of Nazareth appears every way to have been such a Person as all Predictions and Types have fore-shewed and to have been so used as they assure us he was to be and no other is pretended to answer those prefigurations in any degree Pilate was as good a Prophet as Caiphas and being over-ruled by the Spirit of God wrote more then he understood but not more then was true in this Title and Recognition Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews ANd now perhaps some of you are ready to say that I have spoken a great deal to my Text but little to my Auditory Why should I bring you back to the first Elements of Christianity who have been baptized into Christs death in your infancy grown up in the profession of his Gospel have had Christ in many Sermons evidently set forth crucified among you and received him often in the holy Sacramental representation of his Death After so many pledges of service and love enterchanged between you what reason have I to doubt of your being Christians I do not doubt it But give me leave to tell you There goes more to that then we generally imagine every man is not a Christian who believes his Creed nor does every one believe the Creed who supposeth and takes it for granted Many of us believe the Articles of our Faith as we do the Antipodes or the story of the Trojan War we care not whether they be true or no And such have need sometimes to be catechized in the grounds and more in the importance of their Faith And many others who explicitely believe the Truth are so far from obeying it that they hold it in unrighteousness and these ought often to be told that they believe enough to condemn but not enough to justifie and save them Suppose then that you have devoured all the scandal of the Cross and what is an offence to Jews and to Greeks foolishness is to you the wisdom and power of God the one appearing eminently in the contrivance of this Mystery and the other in the great things wrought thereby And now upon the whole matter your armes are open to receive Christ for the very reasons which provoke the Jews to reject and scorn him you can discern the Lord of Glory through the disguise and form of a servant contemplate him triumphing over the powers of Death and Hell in a servile ignominious Crucifixion and therefore because he came not down from the Cross you will believe him Pardon me if I say you may do all this and yet be Jews To make it appear let me mind you of the Jews miscarriages in this behalf We have found them blameable 1. For not accepting Jesus as their King 2. In the reason why they refused him Because he he was a Spiritual not a Temporal Prince Be faithfull then to your own souls and in this solemn season of self-examination ask your Consciences these two Questions 1. Whether you do sincerely own and receive Jesus for your King 2. If you find your selves faulty and deficient in that Duty Whether the reason why you do not cordially embrace him be any other then that of the Jews because his Kingdome and his Laws are spiritual and you are Carnal 1. Whether you do own and accept Christ for your King I know you are apt enough to admit his other Relations to you every one hearkens willingly to the glad tidings of a Mediator and a Saviour 'T is pleasant to think of a Sacrifice considerable enough to atone for our sins of such a High Priest entred within the vail interceding on our behalf at Gods right hand who will surely be heard when he prays and who hath already obtain'd eternal redemption forus Nay we can like well that he be a King too provided that as his Kingdome is not of this world so he trouble not us with it in this world pretend not to govern us till we come to heaven 'T is not amiss that he be powerfull enough to overcome our Enemies to spoil Principalities and Powers lead captivity captive and after that give gifts unto men when he hath through his Death destroyed the Devil who had the power of Death that he be able and willing to enstate us in eternal life and assume us to the participation of his Kingdom Tell me now I pray you what temptation had the Jews why they should not be as good Christians as we upon their own grounds if this be all what carnality of theirs would have resisted the proposition of such a Sacrifice to expiate for their sins Why should not a Pharisee be content that he might have an Advocate always pleading for him at the Throne of Grace What could move the grossest dreamer in the Sanhedrim to refuse a reversion of eternal glory in heaven after the enjoyment of those present selicities which he desired on earth There is something surely more then this in the accepting and acknowledging Christ for our King or else the Jewes would have accepted him too The Duty of a subject to a Prince is expressed in one word Obedience The Tributes of our Esteem Honor Reverence and Recognition are good circumstances in the performance of our main Duty but without it are follies or crimes I need not teach the Court how little Complements signifie you know that for the most part they are like Nil's in a Cypher us'd onely to amuse to conceal not explain our minds Nor shall I need to say here the profession of that Duty and service which we mean not to performe is no more then a Complement unless it prove a scorne too for in severe examination to acknowledg our Sovereigns Power and yet refuse his