is a mark set before it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lo or behold that we may all attend and listen diligently to this voice for now the word of God came to him as he speaks in another place I told you concerning those who were called Gods under the old Law x. John 35. and in an audible manner authorized him to begin to act as the Christ of God whom He had anointed as you shall hear with the Holy Ghost just at this moment when He declared him his Son by this voice from Heaven Which if you carefully observe it is expressed by the other Evangelists in such a manner that we may understand it was directed to himself as that commission which was sent him from Heaven to give him power to exercise the office of Gods supreme and only Minister in this world in whom alone he was well pleased and in none else but by him For S. Mark says the voice was in these words Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Which plainly tell us that he spake to Jesus and not merely of him that he might be confident He was the person whom God had now sanctified and sent into the world And so S. Luke hath recorded it more fully and expresly Thou art my beloved Son in thee I am well pleased As if he had said Thou art the person to whom I have a favour above all others I have anointed thee above all thy fellows none that have had this name are so dear to me as thou art to whom I commit my authority and invest with my power and intrust with all my mind and will Now because we all suspect private Revelations and think it no sufficient ground to believe one that says God spake to him unless he can bring some other very credible person besides himself to attest that he also heard it or be able otherways to demonstrate it God was pleased therefore not only by other means to verifie this but so to direct S. Matthew's pen that he hath as good as told us that the voice which was directed to Jesus himself telling him he was his Son was uttered likewise in the audience of John Baptist a person famed for his sanctity reverenced by all the Nation of the Jews and acknowledged to be a Prophet Though it was delivered I believe in those words and syllables wherein S. Mark or S. Luke have set it down for as the Heavens were opened unto him iii. Matth. 16. and he saw the Spirit descending so the voice which accompanied it spake in all likelihood unto him yet it being heard also by John who had baptised him and who saw all that went before it as he himself declared it was as if God had said to him This is my beloved Son c. and therefore so S. Matthew relates it The Father Almighty by this voice awakened the attention of the Baptist and bade him as it were mark it that this person to whom he now spake was the Messiah who now entred upon his office being declared the Son of God and should increase and grow as he presently after discerned iii. John 30. till he came to be declared by the Resurrection from the dead the Son of God with power as S. Paul speaks i. Rom. 4. that is with all the power belonging to his office of Lord of all things the great King of Heaven and Earth Till this time he knew no more of the Christ but that he was coming God having ordered him to make way for him and that he should immediately appear and be so much superior to him iii. Matth. 11. that he should not be worthy to be one of his meanest servants His countenance he was not acquainted withall nor could he say this is the person when he met with him as he himself confesses i. John 31. But thus much he was told by him that sent him to Baptize as he there declares ver 33. that on whom he should see the Spirit descend and remain he should conclude that person was the Messiah from whom they might expect the gift of the Holy Ghost which had been so long a stranger to their Nation And accordingly having some intimation of him from the Spirit as soon as Jesus offered himself to receive his Baptism iii. Matth. 14. immediately after he was confirmed in his belief that this was the Christ by the fulfilling of the former sign i. John 32. And thereupon publishes it openly to all in these words ver 34. I saw and bare record i. e. gave my testimony of him that this is the Son of God So God himself taught him to call our Saviour for it should seem by the words of S. Matthew that he had this further ground to believe it and so was furnished with greater ability to testifie it that he heard the voice from Heaven as well as saw the Spirit descend upon him Though the Father spake the words to Jesus yet it was in the presence and hearing of this person who was sent from God to be his witness i. John 6 7. and as if he had said to him This is my beloved Son mind what I say go and testifie that this is He in whom I delight above all others Thou mayest be sure of it for I tell thee so who gave thee all the Authority thou hast And accordingly you read that he went and did his office for which he was sent that is He bare witness of him and cried saying This was he of whom I spake He that cometh after me is preferred before me for he was before me 1. John 15. which he repeats in the same Chapter as his record ver 19. in behalf of our Saviour on two other occasions ver 27. and 30. to let them know that the person of whom he gave this testimony before he was baptised of him was now come and exalted to a far higher dignity than himself being a more mighty person as the rest of the Evangelists speak no less than the Son of God This he means by being preferred before him appointed by the Father of all to an incomparably more excellent office which he entred upon after the preaching and baptism of John who began indeed his Ministry before Jesus but it was not because he was greater but rather because he was less and came to prepare his way who was as he acknowledges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first of the two not only in regard of his Divine Nature but in regard of his sublime office into which he was now put by being pronounced the beloved Son of God by this voice from Heaven Which the Devil himself one would think heard and understood to be such a testimony concerning Jesus as committed the greatest Ministry to him and was a Divine warrant to go in Gods name to the world as Moses after the Angel spake to him out of the bush did to the Jews And therefore when immediately after this our Saviour was led by the
adv Marcionem C. 22. was going in the same manner to give testimony to them concerning his Son Jesus and to confirm them in the belief of whatsoever he should teach them For thirdly this was not Mut◠Nubes as the same Tertullian there speaks a dumb cloud a silent glory but a voice came out of it which was Novum Patris testimonium super filio the Fathers New testimony concerning his Son In which testimony He was pleased to apply those very words to Jesus which had been spoken by Moses concerning a Prophet whom he had bid them look for after him For in the xviii of Deuteronomy he tells them from God himself ver 17. that there should be raised up to them a Prophet like unto him into whose mouth ver 18. the Lord would put his own words and who should speak all that he should command him UNTO HIM SHALL YE HEARKEN ver 15. as much as to say Be sure you attend to his words and give obedience to them Now these very words and syllables HEAR HIM are by that God who made that promise to Moses spoken in this place to the Disciples with a manifest application to Jesus clearly denoting him to be the person whom Moses foretold the Lord their God would send to declare his mind unto them as he himself already had done And that this was really the voice of God as much as that voice which spake to Moses we have the greater reason to conclude from this following which is the fourth observation That Moses now stood by and heard it and from thence learnt a great deal more than he knew when he wrote his Book that this person of whom he spoke was more than a Prophet being the Son of Gods dearest love For these words which declared him so were spoken there where he was present who durst not contradict them as sure he would have done had he not known them to be the very voice of God and no delusion I need not enlarge this because the Evangelists tell us so plainly that not only He appeared in glory talking with our Saviour upon this Mountain but Elias also accompanied him which is next to be considered Who being a great Prophet might pretend as fairly as any other man to be the person designed by Moses in the words forenamed and yet consented by his silence to the same undoubted Truth that the prophecy of Moses was not till now fufilled but had its utmost completion in Jesus And indeed this voice from Heaven making such an open Proclamation concerning Jesus before him that gave the Law and before the chiefest of the Prophets who had asserted it and being heard by them with the profoundest silence without any contradiction it did as good as tell the Apostles that they might be assured this was He of whom the Law and the Prophets had spoken whom they were now to give ear unto and that the Law and the Prophets must from henceforth give way to an higher Revelation from God by this Jesus If this had not been true we cannot but think that this great Zealot Elias who had been always so jealous for the Lord of hosts 1 Kings xix 14. and this trusty servant of God Moses who was so faithful in all his house xii Num. 7. would have presently entred their protestation against it and required the Apostles in the Name of God to give heed only to their voice but not to this Which now might the rather be believed to come from Heaven because these inspired persons reverence it and dare not venture in the least to speak against it when they were highly concerned so to do if it had not been the voice of God And if any one shall ask how these Disciples could tell that these two were Moses and Elias whom they never saw I think Theophylact hath well resolved it that they knew them not by their faces but by their discourse Certain it is that persons living in far distant Countries known to others merely by their works and manner of writing have after a little converse at an unexpected meeting been challenged by the Names that their Books carried without the help of any noted character in their face to distinguish them Nothing is more common than the story of Erasmus whom his Friend here in England greeted by his name after a few repartees pass'd between them though he had never seen him and little thought then to embrace him Now we are expresly told by all the three Evangelists that Moses and Elias talked with Jesus and by S. Luke that their discourse was concerning his decease or departure out of this world which he should accomplish at Jerusalem and consequently it is very probable of the glory that was to follow it by his Resurrection Which conference the Apostles hearing they might easily know though not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by their pictures which many of that Nation held it unlawful to be made yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from their words and discourse wherein either Jesus or they before it was done had occasion to mention their Names or their offices or to describe their persons that they were none else but those two men who then appeared to them And it is possible as Theophylact adds that Moses might say I acknowledge thee to be the person whose death I prefigured by the Lamb which was slain at the Passeover And Elias might joyn with him and say Thou art He whose Resurrection I did likewise fore-show by calling again the Widow's son to life Some such kind of discourse we may reasonably conceive passed between them whereby they discovered themselves to be the one the Law-giver the other the noblest of all the Prophets who now came to wait upon Jesus and acknowledge that he was greater than they as the voice from Heaven presently testified which declared him the beloved Son of God to whom now all must attend as they had formerly done to them And therefore it is very remarkable which is the last thing I shall observe that no sooner was this voice heard but Moses and Elias vanished and were seen no more As much as to say That Jesus alone was now to be heard the Law and the Prophets were gone and had nothing to do but only to serve him So S. Mark relates ix 8. that suddenly when they had looked round about after the hearing of this voice they saw no man any more save Jesus only with themselves They turned their eyes every way to look for Moses and Elias but there was no further news of them Nay S. Luke tells us ix 36. that in the very uttering of the voice from that Heavenly glory they disappeared So those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plainly signifie While the voice was speaking Jesus was found alone The clould out of which it came covered them and took them into it At the same time it opened it self to manifest him and to obscure them that it might be evident
evidences which He produced while he was on Earth to justifie his high Authority which is comprehended under the Name of the Son of God but enquire after those only which He hath given of it since He went to Heaven and ascended to the Throne of his glory From whence this Word of God hath been pleased to speak or in some very remarkable manner to assert this Truth upon no less than three several occasions I. First of all He showed himself to his first Martyr S. Steven in a sensible Majesty standing at the right hand of God in the splendor of the Divine glory Read but the vii Acts 55 56. and there you will find He made himself so plainly appear to be the Son of God and that with power as S. Paul you have heard speaks in 1. Rom. 4. that is the King of Heaven and Earth next to the most supreme Majesty of God the Father Almighty that nothing can be said against it unless any man will be so audacious as to fancy that this holy and glorious Martyr was strongly deluded But there is a clear demonstration against that from the whole story of his Life and Death For He was a man of great note and eminency in the Church who held the very first place among the seven Deacons vi Acts 5. that were chosen to attend the daily ministration to the poor The feeding of whose bodies He did not think the only thing belonging to his charge but such was his zeal he likewise broke and dispensed the Bread of life to all his neighbours He justified the Christian Faith of which he was full vi Acts 5 8 10. against all opposers with singular wisdom great fervour and mighty demonstrations by the power of the holy Ghost He confounded all those whom he disputed withall though he could not overcome them He stopt their mouths by the wisdom and spirit wherewith he spake which made them wish they could stop his though there was no other way they saw to silence him but by taking away his life They suborned therefore false witnesses against him whom they knew not how to confute They brought him before their Great Council to be tried Where all his Judges fixing their eyes upon him saw he was so far from being at all daunted that there was a sparkling Majesty in his countenance like that of an Angel when he appeared to their forefathers vi Acts 15. They could never devise or fancy any thing greater to say of them or of their most eminent Doctors than now they beheld in this illustrious person The face of the Patriarch Isaac they tell us was so changed when the holy Spirit rested on him that a Divine light or splendor came from his face And they would have us believe that Phineas his countenance did burn and flame like a Torch by the inhabitation of the holy Ghost in him Nay Maimonides himself to omit the other Authors in which I find these reports will have the Prophets to be Angels So he interprets more than once the first and the fourth verses of the second Chapter of the Book of Judges Where by the Angel of the Lord he understands a Prophet whom God sent to them to bring them to repentance And expresly says * More Nevoch part 2. cap. 42. that their wise men have told them This was Phineas for at that time when the Majesty of God dwelt upon him He was like to an Angel of the Lord. And it is the opinion of some of them whose Names are not worth mentioning that in the Prophetical visions the form of a man vanished and the appearance of an Angel came in the room thereof till such time as the Vision ceased The light which shone within was so great that it broke through their bodies and externally appeared if we could believe these Doctors who would fain adorn their wise men with that glory which they really beheld in this man of God S. Steven Who was so full of the holy Ghost and had such glorious illuminations in his mind that there was indeed an amazing lustre in his face and he lookt more like an Angel than a man This emboldened him to speak to that grave Senate with all the assurance in the world and to reprove them for resisting the holy Ghost Which so cut them to the heart that it enraged them to the highest degree of fury and they lookt upon him as if they would eat him up But he still full of the holy Ghost and nothing fearing what he saw he must suffer from an exasperated multitude cast up his eyes above and fastned them stedfastly upon the Heavens from whence cometh our help Where He bade them all take notice vii Acts 54 55 56. that he saw the glory of God and Jesus shining at his right hand in a far greater glory than they had seen in his face That was only a glimpse of the Majesty of Jesus whom he preached to them and now feared not to affirm that he saw in his royal splendour and greatness incomparably above all the Angels in Heaven And is it not a great deal more reasonable to believe that He indeed saw Jesus there than to think that he would obtrude thus boldly a mere imagination upon them with the certain loss of his own life If he had not been sure that he beheld him whom they crucified now most highly glorified a person of his wisdom and spirit would have been more cautious than to follow him in that bloudy path to which this assertion led him when if he would have held his tongue there lay a fairer and smoother way before him But so visible was the royal Majesty of our Saviour that he could not but proclaim it aloud and speak as S. Peter said the things which he had seen though he knew they would call it blasphemy and punish him for it with present death He was willing to suffer that for the honour of his Master and to testifie his love to him who told him his Faith was no fancy as he might see by the glory wherein he appeared Which abundantly satisfied him that he was the Son of the Highest able to reward all his faithful servants with immortal glory It is true we read of never a word that our Lord spake to this Saint but the splendour of his appearance in such glory and Majesty at God's right hand was as significant as any words could be and bid him be assured of the truth of what S. John is here proving that indeed he is the Christ the anointed of God anointed with the oil of gladness above all his fellows made the Lord of all things inferior to none but only him who hath put all things in subjection under his feet If any one ask me how he could see the glory of God and how he knew this to be Jesus who appeared at Gods right hand I Answer to the first enquiry that He saw God's glory in the same sence that
the Angels sing vi 3. when he beheld our Saviours glory and spake of him xii John 39. And the Church of Christ from the beginning hath taken these words from their mouths and made them their own iv Rev. 8. when they actually saw this GLORY OF THE LORD filling the Earth with its most holy Presence For our Lord did not cease to pour out more and more of his Spirit on all flesh even after the Apostles were dead But as Justin Martyr tells the Jew in his time which was above an hundred years after this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Dial. cum Tryph. c. One might have seen among Christians both women and men who had gifts from the Spirit of God And so one might in the days of Origen * Lib. 1. contr Cels who lived as many years after that who to convince Celsus that it was no Fable which was reported of the descent of the Holy Ghost on our Saviour affirms that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. There were still remaining among them some footsteps of that Holy Spirit which was seen in the form of a Dove For they dispossessed Devils performed many cures and foresaw some things according to the will and pleasure of the WORD concerning what was to come Nay it were easie to show that this Heavenly power descended still much lower and did not quite leave the World in these Ages and that it did not work in some obscure corners only but in the most noted places in the World For the same Justin says in his first Apology that there were many healed by the Name of Jesus Christ in the City of Rome whom no other person could heal So that look how many Souls there were full of the Holy Ghost so many lasting Witnesses there were to our Saviour of his power and glory in every place But intending hereafter to treat of all these gifts of the Holy Ghost alone by themselves I shay say no more of them now having sufficiently shown how they were his Testimony to our Saviour It is possible I confess that there may be another thing included in the name of the HOLY GHOST and that is the old Prophets who received gifts from Heaven whereby they sometimes spake of the Messiah So the HOLY GHOST is said in the x. Hebr. 15. to be a witness of the perfection of our Saviours oblation and for a proof of it the testimony of the Prophet Jeremiah is alledged whose words are called the witness of the Holy Ghost From whence I might take occasion to show that all the predictions of the Prophets do so exactly agree to Jesus and are so perfectly fulfilled in him that we must needs grant him if we receive this testimony of the Holy Ghost and take them to have been inspired thereby to be the Son of God the King of Israel who they had long put that Nation in hope should come and reign over them But this would be a work of too great length and my intention is not to swell this Treatise into an huge Volume which makes me only mention this notion that you may consider with your selves as you have occasion what a resemblance there is between Jesus and that person whom the Prophets describe unto us For this will prove a great confirmation of your faith in him there being no doubt in the minds of the bitterest enemies of our Saviour but that those Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost I have done now with these witnesses who speak unto us from Heaven and who are one you see in their testimony as well as in their nature They all agree in this that Jesus is the Son of God There is not the least difference between them no doubtfulness in their testimony no backwardness to give it no obscurity that should make it difficult for us to understand it But with one mouth as we say they unanimously plainly readily and clearly pronounce him to be such a Divine person that if we should not hear him and obey him and depend upon him I know not what we shall be able to say to so many Witnesses who will be ready to appear against us whose testimony without any cause was slighted by us Look how many voices have been heard from Heaven how many witnesses have openly appeared in his behalf so many Divine reasons you are to conceive your self to be provided withall for every word that Jesus hath spoken Which you are therefore to take for infallible and to keep as the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. vi 14. without spot and unrebukeable until his second appearing Listen to those words of grace which come out of his mouth Abandon those sins which he requires you to forsake and betake your selves to the practice of those vertues which he so strictly injoyns For the FATHER the WORD and the HOLY GHOST declare that this is the Will of Heaven And what is there in this world so considerable as to perswade the contrary If he be not the Son of God if he do not prove it by undeniable arguments then do as you list But if he be then you are bound to yield him the humblest subjection and it will be a strange stupidity to dispute the matter with him There can be no colour for your refusal should you deny to be governed by him who comes with such Authority that the fulness of the Godhead as you have heard dwells in him bodily O what an honour hath God Almighty hereby done our nature how highly hath he advanced and dignified it by this strange and unexpected favour which he hath conferred on it in making it his Holy place Consider but what I have now said of the Testimony of the HOLY GHOST to Jesus which was an illustrious token likewise of Gods wonderful love to us Is it nothing that God should be manifested in our flesh that he should DWELL in us and make his abode with us and that we should become the habitation of God through the Spirit Look upon the Temple of old and see how it glittered with Gold how it was adorned with Cherubims and Seraphims which were an emblem of the Angelical attendance in that place but especially how it shined with the Glory of the Lord which appeared upon the mercy-seat And then reflect how precious how dear mankind are to Almighty God into whose Nature this Glory is translated whom he hath beautified with greater excellencies and made more splendid by a more intimate conjunction with it Could any man then after he had considered this profane that Nature which God hath so sanctified and separated to himself Could he find in his heart to prostitute himself to any of those base and filthy actions that are below the dignity of humane nature nakedly considered without such a presence of God in it None can submit sure to the government of any fleshly lust but he must first forget that he is a man created after the Image
all things they should be concerned one would think to work this wonder for then we should be forced to confess that there is nothing so eminent and singular in this thing as to move us to give credit unto Jesus But since it never has been done but only in this instance and it was also a fulfilling of his word when he gave it as a token of this truth we have reason to conclude as S. Paul did after he had seen him alive that this is very CHRIST Upon this ground it was that the Apostles so much rejoyced when they saw him again for now as S. John tells us ii 22. when he was risen from the dead they remembred that he had said this unto them concerning the raising up the Temple of his Body and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said Now they were assured they had not been deluded and yielded their assent all this while to a fancy They saw clearly that he was their KING though he had been vilely disgraced and crucified And therefore when they parted with him again after his Resurrection they did not lament and mourn as they had done before but worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the Temple praising and blessing God xxiv Luk. 52 53. II. But it is time to add that as it was a sign which he gave them before-hand of this Truth so he told them it was the greatest sign which he had to give He had done many things in his life time to perswade the Jews that he was the CHRIST But still they were so perverse as to ask for more signs of it Though he had done more miracles than ever Moses or all the Prophets had done from the beginning yet the Pharisees continue to say Master we would see a sign from thee xii Matth. 38. One would think they had a mind to learn of him since they call him Master but it was only a complement as S. Luke informs us xi 16. And therefore our Saviour calls them an evil and adulterous generation who were degenerated from the manners of their pious ancestors for they were contented with less proofs of that which God required them to believe and would have been ashamed to seek after a sign as these men did after such evident tokens of a Divine presence in him as they beheld Why should he gratifie men of so naughty a humour whom nothing would satisfie but a sign from Heaven which S. Luke says they demanded nor would be convinced then neither he clearly discerned by their frivolous cavils at all that he had already done Therefore he tells them no sign shall be given them but the sign of the Prophet Jonas which was not a sign from Heaven but from the bowels of the Earth For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the Whales belly so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth vers 39 40. Which was as much as to say It is in vain to attempt the conviction of such corrupt and depraved minds as yours are by such means as these And therefore I must tell you all that is remaining for the opening your eyes and conquering your perversness is my Resurrection As Jonas was miraculously restored again to live upon the earth after he had been swallowed up by a Whale in the Sea and layn there three days which was a notable sign that he was a Prophet and could not but obtain him credit with the Ninevites when they came to the knowledge of this wonder So will I be restored again to life after you have killed me and I have layn three days in the bowels of the earth and if this will not satiffie you there is no other sign to follow this for your conviction But let me tell you as he adds vers 41. if you still persist in unbelief when this is fulfilled the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with you and condemn you for they repented at Jonas his preaching and behold a greater than Jonas is here That is though Jonas was not really dead but only had his life wonderfully preserved yet the report of it wrought faith and the fruits of faith repentance and amendment in the hearts of the Ninevites and what a condemnation will it prove to you if after you have seen me actually dead and it be demonstrated to you that I am raised to life again you will not believe on me The very same thing is repeated again xvi Matth. 4. where they having once more demanded a sign from Heaven ver 1. He answers them that they should have none but this of Jonas and he left them and departed As if he had said I have nothing more to say to you now all that remains is that I dye and rise again which is the last and greatest token that I am the CHRIST And indeed this was a sign so great that it gave force and strength to the other signs which had been given of this Truth For in the next Chapter Matth. xvii 9. we read that Three Apostles having been confirmed in this belief by a voice from Heaven which said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him Jesus charges them saying Tell the Vision to no man until the Son of man be risen again from the dead Till He had taken possession of his Kingdom and was set upon his Throne and thence sent the Holy Ghost He saw it would be to no purpose for the Apostles to publish this testimony of God the Father to him For they had already slighted the testimony of John Baptist who heard the like Voice from Heaven at his Baptism and thereupon bare witness that Jesus was the Christ And therefore it was not likely that they would listen to the Apostles when they came and testified that the same words were spoken in their hearing until their testimony should be justified by the authority of such a proof as this that he was risen from the dead This would mightily back all that they said and make it undeniable by any but those who would still deny his Resurrection which was wilfully and without any reason not only to call them lyars but to affront the Holy Ghost who witnessed together with them that he was risen from the dead Which being a proof of such strength that our Saviour relyed upon it above all other it is manifest to common reason that if there be a God as we are sure there is who loves sincerity and truth he should above all things have taken order that this should not have had such evidence as it hath if indeed Jesus was not his Son Though he had suffered wonders to be done by him and voices from Heaven had been heard yet still he gained not much belief in the most considerable part of the Jewish Nation and therefore appealing in conclusion to this Grand Testimony sure there
be made alive again after Death than to save a Man's self from dying I hope then I may conclude with the Apostle S. Paul that this piece of the Mystery of Godliness is without controversie God was manifest in the flesh Justified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in or by the SPIRIT The SPIRIT which did such mighty things by Jesus and at last raised him from the dead warranted him to be God manifested in our flesh It cleared him from all the envious and malicious accusations of his adversaries while he was alive by the many miraculous works which it wrought and it purged him from all suspicion of blasphemy which was charg'd against him and took away his life by raising from the dead and presenting him in Heaven a pure oblation to God It hath acquitted him fully in all impartial mens thoughts wiped off all the guilt which was cast upon him set him before the eyes of all the world as a person innocent and just and made him glorious and great even in his bloud as those words may be rendred xiii Hebr. 20. wherewithal he is gone into the Heavenly places there to appear before God for us which he would not have been able nor ever dared to do if he were not fully justified and perfectly a righteous person This is that witness which our Saviour himself promises to Nathanael as higher than that which he had already received i. John 50 51. He was convinced of the Authority of Jesus and acknowledged him to be the King of Israel because he could search into the secrets of the hearts and know men at a distance But our Lord tells him he should see greater things than these even behold the Heavens opened and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man That is He should have the witness of the SPIRIT sending the Angels to minister unto him when he was raised from the dead and when he was exalted unto Gods right hand in the Heavens The Ascension and Descension of Angels is but an Hebrew form of speech whereby they express the ministry and service of Angels to the Divine Majesty A servant first goes to his Master to receive his orders before he can be sent by him and therefore ascending is put before descending and by both is nothing else meant but the ministry of those Heavenly Creatures that wait upon the Throne of God and do his Commandments hearkening to the voice of his Word From thence they were sent to attend on Jesus at his Resurrection and at his Ascension as his Disciples witnessed and Nathanael among the rest for he is mentioned as a person present when Jesus showed himself to his Disciples after his Resurrection xxi John 2. and is thought by many to be the same with S. Bartholomew As Israel saw in a dream the Angels ascend and descend upon a Ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven xxviii Gen. 12. So this true Israelite who as Greg. Nyssen * Homil. 15. in Cantic expresses it showed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the pure character or mark of that Patriarch upon him in his honesty and uprightness of heart beheld the like vision of Angels but in a more apparent manner when he was awake that he might hereby be confirmed in the faith of Jesus as Jacob was by his vision in the belief of God's providence And indeed this was a great confirmation to his and to our faith For I conceive that this phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the Son of man is the same with that where it is said the Holy Ghost came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon him Which as it signifies that he was made partaker or rather was possessed of the Holy Ghost and it became His so this other like phrase of the Angels ascending and descending upon him denotes by the same reason that he was made the Lord of them and had them given to him as his ministers and attendants to be imployed in his service And so it was remarkably fulfilled which our Saviour said that he should see GREATER things than those he mentioned before For hereby he knew not only that he was the King of Israel as he had confessed ver 50. but that he was the King of Angels the Lord of Lords Yea hereby it appeared that he hath the power of God because just as the Angels are represented doing their service to his Majesty in that xxviii of Genesis so our Lord foretells with the greatest certainty they should see them waiting upon him And so they did as you read in the first of the Acts of the Apostles ver 9 10 11. which proved him to be indeed the heir of all things Now to shew a little more fully the greatness of this Testimony of the SPIRIT and that it was greater as Jesus here saith to Nathanael than the gift of discerning Spirits which I called a gift of the Holy Ghost to distinguish it from the Spirit let us consider a little that speech of our Saviours xii Matth. 31 32. Wherefore I say unto you all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men c. Which heavy doom S. Mark tells us was pronounced upon them because they said he had an unclean Spirit iii. 30. This shows what the blasphemy was in which if they continued there was no hope of pardon For if he by the SPIRIT of God cast out Devils as he tells them ver 28. then it was rank blasphemy the highest degree of evil speaking and calumny to impute these very cures and wonderful works to the power of the Devil which were wrought by that Divine power And this sin was therefore unpardonable which shows how great this testimony of the SPIRIT is because there were no means left to convince them that Jesus was the Son of God without which belief their sins could not be forgiven if they persisted not only in denying the authority of the SPIRIT but were so bold as to blaspheme it For what could work upon their hard hearts if this proved ineffectual might they not better deny the voices from Heaven which they did not hear than these wonderful works which they beheld every where with their own eyes Or might they not as well say that those were delusions as call these works diabolical operations Might they not in like manner slight his power of knowing secrets and impute it to some other skill What is there in which they might not shuffle and resist the light if in so clear a case as this Jesus his opposition to the Devil casting him out of possession and that on purpose to establish an holy doctrine quite contrary to his interest and in a number of other miraculous works they would be so obstinate as to say the Devil himself had the principal hand There is no question to be made but they who were so perverse as not to see this finger of God
