Declarations Commendations Exhortations concerning being not ashamed 2. I pass therefore to the second thing propounded to enquire what is the special Object of these Prejudices or what are those things contained in the Gospel whereof in an especial manner it is imagined that we ought to be ashamed Though the whole System of the Gospel lies under Prejudices yet not all parts of it alike some more than other and some by reason of the other The whole Gospel is generally dividable into 1. Historical Narrations 2. Moral Institutions and Motives 3. Dogmatical Mysteries These are delivered sometimes distinctly and severally and sometimes they are combined and mixed together That there was such a person as Christ that he was born of Mary that Joseph was his reputed Father The manner of his Life and of his Death his Actions and his Teachings are matters meerly Historical That this reputed Son of Joseph was indeed the Son of God conceived by the Holy Ghost born of a Virgin and the like have in them a Combination of the Mystery together with the History of the Gospel I stand not to shew how the Morality is sometimes simply delivered and sometimes in Combination with the Mysterious parts of the Gospel 1. Now concerning those parts of the Gospel which are merely and simply Historical and Moral I suppose they cannot be here intended Because that to such persons as the Romans were men pretending to Reason and Philosophy they afford no colour for an imagination that a Minister or Christian ought to be ashamed Supposing the truth of what is there delivered whereof I have spoken heretofore what was there in the Birth or Life or Death the Conversation or Actions ordinary or extraordinary of Christ or his Apostles whereof in the opinion of a Philosopher a Christian ought to be ashamed Was it the meanness of Christs Nativity That he was the reputed Son of Joseph who was of a mean and despicable Occupation Was it that he lived an Ambulatory kinde of life teaching and disputing concerning good and evil happiness and unhappiness in the Synagogues and in the Temple and the Streets and Markets and in the Wilderness every where Preaching the Doctrine of the Kingdom Or lastly Was it because of the occasion and manner of his Death because he was Condemned and Executed by his Countrey-men upon an accusation of corrupting the People and making an Innovation in Religion upon pretence of holding intercourse with God Every one of these circumstances had been coincident in Socrates long before the time of the writing of this Epistle to the Romans He was the Son of Sophroniscus as poor a man as Joseph a Carver of Images in Stone his Mother was a Midwife His Conversation was Ambulatory discourfing and reasoning at all times and in all places in Academia in Lycaeo in Foro in places of walking and of publick Exercise when he ate or drank or played in the Camp the Market or the Prison with all the men he met withall concerning Virtue and Vice and the summum bonum concerning Wisdom and Folly And he had been condemned and executed by the Athenians upon the very same pretences which were objected against our Saviour Yet all these disadvantages had not hindred Socrates at that time after about 500 years from the Admiration and almost Adoration of all men pretending to Philosophy and Wisdom not only amongst all the rest of the Gentile World but even amongst the Romans also And therefore the mere Historical part of the Gospel could minister no colour of suspicion why a Minister or a Christian should be ashamed of it 2. Moreover the same may be said of those parts of the Gospel which are merely Practical and Moral The Precepts concerning Piety and Justice and Temperance in all the several branches of them and the motives to them The Morality of the Gospel infinitely excells the Institutions of any of the Heathen Philosophers all that they could object against it was its too great purity and holiness that it puts a violence and stretch upon Humane Nature causing men to strain after degrees of purity and sanctity unpracticable and unattainable It excells all the Precepts and Institutes of the Jews Christ made a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even of the Moral Law of Moses and tells us that the Righteousness of Christians must exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and the Apostle comparing the entire Systems of the Mosaical and Christian Oeconomies in reference to Christian Duties and the motives to them justly pronounces that the Christian hath received a better Covenant founded upon better Promises 3. It remains therefore that the peculiar and special Object of those Prejudicate imaginations whereby it is concluded that Ministers and Christians ought to be ashamed are the Articles of mere Belief Dogmatical Mysteries of the Gospel At the expence of your time and patience in a long discourse to tell you what are the Mysteries of the Gospel were to suppose that in compliance with the barbarity of later times you had neglected to be instructed in your Catechism and had need that one should teach you what are the first Elements of Christianity My design engages me no further than only to name them and that also very briefly In the two first Chapters to the Corinthians we finde our Apostle handling this Argument largely and ex professo And there he reduces the whole