and the Redeemer of the World This I will briefly open There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy-Ghost and these three are one And there are three that bear witness in Earth The Spirit and the Water and the Blood and these three agree in one All the Divinity gave testimony of this important Truth The Father not only by the Miracles wrought by his Power to confirm the Mission of Christ but which is here principally intended by a voice from Heaven First at his Baptism This is my well-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And at his Transfiguration before some of his Disciples a Shining Cloud the sign of the Divine Presence encompast them and a voice came forth of the Cloud This is my well beloved Son hear him Upon this glorious Voice they were struck with such an impression of fear that they fell on their faces And when our Saviour near his Passion prayed Father glorifie thy Name a voice came from Heaven I have glorified it and will glorifie it Now can there remain any doubt after such an high attestation from the most Soveraign Authority The Son also besides the perfect holiness of his life the exquisite Wisdom of his Doctrine the Wonders of his Works his Resurrection from the dead that were authentick proofs of his Celestial Person and Calling after his Ascension gloriously appear'd from Heaven in diverse Visions to the Preachers of his Gospel To Saul in his Journey to Damascus calling to him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me It is hard for thee to kick against the Pricks This is an unexceptionable testimony that he is the Son of God being risen from the dead and returned to Heaven from whence he thus discover'd himself Now that this was real and no fantastick illusion is evident by the marvelous effects of it Those who were companions in the journey were seiz'd with great terror and himself struck blind by the overpowering splendor of the Apparition But especially the effects of it upon his Soul are convincing who it was that spake to him For Saul was by Sect a Pharisee that of all others most passionately adher'd to the Jewish Religion by Temper hot and violent by Profession a persecutor of the Christians One that breathed forth Threatning and Slaughter that excited the Fury of the High-Priests sollicited their Cruelty In short a fierce spirit that envied Nero the title of the first Persecutor of the Church Yet this Man by this Vision and Voice from Heaven of a furious Persecutor in an instant became a zealous Apostle of a Wolf became a Pastor He presently exprest his entire submission Lord what wilt thou have me to do There is nothing so hard to do nothing so dreadful to suffer but I will readily undertake for thine honour and the propagating thy Truth Now from whence came this Change so strange so new in a person confirm'd in the opposite party from whence this resignation of will so entire and perfect so unexpected and sudden What gave him courage to contradict to their faces the High-Priests whose instrument he was and declare that Jesus whom they called a Deceiver was the Son of God and their Judge What animated him to appear before Kings and Emperours to testifie this dangerous Truth What made him with unparallel'd activity with the most ardent affections propagate the Gospel and after a thousand perils by Sea and Land a thousand disgraces and injuries at last to confirm the Faith of Christ with his Blood It is therefore past all contradiction that he had the greatest assurance that the Son of God spake to him Another Vision of the WORD from Heaven was to St. John when he was pleas'd to reveal to him the future state of his Church its Combats and Victories He then appear'd in a form expressive of his Majesty Power and Providence requisite for the ordering all the great Events that should befal it And said I am the first and the last I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I live for ever and have the Keys of Hell and of Death wherein he appropriates to himself the incommunicable titles of the Deity and then declares those two astonishing Miracles that the Prince of Life that had an Eternal Principle of it in himself was dead and that one who had been dead was alive This Riddle the Gospel unfolds The Son of God was made Man and by that admirable union allied Eternity and Time Life and Death together As 't is a common form of speech that a Man dies when the Body is depriv'd of Life though the Soul be immortal So it was true the Son of God died when his Body was crucified though he was uncapable of the least diminution of his Divine life And after three days he rose by the Divine Power to enjoy an Immortal Life And have the Keys of Hell and Death The irresistible force of Death all Men must yield to and from the Grave there 's no redemption by finite power But Jesus Christ has Soveraign Authority and Power to open the Grave and raise the Dead to an happy Immortality This glorious Appearance made St. John to fall as dead at his Feet and could not recover himself