contrary Life And so they are joyned together Acts III. 19. Repent and turn about Or as we render it be converted And Acts XXVI Repent and turn to God And sometimes turning about is put alone to signifie Repentance Mat. XIII 15. Luke XXII 32. Which in other words is well expressed by Newness of Life For it being certain that he who is really sorry for his sins and abhors them will turn from them and forsake them Either of these Acts which have so Natural a connexion one with the other may be and is often put for both together Repentance is an hearty sorrow for our past misdeeds and a sincere Resolution and Endeavour to the utmost of our power to conform all our Actions to the Law of God So that Repentance does not consist in one single Act of sorrow though that being the first and leading Act gives denomination to the whole But in doing works meet for Repentance in a sincere Obedience to the Law of Christ the remainder of our Lives This was called for by Iohn the Baptist the Preacher of Repentance Mat. III. 8. Bring forth fruits meet for Repentance And by St. Paul here Acts XXVI 20. Repent and turn to God and do works meet for Repentance There are works to follow belonging to Repentance as well as sorrow for what is past These two Faith and Repentance i. e. believing Jesus to be the Messiah and a good Life are the indispensible Conditions of the New Covenant The Reasonableness or rather Necessity of which as the only Conditions required in the Covenant of Grace to be performed by all those who would obtain Eternal Life that we may the better comprehend we must a little look back to what was said in the beginning Adam being the Son of God and so St. Luke calls him Chap. III. 38. had this part also of the Likeness and Image of his Father viz. That he was Immortal But Adam transgressing the Command given him by his Heavenly Father incurred the Penalty forfeited that state of Immortality and became Mortal After this Adam begot Children But they were in his own likeness after his own image Mortal like their Father God nevertheless out of his Infinite Mercy willing to bestow Eternal Life on Mortal Men sends Jesus Christ into the World Who being conceived in the Womb of a Virgin that had not known Man by the immediate Power of God was properly the Son of God According to what the Angel declared to his Mother Luke I. 30-35 The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall over shadow thee Therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called THE SON OF GOD. So that being the Son of God he was like his Father Immortal As he tells us Iohn V. 26. As the Father hath life in himself so hath be given to the Son to have life in himself And that Immortality is a part of that Image wherein these who were the immediate Sons of God so as to have no other Father were made like their Father appears probable not only from the places in Genesis concerning Adam above taken notice of but seems to me also to be intimated in some Expressions concerning Iesus the Son of God In the New Testament Col. I. 15. He is called the Image of the invivisible God Invisible seems put in to obviate any gross Imagination that he as Images use to do represented God in any corporeal or visible Resemblance And there is farther subjoyned to lead us into the meaning of it The First-born of every Creature Which is farther explained v. 18. Where he is termed The First-born from the dead Thereby making out and shewing himself to be the Image of the Invisible God That Death hath no power over him But being the Son of God and not having forfeited that Son-ship by any Trangression was the Heir of Eternal Life As Adam should have been had he continued in his filial Duty In the same sense the Apostle seems to use the word Image in other places viz. Rom. VIII 29. Whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the first-born among many Brethren This Image to which they were conformed seems to be Immortality and Eternal Life For 't is remarkable that in both these places St. Paul speaks of the Resurrection And that Christ was The First-born among many Brethren He being by Birth the Son of God and the others only by Adoption as we see in this same Chapter v. 15-17 Ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The Spirit it self bearing witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God And if Children then Heirs And Ioynt-Heirs with Christ If so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together And hence we see that our Saviour vouchsafes to call those who at the Day of Judgment are through him entring into Eternal Life his Brethren Mat. XXV 40. In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my Brethren And may we not in this find a reason why God so frequently in the New Testament and so seldom if at all in the Old is mentioned under the single Title of THE FATHER And therefore our Saviour says Mat. XI No man knoweth the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him God has now a Son again in the World the First-born of many Brethren who all now by the Spirit of Adoption can say Abba Father And we by Adoption being for his sake made his Brethren and the Sons of God come to share in that Inheritance which was his Natural Right he being by Birth the Son of God Which Inheritance is Eternal Life And again v. 23. We groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Body Whereby is plainly meant the change of these frail Mortal Bodies into the Spiritual Immortal Bodies at the Resurrection When this Mortal shall have put on Immortality 1 Cor. XV. 54. Which in that Chapter v. 42-44 he farther expresses thus So also is the Resurrection of the dead It is sown in Corruption it is raised in Incorruption It is sown in dishonour it is raised in Glory It is sown in Weakness it is raised in Power It is sown a Natural Body it is raised a Spiritual Body c. To which he subjoyns v. 49. As we have born the Image of the Earthy i. e. As we have been Mortal like Earthy Adam our Father from whom we are descended when he was turned out of Paradise We shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly Into whose Sonship and Inheritance being adopted we shall at the Resurrection receive that Adoption we expect Even the Redemption of our Bodies And after his Image which is the Image of the Father become Immortal Hear what he says himself Luke XX. 35 36. They who shall be
St. Paul v. 23 24. was not writ for his Abraham 's sake alone But for us also teaching us that as Abraham was justified for his Faith so also ours shall be accounted to us for Righteousness if we believe God as Abraham believed him Whereby 't is plain is meant the firmness of our Faith without staggering and not the believing the same Propositions that Abraham believed viz. that though he and Sarah were old and past the time and hopes of Children yet he should have a Son by her and by him become the Father of a great People which should possess the Land of Canaan This was what Abraham believed and was counted to him for Righteousness But no body I think will say that any ones believing this now shall be imputed to him for Righteousness The Law of Faith then in short is for every one to believe what God requires him to believe as a condition of the Covenant he makes with him and not to doubt of the performance of his Promises This the Apostle intimates in the close here v. 24. But for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Iesus our Lord from the dead We must therefore examine and see what God requires us to believe now under the Revelation of the Gospel For the belief of one Invisible Eternal Omnipotent God maker of Heaven and Earth c. was required before as well as now What we are now required to believe to obtain Eternal Life is plainly set down in the Gospel St. Iohn tells us Iohn III. 36. He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life What this believing on him is we are also told in the next Chapter The woman saith unto him I know that the Messiah cometh When he is come he will tell us all things Iesus said unto her I that spake unto thee am he The woman then went into the City and saith to the men come see a man that hath told me all things that ever I did Is not this the Messiah And many of the Samaritans believed on him for the saying of the woman who testified he told me all that ever I did So when the Samaritans were come unto him many more believed because of his words and said to the woman We believe not any longer because of thy saying for we have heard our selves and we know that this Man is truly the Saviour of the World the Messiah John IV. 25 26. 29. 