mystery to two words namely the Cross of Christ he tells them that he was sent to Preach and not to Baptize that this was that which Christ sent him to Preach and that he determined to know nothing else among them but Jesus Christ and him Crucified and in Chap 1. v. 23. he declares this to have been the occasion of the Scandal taken both by Jews and Gentiles I Preach Christ Crucified to the Jews a stumbling-block c. The Scandal taken was against the Mysteries of the Gospel and the Nature and Mediatorian Office the Character and Personal Concernment of Christ and work of Redemption by his blood spilt upon the Cross are the two great and comprehensive heads to which the whole Mystery of the Gospel is easily naturally and immediately reducible The Justification Sanctification entire Oeconomy of the salvation of man depends immediately upon the work of Redemption by the blood of Christ. The value and efficacy of his blood resolves into the Excellency of his Person and of his Nature That he was the Son of God the Father Conceived by the Holy Ghost which Father Son and Holy Ghost are one So that in the last resolution the conjunction of the Divine and Humane Natures in the Unity of the Person of Christ and the Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Nature of the Godhead is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Gospel And this is also the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that great thing whereof it is imagined that a Christian or a Preacher ought to be ashamed
the Apostles the Promulgers of the Gospel Wherefore it is to be believed The Antecedent of this Enthymem is the sum of what I shall deliver When the Pharisees said unto Christ thy Record is not true because thou bearest record of thy self I am one saith Christ that bear record of my self and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me Moreover he tells the Disciples that the Comforter should testify of him And ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning So that beside the Witness of the Apostles the Gospel had the Attestation of all the persons of the Trinity viz. of the 1. Father 2. Son 3. Holy Ghost 1. God the Father bore witness to his Son and that he did by 1. Visible Signs and 2. Audible Voices 3. by Mission of Angels 4. by Co-operating in his Miracles c. 1. At his Nativity a new Star appeared At his Baptism they saw the heaven opened and the Spirit sent from the Father in the visible shape of a Dove and lighting upon him Before his Passion he was transfigured in their sight And At it the Sun was eclipsed when the Moon was full the Veil the Rocks rent so that the Centurion said Surely this man was the Son of God Bodies of Saints were seen of many All these were visible signs 2. As for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Daughter of the Voice In his Baptism Lo a voyce from heaven Saying This is my beloved Son At his Transfiguration a Voyce came out of a cloud which said This is my beloved Son hear him A little before his death as he was Praying Father glorifie thy Name There came a voyce from heaven Saying I have both glorified it and will glorify it again 3. For mission of Angels by the Father We find them still ready upon all occasions from before his Coming down to the time of his Ascension into Heaven Before his Conception the Angel Gabriel appeared to Zachary and to Mary before his Nativity to Joseph saying fear not Joseph At the time of his Nativity a whole Chorus appeared to the Shepherds In his Infancy an Angel appeared twice to Joseph admonishing him of his going to Egypt and his return from thence In his Adult age they ministred to him in his hunger Before his death they strengthned him in his Agony After it they rolled away the stone from his Sepulcher They declared his Resurrection and in his Ascension they stood by and foretold his coming again to Judgment Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing This same Jesus 4. The Father co-operated with him according to that of our Saviour The father worketh hitherto and I work c. These are some of the Attestations of the Father 2. Christ bore witness of himself And this he did by proving himself to be the Messiah viz. by fulfilling all the prophesies relating to the Person or Offices the Life and the Death of the Messiah His Generation was such as cannot be declared he was born at Bethlehem of the Tribe of Judah of the Family of David about 490 years after the return from Captivity When the Scepter was just now departed from Juda. He performed not only the Substance of the Prophesies but all the Circumstances foretold concerning the Life and Death of the Messiah 1. He was to be a Prophet and so he was The Spirit of the Lord anointed him to preach and he spake as never man spake He foretold many things to come they all bare him witness 2. He was to be a King and so he was His Name was Wonderful his Power was shewen throughout the universal System of the World the Angels good and evil the Heavens Elements Plants Fishes Brutes Health and Sickness Life and Death were all obedient unto his Word 3. He was to be a Priest and so he was He made an Atonement by his Obedience and by his sufferings to the least punctilio to the taking of a little Vinegar and when all things were fulfilled He cryed with a loud voice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is