till assured by the reviving words of his favour The Spirit also appear'd from Heaven to give Testimony concerning the divine Person and Office of Christ First by descending as a Dove on him when he was baptised This was the completion of the Prophecy The Spirit of the Lord is upon me He has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the Poor to publish Deliverance to the Captives And in the second of the Acts the Spirit descended in the form of Fiery Tongues upon the Apostles to qualifie them for preaching the Gospel to the World And 't is worthy of observation that the Apostles were before this very defective in Wisdom and Courage so that their Divine Master though Goodness it self yet tax'd them for their stupidity and in his Sufferings they all forsook him But after the effusion of the Spirit upon them they were endowed with that admirable Wisdom and Resolution that nothing could gainsay and overcome They presently spake in various Languages the things concerning Iesus Christ that the World was astonish'd and many converted by this Testimony from God for the honour of our Saviour and others confounded in their obstinacy Now since this miraculous descent of the Spirit was to ratify the Promise that he made to them If I go away I will send to you another Comforter What more clear and valuable Testimony can we have that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the World If Infidelity should reply If we had heard these Voices and seen those glorious Visions we should be convinc'd but what assurance have we there is no deceit in these Relations I answer There never was clearer Grounds of the belief of any thing done without the compass of our own senses than of what
and honoured by Men proportionably to the Cures that were received from him How much more when done by an undoubted Miracle Of this the People the numerous spectators were so convinc'd that they said When Christ cometh the expected Deliverer will he do more Miracles than these which this Man has done The Pharisees themselves could not deny the Effects but would not acknowledg the true Cause Envy was more powerful in their breasts than the clearest Evidence Therefore to invalidate his Authority they ascrib'd some of his wonderful works to the Prince of Devils But this pretence was so void of all Reason and full of impiety that nothing but inveterate malice could suggest it For would the Devil destroy his own Kingdom is he such a lover of Holiness as to authorise the most perfect Master of it by a compliance with his Will Those proud Spirits are servile only in appearance and when they suffer themselves to be commanded by Men 't is always with design to establish and increase their own Dominion Therefore the most famous Sorcerers observe some Rites by the Devil's prescription and in the using of them acknowledg his power But our Saviour had a soveraign Empire over them and ejected them not only from the Bodies but from the Souls of Men subduing by his holy Doctrine the power of Sin wherein the Kingdom of Satan consists From hence he argues If I by the finger of God cast out Devils then is the Kingdom of God come unto you And hence it was that he charges them with self-condemning obstinancy For if the Gentiles were inexcusable for not acknowledging and honouring God so clearly manifested in the Works of Nature The Jews were as inexcusable for rejecting Jesus Christ so powerfully declared to be the Son of God by supernatural Operations Add further that in his lowest state when he seemd to be utterly forsaken of God yet then his Innocency and the Divinity of his Person were miraculously testified For at his Death even insensible Nature as if it had been capable of Knowledg and Affection was in the most astonishing disorder as resenting the Passion of its Lord. The Sun was eclips'd in a time and place against all possibility of Nature For the Moon was then in opposition to it and in its Full and in an instant past a half Circle of the Heavens to interpose between the body of the Sun and the Earth that the Air at noon day was darkn'd as at midnight This compell'd the Roman Centurion to acknowledg that he that suffer'd was the Son of God And his Resurrection from the Grave was a visible Argument to confirm his Doctrine for that God would not exert his extraordinary power to confirm a false Doctrine in a matter of infinite moment that so nearly concerns his own Glory and the Salvation of Men there is sufficient assurance from his Wisdom Truth Goodness Was there ever any Prince that would permit an Usurper in his own Presence to make use of his Royal Seal to authorise by Commission his Subjects to rebel against him And would God have suffered a Deceiver to work Miracles and thereby obtain Divine Honour from Men the incommunicable Right of the Deity Nay it had not been a bare permission but a positive Act of God himself it being impossible that any other should do them Or would God who is the prime Verity work Miracles to give credit to a Lye and violate