39 40 41 42. By which place it is plain that believing on the Son is the believing that Iesus was the Messiah giving Credit to the Miracles he did and the Profession he made of himself For those who were said to BELIEVE ON HIM for the saying of the Woman v. 39. tell the Woman that they now believed not any longer because of her saying but that having heard him themselves they knew i. e. BELIEVED past doubt THAT HE WAS THE MESSIAH This was the great Proposition that was then controverted concerning Jesus of Nazareth whether he was the Messiah or no And the assent to that was that which distinguished Believers form Unbelievers When many of his Disciples had forsaken him upon his declaring that he was the Bread of Life which came down from Heaven He said to the Apostles will ye also go away Then Simon Peter answered him Lord to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life And we believe and are sure thou art the Messiah the Son of the living God Iohn VI. 69. This was the Faith which distinguished them form Apostates and Unbelievers and was sufficient to continue them in the rank of Apostles And it was upon the same Proposition That Iesus was the Messiah the Son of the living God owned by St. Peter that our Saviour said he would build his Church Mat. XVI 16-18 To convince men of this he did his Miracles And their assent to or not assenting to this made them to be or not to be of his Church Believers or not Believers The Iews came round about him and said unto him how long dost thou make us doubt If thou be the Messiah tell us plainly Iesus answered them I told you and ye believed not The works that I do in my Father's name they bear witness of me But ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep John X. 24-26 Conformable hereunto St. Iohn tells us That many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Iesus the Messiah is come in the flesh This is a deceiver and an Antichrist whosoever abideth not in the Doctrine of the Messiah has not God He that abideth in the Doctrine of the Messiah i. e. that Jesus is he hath both the Father and the Son 2 John 7. 9 10. That this is the meaning of the place is plain from what he says in his foregoing Epistle Whosoever believeth that Iesus is the Messiah is born of God 1 John V. 1. And therefore drawing to a close of his Gospel and shewing the end for which he writ it he has these words Many other signs truly did Iesus in the presence of his Disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that ye may believe that Iesus is the Messiah the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name John XX. 30 31. Whereby it is plain that the Gospel was writ to induce men into a belief of this Proposition that Iesus of Nazareth was the Messiah Which if they believed they should have life Accordingly the great Question amongst the Jews was whether he were the Messiah or no And the great Point insisted on and promulgated in the Gospel was that he was the Messiah The first glad tidings of his Birth brought to the Shepherds by an Angel was in these words Fear not for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people For to you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour who is the Messiah the Lord Luke II. 11. Our Saviour Discoursing with Martha about the means of attaining Eternal Life saith to her Iohn XI 27. Whosoever believeth in me shall never die Believest thou this She saith unto him Yea Lord I believe that thou art the Messiah the Son of God which should come into the world This Answer of hers sheweth what it is to believe in Jesus Christ so as to have Eternal Life viz. to believe that he is the Messiah the Son of God whose coming was foretold by the Prophets And thus Andrew and Philip express it Andrew says to his Brother Simon we have found the Messiah which is being interpreted the Christ. Philip saith to Nathanael we have found him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write Iesus of Nazareth the Son of Joseph Iohn I. 41. 45. According to what the Evangelist says in this place I have for the clearer understanding
Jews especially hated him because he testified of it that the works thereof are evil And that his time was not yet fully come wherein to quit his reserve and abandon himself freely to their Malice and Fury And therefore though he went up unto the Feast it was not openly but as it were in secret v. 10. And here coming into the Temple about the middle of the Feast he justifies his being sent from God And that he had not done any thing against the Law in curing the man at the Pool of Bethesday v. Iohn V. 1-16 on the Sabbath-day Which though done above a year and an half before they made use of as a pretence to destroy him But what was the true reason of seeking his Life appears from what we have in this VII Chapter v. 25-34 Then said some of them at Jerusalem Is not this he whom they seek to kill But lo he speaketh boldly and they say nothing unto him Do the Rulers know indeed that this is the very Messiah Howbeit we know this man whence he is But when the Messiah cometh no man knoweth whence he is Then cryed Iesus in the Temple as he taught ye both know me and ye know whence I am And I am not come of my self but he that sent me is true whom ye know not But I know him for I am from him and he hath sent me Then they sought an occasion to take him but no man laid hands on him because his hour was not yet come And many of the people believed on him and said when the Messiah cometh will be do more miracles than these which this man hath done The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him and the Pharisees and Chief Priests sent Officers to take him Then said Iesus unto them Yet a little while am I with you and then I go to him that sent me Ye shall seek me and not find me and where I am there ye cannot come Then said the Iews among themselves Whither will he go that we shall not find him Here we find that the great fault in our Saviour and the great Provocation to the Jews was his being taken for the Messiah and doing such things as made the People believe in him i. e. believe that he was the Messiah Here also our Saviour declares in words very easie to be understood at least after his Resurrection that he was the Messiah For if he were sent from God and did his Miracles by the Spirit of God there could be no doubt but he was the Messiah But yet this Declaration was in a way that the Pharisees and Priests could not lay hold on to make an Accusation of to the disturbance of his Ministry or the seizure of his Person how much soever they desired it For his time was not yet come The Officers they had sent to Apprehend him charmed with his Discourse returned without laying hands on him v. 45 46. And when the Chief Priests asked them Why they brought him not They answered Never man spake like this man Whereupon the Pharisees reply Are ye also deceived Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him But this people who know not the Law are cursed This shews what was meant by Believing on him viz. believing that he was the Messiah For say they have any of the Rulers who are skilled in the Law or of the Devout and learned Pharisees acknowledged him to be the Messiah For as for those who in the Division among the People concerning him say That he is the Messiah they are ignorant and vile wretches know nothing of the Scripture and being accursed are given up by God to be deceived by this Impostor and to take him for the Messiah Therefore notwithstanding their desire to lay hold on him he goes on And v. 37 38. In the last and great day of the Feast Iesus stood and cryed saying If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow Rivers of living water And thus he here again declares himself to be the Messiah But in the Prophetick stile As we may see by the next Verse of this Chapter and those places in the Old Testament that these words of our Saviour refer to In the next Chapter Iohn VIII all that he says concerning himself and what they were to believe tends to this viz. That he was sent from God his Father And that if they did not believe that he was the Messiah they should die in their sins But this in a way as St. Iohn observes v. 27. that they did not well understand But our Saviour himself tells them v. 28. When ye have lift up the Son of Man then shall ye know that I am he Going from them he Cures the Man born blind whom meeting with again after the Jews had questioned him and cast him out Iohn IX 35-38 Jesus said to him Dost thou believe on the Son of God He answered who is he Lord that I might believe on him And Iesus said unto him Thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh with thee And he said Lord I believe Here we see this man is pronounced a Believer when all that was proposed to him to believe was that Jesus was the Son of God Which was as we have already shewn to believe that he was the Messiah In the next Chapter Iohn X. 1-21 he declares the laying down of his Life for both Jews and Gentiles But in a Parable which they understood not v. 6. 20. As he was going to the Feast of the Dedication the Pharisees ask him Luke XVII 20. When the Kingdom of God i. e. of the Messiah should come He answers that it should not come with Pomp and Observation and great Concourse But that it was already begun amongst them If he had stopt here the sense had been so plain that they could hardly have mistaken him or have doubted but that he meant that the Messiah was already come and amongst them And so might have been prone to infer that Jesus took upon him to be him But here as in the place before taken notice of subjoyning to this the future Revelation of himself both in his coming to execute Vengeance on the Jews and in his coming to Judgment mixed together he so involved his sense that it was not easie to understand him And therefore the Jews came to him again in the Temple Iohn X. 23. and said How long dost thou make us doubt If thou be the Christ tell us plainly Iesus answered I told you and ye BELIEVED not The works that I do in my Father's Name they bear witness of me But ye BELIEVED not because ye are not of my sheep as I told you The BELIEVING here which he accuses them of not doing is plainly their not BELIEVING him to be the Messiah as the foregoing words evince and in the same sense it