Lord art high above all the Earth thou art exalted far above all Gods Blessed is the people that know this joyful sound they shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance In thy name shall they rejoyce all the day and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted For thou art the glory of their strength and by thy favour shall we be highly honoured For thou hast a mighty arm strong is thy hand and high is thy right hand I know that thou canst do every thing and that no thought of thine can be hindred Thou canst break the chains of death and raise our dust and ashes to immortal life Thou canst tread Satan under our feet and send thy Angels for our security and defence By thee we shall run through the greatest dangers and surmount all the difficulties that are in our way to thee Who shall separate us from thy love O Christ who diedst for us yea rather art risen again who art even at the right hand of God who also makest intercession for us O live thou for ever in my mind and heart and be the daily delightful subject of my thoughts Direct and guide me in all my ways and lead me safe unto thy self Still let my meditations of thee be sweet and my joy exceeding great in thy salvation Still fix mine eyes on things above where thou art at Gods right hand Lord still increase my Faith that it growing in strength may work by a more vigorous love Let me feel the power of thy holy Spirit perpetually in my heart that being led by the Spirit and mortifying thereby the deeds of the body He that raised thee up from the dead may also quicken my mortal body by his Spirit that dwelleth in me Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that wrought such wonders unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end Amen CHAP. VIII Concerning the Witness of the Holy APOSTLES of our Lord. I Know not what remains to be done for the full explication of these words of the Apostle unless it be sit to note that our Saviour is said to COME not only in his own Person but likewise in his Apostles and Evangelists I need name but one place to prove this ii Ephes 17. And CAME and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them that were nigh It is well known that Jesus of whom he there speaks was not SENT save to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and therefore in his own Person was not to go to those who were afar off such Gentiles as these Ephesians were to whom notwithstanding he is said here to COME He came unto his own saith this very Disciple and though his own received him not yet he kept himself within the confines of their Country and charged his Disciples during his life not to go into any City of the Samaritans to whom he never went but only in his passage from one part of the Jews Country to another We can give no account then of his COMING to them that were afar off as well as unto the Jews who were nigh but only this that by the Apostles whom he sent and who were his Embassadors to preach the glad tidings of Salvation he was made known to the Gentiles even as the Father is said to come to the Jews and to speak to them when he sent him his Son to declare his mind and will among them Now it is possible that S. John might have some respect to his sending them as the Father sent him to prove him to be the Son of God when he saith that Jesus CAME by WATER and by BLOUD and by the SPIRIT and that these three were his WITNESSES on Earth For first the Apostles were his WITNESSES as they are called in many places both by him and by themselves Ye shall be WITNESSES unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judaea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the Earth says our Saviour just before his Ascension i. Act. 8. The same he said to S. Paul to whom he appeared afterward xxvi 16. xxii 15. And in the same stile S. Peter speaks of himself I exhort you who am an Elder and a WITNESS of the sufferings of Christ i. Pet. v. 1. And as they were witnesses of his sufferings so they were of all that he did as you shall hear presently and of all that was done for him to prove that he was the Son of God and the King of Glory That is they were witnesses that there appeared such witnesses both in Heaven and Earth for him as we have examined And 2. witnesses they were of very great credit worthy of all belief For they were WITNESSES chosen of God x. Act. 41. select Men pickt out by Heaven some of them in an extraordinary manner for this purpose And they spake nothing by hear-say but upon their own certain knowledge being eye-witnesses of his Majesty as ye have heard before from S. Peter 2. i. 16. And S. John says the same in this Epistle iv 14. We have seen and do testifie that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the World First they saw and then bare witness Or as he expresses himself more largely in the beginning of the Epistle That which they had heard and seen with their eyes and looked upon and which their hands had handled of the Word of life for it was manifest and they saw it and bare WITNESS that he repeats it again which they had seen and heard they declared unto the World Why should not such witnesses be believed who spake nothing but what all their senses that could be imployed in this case gave them full assurance was undoubtedly true They were Men sure of common capacity and they had opportunity also to see and hear and feel and examine every thing which Jesus did or was done in honour of him For therefore our Saviour chose them to be his witnesses because they were thus qualified xv Joh. 26 27. When the Comforter is come even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father He shall testify of me And ye also shall bear WITNESS because ye have been with me from the BEGINNING That is because you are abundantly informed how all things have passed from my very first entring into the World to preach the Gospel therefore you shall be imployed to testifie all things that you have seen and heard and felt as the fittest persons to be believed For which reason when they wanted one of their Number by the apostasie of Judas they were very careful according to this Rule of their Master to chuse such an one to succeed him as had been a constant follower of Jesus and had taken notice of every thing they were to witness i. Act. 21 22. Wherefore saith S. Peter of those men which have companied with us all
when the Israelites bade him prove it But our Lord needed not to call for any Witness John the Baptist a great Prophet as they themselves allowed was ready of himself for it was his office to declare openly that he saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a Dove and abiding on him He saw and bare record that this is the Son of God as the Voice from Heaven in his audience also pronounced him Which a great many People if need were could afterward certifie who concluded that an Angel spake to him as you have heard from S. John's testimony .xii. 29. 2. Now if you proceed further and ask for some Witness of Moses his authority like to that of the WORD the second Witness to our Saviour who can hear any thing of it Do we ever read a word of Moses his appearing in such a Glory as our Lord Jesus did to his first Martyr S. Steven and to S. Paul and to his beloved Disciple Nay where are the Witnesses that say he was so much as transfigured when he was upon the Mount or doth he himself ever affirm it When was his Rayment made as white as Snow or where as I shall examine more hereafter was the bright cloud covering the Mount which was all cloathed with darkness we read indeed that when he came down his face shone but not in so bright and glorious a manner as our Saviour's did when he went up into the Holy Mount and especially after he ascended into Heaven Then S. Steven as I have said saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing at his right hand an honour never given to any Angel in Heaven And the Apostle of the Gentiles saw him again in a light greater than that of the Sun at Noon-day And to S. John he appeared as the KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS in such a Majesty as he was not able to bear but made him fall at his feet as dead He that weighs such things as these will see that all the glory of Moses to use S. Paul's words 2 Cor. iii. 10. was no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth 3. Then if you look for the Testimony of the HOLY-GHOST I have already noted that it never came down upon him as it did upon the Founder of our Religion Much less did he send it upon some select Men after he was dead who should do as great wonders as himself And still much less did he bestow it upon all the People as our Lord did for a while upon all Believers There is not the smallest foot-step of any such Honour or Power that he had For He did not communicate a portion of his Spirit to the LXX Elders who were chosen to be his Assistants but the Lord said to him I will come down and take of the Spirit which is upon thee and put it upon them xi Num. 17. which words do not signifie it is true that he had less but only that they had more of the Spirit than before yet He did not so much as lay his hands upon them that they might receive it but God took of the Spirit which was on him and gave it to the LXX Elders even to those two who were not there present at the Tabernacle but remained still in the camp ver 25 26. 4. If you go therefore next to the Testimony of WATER how transparent is the Purity of our Saviours Doctrine above that of Moses Whose Laws though they contained nothing dishonest yet burdened the people to prevent a greater mischief of their running into Idolatry with a number of precepts which in themselves had no goodness at all to commend them Nay the Letter of the very moral Law laid restraints only upon the outward man so that they who were subject to it little regarded the purifying of their spirits from those irregular passions and naughty affections which our Lord expresly prohibits There were many things also indulged in those days which our Lord doth not allow Whose design was not only to purge the heart and make the spirit of men much better by all his precepts but to advance them to the noblest degree of purity and goodness Where do you read in the Books of Moses such precepts of meekness of mortifying fleshly lusts of kindness to all and tender compassion of trust in God of contentedness with the present and hope of his mercy in another world as are frequent and obvious in the Gospel of Christ Nay in what place of the Law do you find so much as one command or exhortation to Pray much less to Pray without ceasing and to Pray not for riches and victory over enemies and long life but for the Divine Grace and favour for the Holy Spirit for remission of sins and for Eternal Life And now I mention that word I cannot but desire you to consider how low and poor the Promises of Moses were compared with those of our Saviour who hath brought in a better Hope Of which they could see so little so dim was the light in the Law of Moses that a whole Sect of men who believed in him and received his Law cast away all hope of obtaining good things in another life and denied the Resurrection of the Dead And we must add to all this that Moses was but the Light of that one Nation whereas our Lord says more than once I am the Light of the WORLD viii John 12. ix 5. Moses washed the Bodies of the Jews but now the hearts of the unclean Gentiles are purified by Faith xv Acts 9. And if you enquire further into the purity of Moses his life you will find it was not without flaws and blemishes for he spake unadvisedly with his lips and could not bring the people to their rest But our Lord was perfectly free from all spot the Lamb of God without blemish who never spake the least word amiss no not in the midst of such torments as Moses never endured 5. For if you pass on to consider what sufferings and BLOUD testifie Alas what is the Bloud of Bulls and of Goats to the precious Bloud of Jesus Did Moses seal that Covenant of which he was the Minister or did he sprinkle the Book of the Covenant with his own bloud Did he purge away the sins of the people by himself as our Saviour we read did 1. Hebr. 3. or sanctifie them by the offering of his own body once for all as it is x. Hebr. 10 Did he die to bear Witness to the Truth or witness such a good confession before Pharaoh as Jesus before Pontius Pilate Was it ever heard that by the enduring of a shameful and cruel death he declared to all the certainty of his Prophecy Upon what Altar was he offered And for what cause did he become a sacrifice This was peculiar to Jesus to suffer such things as no man ever did and for this very cause because he said He was the Son of God 6.
shone as the Sun though this may reasonably be thought as I shewed in the former Treatise to be a representation of his Ascension into heaven where he shines at the right hand of the Father and is the Lord of glory And therefore I shall onely observe two things first the words now added to the voice formerly delivered secondly the manner wherein they were spoken in the audience of those Apostles I. As for the words now added in this second voice to those of the first wherein he had declared him as he doth here again his beloved Son in whom he delighted they are these HEAR YE HIM Which are the very words that Moses spake to the Children of Israel when he prophesied of the Messiah and said xviii Deut. 15. unto him ye shall hearken And it may be one reason why Moses was now present when God spake these words in the Mount that he might consent to this truth which was now so solemnly pronounced in his hearing that Jesus was the Great person of whom he had prophesied Now God bidding the Apostles HEAR HIM and Moses himself to whom they had hearkened all this while being content that he should take his room it is an argument of something to be declared by him that Moses had not spoken And what should that be but onely the words of Eternall Life which was but obscurely intimated and shadowed in the ancient Law but by him was preached so clearly and distinctly that the voice of the Heavens is not more audible There is nothing I shall shew in due place that our Saviour preached so frequently nothing upon which he insisted so long and earnestly and took such pains to settle in mens minds as this belief that Eternall Life shall be the portion of all that doe well And therefore when God the Father bad them hear him who made it his principall business to publish this glad tidings to the World it was the very same as if this Voice had said in express words This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased believe it He shall give you eternall life This is the Commandment his Father gave him as you heard before xii Joh. 50. This is the will of him that sent him vi Joh. 40. This is the promise that he hath promised us even eternall life 1 Joh. ii 25. And therefore he stands engaged to bestow it and we agree with him for it when we enter into his service For you may observe farther that as to hear Moses was to embrace the Covenant that God made with them by him so we can understand no less by hearing the Son of God then our entring into the New Covenant of which he is the Mediatour which is founded upon better promises then the former whereby we have a title to a celestiall not an earthly inheritance whereof he is the Lord and to which he hath engaged himself to be our Conductour And indeed Moses and Elias who were never called the Sons of God much less by a voice from heaven so termed appearing now with our Saviour in glory it was a notable sign that He should be taken up to a far greater glory then theirs and have power of changing men into such a condition as that wherein he was now transfigured and in the mean time should preach that life and immortality which they saw conferred upon those two persons to honour him Whom the Disciples you may observe again saw in a glory so much greater then the Law-giver himself now had that if the voice from heaven had been silent it would have been an argument our Saviour should be the Lord of glory For when they desired to make their abode there and for that purpose to build three Tabernacles they say one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias putting him in the first place before the other two which they would not sure have done had not Moses and Elias done reverence to him as a greater person then themselves I shall end this with a Tradition among the Hebrews which if it signifie any thing may serve to shew that Jesus is their long-expected Christ For R. Bechai saith * in xlix Gen. 10. that when Jacob speaks of the coming of Schilo he comprehends not onely the last Redeemer the Messiah but the first Redeemer also i. e. Moses who shall have the honour then to attend upon the Messiah and enter into the holy land according to what the Masters say upon xv Exod. 1. where the words are then Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall sing And in the great Commentary upon Deuteronomy they write as the same Authour goes on that God said to Moses Because thou didst give thy life for them in this world desiring that God would blot his name out of the book of life to preserve theirs in the world to come i.e. the days of the Messiah when I shall bring Elias to them you two shall enter in together Which may possibly be the meaning of those words i. Joh. 21. Art thou Elias and he said I am not Art thou that Prophet i. e. Moses who alone was worthy of the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prophet above all others Now if there were any ground of such expectation that these two should come in their own persons you see it here fulfilled on this holy Mount where Moses who was so much in mount Horeb and Elias who used mount Carmel now appeared and had communication with him about his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 departure out of this world unto his heavenly Kingdome ix Luk. 31. The Mount where they met and where Jesus was transfigured is generally believed to be Tabor as Hermon a little hill near Jordan there is a tradition was the place from whence Elias was taken up to heaven In these two Mountains saies Proclus * Orat. viii our Lord Jesus was proclaimed the Beloved Son of God from whom we may expect immortall bliss At Hermon when he was baptized in Jordan on Tabor when he was transfigured and appeared in a glory as much greater then Elias's as the high mountain Tabor was above the little hill of Hermon And so was fulfilled says he that prophecie of the Psalmist lxxxix 12. Tabor and Hermon shall rejoyce in thy Name In both places was published this joyfull news that God had sent his Son to be the Saviour of the World First in the mount from whence Elias was transported into heaven and then in the mount where he came to attend on our Lord when he was transfigured God the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confirming his Sonship proclaimed again with a loud voice This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him For he that heareth him heareth me as Proclus there glosses and he that is ashamed of him and his words of him will I be ashamed in my glory Let us listen to him therefore and since we hear him say as I noted before Verily
The testimony of worthy men as the Apostle here observes is readily received by us and therefore we ought to be afraid of being so rudely prophane as to reject the testimony of God which is of far greater weight then theirs and hath been solemnly given you see more then once for the confirmation of our Faith But God the Father willing more abundantly to shew if I may borrow those words in vi Heb. 17. unto the heirs of this promise the immutability of his counsel hath graciously vouchsafed us farther assurance and by his WORD hath told us as much as He himself declared by those voices from heaven What we are to understand by the WORD in this place I have shewn in the Former Treatise viz. the Lord Jesus himself God Man or God the WORD made flesh Orat. contra Gentes p. 49. who as St. Athanasius speaks is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Interpreter and Embassadour of his own Father For as by the word a man speaks we understand his Mind which is the fountain from whence it comes so but by a more lively representation and after an incomparably more excellent manner we beholding the power of the WORD come to the knowledge of his Father as our Saviour himself saith xiv Joh. 9. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also From him this Eternall WORD came down and was incarnate not onely to reveal his will but to die for our Sins and to seal what he had preached with his Bloud After which God raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the Heavens from whence he testified as loudly that he hath in him ETERNALL LIFE for us as he did that he is the SON OF GOD. This Witness therefore let us now examine and look over again the old Evidences which we formerly searched wherein I doubt not we shall find this Truth most clearly contained And the Testimony of the WORD you know as well as that of the FATHER was threefold once to St. Stephen a second time to St. Paul and a third to this beloved Disciple St. John I. For the First of these it stands upon record in so many words that St. Stephen being full of the Holy Ghost and looking up stedfastly to heaven saw the heavens opened and beheld the glory of God and Jesus standing at his right hand vii Act. 55 56. Thus he declares not to some simple people who perhaps might believe him for his confidence but to the great Councill of Jerusalem who he knew were very much disaffected nay perfectly opposite to this truth To them he protests in open Court when he was upon his triall and bids them mark it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold take notice of what I now tell you I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God And he said it though he knew he stood in certain perill of his life for this declaration It was for no other reason that Jesus himself was put to death but because he said He was the Son of God and that they should see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven And therefore for him to confirm so peremptorily this odious Truth after they had killed Him and thereby make them guilty of innocent bloud yea of the bloud of their great King was a Crime he might well expect they would punish with as great severity as was in their power to express which we may be confident he would never have provoked had he not been so sure of the Glory of our Saviour that he could not hold his peace For who is there so frantick as to expose himself to death for such an unprofitable lie It is not in the nature of man to suffer so shamefully as he did in his own person merely to bring a little false honour to another To fansy a person of his Wisedom guilty of such madness is a kind of distraction in him that supposes it who were he sober would be taught otherwise by the abhorrence he feels in himself to throw away his life for a trifle Since there is not the least reason then to question but that this Holy man beheld the glory of God and Jesus standing at his right hand i. e. the gates of Heaven being set open that he might have the favour to look into the celestiall palace the Majesty of God was there represented to him sitting on a Throne as it used to be in the propheticall Visions and he beheld the Lord Jesus the very next person to the Divine Majesty we may clearly see in this Vision both the things that St. John here asserts viz. that Eternall Life is in Jesus the Son of God to give to those that effectually believe on his Name I. As for the first the power wherewith he is invested to give Eternall LIFE it is visible from his standing at God's right hand which denotes his Omnipotent Virtue to effect what he pleases For by the right hand of God Jesus himself was exalted to the right hand of power as you reade ii Act. 33. v. 31. and therefore being placed there it signifies that he can doe for us what God hath done for him that is exalt us to the like glory in the heavens where he is And as this is a clear proof of one of the things here recorded that LIFE is in him so the other II. That God hath given the faithfull a right to this Eternall LIFE with him and that he will bestow it on us is no less evident from the very End of this Vision For we can see no other reason of this glorious appearance of our Saviour to him but to incourage him in his preaching and incite him to witness a good confession as he himself had done before this great Councill and before Pontius Pilate in hope that if it cost him his life as it had done our Saviour he should live and reign with him in that glorious place where he now beheld him This was the purpose of the heavenly WORD 's coming now to him that he might not doubt of his promises nor shrink in the least from what he had preached though he should die for it which would doe him no greater harm then to dispatch him presently to the celestiall habitations In the very beginning of his history we reade that he had no sooner heard the Indictment read which they had drawn up against him but before he spake a word for himself the whole Council behold his face as it had been the face of an Angel vi Act. 15. There appeared that is such a bright and sweet Majesty in his countenance as made him look like one of the celestial inhabitants who had already prevented the glorious state to which he was going And his Answer to their charge being ended their barbarous rage was not more apparent then it was that the heavens opened to receive his Spirit
saying Come and see and his loud voice which they heard saying Lazarus come forth xi Joh. 34 43. By their sight when they beheld him whom they knew very well to be dead obeying his word By their smell when they perceived the ill sent as they rolled away the stone By their touch when they loosed his hands and his feet as our Lord bad them and let him go By all these they were so well satisfied that there was no room left for their infidelity nor much for the Pharisees who knew neither how to confute this Testimony nor how to avoid the consequence of it They began now to despair of prevailing against him any other way then by taking away his life which their malice made them design against the clearest light Though that also proved as you shall see presently but a farther confirmation of the truth they sought to obscure by his rising again from the dead And they could have found in their hearts to have killed Lazarus too because as long as he lived he would proclaim this Miracle to the honour of Jesus who hereby gave such an illustrious testimony that he was the Authour of Eternall Life that just when he was going to raise up Lazarus he inculcates this Doctrine as the fittest season to impress it upon them xi Joh. 25 26. I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die Martha it seems believed this before upon a perswasion that he was the Christ the Son of God that should come into the world ver 27. But when she saw Lazarus come out of his grave then sure she believed it more strongly both because it was a farther argument that he was the Christ and likewise included in it that very thing which he propounded to her belief viz. that He was the Life and would give life unto those who were dead if they believed on him I shall conclude this part of the SPIRIT 's Testimony with those words of our Lord himself viii Joh. 50. where he protests that he sought not his own glory that is assumed not to himself this great power to be the Life of the world but God the Father sought it i. e. perswaded the world of it by the illustrious Miracles which he wrought whereby the Father honoured him as he says ver 54. and passed such a judgment on him that we may all conclude as he doth ver 51. Verily verily if a man keep his words he shall not see death II. Of which we shall be the more confident if we adde now the other Witness of the SPIRIT to him which was in raising him from the dead and giving him Glory at God's right hand This was a greater Wonder then all that preceded sufficient to satisfie those who still remained doubtfull For if any body as St. Greg. Nyssen discourses in the Book before mentioned should use those words of our Lord in another case and apply them to this business saying Physician cure thy self it is but meet that he who did such wonders on other mens bodies to prove a Resurrection should give an example of it in his own We have seen one nigh to death another newly dead a young man ready to be laid in his grave and Lazarus already rotten all these by his word recalled to life Let us see one live again who was wounded and had his heart pierced and his bloud shed one who we are sure was dead Come then and look upon Jesus himself whose hands and feet were pierced into whose side a spear was thrust Come and look upon him who bled to death And if this man was raised from the dead nay more then that ascended into heaven as abundance of credible witnesses testifie what doubt is there left that by him God will give us a blessed Resurrection unto immortall Life if we be obedient to him They that saw the one viz. his Resurrection and Ascension could not but stedfastly believe the other and have told us that he was raised and glorified on purpose that our faith and hope might be in God 1 Pet. 1.21 This was the great design and end of first opening his grave and then opening the heavens to him that our confidence in God might revive again and we might hope by his favour to have the honour of being made the sons of God by being the children of the Resurrection That our Blessed Saviour was really dead as the History testifies his greatest Enemies always confessed and still acknowledge He hung a long time upon the Cross there he bled and at last his side was wounded with a spear in the vitall parts All the spectatours were satisfied that he had given up the ghost and the Souldiers when they came to break his legs as the manner was found the work already so effectually done that there was no need of it He was wrapt in Cerecloaths laid in a grave and given up by all his Friends for a lost man But that after all this he was as really alive again as he had been before is testified by divers sufficient Witnesses and among the rest by one of his principall Enemies who was throughly convinced of it The Apostles saw him very often they spake with him they felt and handled him one of them put his finger into the very print of the nails and thrust his hand into his wounded side They eat and drank with him they received Commissions from him and after he had shewn himself alive to them by many infallible proofs being seen of them forty days he ascended up to heaven in their sight and from thence according to his promise they received the Holy Ghost i. e. in his Name did all sorts of Miracles raising even dead men to life again And after all he appeared from heaven to St. Paul a man that set himself vehemently against him and breathed nothing but threatnings and slaughters against his Disciples whom he turned quite to be on his side perswading him so fully that he was indeed risen from the dead that he became as you have heard a most zealous preacher of it with the continuall hazzard of his life This is a more credible History then any other as it were easie to shew if it were my present business and we may better doubt of all Records then of those wherein the memory of these things is preserved They were holy devout and self-denying persons who report these things upon their own knowledge And they are reported not by one or two but by many of them who met with nothing in the world to tempt them to tell a lie but with a great many things to deterr them from publishing so odious a Truth And therefore if we will not doubt of every thing we do not see we cannot refuse to believe that Jesus did indeed rise again after he was dead and buried and ascended into heaven Which being
The Resurrection of Iesus Mat 28 2 And behold there was a great earthquake for the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven came rolled back the stone from the doore and sate upon it And for feare of him the keepers did shake became as dead men And the Angel sayd unto the woman Fear not ye for I know that ye seek Iesus that was crucified He is not here for he is Risen as he sayd JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION Justified by Witnesses IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH In Two Parts The First shewing That Jesus is the SON OF GOD the Second That in him we have ETERNALL LIFE By SYMON PATRICK D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Chrysost in Johan Hom. lxvii Printed for R. Royston MDCLXXVII THE Witnesses TO CHRISTIANITY THE WITNESSES TO CHRISTIANITY OR The Certainty of our FAITH and HOPE In a Discourse upon 1 S. JOHN v. 7 8. BY SYMON PATRICK D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty at the Angel in Amen-Corner 1675. TO The most Reverend Father in God GILBERT By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY Primate of all England and Metropolitan and one of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council c. May it please Your Grace TO permit these Papers to go abroad under your Name which are writ in defence of that most holy Religion of which your Grace is the prime Minister in this Kingdom They contain an explication but of a very few words yet in them lies the whole Evidence for the Christian Cause I hope I have done something to clear their sence and to illustrate divers other passages in the holy Books I have at least done my endeavour and opened the way to the plainest and most Apostolical method of asserting the truth of our Religion They that come after may supply the defects and rectifie the mistakes which they find in this account that I have given of the Witnesses to Christianity Who speak so fully and with such Authority that it is a matter of just wonder there should be any Infidels in Christian Countries We can find no other cause of it but that in stead of considering upon what grounds our Faith relies they scornfully presume that it hath none If they would but lay aside their lightness and become serious and if they would be so humble as to think it is possible they may learn of one of the despised Ministers of Jesus Christ I doubt not they would with a little study soon see him to be so great a Lord that they ought to have a due respect to the meanest of his Servants for his sake Nay they would not envy to them such high Dignities as your Grace worthily holds in the Church of Christ For the Lord himself is honoured in the honour that is done to his Ministers And thereby they are made capable to do him still better service and with the more authority to promote the honour of his Religion Of which how much your Grace hath deserved by your prudent care and vigilance for its preservation and by the countenance and encouragement you give to those that labour in its service posterity perhaps may be better judges than this present Age. Though that cannot be so ungrateful as not to acknowledge your great Munificence and Bounty of which there are such publick and lasting Monuments as declare you to be Primate of all England not only in the dignity of your Office but which is more in the generosity of your Spirit Long may our Soveraign enjoy such a wise Counsellor the Church such a Prudent Governour Learning such a liberal Patron and Benefactor and when through mere Age you must resign and exchange it for a higher and better place your See such a Successor As for my self if your Grace will be pleased to pardon this Address and reckon me in the number of those that reverence your Vertues as well as your Greatness I shall not doubt but my Design in this Work will obtain your Graces approbation and that your known Candor will pass a favourable Judgment upon the weak endeavours of the Churches and Your Graces affectionate Servant SY PATRICK THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. THE scope of this Discourse which is to prove that Jesus is the Son of God pag. 1 c. The meaning of that phrase in this place p. 8. and in some other places of Scripture p. 10. derived from the Old Testament p. 14 15. many passages in that relating to this matter explained Ib. and p. 16 17 c. A Prayer p. 22 c. CHAP. II. Concerning the Witnesses in general p. 25. and particularly of the testimony of the FATHER p. 29. which was given three times p. 30. first at his Baptism which is explained p. 30. unto 42. Secondly in the Holy Mount which is explained at large in many remarkable circumstances which accompanied it to p. 56. Thirdly in the way between Bethany and Jerusalem to p. 66. There the pretences of the Jews to a Bath Col under the second Temple is considered and confuted to p. 78. The difference between this voice which testified to our Saviour and that in ancient times p. 78. to the end A Prayer CHAP. III. Concerning the Testimony of the WORD p. 85. Who the WORD is p. 86. Why so called p. 87. First testimony he gave to S. Steven p. 90. The second to S. Paul p. 101. Christ's first apparition to him considered and expounded at large p. 104. a second p. 115. others p. 116 c. Third testimony of the WORD to S. John p. 122. Several other visions he had of him p. 128 c. An Answer to an objection about the Authority of the Revelation p. 135. To another which gives an account of the sence of two places in S. John 's Gospel which seem opposite p. 137. A Prayer 142. CHAP. IV. Concerning the Testimony of the HOLY GHOST p. 147. First at our Saviour's Baptism p. 148. When the SCHEKINAH or Divine Glory descended Ib. what it was 149 c. of its coming down p. 153. like a Dove 155. and making his abode in him p. 159 c. which was never known before p. 164. Whereby he was anointed p. 165. And now began his reign 168. The Alcoran confesses this descent of the holy Ghost p. 173. Whereby he became the Temple of God 176. As appears by six demonstrations of a Divine Presence in him from p. 177. to 198. The second Testimony of the HOLY GHOST on the day of Pentecost 199. explained by three observations 201. to 225. The last Testimony of the HOLY GHOST 225. to 238. A Prayer 239. CHAP. V. Concerning the Witnesses on EARTH 245. First of the WATER 248. As it signifies the purity of Christ's Doctrine and Life 249. The purity of his Doctrine 250. And the purity of his Life 261. Both these proofs of his Divinity 267. to 275. The Testimony of