the Honour of his Eternal most perfect Veracity Or is it consistent with his Infinite Goodness to make a Delusion so strong that the most sincere would be in great danger to be overcome by it Therefore the Apostle urges it as an uncontroulable Argument of our Saviour's Divine Mission Ye Men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a Man approved of God among you by Miracles and Wonders and Signs which God did by him in the midst of you as you your selves also know These were proofs of the greatest vigour to induce the World to believe that he came from God to make known his Counsel for the recovery of lost undone Mankind 'T is said by Libertines that the Heathens tell miraculous stories to confirm their Religion that their Hero's descended in a right line from some Deity and not to instance in many particulars they boasted of Apollonius Tyanaeus as one that vied with Christ himself in wonderful works But this Objection is easily refuted for if Paganism had a miraculous Power attending it why did it not make use of it to discredit that Power that authoris'd Christianity in the time it made fierce War against it If equal to it in Divine Power and incomparably superiour in humane aids how came it to pass that the weaker prov'd victorious and the stronger was put to flight 'T is evident therefore the pretended Miracles of Paganism were works of the Devil not to be compar'd with what was done by an Almighty Hand If it be again objected That the relation of the Miracles as perform'd by Jesus Christ is from his Disciples who favoured his Person and Cause and therefore may be justly suspected I answer The vanity of the Pretence is apparent for if they had artificially fram'd a Narrative of extraordinary things as done by him in that time wherein they wrote and in the view of many how easy had it been to expose them to the just scorn and hatred of all for their notorious falshood and infatuated Impudence but they were never accus'd of this Nay such was the number clearness and greatness of his Miracles that the uncontrouled fame of them forc'd his Enemies in after-Ages to acknowledg their truth The Jews in their Talmud confess he did Wonders but give such a ridiculous Account of the Means by which they were done as betrays the weakness of their Reason and the strength of their Malice against him And his Apostles with their Successors in preaching the Gospel wrought Miracles so frequently in the face of many Nations that those who were most obstinately averse from submitting to it could not deny what was visible to thousands and that Miraculous Power they always ascribed to the Name of CHRIST So that there is no colour for jealousy as if his Miracles recorded in the Gospel were not true But because the Resurrection of Christ is the great Principle upon which all Christian hopes depend I will shew that we have all the rational assurance of it that it is capable of This being a matter of fact done many Ages past is to be proved by Testimony And first 't is worthy of Observation that the Providence of God is concern'd to authorize this manner of proof that is absolutely necessary for the preserving humane Societies 'T is of little importance whether the truth of things be discovered in speculative Sciences or the appearance of it deceive the Inquirer 'T is no wrong to the Commonwealth that an Astronomer mistakes in his dimensions of the magnitude of the Sun for his
not discover the deceit Nay that it should inspire them with invincible courage to assert that Christ was truely risen Or who can with the least colour of reason accuse the Apostles of simplicity or any disorder of mind when such are equal uniform and strong light shines in all their Writings whereas the discourses of Fools or distracted Persons are unshapt Abortions of the mind beginnings without a regular progress or if there be any coherence 't is short and alwayes attended with some notable extravagance Besides the constant order of their Lives and Actions was a certain proof of the composedness and wisdom of their minds To sum up briefly what is convincing that the Apostles were sincere and certain in their Testimony How could they be deceived when they say him do Miracles or by his power did the like Did they all dream in a night that they saw him appear after his Resurrection what could impress on them such a strong belief of that of which the Senses were the proper Judges Or could they conspire to invent such a falshood and so easily to be convinc'd with the least rational hope that the World should believe them How was it likely considering the variable humors of Men but that some of themselves either by violent fears or attractive hopes should be prevailed on to discover the Fiction and leave their Party What could inspire them with such a false security to despise the greatest Dangers and such a foolish presumption to undertake the greatest difficulties How could they expect to induce the World to believe in and worship One ignominiously put to death After such