the power and evil effects of our sins I grant indeed he was mean and very poor And what then Was not the Jewish Law-giver Moses so also Was he not exposed to the waters forced to fly his Country and tend upon a flock in a foreign Country Was not Jacob the Father of the Jewish tribes a poor Syrian ready to perish had he any thing more than his staff when he went to Padan Aram Was not David from whom the Messias was to descend a keeper of his Father's Sheep If Jesus suffered and were put to death what then Have not these been the lot and portion of the most righteous men in the world Was not righteous Abel killed when wicked Cain lived and built a City Is it any blot upon the memory of David that he was persecuted of Zechariah that he was stoned of Isaiah that he was sawn in sunder Are the holy men and Prophets of old to be rejected because they suffered reproaches or were put to death Why should Jesus then be rejected because he was put to death This does not speak him an evil man The Jews very well know what the Psalmist says of the sufferings of God's own people Psal 79.1 2 3 4. O God the Heathen are come into thine inheritance thy holy Temple have they defiled they have laid Jerusalem on heaps The dead bodies of thy Servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the Heaven the flesh of thy Saints unto the beasts of the earth Their bloud have they shed like water round about Jerusalem and there was none to bury them We are become a reproach to our neighbours a scorn and derision to them that are round about us These were indeed severe sufferings and upon whom did they light The Text informs us that they fell upon God's inheritance upon his servants and Saints And what ever reproach this were to the Heathen who inflicted these sufferings it is none at all to the Sufferers themselves In a word very excellent men among the Jews and the best among the Heathens were poor and suffered the greatest evils and no wife man ever thought the worse of these Sufferers and it is therefore very unjust to reject Jesus merely upon that account I add Secondly that it was foretold by God himself that the Messias should suffer I shall not give in all the particulars which make for this purpose That of Isaiah Chap. 53. is most clear and remarkable to my present purpose In that Chapter the sufferings or the Messias are graphically described And there never was any people or person to whom all those particulars recited in that Chapter could belong but to our blessed Saviour who is the Messias there foretold The Jews I mean the more ancient among them understood that place of the Messias and whereas among the later Jews we shall find some Interpret them to another sense whether of the people of Israel Josiah L'Empereur refutat Abravenel Comment in Isa c. 53. or some other person yet it is manifest and hath been made so that the words must be understood of the Messias and were never fulfilled by any people or any other person whatsoever To whom else can those words belong but to the Messias and in whom were they ever fulfilled but in our Jesus onely where it is said He is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs For never was there a sorrow like that of our Jesus Where shall we find a person to whom the following words can belong He hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed All we like Sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all And as these sufferings could be the sufferings of none but of the Messias onely so the patient bearing them must belong to him too and was remarkably accomplished in our Jesus He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth He is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a Sheep before her Shearers is dumb so he openeth not his mouth I may afterward have occasion to shew how remarkably the following words also were fulfilled in our Jesus as they were foretold of the Messias where 't is said that he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death In the first promise of the Messias it was intimated that he should suffer it being predicted that the Serpent's seed should bruise the heel of the seed of the Woman Gen. 3.15 I might to this purpose shew at large from the Old Testament that the Messias was to suffer Those persons who were the most Eminent Types of him were very great sufferers And though all the sacrifices were slain yet those sacrifices which did typifie his death most eminently were most intirely consumed by the fire and as their bloud was carried into the holy place so their body was burnt without the camp as our Saviour himself suffered without the gate If we look into the Psalms and Prophets we shall find frequent predictions of the sufferings of Christ Thirdly this is so plain a truth Abkath Rochelim l. 1. and so undeniable even by the Jews themselves that the later of them have devised a suffering Messias the Son of Joseph of the tribe of Ephraim And now they speak of a twofold Messias one the Son of Joseph to suffer death if need be another the Son of David to save and to deliver them This indeed is a vain conceit 't is groundless and 't is novel It hath no foundation in the Holy Scriptures nor in their most ancient and genuine Writers 'T is destitute of all reason and all fair pretence And we may by the same pretence That the Messias was to suffer Trypho does acknowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trypho in Just Marr. aswell set up a great many as two But as vain a conceit as 't is it will serve our turn against the Jews For they betake themselves to this refuge because they cannot deny that the Messias was to suffer And though it serve to no other purpose yet it serves to this that we have gained the point we contend for against themselves viz. that the Messias was to suffer and that therefore our Jesus ought not to be rejected upon that account That our Jesus did suffer This is confessed on all hands The Jews deny it not but mention him frequently with scorn upon this account I should be very vain if I should be operose under this head He must be very ignorant who hath not heard of the sufferings of Jesus His whole life aswell as his latter end was almost a perpetual suffering He was born in a stable and he died upon a Cross He suffered from his first
are also said to be the figures of the true that is of Heaven it self as it follows in the next words And we shall find in this Epistle to the Hebrews many things to this purpose by which we may learn that the Legal services and Sanctuary were shadows of good things to come and particularly that the most holy place in the Sanctuary was a type of the highest Heavens Heb. 9.7 8 9. But unto the second i.e. the most holy place which was within the veil and beyond the first Sanctuary through which the High Priest entred in his passage to it went the High Priest alone once every year the Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest whiles as the first Tabernacle was yet standing which was a figure for the time present Again Heb. 10.1 the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things can never with those sacrifices which they offer year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect Again he calls those things the patterns of things in the Heavens Heb. 9.23 ch 6.20 Conformably hereunto he tells us that Jesus is entred within the veil that is into Heaven represented by the most holy place The type or sign being frequently put for the anti-type He elsewhere speaks of a liberty gained for us to enter into the holiest by the bloud of Jesus Heb. 10.19 i. e. to enter into Heaven It is to be considered that this Epistle was written to the Hebrews and does very much refer to the customs and usages of that people and is not throughly to be understood without some knowledge of those matters When the Authour of it affirms that the Sanctuary was a symbolical representation of something else and that the Holy of Holies was a figure of Heaven into which Christ our high Priest is entred he speaks the sense of the Hebrew Nation And that so it is I shall prove not onely from the later Jewish Writers but from the most ancient of them also Abravenel tells us out of the Bereshith Rabba Abravenel in legem â— 190. c. 4. that the Shittim wood in the Tabernacle answered to the Seraphim above and that as there are Stars above so there were Stars in the Tabernacle And the same Authour adds that he that searcheth will find that all that was made in the Tabernacle was after the similitude of natural things The Tabernacle says he whose length was thirty cubits was divided into three parts The two first exteriour parts were allowed for the Priests to enter into and these do signifie the Sea and the dry Land which men have the liberty to converse upon But says he the third part or Holy of Holies signifies the Heavens which the foot of man does not enter into See Abravenel in his Preface to Joshua for the Heavens are the Lord 's Another of their late Authours tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 R. Bechai in Leg. f. 108. c. 2. that the Tabernacle was a Specimen or representation of the Creation of the Vniverse And that the three parts of the Sactuary answer to the three worlds The world of Angels represented by the Holy of Holies the heavenly Orbs by that part where the Shew-bread and Candlestick were and the lower world by the Court And that open Court seems a very fit representation of this lower world as containing in it earth and air without a covering and sire and water also in the Laver or Sea and upon the Altar which stood in the Court which are the Elements of this lower world The same Authour tells us that in the building of the Sanctuary there were correspondences to the building of the world f. 127. c. 4. And he cites a Midrash to thâ—s purpose wherein they are said to answer each other viz. with reference to the Creation it is said he stretcheth out the Heavens like a Curtain Isa 40.22 with reference to the Tabernacle it was commanded that they should make Curtains Exod. 26. with respect to the Creation it is said let the waters be gathered together Gen. 1.9 with reference to the Tabernacle was commanded the making a Laver or Sea of brass Exod. 38.8 When the world was created it was said let there be lights Gen. 1.14 and when the Tabernacle was to be built it is said thou shalt make a Candlestick of pure