the Work for which he hath sent me To confirm them in this Faith and to enable them to do such Works as he had done he promises them the Holy Ghost Iohn XIV 25 26. These things I have said unto you being yet present with you But when I am gone the Holy Ghost the Paraclet which may signifie Monitor as well as Comfortor or Advocate which the Father shall send you in my Name he shall shew you all things and bring to your remembrance all things which I have said So that considering all that I have said and laying it together and comparing it with what you shall see come to pass you may be more abundantly assured that I am the Messiah and fully comprehend that I have done and suffered all things foretold of the Messiah and that were to be accomplished and fulfilled by him according to the Scriptures But be not filled with grief that I leave you Iohn XVI 7. It is expedient for you that I go away For if I go not away the Paraclet will not come unto you One Reason why if he went not away the Holy Ghost could not come we may gather from what has been observed concerning the Prudent and wary carriage of our Saviour all through his Ministry that he might not incur Death with the least suspicion of a Malefactor And therefore though his Disciples believed him to be the Messiah yet they neither understood it so well nor were so well confirmed in the belief of it as after that he being crucified and risen again they had received the Holy Ghost And with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit a fuller and clearer Evidence and Knowledge that he was the Messiah And were enlightned to see how his Kingdom was such as the Scriptures foretold though not such as they till then had expected And now this Knowledge and Assurance received from the Holy Ghost was of use to them after his Resurrection when they could then boldly go about and openly Preach as they did that Iesus was the Messiah confirming that Doctrine by the Miracles which the Holy Ghost impowered them to do But till he was dead and gone they could not do this Their going about openly Preaching as they did after his Resurrection that Iesus was the Messiah and doing Miracles every where to make it good would not have consisted with that Character of Humility Peace and Innocence which the Messiah was to sustain if they had done it before his Crucifixion For this would have drawn upon him the Condemnation of a Malefactor either as a stirrer of Sedition against the Publick Peace or as a Pretender to the Kingdom of Israel And hence we see that they who before his Death preached only the Gospel of the Kingdom that the Kingdom of God was at hand As soon as they had received the Holy Ghost after his Resurrection changed their stile and every where in express words declare that Iesus is the Messiah that King which was to come This the following words here in St. Iohn XVI 8-14 confirm Where he goes on to tell them And when he is come he will convince the World of Sin Because they believed not on me Your Preaching then accompanied with Miracles by the assistance of the Holy Ghost shall be a Conviction to the World that the Iews sinned in not believing me to be the Messiah Of Righteousness or Justice Because I go to my Father and ye see me no more By the same Preaching and Miracles you shall confirm the Doctrine of my Ascension and thereby convince the World that I was that Iust One who am therefore ascended to the Father into Heaven where no unjust Person shall enter Of Iudgment Because the Prince of this World is judged And by the same assistance of the Holy Ghost ye shall convince the World that the Devil is judged or condemned by your casting of him out and destroying his Kingdom and his Worship where ever you Preach Our Saviour adds I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now They were yet so full of a Temporal Kingdom that they could not bear the discovery of what a kind of Kingdom his was nor what a King he was to be And therefore he leaves them to the coming of the Holy Ghost for a farther and fuller discovery of himself and the Kingdom of the Messiah For fear they should be scandalized in him and give up the hopes they had now in him and forsake him This he tells them v. 1. of this XVI Chapter These things I have said unto you that you may not be scandalized The last thing he had told them before his saying this to them we find in the last Verses of the precedent Chapter When the Paraclet is come the Spirit of Truth he shall witness concerning me He shall shew you who I am and witness it to the World And then Ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning He shall call to your mind what I have said and done that ye may understand it and know and bear Witness concerning me And again here Iohn XVI after he had told them they could not bear what he had more to say he adds v. 13. Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth and he will shew you things to come He shall glorifie me By the Spirit when he comes ye shall be fully instructed concerning me And though you cannot yet from what I have said to you clearly comprehend my Kingdom and Glory yet he shall make it known to you wherein it consists And though I am now in a mean state and ready to be given up to Contempt Torment and Death So that ye know not what to think of it Yet the Spirit when he comes shall glorifie me and fully satisfie you of my Power and Kingdom And that I sit on the right hand of God to order all things for the good and increase of it till I come again at the last day in fulness of Glory Accordingly the Apostles had a full and clear sight and perswasion of this after they had received the Holy Ghost And they preached it every where boldly and openly without the least remainder of doubt or uncertainty But that they understood him not yet even so far as his Death and Resurrection is evident from v. 17 18. Then said some of the Disciples among themselves What is this that he saith unto us A little while and ye shall not see me And again a little while and ye shall see me and because I go to the Father They said therefore what is this that he saith a little while We know not what he saith Upon which he goes on to Discourse to them of his Death and Resurrection and of the Power they should have of doing Miracles But all this he declares to them in a Mystical and involved way of speaking as he tells them himself v. 25. These things
have I spoken to you in Proverbs i. e. In General Obscure Aenigmatical or Figurative terms All which as well as Allusive Apologues the Jews called Proverbs or Parables Hitherto my declaring of my self to you hath been obscure and with reserve And I have not spoken of my self to you in plain and direct words because ye could not bear it A Messiah and not a King you could not understand And a King living in Poverty and Persecution and dying the Death of a Slave and Malefactor upon a Cross you could not put together And had I told you in plain words that I was the Messiah and given you a direct Commission to Preach to others that I professedly owned my self to be the Messiah you and they would have been ready to have made a Commotion to have set me upon the Throne of my Father David and to fight for me that your Messiah your King in whom are your hopes of a Kingdom should not be delivered up into the hands of his Enemies to be put to Death And of this Peter will instantly give you an Example But the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in Parables but I shall shew unto you plainly of the Father My Death and Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Ghost will speedily enlighten you and then I shall make you know the Will and Design of the Father What a Kingdom I am to have and by what means and to what end v. 27. And this the Father himself will shew unto you For he loveth you because ye have loved me and have believed that I came out from the Father Because ye have believed that I am the Son of God the Messiah That he hath anointed and sent me Though it hath not been yet fully discovered to you what kind of Kingdom it shall be nor by what means brought about And then our Saviour without being asked explaining to them what he had said And making them understand better what before they stuck at and complained secretly among themselves that they understood not They thereupon declare v. 30. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things and needest not that any man should ask thee 'T is plain thou knowest mens Thoughts and Doubts before they ask By this we believe that thou comest forth from God Iesus answered Do ye now believe Notwithstanding that you now believe that I came from God and am the Messiah sent by him Behold the hour cometh yea is now come that ye shall be scattered And as it is Mat. XXVI 31. and shall all be scandalized in me What it is to be scandalized in him we may see by what followed hereupon if that which he says to St. Peter Mark XIV did not sufficiently explain it This I have been the more particular in That it may be seen that in this last Discourse to his Disciples where he opened himself more than he had hitherto done and where if any thing more was required to make them Believers than what they already believed we might have expected they should have heard of it there were no new Articles proposed to them but what they believed before viz. That he was the Messiah the Son of God sent from the Father Though of his manner of proceeding and his sudden leaving the World and some few particulars he made them understand something more than they did before But as to the main design of the Gospel viz. That he had a Kingdom that he should be put to Death and rise again and ascend into Heaven to his Father and come again in Glory to Judge the World This he had told them And so had acquainted them with the Great Council of God in sending him the Messiah and omitted nothing that was necessary to be known or believed in it And so he tells them himself Iohn XV. 15. Henceforth I call ye not Servants for the Servant knoweth not what his Lord does But I have called ye Friends for ALL THINGS I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you though perhaps ye do not so fully comprehend them as you will shortly when I am risen and ascended To conclude all in his Prayer which shuts up this Discourse he tells the Father what he had made known to his Apostles The Result whereof we have Iohn XVII 8. I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them and THEY HAVE BELIEVED THAT THOV DIDST SEND ME Which is in effect that he was the Messiah promised and sent by God And then he Prays for them and adds v. 20 21. Neither pray I for these alone but for them also who shall believe on me through their word What that Word was through which others should believe in him we have seen in the Preaching of the Apostles all through the History of the Acts viz. This one great Point that Jesus was the Messiah The Apostles he says v. 25. know that thou hast sent me i. e. are assured that I am the Messiah And in v. 21. 