a convincing evidence what can Reason nay suspicion object with any colour to weaken their testimony The motives of credibility are so strong that we may be as truly satisfied of the reality of the things related by the Apostles as if we had been spectators of them our selves CHAP. IV. The accomplishment of Prophecies concerning the Messiah in Jesus of Nazareth is an unanswerable proof that he was sent from God to redeem the World The circumstances of his Birth the actions of his Life his Sufferings and Death clearly foretold The irreparable destruction of the State of the Jews was foretold as the just punishment for their rejecting of the Messiah That terrible Event is a continual Proof that Jesus Christ was what he declar'd himself to be the Son of God The Converting of the Gentile World to the Knowledge and Service of the true God by the Messiah was foretold in the Scriptures and is visibly fulfill'd The Accomplishment of this Prophecy by the most unlikely means against the strongest Opposition is manifestly the effect of Divine Power and is sufficient to convince the Jewish and Heathen Infidelity of the truth of Christianity THE Accomplishment of Prophecies concerning the MESSIAH his coming into the World the Work he should do his Sufferings and the Consequences of them afford undeniable proof that Jesus of Nazareth came from God for our Salvation Prescience of things to come and independent on the setled course and order of Natural Causes is an incommunicable Prerogative of God His Eye only can pierce the thick vail of futurity He has an open unconfin'd prospect of all things that were are and shall be Such perfection of Knowledge transcends Angelical Minds 'T is more easy for the Devil by an adventurous imitation to counterfeit Miracles than to give a clear and distinct prediction of things to come that depend on free Agents From hence it was that he gave responsals ambiguously to conceal his ignorance of future events and left those who consulted his Oracles dubious and hovering in what sense to understand them God alone could instruct the Prophets to foretel things at such a distance especially considering some of them are supernatural and others contingent from the wavering of second Causes Now the several Prophecies of Jesus Christ if united together make such an entire description of him that they seem rather Historical Narratives of what is past than Predictions of what was to come According to the Prophecies he was born of a Virgin a branch of the almost extinguish'd Family of David born in Bethlehem usher'd in by a forerunner meek lowly just and a worker of Miracles Therefore when John the Baptist sent some of his Disciples to enquire whether he was the Messiah that should come Our Saviour gave no direct Answer in words but referred them to his Works that gave a full and real testimony concerning him Go tell John the things which ye do hear and see the Blind receive their Sight the Lame walk the Lepers are cleansed the Deaf hear the Dead are raised up and the Poor have the Gospel preached to them That comparing his Miraculous Operations for the recovery of humane Bodies with the Prophecies there being a perfect Agreement between them and both undoubtedly from God They might by that clear and certain Caracter acknowledg him to be the Promised Messiah 'T is an Observation of St. Austin That the Son of God foreseeing the perverse Interpretations that his Enemies would make use of to darken the lustre of his Miracles accusing him as a solemn Magician that wrought by force of Inchantment that such a false Perswasion might not prevail sent the Prophets before his coming into the World From hence the Saint argues to repress those impious calumnies If by Magical Arts he did such Wonders as to conciliate Divine Honour to him even since his Death was he a Magician before he was born and did he know the succession of all things in his Life before he lived that by an impossible Miracle he predicted them to Moses David Esay Daniel and others Having thus argued the Saint turns himself to those Infidels as Christ to the Pharisees looking round about on them with anger being grieved for the hardness of their hearts and said O dead wretch hear the Prophets But above all His Death and Passion the substance of the Gospel is most exquisitly drawn with the lines of his own Blood Daniel foretels the time Zachary as if present at the execrable contract between Judas and the High-Priests tels us exactly the price of the Treason and then as if transported to Calvary he saw his Side open'd with the Spear and notes it in these words they shall look on him whom they have pierced David as if he had stood at the foot of the Cross in the hour of his Sufferings relates the manner of them in the Person of our Crucified Redeemer They peirced my Hands and my Feet Then the disjoynting of his Parts by the Torture I may tell all my Bones they look and stare upon me His hanging naked on the Cross they part my Garments among them and cast lots upon my Vesture the bitter draught they offer'd him they gave me also Gall for my Meat and in my thirst they gave me Vinegar to drink The blasphemous derision of the Priests and People