Gold Exod. 25.31 In the creation of the world there is mention of Fowl that was to fly Gen. 1.20 in the Tabernacle were Cherubims that stretched forth their Wings on high Exod. 25.20 In the story of the Creation it is written God created man Gen. 1.27 In that of the Tabernacle it is said Take thou unto thee Aaron thy Brother Exod. 28.1 In the creation of the world it is said The Heavens and the Earth were finished Gen. 2.1 In reference to the Tabernacle it is said Thus was all the work of the Tabernacle of the tent of the Congregation finished Exod. 39.32 Several other correspondences he mentions which I omit he adds that the Tabernacle below was a figure of the Tabernacle above 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodor. in Exod. Quaest 60. v. Quaest 72. De Vita Mosis l. 3. No wonder then that a Christian writer should call the Tabernacle the image of the creation when the Jews themselves affirm the same Philo the Jew tells us that it was needfull that they which built the Sanctuary should make use of the same materials which go to the making up of the Universe and he discourses at large of the symbolical representation of the Universe in the several parts of the Tabernacle and he tells us very expresly that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Holy of Holies were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. They were Spiritually or typically to be understood Josephus the Jew lived in the Apostles times Joseph Antiqu. l. 3. c. 8. and was a Priest and a learned man in the Jewish affairs He gives us a particular account of the structure of the Tabernacle and adds that if any man consider the structure of the Tabernacle the vestments of the Priests and the utensils which they used in their Legal service he will conclude that their Law-giver was a divine person For all these things saith he were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. They were resemblances of the Vniverse He adds that for two parts of the Tabernacle they were left common to all the Priests and these saith he represent the earth and the sea which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 left at common for all men But then the third part is assigned to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because men may not enter that holy place where God dwells Where he makes the Holy of Holies a figure of Heaven it self as the divine Authour of the Epistle to the Hebrews doth To what hath been said I shall add the words of Solomon as
judge another man as we would escape a severer Judgment our selves It forbids us to be busie-bodies or to intermeddle in other mens matters And is so far from allowing the tongue in lying or swearing that it may not be suffered in an idle word or an unbecoming jest It tells us we must be blameless and harmless and then if it be possible and as much as lieth in us we must live peaceably with all men Unto all this we may add that it will not allow any other Religion The Heathen world must abandon their Idols if they receive the Gospel of Christ They must forsake that Idolatry under which their Fathers prospered long and they were brought up in Diana of the Ephesians must be no longer adored and all her Priests and Silversmiths must be laid aside All Idols must be removed where Christ comes and all the ancient ceremonies and solemnities with which they were worshipped must for ever be disused That which was but now worshipped and had been so of old time must be cast to the moles and to the batts But who shall perswade and obtain this None can do it without the help of that God who made Heaven and earth For here is all the power and malice and cunning of men and Devils to be encountred with The Devil had gotten an old and long possession the Heathen world is strong and mighty cunning and prejudicate of a vast extent and a mighty force Who shall perswade the Greeks to leave off their Robberies and to live righteously Or the warlike Romans to put up their swords and revenge no injuries Who shall obtain of the world to throw away their Idols and receive a Crucified Christ Who can ever hope that those nations that grew to their greatness by bloud and violence should ever learn the way of peace and destroy no more Will they that boasted in doing injuries be taught to bear them Or they that were wont to kill without remorse be afraid of being angry without a cause Will they that were adulterers become afraid of an unchast thought or glance Will the wise and conceited Orators become fools that they may be wise who can expect that they that had as many Gods as territories and provinces should be perswaded to have but one Or that those men that were indulged their lusts by the example of their Gods or the permission of their laws should ever accept of a Religion that is so severe that it requires them all to be rooted out Certainly this will be too great a work for a few Galilileans to bring to pass They might as soon hope to remove mountains and shake all the pillars of the earth yet was this brought to pass and that by the foolishness of preaching also the fierce warriour becomes tame the persecutor becomes a preacher the nations that served many Idols now onely acknowledge the one true God and whom he hath sent Jesus Christ Now this could never have been done had not God almighty done it nor would he ever have done it had not Jesus been the Christ But it will be the more strange still that this doctrine should prevail if we do but duly consider 3. The Praemia the rewards or the promises of the Gospel to those that should receive it and obey it We shall find them such as were very unlikely to prevail with a wicked and unbeleiving world It promises them no prosperity in this world nor yet any sensual delights in that which is to come as the Religion of Mahomet does And yet these were the things which the Heathen world most admired who always lived by sense and not by saith It promises them no Kingdoms or Consulships no Victories or triumphs no wealth or honours nor yet the pleasures of Wine or Women in a word it is so far from offering to them these things that it teaches them aye and obliges them also to despise all these things to undervalue them to be dead to all these allurements and to mortifie and root out of their Souls all those irregular desires which transport them after any of these things The Gospel promises good things indeed but they are spiritual and so very unlike to obtain upon Carnal men They are good things but they are unseen and so not likely to prevail upon those that live by sense they are good indeed but yet they are removed and at a distance and who could expect the world should deny themselves of their present enjoyments out of the hopes of these spiritual and unseen reversions Who shall perswade the rich to abandon their wealth for the hopes of the Kingdom of Heaven Or who can prevail with the voluptuous to renounce their sensual pleasures out of the hopes of those joyes that are at God's right hand What Rhetorick shall perswade the ambitious man to prefer a future glory before the honours he derives from his Prince or acquires by his valour We find this a very hard matter now when these men profess the Gospel but how much harder must it needs be then when the Gospel was a stranger to the world when it had scarcely any friends and very many and great opposers What is there offered in the Gospel that could tempt an unbelieving world Had it offered riches there might well have been a crowd of covetous worldlings ready to embrace it Had it offered sensual pleasures it would have been welcome to the whole herd of Epicures could it have secured its professors of worldly honours nothing should have been more acceptable to all that were ambitious But here is none of those things to be had but it tells us of things to come and we must have faith to believe them as well as patience to wait for them Now then certainly this Religion which offered no other rewards could never have prevailed upon the world as we know it did had it not been from God and had not Jesus whom we preach been the Christ But this will be the more unlikely still that the Gospel should prevail if we consider 4. The Pericula the dangers and afflictions and many miseries that the embracing the Gospel would expose them to that should entertain it This rises higher and makes the success of the Gospel more improbable than before We saw before that it promises no worldly happiness but now we shall find that it exposes its professors to many miseries and afflictions and tells them sad stories of disgrace and contempt bonds and imprisonment and perhaps death it self It foretells that they which do live Godly shall suffer persecution and that we must through many tribulations enter into the Kingdom of Heaven What I named last brought no temptation to draw the world to this profession but this one would think should bring discouragement enough to affright them from it Instead of promising ease and pleasures it rather brings with it great afflictions and tribulations Jesus tells his Disciples what they must expect The time cometh that whosoever
