divinity which now his Religion hath that is a prevailing over all Opposition without the help of any outward Assistance Besides it would have been counted Policy rather than Devotion that joyn'd Men Prosylites to a flowrishing Religion But now theStricktness of our Saviour's Precepts the severity of his Discipline the great contrariety his Doctrine bore to the corrupt Customs and Vicious Inclinations of the World all these show that it was nothing less than a Divine Power accompanying it that made it successful
this means he is reconciling himself to his offended Father So that Religion in the just Practice of its Precepts and due Observance of its Laws is certainly the most chearful pleasant thing in the World And thus much for the first particular that the Christian Practice doth the best secure our present Happiness here 2. It best secures our Eternal Happiness hereafter by teaching us to Act in conformity to our own Principles and by assuring us that by Holyness here we shall certainly arrive at Happiness hereafter For the Divine Providence in the very Order of Nature and the first Constitution of things has so order'd Affairs that there is a Natural and Necessary Connexion betwixt Sin and Misery and betwixt Holiness and Happiness This the very Heathens were sensible of that Holyness did either entitle a Man to Happiness or at least to a Freedome from Misery So that if an Holy Man at last prove Miserable with Reverence be it spoken he may say that it was God that made him so which we may assure our selves he never did nor will make any so without their own fault So that we must either grant That Holyness will at last bring a Man to Happiness or else assert what is impious to suppose That God ever since his first Creation of Man made it his whole business to deceive him both by those first Impressions made upon his Soul and by his after Revelations But this is so unworthy of God and contrary to all his Attributes that it can never enter into the thoughts of any sober or considerate Man to Imagine Thus have I done with the two general Parts of the Text wherein I have endeavoured to prove what the Apostle here asserts Christ to be that is the Power ofGod in Opposition to the Jews and the Wisdome ofGod in Opposition to the Gentiles And now I hope I shall not need to make any Apology for a Discourse of this Nature for Meditations upon such Subjects as these are not Matters of mere Speculation only nor are they antiquated now by the distance of time from that of the Apostles but are even still of great Concernment to the present State of Religion 'T is true indeed that we have not now Jews and Gentiles to deal withal as the Apostles had but yet we have as inveterate Enemies against Religion in general and the Protestant Religion as now by Law established in particular as the Jews and Gentiles were against the Christians And it is observable that so maliciously are they set against us and our Religion that they care not from whence they fetch their Weapons and Arguments whether from Jew or Gentile or Hell it self provided only they can by any means annoy us or get any advantage over us And sometimes they make use of the same Arguments or the same a little variously modify'd which the Jews and Gentiles did against the Christians It is therefore our great Duty and Interest rightly to understand the Grounds and Reasons of our own Religion as also the Nature and Force of our Adversaries Arguments and the Various Ways and Methods by which they make their attempts upon us This if we rightly do we shall not only thereby barely defend our selves but also with Advantage and Reputation to our Religion repell our Adversaries for I am apt to believe that the Christian Cause got more Advantage by those solid Vindications and those rational Apologies which the Apostles and Primitive Fathers made for it then it suffer'd by the Force or Malice of the Opposition Occasion being thus given it by answering the Objections to exert its own Strength and to bring forth and show the inexhausted Treasures of its own Truth Whereas on the contrary there is nothing wherein a good Cause can possibly be injur'd but only by a weak defence I shall now only make some short practical Observations from a more general review of the Words and so conclude But we Preach Christ Crucified c. Hence we may observe the great Duty and Office of a Minister of the Gospel to Preach Christ Crucified that is to declare the whole Will of God to Man as it is plainly and clearly laid down in Scripture without any Tincture of our own private Humors Interests or Inclinations nor must we arrest Scripture in favour of any Party or Faction but must with the greatest sincerity and impartiallity study to find out the true Sense of Scripture not to make a new one of our own We must Preach not only the more easie and pleasing but also the more difficult Duties ofChristianity Christ Crucified that is the Doctrine of Mortification of Passive as well as Active Obedience c. But more particularly We much Preach Christ Crucified in Opposition to three sorts of Men in the World 1. Those of the Church of Rome 2. Some later Enthusiasts of our own 3. The prophane and Atheistically inclin'd Persons of the Age. I shall not consider these in their utmost latitude for this would be too remote from our present purpose but only so far as they seem offended at the Gospel upon the same or like Accounts that the Jews and Gentiles were here against Christ Crucified so far only as they also in their several ways look upon the Cross of Christ either as a Stumbling Block with the Jews or as Foolishness with the Gentiles 1. In Opposition to those of the Church of Rome But this perhaps will seem a great Paradox to some to say that any of that Church should be offended at the Cross of Christ those who pay so much Honour and Veneration to it those who institute whole Orders of Men in Honour to the Name and in Imitation of the humble and Crucified Jesus to say that these are offended at the Cross of Christ this perhaps may be thought as great a scandal cast upon them as those which were cast either by Jew or Gentile upon Christ Crucified But yet we know 't is possible to betray Christ by that Kiss by which it is pretended to Honour him But it is not the Cross of Christ in this sense that those men are offended at but it is the Humble and Peaceable Doctrines of the Crucified Jesus those Commands of his which do not so well agree with their Interests or Inclinations The Doctrines of Loyalty and Passive Obedience of Truth Sincerity and open profession of Faith tho' with the hazard of Life these and such like are the Doctrines of Christ which these men are offended at And these Romanists like the Jews seem to be offended at that mean Appearance that Christ and his Doctrine makes in the World that is that it is not so exactly suited to maintain and bear up that Pomp Grandeur and Interest which that Church has unreasonably raised it self unto upon the Ruines of Truth and Corruption of those humble and peaceable Doctrines of Christ Crucified And it might easily be made appear how most of the Roman Doctrines those I mean wherein they