commands is at once to recognize and defie him to call Christ our Prince and not submit to his rule and Laws is but to bow before him cry Hail King of the Jews and crucifie him Obedience hereby appears to be the natural necessary Duty of a Subject to a Prince because it supports and maintains the end of the Relation between them enables the Prince to do his Office It is the end of all Government to procure the good of the whole Community but no Governour can do that unless he be obeyed without obedience the Scepter is but a Reed in his hand a Rod of weakness and contempt not of power 'T is folly to expect to sit quietly under our own Vines and Fig-trees enjoying all the benefits of peace and plenty unless we conform to those Laws which preserve peace and effect plenty by regulating every man in the orderly pursuit of his own honest ends without enterfering with those of his Neighbour 'T is madness to look that a King in his single Person should suppress Rebellions repel the force of invading Armies drive Enemies Fleets from his Coasts or conquer them upon their own But by the free and hearty obedience of his People He can do whatsoever his whole Kingdom can do Because thereby their entire
A SERMON Preached before HIS MAJESTY on GOOD-FRIDAY at Whitehall March 24. 1664 5. By J. DOLBEN D. D. Dean of WESTMINSTER and Clerk of the CLOSET Published by His Majesties special Command London Printed for Timothy Garthwait 1665. Out of the Gospel 19. Ch. St. JOHN part of the 19. Vers Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews ALthough I am by my Place and the honor usually vouchsafed me to appear here on Good Fryday a Preacher of ill Omen and abode one engaged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be an Evangelist of sad uncomfortable things And you may expect from me at least a Tragical doleful representation of our Saviours Crucifixion That I shall call you to contemplate all the bloudy stages of his conflict with Sin and Death to meditate on the several aggravations of his sufferings and consider if ever any sorrow were like unto his sorrow wherewith the Lord afflicted him in the day of his fierce anger And not shew you those things as in a Scene or Landscape but with a vehement astonishing Rhetorick such as the Subject will furnish to the meanest Orator force and drive them home into your souls recollect all the sad thoughts which have been fermenting in your breasts during the Lent past and actuate them in one pungent amazing sorrow able not onely to fetch tears from your eyes but even to repeat his Agonies and draw showers of Bloud from every heart that is not more infidel then Judas or Pilate more insensate then the earth it self and harder then the rocks and stones about Jerusalem Nay further yet you may justly look that I should this day come up with a Discipline in my hand turn all the whips and thornes and nailes upon my Auditory launce and wound your Consciences by convincing you that your selves have inflicted and daily by your sins do inflict those pains which you bewaile act those Treasons which ye condemn and abhor execute those inhumane Butcheries which you tremble at are confounded and ready to dye at their very apprehension Though to do all this and so make it your Passion day as well as your Saviours would be most sutable to my office and apposite to the business of our present meeting Yet I have now chosen to put on another Person Not to lament the shame and cruelties but to Celebrate the Triumphs and Glory of Christs Passion to do Homage to the King of sufferings and adore the Majesty of our Lords abasement Discovering to you not onely that the Contumelious addresses of Honor the mock Purple the counterfeit Scepter and the Bloody Diadem of Thornes were as St. Chrysostome phraseth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mystical representations of a real Kingdome while they upbraided his vain affecting a false one But that this whole Treatment so entertain'd by Christ as it was did directly signifie and declare him to be Messiah the King both of Jews and Gentiles and that having already punctually fulfill'd what the Prophets of old had spoken concerning his Birth and life there remains now nothing to compleat the Demonstration but that he answer all the Types and Prophecies of his Death too That the Captain of our salvation be made perfect by sufferings Perfect in the whole latitude of the original word consecrated and inaugurated upon the Altar and Throne of the Cross while the souldiers are busily anointing him with the most Precious ointment which the world ever saw his own inestimable Blood and Pilate becomes both his Herald and his Champion proclaiming him with defiance to his enemies King of the Jews THat his Title may appear good and well cleared and justified by this procedure I will set it forth 2. By opening to you what this Magnificent Stile King of the Jews imports what Royalty and Dominion was by God design'd to Messiah challenged and exercised by our Saviour Christ 2. Shew you that this shameful cruel Death did apply all that honour and power to Jesus of Nazareth demonstrated him to be the very person promised by God represented by Types described by Prophesies expected by the whole Nation of the Jews under the Names of Shilo the coming King Messiah the Prince THe First Part of my Text is to declare