express promise of eternal life in the law of Moses Temporal blessings were promised to the obedient but they had no assurances given them of a glorious immortality The way to this our Lord hath revealed plainly 2. He procured this for us also he bought it with no less price than his pretious bloud And now we stand reconciled to God by the death of his Son and then we may justly expect to be saved by his life Rom. 5.10 3. He confers this Salvation upon us He is set down at God's right hand and hath received all power in Heaven and Earth God hath exalted him with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of Sins Act. 5.31 We receive from him the power of his grace here and justly expect from him the glorifying of our souls and bodies hereafter And it will well be worth our while to enter into a meditation of this Salvation and deliverance which our Lord hath wrought for us And to that purpose let us compare it with those deliverances which were wrought of old for the people of the Jews For those deliverances may well be called Salvations and those men that were the instruments of them may be called Saviours for so they are called in the Holy Scripture 2 King 13.5 Nehem. 9.27 with the LXXII Judg. 3.9.15 Among those Saviours there was one who was not onely an eminent type of our blessed Saviour but who had the same name that was given our Saviour at his Circumcision And that was Joshua the Son of Nun For Joshua and Jesus are the same name and Joshua is called Jesus Heb. 4.8 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neh. 8.17 'T is true indeed his name was Hoshea and so he is called but upon his being chosen to spy out or search the Land of Canaan Moses changed his name from Hoshea to Joshua Num. 23.16 i. e. he made an honourable alteration of his name as Philo observes when he added to the name he had the first letter of the Tetragrammation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo Judae de mutat Nominum And he made this addition to his name by putting to it the first letter of the name of God when he sent him to search the Land of Canaan so that for the future he is a Saviour and by God's appointment was set apart to introduce the Israelites into the Land of Promise Moses the Lawgiver did not bring the Israelites into the promised Land This was left for Joshua to doe Now that Land was a type of heaven And Joshua of our Jesus And what the Law did not that the Gospel does It hath brought life and immortality to light And though Moses who brought the Israelites out of Egypt and Joshua who introduced them into the good Land and others who afterward fought their battels were great deliverers of their people yet all these deliverances put together come greatly short of that which our Lord hath wrought For these deliverances were but temporal our Saviour's is eternal Those Worthies fell asleep and then the Israelites fell under the malice and power of their enemies and ill neighbours then were they liable to the impressions of their enemies who did inslave their people and sack their City and burn their Temple and carry them away to a strange Land Their enemies were not dismayed with the great names of Moses and Joshua Gideon and Sampson These great men were dead and could yield no succours to the oppressed Israelites And what ever terrours these men impressed upon their enemies while they lived their names will strike none now The Chaldeans are not over-awed by the rod of Moses or the strength of Sampson these deliverers can afford no relief or help 't is otherwise with us Our Lord is the Authour of Eternal Salvation Heb. 5.9 And hath obtained an Eternal Redemption for us Heb. 9.12 Those Saviours died and left their enemies behind them But Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us Heb. 7.25 Our Lord arose from the dead and is gone before us into Heaven and is there concerned on our behalf And this is unspeakably to our comfort and advantage Old Jacob in his last words to his Sons tells them what shall befall them in the last days Of Dan he foretells that he shall be a Serpent in the way an Adder in the path that biteth the Horse heels so that his Rider shall fall backward Gen. 49.17 These words seem to refer to Sampson who delivered his people from the Philistines But then 't is worth our observing what follows where the good man's Soul sallies out into another and greater contemplation I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord V. Targum Hierosol Jonath in locum v. 18. That is as the Jews expound it as if he had said I do not expect the deliverance of Gideon and Sampson which will be but a temporal deliverance but thy Salvation O Lord is that which I expect for thine is an eternal Salvation These words seem to refer to the salvation of the Messias and do very well deserve to be considered farther V. Hieronym adversus Jovinianum l. 1. 'T is agreed that in the foregoing words Jacob speaks of Sampson He was a Nazarite and a great deliverer of his people And besides what he did for his people in their life-time he destroyed their enemies at his death In several respects we may suppose him a type of our blessed Saviour And we may very well suppose him so to be even as he is considered here as a Serpent by the way Phil. Jud. de Agricultura For Philo the Jew hath directed us to understand that expression of a Serpent not with reference to the Serpent which beguiled Eve or Voluptuousness but with respect to the Brazen Serpent of Moses a symbol of Temperance and Fortitude and as I shall shew afterwards a very remarkable type of the Messias And Jacob looks farther than Sampson he looks off from that Nazarite to our Nazaren from that temporal deliverer to our Jesus who is the Author of eternal Salvation I shall give you the sense of these words in the words of one of the Ancients who brings in Jacob speaking thus Hieronym Quaest Hebr. in Genes Nunc videns in Spiritu comam c. i. e. I foreseeing in the Spirit Sampson the Nazarite nourishing his hair and triumphing over his slaughtered enemies that like a Serpent and Adder in the way he suffered none to pass through the land of Israel and if any were so hardy confiding in the swiftness of an Horse as to adventure like a Robber to spoil it he should not be able to escape I foreseeing this Nazarite so valiant and that he dyed for the sake of an Harlot and dying destroyed our enemies I thought O God that he was the Christ thy son But because he dyed and rose not again and Israel was afterward carried away captive I must expect
mentioned before out of Josephus Joseph de Bello Judaic l. 7. c. 12. who tells us of a Prophecy that at that time one of their own Countrey should have dominion over the world And this expectation of the Jews did excite them to War with the Romans as both Josephus and Suetonius observe Cornel. Tacit. Histor l. 5. Another Roman Historian gives us the same account of this great expectation of some extraordinary person that should about this time arise out of Judaea Pluribus persuasio inerat says he antiquis sacerdotum literis contineri eo ipso tempore fore ut valesceret oriens profectique Judaeâ rerum potirentur These testimonies do sufficiently prove what I bring them for that there was a general expectation of some more than ordinary person to arise from the Jewish people at that time And upon the whole it seems very plain that the ground of this expectation was to be fetched from the predictions in the old Testament concerning the time when the Messiah was to be born These Prophecies were so plain that they raised in the Jews a general expectation of their Messias at that time and they did withall signifie the hope they had of his appearance and hence the fame of that expectation was spread abroad in the Gentile world We see that the birth of our Jesus agrees very well with what was predicted of the Messias I shall therefore now proceed to some other particulars But before I do that I cannot but take notice how the Jews shuffle when they are urged with the Scriptures above mentioned which predicted the coming of the Messias From the words of Jacob Gen. 49.10 it is evident that the Messias was to come while the Jews were a people and before they were dispersed Their ancient Doctours expound those words of the Messias with one consent The time is elapsed and for sixteen hundred years they have been driven out of their own land and many of their laws being annexed to that land been forced to live where they could not put in practice the laws of Moses Menasseh Ben Israel Conciliator pa. 88. And now they have found out arts and tricks to elude the force of that place which their ancient writers understood of the Messias which are so vain and weak that I will not reckon them up but refer the Reader to one of their late Writers on this argument It is infinitely plain that the Messias was to come during the second Temple according to Haggai and Malachy It is certain that the glory of that latter House was to be greater than that of the former And there can be no other account given how this could be but that it should be from the presence of the Messias who was to appear in this Temple For otherwise this Temple came short of Solomon's and they who knew Solomon's wept when they saw the foundation of this Ezra 3.3 12. Nay the Jewish writers tell us and fansie that they learn it from the defect of the letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the text of Haggai R. Kimchi R. Solom in Hag. 1.8 R. Bechai in legem f. 59. Col. 4. chap. 1. ver 8. that there were five things in Solomon's Temple which were wanting in this second Temple viz. the Ark the Vrim and Thummim the Fire from Heaven the Shechinah and the Holy Ghost These things lessen the glory of this second House which yet as is foretold should be greater than that of Solomon's And what do the Jews say to all this They answer that the second Temple stood longer than the first Kimchi R. Solom in Haggai 2. Lipmanni Nizachon pag. 141. and so in respect of its duration it was more glorious than the first For whereas the first Temple stood but 410 the second continued 420 years As if the standing ten years longer were a thing in it self of so great moment and so great a comfort to those who saw its foundation Does God say that he will shake the Heaven and Earth and all Nations and fill this House with glory and send the desire of all Nations and is this all that he means that this House shall continue ten years longer than that of Solomon's Supposing the account to be true that it stood ten years longer than that of Solomon's yet does not this infer the glory which is here promised Is this all that is meant by those words I will fill this house with glory The Tabernacle of Moses according to the account of Maimon continued longer than 410 years Maimon Beth Habbechirah cap. 1. and was it therefore more glorious than Solomon's Temple At other times they tell you that the second Temple was beautified by Herod and enriched by other Kings of the earth As if God who values not silver and gold did magnifie here the magnificence of an Idumaean and the munificence of some Heathen Princes or as if this could afford the Jews any great comfort who under this second Temple met with severe afflictions from the Greeks and Romans Credat Judaeus apella I once met with a Jew who seemed to be a person of considerable rank Discoursing with him about Religion I pressed him with the words in Haggai chap. 2. v. 9. and shewed him the vanity of those evasions which their Writers had found out I found him as vain as any of them when he insisted upon this that the House spoken of in Haggai was meant of a third House yet to be built For that is meant said he by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. the latter house in the Prophet Whereas it is evident that the words are to be understood of that second house built on their return from the Captivity as appears from v. 3. and 't is called This latter House 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 9. which the Jew concealed The time of the coming of the Messias is so punctually set down in Daniel and so clearly revealed in other Scriptures that the Jews themselves are in great confusion when they are put upon this argument of computing the time when the Messias was to come into the world And as a clear proof of this Maimor H. Melechim c. 12. Maimon in that Book where he treats of the Messias lays down this rule which tends greatly to keep the Jews in their most astonishing unbelief that no man ought to compute the time of the coming of the Messias and to this purpose he cites a known saying of their wise men viz. Let them who compute times be extinguished or perish CHAP. IV. The CONTENTS That the Messias was to be a Prophet Deut. 18. v. 18. considered That our Jesus was a Prophet like unto Moses shewed in sundry particulars That the Messias was to converse much in Galilee according to the prediction Isa 9.1 2 3. That place more particularly considered That our Jesus did so Several other Characters of the Messias belonged to Jesus That the Messias as