it again You remember what S. Peter says in the place often cited already 2 i. 17. that our Lord by the former voice from Heaven received honour and glory from God the Father and there is as much cause to think that in this there was the same design to do him honour by a declaration of the glory he should shortly receive at the right hand of God The very connexion of these words with the foregoing will not let us expound them otherwise For having told his Disciples the Son of man should shortly be glorified but first he must glorifie God by his passion and then he doubted not but God would glorifie him with himself as he speaks xiii 32. that is by the very same means glorifie both himself and his Son who had glorified him Yes says God himself from Heaven I have both glorified my Name by what he had done for Jesus and by him and will glorifie it again by that which remained still to be done And indeed 1. it did him a great honour that God was pleased to return any answer to him who had before called himself his Son x. 36. and had just now addressed himself to him as his Father calling upon him twice by this Name Father save me from this hour ver 27. Father glorifie thy Name ver 28. It was as much as to say He owned the relation allowed his pretences and intended to justifie them more and more by his Divine approbation For 2. the Answer it self is a plain promise of the honour he would confer upon him hereafter by his Resurrection and Exaltation when he again glorified himself by glorifying the Lord Jesas You read expresly in the foregoing Chapter that the Glory he had gotten before was by glorifying of his Son for he says xi 4. the sickness of Lazarus was for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby And therefore when he says he will glorifie himself again the meaning is that as they had seen his glory xi 40. in the raising of Lazarus from the dead and in all the other miraculous works which Jesus had done for which the people gave him glory v. Luke 26. vii 16. xix 37. So he would glorifie himself more by the Resurrection of Jesus himself from the dead and by his Exaltation to an Heavenly Kingdom For it was the working of the might of his power as the Apostle S. Paul speaks i. Ephes 19. which he wrought in Christ when the Father of glory raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come Now he glorified his Son Jesus indeed as S. Peter speaks iii. Acts 13. and gave him a name which is above every name that every knee should bow to him and every tongue confess him to be the Lord but it was to the glory of God the Father as S. Paul tells us expresly ii Philip. 11. Hereby he glorified his own name as by this voice from Heaven he said he would whose power goodness and wisdom will be for ever magnified and celebrated with the highest praises by the whole Christian Church for setting such a glorious Prince over them who is not ashamed to call them Brethren and yet hath all things put in subjection under his feet that he may protect succour and bless them here and eternally Now by making this promise to the Lord Jesus of glorifying himself by glorifying him in this manner He plainly bare witness to him that he was what he pretended to be very dear to him his only begotten Son and no deceiver as they falsely and blasphemously said who were loth to be governed by him They ought presently to have glorified God by honouring his Son and acknowledging him for their Lord and Master who had such power with God already that he would give him whatsoever he askt xi John 22. and was shortly to receive greater even all power in Heaven and in Earth xvii 1 2. For this voice you may observe was uttered at such a time and so loud that the people who stood by heard it ver 29. Those who were at some distance indeed hearing only the sound thought it had been a clap of thunder but they who were nearer heard it so distinctly that they were of opinion an Angel spake to him God that is by the Ministry of an Angel For what is said in one place of Scripture to be done by Angels who are his principal servants is in another said to be done by God As the Angel of the Lord we read vii Acts 30. appeared to Moses in the bush and in the next verse it is the voice of the Lord which from thence is said to come to him In like manner the Angel is said ver 38. to speak with him in mount Sinai where we are told in the book of Exodus xix 20. the Lord came down and called Moses up to the top of the Mount and there spake to him as here he did to our Saviour Who tells the people it was not for his sake that God spake now to him it was for theirs whom he would have to know that when he was lifted up from the Earth by hanging upon the Cross which was a step contrary to all mens opinion to his Exaltation in the Heavens he would draw all men to him bring even the Gentile world into subjection to him and bow their hearts to acknowledge his Divine authority which the Jews opposed He needed no further confirmation of this truth himself who knew how dear he was to God and that he would glorifie his Name in him but that his Disciples might be more confident of it and the people more inclined to believe it when they heard it preached God spake the very same now in the ears of a great many which he had done before to him and a few besides in the former voices from Heaven It is true indeed He is not called here Gods beloved Son in express terms as he is in the other places But this is so plainly supposed and strongly inferr'd as I said from the voice which now spake that it puts the matter out of doubt as much as the former If he had falsely and proudly laid claim to this high relation to God whom he calls his Father we may be confident God would never have honoured him with such an answer but either have been silent or said the quite contrary telling him before all the company that he would not glorifie himself by preferring but by putting to shame such an one as he who thus arrogantly took upon him to be the Son of God It is contrary to all reason to think that God would stoop to seek the glory of any person as our Saviour expresses the honour he had done him viii John 50. but one who
stood so nearly related to him as to be his Son and therefore worthy to be glorified by him again and again until He had fully judged as he there speaks between Him and his Adversaries who denied him to be the Christ but was pronounced by God to be the Prince of life To conclude this you may note that not long before God spake in this manner from Heaven to them our Saviour had said That they had not heard his voice at any time v. John 37. John the Baptist had and so had three of his Disciples And therefore John bare witness of him whose testimony he says was true ver 32. though he did not stand in such need of it as if his credit could not be supported without it No He appealed to him merely because they had such an high opinion of him ver 33 34. otherwise he had a greater testimony than that of John ver 36. which was not only the works that he did which testified of him that the Father had sent him but the Father himself who sent him note this for he appeals now to what the voice from Heaven said he has born witness of him ver 37. And if they had had any goodness in them ver 38. they would have received him whom the Father sent When did He send him but when he spake by that voice from Heaven which now he utters once more in other words for their greater and fuller satisfaction when many of them were assembled together that they who had not hitherto might hear his voice as well as Jesus himself and his Apostles and be awakened hereby to attend to what the other witnesses of him should say especially after he was risen from the dead I should pass now to the Examination of one of them were it not fit before I part with this to take notice of a Tradition which runs among the Jews concerning this way of Revelation by a voice from Heaven which they say was very usual in those ages The Doctors deliver so their words are in the Babylonian Talmud * In the title Sanhedrim cap. 1. that from the death of the latter Prophets Haggai Zachariah and Malachy the Holy Ghost was taken away but yet notwithstanding they had the Ministry of the Bath Col i. e. the daughter of a voice By that name they call this way of Revelation because they say it was not a full and strong voice which they heard but a voice coming out of another voice and heard when it was gone Just as sparks say they are called Bene resheph the sons of an hot coal because they leap out of the fire so is this called the daughter of a voice because it resulted from a voice and came as it were out of the womb of it being a kind of Eccho after something that was spoken which they could not understand but only caught hold of this tail as I may call it and conclusion of it And they would have us believe that as under the first Temple they had the benefit of Prophecy Urim and Thummim and the Holy Ghost so this succeeded them under the second Temple and was proper to that age of the world being then only in use when all the other were wanting Hence many Christian writers of these latter times have fancied that God therefore declared Jesus to be his Son by a voice from Heaven because it was the only way wherein he then communicated his mind to the Jewish Nation Paulus Fagius think was the first that started this notion of the Bath col which was a praeludium b◠imagines to that true Divine and Heavenly voice which was to speak to them indee◠from Heaven that is our Lord Jesus Christ To whom the Bath col it self gave testimony when it said This is my belove◠Son in whom I am well pleased But 〈◊〉 name shows it was not the true voice from Heaven but a mere type signification and testimony of that true voice and word of God which was to come shortly and speak to them To whom alone this Bath col told them they must all hearken Thus he writes upon the Chaldee Paraphrase * In xxviii Exod. 30. And he had said the same before in his notes upon the Fifth Chapter of Pirke Avoth where his word◠are that God would accustom the world 〈◊〉 little by this beginning to that true Heavenly voice our Saviour Christ who was to follow in whom hereafter the Father would be heard But I think there is reason to doubt o◠all that the Jews say about this matter their brags being many times beyond the Truth and devised to obscure the glory of our Saviour Who it is most likely had that honour done him now by these voices from Heaven which was not usual in those days for he himself tells them as I observed before Ye have not heard his voice at any time v. John 37. As for that which they pretend that this Bath col or daughter of a voice was peculiar to the times of the second Temple it is so far from Truth that it is contradicted by some of themselves who find instances of the contrary in the Holy Books God called out of Heaven to Abraham every body knows by his Angel Gen. xxii 11 15. And Maimonides * More Nevoch part 2. cap. 42. observes that he spake to Hagar and Manoah's wife though neither of them he says had any thing of the spirit of prophecy but only heard the Bath col Which interposed if we could believe others in the case of Thamar And often whispered to Moses as the writer of his Life in many places affirms Nay they tell us in the Eleventh Chapter of the forenamed Title in the Talmud that Nebuzaradan heard this Bath col before the destruction of the first Temple bidding him make a fresh assault upon Jerusalem and not be discouraged in his attempt nor fear the fate of Senacherib For the time is at hand that the Sanctuary shall be destroyed and the Temple burnt But that there was any such thing under the second Temple I see no ground at all to believe It is far more probable that they have devised a number of such stories as we read in their Books merely to gain some credit and reputation to their Doctors Can any man of sence imagine that God would bid Jonathan hold his hand when he was beginning to Paraphrase upon the Prophets saying to him by a voice from Heaven Who is this that reveals my secrets to the sons of men And that he like a bold fellow stood up and said I am the man who undertake it for thy honour and not my own And yet Elias Levita has the confidence to tell us in his Preface to these Paraphrases that as Jonathan was going to do as much for the Holy writings as they call them as he had done for the Prophets he was absolutely prohibited by another voice from Heaven which said Is it not sufficient that thou
Scripture sounding in their ears as an answer to their prayers or their doubts Or lastly there being many Jews in our Saviours time and afterward who knew very well what had been reported of him but yet continued sworn enemies to his Religion they ventured to report the same of their own Doctors and perswaded the people that they were approved by voices from Heaven and therefore ought to be received by all posterity as men of a Divine stamp who had the highest testimony from Almighty God This I am sure of there is nothing to make it credible that any man among them in those Ages was thus honoured by God No body appears that dare say they heard it Nor does any of them pretend that they saw these Rabbies shine in the least glimpse of such glory as our Saviour did when he was honoured with that glorious testimony from Heaven which pronounced him the Head of all principality and power Much less were they as S. Luke speaks by many infallible proofs for we rely not upon the voice from Heaven by it self alone declared to be the men of God And therefore that which to me seems nearest to the truth in this matter is that there had been a perfect deep silence since the death of the latter Prophets and no Revelation made of Gods mind of any sort whatsoever in that Nation till John the Baptist came who was filled with the Holy Ghost and sent by God in the spirit and power of Elias to prepare the way of our Lord. Who when he first appeared had such an approbation given him by God the Father in the audience of John as had not been vouchsafed to any person and in such a manner by a voice from Heaven as had not been in use for many ages but yet was the most ancient way of his communicating his mind to men Thus God called to Adam in the Garden and thus he spake to Abraham and Moses and Samuel and therefore so he now speaks to him who was the second Adam the true seed promised to Abraham the Prophet like to Moses Testifying both to him and to others by his own voice from Heaven which was the old way of Revelation before all others and a clearer way there cannot be that he was his only begotten Son And here perhaps it may not be amiss to observe that this voice anciently was very low like a small whisper in ones ear whereas the voice to our Saviour was loud and strong making a great noise in the ears of those that heard it So Eliphaz tells us iv Job 16. that in a vision which he had There was silence and I heard a voice The Hebrew is exactly rendred by Mercer I heard silence and a voice that is a still voice as the Margin of our Bible hath it And so Elias is said to hear a voice of silence 1 Kings xix 12. a still small voice as we render it a speech next to silence which did but whisper very low and made no noise at all in his ears On the contrary you read in the place last expounded xii John the voice which spake of our Saviour was so loud and audible that the people who were at some distance thought it had been a clap of thunder It did not silently creep into their ears but rent the clouds to make its way with a great deal of power and force into them I cannot say that the other voice was so loud which the Disciples heard on the holy Mount but it was so clear and piercing that when they heard it xvii Matth. 6. they were astonished and fell flat upon their faces The light wherein he appeared was not more visible than the voice which testified to him was audible and both were very amazing Which may very well denote the excellency of our Saviours person and the efficacy of his doctrine above all that had been before him He declared Gods mind more fully and perfectly and spake it more plainly and perspicuously He transcended all others in both these as much as a full voice is above a little murmur or whisper in the ear or a speech distinctly pronounced is to be preferred before the lisping of imperfect words But whatsoever become of this we may certainly conclude from the audibleness and clearness of the voice whereby God gave his testimony to Jesus that they are the more to be believed who affirm they heard this voice from Heaven and report it to us it not being easie for them to be deceived This voice was like that of an Herald who proclaims a Prince and it said in effect I have set my King upon my holy hill of Sion Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Which had a most eminent and full completion at his Resurrection and Exaltation but began to be fulfilled when he was tranfigured upon this holy hill and had a representation of his future glory made to him Which he did not assume to himself as the Apostle discourses v. Hebr. 4 5. but was called unto it by him that said then Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and said now This is my well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him And thus you see having made an enquiry into the Testimony of one of these Witnesses the first and greatest we find it so full and clear on his behalf that we must either disbelieve God or else believe in Jesus and receive him for the Son of God For he received more than once honour and glory from God the Father Who was so highly glorified also by Him that he hath now completely glorified him with himself and therefore expects that his Name should be perpetually glorified and praised by us in some such words as these A PRAYER ADored be thy love O Lord of Heaven and Earth adored be thy great and wonderful love which hath thus glorified thy Son Jesus and given us such abundant satufaction that in him thou art well pleased Lord what is man that thou shouldest speak from Heaven with so much kindness to him that thou shouldest so often tell us thou hast sent thy dearly beloved Son in great humility to visit us what an amazing love is this that thou shouldest admit any of us into such a familiarity with thy self as to hear thy voice and behold the brightness of thy glory Our heart ought to answer thee again with the voice of joy thanksgiving and praise Thy high praises ought to be in all our mouths It becomes us to say continually with the most elevated minds and hearts Glory be to thee O Lord Glory be to thee O Lord who dwellest on high and yet humblest thy self to behold the things that are in Heaven and in Earth For ever be thy Name glorified by us and by all mankind who hast honoured our Nature so highly in the person of thy only begotten Son Christ Jesus whom after thou hadst several ways glorified on Earth thou hast now advanced
others are said to have seen God who beheld some very bright appearance an extraordinary light shining before their eyes which excelled all that ever they had seen or could imagine and was the token of the Divine presence Thus Moses was afraid to look upon God iii. Exod. 6. and the Elders of Israel are said to see the God of Israel xxiv 20. which places Maimonides thinks are to be understood of the Vision of God with the eyes of the mind But the Text is plainly against him which tells us there was a visible appearance of some unusual astonishing brightness And therefore he confesses that if any man do conceive those words are to be interpreted of some created light as he speaks * More Nevoch Part. 1. cap. 5. and many other places that is the visible apparition of a Divine Majesty or of an Angel there is no danger in such an apprehension And indeed no man can seriously read the Books of Moses but he will see plainly they speak of a sensible glory which was exceeding dazling and sometimes too great for the weak eyes of men to behold I have described it before when I told you it was nothing else but a flaming light which shone from that amazing devouring Fire which appeared in the cloud to the children of Israel Thus Abarbanel expounds that place I mentioned before xvi Exod. 7. In the morning then ye shall see the glory of the Lord. Which is not to be understood of the providing them bread or flesh in an extraordinary manner but of the Fire which appeared to all the people to reprove and punish them for their murmurings And so Lyra says it was an unusual refulgent brightness or lightning representing the Divine power ready to chastise them for their mutiny against his servants And it is very common in the New Testament to cal◠such a great splendour by the name of glory As the shining of Moses his face i◠called by S. Paul 2 Cor. iii. 7. the glory 〈◊〉 his countenance And in the same stile he◠speaks of the light of the Heavenly bodies when he says 1 Cor. xv 41. There is on◠glory of the Sun another glory of the Moon and another glory of the Stars for one Star differeth from another Star in glory that is in the brightness and splendour of its light Such a glory it was that now S. Steven beheld but far more splendid more pure and illustrious than the light of the Sun or any other that has been mentioned which was a representation of the presence of the Divine Majesty who used in this manner to make men sensible of his transcendent invisible glory And there in the Divine presence he saw our Lord in the most high and honourable place next to God the Father himself For that 's the meaning of his appearing at the right hand of God or of that great glory he saw in the Heavens the right hand being the principal place belonging to the Heir of the Crown when he appears together with the King his Father And therefore the Divine writer to the Hebrews says there never was any Angel seen there They only stand or minister before God or before his Throne but to which of them did he say at any time Sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy foot-stool i. Hebr. 13. This is the prerogative of Christ alone the great King the Heir of all things whose glory the Psalmist describes in that place cx Psal 1. from whence these words are cited that is prophecies of his Kingly power in the Heavens as S. Paul clearly expounds this phrase of sitting at Gods right hand 1 Cor. xv 25. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet He is a King and he reigns and he hath a Throne i. Hebr. 8. but when he is compared with God the Father Almighty the fountain of all power and authority and when he appears together with him to show that he reigns under him and for him he is represented as sitting at the right hand of God or the right hand of the Throne of God For so his Kingly power is expressed in other places He is set down on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens Hebr. viii 1. xii 2. that is He reigns together with God the Father in the Celestial glory For the throne of God signifying in the Scripture phrase as the forenamed Maimonides observes that place where God's Majesty manifests it self in a visible splendour and glory the sitting of our Saviour at the right hand of that Throne or that glory denotes nothing else but his being seated in the highest honour that can be given to any one in the Heavenly places next in greatness power and majesty to God himself under whom he is the King of Angels and Men and all Creatures There was nothing of which this holy Martyr was more assured To whom this Heavenly King appeared not in his usual posture of sitting at God's right hand as one possessed of his royal power but standing there as if he was ministring in the Heavenly Sanctuary in the quality of a royal high-Priest for that was the posture of those that ministred in the Temple cxxxiv. Psal 1. for the comfort of all Christian people and of himself especially or rather as ready to come to take vengeance of those implacable enemies who had killed him and now persecuted his servants which was a notable instance of his royal power at God's right hand For there the Psalmist says he must reign till he hath subdued all those that oppose his authority and troden them under his feet And as for the second enquiry how he could know this to be Jesus whom he saw in this Heavenly Majesty It is easily resolved that He appeared to him with such a countenance as he had here upon Earth only more shining and bright as being now in the glory of the Father And so he tells the Jews I see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God That very person he means who used to call himself the Son of man whom you crucified and dishonourably treated I now see so exalted that I had rather die as he did than not confess him to be the Son of God as he said he was when he died This is the first testimony which was given to this truth by the WORD Who bore witness in a most illustrious manner to himself when he appeared thus to a person of the greatest credit in the Divine glory and in the highest place of Celestial dignity as the King of Heaven that is and risen up from his Throne as if he was coming to be avenged of his adversaries to succour all his servants and to welcome this Martyr into glory with himself So S. Steven verily thought for he resigns up his Soul to Jesus with the same confidence and almost in the same words that Jesus gave up his to God the
when he had further considered of the business and was increased in strength He even confounded the Jews that were at Damascus proving that this is very Christ ix Acts 22. So mightily did he convince them that they had no Answer wherewith to encounter his Arguments but only the Sword and therefore consulted ver 23. to kill him and take him out of the way who as long as he lived they saw would be the greatest witness unto Jesus But all these dangers he undervalued he ran innumerable hazards made strange adventures and indured matchless troubles that he might give testimony to Jesus who had shown himself to him to be the Lord of all Nay though he was told at his first setting out how great things he must suffer for his Names sake ix 16. he was nothing at all dismayed nor in the least discouraged having seen the bright Majesty of Jesus so clearly that flames themselves could not make him deny it no nor cease to preach it So great was the force of this glorious appearance of our Lord to him whereby he testified his own power and greatness that when S. Paul was actually fallen into the hands of his bloudy enemies and made a prisoner in order to his execution He had nothing of greater note to alledge for himself by which to justifie his preaching Jesus to be the Son of God than this that he had seen that Just one and heard the voice of his mouth for no other end but this That he should be his witness unto all men of what he had seen and heard xxii Acts 14 15. And as this was the best plea he had when he was to make his defence in that popular tumult so it was the thing that convinced the Apostles themselves that he was become a disciple For they doubted of it at first when he came to Jerusalem and were afraid to associate themselves with him till Barnabas told them how he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus ix 27. When he came also to answer for himself before Agrippa a Prince of great understanding and well versed in the Jewish Religion still he stands upon this that He who thought himself bound in conscience to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth whose servants he procured to be imprisoned banished and put to death was met by this very Jesus in the way to Damascus when he was going with Commission to do the same there that he had done at Jerusalem saw his exceeding great and incomparable glory was severely rebuked by him for his rage against his disciples and then received a Commission from him to act in his name and to preach against the former all which was so evident that he durst not be disobedient to the Heavenly Vision but had ever since called upon both Jews and Gentiles to repent and believe in Jesus though he had been crucified for it was the Mind of all the Prophets and Moses that their Christ should suffer and then be the first that should rise from the dead and shew light to the people and to the Gentiles This is the substance of his Apology in the xxvi Acts from which place we may learn two things which are very considerable First that when our Lord appeared to S. Paul he had a great deal of discourse with him and did not say so little as only those words I am Jesus whom thou persecutest c. but added those words which follow ver 16 17 18. Rise and stand upon thy feet for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose to make thee a Minister and a Witness both of these things which thou hast seen and of those in the which I will appear unto thee delivering thee from the people and the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me The Divine writers are wont to be very brief in their Relations and to mention only the principal things which were said and done leaving out the rest which perhaps they set down upon some other occasion And secondly in these words it is observable that he tells him he must be a witness not only of the things which he had seen now in the way to Damascus but of those in which he intended to appear unto him Which clearly intimates that there were other apparitions of the Lord Jesus unto him besides this Some of them we find recorded in this History of the Acts and other parts of the holy Book And a second sight which he had of our Lord was at Jerusalem as he was praying in the Temple When he fell into an ecstasie or rapture as he relates himself presently after the mention of the former xxii Acts 17. and saw him bidding him make haste away from that City where he was not like to do any good for they would not receive his testimony concerning him This was one of the times as some great men have thought when he was carried up to Heaven 2 Cor. xii 2. And again our Lord appeared to him the night after he had been questioned by the Council bidding him be of good chear for he should bear witness of him at Rome as he had done at Jerusalem xxiii 11. And to omit that apparition to him in a night Vision xviii 9. and the revelations which it is like were made to him in Arabia presently after his conversion He was caught up again into Paradise and there had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Visions as well as Revelations of the Lord 2 Cor. xii 1. When this was it is uncertain But there are persons of great note who imagine that when the Church of Antioch laid hands on him xiii Acts 3. not to ordain him an Apostle for so he was made by Jesus Christ himself but to send him out to exercise his Apostleship towards the Gentiles to which he had particularly appointed him then our Lord vouchsafed to lift him up into Heaven and to give him new Revelations For there could be no time more fit for it than this when he was to engage in a dangerous war against the whole Idolatrous world Then he was armed with an extraordinary resolution by conversation with Angels in the other world Where he heard things unutterable and was confirmed no doubt in the belief of the glory of the Lord Jesus by whose power he was thus transported and whom it is most likely he then again saw shining as the Sun among those stars of light in that Orb to which he was carried But this he speaks of so sparingly himself that I ought to pass it over as fast as he does The First is the chiefest and greatest evidence of all which he most depended on