23. he Prays That the World may believe which v. 23. is called knowing that thou hast sent me So that what Christ would have believed by his Disciples we may see by this his last Prayer for them when he was leaving the World as well as by what he Preached whilst he was in it And as a Testimony of this one of his last Actions even when he was upon the Cross was to confirm this Doctrine by giving Salvation to one of the Thieves that was crucified with him upon his Declaration that he believed him to be the Messiah For so much the words of his Request imported when he said Remember me Lord when thou comest into thy Kingdom Luke XXIII 42. To which Jesus replied v. 43. Verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paridise An Expression very remarkable For as Adam by sin left Paradise i. e. a state of Happy Immortality Here the believing Thief through his Faith in Iesus the Messiah is promised to be put in Paradise and so re-instated in an Happy Immortality Thus our Saviour ended his Life And what he did after his Resurrection St. Luke tells us Acts I. 3. That he shewed himself to the Apostles forty days speaking things concerning the Kingdom of God This was what our Saviour preached in the whole Course of his Ministry before his Passion And no other Mysteries of Faith does he now discover to them after his Resurrection All he says is concerning the Kingdom of God And what it was he said concerning that we shall see presently out of the other Evangelists having first only taken notice that when now they asked him v. 6. Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel He said unto them v. 7. It is not for you to know the Times and the Seasons which the Father hath put in his own power But ye shall receive Power after that the Holy Ghost is come
they feared greatly saying Truly this was the SON OF GOD this was that extraordinary Person that was looked for Acts IX St. Paul exercising the Commission to Preach the Gospel which he had received in a Miraculous way v. 20. Straitway preached Christ in the Synagogues that he is the Son of God i. e. that Jesus was the Messiah For Christ in this place is evidently a Proper Name And that this was it which Paul preached appears from v. 22. Saul increased the more in strength and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus proving that this is the very Christ i. e. the Messiah Peter when he came to Cornelius at Cesarea who by a Vision was ordered to send for him as Peter on the other side was by a Vision commanded to go to him What does he teach him His whole Discourse Acts X. tends to shew what he says God commanded the Apostles to Preach unto the People and to testifie That it is he Jesus which was ordained of God to be the Iudge of the quick and the dead And that it was to him that all the Prophets give witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall have remission of sins v. 42 43. This is the Word which God sent to the Children of Israel that WORD which was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the Baptism which Iohn preached v. 36 37. And these are the words which had been promised to Cornelius Acts XI 14. Whereby he and all his house should be saved Which words amount only to thus much That Iesus was the Messiah the Saviour that was promised Upon their receiving of this for this was all was taught them the Holy Ghost fell on them and they were baptized 'T is observable here that the Holy Ghost fell on them before they were baptized which in other places Converts received not till after Baptism The reason whereof seems to be this That God by bestowing on them the Holy Ghost did thus declare from Heaven that the Gentiles upon believing Iesus to be the Messiah ought to be admitted into the Church by Baptism as well as the Jews Whoever reads St. Peter's Defence Acts XI when he was accused by those of the Circumcumcision that he had not kept that distance which he ought with the uncircumcised will be of this Opinion and see by what he says v. 15 16 17. That this was the ground and an irresistible Authority to him for doing so strange a thing as it appeared to the Jews who alone yet were Members of the Christian Church to admit Gentiles into their Communion upon their believing And therefore St. Peter in the foregoing Chapter Acts X before he would Baptize them proposes this Question to those of the Circumcision which came with him and were astonished because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost Can any one forbid water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we v. 47. And when some of the Sect of the Pharisees who believed thought it needful that the converted Gentiles should be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses Acts XV. Peter rose up and said unto them Men and Brethren you know that a good while ago God made choice amongst us that the Gentiles viz. Cornelius and those here converted with him by my mouth should hear the Gospel and believe And God who knoweth the hearts bear them witness giving them the Holy Ghost even as he did unto us and put no difference between us and them purifying their hearts by Faith v. 7-9 So that both Jews and Gentiles who believed Jesus to be the Messiah received thereupon the Seal of Baptism whereby they were owned to be his and distinguished from Unbelievers From what is above said we may observe That this Preaching Jesus to be the Messiah is called the Word and the Word of God and believing it receiving the Word of God Vid. Acts X. 36 37. XI 1. 19 20. And the Word of the Gospel Acts XV. 7. And so likewise in the History of the Gospel what Mark Chap. IV. 14 15. calls simply the Word St. Luke calls the Word of God Luke XIII 11. And St. Matthew Chap. XIII 19. the Word of the Kingdom which were it seems in the Gospel-writers Synonymous terms and are so to be understood by us But to go on Acts XIII Paul Preaches in the Synagogue at Antioch where he makes it his business to convince the Jews that God according to his promise had of the seed of David raised to Israel a Saviour Iesus v. 24. That he was He of whom the Prophets writ v. 25-29 i. e. the Messiah And that as a demonstration of his being so God had raised him from the Dead v. 30. From whence be argues thus v. 32 33. We Evangelize to you or bring you this Gospel how that the Promise which was made to our Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us in that he hath raised up Iesus again as it is also written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And having gone on to prove him to be the Messiah by his Resurrection from the Dead he makes this Conclusion v. 38 39. Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you forgiveness of sins and by him all who believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses This is in this Chapter called the Word of God over and over again Compare v. 42. with 44. 46. 48 49. And Chap. XII v. 24. Acts XVII 2-4 At Thessalonica Paul as his manner was went into the Synagogue and three Sabbath-days reasoned with the Iews out of the Scriptures opening and alledging that the Messiah must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead And that this Iesus whom I preach unto you is the Messiah And some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas But the Iews which believed not set the City in an uproar Can there be any thing plainer than that the assenting to this Proposition that Jesus was the Messiah was that which distinguished the Believers from the Unbelievers For this was that alone which three Sabbaths Paul endeavoured to convince them of as the Text tells us in direct words From thence he went to Berea and preached the same thing And the Bereans are commended v. 11. for searching the Scriptures whether those things i. e. which he had said v. 2 3. concerning Jesus his being the Messiah were true or no. The same Doctrine we find him Preaching at Corinth Acts XVIII 4-6 And he reasoned in the Synagogue every Sabbath and perswaded the Iews and the Greeks And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia Paul was pressed in spirit and testified to the Iews that Iesus was the Messiah And when they opposed themselves and blasphemed he shook his raiment and said unto