the spectators of his Death All that see me laugh me to scorn they shoot out the lip they shake the head saying He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him His words spoken in the heighth of his distress My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The Prophet Isaiah represents the Ignominy and Torments of his Passion I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair I hid not my face from shame and spitting and by the eyes of his mind saw him crucified between two Thieves He was named with Transgressors and as present at his most affectionate dying prayer for his enemies Father forgive them they know not what they do observe that he made intercession for Transgressors Thus as several Painters that would draw divers Copies from the same excellent Original are intent to view its various Aspects some directly some on this and the other side so the Prophets as if they had been the Spectators of his cruel Sufferings copied from the life every one that part that the Holy Spirit assigned to them Now how was it possible if not instructed by Omniscience that being so distant in time and place and so long before the Accomplishment they should concur in such an exact description of what should befal the Messiah Men are not Prophets by the light of Reason as Nature is not subjected to their power to work Miracles neither is Futurity open to their view to compose an History of things to come The Death of Christ depended on several Causes Men Devils and God himself concurr'd for divers Ends in the same Event The two prime Conspirators against his Life Lucifer and Caiphas were moved both from Reasons of State to secure their own The Devil to maintain his cruel Empire which for so many Ages he had usurp'd in the World For our Saviour having with Authority cast out Legions of his ministring Spirits from those who were miserably possest by them he was in fear of losing his Power Besides he foresaw that if Christ were the Son of God the killing of him would bring such a crimson guilt upon the Jews that no less punishment than their Rejection would follow And so God should lose his peculiar People Caiaphas excited the Council to devote him as a Sacrifice to preserve their Nation from ruine for their safety depending on their homage to the Romans to prevent the jealousies that might arise by the fame of his mighty Works and by the Peoples attendance on him that were fed by his Miracles they concluded on it as a necessary expedient that Christ should dy and all suspicions be removed with him Thus Men and Devils were the instruments but God appointed that great Event The storm fell from Heaven upon Him for our Sins 'T is therefore expresly said He was delivered by the determinate Counsel and foreknowledge of God who over-ruled the train of disorders the work of their cruel malice for contrary ends than were design'd by them For the Devils were cast out of their Kingdom the Jews depriv'd of their Liberty and the Kingdom of Christ establish'd for ever Now who could read in the Mind of God his free Decrees even the Angels of Light that always see his face cannot without a revelation of them None but the Spirit that searches the deep things of God could make the discovery And who could foresee that the Messiah so often promised to the Jews so impatiently expected and ardently desir'd should be so fiercely rejected by them that his Death should be the effect as of his own love so of their hatred None but God to whom all the periods of time are equally present and who is more intimate with the Counsels and Passions of Men than their own Souls are could predict it He communicated some rays of his Prescience to holy Men who foretold that obscurest Contingency From hence it follows that the clear Testimonies of the Prophets exactly fulfill'd in Jesus Christ are an unanswerable demonstration that He was the expected Deliverer to restore the World 2. The universal and irreparable Destruction of the State of the Jews foretold as the just punishment of their rejecting the Messiah is another illustrious proof of the Divinity of his Person and Doctrine To represent all the Characters of that Vengeance as they are set down by Josephus an Eye-Witness and Historian of it would lengthen this Discourse beyond the limits intended It is sufficient to observe 1. That all the severe Scourges of God met in a direful conjunction against them The most affrighting Prodigies were his forerunners A flaming-Sword brandish'd in the Heavens and Monsters born on the Earth And War Famine Pestilence and Fire were his Attendants Those who escap't the Sword were consum'd by Famine and those who were preserved from cruel War and Famine were swept away by the Pestilence or devour'd by the merciless Flames Wherever they turn'd their eyes Death in terrible shapes appear'd 2. All these