finished and he bowed his head and gave up the Ghost Moreover for the Justification of his Gospel and that he might leave no place for Infidelity he rose again from the dead appeared to many convinced them by all their Senses They saw him They heard him They felt his hands and his side They Eat and Drank with him They Conversed with him 40 dayes He was seen by more then 500 at once and lastly in the sight of Many of them he Ascended Visibly into Heaven These were some of the Testimonies which our Lord Christ bare to himself 3 The time would fail me if I should speak of all the Testimonies given by the Holy Spirit In his Conception to Mary fulfilling the Promise of Gabriel Before his Nativity to Zachary and Elizabeth in his Infancy to Simeon and Hanna in his Baptism to John I knew him not saith John but he that sent me to baptize said unto me upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and resting on him that is he and I saw the Spirit descending Throughout his whole Ministry till his Death the Spirit gave witness to him Moreover in his Resurrection he was declared the Son of God with power by the Holy Ghost After his Ascension the Holy Ghost fulfilled all his undertakings in that Grand Manifestation at Pentecost at the time and place which Christ had undertaken for A manifestation made to all the Senses and to men of every nation under heaven Parthians besides a Multitude of other Instances Such were the Attestations given to Christ the Author and finisher of our faith 2. And for the Apostles the Promulgers of it besides the Change of their Spirits from darkness to light Whereby they were led out of Ignorance and Infidelity into all Truth And from torpid and pusillanimous persons during thelife of their Master they became when he was dead the most active and magnanimousin the world I say besides this Change They had bestowed upon them All things necessary either for their 1. Own Assurance or for the 2. Conviction of the World Concerning the truth of the Gospel which they delivered 1. As for themselves besides the Conversation with their Master before and after his Resurrection they had 1. Apparitions of Angels And to one of them Christ himself appeared after he was ascended to his father 2 They had the Bath Kol Voices from Heaven In the 9 of the Acts we find a Voice from Heaven maintaining a Dialogue with Paul and at another time a voice saying to Peter Arise Peter Kill and Eat 3. They had extatical Visions Peter was in a trance Act 10. 10 19. Paul rapt up to the third heaven 4. They had monitory Dreams Paul saw a man in a Dream saying unto him Come into Macedonia and help us 5. They had Impulses of the Spirit So Paul was forbid by
Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel since the day that your fathers came forth of the land of Egypt until this day I have sent unto you all my servants the prophets daily rising early and sending them yet they hearkned not to me nor inclined their ear Whereunto shall I liken this generation I have piped Sometimes they hear it as a song Loe thou art unto them as a very lovely song Sometimes they refuse it positively They say to the Seers see not and to the Prophets prophefie not unto us As for the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken in the name of the Lord we will not hearken unto thee They endeavour to suppress and to destroy it When Jehudi had read three or four leaves in Jeremies roll he cut it with a pen-knife and cast it into the fire until all the roll was consumed in the fire Instead of faith and obedience it meets with infidelity and atheistical opposition and contradiction Who hath believed our report saith one All the day long have I stretch'd forth my hands to a gain-saying people is the complaint of another They say unto God depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of his ways Speak to them in the name of Lord they say Who is the Lord that I should fear him discourse to them of the Almighty they say What is the Almighty that we should serve him What can the Almighty do What profit shall we have if we pray unto him Speak to them of God's searching Eye Surely say they God sees it not Tush God cares not for it of his over-ruling Providence nay say they but all things come alike to all there is one event to the just and to the unjust Tell them they must appear before the Judgment-seat of God and of Christ they scoffingly reply Where is the Promise of his coming since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were before Where is the God of Judgment let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it This is the general entertainment of their message and for the persons of the Messengers they devise devices against them they smite them with the smiting of the tongue they threaten them they beat them sometime they take away their Liberty and sometime their Lives this was the portion of Jeremiah the men of Anathoth sought his life saying Prophesy not by the Name of the Lord that thou die not by our hand They charged him falsly they smote him they imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan they cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah they let him down with chords into the mire What do I instance in one particular since at once we read the general entertainment of the Prophets that were of old That they