and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour Eph. 5.2 2. The death of Christ is to be considered as the death of a Testator for so is Christ to be considered also He himself calls his bloud the bloud of the New Testament or the New Testament in his bloud I very well know that the Greek word which we render Testament does signifie Covenant but yet it does not always do so in the New Testament For sometimes it signifies the last Will or Testament of a Testator And when it does so it does not exclude the notion of a Covenant neither but rather imply it For the right we have to the inheritance is one part of the Covenant but then the declaration of that right is peculiarly and properly the part of a Testament which signifies the last will of a man by which he disposeth of his goods Matt. 26.28 Mark 14.24 Luk. 22.20 Our Blessed Saviour is said to be the heir of all things And we are elsewhere told that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand And we are farther informed upon what account it is that the Father loveth the Son and consequently hath given all things into his hands in these words of our Saviour Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life From whence it is Evident that upon the account of the voluntary death of Christ this full power and authority is given to Christ as the great Mediator between God and man Christ was in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God But made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Heb. 1.2 Joh. 3.35 10 17. Phil. 2.6 Thus low did the Son of God stoop for our Salvation from being equal with God to the likeness of men and from the form of God to that of a servant from life to death from glory to shame and contempt If you would know the effects of all this the next words will inform us Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father Our Blessed Saviour a little before his death bequeaths a Kingdom to his followers as a Testator in these words and I appoint unto you a Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as my Father hath appointed unto me Luk. 22.29 But then by his death he procured our right to this glorious inheritance For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator For a Testament is of force after men are dead otherwise it is of no strength at all whilst the Testator liveth 'T is the death of the Testator that makes way to the Heir He hath no claim till the Testator dye But upon his death his title is unquestionable and it is not in any man's power to alter what is thus setled and confirmed Though it be but a man's Testament yet if it be confirmed no man disanulleth or addeth thereto Heb. 9.16 17. Gal. 3.15 Our Lord suffered the most shamefull and painfull death He did this voluntarily and not by Constraint He dyed not intestate nor yet like other Testators who when they have made their Testaments do avoid death with all their care and skill and are not willing to part with their lives for the benefit of their Heirs or Successours 'T was otherwise with our Saviour I lay down my life says he no man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and have power to take it again Joh. 10.17 18. Now after Christ had suffered death and risen from the dead he tells his Followers of the plenitude of his power and authority All power is given unto me says he in heaven and in earth And a while after his own ascension into heaven he sends the Holy Ghost which is the earnest of our inheritance Mat. 28.18 Eph. 1.14 3. The death of Christ is to be considered as the death of a Martyr or a Witness Our Blessed Saviour had professed himself to be the light of the World the Messias whom the Scriptures had foretold and that he came from heaven and that he was the Christ the Son of the Blessed It is of great moment that these truths should be sufficiently confirmed to us Upon these things depends the whole Religion that he taught If these things be sufficiently proved we can make no doubt of the truth of any part of the Doctrine which Jesus taught Joh. 8.12 c. 5.39 6 40. Mark 14.61 62. Now it will appear that the death of Christ does mightily confirm these truths and that Jesus gave up himself to death for the same end and purpose When Pilate asked Jesus whether he were a King or not Jesus answered thou sayest that I am a King that is Jesus answered in the affirmative To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the World that I should bear witness unto the truth With respect to the undaunted courage of Jesus before Pilate St. Paul saith that before Pontius Pilate he witnessed a good confession Joh. 18.37 1 Tim. 6.13 'T was upon this account that Jesus was put to death He was accused indeed of something else that was charged upon him But the Testimony was weak and incoherent that with which he was born down was that he professed himself to be Christ a King Or as it is in St. John because he made himself the Son of God Our Saviour was silent when the false witnesses accused him But when the High Priest asked him if he were the Christ the Son of the Blessed and he answered I am c. We find thereupon the High Priest renting his Cloaths and saying what need we any farther witnesses ye have heard the blasphemy what think ye and they all condemned him to be worthy of death Luk. 23.2 Joh. 19.7 Mark 14.61 Our Saviour dyed for his adhering to this great truth and that he did so must be acknowledged a great confirmation of it and of the Religion which he planted Life is too sweet a thing to be trifled away for nothing Much less will a man in his wits dye in confirmation of a lye Had Jesus been disposed he might have kept out of the way of his enemies or have saved himself by denying the truth He had now a great temptation before him either to renounce what he had professed or by some trick or mean art or other to escape the danger But he is far from taking any such course to deliver himself but instead thereof confirms
the truth with his own Bloud He was so far from disowning himself to be the Son of God that he continues in that profession to the last breath And when he hung upon the Cross he twice calls God his father when he prayed for his enemies and gave up the Ghost This did mightily confirm his Doctrine and was one great end of his sufferings Luk. 23.34.46 Hence it is that the bloud or the sufferings of Christ especially his death is reckoned among those who bear witness in earth And Jesus Christ is called the faithfull witness And we are then said to be partakers of Christ when we hold the beginning of our Confidence stedâ—ast unto the end 1. Joh. 5.8 Rev. 1.5 The bloud of Christ did not onely wash away our sins but did also clear the innocency of our Blessed Saviour And it was attended with so many rare circumstances and fulfilled so many prophecies and was born with such an admirable patience that it did convince men of the innocence of Jesus and consequently of the truth of his Doctrine The veil of the Temple was rent the earth did quake the rocks clave in sunder and graves were opened and the Sun drew in its light insomuch that the Centurion that beheld these things could not forbear to say Truly this was the Son of God Mat. 27.54 And no wonder after all this that those who renounced Christianity are said to count the bloud of the Covenant i. e. the bloud by which the new Covenant was ratified and confirmed wherewith he was sanctified that is Christ was consecrated or sanctified see Joh. 17.19 an unholy thing i. e. the bloud not of an innocent person but of a Criminal Heb. 10.29 Having considered the death of Christ as the death of a Victim or Sacrifice of a Testatour and of a Martyr or Witness 4. I shall now consider it as a Pattern and great example to us And thus the Scriptures represent it He suffered for us leâ—ving us an example that we should follow his steps Our Saviour gave us an example that we should follow his steps 1. Pet. 2.20 Our Saviour gave us a most excellent example in his whole life But then at his death he gave us also a very eminent example of the following vertues and graces 1. Of Patience and meekness under all his sufferings and reproaches And his example was without a parallel Never was there so great a mirrour of these graces He did no sin neither was there guile sound in his mouth Who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously In this Jesus was so conspicuous that when we are exhorted to Patience we are directed to look upon him the authour and finisher of our faith And it will be a very usefull meditation for us under all our sufferings and all the reproaches which we meet withall He was guilty of no sin but yet was numbred among transgressours He had but few followers and by one of them he is Letrayed denied by another and in his greatest extremity forsaken by all the rest He is pronounced innocent and yet sentenced to death by the same breath absolved and condemned by one and the same