the Nature of Christs Kingdom And this we are therefore concern'd carefully to examine because from their mistaking this fancying a temporal in stead of a spiritual Messiah arose the Fundamental Errour of the Jews and all their prejudice against Christ That God would one day raise up unto them out of their Brethren a Prophet like and superiour to Moses a Prince whose Dominion should extend from one Sea to the other to whose Scepter the Kings of the Earth should submit their Majesty They were at all times so confident that this conceit made them triumph in the midst of their Captivities Despise and in their own thoughts reign over their Masters and Conquerors nay even yet after so many Defeats of their desires so long and dreadful Desolation makes them threaten and design to ruine all Kingdoms where they are dispersed That about the time of our Saviours Incarnation this Great Person should discover himself their sollicitous examining the Records of Scripture had assured them they had computed diligently the Periods of Daniels Chronology compared all coincidences of Affairs which answered his Predictions and from thence setled in themselves a seeming pregnant hope and spread even among the Gentiles an expectation of a mighty and happy Prince now to arise in Judea who should Govern the World This alarm'd Herods Jealousie at the arrival of the Magi And this Tradition help'd to interpret unto those wise men the portent of that New Star which their skill in Astronomy had made them observe This made the Jews take fire on every little occasion run into war at the call of every Rascal that was bold and wicked enough to head their Rebellions And therefore it was no wonder when the Fame of Christs Miracles reported him a man like to answer the largest of their wishes that they flock'd about him with importunate Eagerness Nor was it the light and giddy multitude alone that fix'd their hopes on him even the most sage and cautious of their Rulers had a vehement surmise that he should redeem Israel But when he open'd himself fully preaching only Innocence Obedience Poverty of Spirit Contempt of worldly Advantages and embracing Affliction When he lived poor and conversed with them that were so declined respect and honour and refus'd the offer of a Kingdom When in stead of freeing his Countrey from Roman Tributes and Exactions he determined in favour of Caesars right and was so far from undertaking a war to deliver himself or others from oppressing Power that he instructs his Scholars to offer their left Cheek to him that should strike them on the right and make no other return to their most injurious persecuters beside blessings and prayers these were so contrary to the Jews Hypothesis
so disagreeing with that Idea and Fancy which they had cherished of a fighting conquering triumphing Messiah Poverty was so unlike to raise and pay Armies Meekness so unfit to rout Legions Patience so unable to break the yoke of Servitude to shake and subvert the Roman Empire that their defeated Hope turns to Scorn their Kindness to Rage and Cruelty And because Jesus will not be their Captain he must be their Martyr and suffer for their seditious Thoughts and Designs because he will not act them You see what Scribes and Pharisees mean by King of the Jews and therein how ill Interpreters Carnality and Self-love are of the Mind of God how little room souls full of the world have for the entertainment of spiritual Benefits how hard it is for men whose Affections are riverted to the Earth to raise themselves up to heavenly contemplations Should I let my self loose to enumerate all the absurd and monstrous Dreams the contradictions and impossibilities which the Jews embrace how they confound all the Principles and Rules of humane understanding jumble and invert the Series of times and actions and disturb the whole frame of Nature meerly that they may force themselves to apprehend in the Shell and Outside of a Prophesie Flesh in stead of Spirit Earth in stead of Heaven a filthy robbing Barchocab a murdering Villain and Boutefeu rather then a Jesus Prince of Peace and Life you would extreamly pity such miserable Delusions and say their Fathers who long'd for Leeks and Onions but loath'd Mannah wish'd to return to slavery and making Brick in Egypt rather then enjoy the delights and plenty of Canaan had appetites far less corrupt wills less debauched then they But to our business 'T is most true all great things are said of Messiah in the Psalms and Books of the Prophets and they generally expressed under the Symbols of earthly power and happiness But that was Gods way of dealing with the Jews They were a fleshly People and God bred them under a suitable fleshly Oeconomy drew them on to his service like children with entertainments agreable to their infirmity That they might grow up under the Pupillage and imperfect institution of the Law and by its Carnal Ordinances and Rewards as by the art of a School-master be made fit for and led unto Christ Consider I pray you that no man apprehends any thing he knows not but by analogy and likenesse to somewhat that he already understands of which we have a ready vulgar instance in the impossibility of making a Negro of Guinee or even a Native of our own Barbados conceive what frost or snow can be till he hath seen a winter in England and you will presently