Judgments were inflicted at once upon them in the heaviest degrees The Sword never made a greater destruction of Men than in Jerusalem here were Rivers of Blood there Mountains of Carcasses In some places nothing but silence and horrour amongst the dead in others the crys and groans of the dying Innumerable were massacred by the rage of Sedition amongst themselves And when the mild Conquerour would have spared them yet by an unparallel'd fierceness they would rather perish in an obstinate resistance The Famine was so extreme as compell'd even tender Mothers to eat the flesh of their miserable Children The Fire consum'd the City from one end to the other without leaving any part entire The Temple the Sanctuary of Religion and Image of Heaven where God so long had dwelt had been serv'd and prais'd and rendred his Oracles was not exempted from the fury of the Fire 3. Their Calamity was extreme and irreparable The first Desolation by the Chaldeans so compassionately recorded by Jeremiah was not comparable in the degrees and continuance to this second by the Romans of which CHRIST himself was the Chief Mourner and made lamentation Then they were transported together and not to a very rigorous nor perpetual servitude in Babylon After seventy years they recover'd their Liberty and were restored to their Native Land But in the last the Captives were dispers'd among divers People a sad Prognostick that they should never be joyned again in one Society The Ruines of the Nation were so great that the pieces of it are scatter'd all over the World Where ever a Jew is found there is a stone of ruin'd Jerusalem never to be rebuilt In short that wretched Nation is rent into innumerable parts and expos'd to the contempt and hatred of all As the Body of a Traitor is quarter'd and the parts hung up in several places of publick view to signify the horrour of his Crimes in the severity of his
be true or false as they are favourable or disagreeing to them Carnal persons fortify every Objection that may render the Mysteries of Godliness unlikely and incredible and will be partial for Sensuality Of this we have a great instance in the first rejection of the Gospel The Jews expected the Messiah would come with pompous Wonders and external Magnificence that he would deliver them from the Roman Yoke and found an Universal Monarchy for them and according to those carnal fancies they would understand the Promises concerning him Now though JESUS CHRIST approved himself to be the Son of God the true Messiah by the Sanctity of his Life the Rectitude of his Doctrine and the Divinity of his Miracles yet for the poverty and meanness of his Condition being without any sensible shew of Greatness and Glory they despised him as most unworthy that Divine Relation and Office Tho in him all the Characters of the Messiah were conspicuous and the Scriptures declare expresly that the Messiah the Prince should be cut off but not for himself but to make reconciliation for Iniquity and to bring in everlasting Righteousness yet they were so prepossest with the Ideas of a Terrene Felicity that they would interpret all the Scriptures by that measure as if the Messiah should come into the World to repair no other ruines but of their Temporal State and Liberty Therefore they spake of him with scornful titles as for this Fellow we know not from whence he is And is not this the Carpenter Shall the glorious Prophecies of the Messiah be accomplish'd in him Shall he have Dominion from Sea to Sea and from the River to the ends of the Earth Shall all Kings bow down before him and all Nations serve him There was nothing to satisfie their sight in his outward appearance and Retinue and his Miraculous Condescention so much below their expectations was more powerful to harden them in unbelief than all his supernatural Operations to induce them to believe in him And as the Jews from their affection to Secular things were enemies to the Gospel so the Heathen Philosophers from Spiritual Pride for they vainly affected the praise of Knowledge and Vertue as the fruit of their own mind and the product of their own will They did not consider God as the Fountain of Truth and whether the Ray of his Knowledg comes directly and immediately into us or by reflection from others the glory of it is entirely due to him Besides the great Mysteries of Godliness not being suitable to their first Opinions were rejected with disdain as foolish Impossibilities And in every Age since even in the pale of the Church there are some secret Infidels that esteem the Gospel a Fable and some who peremtorily deny the fundamental Articles of Christianity Those who are slaves to their eyes and appetites will raise Clouds to obscure that Truth that forbids their dear Lusts upon pain of Damnation The pretended difficulty of Belief is but a thin transparent pretence the difficulty of Practice is the true cause of their rejecting the Gospel They would not have the Precepts of it to be their duty and therfore are unwilling to acknowledg