Judge He is forced to bear his own Cross reviled and buffeted derided and scoffed at by an inhumane multitude whom he came to save and whom he had obliged by the greatest benefactions He was innocent and deserved not this usage Omnipotent and able to revenge it But instead of that he does not so much as threaten those whom he could easily have destroyed He bears all with an unparallelled meekness and patience and made it appear that these vertues were as invincible as his cause was just He is silent under the greatest clamours of his Enemies His persecutours have less patience than he that suffers And when the whole creation trembles when the Sun withdraws its light and the rocks rend in pieces and the graves give up their dead and the Veil of the Temple is torn in pieces then is Jesus quiet and still This example does most powerfully reprove our peevishness and discontent our anger and our heat under the obloquy and other sufferings which we endure and generally have deserved 1 Pet. 2.22 23. Heb. 12.1 2. II. Of forgiveness of Enemies They were our Lord's enemies to whom he was the greatest friend And of all Enemies 't is the hardest to forgive them He that did eat of his bread lift up his heel against him His own Disciple betrays him and his own People thirst after his bloud and his wounds he receives from those whom he came to seek and save A robber is preferred before him and he is numbred with transgressours He had fed their hungry healed their sick dispossessed their Daemoniacks restored sight to their blind given strength to their infirm life to their dead Many good turns he had done them and yet they treat him rudely and barbarously they cry to have him Crucified and insult over him in his sufferings what doth our Lord do all this while does he call for Fire from Heaven to devour his enemies Does he menace them with an approaching destruction Does he exclaim against their proceedings No he opens not his mouth unless it be to pray for these his Enemies Father forgive them c. can we remember these things and bear a grudge against our Brother Can it now be hard for us to forgive our enemies when Christ with his last breath prayed for his Christ forgave and he died for our forgiveness and is it now a possible thing for us not to forgive even then when we commemorate the death of Christ Let all bitterness and wrath and aâ—ger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice And be ye kind one to another tender hearted forgiving one another Even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Luk. 23.34 Eph. 4.31 32. III. Of the profoundest humility and condescension The world never beheld a pattern of this grace which could compare with this of our Blessed Saviour's He stooped from Heaven to earth when he was born From the immensity and happiness the power and infinity of a God to the limits of a womb the miseries of a man the proportions and infirmities of a Child the weaknesses of a Mortal and the humble circumstances of a poor and mean condition If we look upon Jesus in the manger we shall see a glorious example of humility But if we turn our eyes upon him as he hung upon the Cross we shall see an example great enough to extinguish out of our minds every proud thought for ever Here we may see him who was found in the fashion of a man humbling himself lower still as he was obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Philip. 2.8 Methinks after this we should never be in danger of a proud thought of our selves we cannot sure after this example think any
as Kings and Priests are for their people whom they govern or for whom they intercede 1 King 2.19 Matt. 26.64 Heb. 1.3.8.1 Ro. 8 34. For the Typical representations of this great truth I doubt not but I might find many However I shall take notice but of one but that a most eminent and illustrious one and that which the divine Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews takes a more particular notice of viz. The going of the High Priest into the Holy of Holies on the day of expiation to make an atonement with bloud which was shed without for the sins of the people Lev. 16.2 This was an exact type of our Saviour's entring into Heaven and his being concerned there on our behalf Heb. 9.11 12. Christ beiâ—g come an High Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this building Neither by the bloud of Bulls and Calves but by his own bloud he entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us But of this I shall have occasion to speak at large afterward I shall shew that our Jesus did ascend into Heaven and that he is there concerned in behalf of his people In speaking to which I shall not enlarge at present because afterward I shall have occasion farther to confirm this truth from arguments in their own nature the most powerfull and unexceptionable By Heaven is meant the highest heaven and it is very reasonable to suppose so because the Holy of Holies into which the High Priest onely entred was the type and shadow of the Heaven into which the Messias was to enter And as the most holy place in the Sanctuary was of all others whatsoever whether in the Sanctuary or elsewhere the most separate and holy place so it is but reasonable to suppose that when Christ ascended into Heaven he did not take up in any of the lower parts of Heaven but was exalted to the highest of them all The Sanctuary was divided into three parts The Courts the holy place and the most holy each of these are frequently called the Sanctuary or the Temple though the third of these were the most holy place And so the Air and the place of Planets and Stars are called Heaven and yet there is a third or higher Heaven into which St. Paul was caught up and into which our Lord entred Our Saviour is said to be received up into glory i. e. into the highest Heavens the Anti-type of that holy place where God did more especially presentiate himself and where the Ark stood the symbol of his presence and which was called the Glory Jesus is elsewhere said to have passed through the Heavens and to be made higher than the Heavens and to have ascended up far above all Heavens and to be entred into that within the veil And as he humbled himself greatly so God highly exalted him and set him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named 1 Tim. 3.16 1 Sam. 4.22 with Rom. 9.4 Heb. 4.14.9.5.7.26 Eph. 4.10 Heb. 6.19 Philip. 2.9 Eph. 1.20 21. That Jesus did ascend into Heaven is plainly taught Luk. 24.51 Act. 1.9 10. and there were eye-witnesses of it His Disciples stood by when he went up into Heaven They did not doe so when he rose from the dead Not that his Resurrection did not need attestation as much as his Ascension into Heaven His followers had need be assured of the truth of that and indeed they had the utmost assurance and did upon all occasions bear witness to it and were particularly the witnesses of his Resurrection But in order to their being so it was not needfull that they should be the eye-witnesses thereof as they were and indeed ought to be before they could be competent witnesses of it of his Ascension into Heaven It was enough to make them competent witnesses of his Resurrection that they saw him that was risen they need not see him rise For it being certain and granted so to be even by the Jews themselves that he died it was not needfull that they should see him rise from the dead it was enough if they saw him who died alive again But then he ascended in the view of his Disciples and 't was in this case needfull that there should be eye-witnesses and so it was that nothing might be wanting to the strengthning of our faith And as we are by eye-witnesses assured of the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven so those witnesses were unexceptionable also For besides that they knew his person and had of a long time conversed with him so they had done it a competent time after his Resurrection from the dead Act. 1.3 To them he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs beiâ—g seen of them forty days c. This was a sufficient time to give them abundant proof that it was the same body which was nailed on the Cross and was buried that was risen from the dead And this distance of forty days which were between his resurrection and ascension to heaven Act. 13.31 Luk. 2.21 22. with Levit. 12.2 4. is the very same space of time which did intervene between his birth of the Virgin and his being presented according to the Law of Moses in the Temple Our Saviour was twice born and twice presented He was born of the Virgin and raised out of the grave And he was twice presented too first at the Temple at Jerusalem and afterwards at the Temple above or Heaven And forty days after each birth he was presented After the first in the Temple below after the second in Heaven or the Temple above the Anti-type of that which was made with hands Just so many days did he continue upon earth after his Resurrection as Jonas who was a type of him allowed the Ninevites to repent in So exactly did he answer the type The Jews had the sign of the Prophet Jonas forty days though they repented not as the Ninevites did Again they were allowed a year for a day likewise from Christ's Resurrection to the destruction of Jerusalem Such was the Lenity of God so great his forbearance Their Forefathers wandred forty years in the Wilderness for their Rebellion God allowed the Jews the same time for repentance But this will be thought too great a digression But as Jesus is entred within the Veil so he is for us entred also as our high Priest and Patron with God And as his Ascension was not figurative and metaphorical but real so is his Priesthood He is now concerned for us there He ever lives to make intercession for those who come unto God by him Again who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us