discern how necessary it was that God should represent to Jews who thought of no happiness beyond a perpetual affluence of plenty in Canaan those infinitely greater but spiritual Blessings which he design'd them in his Son under the figure and shadow of such things as they were affected with St. CHRISOSTOME says well and judiciously That had the spirituality of Christs office been plainly and nakedly declared by the Prophets none of the Jews would once have thought on him before his coming or regarded him when he came And therefore though all the other Prophecies were so delivered as to be clear and intelligible to those who received them yet such as concern Messiah had a vail and shadow of earthly things drawn over them that the people might not be dazled and confounded with too much brightness and glory but approach chearfully and comprehend by degrees that Mystery which they contain'd being allured and engaged to taste and like its spiritual Divine intention by a Preparatory relish and pregustation of Carnal Promises All which we find distinctly exemplified in the carriage and temper of Christs own twelve chosen Disciples To the same purpose though on another occasion discourseth Maimonides himself assigning this for the reason why God prescribed by Moses such an outward and fleshly way of worship to the Jews Because saith he that people who had seen the Egyptians and all other Nations adore their Idols with sacrifices continually smoaking upon their Altars consecrating themselves and their oblations with bloud wine salt and perfumes and other sensible rites were not then capable of a mental internal Religion could not suddenly be brought to leap from one contrary to another and apprehend how to serve God onely in spirit and truth And therefore it was sufficient for that time to draw them from those false and ridiculous Deities from offering one Beast to another from burning incense before a Cat or Crocodile and engage them to worship the one true God though in a fashion not unlike that which they observed the Heathen to use toward their Abominations Which assertion as it expresly avows what I now insist on The necessity of Gods condescending to speak to the Jews in such a Dialect as they would understand and propose sublime and heavenly notions in termes suitable to their low thoughts as we see those curious men who establish a kind of discourse and correspondence with Birds are forced to whistle and chirp like them so does it by the way give us the confession of that learned Rabbi That the whole carnal Oeconomy of the Law was in God ' s original intendment temporary not design'd to continue always being but an imperfect rudiment attempered to their present infirmity A rough draught of a more excellent reasonable service Perfective of humane Nature Worthy of God and apt to elevate the soul and bring it near to him that should be revealed in the fulness of time or as the Jews sometimes speak in the days and Kingdome of Messiah which observation will go a great way towards the determining the main controversie between us and them Nevertheless this vaile upon the face of Moses was not so dark the cloud which cover'd the Mystery of Christs spiritual Kingdome was not so thick and impenetrable but that considering discerning men might have seen through it had there not been another vail and cloud upon their hearts had they not lov'd that too much which lay nearest to their senses For ISAIAH brings in Christ with the Spirit of the Lord upon him Anointing him i. e. making him his Messiah to the end that he might preach the Gospel to the poor whom Scribes and Pharisees thought unworthy prophane and such as it would be a kind of sacriledge to cast away their Doctrine upon To heal the broken-hearted not to add affliction and vengeance to their grief to preach deliverance to the Captives not to enslave and destroy all Nations of the world as the Jews expect to restore the blind their sight and set at liberty those that are bruised illustrating their souls with Divine light and Graces redeem the contrite from the pressures of sin and the bondage of Satan and proclaiming the acceptable yeare of the Lord the perpetual Jubile of lasting eternal comfort
that Innocence may dwell more safely in the Arms of Power and Strength be no longer a Terrour but a Support and Guard to impotent Weakness while every Christian is a Protector a Tutelar Angel and God to his Brother You may now be sure Christs Kingdome is not of this World which is in every instance so contrary to it I wish the same unlikeness were not too observable among his professed Subjects who allow but follow not his Rule and Pilate had reason enough to rest secure that Jesus though he asserted himself to be King could on these terms be no dangerous Rival or Competitor with Tiberius such a Kingdome might bless and prosper Caesars Government could not impeach his Power or diminish his Greatness It must now seem very strange after Christ hath so expresly renounced all claim to Temporal Authority convinced the Jews and Romans that his Kingdome is not of this World if any Christians can be so bold as under him and in his Name to assume the Government of the World It must be matter of deepest astonishment to those who believe our Saviour spake truly when he told his Apostles The Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant greater then his Lord that any Person as Vicar to Jesus of Nazareth who refused to arbitrate between contending Brethren had himself no house where to lay his head and admitted men into the condition of his Subjects upon the terms of forsaking all worldly interests should pretend to dispose of Crowns and Scepters averr that by Him Kings reign that He can pull down one and set up another and do it too when their weakness or misfortune gives him opportunity Pilate would have been very jealous of such a Spiritual Prince though the Jews perhaps would have liked him well for he looks more like a Lieutenant of their Messiah then a Deputy and Apostle of our Christ who treads on the necks of Caesars and without a figure makes his enemies lick the Dust Had the Apostles themselves own'd such a Commission Christianity had never taken root in the World Had St. Peter declared that all Power in Heaven and Earth was given to him by God he had been crucified with his heels upwards not by the choice of his own Humility but for a sutable punishment of his inverting the Doctrine of Christ and turning the Gospel and the World it self up-side-down Had Heathen Princes been alarm'd at first with this pretence told that while They and their People remained Infidels a Christian Bishop might give away their Countrey to any one that should convert them by the Sword the old Greek pretence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and if they embraced the Faith and yet happened to err in any point of it they should be deposable at his pleasure that by professing Christianity they should acknowledge to hold their Power and Dignity at the beck and good liking of their Pastor from whom as the greater Luminary they must derive all their saint influences and borrowed light he alone having right to institute earthly Powers to judge all and be judged of none and therefore must in all things be obeyed even of Princes at the peril of their souls Do you think the Roman Emperors or the Monarchs of the East would have been brought in to Christ's fold by these harsh invitations this rough voice of the Shepherd Would such a Doctrine have placed the Cross on the Crowns of Kings made them Nursing Fathers to the Church I doubt it would rather have exasperated their fury sharpened their persecutions and made cruelty it self seem just and necessary a provident endeavour to destroy Christianity in its first conception as a Viper which was like to tear out the bowels of its Mother I know I am not wise enough to interpret the Revelation nor am I bold enough to affix hard names without certain grounds But we have some who frankly enough call the Pope Antichrist sounding out that name with all the force of their lungs which is great and yet if it be not ill manners to make comparison between so high pretenders themselves deserve that Title as well as he and upon the same Reason For who-ever advanceth in Christendome an Interest so directly contrary to that of Christ is an Anti or Counter-Christ You know who they are which talk so much of advancing Christs Scepter and the Rod of his Power but you know likewise by wofull experience that all this is onely that it might become a Rod in their hands to eat up all other Rods and be the greater Serpent when it hath done so Beside there is among us a Pestilent Devilish Sect which we call the Fifth Monarchy but should call it the Sixth or Seventh for the Papacy and Presbytery come both in before it These expect just such a Temporal fleshly Kingdome as the Jews talk of urge all the same Texts interpret them out of their Books and would bring in the Dominion they aspire to like them with Bloud Confusion and Ruine make Christ reign among Thieves and Murderers And as the former Temporalists would place Christ on his Throne that themselves may sit on his right hand and on his left so these cry up King Jesus onely for a stale and property to serve their design of binding the hands and eating the flesh of other Kings that the sheep may tear and devoure the VVolves But most certainly were he now once more upon earth in the same lowly guise as before Preaching the same spiritual Doctrines advancing the same heavenly Kingdome they would persecute and crucifie him again as the Jews did for defeating their Carnal hopes and Designes I have been the longer in clearing and asserting the spirituality of Christs Kingdome because in effect it concludes the whole Question and therefore I may make you amends by shortning the other remaining part of my discourse For seeing Christ had no interest or authority in earthly things Seeing his Empire and Dominion was not to consist in Temporal Power and Greatness but in the establishing such a Rule in the hearts of his subjects as might make them fit to reign with him in another world 'T will be no wonder if he suffered unkindness in a strange enemies Countrey was advanced by Death and the steps of his Cross to be crowned with glory and honor to sit on the Throne of God in the full enjoyment and administration of his Kingdome in Heaven the reward and purchase of his sufferings Had I time I might easily shew the great fitness and infinite wisdom of this Method but by Gods goodness and the Kings favour I may have another opportunity for that My present undertaking obligeth me no further then to evidence the design of God expressed by Types and Prophecies that Christ should thus suffer and so enter into his glory My other Part. FIrst for Types And concerning them I will freely yield all that can be demanded That they