had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings yea moreover of bands and imprisonment they were stoned were sawn asunder were tempted were slain with the sword they wandred about in sheep-skins and goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented Moreover they scourged and crucified the Lord of Glory they put him to an open shame Neither were the disciples above their master or the servants above their Lord after scourgings and bands and imprisonments and many a sad and barbarous usage St. James was knocked on the head S. Peter was crucified S. Paul was beheaded and the rest were used accordingly Behold saith God I send unto you Prophets and wise men and some of them ye shall scourge in your Synagogues and some of them ye shall kill and crucifie If we diligently search the Scriptures and histories of the Church we shall find this to have been generally the success of the Word of God and of his Messengers instead of trembling and penitence and reformation to be enterteined with scorn and contempt and persecution 2. But it may be the Works of God may have better success upon the hearts of the children of men his works of 1. Mercy or of 2. Judgment The Apostle tells us that God's patience and forbearance leadeth men unto repentance And the Prophet that when his judgments are abroad the inhabitants of the World will learn righteousness Indeed a Logical man reasoning upon Principles will be apt so to conclude But alas it is not so with men alas that so clear reasoning should be contradicted by evident experience and observation Nay they despise the riches of God's mercy and treasure up wrath against the day of wrath From the patience and longanimity of God they make perverse and Atheistical conclusions when thou sawest a thief thou consentedst unto him and hast been partaker with the adulterer these things hast thou done and I kept silence and thou thoughtest wickedly that I am such an one as thy self Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the Sons of men are fully set in them to do evil Solomon tells us that the prosperity of Fools shall destroy them and there are few so circumspect and wise as not to stumble at this stone of stumbling Neither Salomon's Wisdom nor his Father's Piety could preserve them upright amidst the snares of prosperity The danger as well as wickedness of this is intimated in Nathan's exprobration to David Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel I anointed thee King over Israel I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul I gave thee thy Masters house and thy Masters wives into thy bosom I gave thee the house of Israel of Judah wherefore hast thou killed Uriah and taken his wife to be thy wife This was a temptation which the Israelites never could withstand notwithstanding all the Caveats given them by Moses When the Lord shall bring thee into the good land and shall give thee cities and houses which thou buildedst not Vineyards and Olive trees which thou plantedst not when thou shalt have eaten and be full Then beware lest thou forget the Lord thy God But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked as the Lord multiplied his mercies so they multiplied their transgressions his prodigious and wonderful deliverances were answered with prodigious and wonderful ingratitude for they sinned yet the more and lightly esteemed the God of their Salvation But if the mercies of God will not prevail to draw men to repentance surely his judgments cannot fail to drive them to it whether they are sent upon a city or upon a man only Shall the Lion roar and shall not the forest tremble shall a trumpet be blown in the city and the people not be afraid Behold therefore and tremble and be afraid all ye that look upon Repentance as a slight and an easie duty and that deferr it for that reason It is not every horrour and shaking that will bring a man to Repentance And the instances are many wherein the judgments of God instead of softning or breaking the
more considerable Signs and Wonders than before or since that time were ever wrought since the Creation of the world yet all this will not content them Notwithstanding all this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they require a sign the meaning whereof is better interpreted by their Practice and behaviour to our Saviour than by the Dictionary And of this their behaviour I shall only produce two or three instances In the sixth of John we finde that Christ fed 5000 men with five Loaves and two Fishes and when they had seen the Miracle they were so taken with it that they said that he was that Prophet which should come and they would have taken him by force and made him a King But the very next day these very men that had seen and felt and tasted of the Miracle because he told them that they followed him for the Loaves take a miff at him they pirk up themselves and come boldly and malepertly to him saying What Sign shewest thou that we may see and believe What do'st thou work As if the former Miracle had not been now a Sign When Christ hung upon the Cross the Noble and the Mighty the Grave and Wise amongst them the chief Priests and the Scribes and the Elders came and offered him a bargain if he would then just then come down from the Cross they would believe but our Lord Christ had just then something else to do In the