that he was the Son of God the King of glory able to reward his patient servants and moreover sent Letters by him to several Churches of the Saints testifying the very same things which He made him see and hear in several visions They are recorded in that Book which tells us in the very first words of it that it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ which he sent and signified by the Ministery of his Angel to his servant John Who had already born record so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be rendred ver 2. of the WORD of God and of the testimony of Jesus and of all things that he saw Had declared that is in his Gospel Jesus to be the WORD of God and made known that which he testified to be Gods will concerning men together with all the evidences by Miracles and other ways which he had seen of the truth of that which Jesus testified There could not be a fitter person than he who perhaps also was the only Apostle now remaining in the world to hold communication with this WORD of God and receive new revelations from Jesus He being at this time likewise banished and confined to the Isle which is called Patmos ver 9. for the cause now named that is for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ In this lonesome place separated from the rest of the Earth our Lord opened Heaven to him and shewed him the glory which he had there For he fell into a rapture on the Lords day ver 10. and heard one speak behind him with a voice as loud as a trumpet saying I am before and after all things that is God blessed for ever Write what thou seest in a Book and send it to the seven Churches which are in Asia whose names are there expressed ver 11. Whereupon he turn'd about to see whence this voice came and then he beheld in the midst of seven golden Candlesticks representing those Churches a very glorious person appearing in the most royal majesty and power He did not ask him as S. Paul did who he was for he had been long acquainted heretofore with that countenance and knew him perfectly well to be our blessed Saviour Who by his very habit wherein he appeared declared himself to be as he had said the Lord of all who had no superiour nor any second in that Kingdom which God the Father had given him but disposed all things according to the sole pleasure of his will For he beheld him clothed with a garment down to the foot and girt about the paps with a golden girdle c. ver 13 14 15 16. He saw that is as Irenaeus truly expresses it L. 4. cap. 37. Sacerdotalem gloriosum regni ejus adventum him appear in his Priestly and glorious Kingdom For a long Robe and a golden Girdle belonged both to Kings and to the High-Priest in the Jewish Nation And all the rest of the description it were easie to show is a plain representation of a person shining in the glory of God the Father and invested with such an irresistible power in the Heavens as might justy make all his Friends rejoyce who acknowledged him to be the Son of God most high and all his Enemies quake and tremble who opposed his sovereign Authority In short so glorious was the sight that S. John himself was not able to bear it but when he saw him fell at his feet as dead ver 17. till the WORD as Irenaeus speaks in the same place on whose breast he had reposed himself at his last Supper revived and comforted him with these gracious words Fear not I am the first and the last I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the keys of Hell and of Death As much as to say Thou wast not deceived when thou thoughtest thou saw the Son of man appear to thee It is I indeed therefore be not so afraid though now thou beholdest me in such Heavenly Majesty and Divine glory for thou oughtest rather to rejoyce to think that I am the eternal God I whom thou knewest when I lived upon Earth and whom thou sawest shamefully put to death am now alive as thou seest also never to die any more and am intrusted with a power to rescue you from death and raise you out of your graves It would be too long if I should tell you all that he says in his Letters to those Churches to assert his title to the Name of the Son of God which he expresly takes to himself in one of them ii Rev. 18. and to declare his royal power which he exercises in all the world especially in his Church the house of the living God where he hath such an absolute authority expressed by having the keys of the house of David c. iii. 7. that none can contradict him either by preserving any man in the Divine favour if he reject him or by excluding any man from it if he receive him It may suffice to observe these two things First that there is not one of those Letters but it begins with some such description of our Saviour's sovereign Majesty as this now mentioned For the character he had given of himself in the first Chapter is again repeated by parts in the following messages to the Churches Where he sometimes calls himself He that walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks ii 1. that is inspects and governs them Sometime the first and the last which was dead and is alive ver 8. that is the Lord God who can raise him from the dead who parts with his life for me And to name no more he calls himself ver 12. He that hath the sharp sword with two edges to cut in pieces either them or their enemies according as they deserved of him And indeed it being the office of a King which is the second thing to be observed or a supreme Governour to punish offenders and to reward vertuous persons he constantly assumes both these powers to himself in every one of these seven Letters telling them what evil should befall them from his hand if they did not amend and what blessings he would bestow upon them if they did overcome Which is a plain declaration of his Regal power and authority which he now hath at the right hand of the Throne of God There S. John saw him in a second Vision as Irenaeus calls it v. Rev. 6. where he appears in such power with God that none hath the like For there was a majesty represented to the Apostle sitting on a Throne with a Book in his right hand ver 1. which none could open or read or so much as look into And then behold this Lamb of God who had been slain comes and appears in the midst of the Throne being the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah as one of the Elders calls him ver 5. that royal person whom
and ever Which was accomplished also with very great speed as he saw represented by an Angel which appeared flying in the midst of Heaven xiv 6. Having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the Earth That motion of flying seems to signifie the haste which the great Ministers of Christ made who are compared in this book to Angels to publish his Gospel to the world Which had mighty success because it came with authority from Heaven as is represented by the Angels flying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the midst of the air between Heaven and Earth to denote something he had in hand which was decreed above and to be done here below The greatest powers on Earth indeed set themselves against it and made war with the Lamb xvii 14. that is persecuted Christianity But he foretells his conquests even over these Kingdoms who were such furious enemies as to seek to destroy his Religion For which he gives only these two reasons because God had made him Lord of Lords and King of Kings and because those who followed him were such choice persons that their patient constant perseverance in his service to which he had called them helpt to overcome his and their Enemies and to bring them in subjection to him I can think of nothing that can be objected against what hath been said but two things which deserve briefly to be considered One of them concerns this last particular now handled and the other seems to cross all that hath been delivered in this Chapter Against what hath now been alledged from the Revelations it may be objected that this Book of Visions was doubted of among some of the ancient Christians To which the Answer is very obvious That there was a particular reason why this Book did not always go along with the rest into every bodies hands and by that means being not so generally known was afterward questioned because the making of it as publick as the Christian doctrine might have too much incensed the power of the Roman Empire whose downfall is here so plainly predicted Yet it was not kept so private but that it is cited very early both as a Divine Book and as the writing of S. John the Apostle by those who deserve to be believed Justin Martyr had that opinion of it and so had Irenaeus as I have already said and Theophilus Antiochenus and Origen especially S. Cyprian who I have observed produces testimonies out of no book of the New Testament so oft as this From whence he encourages Christians to follow their Master and all that worthy company who had hazarded their lives for him It being the peculiar glory saith he * De Exhort Martyr of our time that whereas ancient examples might be numbred now there is such an exuberant abundance of vertue and faith that Christian Martyrs cannot So the Revelation witnesses I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindred and people and tongues stood before the Throne and before the Lamb with white robes and palms in their hands vii 9. And these he was told are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. I shall not produce the words of any of the rest nor of divers others who without any manner of doubting pronounce this to be the Revelation of the WORD of God to his servant John But pass to the other thing which may be alledged to the prejudice of the whole foregoing discourse For I produce nothing some may say but the testimony which one gives of himself which all confess to be of no validity This WORD of God himself saith so as this very Apostle hath recorded v. John 31. If I bear witness of my self my witness is not true And yet what is all that S. Steven saw or that he spake to S. Paul and S. John but his witness of himself I answer in his own words also which you read in another place of that Gospel viii 14. where the Pharisees objecting to him his own concession ver 13. that a mans testimony to himself is nothing worth he seems to revoke but in truth only explains it by telling them in terms quite contrary though I bear record of my self my record is true The former words are not so to be understood as if what a man says of himself were always false or not to be regarded when he hath a concurrent testimony from others no it may be true though it will perswade no body else to believe it without other evidence That 's all our Saviour means in the Fifth Chapter if he had alone born witness to himself and there had been no other testimony given him it had not been true that is not a valid unexceptionable testimony by which he might demand credit from them So the word true is used viii John 17. in the sence of the Law which required two or three witnesses for the establishing or setling any thing in question They had no reason to believe he was Gods Son but might still have disputed it if he had been the only person that said so and could have brought no other to witness for him And yet notwithstanding He tells them here that even in this case his testimony of himself is true as truth is opposed to falshood though it wanted that truth which was necessary to make it a legal testimony That is though it could not have passed in Law nor stopt the mouth of gainsayers because it was a single testimony and the Law required more than one yet it would have had nothing of a lie in it but his words would have been perfectly true when he affirmed himself to be the Son of God But 〈◊〉 was not his case He alone did not bea◠witness to himself but there were others beside him who bare witness of him and said the same thing that he did as he shows v. John 32 33 36 c. and said it before he assumed this name to himself And therefore his testimony which single would have had no strength being joyned to the other is of great force and ought to be regarded He did not desire to be received merely because he said he was the Son of God though he ought not to be accounted a liar for saying so alone no he referred them to other proof of that truth But when they had heard and considered them then there was reason they should hear what he affirmed concerning himself and not think the worse of him because he spake those words which were no other than the very words of the Father whereby he bare witness to him So he tells them in the viii John 17 18. It is written in your Law that the testimony of two men is true I am one that bear witness of my self and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me That is you have no reason to disparage my
testimony of my self because I do but repeat the very same thing which the Father hath said before me For though alone as I have confessed heretofore my testimony of my self is worth nothing and cannot challenge belief yet added unto so high a testimony as his it ought to be duly regarded and accepted But besides this I must add another consideration of great moment Which is that the Testimony of the WORD concerning himself now that he is in the Heavens is of great validity even singly considered though it had no such authority alone when he was upon the Earth For during his stay here on Earth it could not appear by his bare saying so that he was the Son of God the King of Israel because he was in a poor mean and low condition altogether unlike a King And therefore if the Father and the Spirit had not testified so much none could have believed on him But when he was in the Heavens then what he said of himself carried great authority and power with it because he could not say those words to any one but he must appear as a King in glory There were things as well as words to speak for him At the same time that he bare witness of himself they to whom he spake must needs see the truth of his Testimony by the royal state and majesty wherein they beheld him If the question should be whether a person be alive his own appearing in Court would be the best testimony that could be given of it If whether such a one be a King his sitting upon his Throne with his Crown on his head in his royal Palace and his Ministers round about him would be the surest evidence that could be desired to put it out of doubt In this case therefore where the question is whether Jesus be the Son of God or no there cannot be expected a better resolution of it than his own witness to himself by appearing upon the Throne of his Glory There several persons of unblemished credit beheld him and had the confidence to venture their lives upon the certain knowledge they had that they were not deceived From thence he spake to them and directed them to speak and carry his messages to others that they might believe on the Name of the Son of God And let it but be remembred which I noted at the beginning that we are now examining those witnesses which speak from Heaven and not those which speak on the Earth and then you will soon discern that these testimonies of the WORD though concerning himself ought to be received with great reverence and to be judged very full and powerful to prove Jesus to be the Son of God Especially since besides his own word for it we have also the word of the Father who several times called him his Son and that before he took this honour to himself A PRAYER LET all mankind therefore honour thee O blessed Jesus even as they honour the Father Be thou adored every where upon Earth with the same reverence and love wherewith all the Angels in Heaven worship thee whom they and we acknowledge to be the LORD the WORD of God the Wisdom of the Father the bright morning Star the Light of the World the Prince of Life the Heir of all things the KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS God blessed for ever Thou art the King of glory O Christ Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father The Beginner and the Finisher of our Faith the Judge of the World the Author of Eternal Salvation unto all them that obey thee O how happy are they that know thee and stedfastly believe in thee and sincerely love thee and heartily obey thee and have a good hope that thou wilt bless them and imploy thy power for their promotion to that glory wherein thou reignest I rejoyce to hear thee say that thou who wast dead art alive for evermore Amen and hast the keys of Hell and of Death I thank thee for appearing so often to assure our Souls that thou sittest at the right hand of God and hast all power in Heaven and in Earth Great is the consolation which thou hast given us by the sight of that Glory wherein thy first Martyr beheld thee ready to succour all thy faithful servants Marvellous was thy work O Lord for which all thy Church will for ever praise thee in calling S. Paul to be an Apostle separated unto the Gospel of God Adored be thy glorious Majesty which appeared to him for this purpose to make him a Minister and a Witness of what he saw and heard that he might go and open the eyes of the Gentiles to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in thee O how full of comfort is that Revelation which thou hast made of thy self to thy servant John Who received the brightest discoveries of thy glory in Heaven when he was in the most desolate condition upon Earth who beheld thy care over thy Church and thy conquests over thine enemies thy Priestly and thy Royal power to the perpetual joy of those that love thee and the terror of all those that oppose thee O blessed Jesus far be it from any of us in the least to contradict thy will who art so highly advanced far above all principality and power and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come May every Christian Soul be so sensibly affected with the belief of thy Glory as to prostrate it self before thee and say with the same spirit that thy blessed Apostle S. Paul did when thou appearedst unto him Lord what wilt thou have me to do May that ardent love burn in every one of our breasts towards thee and towards one another which was in thy beloved Disciple who bare record of thee and testified to us these things And may none of us prove so false and unkind as to leave our first love but our work and charity and service and faith and patience may be ever commended by thee and the last be more than the first Then shall we be able with a chearful countenance to look up unto thee and to think of thy majesty and glory with exultation and triumph and not with terror and amazement of spirit We will joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy salvation how greatly shall we rejoyce We will rejoyce even in the midst of tribulation and though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we will fear no evil but stedfastly looking up unto Heaven call upon thee O Lord Jesus and beseech thee to receive our Spirit Into thy hands be they recommended both now and ever with most earnest desires and hope that thou wilt help thy servants whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious bloud and make them to be
might have opened their eyes to see who our Saviour was without any further telling For what could He say of himself more than this Miracle spake which others reported not He It told them loudly enough would they have heard that he had the power of God in him one of whose prerogatives it is cxlvi Psal 8. to open the eyes of the blind And John Baptist also had told them plainly that he saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a Dove and it abode upon him i. 32. Here was an unexceptionable witness of the truth of this story which John presently published And they had reason to believe him because he that authorized him to administer that Baptism which they received gave him this for a sign whereby he should know the Christ when he saw him Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God ver 33 34. He could be no less on whom such a Divine Glory not only descended but also remained and took up its abode with him That 's the last thing to be considered and the chiefest of all He had not a mere glance of this visible Majesty which did not make a transient appearance but he saw it remaining on him It staid for some time there as if it intended to make him its habitation and dwelling place And so it did for as He saw the visible Divine majesty or glory remaining on him then so the thing signified by it continued alway and made all see if they would attend that he was the Sanctuary or most holy Place in which God was and had taken up his residence for ever The body of Jesus as I said before is now become the Temple of God not made by man but by God himself in the Virgins womb There God manifested himself perpetually by sensible effects as I shall show you presently declaring Jesus to be his Son in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily After this visible Majesty disappeared the presence of God within him was very apparent For he came away from Jordan saith S. Luke full of the Holy Ghost iv 1. And having been tempted a while in the wilderness he returned from thence in the power of the Spirit into Galilee ver 14. There he taught in his own City and opened the Book at that very place of Isaiah where he said The Spirit of the Lord is upon me which Scripture was that day fulfilled in their ears ver 18 21. And at Cana in that Country he began to work miracles and manifested forth his glory ii John 11. That is showed indeed that the Divine Majesty spoken of before remained in him Of which glory they did not see so little as a flash or two but they beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father i. 14. He cast about every where such rays of glory and majesty as declared him to be no less person than God's only begotten Son and these they beheld and were constant eye-witnesses of to the end of his life For he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil for God was with him x. Acts 38. This was all his business to bestow benefits upon mankind and to relieve those who were otherways helpless but only by a Divine power As was notorious in his frequent dispossession of Devils and opening the eyes of him who was blind from his birth and after that raising Lazarus from the dead in which great work they saw the glory of God xi John 40. Who did not give the Spirit by measure to him that is with such restriction as he himself gave it to his Apostles at the first But the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hands as the Baptist speaks iii. Joh. 34 35. It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell i. Coloss 19. So that none could have any thing of the Spirit but from his hands and he could communicate what he pleased Which is a sign that he was the place where the Divine majesty and the Holy Spirit now dwelt and had taken up its residence among men who must all repair to him if they would receive the Holy Ghost or any blessing from above What greater argument could there be that he was the Son of God than this that he had all things now put into his hands to do what he pleased on Earth and received the Holy Ghost in such a visible Majesty as a pledge that he should shortly have all power in Heaven too at the right hand of God It was fit that this glorious testimony of the Holy Ghost to him should be accompanied with the voice of God which came out of that or the like cloud saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased So we shall have still farther reasons to acknowledge him if we do but make these following Reflections upon what hath been here discoursed One is that here was not so little as the appearance of an Angel to him by whom God declared his will to the Prophets but a far more illustrious manifestation of the Divine Glory which came down upon him and declared him more than a Prophet Maimonides doubts not to say * More Nevoch Part. 3. cap. 45. that all Prophecy was by the mediation of Angels xvi Gen. 9. xxii 15. Moses himself began to be a Prophet by this means iii. Exod. 2. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in the Bush For which cause he thinks God afterward appointed two Cherubims to cover the Ark that the people might be bred up in the belief of Angels And God is said to dwell between them and to ride upon them because all Prophecy was carried by them from God to men But here is something far beyond this way of communication between God and Men. For not an Angel appeared or spake unto him But that Divine Glory which dwelt between the Cherubims descends upon him and makes him its resting place and God himself speaks to him at the same time out of that Glory calling him his Son and bidding all hear him This was a manifest declaration of his high and singular prerogative and a sign that no less than the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him So that he knew as I said before the mind of God not by Visions and Dreams or by mediation of Angels but by a more intimate familiarity with God dwelling and residing in him For you may observe further which is another thing very remarkable that though there had been formerly an appearance of a Schekinah of the Divine presence that is or glory of God when the gifts of the Holy Ghost were imparted to some persons Yet we never read that this Schekinah came down upon any man much less that it remained on him but upon Jesus only
that he had reason to say xi Luke 20. If I by the finger of God cast out Devils no doubt the KINGDOM of God is come upon you And secondly over and above this he forgave mens sins and remitted their offences by releasing many from the punishment of them v. Luke 20. which every one knows is a power wherewith only Kings and Sovereign Princes are invested And thirdly He raised a man from the dead and released him even from the prison of the grave Which certainly was the act of a King and of that King who had power over all flesh So Martha her self understood it when she makes it all one to raise the dead and to be that King whom God promised to send them For when our Saviour saith to her I am the resurrection and the life c. believest thou this Her answer follows in these terms Yea Lord I believe that thou art the CHRIST the Son of God which should come into the world xi John 27. And lastly the very preaching the mind of God and publishing the Gospel of the Kingdom with such authority as he did was the part of a King For so he interprets the word Kingdom when he stood before Pilate xviii John 37. Where you may learn that all this is not the mere collection of reason from the observations we make as we read the Holy story but that which our Lord himself affirms in express words when he was examined by Pilate upon this very point For our Lord seeming to grant that he had a Kingdom though not of this world but Heavenly ver 36. the Governour asks him again Art thou a KING then To which he answers him roundly Thou sayest that I am a KING i.e. yes I am it is as thou sayest So the rest of the Evangelists report his Answer Thou sayest it xxvii Matth. 11. xv Mark 2. xxiii Luke 3. which is as much in their Language as to say it is so thou hast said right I am a King This is that GOOD CONFESSION which he witnessed before Pontius Pilate which the Apostle propounds to Timothy's imitation 1 Tim. vi 13. He now openly owned with the danger of his life that as mean as he appeared at present he was appointed by God to be his Vicegerent the King of the world which he had manifested by several acts of Kingly power ever since he was anointed with the Holy Ghost And he had said the same before when he was brought to answer for himself in the chief Council of the Jews Where the High Priest asked him and said unto him Art thou the Christ the Son of the Blessed And Jesus said I am xiv Mark 61 62. Which words I am are the plain interpretation of the other phrases in the rest of the Evangelists Thou hast said xxvi Matth. 64. and ye say that I am xxii Luke 70. where you read ver 71. that hearing this confession they forbare to produce any more witnesses and condemned him out of his own mouth That is they passed the sentence of death upon him as a counterfeit so they pretended of that royal Prophet whom they expected to come into the world Under this character they delivered him to Pilate hoping that he would likewise condemn him for Treason against Caesar whose authority they would have him believe our Saviour subverted by saying He himself was CHRIST a King xxiii Luke 2. So the whole multitude of his Disciples had a little before proclaimed him though not such a King as would do Caesar any harm when they met him at the foot of the Mount of Olives and with great joy praised God for all the mighty works they had seen saying Blessed be the KING that cometh in the name of the Lord peace in Heaven and glory in the highest that is let Heaven prosper his Kingdom till it be made most glorious xix Luke 38. There needs no more be said to shew that he was made a King by this Unction of the Holy Ghost though the full possession of his Kingdom and exercise of his whole royal power he did not attain till he was advanced to his Throne of glory in the Heavens when he received from the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost to bestow upon others ii Acts 33. and poured it down as an holy Oil on their heads to create them Ministers in his Kingdom That was a further witness to our Saviour as I should now proceed to show you but that it may be fit before I part with this to take notice that this testimony which the HOLY GHOST now gave to him when it anointed him at his Baptism was so remarkable that Mahomet hath not forgot to leave a remembrance of it in his Alcoran Where he brings in God speaking after this manner * Vid. Seld. de Synedr Lib. 2. C. 4. n. 4. We have already sent a Book i. e. the Law to Moses and afterward we sent the Prophets and to Jesus the Son of Mary we have sent most known or eminent vertues and we gave him a TESTIMONY and strengthened him with the HOLY GHOST In which words a great Paraphrast of theirs upon the Alcoran by known vertues or powers given to our Saviour understands the gift of working miracles as opening the eyes of the blind cleansing lepers and raising the dead Though by the Holy Ghost they generally understand no more than the Angel Gabriel who for the manifestation of him as that Paraphrast speaks was sent a-long with him as his companion whithersoever he went Which notion I imagine they drew out of the Jewish writers who say that such glorious apparitions as that at Christ's baptism were made by the ministry of Angels who were the Chariot of God in which he was said to come down to men But whatsoever Mahomets meaning was when he says God strengthened him with the Holy Ghost it is an open acknowledgment of that which the Divine writers have recorded which was so famous and notorious that Infidels could not deny it Nay some of that false Prophets followers have said expresly that the Holy-Ghost is no Creature Vid. Ib. pag. 127. but hath a singular production proper to it self For it is not a spirit after the manner of other spirits because it is the spirit of God The spirit of a Man is a Creature but the spirit of God is not It was more than an Angelical presence then that was in our Saviour of whose birth indeed the Angel Gabriel brought the news to his Mother but he did not pretend that she should conceive by his power no he sayes expresly The HOLY GHOST shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshaddow thee And therefore at his new-birth as I may call it to the office of a King it was the very same power of the highest which in a visible manner then overshaddowed him and remained on him to testify that he was as the Angel said the Son of God To conclude this the Angelical
the very shadow of some of them did more than all the power of Medicines This was a very great demonstration of his supreme dominion over all Creatures Nothing could be more effectual to induce men to obey him to whom they saw every thing else was subject Without this they could never have moved men to believe that he was the Lord but this gave it sufficient credit For suppose they had stood up in the places of popular concourse and said We come to preach to you in the name of Jesus and require you to submit your selves to him whom God hath made the Lord of all He was born of the seed of David a great King in Israel did many wonders in that Nation though he was hated and rejected by them and delivered to Pontius Pilate by whom he was crucified but God raised him out of his grave and we saw him go to Heaven where he is inthroned in the most glorious Majesty and reigns over all Angels as well as mankind Cast away therefore your ancient Gods who are his subjects Forsake presently all your superstitious Rites and Ceremonies Believe on this person submit to his government and obey his commands Though you get nothing in this world by it but perhaps may lose all you have he will reward you for it in his Pleavenly Kingdom What force do you think there would have been in such a speech to perswade the Nations far distant from Jerusalem to fall down before him as their Sovereign Would they not have smiled and said What do these bablers mean to bring us these strange stories from a foreign land Why should we acknowledge him to be our King whom his own Country-men would not suffer to reign over them Shall we become the subjects of one whom we never saw nor heard of until now and venture the loss of all our liberties and perchance of our lives for one whom they confess to be crucified and dead What likelihood is there that he should rise again from the dead who could not keep himself when he was alive from being put to death Truly saith Eusebius when I consider the mere doctrine they were to preach I cannot see how they could hope to draw the people to their belief But then when I consider how they did prevail every where at Rome at Alexandria at Antioch in all other places I must have recourse to a Divine power which succeeded this Doctrine Jesus plainly declared by putting them upon the attempt that he was confident he had all power to get himself a Kingdom by this preaching And by the issue it appeared that it was no presumption wherewith he was possessed instead of a well grounded confidence They preached as he bad them but it was not with such Rhetorick as is in use among us not with the enticing words of mans wisdom with eloquent expressions enchanting language or mere plausible arguments but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power 1 Cor. ii 4. The HOLY GHOST from Heaven presently appeared wheresoever they preached to justifie their words and to testifie by many miraculous operations that Jesus was no less than they affirmed This evident demonstration perswaded mens minds This was such a power that the people were ready to take them for Gods and imagined that Mercury and Jupiter were come down from Heaven to them and thereupon prepared publick sacrifices to be offered in their honour xiv Acts 13. Natural reason told them that such things could not be done by mortal nature but they must be concluded to be the works of some God though no body told them that they were And therefore this was all they had to do for their own satisfaction to enquire by what power and authority the Apostles did these wonders since they themselves confessed that they were but men And here now they took occasion to let them know that it was Jesus who did these Miracles Him they preached and him they hereby proved to be the Lords ANOINTED who by this power would prevail notwithstanding the fierce opposition that was made against his authority For as you read in a devout address which the whole company of believers made to God the Rulers were gathered together and the Kings of the Earth stood up against the Lord and against his Christ At their first entrance upon this work there were mighty endeavours to overthrow it just as there had been against his holy child Jesus whom he had ANOINTED that is promoted to a greater glory than he had on Earth And therefore they desire God to go along with them and stretch forth his hand to heal and that signs and wonders might be done by the name of his holy child Jesus for the propagating of this Religion which it was not in their own power to advance iv Acts 26 27 30. Now this was a further testimony of the power and glory of Jesus that when a solemn address was made to God and they represented to him their design they were so far from receiving any discountenance from him that he incouraged and promoted this undertaking For the place where they prayed was shaken by a powerful inspiration which came upon them all as it had done upon the Apostles And they were ALL filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with boldness ver 31. III. And this leads me to the last Testimony which the HOLY GHOST gave to him by descending upon other persons as well as upon the Apostles though not in such a visible form as it did on the day of Pentecost The place indeed was SHAKEN where these believers were assembled by the like mighty wind I suppose as filled the house where the Apostles received the Holy Ghost ii Acts 2. But there were no fiery tongues now appeared as there did then Nor do we afterwards read of any such sensible sign of an invisible power coming upon them as this shaking of the place was when the Holy Ghost first descended upon the body of the Church But whensoever the Apostles laid their hands upon any person who believed in Jesus and was baptized presently the Holy Ghost fell down upon them and they spake with tongues and prophesied viii Acts 15 17. xix 6. This laying on of their hands was ever after the only external sign of the Divine power for that 's the meaning of stretching out the hand in the place just before named iv Acts 30. wherewith they should be endued at the request of the Apostles Which was a plain demonstration of the royal Majesty and munificence of Jesus whose Servants and Ministers these were and hereby the HOLY GHOST bare record to him that he was the Son of God So this very Apostle teaches us in the second Chapter of this Epistle where he tells them to whom he writes that he need not be very solicitous to prescribe them Antidotes against those Antichristian doctrines which then began to poison the Church because they had an Unction