and Death of a Turbulent Seditious Malefactor Contrary to the design of his coming which was to be offered up a Lamb blameless and void of Offence his Innocence appearing to all the World even to him that delivered him up to be crucified This it would have been impossible to have avoided if in his Preaching every where he had openly assumed to himself the Title of their Messiah Which was all was wanting to set the People in a flame who drawn by his miracles and the hopes of finding a Deliverer in so extraordinary a man followed him in great numbers We read every where of multitudes And in Luke XII 1. of Myriads that were gathered about him This conflux of People thus disposed would not have failed upon his declaring himself to be the Messiah to have made a Commotion and with Force set him up for their King It is plain therefore from these these two Reasons why though he came to Preach the Gospel and Convert the World to a belief of his being the Messiah and though he says so much of his Kingdom under the Title of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven he yet makes it not his business to perswade them that he himself is the Messiah or does in his Publick Preaching declare himself to be him He inculcates to the People on all occasions that the Kingdom of God is come He shews the way of Admittance into this Kingdom viz. Repentance and Baptism and teaches the Laws of it viz. Good Life according to the strictest Rules of Vertue and Morality But who the King was of this Kingdom he leaves to his miracles to point out to those who would consider what he did and make the right use of it now Or to witness to those who should hearken to the Apostles hereafter when they preached it in plain words and called upon them to believe it after his Resurrection when there should be no longer any fear that it should cause any disturbance in Civil Societies and the Governments of the World But he could not declare himself to be the Messiah without manifest danger of Tumult and Sedition And the miracles he did declared it so much that he was fain often to hide himself and withdraw from the concourse of the People The Leper that he cured Mark I. though forbid to say any thing yet blazed it so abroad that Iesus could no more openly enter into the City but was without in desart places And there they came to him from every quarter And thus he did more than once This being premised let us take a view of the Promulgation of the Gospel by our Saviour himself and see what it was he taught the World and required men to believe The first beginning of his Ministry whereby he shewed himself seems to be at Cana in Galilee soon after his Baptism where he turned Water into Wine Of which St. Iohn Chap. II. 11. says thus This beginning of Miracles Iesus made and manifested his glory and his Disciples believed in him His Disciples here believed in him but we hear not of any other Preaching to them but by this Miracle whereby he manifested his Glory i. e. of being the Messiah the Prince So Nathanael without any other Preaching but only our Saviour's discovering to him that he knew him after an extraordinary manner presently acknowledges him to be the Messiah crying Rabbi Thou art the Son of God Thou art the King of Israel From hence staying a few days at Capernaum he goes to Ierusalem to the Passover and there he drives the Traders out of the Temple Iohn II. 12-15 saying Make not my Father's House a House of merchandize Where we see he uses a Phrase which by Interpretation signifies that he was the Son of God though at that time unregarded v. 16. Hereupon the Jews demand What sign dost thou shew us since thou doest these things Iesus answered Destroy ye this Temple and in three days I will raise it again This is an instance of what way Jesus took to declare himself For 't is plain by their Reply the Jews understood him not nor his Disciples neither For 't is said v. 22. When therefore he was risen from the dead his Disciples remembred that he said this to them And they believed the Scripture and the saying of Iesus to them This therefore we may look on in the beginning as a Pattern of Christ's Preaching and shewing himself to the Jews Which he generally followed afterwards viz. such a manifestation of himself as every one at present could not understand but yet carried such an Evidence with it to those who were well disposed now or would reflect on it when the whole course of his Ministry was over as was sufficient clearly to convince them that he was the Messiah The reason of this method used by our Saviour the Scripture gives us here at this his first appearing in Publick after his entrance upon his Ministry to be a Rule and Light to us in the whole course of it For the next Verse taking notice that many believed on him because of his Miracles which was all the Preaching they had 'T is said v. 24. But Iesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men i. e. He declared not himself so openly to be the Messiah their King as to put himself into the Power of the Jews by laying himself open to their malice whom he knew would be so ready to lay hold on it to accuse him For as the next Verse 25. shews he knew well enough what was in them We may here farther observe That Believing in his Name signifies believing him to be the Messiah V. 22. tells us That many at the Passover believed in his name when they saw the Miracles that he did What other Faith could these Miracles produce in them who saw them but that this was He of whom the Scripture spoke who was to be their Deliverer Whilst he was now at Ierusalem Nicodemus a Ruler of the Jews comes to him Iohn III. 1-21 to whom he Preaches Eternal Life by Faith in the Messiah v. 15. 17. But in general terms without naming himself to be that Messiah though his whole Discourse tends to it This is all we hear of our Saviour the first Year of his Ministry But only his Baptism Fasting and Temptation in the beginning of it and spending the rest of it after the Passover in Iudea with his Disciples Baptizing there but when he knew that the Pharisees reported that he made and baptized more Disciples than John he left Judea and got out of their way again into Galilee John IV. 1. 3. In his way back by the Well of Sichar he discourses with the Samaritan Woman And after having opened to her the True and Spiritual Worship which was at hand which the Woman presently understands of the times of the Messiah who was then looked for Thus she answers v. 25. I know that the Messiah cometh When he is
to Preach was that the Kingdom of the Messiah was come Whosoever should not receive them the Messengers of this good Tidings nor hearken to their Message incurred a heavier doom than Sodom and Gomorrha at the day of Judgment v. 14 15. But v. 32. Whosoever shall confess me before men I will confess him before my Father who is in Heaven What this confessing of Christ is we may see by comparing Iohn XII 4. with IX 22. Nevertheless among the chief Rulers also many believed in him But because of the Pharisees they did not CONFESS HIM lest they should be put out of the Synagogue And Chap. IX 22. These words spake his Parents because they feared the Iews For the Iews had agreed already that if any man did CONFESS THAT HE WAS THE MESSIAH he should be put out of the Synagogue By which places it is evident that to confess him was to confess that he was the Messiah From which give me leave to observe also what I have cleared from other places but cannot be too often remark'd because of the different sense has been put upon that Phrase viz. That believing on or in him for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred either way by the English Traslation signifies believing that he was the Messiah For many of the Rulers the Text says believed on him But they durst not consess what they believed for fear they should be put out of the Synagogue Now the Offence for which it was agreed that any one should be put out of the Synagogue was if he did confess that Iesus was the Messiah Hence we may have a clear understanding of that passage of St. Paul to the Romans where he tells them positively what is the Faith he Preaches Rom. X. 8 9. That is the Word of Faith which we preach That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved And that also of St. Iohn IV. 14 15. We have seen and do testifie that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the World Whosoever shall confess that Iesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and be in God Where confessing Jesus to be the Son of God is the same with confessing him to be the Messiah Those two Expressions being understood amongst the Jews to signifie the same thing as we have shewn already How calling him the Son of God came to signifie that he was the Messiah would not be hard to shew But it is enough that it appears plainly that it was so used and had that import amongst the Jews at that time Which if any one desires to have further evidenced to him he may add Mat. XXVI 63. Iohn VI. 69. XI 27. XX. 31. to those places before occasionally taken notice of As was the Apostles Commission such was their Performance As we read Luke IX 6. They departed and went through the Towns preaching the Gospel and healing every where Jesus bid them Preach saying The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand And St. Luke tells us they went through the Towns Preaching the Gospel A word which in Saxon answers well the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifies as that does Good news So that what the inspired Writers call the Gospel is nothing but the good Tidings that the Messiah