strength is concentred in Him and He can manage and employ it as easily as the members of his own body The same obligation both of Duty and Interest have we to obey Christ of Duty that we defraud him not of what we owe him and Interest that he may be able to do us the good which he designs For neither can he subdue his and our Enemies to the purposes we are concern'd in nor make his Subjects happy without the concurrence of their obedience He cannot destroy the works of the Devil if we will persist to employ our selves in his works resolve to be slaves still notwithstanding all the liberty purchased for us and when the Captain of our Salvation hath cast down and bruis'd his head made it easie and safe for us to tread upon our old Enemy we set him up again and fall down and worship him Nor can he bring us to heaven unless we conforme to the Laws and conditions by which we are to be advanced receive his Kingdome first into us that we may be afterwards received into it For whatever God might have done if we suppose a time before the method of our Redemption was decreed It will be safe to say that since he hath limited himself by an express act and declaration of his will and Covenanted with Christ that upon his voluntary laying down his life as a ransome for the World he should have power to bestow the Kingdome upon such and such onely as Believe and Repent no man now can look to go to Heaven by Christ but he whose Faith receives Christ for his King and whose Repentance grieves for having offended him and resolves to serve him faithfully for the time to come These are the two joint inseparable Conditions of our Salvation neither of which will singly avail us For as it is impossible to Repent without Faith to convince us of the necessity and benefit of that Duty so our Repentance it self instructs us that Faith alone is not our whole work Because we Repent not that we have no Faith seeing we suppose Faith to be the principle which moved us to repent but we grieve to find our selves defective in our obedience that we have not perform'd what we believe our selves bound and engaged to For this is the proper business of Faith to shew us our King and direct us in our duty to him If we onely believe the Theory of the Gospel acknowledge the truth of all that our Saviour hath taught and no more This makes Christ but such a King as GROTIUS think's Pilate took him for a kind of Rex Stoicus a Prince and author of some rare opinions and speculative truths and Christianity it self but a sect as Tertullian often calls it in a better sense combined in the asserting an excellent Hypothesis not a Kingdom and body Politique join'd to one Common head by which all the members are guided in the actions of life and pursuance of real solid concernments Me thinks the Lawyers who are versed in matters of government give us a good Notion of Faith when they joyn it with and make it Synonymous to True Allegiance And a Prohibition from them would be seasonable in this case to track the exorbitances of some Divines who evaporate all Religion in Notions Had Christ been proposed to us onely as Prophet such a Faith had been a hand fitter to receive him it might have apprehended Visions and Revelations well enough but seeing he is a King and delivers commands Obedience onely is relative to them And we may believe St. James who tells us that Faith which works not when t is bidden by such an Authority is Dead The Faith which onely lives and can make us do so is that which expresseth it self by lively operations being animated and actuated by an obedient Love that Generous Principle which even in humane affairs noble produceth all the great and worthy things in the world by those Persons who serve the Prince whom they love vigorously and Bravely That Obedience onely can bring us back to God we may know by this that Disobedience cast us out of his favour and presence and if the effect of our Redemption be to recover us the Paradise and the favour of of God which we lost at first by disobeying his commands it must also put us into a state of obedience without which we cannot be capable of recovery the Cherubim with their flaming sword will still fight against us upon the old quarrel and it must find a way to help us in that state or else we shall quickly lose all again It was very agreeable to the Majesty and goodness of God to compassionate the weakness of his poor Lapsed Creature so far as to make our task easie and proportion'd to our infirmity to accept sincere honest endeavours instead of exact unerring obedience which Adam fail'd of and we in the ruine of our nature could by no mean have performed But to be reconciled to disobedience is inconsistent with every one of his attributes even goodness it self would cease to be good should it Patronize and encourage evil now disobedience is all Evil transgresseth and violates the whole Law at once The soul that doth ought presumptuously disobeying with a high hand reproacheth the Lord and despiseth his comandments I may add and his Mercy and Grace too which are afforded to invite and help us to obey and would not have been given us to that purpose