I shall mention two which were great proofs of our Saviour's Ascension into Heaven and of his power there and his being concerned on the behalf of his Church The first is the miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost at the day of Pentecost Act. 2. Our Saviour had promised to his sorrowfull Disciples a Comforter who should abide with them for ever This he did before his death and the better to support them under the sorrow which his death would occasion Joh. 14.16 18. ch 15. v. 26. and ch 16. v. 7. He repeated this promise after his Resurrection Luk. 24.49 And before his Ascension he commands them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father which saith he ye have heard of me Act. 1.4 This promise he made good Act. 2. To the great amazement of the multitude which from several nations were come together to Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost The Holy Ghost which was then miraculously bestowed upon the Disciples of Jesus was his Advocate and pleaded his cause Our Saviour had foretold that he would bear witness of him And this the Holy Ghost did Joh. 15.26 1. As he testified that Jesus was a true Prophet when he promised this heavenly gift to his disciples and did thereby bear Testimony to his veracity and make it appear that he was not an impostor or cheat They were now convinced abundantly that Jesus had made his word good Joh. 16.7 10. And now there was no suspicion left of his being a false Prophet or deceiver 2. Of the power and autority which Jesus had He told his followers that all power was given him in Heaven and Earth Mat. 28.18 This he told them after his Resurrection and a little before his Ascension into Heaven He gave at the day of Pentecost an undeniable proof of it Jesus had said before his death to the elders and chief Priests and Scribes that asked him if he were the Christ Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God Luk. 22.69 The meaning of which words is plainly this that they should be convinced e'er long of his great power which he had in Heaven upon his exaltation to that place and at the day of Pentecost he gave a great demonstration of this power of his And St. Peter does conclude from it that he is the Christ This Jesus saith he hath God raised up whereof we are all witnesses Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear And presently afterward he concludes as he very justly might do Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have Crucified both Lord and Christ Act. 2. v. 32 33 36. Secondly another great effect following the exaltation of Jesus was the success of his Religion in the world which was a farther argument of the power of Jesus in Heaven and of his being concerned for his Church and an evident proof that this Jesus is the Christ But for the better speaking to this I shall shew First that according to the prophecies of old all nations were to serve the Messias Secondly that these prophecies have been in great measure fulfilled in our Jesus whose Religion did greatly spread over the world Thirdly that this success of the Religion of Jesus is an unexceptionable proof that Jesus is the Christ According to the prophecies of old all nations were to serve the Messias and consequently that the partition-wall between the Jew and Gentile should be thrown down Thus in those words of Jacob which the ancient Jews understand of the Messias it is said that unto him shall the gathering of the people be Gen. 49.10 That is the nations or Gentiles should obey and serve him No less is promised than this I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for a possession Ps 2.8 The Prophet Isaiah foretells also that it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the Hills and all nations shall flow unto it Isa 2.2 And again In that day there shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign of the people To it shall the Gentiles seek Isa 11.10 And again the same Prophet tells us The Lord will have mercy on Jacob and will yet chuse Israel and set them in their own land And the strangers shall be joined with them and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob Isa 14.1 And farther we read It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my Servant to raise up the Tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayst be my Salvation unto the end of the earth c. 49.6 To which we may add Isa 54. as also what he tells us afterwards The Gentiles shall come to thy light and King 's to the brightness of thy rising The abundance of the Sea shall be converted to thee the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee c. 60.3 5. We shall hear what the Prophet Hosea also tells us I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy and I will say to them which were not my people thou art my people Hos 2.23 No less perhaps is meant than this in that vision of Zechary where Jerusalem is not permitted to come under a measuring line and that because she should be inhabited as Towns without walls for the multitude of men and Cattel therein Zech. 2.4 However sure I am that the same Prophet speaks plainly in these words Many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord c. 8.22 And as plainly still afterwards in these words Rejoyce greatly O daughter of Zion shout O daughter of Jerusalem Behold thy King cometh unto thee he is just and having Salvation lowly and riding upon an Asse and upon a colt the foal of an Asse And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the battel bow shall be cut off and he shall speak peace unto the Heathen And his Dominion shall be from Sea even to Sea and from the river even to the ends of the earth c. 9. v. 4 10. To which I shall add the words of the Prophet Malachy From the rising of the Sun unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the Heathen saith the Lord of Hosts Mal. 1.11 By which we may see that the Gentiles according to these prophecies were to submit to
the Messias and to be taken into the Common-wealth of Israel which because it could not be unless they forsook their Idolatry we find the Prophets foretell also that they should put away their Idols Thus the Prophet assures us And the Idols he shall utterly abolish In that day a man shall cast his Idols of Silver and his Idols of Gold which they have made each one for himself to worship to the Moles and to the Bats Isa 2.18 20. And another Prophet tells us It shall come to pass in that day saith the Lord of Hosts that I will cut off the names of the Idols out of the Land and they shall be no more remembred Zech. 13.2 These are very plain words as can be So that it must be in the days of the Messias that the Gentiles should no longer be strangers and aliens from the covenant of grace This difference between Jew and Gentile is now to be removed God will not onely be known in Judah but among all the Families of the earth We find Philo the Jew speaking of God's governing the Universe discoursing to the same purpose Philo Jud. de Agricultura He tells that God rules his creatures according to right and law as a Shepherd and a King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. i. e. Setting over them his right Word his first begotten Son who as his Substitute or Vice-gerent of him the great King shall take upon him the care of this holy Flock For it is somewhere said behold I will send my Angel c. Exod. 23.20 That these prophecies were in great measure fulfilled in our Jesus I say in great measure For I cannot but hope that there are still many prophecies relating to the Kingdom of the Messias in this world in great measure to be fulfilled Now if these prophecies are already in great measure fulfilled then is this Jesus the Christ That they were in great measure fulfilled is very evident For though Jesus himself lived and died in Jewry yet did not his Doctrine stay there There he lived indeed but yet in Galilee of the Gentiles not far off from the poor Gentiles whom he came to save also He tells the Jews no less I saith he if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me Joh. 12.32 That is after his death his Doctrine should greatly prevail upon the world so that all men should come after him And thus we find after his death and Resurrection he gives his disciples commission to go and teach all nations Mat. 28.19 or as it is in St. Mark go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature Mark 16.15 And to that purpose they have the gift of tongues bestowed on them that so they might be able to teach all nations as their Lord had commanded them Act. 2. Now we shall soon find the Gospel preached to the Gentiles we read of the Ethyopian Treasurer and Cornelius the Centurion baptized into the Christian faith But what shall I need speak of them when St. Paul is made a preacher to the Gentiles who tells us of the fruit of his preaching also viz. the obedience of the Gentiles Rom. 15.18 In so much that he is able to say that the Gospel was preached to every creature which is under Heaven Col. 1.23 And his success is so great that the Idolatrous Gentiles turned from Idols to serve the living and true God 1 Thes 1.9 Tertullian tells us in his time Tertull. Apolog. c. 37. those early days of Christianty how far Christianity had prevailed Externisumus vestra omnia implevimus urbes insulas castella municipia conciliabula castra ipsa tribus decurias palatium senatum forum Sola vobis relinquimus templa Cui bello non idonei non prompti fuissemus etiam impares copiis qui tam libenter trucidamur Si non apud istam disciplinam magis occidi liceret quà m occidere Nay the mouths of the Oracles are now stopped which made so great a wonderment in the Gentile world The head of the Serpent that so long had deceived the nations is now broken by the seed of the Woman In a word those Cities and Provinces that lately were full of Idols and Superstition receive the Doctrine of Jesus and with it the worship of the onely true God Nay and 't is not long before we have Christian Kings also in the world So that the Religion of Jesus spreads it self over the world and rides triumphantly and in great conquest like the rider of the white Horse in the Apocalypse that went forth conquering and to conquer But I proceed to shew That this success of the Religion of Jesus is an unexceptionable proof that Jesus is the Christ Not that I would be thought to make success the measure of truth or affirm that the most prosperous cause is always the best For then the Religion of Mahomet would bid fair for the truth and the greatest outrages and rebellions would become innocent and good Success is no certain sign of a good cause and therefore not of the truth of a Religion unless it be such a success as all things considered must onely be imputed to the force of truth and a miraculous providence that makes it prosperous I shall shew then that the success of the Gospel was such as does necessarily infer that Jesus is the Christ and that the Religion which he preached and planted in the world did come from God where as we go along it will be easie for us to understand that Mahumetism can have no share in this argument now it will appear that Jesus is the Christ and also that the Gospel which he and his disciples preached comes from Heaven in a word that the Christian Religion is not onely true but the onely true Religion if we do but well consider its success and progress in the world Now this will appear 1. If we consider the first Authour and first preachers of this Religion and 2. The Doctrine it self and 3. The manner of its spreading in the World 1. For the first Authour or teacher of this Doctrine it was Jesus the Son of a Poor Virgin and the reputed Son of a Carpenter One would have thought him very unlikely to have done any great things He was one that was born in a stable at Bethlehem brought up in the obscure Countrey of Galilee set at nought by his Countrey-men and after many sufferings and calamities condemned to a Cross and hanged among thieves and malefactors where he gave up the Ghost after a short and painfull life He came into the world with no grandeur he made no noise in it and he left it by a death most ignominious and disgracefull And yet did his Doctrine spread and his Religion prevailed against all oppositions and threw down all superstitions and false Religions whatsoever This could not have been if Jesus had not been the Christ I will make use of the words of one of