and his Kingdom was come And so it is to be understood in the New Testament And so the Angel calls it Good tidings of great joy Luke II. 10. Bringing the first News of our Saviour's Birth And this seems to be all that his Disciples were at that time sent to Preach So Luke IX 59 60. To him that would have excused his present Attendance because of burying his Father Iesus said unto him let the dead bury their dead but go thou and preach the Kingdom of God When I say this was all they were to Preach I must be understood that this was the Faith they preached But with it they joyned Obedience to the Messiah whom they received for their King So likewise when he sent out the Seventy Luke X. their Commission was in these words v. 9. Heal the sick and say unto them the Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you After the return of his Apostles to him he sits down with them in a Mountain And a great multitude being gathered about them St. Luke tells us Chap. IX 11. The people followed him and he received them and spake unto them of the Kingdom of God and healed them that had need of healing This was his Preaching to this Assembly which consisted of Five Thousand Men besides Women and Children All which great multitude he fed with five Loaves and two Fishes Mat. XIV 21. And what this Miracle wrought upon them St. Iohn tells us Chap. VI. 14 15. Then these men when they had seen the miracle that Iesus did said This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the World i. e. the Messiah For the Messiah was the only Person that they expected from God and this the time they looked for him And hence Iohn the Baptist Mat. XI 3. stiles him He that should come As in other places Come from God or Sent from God are Phrases used for the Messiah Here we see our Saviour keeps to his usual method of Preaching He speaks to them of the Kingdom of God and does Miracles by which they might understand him to be the Messiah whose Kingdom he spake of And here we have the reason also why he so much concealed himself and forbore to own his being the Messiah For what the consequence was of the multitudes but thinking him so when they were got together St. Iohn tells us in the very next words When Iesus then perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a King he departed again into a mountain himself alone If they were so ready to set him up for their King only because they gathered from his Miracles that he was the Messiah whilst he himself said nothing of it What would not the People have done And what would not the Scribes and Pharisees have had an Opportunity to Accuse him of if he had openly professed himself to have been the Messiah that King they looked for But this we have taken notice of already From hence going to Capernaum whither he was followed by a great part of the People whom he had the day before so miraculously fed He upon the occasion of their following him for the Loaves bids them seek for the Meat that endureth to Eternal Life And thereupon Iohn VI. 22-69 declares to them his being sent from the Father And that those who believed in him should be raised to Eternal Life But all this very much involved in a mixture of Allegorical terms of eating and of Bread Bread of Life which came down from Heaven c. Which is all comprehended and expounded in these short and plain
and thereby being grown into a belief that he was the Messiah were in some degree prepared to receive the Particulars that were to fill up that Character and answer the Prophesies concerning him Which from henceforth he began to open to them though in a way which the Jews could not form an Accusation out of The time of the accomplishment of all in his Sufferings Death and Resurrection now drawing on For this was in the last Year of his Life he being to meet the Jews at Ierusalem but once more at the Passover who then should have their will upon him And therefore he might now begin to be a little more open concerning himself Though yet so as to keep himself out of the reach of any Accusation that might appear Just or Weighty to the Roman Deputy After his Reprimand to Peter telling him That he savoured not the things of God but of man Mark VIII 34. He calls the People to him and prepares those who would be his Disciples for Suffering Telling them v. 38. Whoever shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the holy Angels And then subjoyns Mat. XVI 27 28. two great and solemn Acts wherein he would shew himself to be the Messiah the King For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall render every man according to his works This is evidently meant of the Glorious Appearance of his Kingdom when he shall come to Judge the World at the last day Described more at large Mat XXV When the Son of Man shall come in his Glory and all the holy Angels with him then shall be sit upon the THRONE of his Glory Then shall the KING say to them on his right hand c. But what follows in the place above quoted Mat. XVI 28. Verily verily there be some standing here who shall not tast of Death till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom Importing that Dominion which some there should see him exercise over the Nation of the Jews was so covered by being annexed to the preceding v. 27. where he spoke of the Manifestation and Glory of his Kingdom at the day of Judgment That though his plain meaning here in v. 28. be that the appearance and visible exercise of his Kingly Power in his Kingdom was so near that some there should live to see it Yet if the foregoing words had not cast a shadow over these later but they had been left plainly to be understood as they plainly signified that he should be a King And that it was so near that some there should see him in his Kingdom This might have been laid hold on and made the matter of a plausible and seemingly just Accusation against him by the Jews before Pilate This seems to be the reason of our Saviour's inverting here the order of the two Solemn Manifestations to the World of his Rule and Power thereby perplexing at present his meaning and securing himself as was necessary from the malice of the Jews which always lay at catch to intrap him and accuse him to the Roman Governour And would no doubt have been ready to have alledged these words Some here shall not tast of Death till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom against him as Criminal had not their meaning been by the former Verse perplexed and the sense at that time rendred unintelligible and not applicable by any of his Auditors to a sense that might have been prejudicial to him before the Roman Governour For how well the Chief of the Jews were disposed towards him St. Luke tells us Chap. XI 54. Laying wait for him and seeking to catch something out of his mouth that they might accuse him Which may be a reason to satisfie us of the seemingly doubtful and obscure way of speaking used by our Saviour in other places His Circumstances being such that without such a Prudent carriage and reservedness he could not have gone through the Work which he came to do Nor have performed all the parts of it in a way correspondent to the Descriptions given of the Messiah and which should be afterwards fully understood to belong to him when he had left the World After this Mat. XVII 10 c. He without saying it in direct words begins as it were to own himself to his Apostles to be the Messiah by assuring them that as the Scribes according to the Prophecy of Malachy Chap. IV. 5. rightly said that Elias was to Usher in the Messiah So indeed Elias was already come though the Jews knew him not and treated him ill Whereby They understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptist v. 13. And a little after he somewhat more plainly intimates that he is the Messiah Mark IX 41. in these words Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my Name because ye belong to the Messiah This as I remember is the first place where our Saviour ever mentioned the name of Messiah and the first time that he went so far towards the owning to any of the Jewish Nation himself to be him In his way to Jerusalem bidding one follow him Luke IX 59. who would first bury his Father v. 60. Iesus said unto him let the dead bury their dead but go thou and preach the Kingdom of God And Luke X. 1. Sending out the Seventy Disciples he says to them v. 9. Heal the sick and say the Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you He had nothing else for these or for his Apostles or any one it seems to Preach but the good News of the coming of the Kingdom of the Messiah And if any City would not receive them he bids them v. 10. Go into the streets of the same and say Even the very dust of your City which cleaveth on us do we wipe off against you Notwithstanding be ye sure of this that the Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you This they were to take notice of as that which they should dearly answer for viz. That they had not with Faith received the good Tidings of the Kingdom of the Messiah After this his Brethren say unto him Iohn VII 2 3 4. The Feast of Tabernacles being near Depart hence and go into Judea that thy Disciples also may see the works that thou doest For there is no man that does any thing in secret and he himself seeketh to be known openly If thou do these things shew thy self to the World Here his Brethren which the next Verse tells us did not believe in him seem to upbraid him with the inconsistency of his carriage as if he designed to be received for the Messiah and yet was afraid to shew himself To whom he justified his Conduct mentioned v. 1. in the following verses by telling them That the World meaning the