the Doctrines of it to be true And those who set up a Tribunal in their own Understandings to which Divine Revelation must submit will not believe what is above their presumptuous Reason But that the Soul exempt from passions and prejudice has no just temptation to disbeleive the Christian Doctrine is evident in that so many Persons in whom the concurrence of Wisdom and Vertue was equally flourishing and excellent after the most exact discussion imbrac'd it as the Heavenly Truth If there were falseness in its Principles or weakness in its Proof how could it scape their discovery And that they were sincere in their belief is above all doubt for they willingly sacrificed all that is valuable and dear in this life for the profession of it Now was it ever known that any person would knowingly choose an Errour so destructive The Will seduc'd by Sense imbraces sometimes that that is condemn'd by Reason but it never adheres to those things that are contrary both to Reason and Sense By this it appears that Infidelity has no just plea from the insufficiency of the proofs of the Christian Religion which have fully satisfied the wisest the most considerate and sincere part of Mankind A corrupt Heart is the spring and principle of the illusions of the mind in things that concern Salvation 2. The Gospel propounds to us the most proper and powerful motives of love to God In the visible World there is a Representation so conspicuous and full of his Divine Majesty Power Wisdom that form'd and regulates all things that 't is not possible but the attentive regarding of it will make impressions of reverence and fear will raise our esteem and admiration But those are dead sentiments without Love And that in the guilty Creature fearful of God's Wrath must be first excited by the hopes of his Pardoning Mercy Now the Love and Kindness of God our Saviour appear'd to Man in his Redemption in the most eminent manner Though in that blessed Work the Divine Perfections are relucent in various effects Wisdom design'd it Power accomplish'd it Holiness and Righteousness was gloriously declar'd in it yet as 't is applied to the benefit of Man 't is the sole effect of Wise Almighty Holy Tender Love Mercy soften'd God's Bowels open'd Heaven sent down his Son to be one with us in nature that he might exchange his Merits and Blessedness for our guilt and misery Miraculous Love to make his only begotten Son our Brother to humble him to the condition of a Servant that we most unworthy to be his Servants should be advanc'd to be his Children Nay to expose him to the death of a Malefactor equally ignominious and painful that we Malefactors might obtain Life and Glory If ever Love deserv'd the title of Excess 't is this for though not without Reason yet 't is without all bounds and measure 'T is so far above our thought that 't is hard to have a firm belief of it What the Psalmist speaks of the temporal Deliverance of the Church is more justly applicable to its Spiritual Eternal Deliverance When the Lord turned again the Captivity of Sion we were like to them that dream As if a poor man fancying in a dream that he is a King adorn'd with the Ensigns of Royalty and between hopes and fears should enquire of himself Am I awake and in my right mind Is this Scepter this Robe this Crown real Or is it all the pleasant deceit of Imagination And how can we reflect upon the amazing Grace of God that brings Salvation but such thoughts will arise Is it true that God did not spare his most innocent and dear Son to absolve us guilty Rebels Did he dye for his Father's Enemies and his own Unparallel'd Love only to be fully conceiv'd by an
infinite Understanding That the Divine Father should seem to love us more than his only begotten Son in giving him up to death for us that the Son of God should love us more than his own Life in dying to reconcile us to his Father were incredible but for the Testimony of God himself Who can resist the sweet Violence the powerful Attractives of this Love How can any person that has the use of Reason to consider this great Love not be inflam'd with affection towards his Saviour How is it possible that these wide extremes should be found united The infinite Goodness of God and the equal unthankfulness of Men that they hate and offend whom they are obliged by the dearest titles to love and serve Methinks such unnatural Ingratitude should only be found in Hell where despair of Redemption has blotted out in those lost Souls the memory of the Love and Merits of the Redeemer But that on Earth where his most precious Blood was shed and is applicable for the Salvation of all that will receive him by Faith and Love that here injuries are returned for his inestimable Benefits is the most enormous Impiety What shall we render unto him for our Evils which he hath suffered for his Benefits which he gives to us All that we can endure for his sake is not comparable to one Thorn of his bleeding Crown Let us return Love that is so infinitely due to him Wo to us if we do