of God And there is none can continue in this unworthy slavery but he must lay aside these thoughts also that the WORD was made flesh and the Image of the invisible God hath taken up his abode in our Nature By this he hath called us to the greatest sanctity He remembers us what excellent Creatures we are and how Glorious he is desirous to make us And who is there that need despair of recovering himself by the grace of God though he be sunk never so much below himself now that God is come on purpose to lift him up He hath sent Salvation to us by one that is mighty to save He hath revealed himself so graciously and made such discoveries of his Love and Power and Glory to all mankind that they may confidently hope if they will not cast away all care of themselves to be restored to the image and likeness of God again But this Discourse will come in more seasonably when we have joyned the strength of the other three Witnesses to these and heard them all together some from Heaven others from Earth proclaiming this in our ears Behold the Son of God Jesus is your Lord for he is the Lord of all things And we shall be the more ready for a surrender to him when we see withall how much we are beholden to God Almighty for his marvellous inconceiveable love in calling us so many ways by so many arguments to Repentance Faith Obedience and Everlasting Salvation That which I have now explained deserves to be remembred with the most affectionate acknowledgments and we shall be better disposed to hearken to the rest if we give him hearty thanks for what we understand already and say A PRAYER ADored be thy inestimable love O thou Holy Spirit of Grace and Truth the mighty Power of God who hast given such gifts unto men even to the rebellious also that the LORD God might DWELL among them Blessed be thy Goodness who didst anoint our Lord with that oil of gladness which hath run down to the meannest of his subjects Great and wonderful was that Heavenly Power and Love which appeared in such visible Majesty upon him and filled him with the Holy Ghest so that he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil And much more marvellous was that Almighty Goodness which promoted him to the throne of Glory in the Heavens that he might fill all things Praised be that astonishing Love which first filled the Apostles minds with such Heavenly light and inflamed their wills with such fervent heat that they boldly preached the Gospel to all the world For ever magnified be that diffusive Grace which afterwards spread it self in such variety of gifts wrought by one and the self same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he pleased Let the whole Church be giving continual thanks to thee O Lord for stretching forth thy hand in such signs and wonders to glorifie thy holy child Jesus for giving by the Spirit to some a gift of wisdom to others a gift of healing to others divers kind of tongues to others prophecy and for making some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers that every knee might bow to Jesus and every tongue confess that he is the Lord. I confess him with all my Soul I honour him as my Dearest Lord. I see thy Glory O blessed Jesus by the light of the Holy Ghost which hath shone so oft from Heaven upon us I see the Power thou hast at Gods right hand I see the royal bounty of thy love Now I know that thou knowest all things and believe that thou art the faithful and the true whose words shall never fail O how much ought I and every Christian Soul to rejoyce in the consolations of the Holy Ghost which hath brought us new assurances from Heaven that our Saviour lives and reigns and sits inthroned at the right hand of God in incomparable majesty and glory Inspire all our minds and hearts O thou quickning Spirit inspire them O Lord and Giver of Life with such ardent love and devotion towards him that we may hope to reign with him and then shall we rejoyce before-hand in this hope with joy unspeakable and full of glory Do not wholly absent they self from us O thou Guide and Comforter of our Souls though we have not been so grateful to thee nor followed thy directions and counsels as we ought but still let thy gracious presence fill every part of the Christian Church Though we have not that UNCTION from above which endued them heretofore with the gifts of tongues and prophecy and healing and working of miracles Yet pour down every where much of the spirit of knowledge and love and devotion and purity and fortitude and undaunted resolution and fervent Zeal which may be ever glorifying the great God and our Saviour Christ Jesus O thou who didst open the eyes of the blind and loose the tongue of the dumb enlighten our minds to see more of those wonders which may inflame our love and incourage our hope and open our lips that our mouths may shew forth thy Praise Still let there be hearts full of Faith in the blessed Jesus full of love to all mankind full of ardent desire to see his Kingdom come full of wisdom to open the mysteries of Salvation to instruct men in the truth as it is in Jesus and to convince them mightily and perswade them to be obedient to it That so by the same Heavenly power whereby the Faith of Christ was planted in the world it may be graciously preserved and promoted and we may see it go forward and advance more and more till every Nation now on Earth speak in their own tongues the wonderful works of God Let all the people praise thee O God Let all the people praise thee Kindle in them such devout affections as may offer up continually the sacrifice of praise to thee Let them praise thee with pure minds and upright hearts and unspotted lives and in perfect unity and godly love say every where Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen CHAP. V. Concerning the Witnesses on Earth and first of the WATER HAVING given a brief account of the Testimony of the first Three Witnesses and finding much satisfaction in their perfect agreement we have the greater encouragement to go to the other Three who are also nearer to us than the former and take that evidence which they are willing to afford us for our further confirmation in this belief that Jesus is the Son of God These three you read in the eighth Verse are such as bear witness on EARTH whereby we may be the better acquainted with them and they are the more undeniable and furthest off from all question or exception For should any be so bold as to dispute that there might
whom we must worship when he was not sought to overthrow and take out of his hands We are secure that God would not have abetted an Usurper in so high a manner against himself And as for any unclean Spirits if they could have done such things as Jesus wrought they would not have employed their power we are sure to establish a Doctrine so pure and holy as the Christian Religion teaches which utterly destroys all that wickedness in which they delight There was all the reason in the World to believe one who came thus by the SPIRIT when he came by WATER too and by his mighty power promoted nothing but the most excellent Piety Vertue and Goodness among mankind But concerning the miracles of our Saviour there will be an occasion to say so much in pursuance of what I design hereafter that I shall add no more of them here Let us now proceed having heard what the SPIRIT did by him to consider what wonderful things it did for him whereby it proved him to be the Christ the Son of God II. And the SPIRIT sure very eminently bare witness of him when it raised him from the dead and not long after advanced him into Heaven to live for ever with God For both these are ascribed to the power of the SPIRIT in express texts of Holy Scripture Of the former you read in the 1 Pet. iii. 18. where the Apostle says He was put to death in the flesh being mortal as we are but quickned by the SPIRIT that is raised up again from the dead by that Divine power in him whereby he had raised up others before he died It was impossible that he should be held by the chains of death who had such a SPIRIT in him By this he shook them off more easily than Samson brake the Wit hs or the Cords wherewith he was bound when the SPIRIT of the Lord came mightily upon him And being thus quickned again the same SPIRIT also presented him to God in the Heavens as his dearly beloved Son in whom he was well pleased who had given him full satisfaction and done his whole will for which he sent him into the world So you read in the ix Hebr. 14. where the offering which the Apostle says he made of himself to God through the eternal SPIRIT was that bloudy sacrifice on the Cross which after his Resurrection he offered to God and continues still to offer in the Heavenly Sanctuary as the High Priest under the Law offered the bloud of beasts after they were slain at the Altar in the most holy place of the Earthly Sanctuary And this oblation is said to be made by the SPIRIT because that raised him to life after he was slain translated him out of his mortal condition carried him on high made his body glorious and immortal and having thus made him fit to be for ever with God presented him unto his Majesty where he remains through the power of an endless life a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek And this working of the mighty power of God which wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places far above all principalities and powers might and dominion and every name that is named was such a testimony of the SPIRIT to him that it confounded his adversaries more than all the miracles which he had wrought by the power of the same SPIRIT in his life-time And therefore the Apostles I observe alledge this immediately after the other as that which compleated the testimony of the SPIRIT to him Till this was clear and evident they relied wholly upon the other as you may perceive by the discourse of those two Disciples that went with our Saviour to Emaus Who doubted of his Resurrection after news had been brought them of it but acknowledged him to have been a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people and upon that account were much troubled that their Rulers had crucified him because they trusted it had been he which should have redeemed Israel xxiv Luke 19 20. When they were fully perswaded therefore that he was indeed made alive again as these very men presently saw then they add this as an argument of the greatest force to convince the world that he was the Son of God the Redeemer of mankind This is the substance I observe of both S. Peter's first Sermons to the Jews and to the Gentiles He begins with a relation how great Jesus was in his Life and then proceeds to show how much greater God had made him by raising him from the dead Read but what he says to his Crucifiers on the day of Pentecost ii Acts 22 23 24. where he first tells them that Jesus of Nazareth was a man approved of God among them by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of them as they themselves very well knew And then that he being delivered to them and by wicked hands crucified and slain God had raised him up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it In like manner he discourses to the first Gentile converts x. Acts 38 39 40. where he tells Cornelius and his friends how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power and how he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil of which they were witnesses who had seen all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem and then adds that God raised him up the third day after he was slain and hanged on a Tree and shewed him openly though not to all the people yet to witnesses chosen before God even to him and others who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead The Apostle had nothing to add beyond this which was the greatest testimony of the SPIRIT to him Now it spake with a loud voice in his behalf for if he had not been God's Son as he said he was He would never have taken him out of his grave much less have advanced him into the Heavens Where it was manifested he now lived by the coming of the HOLY GHOST which fell upon Cornelius and his friends while S. Peter was speaking those words This was all that could be added to what the Apostle had said and God sent this to prove his Resurrection and Exaltation at his right hand Which was such an undeniable proof of his authority that having thus raised him the SPIRIT as I said finished its testimony to him For how should it speak plainer or more convincingly or who can think that it would have continued to speak for him in this manner after his death if he had died with a lye in his mouth The SPIRIT which S. John here says is the TRUTH openly declared by restoring him to life that his Bloud was most acceptable to God It showed that
No man then had the impudence to deny the Eclipse of the Sun the Earthquake the rending of the veil of the Temple and the rest of the astonishing things that then hapned The first of them is mentioned by a Pagan-writer and though the Apostles published both that and all the other continually yet there is no book either of Jew or Gentile who were enemies great enough to his Religion that goes about to disprove them And as for his miraculous works they were generally done openly at Feasts in the Synagogues on the high-ways and were so commonly talkt of that the Rulers feared all the world would run after him xii John 19. Therefore the Apostles could not falsifie in the report of these things but they might be easily confuted Which no man ever attempted but both Jews and Gentiles acknowledged that he wrought Miracles for his Apostles also wrought them every where and so did their Successors in some Ages after To these the Ancient Christians appeal as an undoubted testimony to their Faith which they could not be so silly as to mention were there any dispute whether there had been Miracles wrought or no. His Resurrection also was attested by Five hundred people who saw him together at once and it was proved beyond contradiction by the strange descent of those miraculous gifts upon his Apostles according to his promise Which came upon them also at a Feast when all the Nation though living in far distant Countries were assembled together and a great company of Proselytes also and devout people were present to be witnesses of it Yea the Apostles themselves as is notoriously known went over all the world and openly showed the power of Jesus which was in them Now if all these be true Witnesses or rather if you grant there were such Witnesses which no sober man can deny they being visible here on Earth in the company of so much people there can be no doubt remaining of this that Jesus is the Son of God They proclaim this so loudly with one voice that S. John had reason to say We beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father They beheld it in his Preaching and Life they beheld it in his bloudy Death but especially in the power of his SPIRIT both before he died and in raising him up from the dead and they beheld it also when they were with him in the holy Mount and had the Testimony of the rest of the Heavenly Witnesses Which were heard on Earth though they were in Heaven as men of high quality and of unblemished integrity with the hazard of all they had did constantly affirm And though some of those Heavenly Witnesses might not be believed so much at the first which is the cause I suppose that our Saviour bids his Apostles as you have heard not declare what the voice from Heaven said till after his Resurrection xvii Matth. 9. yet when they had received such great testimony that they were good men and men of God by having the Holy Ghost bestowed on them to bestow upon others also and when by this they were able to demonstrate his Resurrection then all the rest that they alledged as a proof that he was the Son of God did highly merit belief also and there was no reason to suspect the truth of such reports as were verified in so authentick a manner For with great power gave the Apostles witness of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus iv Acts 33. And the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus was a powerful Witness that there was nothing so great said of him by the voices from Heaven but it ought to be received as the undoubted truth of God Who at sundry times and in divers manners testified to his Son Jesus that by some means or other the most obstinate hearts might be convinced and those tongues which blasphemed him might confess him to be the Lord. A PRAYER ALL thy works praise thee O holy Jesus they all show the greatness of thy power and declare thee to be the Lord. All thy Saints therefore ought to bless thee and to speak good of thy Name who didst manifest forth thy glory in such miraculous works upon Earth and art now crowned with such glory and honour in the Heavens Great was the glory of that Almighty love which gave health to the sick feet to the lame eyes to the blind and life to the dead How gloriously didst thou triumph over the Devil and all the powers of darkness declaring thy self to be the Redeemer of the World by delivering those who were oppressed by him Great was thy Majesty and therefore greatly to be praised Those triumphs ought to have been attended with the most joyful shouts of Praise and Thanksgiving to thee as the Saviour of men and the Lord of Men and Angels All that saw thy wonderful works ought with never-ceasing love to have glorified thee the great Lover of mankind the Repairer of our ruines the Restorer of our happiness our mighty Deliverer from all our Enemies and the inexhaustible Fountain of life and all other good things which thou every where dispensedst to them How ought all our hearts now to overflow with love to thee the blessings of whose goodness so overflowed in all places that none can tell the number of them Especially when we remember how by the mighty working of the same Spirit which glorified thee so on Earth thou art raised from the dead carried to Heaven set at the right hand of God and made the King of glory This is the Lord 's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes This is the sovereign Balsam of all our wounds This is our solace and comfort in the greatest troubles This raises our Spirits when they are oppressed and gives us life in death it self Be thou honoured and acknowledged by me and by all mankind with the humblest the most hearty and affectionate devotion to thy service Be thou ever praised as much as thou wast reproached and blasphemed Let thy Name be sweet and mentioned with delight and joy throughout all the World Live O blessed Jesus in the glory wherein thou art inthroned Sit and reign there till all thine Enemies become thy foot-stool For among the Gods there is none like unto thee O Lord neither are there any works like unto thy works All Nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy Name For thou art great and hast done wondrous things Thou art Lord alone O give unto the Lord ye kindreds of the people give unto the Lord glory and strength Ascribe unto the Lord the glory due unto his name O worship him in the beauty of holiness Say among the Heathen the Lord reigneth who was dead but is alive again and liveth for evermore O sing unto the Lord a new song sing unto the Lord all the Earth Yea sing unto the Lord a new song and worship him all ye Gods For thou
Moses then had need to do some miracles to confirm his prophecy since he fell short in many other things of giving satisfaction Such as we have I mean who abound in Witnesses to our belief and hear even this Witness on which the Jews heretofore relied speak more plainly and powerfully to us than it did to them The SPIRIT of the Lord was upon Moses the people saw by the wonders he did which moved them to follow him Though now they are so foolishly mad against our Saviour that to rob us of this Argument the Jews say Moses his miracles did not prove him to be sent of God yet it is manifest by their story they were in a manner his only glory I am sure the principal or that which first induced their forefathers to give any credit to him For when he asked of God a sign to give the people who otherwise he foresaw would question the apparition of the Angel to him that they might believe as much as himself and acknowledge that God sent him He granted him a power of doing such wonders as flesh and bloud could not do which it seems he thought the properest means to convince them What is that in thy hand saith the Lord immediately after the words mentioned before iv Exod. 1. and he said a rod. And the Lord said Cast it on the ground And he cast it on the ground and it became a Serpent and Moses fled from before it And the Lord said unto him again Put forth thine hand and take it by the tail and he put forth his hand and caught it and it became a rod in his hand that they may believe the Lord God of their Fathers hath appeared unto thee ver 2 3 4 5. This was the end for which this miracle was to be wrought To which he adds another that if they would not believe him nor hearken to the voice of the first they might be convinced by the second or if they would believe neither he gave him power to do a third and bade him turn the water of the river into bloud ver 7 8. And accordingly you read he went and did the signs in the sight of the people and the people believed and when they heard God had visited them bowed their heads and worshipped ver 30 31. After this indeed they disbelieved again till God drowned their enemies in the red Sea and then the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his servant Moses xiv Exod. 31. But were any of these works so wonderful and so powerful to move belief as those which our Saviour did It may deserve a discourse on a fitting occasion on purpose to show how much Moses came behind him in this as well as in all the rest Both the number and greatness of our Saviour's works were as far beyond his as the strength of a Gyant is beyond that of an Infant He was cut off in the midst of his days and yet in that three years and an half wherein he lived after the SPIRIT of God came upon him at his Baptism he did more wonders than Moses did in forty years nay more than had been done from the beginning of the world to that time And if you regard the quality of them Moses his taking the Serpent by the tail and turning it into a rod again was not comparable to our Saviour's casting out Devils treading upon the old Serpent breaking in pieces all his power by healing all manner of sickness and disease and giving his Disciples also the same authority and power which was visible in himself Nor was Moses his hand becoming leprous when he put it into his bosom and its being restored again by the same means any thing like to the miracles of Jesus in curing so many old Lepers of all forts both Jews and Samaritans wheresoever they came to him to implore his charity Moses brought a strong East wind which caused the Sea to go back and leave the bottom dry for the Israelites to march through but this was nothing so wonderful as our Lord 's walking upon the Sea as it had been dry land and commanding Peter to accompany him in the midst of a boisterous wind and his laying his commands upon such tempests and raging waves and the fishes also which all obeyed him Nay that great miracle of feeding them with Manna was not so strange as our Lord 's satisfying great multitudes with five or seven loaves and two small fishes which were not proportionable to so many thousand stomachs as were filled by them as the quantity of Manna was to the Armies of the Israelites Besides that you never read a word of Moses his opening the eyes of the blind much less of his raising the dead which our Lord did sundry times I need say no more to show how inferiour he was to Jesus even in regard of his miracles concerning which the multitude said truly It never was so seen in Israel ix Matth. 33. And yet this was the only thing that convinced that Nation at the first and made them believe in Moses as I have prov'd before they heard God speak to them by an Angel from mount Sinai at the giving of the Law That was the most amazing thing of all but was after they came out of Egypt and a great while after they had believed Moses was sent of God as they saw then more fully and was nothing comparable neither to Jesus's speaking himself to some of the Apostles out of Heaven and sending the Holy Ghost from thence with the gift of tongues and divers others upon them all And after all that hath been said of the miracles which the SPIRIT wrought by him where are the miracles that it wrought for him Did Moses prove himself a true Prophet by rising again after he was dead and buried To whom did he appear With whom did he eat and drink Or who can say that he ascended up into Heaven To whom did he appear in glory except it was to our Saviour and some of his Disciples in honour of whom it seems he had then the favour and not before to shine in that lustre wherein they beheld him In short God gave not the Spirit by measure unto Jesus as you have heard before He had not such a limited portion of it as Moses had who appears by these things to have been only a servant over the house of God in which our Saviour had a power as a Son and that over his own house iii. Hebr. 5 6. Thus much hath been said to show the great honour God hath done us in making us Christians Whose Faith you see stands upon such well-laid grounds that even they who were taught by God had none comparable to them Herein we have a felicity above all other men that have ever been if we be but sensible of it that we are not required to receive any thing from God but upon such reasons as far excel those which demanded belief of
words as these Lay not up your treasures upon Earth and the luxurious are told that he who soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption and the proud are told that he who exalteth himself shall be abased the angry are exhorted when one cheek is smitten to turn the other they that live in discord are taught to love their enemies the superstitious are instructed that the Kingdom of God is within us to the curious it is said continually look not at the things that are seen but to those which are not seen and lastly it is said to all Love not the world nor the things that are in the world if these things are read throughout the world if they be chearfully heard with great veneration if after so much bloud such fires so many crucifixions of Martyrs the Church is grown more fertile and hath propagated it self to the most barbarous Nations and to omit the rest if men are every where so converted to God that every day all mankind answers almost with one voice LIFT UP YOUR HEARTS UNTO THE LORD why should we drowsily still continue in a sottish unbelief There is nothing can be said in the excuse of such Souls as having received notice of such a marvellous Love of God to mankind and such evident proofs that it is no fancy will not be perswaded to entertain the belief of it But when light is come into the world chuse to remain in darkness and will be guided merely by themselves when there is a revelation come from God Which ought to be entertained with the greatest joy as the thing which the world wanted and wisht for and without which they could meet with no resolution of their doubts nor certain directions how to please God whom they had so highly offended In this the Christian Religion gives us full satisfaction and propounds nothing to our practice but what the wisest men ever said was best to be done and took for the most excellent piety As for that which it propounds to our belief it is all made credible by this one great Truth which is proved by a number of Witnesses that Jesus is the Son of God We ought to receive that which such a person taught either with his own mouth or by those whom he inspired and sent in the same manner as the Father sent him For if it be so reasonable as I have demonstrated to be a Believer then it is as unreasonable to be an Unbeliever and no man will be able to open his mouth to justifie such a sin against so many Witnesses as will appear to testifie that they called him to the faith by the clearest and the most powerful evidences that ever were For if the Jews were bound to believe in Moses having no more testimony from God than you have heard we are much more bound to believe in Jesus who hath more and greater Witnesses that he not only came from God but is gone to God and hath all things given into his hands whether in Heaven or in Earth As it was said of them therefore xiv Exod. ult that they believed the Lord and his servant Moses so let it be said of every one now that we believe the Lord and his Son Jesus For this very end were these words written by S. John that we may believe on his Name ver 13. And this is the summ of what God would have us to do the Commandment he hath given us That we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another iii. 23. If we do the former we shall see an evident consequence of the latter For when we are perswaded that He is the Son of God we cannot but see that we ought to receive every word that he says with affectionate reverence and to let every thing that is said concerning him into our very hearts so that we fear him and love him and become obedient to him and depend upon his word and as he himself hath taught us honour him as we do the Father Almighty For we are assured by those who heard him and were with him from the beginning and were witnesses of his Resurrection and received the Holy Ghost from him that He was the WORD MADE FLESH and that the Word was God and all things were made by him and is the Son of God not by office only but in his nature and essence and having assumed our Flesh therein reigns Lord of all for ever For what reason should we refuse to receive that which is so credibly witnessed to be the very Truth of God They that report these things were so pious as I have proved that they cannot be suspected to have invented them nay the very end for which they published them quits them from all suspicion of fraud and forgery For they aimed at nothing but by making man sensible of his great Dignity and the high honour God hath put upon him to possess his heart with an ardent love to God and to his Neighbour and to make him perfectly subject unto his will And is there not great reason if we believe what these Witnesses say that we should apply our best endeavours to please him by living soberly righteously and godly and by abstaining from the least appearance of evil Think what Jesus was and then resolve with your selves what regard is due to his Word Will not the wicked man tremble when he hears him say that none shall go to Heaven but they that do the will of his Father which is in Heaven Then he does not believe that these are the words of the Son of God or does not mind what he reads Who can with any face call him Lord Lord and not acknowledge that he ought to do the things that he says And to acknowledge this and not do those things what a madness is that if we believe our Lord is able to call us to a severe account for our neglect of his will What is there that can recommend chastity and purity of heart to our affection together with mercifulness meekness peaceableness poverty or contentedness of spirit the humility of little children saith in God's providence and such like vertues if this will not that the Son of God hath preacht them to the world as the most amiable qualities in the eyes of God without which we shall never see him nor inherit his Heavenly Kingdom Are not these his words Do not his Sermons teach us these Lessons And if we do these things does he not say we shall have everlasting life and enter into his joy and see the glory which God hath given him For what cause do we question whether this be the way to happiness Do not the same Witnesses which tell us that he is the Son of God testifie withall that he came to teach us Gods will and that this is his will which by the Gospel is declared unto us Why do we not seriously believe it then let me ask again
our neighbours will we not allow God says the Apostle as much as we yield to them Shall not his word determine and conclude us When he gives evidence of a thing shall we still dispute it with him That besides the undutifulness of it is too great a stubborness We may rather be taught how to behave our selves towards him by the measure men expect from us and we from them Yea God does more deserve credit than any man for as he adds the witness of God is GREATER i. e. is of far more validity and certainty it may more securely be relied on than the witness of any men whatsoever God is not only greater than men but his Witness also or Testimony is greater which must be carefully noted it is of more force and strength to support any conclusion we may more undoubtedly found our faith upon it because it is not liable to any of those exceptions which may prejudice the best testimony of men Two things there are that lessen the testimony of men if we compare it with God's and make it to be of a nature more weak and infirm The one is that though a man be reputed honest and therefore we cannot legally except against his Testimony yet it is possible he may be a deceiver and we cannot look into his heart to know whether he be or no. We may not be able to prove the least deceit by him in what he says or ever has said or done and it is possible he never delivered any thing contrary to truth or did any thing contrary to justice but yet we can never free our mind from this thought since we know not his inward man that there is a possibility also it may be otherwise with him But then secondly suppose him perfectly honest and that it is impossible he should put a cheat upon us yet it will be always possible that he may be cheated himself because all men are fallible and may be mistaken The greatest integrity in the world cannot secure a man but the weakness of his understanding and the subtilty of others may sometimes impose upon him so that though he thinks what he says to be true it may be otherwise in it self than it is in his thoughts Herein therefore the Testimony of God is GREATER than the testimony of men that it is not liable to either of these suspicions it being utterly impossible that he should either be deceived himself or that he should deceive us He can neither lead us into an error which we all acknowledge to be contrary to his Goodness and Truth nor fall into one himself which is as contrary to the perfection of his understanding and his Omnipresent being The testimony of God then being so indubitable that it is above the testimony of any men it ought with all reverence to be received when he declares that Jesus is his Son for if it were but equal to humane testimony it ought not to be refused Now this is the WITNESS OF GOD says the Apostle which he hath testified of his Son That is It being granted to be most rational that we should receive the testimony of God nay give it greater respect than we bear to that of men I assure you that the evidence which we give you concerning Jesus is the very testimony of God and therefore do not slight it It is not we that bear witness to him so much as God We do not desire you to hear merely what we say but what God himself hath said who hath given many assurances of this truth If there were but two of them they might by your own rules very well expect to find entertainment but there are no less than six witnesses every one of them Divine they all speak from God and therefore you cannot deny your assent to what they prove For the first witness is God the Father himself who called Jesus his well-beloved Son And the second is the Word of God upon which account whatsoever he says is God's testimony also The Holy Ghost which is the third that proceeds from the Father and came on purpose to bear witness to his Son As for the fourth Water the Doctrine was of GOD his life was the life of GOD John's Baptism was from Heaven and he is called i. John 6. a man sent from GOD. Then for the Bloud which is the fifth witness it is called GOD's own Bloud xx Acts 28. And it appeared to be his by his gathering it up again after it was shed and taking it into the Heavens where he appears with it in the presence of God for us And the last of these witnesses is expresly called the Spirit of GOD xii Matth. 28. So that it is GOD you see who so many ways bears witness of his Son there is something Divine in every one of these Witnesses in those on Earth as well as in those in Heaven and therefore we cannot without an affront to GOD reject their testimony For then He would have worse measure from us than men have and we should give less respect to six Witnesses of his than to two or three of our neighbours If Jesus came not with clear demonstrations with fulness of proof then deny him any admittance but if God hath so many ways justified him to be his Son if his Life was so excellent his Bloud so holy his Spirit so Divine then we shall never be able to justifie it before any knowing man much less before God if we do not believe him and that heartily and fully in every thing no more doubting of the truth of what he says than we do of those things which our eyes and our ears report to us or of those which are delivered unto us upon the faith of the whole world For which end it should be our endeavour that our Faith may rest upon a sure and strong foundation and be laid on such grounds that it may stand the faster in a time of temptation The ignorant man's Faith indeed may be as strong as his that knows most and what he hath learnt by Education may be so confirmed by Custom that he will never stir from it but is only the effect of Nature which produces the same resolutions in those who are of other Religions The Christian way of obtaining a strong Faith is first to see the Son and then to believe on him to everlasting life as our Saviour himself teaches us vi John 40. To see him is to perceive and discern by evident tokens that he is the Son of God the true way to life upon which sight and plain demonstrations we ought to believe in him and submit unto him as our Lord. That 's the true Christian Faith which flows from knowledge and is founded upon the understanding of what such Witnesses as these say concerning Jesus It relies upon the testimony of the Father of the Word and of the Holy Ghost is wrought by the Spirit and confirmed by Water and Bloud And