Contrivance of an Ambitious or Dangerous man designing against the Government The way of expressing what he meant being in the Prophetick stile which is seldom so plain as to be understood till accomplished 'T is plain that his Disciples themselves comprehended not what Kingdom he here spoke of from their Question to him after his Resurrection Wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel Having finished these Discourses he takes Order for the Passover and eats it with his Disciples And at Supper tells them that one of them should betray him And adds Iohn XIII 19. I tell it you now before it come that when it is come to pass you may know that I am He does not say out the Messiah Iudas should not have that to say against him if he would Though that be the sense in which he uses this Expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am more than once And that this is the meaning of it is clear from Mark XII 6. Luke XXI 8. In both which Evangelists the words are For many shall come in my Name saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am The meaning whereof we shall find explained in the parallel place of St. Matthew Chap. XXIV 5. For many shall come in my Name saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the Messiah Here in this place of Iohn XIII Jesus fore-tells what should happen to him viz. That he should be betrayed by Iudas adding this Prediction to the many other Particulars of his Death and Suffering which he had at other times foretold to them And here he tells them the reason of these his Predictions viz. That afterwards they might be a confirmation to their Faith And what was it that he would have them believe and be confirmed in the belief of Nothing but this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he was the Messiah The same reason he gives Iohn XIII 28. You have heard how I said unto you I go away and come again unto you And now I have told you before it come to pass that when it is come to pass ye might believe When Iudas had left them and was gone out he talks a little freer to them of his Glory and his Kingdom than ever he had done before For now he speaks plainly of himself and his Kingdom Iohn XIII 31. Therefore when he Judas was gone out Iesus said Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is also glorified in him And if God be glorified in him God shall also glorifie him in himself and shall straitway glorifie him And Luke XXII 29. And I will appoint unto you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me that ye may eat and drink with me at my Table in my Kingdom Though he has every where all along through his Ministry preached the Gospel of the Kingdom and nothing else but that and Repentance and the Duties of a good Life Yet it has been always the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven And I do not remember that any where till now he uses any such expression as My Kingdom But here now he speaks in the first Person I will appoint you a Kingdom And in my Kingdom And this we see is only to the Eleven now Iudas was gone from them With these Eleven whom he was now just leaving he has a long Discourse to comfort them for their loss of him And to prepare them for the Persecution of the World And to exhort them to keep his Commandments and to love one another And here one may expect all the Articles of Faith should be laid down plainly if any thing else were required of them to believe but what he had taught them and they believed already viz. That he was the Messiah John XIV 1. Ye believe in God believe also in me v. 29. I have told you before it come to pass that when it is come to pass ye may believe It is believing on him without any thing else Iohn XVI 31. Iesus answered them Do you now believe This was in Answer to their professing v 30. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things and needest not that any man should ask thee By this we believe that thou comest forth from God John XVII 20. Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word All that is spoke of Believing in this his last Sermon to them is only Believing on him or believing that He came from God Which was no other than believing him to be the Messiah Indeed Iohn XIV 9. Our Saviour tells Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father And adds v. 10. Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me The words that I speak unto you I speak not of my self But the Father that dwelleth in me he doth the works Which being in Answer to Philip's words v. 9. Shew us the Father seem to import thus much No man hath seen God at any time he is known only by his Works And that he is my Father and I the Son of God i. e. the Messiah you may know by the Works I have done Which it is impossible I could do of my self but by the Union I have with God my Father For that by being in God and God in him he signifies such an Union with God that God operates in and by him appears not only by the words above-cited out of v. 10. which can scarce otherwise be made coherent sense but also from the same Phrase used again by our Saviour presently after v. 20. At that day viz. after his Resurrection when they should see him again ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you i. e. By the works I shall enable you to do through a Power I have received from the Father Which whoever sees me do must acknowledge the Father to be in me And whoever sees you do must acknowledge me to be in you And therefore he says v. 12. Verily verily I say unto you He that believeth on me the works that I do shall he also do because I go unto my Father Though I go away yet I shall be in you who believe in me And ye shall be enabled to do Miracles also for the carrying on of my Kingdom as I have done That it may be manifested to others that you are sent by me as I have evidenced to you that I am sent by the Father And hence it is that he says in the immediately preceding v. 11. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me If not believe me for the sake of the works themselves Let the Works that I have done convince you that I am sent by the Father That he is with me and that I do nothing but by his Will and by vertue of the Union I have with him And that consequently I am the Messiah who am anointed sanctified and separate by the Father to
accounted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection from the Dead neither marry nor are given in marriage Neither can they die any more for they are equal unto the Angels and are the SONS OF GOD being the Sons of the Resurrection And he that shall read St. Paul's Arguing Acts XIII 32 33. will find that the great Evidence that Jesus was the Son of God was his Resurrection Then the Image of his Father appeared in him when he visibly entred into the state of Immortality For thus the Apostle reasons We Preach to you how that the Promise which was made to our Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us in that he hath raised up Iesus again As it is also written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee This may serve a little to explain the Immortality of the Sons of God who are in this like their Father made after his Image and Likeness But that our Saviour was so he himself farther declares Iohn X. 18. Where speaking of his Life he says No one taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again Which he could not have had if he had been a Mortal Man the Son of a Man of the Seed of Adam Or else had by any Transgression forfeited his Life For the wages of Sin is Death And he that hath incurred Death for his own Transgression cannot lay down his Life for another as our Saviour professes he did For he was the Just One Acts VII 57. and XII 14. Who knew no sin 2 Cor. V. 21. Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth And thus As by Man came Death so by Man came the Resurrection of the Dead For as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive For this laying down his Life for others our Saviour tells us Iohn X. 17. Therefore does my Father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again And this his Obedience and Suffering was rewarded with a Kingdom which he tells us Luke XXII His Father had appointed unto him And which 't is evident out of the Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. XII 2. he had a regard to in his Sufferings Who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God Which Kingdom given him upon this account of his Obedience Suffering and Death He himself takes notice of in these words Iohn XVII 1-4 Iesus lift up his eyes to Heaven and said Father the hour is come glorifie thy Son that thy Son also may glorifie thee As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him And this is Life Eternal that they may know thee the only true God and Iesus the Messiah whom thou hast sent I have glorified thee on Earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do And St. Paul in his Epistle to the Philippians Chap. II. 8-11 He humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the death of the Cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name That at the name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth And that every Tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord. Thus God we see designed his Son Christ Iesus a Kingdom an Everlasting Kingdom in Heaven But Though as in Adam all die so in Christ all shall be made alive And