to the Jews imply no less What nation is there so great that hath Statutes and Judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day The giving a law to the Jews was a special dignation and favour He sheweth his word unto Jaâ—ob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any nation and as for his Judgments they have not known them This was a great treasure which the Jews had when the neighbouring Countries were not admitted to the favour of a Divine Revelation The study of this law is frequently pressed upon them And the devout Psalmist does upon all occasions express the great esteem which he had for it It was sweeter to him than honey more valuable than Gold and Silver 't was the joy of his heart the desire of his soul the delight of his eyes and great comfort of his life Jesus himself shewed all due regard to the law of Moses He professed that he did not come to destroy the law and the Prophets he puts the people upon searching the Scriptures he was circumcised according to the law he wore such a Garment as the law of Moses prescribed he observed the Feasts which that law appointed and when he had healed the Leper he sends him to the Priest to doe according to the law of Moses The Jews had no cause to quarrel with our Lord in this matter St. Paul who was the Apostle of the Gentiles yet allows that the giving of the law to the Jews was a singular privilege and advantage He reckons it their great advantage that unto them were committed the Oracles of God and that to them pertained the covenants and the giving of the law Deut. 4.8 Ps 147.19 20. Ps 19.10 Ps 40.8 Ps 119.70 72 92 97 136. Mat. 5.17 Joh. 5.39 Luk. 2.21 Mat. 10.20 Luk. 2.41 Joh. 2.13 23. and ch 7.2 Mat. 8.4 Rom. 3.1 2. Rom. 9.4 And as the law of Moses came from God so it must also be granted that it was as it is called by the Psalmist a perfect law That is it was well fitted for that people to whom and for that time in which and for those ends for which it was given It taught them their duty to God their neighbour and themselves and laid before them such precepts as concerned them as men as members of a Body Politick and of a Church It was so full and so complete that it wanted nothing for the end it was designed to It was expressly provided that they to whom it was given should neither add to it nor diminish from it Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from it that ye may keep the Commandments of the Lord your God which I commanded you It was indeed full of rites and ceremonies but it required nothing immoral and did not allow of the least shadow of Idolatry Its precepts were just they were consistent they were plainly revealed and sufficiently confirmed Indeed many rites and ceremonies were prescribed But as they were of God's own appointment so they were ordained for wise ends also viz. to keep the people from Idolatry to which they were prone and from the foppish and superstitious usages of their neighbours for a proof of their obedience to God and for the fore-shadowing of some better things to come they were many of them very instructive and were so many Sacraments or Symbols of very weighty things Ps 19.7 Deut. 4.2 Notwithstanding what hath been said it does not follow that the law of Moses was never to be altered The Jews might not add or diminish but God himself was not bound by that law It stood upon divine authority and was revealed by God but it does not thence follow that the same authority which set it up could not take it away God no where tells us that 't is his last Revelation and that he intended it should be taken as such God is not obliged to reveal his mind all at once He may make what laws he pleaseth and add to them when he will Nay God himself does expressly declare that he would make a new Covenant And it is added not according to the covenant that I made with their Fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt Jer. 31.31 32. It reflects no dishonour upon God to say that he reverses some Constitutions of his own that he alters or adds to his own laws All the laws which proceed from him are not of the same importance and moment The Jews themselves will own this and the thing is very evident and plain This appears from the greater or less punishments assigned to the transgressors of these laws There were some sins so great as admitted no Sacrifice to expiate them There were others which were easily atoned for We do not call the wisedom of God in question nor disparage his law when we shew how far short it comes of the Gospel For all this while we do but compare one Divine Revelation with another God made the Heaven and the earth and all that which he made was good It is no reflexion upon his wisedom or goodness or veracity to say that God will make a new Heaven and a new earth For God who promised to make a new covenant promised to make a new Heaven and earth also Isa 66.22 These things I thought fit to premise that I might proceed in this weighty argument with the greater caution I shall now consider the law of Moses more particularly in order to the proving this that the Gospel of Christ does excell it The whole body of the law of Moses comprizeth those precepts given by him which were either Moral Ecclesiastical or civil The Moral law concerned them as men and was given at Mount Sinai in ten distinct precepts or Commandments These are called the word or words of God and the ten words and the words of the covenant word in Scripture phrase signifying at intire sentence or precept Ps 147.19 Exod. 20. 1. Deut. 4.13.10.4 Exod 34.28 Gal. 5.14 Mark 7.13 with Matth. 15.6 The other laws which Moses gave are expressed by statutes and Judgments Ps 147.19 as the Moral are by word or words in the same place For statutes the Jewish writers tell us that they are to be understood of those precepts the reason whereof is not revealed Bechai in Legem fol. 185. Abravenel fol. 177. or at least is not obvious and plain Such were the laws concerning divers kinds concerning the scape Goat and the red Heifer and the like And to these belong the ceremonial and ritual precepts which concerned the Hebrews as they were a Church Judgments are such precepts as are more agreeable to reason and such as might at least in some measure be found out by it Such are tâ—ose which relate to adultery and theft c. These have relation to a Polity or civil Society As for
is evident that where Sacrifice was allowed toward the obtaining pardon yet sometimes the pardon was not obtained by the Sacrifice For the piacular Sacrifice was but one of the conditions upon which the pardon of the offerer did depend So that supposing the Sacrifice offered up exactly according to the Law yet the sinner was not thereupon remitted In case of trespass and wrong there was required by the Law of Moses confession of the sin and restitution also of the principal and sometime the addition of a fifth part as well as sacrifice Numb 5.7 As in some cases no Sacrifice was admitted so at other times where it was allowed yet it did not restore him to favour some other things being also required necessary to his pardon as well as that The Jews themselves tell us that the day of expiation did not procure the pardon of those sins Joma cap. 8. which men committed against their brethren till they had given satisfaction to their brethren whom they had injured If they had injured them in words they were bound to appease them and to be reconciled if they had done it in their goods they were bound to make restitution Eighthly It was a very hard thing for the Jew to know whether he were pardoned or not And notwithstanding the provision made by Sacrifices yet that provision could not ease the sinner's mind We will suppose the greatest care used to obtain pardon by an expiatory Sacrifice yet the offerer would be left uneasie in his own mind In such a multitude of precepts and of that nature also which the Mosaical were it was almost impossible for a man to know whether he had transgressed or not and consequently whether he was obliged to bring his sin or trespass-offering Hence it was that the Jews appointed a trespass-offering which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a doubtfull trespass-offering which they thought themselves obliged to bring when it was a doubtfull case whether they had transgressed or not Lastly It is very certain that these Sacrifices of the Law of Moses were not to continue for ever The Jews were given to understand so much and God taught them this more ways than one He annexed them to a certain place and to a certain family who were to offer them up and when that place was no longer in the possession of the Jews they were discharged from all their obligation to offer Sacrifices at once And besides that many of them were but types and shadows of things to come and were therefore in due time to cease God did expresly foretell this to the Jews and the Jewish