study and labour with these the Devil baits his hooks to catch Souls and they who do not bite at one will be nibling at another They that are not tempted by the first to gluttony and drunkenness fornication and such like filthiness feel the second perhaps incline them to covetousness and the sordid love of Money with a thirst and greediness of another kind Or if they can escape and despise these they may notwithstanding be in danger to be carried away with the humor of prodigality and affectation of vain-glory or ambition of Dignities which is attended with emulation envy and other dangerous Vices As the African Beast which some write of is caught with Musick and suffers its feet to be fettered while it listens to the Lessons that are play'd to it So do the generality of Mankind let their Souls be insnared and led into a miserable captivity by the inchanting voice of pleasure riches or glory Whilst they hearken to the bewitching melody which some of these court them withall they are taken in the mighty Hunter's net and become a prey to him that lurks for Souls and seek whom he may devour And it has not been in the power of the wisest Charmers that ever were in the World to open the eares of the most of men and to convey the sense of better things into them All the Philosophy and Learning that was so famous in former Ages could never obtain such numerous chearful and obedient Auditors as the Syren Songs which these three sing in Mens cares have always sound When the World therefore by that wisdome knew not God it pleased God says S. Paul 1 Cor. i. 21. by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe The faith of Christ directs and disposes us to avoid all those dangerous rocks on which they split themselves who listen to those deceitful Songs Now that the Son of God is come He pulls our feet out of the net and by his far more powerful charms so stops our ears to those inchantments that there is no entrance for them any more It seemed a foolish thing indeed to the World to believe that the crucified Jesus was the Son of God but where this simple faith prevailed it did more than all the wisdome of the World was able to effect before For it gave them a new understanding and saved them from perishing by making them account it the greatest pleasure and glory and treasures to follow Jesus and do the will of God as he did The World they saw passeth away and the lust thereof if they do not leave us we must at last leave them but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever So those three Heavenly witnesses the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost assure us whose voice as it is most sweet and melodious so it is most powerful to disinchant us and to preserve those who receive their testimony from all the bewitching temptations of those other three the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life Nay here are two Threes of infinitely greater vertue and efficacy to prevail with us than all that the WORLD'S Trinity can offer to us if we will but open our ears and diligently listen to their voice And how can we choose but listen when the Father of Heaven calls to us so graciously when the Word opens his secrets to us and the Holy-Ghost proclaims such an abundant love of God towards us The Water the Bloud the Spirit they also with one consent conspire with those and all together sing this New Song THE SON OF GOD IS COME the Son of God is come This one note of theirs more ravishes than all the pleasures and satisfactions which the WORLD infatuates its followers withall Heaven and Earth cannot speak any thing more moving in our ears than this which again and again salutes them with new joy For what would you have them say would it please you to hear that Infinite Goodness loves us that the Heavens stand open to us and show us their glory that God is willing to receive us up thither that he will make us Heirs of a Kingdom equal with the Angels to hear their Songs and joyn with that Celestial Quire Behold they are all included in this one sentence THE SON OF GOD IS COME GOD HATH GIVEN US HIS SON This is the sweetest Aire that can touch our eares this we can never be weary to hear this strikes our souls if we understand it so gratefully that we cannot but say let us hear that again And therefore after the Father the Word and the Holy-Ghost have blest our ears with this joyful sound here are three more that take it up and repeat it to us with the strongest assurances that we hear the Voice of God himself And the oftner we listen to them and lend them our attention the more frequently I mean we think upon the reasons we have to believe in Jesus the more deaf shall we grow to all the sinful allurements of this World how inviting soever before they have been For my part I think there is more real satisfaction in the very understanding of this one place of Holy Scripture than in all the delights of worldly men What is there I beseech you consider in all their sensualities comparable to the rational gust of what is contained in that one voice of the Father THIS IS MY WELL BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED What Riches are there to be equalled with this treasure of Divine knowledge that God hath bestowed his own Son upon us What honour like to this to be preferred to be the Friends yea the Sons of God Can you hear any thing so delicious as that voice of the WORD To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life in the midst of the Paradise of God ii Rev. 7. Were there ever any Jewels so precious as the inestimable gifts wherewithall the Holy Ghost hath inriched the Church what Musick is there fit to bear a part with those Hymns and Psalms and spiritual Songs that it inspired the hearts of Christians withall Doth it not even ravish the heart of a pious man to think of them though he do not hear the like in these days What is there in all the broken Cisterns of this World that tastes like the Rivers of living Water that Jesus hath poured out unto us What peace does it speak to us like that which by the Bloud of Jesus is purchased for us Or what power is there in any of this Worlds temptation that can stand before the voice of that SPIRIT which says COME and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely xxii Rev. 17. Certainly in the strength of such a faith so fortified so incouraged by all these Witnesses we may easily tread the WORLD under our feet and make its most mighty temptations crouch to us whereas now for want of this solid faith we
God v. 1. and xviii 5. from this glorious presence here which appeared afterward also to give the Law from the same place After which you find that he and Aaron with his sons and the seventy Elders of Israel being invited by God to approach towards the foot of that Mount where he spake with Moses it is said that they saw the God of Israel xxiv Exod. 10. In both which places though Maimonides would willingly understand a spirituall sight of God with the mind being afraid lest any man should imagine God to be corporeall More Nevoc part 1. cap. 5. yet he acknowledges it is safe enough to interpret it as the Chaldee doth of a sight of that Glory which I treated of in my former Book Chap. IV. or of an Angel which in a luminous Body appeared to them But this last is rejected by a Rule in the Talmud * Tit. Kid. â—u hinc 11. where this very place last named is explained It is this He that interprets a verse of Holy Scripture always according to the literall sound is a Liar and he that addeth to it is a Blasphemer As for example when it is said they SAW THE GOD of Israel if any body interpret it literally he is a Liar for the God of Israel cannot be seen And if any one adde that they saw the Angel of God he blasphemously gives the honour of God to Angels The Chaldee onely is in the right who says They saw the GLORY of the God of Israel And so S. Cyrill of Alexandria understood it in the like case L. 3. Glaphy in Exod. when he observes the people were brought to Mount Sinai that they might be both Auditours and Spectatours of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or of his Divine and secret Glory Which having never been seen out of the Secret place made now a most illustrious appearance and at the bottom of it called his feet there was a pavement on which the Glory stood very bright and becoming the Majesty that was upon it For the Text says it was like a Sapphire-stone and as clear as the purest and serenest sky A token I suppose of the Divine favour towards them which the clearness of the Heavens very well represented as clouds and darkness were signs of God's displeasure And accordingly it follows v. 11. that he did not lay his hand upon the nobles of Israel i. e. did not hurt them though the common opinion was that if men saw such a sight they should die presently No so far were they from receiving any harm by it that they did not merely see God but also eat and drink of the reliques of the Sacrifices that had been v. 5 newly offered to him He entertain'd them with provision taken from his own Table and they feasted with his Majesty to their great joy and satisfaction Such a Glory I told you S. Stephen saw when his persecutours were going to stone him And it is reasonable to suppose that in some part of the Heavens God now manifests himself in a most glorious visible Majesty to the exceeding ineffable joy not terrour and affrightment of those who shall be admitted to approach to that Light which is now inaccessible So that this will be a part of our eternall happiness to live in those pure clear Regions where unknown Glories and most splendid magnificent sights will present themselves to us where we our selves shall be cloathed with a brightness like that wherein our Lord appeared to S. Stephen and S. Paul and behold him in a greater Majesty and brightness then that was because our capacities will be inlarged to make room for more illustrious manifestations of God to us We shall live in that place as was said before where he dwells in light unapproachable by mortall men in the company of the holy Angels who as so many Stars of glory will add if it be possible to the splendour of that place and with our Blessed Saviour God-Man whose glorified Body we shall behold And so behold it that we shall bear the image of the heavenly as we have born the image of the earthy We shall be made immortall that is we shall be ever with the Lord in such glorious Bodies as his is so that in our selves we may see the Glory of God For it must be noted here that though our Happiness will begin when our Spirits depart this life yet it will not be perfected till the Son of God shall come the second time to raise our bodies out of the dust that they may have a part with our Souls in a never-dying Life Till then the Happiness I speak of it must be confessed will not have its Crown or utmost Consummation But yet the Soul in the mean time I shall prove in its proper place doth not lie asleep nor hath all its Powers bound up in a cold and lethargick dulness though it have not attain'd the utmost enjoyment of that Good for which it hopes Our Saviour seems to make these two distinct things the putting us in possession of everlasting life and the raising us up at the last day vi Joh. 40. This is the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may HAVE EVER LASTING LIFE and I will RAISE HIM VP at the last day which he repeats again v. 54. The former of which expressions may well denote the comfortable Hope we have of Happiness when Soul and Body shall be united and the other the perfection of this Happiness when they shall be again united We shall enter into a great part of Felicity when we quit these Earthly Tabernacles our Souls shall then feel themselves alive and alive in the midst of those delights that will still increase and never have any end and they shall joyfully expect the Resurrection of the dead and the Glory wherein our Saviour shall then appear and all his Saints together with him who having received abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by Jesus Christ Thus I have said a little concerning this great promise of SEEING GOD and it is so little that I feel my self unsatisfied and would fain penetrate farther or at least speak more distinctly of this ETERNALL LIFE But this small glance we have had of it may well awaken our Souls and excite them in the worst condition here to burst out into those words which the Authour of the Commentaries upon Job under the name of Origen puts into that Holy man's mouth Lib. I. p. 448 449. Thither will I go where the Tabernacles of the Righteous are where are the Glories of the Saints where is the Rest of the Faithful where is the Consolation of the Godly where is the Inheritance of the Mercifull where is the Blessedness of the Vndefiled Thither will I goe where Light and Life dwells where Glory and Mirth where Gladness and Exultation inhabit from whence Grief Sadness and Sighing fly
all power in heaven and earth and hath said as it there follows ver 54. I will raise him up at the last day Well then seeing that these are the things we expect to have our sins blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come to be made children of the resurrection to be delivered from the wrath to come to have glorious bodies to reign with Christ and to be made heirs of all things and seeing we are said to have this bliss i.e. to have a certain right to it if we believe on him and seeing also that our right is apparent from the same Records or Witnesses whereby it was proved that Jesus is the Son of God All that I can apprehend remaining to be done to give us a fuller certainty of these promises is to make particular inquiry what every one of those Witnesses which testify to Jesus say to this point that God hath given us eternall life and that this life is in his Son This is the RECORD St. John saith i.e. this is the matter of it Let us examine if you please all these Six Witnesses one after another upon this matter and see if they do not give the same evidence of it that they have done of the other and make as infallible proofs that God hath given us this blessing and that it is in him as they do that Jesus is the Son of God and came from him There is no way like to this that I know of to attain a strong faith and hope of Eternall Life which it infinitely concerns us all to make sure and to have a well grounded perswasion of both that we may live comfortably in the midst of all troubles and that we may be able to overcome all temptations and that we may be willing to die and when nothing else will give us the least comfort we may lift up our heads with unspeakable joy For what can deject their hearts Macarius Hom xxxiv whose hope is firmly fixt in Heaven What should make them complain who have for their Inheritance everlasting Life Vnspeakable unconceivable are the glories innumerable are the good things which God hath prepared for those that love him As in things visible the plants the seeds the flowers are so numerous that none can count them nor is it possible to cast up the summe of all the other treasures of the Earth or as in the Sea the wit of man cannot comprehend the creatures in it either their number or their kinds or their differences or take the measure of its waters or of its place or as in the Air none can number the Birds or in the Heavens tell all the Stars So it is impossible to tell or conceive the riches of Christians in the invisible world their unmeasurable their infinite their incomprehensible Riches For if these Creatures are so infinite and incomprehensible by man how much more He that made and form'd them all And therefore it ought to fill every Christian heart with the greater joy and exultation of spirit because the Riches and Inheritance prepared for them so much surpasses all that can be uttered And with all diligence and humility should we buckle our selves to the Christian Combate that we may be partakers of their Riches For the Inheritance and the portion of Christians is God himself They may say with David The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance My lines are faln unto me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage Glory be to him who gives us himself Glory be to him for ever who mixes his own Nature with Christian Souls 〈…〉 effable kindness of God who free 〈…〉 less then himself upon us O the ineffable happiness of such Souls who are wholly in joy and mirth and peace as so many Kings and Lords and Gods Behold here thy Nobility Christianity is no vulgar or contemptible thing Thou art called to the dignity of a Kingdome not like that of earthly Princes whose glory and riches are corruptible and pass away but to the Kingdom of God to Riches divine and celestiall which never decay For there blessed Souls reign together with the heavenly King and in the heavenly company Since such good things therefore are set before us such glorious promises are made us such great good will of our Lord is manifested towards us let us not despise his kindness nor be slack in our motion towards Eternall Life but give up our selves intirely to the good pleasure of the Lord. And let us call upon him that by the power of his Divinity he would redeem us from the dark prison of dishonourable affections and vindicating his own Image and Workmanship cause it to shine most brightly till our Souls be so sound and pure that we be made worthy of the communion of the Spirit giving glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost for ever Amen CHAP. VI. Concerning the Testimony of the FATHER WE must begin as we did before with the Witnesses in Heaven the first of which you know is the FATHER who spake three times from Heaven by an audible voice to testify to our Lord Jesus And if you examine again all that he hath said you will find both these things recorded in his words that he hath given us ETERNALL LIFE and that this LIFE is in his Son I. The first time that God the FATHER spake from Heaven was at our Saviour's Baptism when the Heavens were opened and a Voice came from thence which said Thou art my beloved Son in thee I am well pleased iii. Luk. 22. In which words there are two things very remarkable which plainly testifie to the Truth of those two now mentioned that LIFE is in his Son and that we shall partake of it I. That He calls Jesus his SON and his beloved Son Which being spoken from heaven in such a glorious manner as the Gospell describes it must needs signifie him to be his SON in the most eminent sense for it was never said to any Angel in this sort Thou art my Son my beloved Son This declared him to have the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily to be invested with his own authority and power and to be that Seed promised who should bless all the World which is a thing too great for any one to doe but for GOD himself It was by an audible voice from heaven that the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham to tell him the LORD had sworn by himself that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed xxii Gen. ver 15 16 18. And so now to shew us the Seed was come who should be such a great Benefactour to mankind the LORD himself speaks by a voice from Heaven declaring Jesus to be his SON the Authour of that Universall Bliss which he had promised Which tells us plainly enough that LIFE is in him which is one of the things that St. John affirms upon this Record for else he
and let it into the dwelling of God as soon as he should put off his mortality There he beheld Jesus standing whereas he is commonly represented as sitting at God's right hand that he might know He was ready to meet his Spirit and entertain it into his heavenly mansions as well as that He was coming to destroy his persecutors and put an end to their power and nation And he saw also the Glory of God as the Crown he should win by his Martyrdom which had as sensible an effect upon his heart for the confirming of his faith and constancy as if he had heard the Almighty call to him and say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be not faint-hearted O Stephen nor suffer any degenerous thoughts to enter into thy breast Though there is no man to stand by thee no Friend on earth to assist thee in this distressed season yet I with my beloved Son behold what is a doing A happy Rest and repose is ready for thee The gates of Paradise stand wide open to thee Have patience a while and leaving this temporary life make hast to that which is eternall Still thou seest God is in humane Nature a thing beyond all worldly thoughts Thou hast been taught by the Apostles that the Father hath a genuine beloved Son behold I shew him to thee as much as thou canst bear And he stands at my right hand that by the very site of the place thou mayst know the dignity he hath It was a scandall heretofore to many that God should be on the Earth cloathed with flesh But behold him now with me on high in a celestiall supercelestiall condition still having the form of man to confirm thee in the belief of the gracious dispensation which is now compleated Be not disturbed be not dejected though for his sake thou beest stoned Beholding the Dispenser of Rewards do not fear the combate Forsake thy body and despising it as an earthly Prison as a ruinous house as a potter's vessel easily broken come run hither being set at liberty to the portion and inheritance here reserved for thee For the crown of brave atchievements is ready and expects thee Step over from the earth to heaven and take it Leave thy body to the bloudy murtherers as a morsel to dogs Leave the mad inraged multitude and come to the quire of Angels In these words Asterius expresses the sense of this heavenly Vision Encomium in Protomart wherein God shewed himself to this valiant man that he might not be struck with any fear by the greatness of the danger For this cause he did not send an Angel to assist him as to the Apostles in prison nor any ministring power and fellow-servant as he speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but he presented himself that being the first-fruits of the Martyrs he might leave a noble example to all that followed And indeed what could more incourage them then to hear so holy a man departing the world with these words in his mouth I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God This was a notable Testimony which the heavenly WORD gave that he was possessed of ETERNALL LIFE whereby he animated this blessed Martyr from what he saw Him enjoy to doe as He had done Which could have no force in it to persuade him unless his meaning had been that he should no sooner leave the World but ascend up thither where he was And so St. Stephen understood it for as they were stoning him the greatest punishment the Jews could inflict he called upon our Saviour saying Lord Jesus receive my Spirit vii Act. 59. He doubted not of audience when he beheld him who is sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high i. Heb. 3. in another posture Proclus Orat. xvii not sitting but standing there What was the business to use the words of another ancient Bishop that made him rise thus out of his Father's throne He saw this noble Combatant in his Agony and rose up to crown his victory And it was as if he had said Fear not Stephen there is none shall beguile thee of thy reward I am risen out of my throne to reach thee my right hand Beholding me who was crucified grapple with the danger that presents it self to thee I am he whom thou sawest hanging on a tree by virtue of that crucifixion I will reward thee I preside in these Combats and deal the Crowns to Conquerours Fear not therefore those that go about to stone thee they do but rear thee a ladder against their wills to heaven Do not fear them the stones will be but as so many steps to that blessed place where thou seest me It is not for thee to fear the stones who art built on me the chief Corner-stone and therefore canst not fare worse then I do who am in glory for ever and ever With such thoughts as these this good Man laid down his life which is as great an argument as any of this nature can be that Jesus both can and will give Eternall Life to his followers For else a person so full of Wisedom that they were not able to dispute with him vi Act. 10. would not have ventured his life and endured the worst of deaths having nothing to comfort him in his agony but onely the hope he had from Jesus that he would receive his Spirit This was it that gave him such boldness and full assurance of faith With these words in his mouth he would have died but that he pitied those who did not see as much as he did Which made him expire in prayer for his persecutours wishing them no worse then that they might not be hindred by this sin from believing in Jesus and going thither where he hoped presently to be received So the same Asterius rightly understands those words LORD lay not this sin to their charge He doth not wish them absolute impunity which had been openly to oppose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divine Ordinance and constitution and to correct the judgment and decree of the most Just who hath appointed a deserved punishment to murtherers but he begs of God that notwithstanding this crime he would give them true compunction and bring them to repentance It being as if he had said Do not let them die in their uncircumcision Draw them by repentance to the acknowledgment of thee Kindle the flame of the Spirit in their hearts By the means of my bloud let them be converted that being washed in the laver of thy grace and in thy bloud they may be delivered from their iniquities A most pious conclusion of this bloudy Tragedy one of the principal Actours in which was presently after so miraculously touched from heaven that it was visible our Lord had heard the devout prayer of his Martyr in this particular and therefore had not denied his other request but received his Spirit also unto himself II. For if any thing could be clearer
my self but he sent me For which reason he doth not discourse of immortall life as a Philosopher going about to prove it by reasons and arguments but onely asserts it as one that had Divine Authority for which he was to be believed and could himself make men eternally happy This was the onely thing that could be disputed and needed proof that he came from heaven to illuminate the world by his instructions And this he did not desire they should take upon his bare word but abundantly demonstrated it and told them ver 28. that after his death they should still see it made more evident that he did nothing of himself but as the Father had taught him he spake these things For then as you shall see in due place God the Father declared all these words to be true by raising him from the dead These things he said so often so openly so confidently and with such appeals to God who bare him witness as you have heard and never in the least contradicted what he said that we have great reason to believe he did not forge all this but delivered the mind and will of God as sincerely when he said he would give men Eternall Life as he did when he charged them to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Certain it is that He himself believed what he preached and had no doubt but a perfect assurance of it as will appear if we pass to the Second thing which we are briefly to consider II. His own most holy Life in the strictest obedience to God the Father This Abarbinell in his discourse upon xi Isa which I have so often mentioned makes one of the marks of the Messiah the perfect temper of his desires and affections and the direction of them according to the measures of the Divine Law Which he thinks is the meaning of those words ver 3. He shall be of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. This was so remarkable in Jesus who was so truly so compleatly and constantly pious that there never was any person so qualified to lay claim to this Dignity as he was His Life was so free from all blame such a perfect abstinence from all the pleasures of this world such a contempt of all that which we think most worthy of our indefatigable labours that it hath a strong force in it to perswade us that he indeed sought Eternall Glory and was fully assured he should be possessed of it for Himself and for all His. Who but a man so perswaded of his Doctrine would have lived in poverty when he might no question by the multitude and devotion of his followers have made himself incredibly rich What should incline him to remain all his days without an house so big as a fox or the smallest bird is owner of but an expectation of that house which is eternall in the heavens Could any thing move him to give away to the poor all that was given him but a certain knowledge of great treasures above We cannot conceive what should make him refuse the dignity of a King when the people intended to proclaim him if it were not this undoubted perswasion that he was the King of Heaven and should sit down at the right hand of the Throne of God Would any of those that doubt this labour as he did night and day for nothing Would any poor man cure multitudes of all diseases and take not a farthing for his pains Would any body live if he could help it and not know where he should eat the next meal's meat And who is he that can find in his heart to endure the hatred of the chiefest of the people and to be in perpetuall danger of snares and treacherous designs for the taking away his life without any hope to be a gainer by it Is there any likelihood that our Lord would have laboured in such sort as not to have leisure so much as to eat and after all that kind pains be content to be called Deceiver and Devill and to run the hazzard of being stoned and killed and yet have no assured expectation to reap some fruit hereafter from all his toil and trouble Let him believe it that loves to sting his fingers with nettles or to roll his naked body in snow we that have a more tender sense of our own pleasure must have leave to be of another mind Let any man try to perswade himself to lead such a life and by his unwillingness he will easily be convinced that our Lord who could look for nothing in this world from what he did and suffered would never have so chearfully freely and without any regret followed such a course had he not known as surely that he should be made glorious thereby hereafter as he knew that he must be made miserable by it here Ask his Poverty then and that will bear witness that he laid up treasures in the heavens Ask his Humility and that will tell you that he sought for the Glory of God onely Inquire of his Charity and Bounty his wonderfull bounty to all men and that will bear Record both that all fulness is in him and that he will not envy any thing he hath to his followers Let his Contentedness speak and that will assure you he was possessed of something greater then all worldly goods which he could tell better how to live without then others to live comfortably withall Examine his Labours and pains his travells and journeys trace his steps over sea and land and they will all confess that he sought a better Country which is an heavenly Ask him what he meant by his Patience his willing endurance of all reproaches calumnies hatreds persecutions and they will likewise conclude in the same testimony that he had a joy set before him which made him despise them all In short consult his Fasting forty days his enduring so many temptations of the Devill slighting his offers rejecting his counsels and you can have no account of them but this that he had indeed the meat that endures to everlasting life that he verily believed the voice from heaven which said he was the Son of God and that he knew he had a greater Glory then all the Kingdoms of the world which the Devill offered him And after all this I suppose there is no considering man but will think the unquestionable belief of such a person as he was to be of very great moment to settle ours in this weighty business It is safest for us without all dispute to follow the judgment of one so well able to discern truth from falshood that he was of as quick understanding in all things else as he was in the fear of the Lord. We have great reason to think that he was in the right and was no more deluded himself then he intended to delude others There was not the least flaw as I shewed in the former Treatise that appeared in his Understanding nor could
5. is most lively represented there But this is not all that is intended by it for even those * Arias Montanus who in that sense were already mortified and renewed by receiving the Holy Ghost before their baptism as Cornelius and his family proceeded notwithstanding to receive that holy washing and by their submersion took upon them the likeness of the dead and by their emersion appeared as men risen again from the dead If there were no other death to be escaped but that in sin and no other resurrection to be expected but that to newness of life why were they who had attained these baptized as dead men and being already dead to sin why again sustained they the image of death out of which they believed and professed they should come This very action of theirs proves that they lookt for another resurrection after death which is the resurrection of the body And this profession of theirs was so much the more weighty as they were the more learned and instructed being already taught by the Holy Ghost By whose power they were already dead to sin and made alive to God and by whose instruction they professed to believe that as there is another death viz. that of the body so they should overcome it by the mighty power of Christ raising their very bodies from the dead There are severall other interpretations of this place as that of Epiphanius * Haeresi 38. who expounds it of those who received Baptism at the point of death but I shall not trouble the Reader with them because they all conclude the same thing that Baptism was a publick profession of the hope of immortality and a Seal also of the promises of God not onely to that particular person who at any time received it but to the whole Church both to the living and the dead Who as oft as Baptism was repeated had an open assurance given them from God by whose authority it was administred that they should rise again to everlasting life And so I shall dismiss this First Witness on Earth which is the more to be regarded because though it be not so great in it self as those which speak from heaven yet to us it is very considerable and cannot be denied by those who cavill at some of the other For all men acknowledge the Life and Doctrine of our Saviour to be incomparably excellent and John the Baptist stands upon record in Josephus for a person of severe and strict sanctity and the whole Christian Church who were not so childish as to build their hope on a sandy foundation but stood immovable as you shall hear like a house upon a rock when all the world storm'd and made the most furious assaults upon them believed thus from the beginning as appears by their holy profession which they made when they entred into the gates of the Church by Baptism The mighty power of which WATER OF LIFE they have thus celebrated with their praises Greg. Naz. Orat. xl Baptism is the Splendour of the Soul the Change of the life the Answer of the Conscience towards God It is the help of our weakness the putting off the flesh the attainment of the Spirit the Communion of the Word the Reformation of God's workmanship the drowning of Sin the participation of light and the destruction of darkness It is the Chariot which carries us to God our fellow-travelling with Christ the establishment of our faith the perfecting of our minds the key of the Kingdom of heaven the foundation of a second life * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. xi At this the heavens rejoyce this the Angels magnify as of kin to their brightness this is the Image of their blessedness We would willingly praise this if we could say any thing worthy of it Let us never cease however to give him thanks who is the Authour of such a gift Greg. Nyssen L. de Baptismo Christi returning him the small tribute of a chearfull voice for such great things as he hath bestowed on us For thou truly O Lord art the pure and perpetuall fountain of Goodness who wast justly offended at us but hast in much love had mercy on us who hatedst us but art reconciled to us who pronouncedst a curse upon us but hast given us thy blessing who didst expell us from Paradise but hast called us back again unto it Thou hast taken away the fig-leaf covering of our nakedness and cloathed us with a most precious garment Thou hast opened the prison-doors and dismissed those that stood condemned Thou hast sprinkled us with pure water and cleansed us from all our filthiness Adam if thou callest him will be no longer ashamed he will not hide himself nor run away from thee The flaming sword doth not now incircle Paradise making it inaccessible to those that approach it but all things are turned into joy to us who were heirs of sin and death Paradise and Heaven it self is now open to mankind The Creation both here and above consents to be friends after a long enmity Men and Angels are piously agreed in the same Theology For all which Blessings let us unanimously sing that Hymn of joy which the inspired mouth in ancient times loudly prophesied I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my Soul shall be joyfull in my God For he hath cloathed me with the garments of Salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness he hath decked me with ornaments as a bridegroom and as a bride adorned me with jewels lxi Isa 10. This adorner of the Bride is Christ who is and who was before and who will be blessed both now and for ever Amen CHAP. X. Concerning the Testimony of the BLOVD the Second Witness on Earth THE next Witness which comes in order to be examined is the BLOUD by which I told you we are to understand the Crucifixion and Death of the Lord Jesus with all the attendants of it This is a Witness which the greatest enemies of Christianity cannot but confess was heard to speak in his behalf The stubborn Jews who will be loth to grant that a voice from heaven declared him the Son of God cannot deny that their forefathers imbrued their hands in his bloud For in the Babylonian Talmud * Vid. Horae Hebr. in Matt. p. 3â—9 Tzemach David ad an 3761. it is delivered as a tradition among them that they hanged Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the evening of the Passeover and that a Crier went before him forty days saying He is to be carried forth to be stoned for conjuring and drawing Israel to Apostasy If any one can speak any thing for him to prove him innocent let him appear It is an hard matter to have any truth from these fabulous people without the mixture of a tale together with it When they cannot gainsay what we believe that their Nation were the great Instruments of his death they endeavour to find false reasons