eighth of Mark the Pharisees came forth and began to question him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cavil and dispute with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 requiring a sign seeking of him a sign from Heaven tempting him They would have and that presently upon the spot a sign not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that which is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not from Winde or Sea or Earth but from Heaven not that they intended to be his Disciples but for a trial of his skill and ability was not this a Gallant and a Wise a Noble and a Worthy Postulatum Could it chuse but move him to a compliance This moved him indeed to comply so far with his own defign as to promise them a sign the sign of the Prophet Jonas that irrefragable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his Gospel which should render them inexcusable But though he was meek and lowly of heart the soft and gentle Lamb of God so that he snffered himself to be accused condemned buffeted and spit upon and yet held his peace as a Lamb that is dumb so opened he not his mouth Yet the nobleness and ingenuity of this Postulatum kindled a fire within him so that he spake with his tongue This moved him to scorn and indignation so that in effect he called them bastards for for their labour telling them that they were no sons of Abraham Isaac and Jacob but a wicked and adulterous Generation and that no sign should be given them but the sign of the Prophet Jonas I suppose I shall need to say no more concerning the absurdity and unreasonableness of the Jewish or Semeiotical Postulatum And I have now done with the former part of my undertaking which was to endeavour to make it appear That the Comtemners of the Gospel have reason to be ashamed of their Prejudices 2. I come now to the second which is the last part of what I have propounded viz. to shew That there is no reason for Christians or for Preachers to be ashamed of the Gospel And that upon two Considerations 1. Propter veritatis Evidentiam 2. Propter virtutis Excellentiam The former of which is implied if it were not the truth of God it could not be the Power of God The later is expressed For it is the Power of God to salvation to every one that believeth The evidence of the Truth is so great that whosoever duly considers it will certainly believe the Gospel The Virtue and Excellency of the Gospel is so great that whosoever truly believes the Gospel shall infallibly be saved 1. First I am to speak of the Evidence of the truth of the Gospel But because it is here only implied and because I have formerly employed my poor endeavours upon that Argument I shall only briefly touch upon it The Mysteries of the Gospel though they are inexplicable and inconceivable yet are they not incredible though incomprehensible yet they are not unaccountable Nor was the Author and Finisher of the Christian Faith so severe upon the understanding of his followers as to exact a Belief without a sufficient proof and Demonstration of the truth of that which he delivered Though he would not offer at the Grecanick way which he knew to be impossible to grant to be absurd and unreasonable to require yet he would afford it that Demonstration whereof it was capable a Demonstration properly so called accommodate to the Understanding of all Mankinde Jews and Gentiles Greeks and Barbarians Noble and Ignoble Learned and Unlearned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that refused to gratifie the impudent Scribes and Pharisees in their way would not leave the truth of the Gospel undemonstrated in his own And of the truth of all the Mysteries which he delivered this is the Analemma Catholicon the Common the Universal the Comprehenfive demonstration He that made himself the Son of God as the Jews express it That said he was one with God I and the Father are one that he was in the Father and the Father in him That declared the Mission and Emanation of the Spirit from the Father and the Son and that always spoke of him as a person distinct And that these three are one In a word He that was the Author of these and all other Mysteries whereof we have been speaking did not put the issue of believing upon his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but upon an undeniable and unrefuseable Criterion If I do not the works of my Father believe me not but if I do though ye believe not me believe the works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ye may know by Demonstration as well as believe that I am in the Father and he in me He did not only bear witness to himself although he died in testimony of his Doctrine He had not only the glorious Company of the Apostles the goodly fellowship of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs for his Witnesses But he called Heaven and Earth to witness He subpena'd whatever was in Heaven and Earth and in the Sea and in all deep places to bear testimony to him There were three that bore witness in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit those three which he affirmed to be one The Angels ministred unto him The Devils trembled and fled before him Plants and Animals the Winde and Sea obeyed him The Stars in their courses or rather out of their courses militated for him To give testimony to Consummatum est at the time of his