were disobedience by any means reconcileable to our obligation and Gods favour And between Obedience and Disobedience I know no Medium That pretence of serving Christ out of Gallantry is something that I confess my self not acute enough to understand any further then as a colour for not serving him at all For precarious Authority is a contradiction in Terms the Prince who hath no other is a Tenant at will holds his Crown and Dignity in a kind of Villenage and servile dependance on the Pleasure of his Subjects and where Christ hath no greater command then so he may be any thing else but cannot be a King My Brethren be not deceived though God so loved the world as to give his onely begotten Son to die for us yet doubtless he loved his Son whom he sent from his bosome infinitely more then all the world for whom he gave him and therefore will be sure to provide for his honour before our safety To which purpose we see he hath setled his Kingdom on such terms as that we shall not have the benefits we expect unless he have from us the glory due to him We cannot be saved unless he be obeyed and we become so far both his Servants and Friends as to do whatsoever he commands us God will certainly assert his own Laws and vindicate his Sons Honour and that may be done whatever becomes of us Christ may be glorified even in our destruction and will be so if we envy him the glory of saving us He
think God did not intend Messiah a Temporal Kingdom But hath your Jesus any where a Spiritual one You have proved his Title But where is his Possession Can he have a Kingdom without Subjects Perhaps he ought to reign but I would be glad to see that he does I would joyn my self to a Church not to a fancy and Rosecrucian invisible society which subsists onely in imagination The Prophets have told us that Messiah shall see of his seed I would be glad to see it too and that the pleasure of the Lord did prosper in his hand But certainly you Christians believe our Messiah not your own for all your aims endeavours and affections are fixed upon worldly advantages and satisfactions of the flesh and while your discourses destroy the Temporal Dominion of Jesus and your lives his Spiritual you seem to confirm me that Jesus of Nazareth is not King of the Jews These objections cannot be taken off by any way but one the Reformation of our lives the expressing in our actions as well as words that Religion which Christs Doctrine Example Graces and holy Ordinances were designed to plant and keep up Were this done we should soon see the Mountain of the Lord advanced and all the Nations flow to it Jews and Heathens would be ravish'd with the beauty of such a Religion and crowd into Christianity ambitiously contend to come under the government of that King who makes Virtue the Complexion of his Subjects Humility Meekness Purity and Charity the Elements of his new World and out-doing all the Heathen Fables of a Golden age all the Jewish fancies of a second Paradise in their new Jerusalem settles among Christians a temporary Heaven while they live in the way to that Eternal one which he hath prepared for them after death To which Kingdom prepared for us in the eternal design of his mercy and purchased by the blood of his Cross he bring us by the help and guidance of his grace and holy Spirit c. FINIS ERRATA in some Copies thus to be amended PAg. 5. lin 6. for seeming read teeming P. 8. l. 11. for Chrisostome r. Chrysostome P. 10. after unworthy add of their care after prophane add and accurst P. 14. l. 25. for Nation r. Reason P. 27. l. 23. dele uot P. 35. l. 4. for therefore r. thereby P. 42. l. ult for track r. trash P. 43. l. 2. r. a Prophet P. 43 l. 25. for help r. keep P. 46. l. 2. r. esse P. 47. l. 27. for meats r. meals Phalaris Ep. α. Lam. 1 12. Chrys Tom. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 2. 10. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deut. 18. 15 Psal 72. 8. 9 10 11. Cic. de Divinatione l. 2. circa med Virgil. Eclog 4 Sueton. in Vespesiano Tacit Histor l. 5. Sueton. ubi supra Joseph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 6. c. 31. Tom. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per totum More Nevochim Par. 3 c. 3â— Isaiah 61. 1. Luke 4. 18 19. 7 22. John 7. 49 Dan. 9. 24. Joel 2. 28. Micah 4. Psal 72 8. Ubi solitudinem saciunt pacem appellant Tacit in vita Agricolae Ysaiah 35. 9. Gen. 49. 10. See Mr. M de discourse 8. Revel 21 11 12 Isa 54 11 12. Muc. 5. 3. 4. 5. 7. 8. Isai 2. 4. Isai 65 25. Matth. 10 24. Luk 12 13 14. 9 58. 14 33. Frederic I. Imp. Pap. Alexand. 3 Terreni simul coelestis Imperii jus Extr. Job de major obed c. siâ—râ—trum Acts 17. 6. Extr. de major obed c. solitar Extr. Com. tit cod Vnam Sanctam per tot Heb. 2. 9 10. Rev. 3. 21. ut vocibus Ita robus Prophetatum Non minùs Parabolis operato Deo quam locuto Tertull. I. de Resurrec carn Divinarum virium lineamenta Tertull. ubi supra Gen. 12. 1 2 3. Psal 69. 8. Psal 4 29. Deut. 18. 15. Ezek. 34 23 24. 37. 24 25. Lam. 13. P. 2. 22 40 69. Joh. 19 34. More Nevochim part 3. c. 46. Dan. 9. 26. v. Fuller Misc l. 3 c. 12. R m. 1. Grot in Joh. 9. v. 38. James 2. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 5. 6. Num. 15. 30 31. Loca sup citat de Divinatione l. 2. Cic. de Fin. passim Epist 6. Eth. Nicons l. 2. c. 7. Fag in Deut. 23 Acts 1. 6 Isai 53. 10. Micah 4 1. Isai 2. 2. 3.