hear plainly shewed they were not merely big words which they spake of being with God and our Saviour to see the Glory which the Father had given him but things which they heartily expected For does any man find such inclinations in himself as should make him imagine they would have left their trades their houses their possessions their wives kindred friends all that is desirable in this world and perswade those who were the dearest to them to doe so too if they had not had an assurance upon such grounds as were apt to convince others as well as them of the recompence they should meet withall hereafter in a better life Who can believe that St. Paul would have quitted all his Dignities his hopes of greater preferment his esteem and reputation with the wisest and chiefest persons in the Nation his ease and quiet and every thing else and betaken himself to the troublesome service of a despicable Master if he had not known and seen it as clearly as the Sun in the firmament that Jesus whom he served was raised from the dead and made the King of Glory and would prefer all those that proved faithfull to him unto the greatest honour in the heavens For what reason should those good men live as having nothing and all the time be as chearfull as if they possessed all things Did they not look upon themselves think you as heirs of a Kingdom which could not be taken away from them Reade St. Paul's description of himself to Timothy 2. iii. 10 11. who he says had fully known his doctrine and manner of life not onely what he had been wont to teach but how he had followed his own instructions what his purpose and aim had ever been his fidelity his lenity towards offenders his charity to all Christians his patience under troubles of all sorts for he was persecuted and endured great afflictions by that means at Antioch where they thrust him out of the city at Iconium where an assault was made upon him to stone him at Lystra where they actually stoned him And in how many other places he had been vilely used Timothy he says could not be ignorant having been a companion with him in his travels xvi Act. 3. Now what think you of such a person as this Do you take him for a dolt and an ignorant sot Was this great Apostle a mere lump of clay who was sensible of nothing and imagined others so senseless as that he might without any reason propound this example to Timothy for his imitation How came they to be so stupefied as to chuse rods and whips and stones and all other miseries when they might have lived in ease and peace Nay to glory in these things alone as if there had been nothing that could have done them such honour 2 Cor. xii 5 They did both hunger and thirst as I noted from the same Apostle in my former Book 2 Cor. iv 11. they were naked and buffetted they had no certain dwelling-place they laboured working with their own hands being reviled they blessed being persecuted they suffered it they were made as the filth of the world and the off-scouring of all things Which things no body in his wits can think men of their understanding would have endured if they had not been provided of meat which the world knew not of and been nourished and sustained with the hope of glory and assured of eternall mansions in the heavens and known that they should inherit a blessing and be made more honourable and glorious with Jesus for ever then the World for the present could make them vile and contemptible These things are so clear that the bare recitall of them is sufficient to satisfie us they were no deceivers nor men of light belief who took things upon trust without good evidence but had the greatest reason to endeavour to baptize all Nations into this belief as they did by an indefatigable diligence which was no small testimony of the power and glory of the Lord Jesus II. And their BLOUD speaks as much For as none of them saith St. Paul xiv Rom. 7. lived to himself so none of them died to himself but consecrated even his bloud to the Service of Christ if he pleased to command it Whereby they sealed to this Truth and shewed they were so far from doubting of immortall Life by the Lord Jesus that they unfeignedly desired to be dissolved and to be with him Witness St. Stephen who was stoned because he said he saw the Lord Jesus in the highest glory which he was never more assured of then when he died for then he recommended his Spirit to him as our Saviour had done his to God the Father Witness Antipas a faithfull Martyr Witness all those Souls whom St. John saw beneath the Altar who had all learnt from our Saviour what they must expect in his Service when he said The Brother shall deliver up the Brother to death and the Father the Child and the Children shall rise up against their Parents and cause them to be put to death And ye shall be hated of all men for my Name 's sake Under which afflictions they had nothing to support them but that which he immediately adds He that endureth to the end shall be saved x. Matth. 21 22. These few words were a sufficient incouragement to them and made them not regard their lives for the sake of Christ Jesus who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospell For the which cause saith St. Paul I suffer these things and am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day 2 Tim. i. 10 12. And for this cause he would not have Timothy to be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of him his prisoner ver 8. but to imitate him by being partaker of the afflictions of the Gospell which he endured as he adds in the next Chapter ver 10. for the elects sake that they also might obtain the Salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternall glory The Apostles nothing doubted that they themselves should obtain Salvation and immortall glory this way and they hoped likewise by their constant sufferings even to the death to draw others also to the faith or confirm them in it that they might have a share with them in this happiness and be willing to suffer for it For it is a faithfull saying he adds that if we be dead with him we shall also live with him if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him ver 11 12. I shall conclude this with that Discourse of St. Paul 1 Cor. xv 30 31 32. where he alledges this among other reasons to confirm that Church in the belief of the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come that He and the rest of the preachers of Christian Religion would not
have been such fools as to have suffered in that manner they did had they not seen plain demonstrations of this truth For they were so miserably treated that they carried their lives in their hand and were every hour for any thing they knew at the brink of the grave He for his part had been compelled to encounter with wild beasts on the Theatre at Ephesus so some ancient Writers understand him who knew there was nothing more common with the Pagans then to cry Christiani ad Leones Away with the Christians to the Lions and it was a punishment to which the vilest Malefactors were subject particularly Magicians as we learn from another Paul * L. v de receptis sentemiis the Lawyer or at least he ran as great hazzards as those men did who were exposed unarmed to the fiercest creatures such as Lions Bears Tigers Leopards wild Boars and Bulls and Dogs To every one of which we have examples of Christians in the Ecclesiasticall Story that were condemned And it was for no other cause but this that he preached Jesus and the Resurrection How could they think him so senseless as to put his life in such danger upon this account if he was not fully perswaded of that for which he suffered so much nay had not good ground to be of this belief He knew the value of life as well as other men He was no stone nor block as I have said that had no feeling of pain He naturally loved ease and quiet and pleasure as well as the rest of the world And his education had not been such as to incline him to believe things carelesly especially such a thing as this quite contrary to all his former principles and as contrary to his present preferments and future hopes And therefore without imputing to him the highest degree of folly and stupidity the Corinthians could not disbelieve what he preached of the Life to come Concerning which he had received such full satisfaction and was convinced of it by such undeniable arguments that he chose rather to lose his life then to deny it or not to preach it III. And that He and the rest of the Apostles were not deceived nor judged amiss in this matter the mighty power of the SPIRIT which wrought continually in them and with them abundantly testified This was sufficient not onely to satisfy them but to satisfy the rest of the world that Jesus as they said was alive and made the Lord of all who was ready at hand on all occasions to bear witness to this Truth when they preacht it that he would give Eternall Life unto his followers This power of the SPIRIT going along with them was a thing so notorious that the Pagans in some places cried out the GODS are come down to us in the likeness of men and could scarce be restrained from doing divine honours to them xiv Act. 11 18. And whereas there had been some wonderfull things heretofore done among the Jews if we may believe themselves they now all ceased as if God had transferred all power on earth into the Apostles hands For they tell us there were Ten Signs in the House of the Sanctuary * Pirke Avoth cap. v. which never failed as that no woman ever miscarried by the smell of the flesh that was burnt upon the Altar no fly was ever seen in the House nor did the flesh of the Sanctuary ever stink nor the rain ever extinguish the fire nor the greatest winds hinder the smoak from ascending in a straight pillar towards heaven c. But forty years before the Sanctuary was destroyed all these Miracles ceased according to that of the Psalmist which they apply to this business * Talmud Bab. in Joma apud Raimund p. 297. We see not our signs nor is there any prophet to tell us how long lxxiv. 9. When the veil of the Temple was rent in sunder God who dwelt in the Holy place left his habitation and went out at that breach to return no more thither All the wonders were now without those doors in the open streets in every house in the whole world Which was a notable sign that Jesus was Christ and alive from the dead by whose power the Apostles professed to doe all their wonderfull works By these they proved that he was exalted at God's right hand and sate as he said he would on the throne of his Glory And their proof was the stronger because there was no great thing done as formerly there had but onely what was wrought by their hands who reigned now with him as so many Princes and sate on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel xix Matth. 28. xxii Luk. 30. They were supreme Governours whose office it is to judge in the Church under our Lord Christ it plainly appeared by the mighty power wherewith their Gospell was accompanied Which came as St. Paul tells the Thessalonians not in word onely but in power and in the Holy Ghost That is in Miraculous works and in extraordinary gifts which brought along with them a full assurance insomuch that he left it to them to tell the world what manner of men they were among them And if any enquire what was the effect of it he tells us that they were perswaded by this miraculous power to turn from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come 1 Thess i. 9 10. This was the fruit of their labours and travels to convince a number of people by wonderfull operations upon the sick nay upon the dead and by gifts of the Holy Ghost that Jesus was raised from the dead and possessed of Eternall life in the heavens from whence he will come to bestow it upon the faithfull whom he will never susser to perish but rescuing them from destruction make them ever happy with himself And whosoever afterward revolted from this Faith I may adde and set themselves to oppose it the Apostles shewed their power which was a great witness to Christianity as much in their plagues and punishments as in the cures they wrought upon others It may well be thought that those in the Corinthian Church who did not believe the Resurrection were reclaimed from their errour by that Letter which St. Paul wrote to them for we hear nothing of it more in the next Epistle But some there were in other places that obstinately persisted in their folly and not contented to disbelieve what the Apostles taught in this matter contradicted and blasphemed it Two of them are named in the 2 Tim. ii 17 18. Hymeneus and Philetus who taught that the Resurrection was past and consequently denied the rewards of the Life to come The occasion of their erring thus from the faith seems to have been this that the Apostles often speaking of a spirituall resurrection from a state of sin to the life of
may read ver 34 35 36. If they were called Gods in old time to whom the Word of God came i. e. who received commission and authority from God to be the Judges and Rulers of his people then it could be no offence much less a blasphemy for him whom God had sanctified i. e. set apart and anointed to this office of being their Lord and King to call himself the Son of God For so he was by his place and there was no need he should say any thing of the Divine nature that was in him Well then to be the Son of God and to be the Christ being but different expressions of the same thing and the word Christ signifying anointed one set apart to an high office and in its eminent sence that person who was to sustain the place of God in this world to be the King of Israel yea the Governour and Ruler of all mankind we must conclude that when the Apostle says here Jesus is the Son of God his meaning is that He is the Holy one of God the person whom he sanctified by the unction of the Holy Ghost and sent into the World to whom he hath now given all power in Heaven and in Earth that every knee should bow to him as the Sovereign Lord of the World whom we are to hear and obey and depend upon in all things For this is the stile you may observe of the Old Testament from whence you may learn the rise and original of this manner of speech which calls those Kings who derived their authority immediately from God by the name of his Sons Because when they were anointed by his order they were made what they were not before and begotten as they spoke again And being created by God to their new dignity they are therefore called his Sons The first time we meet with the phrase is in the story of the first King of Israel 1 Sam. xiii 1. where Saul is called as the words are in the Hebrew the Son of one year in his Kingdom Because there was but a year passed since the time of his unction by which he was born Gods Vicegerent and as you read x. 6. turned into another man And indeed we find this imitated in Ethnick writers who call the day their Emperors entred upon their Reign their Birth-day So we read in Spartianus that Adrian being informed by Letters that Trajan had named him for his Successor caused the birth-day of his adoption to be celebrated And two days after hearing of his death he ordered they should keep the birth-day of his Empire * Natalem imperii instituit celebrandum But I do not intend to launch out of the holy story where we find this more plainly delivered in the History of the succeeding Kings of Israel For when the Philistins the Moabites the Syrians the Ammonites and other neighbouring People with their Princes conspired after they had been conquered by David against the Lord and against his anointed resolving to cast off their yoke the Psalmist shews Psal 2. how vain and idle their attempt would prove because God had appointed him whom he sent a Prophet to anoint to be his King This decree of God he averrs and openly declares ver 6 7. that the Lord said unto him Thou art my Son this day i. e. when he anointed him I have begotten thee So that to rise against him was to war with God Almighty whose Son that is Vicegerent he was in those Countries And therefore if they were well advised he exhorts them all to go and kiss the Son ver 12. i. e. submit themselves by that token of humble subjection to him who had his Authority immediately from God Nay was his first-born the most eminent Prince that is that ever he made lxxxix Psal 27. And therefore he was the prime type of our Lord Christ to whom these words are applied because he was the Son of David that great King who was to reign over them for ever as the Angel said i. Luke 33. And if you pass from hence to the next King Solomon who had a particular unction also and in whose reign was prefigured the glorious Kingdom of our Saviour you will find that God says by a Prophet concerning him I will be his Father and he shall be my Son 2 Sam. vii 14. Which words are a promise to make Solomon King and settle him on the Throne of his Father David So He understood it as appears by the speech which David made not long before his death to all the great men of his Kingdom 1 Chron. xxviii where he tells them ver 4. that as Jesse had many Sons Yet God liked him only to make him King over all Israel So of the many Sons which the Lord had given him ver 5. He had chosen Solomon to sit upon the Throne of the Kingdom of the Lord. As is evident saith he from those words of God spoken by Nathan ver 6. I have chosen him to be my SON and I will be hit FATHER i. e. made choice of him to be King of Israel in thy room and as I have been to thee so I will be to him Thus Solomon one would think interpreted these words when he prays God who had made good one part of his promise to perform the other also 2 Chron. i. 8 9. Thou hast shewed great mercy unto David my Father and hast made me reign in his stead as much as to say made me thy Son now O Lord God let thy promise unto my Father be established that is of being a Father to me now that I am become thy son and set by thee over a people like the dust of the Earth in multitude By this time I suppose it will be no wonder to any intelligent person that these Kings are called the Sons of God who did not only govern in that Country which was called it is well known God's land and the inhabitants whereof were his peculiar people but were appointed by his special direction and anointed with his holy oil lxxxix Psal 20. and had as it were their being and birth from God who promoted them to sit upon his Throne and to be Kings for the Lord God as you read 2 Chron. ix 8. so that the Kingdom it self is called in that Book the Kingdom of the Lord xiii 8. And the Judges also in the Courts of that Kingdom are said to exercise the Judgment of the Lord and not of man xix 6. that is to sit there in God's stead to do men justice And because of this great power and trust committed to them by him are called as you heard lxxxii Psal 1 6. Gods and the children of the most High whose deputies they were and for whom they judged And therefore it is the less wonder that when this Great Prince came among them to whom all judgment is committed and who hath all power in Heaven and in Earth and is Lord of all and appointed by God
the heir of all things He is called by the same name that they were If there were no other reason for it his office would give him a title to it because he is the Lords Christ anointed by God to the highest dignity and government under him not only over that Country but over all Nations on the Earth who by believing on him were all to be made a chosen generation a royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar people 1 Pet. ii 9. But to show his most excellent greatness he is called the Son of God with two marks of his preeminence above all other who have had that name First he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Son that eminent King the King of Kings like to whom none ever was For secondly whereas those sons of the highest spoken of before were to die like other men Psal 82.7 and to fall like one of the Princes in other Countries He is called the Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that God who liveth xvi Matth. 16. that is of the immortal eternal God And by consequence is like his Father an everlasting King of whose Kingdom as the Angel told his Mother i. Luke 33. there shall be no end Thus the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews who understood this language well enough hath discoursed in the First Chapter Where he proves that Jesus is the Son of God in a more eminent sence than any Angel in Heaven according to those ancient prophecies before named concerning David and Solomon as you read ver 4 5. From whence the Jews learns to call the Messiah who they confess is in those places mystically spoken of by that name of the Son of God Which the Apostle there shows is the greatest name of excellence and signifies the highest honour and dignity such as God hath conferred upon no other And then he proceeds to show that according to other prophecies which speak of his supereminence his Throne is for ever and ever ver 8. For God who is his God in a peculiar manner loving and rewarding him hath anointed him with the oil of gladness preferred him that is above all that partake of Kingly dignity ver 9. He hath made him indeed his first-born the Prince of all the Kings of the Earth as S. John speaks i. Revel 5. to whom we are to submit our selves with the greatest devotion of spirit and from whom we may then expect Protection Blessing and the noblest Rewards For he is the long expected Son of God who excells all other that were ever called by that name the King of inconceivable Majesty whose splendor could not so much as be fore-shadowed by Solomon in all his glory Thus Nathanael I observe puts these two expressions together in his confession of our Saviour out of a vehement affection redoubling his words Thou art that Son of God thou art that King of Israel i. John 49. This is the business upon which we are to examine these Witnesses we are to consider what they say to this point that the Lord Jesus was sent from God as Moses had formerly been only Moses as a Servant but he as a Son according to what you read iii. Heb. 5 6. with a fulness of authority with all the power of God so that we may confidently rely on every thing that he hath said as the very mind and sence of God This if we can hear them speak they are witnesses so beyond all exception that we cannot chuse but reverence him and receive him and obey him and put our trust in him and rejoyce in his royal favour and love evermore For the first three are no less persons than the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost Whose gracious assistance let us humbly implore that this and all other our works may be begun continued and ended to the glorifying of his holy Name A PRAYER O Father of lights from whom cometâ— every good and every perfect gift illuminate my mind in these Meditations that I may be able to enlighten others anâ— lead them into a good understanding in aâ—â— things Guide and direct my thoughts thaâ— I may reason and discourse aright Shine intâ— all our Souls by the light of the glorious Gospâ—â— of Christ John 6.40 that we seeing the Son may believe on him and being made thy childreâ— by adoption and grace may be daily more anâ— more renewed by thy holy Spirit Settle iâ— our Souls that mighty faith whereby we may have power and strength to have victory and to triumph over the Devil the World and the Flesh Strengthen it every day by constant Meditation on those things which thou O Father Son and Holy Ghost hast so many ways declared to us that it may grow still more victorious and we may feel the happy fruit of it in greater joy and triumph of spirit in assured expectation of the Crown of righteousness which thou hast promised to all faithful Souls O that none of the inticing allurements of this world may ever more deceive us and steal away our hearts from our true happiness nor any of the troublesome passages of this life ever hereafter dishearten us and divert us from the pursuit of it But the Faith of Christ may so intirely possess our hearts as to keep us stedfast and upright in the midst of all the temptations of what kind soever they be that assault us And looking up unto Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith we may still say with true resolution of spirit Thou art the Son of God most high thou art the King of incomprehensible Majesty thou art the Lord of all We will constantly adhere to thee as thy faithful subjects We will follow thee in faith and love and patient obedience to the very death And hope that as we feel by thy power in us we are the children of God so we shall be heirs heirs of God joynt-heirs with thee O blessed Lord to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be glory and dominion for ever Amen CHAP. II. Concerning the Witnesses in general and the Testimony of the FATHER in particular IF any man urge us to receive a thing which is new and strange we either turn away our ears if we take him for a frivolous person or else require him to show us good evidence for what he says if he seem to be wise and serious And the more importunate he is to be believed the more earnest we are to know what he hath to show for himself and to call for his proofs in which if he fail or they come not home to the purpose he is so far from gaining any credit with those who examine them that they prove a very considerable argument against him Especially when he pretends to come from God and to bring us messages from Heaven we all expect the clearer and diviner demonstrations before we can resign our mind unto him For that which is to make all things credible must have very
pregnant Reasons accompanying it to win credit to it self If that which stands as a reason for all that a man says be not it self grounded upon the clearest and most undeniable it turns against him and proves nothing but a confutation of all that it was brought to assert Now Jesus pretending not only to this honour of coming from God which is a sufficient Argument for any thing that he says in his Name but also to an higher Dignity of being his Son and so of being privy to all his secrets of lying in his very bosom and being invested with a power equal to the Almighties if He and his Apostles who affirmed the same of him after he was put to death and that as a Malefactor should be defective in their proofs of so lofty and weighty a pretension He would be rendred of all other the most contemptible and they become men most ridiculous for obtruding him on the world in such a quality upon slight or no demonstrations For the greater and more concerning any Assertion is which we propound to mens belief the stronger and more plentiful Arguments they justly expect to induce a perswasion Which if they be wanting it is so far from being a fault not to surrender their Souls to that proposition that it is a vertue to refuse admittance and they could not excuse themselves from a great guilt should they be so easie as to let it find entertainment Nay it is a commendable piece of caution and wariness to suspend our belief in a matter of very great importance though there be some considerable proofs offered if they be not proportionable to the weight of the thing unto which we are to deliver up no less than our Souls Let us see therefore what evidence this Follower and Favourite as I may call him of Jesus produces and lays before us to make good this which he preached for a certain truth that He is no less than the Son of God Let us hear what his Witnesses say for so he calls his proofs to this great point and consider whether they speak so home to it that we cannot reasonably refuse to believe it The office of a witness is to give in all the evidence he can for the clearing of any matter in question for this very end that there by the controversie may be decided upon his credit When the Apostle therefore calls for his Witnesses who are ready he saith to justifie this which he asserts if any body make a doubt of it or be not well setled in this belief his meaning is that it relies upon such solid grounds that no man shall be able to deny Jesus to be the only begotten of the Father the Christ of God unless he can disprove the Authority of his witnesses which he was sure would never be in any mans power to do they were of such known verity If this be called in question whether Jesus be the Son of God or no if any list to bring it to trial and examine it before the bar of impartial Reason S. John here offers his witnesses faithful and just of undoubted Truth and Integrity who shall make it good So that if you will hear them and consider what they say and then give sentence according to their evidence you must needs judge that he is what he said he was The Son of God most high and quit him in your Consciences of all the calumnies aspersions of the Jews who said he was a deceiver of the people Now the witnesses that he brings you see dwell in two very distant places three of them in the Heavens and the other three in the Earth From these two several regions they give their Testimony the former from above the later here beneath For when the Apostle says that there are three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 testifying or bearing witness in the Heaven and as many that do the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the Earth the meaning is not that the First three gave their testimony to those that are in Heaven and the last three to those that are on Earth but that the First three witnesses are themselves in Heaven and the other three were on Earth and so from thence they gave their testimony to Jesus They that dwell in Heaven delivered their testimony and justified this Truth from above and the other residing on the Earth did there speak to it and make it good Let us first hear these supreme and Heavenly witnesses and take under examination what they declare concerning him whom we acknowledge for our Lord and what Authority he hath according to their testimony to exact all obedience of us as he is the Son of God And first of all let us begin with the witness of the FATHER for the truth is that as he is the First and the Beginning of all things so he did first testifie of Jesus and by his voice from Heaven proclaimed him to be his Son before He or any else was so bold as to affirm it And as he being the First did bear witness to him before any of the rest spoke a word so according to the number of these Heavenly witnesses He gave his Testimony of him three times I. The first time was when our Saviour began to appear publickly among the people coming out of his privacy from Nazareth of Galilee to be baptized of John in Jordan Matt. 3.13 Mark 1.9 He had no need indeed of that Baptism as John affirmed and our Saviour did not deny but as became one who had put himself into the state of our meanness and appeared in our sinful flesh he would omit nothing that belonged to the duty of a pious person And therefore he would have the Baptist do to him as he did to others knowing that he exercised this Ministry by the appointment of God whose institutions ought to be reverenced and to whose will all good men ought to conform themselves Now he had no sooner given this example of humble obedience but as he came out of the Water God the Father of Heaven declared him in express terms to be what S. John here says he was his only Son Which testimony of his is recorded by no less than three Evangelists as you may find if you read iii. Matth. 17. i. Mark 11. iii. Luke 22. who tells us that he saw the Heavens at that time opened to him and a Divine Glory come from thence and settle upon him which was followed with a voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased So S. Matthew reports the words of God the FATHER from whom this voice came it is plain because he calls Jesus his Son or as they may be rendred more emphatically This is that Son of mine that beloved one whom the Prophets promised particularly xlii Isaiah 1. God would send to them as Tertullian well expounds it who is most dear to me and shall declare my whole will and pleasure There
Spirit into the wilderness the Devil would have had him give some proof of his Divine power as Moses did or rather show himself by a greater evidence than Moses gave to be greater than he that he might be satisfied Jesus was no less than the voice declared him the Son of God So you read iv Matth. 3. that the first thing he said to him was If thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made bread As much as to say Thou art now in a starving condition for he had taken no provision with him into the wilderness resolving to depend on that God who had expressed such love to him as to own him for his Son here is a fit opportunity for thee to exercise thy power if thou hast any by bidding these stones turn into loaves which will be a greater wonder than Moses his bringing Manna out of the clouds and show indeed that thou art God's Son To which our Saviour answers as you read in the next Verse out of Moses himself viii Deut. 3. and tells him he might learn from that story of the Manna there was no need he should imploy his power which God had committed to him on this fashion for as the Israelites were maintained in the wilderness after a miraculous manner so might He who would prove himself to be his Son not this way by turning stones into bread but by trusting in God and leaving him to provide for him as he thought good That 's his meaning when he says Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God And so in the following temptations he still held to this that he was sufficiently satisfied he was God's Son and would not demand any farther proof of it but such as he himself would give who at last ver 11. ordered the Angels to go and minister unto him To carry him food it is like and congratulate this his first victory over the enemy of mankind Who was not so dull but he learnt by this and many other things afterward wherein he felt his power that this voice from Heaven was no vain rumour no empty insignificant sound but a true report of the very mind of Almighty God which he himself was forced to proclaim as loudly as any body else For you find him not long after this with a whole Legion of his companions acknowledging Jesus to be the Son of God most high and with humble prostrations worshipping him whom he had the confidence before to perswade to worship himself crying with a loud voice for Gods sake that he would not torment him v. Mark 6 7 8. viii Luke 28. Nay he was sensible one would think of this as soon as ever that temptation was ended For you read that immediately after it Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee iv Luke 14. and there at Capernaum met with a man that had a spirit of an unclean Devil who cried out with a loud voice saying I know thee who thou art the holy one of God ver 34. which is thus interpreted ver 41. The Devils came out of many crying out and saying Thou art Christ the Son of God For they knew that he was Christ But our Saviour would not be beholden to them for their suffrage it was sufficient that God had declared him his Son and that John Baptist attested as much and that the works which he did particularly his dispossessing them of their strongest holds bare witness of him And therefore he imposed silence on them as the Evangelist there tells us both because they might by their loud acclamations to him give the Pharisees occasion to calumniate him who were too forward to say he had confederacy with the Devil and because it was not fit this should be published in so many words no not by his Apostles xvi Matth. 20. till after his Resurrection and his Ascension to the Throne of his glory and the coming of the Holy Ghost which demonstrated he was completely made both Lord and Christ as the Apostles then openly declared ii Acts 36. But till then it seems to have been the work of the Father alone or principally to bear witness of him for John Baptist was his voice crying in the wilderness and the works our Saviour did were those which his Father had given him to finish and the Spirit was the Finger of God which pointed men to him as I may so speak and bid them receive him as his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased And shall we not receive this for the greatest Truth when God himself says it shall we not let him dispose of our Faith is not He the Truth is it possible for him to falsifie or deceive or do we imagine He cannot declare his mind and speak to us as we do one to another He that formed the mouth cannot He speak is his power less than ours can we manifest what we would have and make it understood and cannot He in the same manner make us know his will and pleasure If his express testimony then be of any force here you have it by an audible voice from Heaven And John the Baptist whom the Jews the Enemies of our Saviour durst not but reverence bare record to him thereupon that Jesus is the Son of God Now if any one should say that the certainty of this relies upon the testimony of one single person and that it is possible he might hear amiss though there be no colour for such an objection he being a Prophet and acknowledged so to be by those who did not acknowledge our Saviour yet that this great truth might not depend upon the credit of John Baptist alone though a man well acquainted with the manner of Divine Revelations the FATHER was pleased a second time and in the audience of more witnesses than one to declare again what he had said before that he was his Son II. This was in the Holy Mount as you may read in the xvii Matth. 5. and in the two following Evangelists ix Mark 7. ix Luke 35. where the Father of all was pleased to declare in the same terms as he had done at his Baptism and with an audible voice which astonished those that heard it xvii Matth. 6. That he was his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased to which Declaration he added this command HEAR HIM That is be assured that what he says to you is the Truth and what I speak to the world it shall be by his mouth Now this voice was uttered in the hearing of no less than three persons whom our Saviour had selected from the rest of his company to attend him unto this Mountain where God appeared to bear witness to him Of which three this Disciple S. John was one who therefore might with the greater confidence urge here the Testimony of the Father which he himself heard And unless they to whom he writes this Epistle could