not love him Consider further that the same most free Love that gave the Redeemer for us has reveal'd him to us For who could have imagined that the Son of God should descend from his Throne in Heaven and from the Bosom of his Father into the Womb of a Virgin-Mother and become Man to save us by his Sufferings Who could have any hopes that the human nature our low and heavy earth should ascend above the Heavens The World by natural light knew no more of his coming to recover it from misery than it perceived when the same Word in the Creation rais'd it from the Abyss of Nothing This should make us most sensible of his favour But every one will pretend to love his Saviour Now that we may not deceive our selves with a flashy Affection the Rule of Tryal is plain Our love to him must correspond in its kind and quality with his love to us And that was declar'd in doing and suffering what was requisit for our Salvation The precious Tree does not heal the Sore by its fragrancy but must be wounded to give it Soveraign Balm Our Saviour did not only express in words his compassionate sense of our misery that alone had been sufficient but loved us and washt us from our Sins in his Blood After his Resurrection he shewed his pierced Hands and Side to the Disciples not only the real proofs that he was Jesus that suffered but of his Love They might see his Heart open and Hands rent for them And such a love is due to him That which is only productive of Leaves and Blosoms of affectionate words of our Saviour but unfruitful in the works of Holiness may deceive Men by a fair appearance but not his eye who judges of the truth and strength of our love to him by our keeping his Commandments In short as an active Heat proceeds by an emanation from the Fire so a chearful Readiness and Zeal to do the Will of Christ naturally flows from Love consecrated to him But to enforce this the more let us further consider 3. We are obliged by all the titles of Gratitude and Justice of natural Divine Reason to walk as becomes the Gospel of Christ. First The dignity of the Author requires this of us The Son of God came down from Heaven and if the Allusion may be allowed circum caput omne micantes Deposuit radios propiusque accedere jussit laid down his Glory that he might familiarly teach us our Duty in order to our happiness And if the Word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation which as the first began to be spoken by the Lord Secondly The perfection and plainness of this Rule 'T is a wise observation That those Laws are best for Government that are so clear and particular that nothing is left to the will of the inferiour Judg who is not usually so capable and pure from by-respects as the Lawgiver The Gospel is a Light wherein all Vertues shine in their bright eminence and all Vices blush in their odious deformity It excludes all obscurity that the meanest understandings may see the way to happiness There can be no palliations and excuses for those who will rather argue than obey For the revelation of God's Will is so full and open in it that 't is direct Rebellion not to yeeld entire subjection to it And they who know their Masters Will and do it not shall be beaten with many stripes Thirdly To commend it to our practice we have an Example of perfect obedience set before us If Jesus Christ had represented in the World no other person but of the Word and Wisdom of his Father as a Master to regulate and guide us by his Commands had revealed to us the Secrets of another World and then ascended to Heaven the highest Reverence and Observance had been due to his Laws But to â—â—â—â—urage and edge our industry he was pleased to exhibit in his Life a Patern of universal Obedience He gave us Rules of such perfect Holiness that there seemed no necessity of his practice for our instruction And the living image of his Laws was so visible in his Actions that his sole Example affords us a Model of entire Sanctity There is no kind of Vertue from the lowest to the most Heroick of which he might not say as he did to his Disciples in his last Supper I have given you an Example that ye should do as I have done to you And what should be more powerful in the breasts of Christians than a sacred Ambition to be like the Son of God than a dear Affection to be conform'd to their Saviour Fourthly To excite us to our Duty the Gospel offers such a Reward to encourage Obedience and threateneth such prepar'd Plagues against Disobedience that unless a Man be miraculously transform'd into a stupid Beast he cannot but be moved by them Now what darkness of mind or rather what perversness of heart is it if the great Interest of the one and the other Eternity the Blessed and the Miserable be not sufficient to work upon us But alas how many who pretend to be the Disciples of Christ do not obey him as their Master love him as their Redeemer nor fear him as their Judge They live as if Christ had commanded them to please not to crucify the flesh and the lusts thereof as if he had bid them