all men shall return to Life again at the last day Yet all men having sinned and thereby come short of the Glory of God as St. Paul assures us Rom. III. 23. i.e. Not attaining to the Heavenly Kingdom of the Messiah which is often called the Glory of God as may be seen Rom. V. 2. XV. 7. II. 7. Mat. XVI 27. Mark VIII 38. For no one who is unrighteous i. e. comes short of perfect Righteousness shall be admitted into the Eternal Life of that Kingdom As is declared 1 Cor. VI. 9. The unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And Death the Wages of Sin being the Portion of all those who had transgressed the Righteous Law of God The Son of God would in vain have come into the World to lay the Foundations of a Kingdom and gather together a select People out of the World if they being found guilty at their appearance before the Judgment-seat of the Righteous Judge of all men at the last day instead of entrance into Eternal Life in the Kingdom he had prepared for them they should receive Death the just Reward of Sin which every one of them was guilty of This second Death would have left him no Subjects And instead of those Ten Thousand times Ten Thousand and Thousands of Thousands there would not have been one left him to sing Praises unto his Name saying Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever God therefore out of his Mercy to Mankind and for the erecting of the Kingdom of his Son and furnishing it with Subjects out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation proposed to the Children of Men that as many of them as would believe Iesus his Son whom he sent into the World to be the Messiah the promised Deliverer And would receive him for their King and Ruler should have all their past Sins Disobedience and Rebellion forgiven them And if for the future they lived in a sincere Obedience to his Law to the utmost of their power the sins of Humane Frailty for the time to come as well as all those of their past Lives should for his Son's sake because they gave themselves up to him to be his Subjects be forgiven them And so their Faith which made them be baptized into his Name i.e. Enroll themselves in the Kingdom of Iesus the Messiah and profess themselves his Subjects and consequently live by the Laws of his Kingdom should be accounted to them for Righteousness i.e. Should supply the defects of a scanty Obedience in the sight of God Who counting this Faith to them for Righteousness or Compleat Obedience did thus Justifie or make them Just and thereby capable of Eternal Life Now that this is the Faith for which God of his free Grace Justifies sinful Man For 't is God alone that justifieth Rom. VIII 33. Rom. III. 26. We have already shewed by observing through all the History of our Saviour and the Apostles recorded in the Evangelists and in the Acts what he and his Apostles preached and proposed to be believed We shall shew now that besides believing him to be the Messiah their King it was farther required that those who would have the Priviledge Advantages and
Brethren ye have done it unto me Then shall he say unto them on the left hand Depart from me ye Cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels For I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink I was a stranger and ye took me not in Naked and ye cloathed me not Sick and in prison and ye visited me not In so much that ye did it not to one of these ye did it not to me And these shall go into Everlasting Punishment But the Righteous into Life Eternal These I think are all the places where our Saviour mentions the last Judgment or describes his way of Proceeding in that Great Day Wherein as we have observed it is remarkable that every where the Sentence follows doing or not doing without any mention of believing or not believing Not that any to whom the Gospel hath been Preached shall be Saved without believing Iesus to be the Messiah For all being Sinners and Transgressors of the Law and so unjust are all liable to Condemnation unless they believe and so through Grace are justified by God for this Faith which shall be accounted to them for Righteousness But the rest wanting this Cover this allowance for their Transgressions must answer for all their Actions And being found Transgressors of the Law shall by the Letter and Sanction of that Law be Condemned for not having paid a full Obedience to that Law And not for want of Faith That is not the Guilt on which the Punishment is laid though it be the want of Faith which lays open their Guilt uncovered And exposes them to the Sentence of the Law against all that are Unrighteous The common Objection here is If all Sinners shall be Condemned but such as have a gracious allowance made them And so are justified by God for believing Iesus to be the Messiah and so taking him for their King whom they are resolved to obey to the utmost of their Power What shall become of all Mankind who lived before our Saviour's time Who never heard of his Name And consequently could not believe in him To this the Answer is so obvious and natural that one would wonder how any reasonable Man should think it worth the urging No body was or can be required to believe what was never proposed to him to believe Before the Fulness of time which God from the Council of his own Wisdom had appointed to send his Son in He had at several times and in rent Manners promised to the People of Israel an extraordinary Person to come Who raised from amongst themselves should be their Ruler and Deliverer The time And other Circumstances of his Birth Life and Person he had in sundry Prophesies so particularly described and so plainly foretold that He was well known and expected by the Jews under the Name of the Messiah or Anointed given him in some of these Prophesies All then that was required before his appearing in the World was to believe what God had revealed And to rely with a full assurance on God for the performance of his Promise And to believe that in due time he would send them the Messiah this anointed King this promised Saviour and Deliverer according to his Word This Faith in the promises of God This relying and acquiescing in his Word and Faithfulness The Almighty takes well at our hands as a great mark of homage paid by us poor frail Creatures to his Goodness and Truth as well as to his Power and Wisdom And accepts it as an acknowledgment of his peculiar Providence and Benignity to us And therefore our Saviour tells us Iohn XII 44. He that believes on me believes not on me But on him that sent me The works of Nature shew his Wisdom and Power But 't is his peculiar Care of Mankind most eminently discovered in his Promises to them that shews his Bounty and Goodness And consequently engages their Hearts in Love and Affection to him This oblation of an Heart fixed with dependance and affection on him is the most acceptable Tribute we can pay him the foundation of true Devotion and Life of all Religion What a value he puts on this depending on his Word and resting satisfied in his Promises We have an Example in Abraham whose Faith Was counted to him for Righteousness As we have before remarked out of Rom. IV. And his relying firmly on the Promise of God without any doubt of its performance gave him the Name of the Father of the Faithful And gained him so much favour with the Almighty that he was called the Friend of God The Highest and most Glorious Title can be bestowed on a Creature The thing promised was no more but a Son by his Wife Sarah and a numerous Posterity by him which should possess the Land of Canaan These were but Temporal Blessings And except the Birth of a Son very remote Such as he should never live to see nor in his own Person have the benefit of But because he questioned not the Performance of it But rested fully satisfied in the Goodness Truth and Faithfulness of God who had promised it was counted to him for Righteousness Let us see how St. Paul expresses it Rom. IV. 18-22 Who against hope believed in hope that he might become the Father of many Nations According to that which was spoken so shall thy Seed be And being not weak in his Faith he considered not his own Body now dead when he was above an hundred years old Neither yet the deadness of Sarah 's Womb. He staggered not at the Promise of God through unbelief but was strong in Faith giving Glory to God And being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able to perform And THEREFORE it was imputed to him for Righteousness St. Paul having here Emphatically described the strength and firmness of Abraham's Faith informs us That he thereby gave glory to God And therefore it was accounted to him for Righteousness This is the way that God deals with poor frail Mortals He is graciously pleased to take it well of them And give it the place of Righteousness and a kind of merit in his sight If they believe his Promises and have a steadfast relying on his veracity and goodness St. Paul Heb. XI 6. tells us Without Faith it is impossible to please God But at the same time tells us what Faith that is For says he He that cometh to God must believe that he is And that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him He must be perswaded of God's Mercy and good Will to those who seek to obey him And rest assured of his rewarding those who rely on him for whatever either by the light of Nature or particular Promises he has revealed to them of his tender Mercies and taught them to expect from his Bounty This description of Faith that we might not mistake what he means by that Faith without which we