writers themselves are forced to confess no less Of the Messias the Prophet Daniel prophesies that he should cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease Dan. 9.27 That is all the offerings made by fire whatsoever The Authour of the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us the same of burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin Heb. 10.6 That is Sacrifices which were expiatory And there is a saying to this purpose among the Jewish writers Midrash Tillim in Psal 56.12 v. Abravenel de cap. fidei cum Vorstio c. 13. that every Corban or Sacrifice should cease but that the Sacrifice of praise should never cease And this saying of the Jews relates to the days of the Messias The Sacrifices allowed in the Law of Moses were of very little moment in their own nature They were never designed to continue longer than the City the Temple and Altar stood to which they were annexed v. Seder Tephilloth fol. 6. c. 3. Venetiis Anno 1566. The expiatory ones were shadows of an invaluable Sacrifice and the others that were Eucharistical as to the main continue still We now offer up our spiritual Sacrifices our Prayers and our Alms and our whole selves to the Great Creatour and Governour of Heaven and Earth the God and Father of Jesus Christ The holy flame upon the Altar during the Law of Moses was says Philo the Jew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. Jud. de Victim offerent a symbol of thanksgiving Thore things were types or symbols he tells us of spiritual things and that the gratefull mind of a wise man is God's Altar Thus I have given some account of the defects of the Jewish Religion as it was delivered to them by Moses and as it stands compared with the Religion which our Jesus taught I shall now proceed to shew That these defects are made up and supplied by the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that the Christian Religion is thereupon very far preferible to that of the Jews And to the making this evident I shall 1. Consider the Precepts of Christian Religion and look upon it as a rule of life and we shall find it the most accurate rule of life that ever was made known to the World There is not in any Religion whatsoever any parallel to the Christian The Precepts of this Religion are agreeable to the reason of mankind they tend to perfect humane nature and render it like the Divine They approve themselves to the Consciences of all wife and considering men and those very men who do not obey them cannot but approve of them and have an inward veneration for them who do As to that duty we owe to God we are taught to perform it becoming his Divine Majesty and his adorable perfections We are directed to believe him to fear him above all to love him with our whole heart to trust in him and depend upon him in all our straits and needs to submit quietly to his Government and to do his will To worship him with pure hearts to pray to him with great fervour and constancy To give him hearty thanks and to do what we do for his Glory And these duties are founded upon the greatest reason For if we believe his veracity we are obliged to give credit to his Revelation though we be not able to comprehend what he doth reveal He that is almighty ought to be feared above all and he who is onely good and most beneficial to us ought be loved with our whole heart Upon whom shall we trust and relye but upon him who is able and willing to help them that trust in him Is it not fit we should submit to him who is infinitely wise and who governs all things in Heaven and earth And whose will should we do but his who is without iniquity who is just and right If he be a Spirit it is fit we should worship him in Spirit and in truth And since we know that he hears it is very reasonable we should at all times and with great ardour pray unto him And since we receive all good things from him it is but just we should praise him as the Authour of all and that we should glorifie him as the ultimate end of all For the duties we owe to one another Christian Religion gives the most incomparable rules It requires a patient submission to our Superiors
or effects to any certain People as the Legal Sacrifices were 2. The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead gives farther assurance of our pardon When our Lord gave himself up to death as our surety he undertook our ransome but when he arose again he assured our discharge Rom. 4.25 He was delivered for our offences that is a foundation of some hope But then he was raised again for our justification If death had detained our Lord his death would not have afforded us any hope Our hope was raised with our Saviour 3. Our Saviour's entring into Heaven and intercession there on our behalf does still give us farther assurance of our Pardon and Forgiveness If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous 1 John 2.1 2. And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours onely but also for the sins of the whole world Act. 5.31 Again him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins The Jews expected pardon of their sins on their great day of Expiation when the High Priest went into the most holy place with bloud which he offered for himself Heb. 9.7 and the errours of the People Their High Priest had sins of his own to be expiated and the bloud which he offered was the bloud of a beast upon both accounts the Peoples hope was the more languid But blessed be God we are better provided for and our hope is more firmly built We have an high Priest the most perfect and spotless Such an High Priest became us Heb. 7.26 27 28. who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners and made higher than the Heavens who needeth not daily as those high Priests to offer up Sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the peoples For this he did once when he offered up himself For the Law maketh men High Priests which have infirmity but the word of the Oath which was since the Law maketh the Son who is consecrated for evermore Here is nothing wanting toward the quieting our Consciences and the securing our pardon Jesus is our High Priest our Patron and Advocate with God D. Outram de sacrificiis p. 290. There are but three things required to render a Priest the most excellent and perfect in the highest degree and they are all to be found in our Jesus First that he have sufficient power with God to render him propitious to those for whom he undertakes Secondly that he have so much good will for those whose advocate he is as to incline him to use his power for their advantage Thirdly that he always live and continue in that Authority and Power and with that good will Our Jesus hath sufficient Power with God He hath all Power in Heaven and Earth Mat. 28.18 Phil. 2.9 and a name above every name and he hath great good will for those for whom he undertakes He hath been acquainted with the infirmities of humane nature an High Priest that is touched with the feeling of our infirmities having been tempted like as we are Heb. 4.15 with ch 5.2 ch 2.17 Heb. 7.24 25. He is at once a Mercifull as well as faithfull High Priest And besides this He ever lives to make intercession He continueth ever and hath a Priesthood that is unchangeable or which passeth not from one to another So that the death and the resurrection and intercession of Jesus as our high Priest lay a sure foundation for the quiet of our conscience These three are put together by St. Paul to my present purpose Rom. 8.34 Who is he that condemneth says He It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us 4. The holy Spirit which Jesus did not onely promise but bestow upon his followers is still a farther pledge of our pardon and forgiveness and indeed of our future glory and happiness For so the holy Spirit is said to be the earnest of our inheritance The Greek word which we truly render earnest Eph. 1.14 2 Cor. 1.22.5.5 Eph. 4.30 signifies a part of price or wages which is given in hand to secure the receiver of the whole summ And such is the holy Spirit to us He gives us full assurance that we shall be admitted to the whole inheritance The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit Rom. 8.16 17. that we are the Children of God and if Children then heirs heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ We are elsewhere said to be by the holy Spirit of God Eph. 4.30 sealed to the day of redemption And that expression is of the same import with the former We seal and mark things that are of the greatest value and which are to be preserved and kept safe as a peculiar Rev. 7.3 Ezek. 9.4 And this was the reason why those who were designed to be preserved are said to be sealed and marked for by this they were set aside to be preserved from the common destruction We do by recieving the Spirit receive a great assurance of our pardon and future glory The Apostle's argument is very strong Rom. 8.11 If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you We are now rendred secure of our future inheritance and glory how mean soever our present condition be Our Saviour hath given us the earnest of the Spirit and taken from us the earnest of our flesh Quemadmodum nobis arrabonem spiritus reliquit ita à nobis arrabonem carnis accepit vexit in coelum pignus totius summae c. Tertullian de resurr Carnis and carried it into Heaven as a token that his followers shall be translated thither Says one of the Ancient Fathers of the Church 5. The Sacraments which Jesus hath instituted and annexed to this covenant of grace do give us farther evidence and assurance of our pardon and forgiveness By Baptism we are received into the Church of Christ where pardon is to be had and into a State of pardon and forgiveness John the Baptist is said to baptize in the Wilderness and Preach the Baptism of repentance for the remission of sins Mark 1.4 And Ananias said arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins Act. 22.16 Baptism was a pledge of Salvation and they who received it were marked out not for destruction but for deliveranâ—e and safety And thus it was understood of old to be a pledge of safety When John Baptist saw the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his Baptism he said unto them O Generation of Vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come Act. 2.38.40 Matt. 3.7 Repent and be baptized says St. Peter to the