hast divulged the mysteries of the Prophets but thou wilt prostitute also the secrets of the Holy Ghost So the good man desisted and durst not do the Angels any further service who came to listen to him as he was expounding the Prophets Which is as true I make no doubt as all the rest and we may as well believe the Earth quaked for forty mile together when he began his Paraphrase and that if a fly did but sit upon his Book in which he wrote fire came down from Heaven and destroyed it leaving the Book untoucht as believe a syllable of these voices speaking from Heaven to him for they have all the very same Authors Who having got this by the end know not when to have done with it but tell us for the honour of R. Chanina who saw the destruction of the last temple by Titus that a voice came from Heaven which said as David Ganz reports it in his Chronology * Ad An. 4768. The whole world is sustained for the sake of R. Chanina my son A very likely matter that he should lay an obligation on so many and no body know it but this obscure writer Why did not all the world follow him as they did Jesus if he were God's Son and they so much indebted to him This is but a wretchedly dull counterfeit of what they had read of our Saviour who was Gods Son Upholding all things by the word of his power i. Hebr. 2 3. And so are the other tales they tell in the Talmudical Title so often named Chapter the first of a Bath col which came from Heaven as the wise men sat in Council at Jericho saying There is one here who is worthy that the Divine majesty or glory by which they mean sometime the Holy Ghost should rest upon him as it did on Moses but the age wherein he lives is not worthy of that favour Whereupon they all cast their eyes on Hillel a famous man among them And of another voice as they were sitting together at Jafne which said the very same words again and turned all their eyes towards R. Samuel the less And to name but one more R. Juda the Holy Doctor they would have it believed was assured by this voice from Heaven that his Prayer was heard just as our Saviours was in the place I have before open'd For when he was dying and it was not many days before our Saviour's death that he prayed in those words Father glorifie thy name he lift up his ten fingers and said Lord of the world it is known to thee that I have laboured in the Law with my ten fingers and have not received the least advantage thereby no not in my little finger May it please thee that I may have peace in my rest And then out came the Bath col saying those words of Isaiah lvii 2. He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds Which together with all other of the same kind deserve to be put under no other Title than that of the Jewish Fables mentioned by S. Paul i. Tit. 14. or old-Wives tales 1 Tim. iv 7. wherewith little children are wont to be entertained being invented it is likely in imitation of the Gospel story to adorn and support the ruinous doctrine of their Rabbins and to bring it into some esteem with their sottish posterity But we may as well believe the idle tale which the factious Donatists told concerning the Father of their Sect August Tract 13. in Johan to whom God gave an answer from Heaven they said as he was praying to him as give ear to this Fable of R. Judah who must be magnified by them because he was the compiler of their traditional Law And as for R. Samuel the less whom I mentioned before he was the man who composed the famous Prayer against Hereticks for their publick Devotions wherein they desire God that he would destroy all Hereticks whereby they mean Christians who began in those days to grow apace And therefore it is no wonder that he is cried up to the skies and must be honoured with praises from Heaven But the best of it is these petty stories want vouchers or those who offer themselves had need to bring some better men to be bound for their honesty They have no John Baptists to attest any thing much less such men as the Apostles who with the power of Miracles and Prophecy were ready on all occasions to pawn their lives that they did not follow cunningly devised Fables when they made known the power and coming of our Lord Jesus but were eye-witnesses as you have heard of his Majesty and heard the voice when they were with him in the holy Mount which said This is my well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Those Masters in Israel also are not so cunning in their contrivances nor such masters of their craft but they forget the old Rule which admonishes a Lyar to have a good memory For they contradict themselves while they tell us this Bath col was but the fag end of a voice a kind of Eccho leaping out of another voice and yet make it deliver such long sentences And what likelihood is there that God should grace such men as they who had turned their Religion into vain janglings and idle disputes witness the quarrel between the School of that Hillel now mentioned and the Schoolof Schammai with such Elogiums from Heaven as were fit to be given only to the best of men yea to the Son of God himself One of these four things is far more probable Either that their latter writers have strained the words of their forefathers too far who meant perhaps no more by their hearing a Bath col but that the thing whereof they write was as evident to them as if they had had a Divine testimony for it For in Pirke Avoth I observe R. Joshuah says that jotzeth Bath col the daughter of a voice goeth forth day by day from mount Horeb and proclaims saying Wo to men because of their contempt of the Law Which can signifie no more but that if men would listen to the Law which God gave there they would hear how dangerous it is to disobey it Or secondly there was something of a conjuration in it For in Pirke Elieser I find * Chap. 8. that when there was a dispute only about the Leap-year the Governour of the School pronounced the Name with four Letters and presently they heard a voice saying The Lord spake to Moses and Aaron c. As if they could have this voice whensoever they did but pronounce that single word Or thirdly they were men of a strong imagination which made them fancy they heard a voice from Heaven when it was only a blast of melancholy fumes and vapours whistling in their brain For this may be a fair account of those who thought as some among us have done that they heard such or such a place of
and whereby he justified himself against all accusers This was his warrant to this he appeals upon all occasions that He saw Jesus in the way to Damascus And he had great reason to stick to it for he knew that no body could shame him by so much as pretending that he lied and that there was no such thing as this apparition of Jesus to him He had his companions in his journey to be witnesses of the Miraculous glory which on a sudden surprised them as well as him xxvi Acts 15. They heard then the voice of some body discoursing with him though they did not distinctly hear the words It became presently notorious every where for this thing as he tells Agrippa ver 26. was not done in a corner but openly and at noon-day to the astonishment of divers persons who attended him And it left a sensible effect upon his body and upon his mind He could neither see nor eat nor drink for three days In which space he saw a vision of a man named Ananias coming to him and bidding him receive his sight All which proved true and together with his sight he received a new spirit whereby he confounded the Jews at Damascus For they could not deny all this and yet were loth to believe in Jesus They were amazed to hear him preached by a man who they knew was come thither with a quite contrary intent ix 21. They could not but ask what is the matter whence comes this marvellous change Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this Name in Jerusalem And is not that the business for which he came hither to bring them bound unto the chief Priests What ailes him now that he thus justifies them and condemns himself And there is no doubt but to answer such Questions he took the opportunity to tell them what he had seen and what he had heard for so Ananias charged him xxii 15. He did not keep this as a secret it was not carried in privacy but presently divulged that all might inquire if they pleased into the circumstances of the fact Which was so strange that as it amazed and confounded them at Damascus so King Agrippa ' knew not what to say to it but was almost perswaded to be a Christian xxvi Acts 28. No man of sence could think that a person of his education and learning would venture the loss of his ease of his reputation of all the preferment he had and of all that he might justly hope for from the Sanhedrim without the least expectation of any gain unless of that only which Jesus could give him if he had not been fully assured it was no delusion when he presented himself to him as the Lord of glory Much less could any man imagine that a person of his vertue and unblameable life under the Law and of such strange piety and perfect contempt of all worldly things after his receiving Christianity would feign and devise such a story by which if it were false he could get nothing in the other world and if it were true he could get nothing in this Nothing but misery trouble infamy and reproach which attended him every where and never left him till it had brought him to a shameful death If you will but consider what he quitted for Christ's sake after he had thus appeared to him and how the world treated him when he became a preacher of this Gospel as you find it described by himself in several Epistles particularly iii. Philip. 8. 1 Cor. iv 9 10 11 c. 2 Cor. vi 4 5 c. xi 23 24 c. you will soon be satisfied that he was more in his wits than either to invent this story or publish it without strong assurance of its truth He was as sure that he saw the Lord Jesus in his glory and heard the voice of his mouth as every body else that knew him was sure he had been a blasphemer of him and a persecutor of his servants And therefore whatsoever it cost him he would be obedient to that Heavenly Vision And having a Ministry from him as he speaks in the 2 Cor. iv 1 2 3. according as he had received mercy so he accounted it a very great favour to become one of his Ministers he did not faint nor discharge his office sluggishly Nor did he think of making up his losses by this new profession of preaching the Gospel but abhorred such a dishonest thought and utterly renounced all such base and shameful arts though never so secretly managed and covered over with never such specious pretences He did not walk in craftiness nor appear other than he really was Much less would he to please any men handle the word of God deceitfully either by concealing any thing that was true or by mixing any false stories of his own inventing No by plain truth he commended himself to every mans conscience as in the presence of that God who is the avenger of all fraud and imposture And therefore he justly concludes that if any man did not receive these things nor think them evident enough it was because he deserved to perish for the love he bore to some naughty affection or other which would not let him submit to Jesus For it was him the Apostles preached ver 5. not themselves they did not do their own business but his only whom they proclaimed to be the Lord and themselves no more but his servants nay the servants of all Christian people for his sake But I must no longer follow the story of this great man who became so strong in the Lord and in the power of his might after He had from Heaven appeared and spoken to him that as nothing could daunt him so nothing could hinder the sucecess of his labours He became the most eminent servant of the Lord Jesus and prevailed so mightily against all the opposition which the Devil or men raised to frustrate his endeavours that he gives thanks to God in the second Chapter of that Epistle ver 14. Who always caused him to triumph in Christ and made manifest the odour of his knowledge by him in every place All his travels and long journeys proved in the issue as if they had been but the carrying of him about in a triumphal Chariot to make him a glorious spectacle in all those places as the Syriack translates it where in spite of all that the most powerful cruelty and rage could do he was still victorious and brought divers Souls into a chearful subjection to his Master Christ Jesus III. Who was pleased last of all but more frequently than to any other to show himself after he went to Heaven to this very Apostle whose words I am expounding his beloved Disciple S. John By whom he comforts and encourages all other Christians to continue stedfast in their Religion and to take their share with him in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ Who many ways declared to him
God promised to send to rule over them He takes the Book out of the right hand of him that sate on the Throne ver 7. which signifies that he is next to God the Father of all at whose right hand he stood in power and glory As appears also by his being seated in his Throne for the thrones of the Eastern Kings to which these expressions allude were wide like one of our Couches in which more than one may sit and by his having the principal Angels the seven spirits of God at his command to imploy where he pleased Who together with the rest of the Heavenly host and with the Christian Church make their acclamations to him ver 11 12. as worthy of the most supreme power and dignity which they express in as many Names of praise as there are principal Spirits of God when they say Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive 1. power and 2. riches and 3. wisdom and 4. strength and 5. honour and 6. glory and 7. blessing And then immediately he hears every Creature joyning him in their Doxology together with God the Father saying ver 13. Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever But the more fully to represent his Divine power you may observe that he appears in another Vision to him in the very same state and majesty wherein God was wont to make himself present in the times of old Then you read that the Lord made the clouds his chariot and walkt upon the wings of the wind ciii Psalm 3. that is came to them by the ministery of Angels who appeared in bright and shining clouds to do his will with great expedition every where For so it is expounded in the xviii Psalm 10. where instead of clouds it is said He rode upon a Cherub and did flie yea he did flie upon the wings of the wind That is there was a token of his presence by the majestick appearance of Angels who were ready to be imployed by him and immediately to execute his commands For to ride upon any thing as Maimonides observes * More Nevoch Part. 1. cap. 70. is in the Holy Language to rule to govern to have an absolute power over it and dispose of it as one pleases And therefore to ride upon a Cherub or to make the clouds his chariot which are the very same because the Angels appeared in glorious clouds is to send those Heavenly Ministers whither he thinks good to perform his pleasure Whence it is I suppose that the Psalmist says elsewhere lxviii 34. his strength is in the clouds because he is powerfully present by them in all places For as Andreas Caesariensis hath truly observed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. in his Commentaries upon the Revelation a cloud in the Sacred writings is ever a Minister about Divine businesses and perpetually imployed in them because they are above us and are very swift as the Angels are in their motions and are both dark and bright a fit emblem of the glory of the Divine Majesty which is inscrutable by us Now just in such a glorious Majesty and mighty power did S. John behold our blessed Saviour making the clouds that is the Angels his chariot in which he sate as a Lord to whom they were to do service So he tells us in xiv Rev. 14. And I looked and behold a white cloud and upon the cloud one sate like unto the Son of man having on his head a golden Crown and in his hand a sharp sickle Where by cloud the forementioned writer understands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some Angelical power of which this white that is bright cloud was a representation ministring to our Saviour For S. John saw him upon this cloud and sitting there as if it were the Throne or Royal Chariot of this Prince Who sate there with a Crown on his head denoting his Royal authority and that of Gold to show by what is most precious among us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the splendour and greatness of his Majesty and with a sickle in his hand to signifie that he hath such a power as to be able to cut down Kingdoms and States with as much ease as we mow a field of corn All these three last expressions set forth the highest dignity and most royal power and therefore so doth his sitting upon a cloud or being carried by Angels as Kings were anciently and still are in the Eastern Countries by their servants Which kind of speech and other such like phrases in the holy Language as riding upon the wings of Angels denoted by the clouds and wind signifie the exercise of his Kingly power by their Ministry Who are ready to fly any whither to convey his orders and execute them throughout the world Where he being present by them as a King is by his several Ministers in every part of his Dominions he is said to sit upon them as if whither-soever they go they carried him Thus the ancient Books speak of God the Creator and Governour of all and thus our Saviour teaches S. John to speak of him which is a sign that he is the Son of God who sends forth the Angels to minister for them especially who shall be heirs of salvation And therefore in another Vision which is all I need mention xix Rev. 11 12 c. He saw him again coming out of Heaven with the Royal ensigns of his victorious power over those who had opposed his authority For behold a white horse which was proper for a conqueror and one sitting upon him whose name was called the WORD of God Who was clothed he tells us with a vesture dipt in bloud that is with a purple garment such as Kings use to wear and his eyes sparkled or rather flamed like fire to denote how terrible he was to his Enemies and there were on his head many Crowns because he had already conquered several Kingdoms and Provinces and was now going to subdue more being attonded with all the armies in Heaven who waited upon him to minister to him in this war till as he was of right he was actually acknowledged by humble subjection to him to be KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS And what greater argument can there be of the power of our Lord and of the truth of these Visions whereby the WORD of God who hath the lineaments of future things in his mind as Irenaeus speaks represented how God would hereafter dispose of the affairs of the world than his possessing himself of a Kingdom and perswading so great a part of mankind to submit to him though a King invisible merely by the preaching of such men as S. John The event hath proved it was no delusion when he heard those great voices in Heaven saying xi 15. The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever
When the LXX Elders were to receive a portion of Moses his Spirit God ordered them to be brought unto the Tabernacle of the Congregation and says he would come down and talk with Moses there and take of the Spirit which was upon him and put it upon them xi Numb 16 17. Accordingly you read ver 24. that as they stood round about the Tabernacle the Lord came down in a cloud ver 25. that is in such a manner as now the Holy Ghost descended at our Lord's Baptism But He came not down upon them who were about the Tabernacle but rather as in the next story xii 5. and at other times stood in the door of the Tabernacle from whence he spake to Moses and took of the Spirit which was on him and gave it to the seventy Elders Whereas here the Holy Ghost came down in a visible glory and pitched upon Jesus himself who was the Tabernacle now where God chose to dwell For this Schekinah as you have heard or Divine majesty not only lighted on him but rested there and remained in him as if God had told him who saw it both descend and abide on him Here will I dwell for ever for therein do I delight This demonstrated him to be more than any ever was not merely a great Prophet but the very Son of God Never was there such a Crown prepared for any mans head but his Never before did the hand of Heaven put such a Diadem of Glory upon any person as this which encircled and as I may say was bound about our Saviour This can be accounted nothing less than the testimony of the HOLY GHOST to him that he was the Holy one of God the anointed from above the King of God's people and the heir of all things Thus S. Peter you know expresses the honour which was now done him when he tells Cornelius and his company x. Acts 38. that God ANOINTED him with the Holy Ghost and with power The HOLY GHOST came down as an holy oil from the Heavenly Sanctuary which being poured on him in such a glorious Majesty gave him authority to be called the Son of God and made him his King So John Baptist acknowledged him you remember as soon as he beheld this strange sight and bare record of it unto others that this person thus anointed was the Son of God i. John 34. He was now invested with a royal power for that 's the meaning of his being ANOINTED and we ought I shall show you to look upon this as a solemn inauguration of him in his Kingdom to which he had now a title given him together with some part of a Kingly Authority And if there be any truth in the Traditions of the Hebrews concerning their own Ceremonies there was something remarkable in it that this ANOINTING him with the holy oil from above was immediately after he came up out of the waters of Jordan For Maimonides and the Doctors in the Talmud tell us that they never anointed a King of the house of David but at the side of a Fountain or of a River of water Which was the reason that David commanded his servants to bring his son Solomon down to GIHON 1 Kings i. 33. and there anoint him King over Israel For this GIHON was a little River as R. Solomon there notes or the head of a River nigh Jerusalem which discharged it self into the brook Kidron and in the Chaldee Paraphrase is called by the newer name of Siloah It was made very famous afterward by that memorable work of Hezekiah 2 Chron. xxxii 30. who to take away the advantage any Enemy might make of it in a siege stopt up the course of its water and brought it by Chanels under-ground into the City of David At this place without the walls of Jerusalem not in the City Zadok and Nathan anointed King Solomon That is one of them poured out the oil and the other anointed his head drawing a circle with the oil upon it For so they all say that Kings were anointed in the form of a Crown to denote the royal dignity Which if it be true and that they made choice of such a place to show as they will have it the perpetuity of their Kingdom because Rivers run alway though the Cities which stand by them decay and may be demolished then it is very observable that our Lord was ANOINTED or Crowned with the Holy Ghost by the River JORDAN rather than in any other place to denote him indeed to be the King of Israel who should sit upon the throne of his Father David as the Angel said for ever and ever But this I mention only by the way The chief thing to be noted is that now he began to reign and entred upon his Kingdom called the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven which John Baptist told them was at hand For this descent of the HOLY GHOST in such a visible majesty did not merely give him a title to the Divine Kingdom which was to be erected by him in the world and assured him that he was God's Christ or ANOINTED that is his King and endued him with such royal qualities as fitted him for that office But it made him a King by conferring several branches of the Regal power on him and by giving him authority to exercise them in the world It is true indeed he did not actually take possession of his Kingdom nor exercise his royal power completely and the time of his inthroning was deferred till he had accomplished the will of God other ways and by the suffering of death was crowned with glory and honour in the Heavens But that he did not act only as a Prophet all his life-time but likewise took upon him the person of a King or acted as a Royal Prophet doing many things which only the royal Authority could do is a most manifest Truth in the Holy story Which cannot be better explained than by the parallel case of his Father David who was the exact type and figure of him He was anointed by Samuel some years before he sate upon the throne of the Lord. But as that Unction was the designation of him to the royal dignity and a pawn or pledge of the possession of it in due time so ever after he atchieved very great things which spoke him to be the person designed by God for his Kingdom as it is called I told you 2 Chron. ix 8. and he also received some portion of it before he enjoyed it all entirely 2 Sam. ii 4.9 v. 3. Just thus did our blessed Saviour after he was ANOINTED with the Holy Ghost give several proofs that he was a King which is the meaning you have heard of the word CHRIST and had received some of the power belonging to that high office For first he cast out Devils and cured all diseases at any time when he pleased only with his powerful word and for nothing Which were Acts of such royal bounty
live with them in unity and godly love to sympathize with them in their several conditions rejoycing with those that do rejoyce and weeping with those that weep Nor hath he failed to tell us by his holy Apostles with what kindness and indulgent affection Husbands should treat their Wives and how they again should so affectionately observe their Husbands that they may together make up a lively Image of that Dearest Love which is between Christ and his Church And he hath instructed us all how to behave our selves towards Magistrates Bishops Presbyters Masters and Parents whom he hath also taught how to bring up their children to use their servants to feed and govern their flocks and to rule their people committed to their charge so that no man can say he goes without that Lesson which is proper for his condition And then if we proceed to those things which we call SOBRIETY his Doctrine is so holy and pure that it requires the greatest Moderation in all things It favours nothing that relishes of Covetousness or Ambition or Voluptuousness or any other violent and inordinate passion whatsoever But quite contrary commands us not to labour with too much eagerness and solicitude for the meat that perishes to lay up our treasures in Heaven to be humble and lowly like little children to be temperate in all things to be watchful and vigilant lest we be overtaken with surfeiting and drunkenness or the cares of this life to be chaste and pure in heart to mortifie our members that are on the Earth fornication uncleanness inordinate affection and evil concupiscence to abstain from lasciviousness foolish talking wanton and unseemly jesting to cut off our right hand and pluck out our right eye if it prove an offence to us to take just measures of our selves as well as others to be content with our portion to do those things which are venerable grave and beseeming our condition and employment which if it be not according to our desires not to repine or be dejected at it if it be not to be transported with vain joy much less with pride and contempt of our neighbours And after all these and such like incomparable Lessons He teaches us to suffer any thing for well doing to bear all worldly troubles valiantly and with a magnanimous heart to despise reproaches nay to rejoyce when our names are cast out as evil for his name sake in patience to possess our Souls and not to be weary in well doing nor faint in our minds but to endure chastening to persevere and suffer with long patience to stand fast in the faith to quit our selves like men and to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might To all which duties he urges us likewise by the purest the most spiritual the noblest and most Divine Arguments He does not press us with such low and poor motives as the hope of Riches though he promise us things convenient or of Greatness or of Fame and Glory either while we live or when we are dead but propounds his own example to us and the example of all the Saints that are gone before us and quickens us with the hope of Immortality when we depart this life and assures us at present of the friendly protection of Angels and of the joys of the Holy Ghost which none of those shall fail to receive who are not inticed nor affrighted from their duty but resolutely hold out in their Christian warfare and overcome And if any man say that several Philosophers taught excellent things and gave Rules of a vertuous life and yet it does not prove the best of them to be so great as these Witnesses are brought to demonstrate our Saviour was The Answer is that none of them delivered such a complete Rule of holy living as our Lord hath done none of them touched the heart with such powerful reasons and Divine motives nor did any of them write without some mixture of folly or themselves exactly perform that which they taught others Besides that none of them ever had the confidence to pretend to that quality wherein our Saviour came which you shall see presently is of great force to prove such an Holy Person as he was to be indeed what he pretended the Son of God II. But first let us a little consider the second sort of PURITY that of the Life in which our Lord Jesus far out-stript all others He did not only preach after that manner I have now related but so he lived and became a complete pattern of that which he taught He was a LIVING LAW as Lactantius calls him * Lib. 4. Instit C. 25 to all his Disciples whom he taught by Himself and not merely by his Lectures of Piety Other Teachers had conceived in their minds and painted in their Orations a vertue that was no where to be seen for they were not able as the same Author else-where speaks to confirm by present Examples that which they asserted in their Doctrine Their Auditors might still say that no body could live according to their prescriptions because no body ever did Behold therefore our Saviour comes to do and not only to preach the will of God And so holy pure and free from all blame were all the Actions of his life that his greatest Enemies could lay nothing to his charge but only certain words and those such as contained most perfect truth as he proved by his actions and many other ways He was the Lamb of God without spot and without blemish as S. Peter speaks 1 Pet. i. 19. He offered himself by the eternal Spirit without spot unto God ix Hebr. 14. His whole life was such a fair example of that Piety Humility Charity Gentleness Forgiveness Peaceableness Patience and all other vertues which he taught that God restored him to life again after they had crucified him and put him to death because there was no fault in him He was frequent in Prayer to God and sometimes continued therein a whole night together Upon all occasions he gave him thanks He loved his Glory and the Good of mankind more than his life He went about doing good And he taught his Family to be as kind and tender-hearted as himself He was meek and lowly in heart When he was abused He was dumb as a Lamb before the shearers so opened he not his mouth He was full of respect towards Magistrates and Governours very sweet and affable towards the poorest people exceeding kind and compassionate towards his envenomed enemies and perfectly contented in the lowest condition When Foxes had holes and Birds had nests but He not where to lay his head none could be found more chearful thankful and well pleased than he was And as for his Fortitude Courage Constancy Resignation and all other suffering vertues there never was any thing comparable to them For he endured the Cross and despised the shame and contentedly took the contradiction of sinners saying Father not my will
to say that he came from God if he had no warrant for it All sober men must rather confidently believe that He who arrived as I have often said at such an height of blameless purity in all other points whatsoever was as free from blame in this also and said nothing but the very Truth when He so solemnly and so frequently before God and before men in his life-time and at his death professed that he was the Son of God And if any man still object that his uprightness indeed was so great that without all doubt he would not invent such a tale as this and affirm what he did not believe but yet he might be mistaken and believe that which was not true He may answer himself from his own concessions For if he consider how free our Saviour was from all ambitious desires how modestly he refused to be advanced how void he was of covetousness and all other worldly appetites which may blind a mans reason and abuse his understanding and likewise how admirably he discourses how rational and convincing how sublime and heavenly all his Sermons are He will soon be satisfied that it is not credible a person of his wisdom should be ruled by mere fancy or of his goodness be carried into a vain dream by any sensual affections which had no place in him This is the first acception of the word WATER which you see clears our Lord from all imputation of fraud and washes off all aspersions that might be cast upon him of imposture For there is not the least spot or blemish appears in the whole course of his Life to render him suspected of any guile much less of so great a deceit as this to feign himself the Son of God Nay his Doctrine is so Divine so much beyond the strain of the wisest men that ever spake that it demonstrates he was as little obnoxious to be deluded himself as he was inclined and disposed to delude others II. Let us now proceed to see what testimony may be drawn from this WATER in behalf of our Lord if we take it in the other sence for BAPTISM in which we make a profession of PURITY And there is a twofold BAPTISM by which our Lord may be said to COME that is to appear a Person sent of God as his only begotten Son The first is the Baptism of John the second is his own Baptism I. As for the Baptism of John it may be said that our Saviour CAME by or with this WATER both because John when he baptized men with Water preached that He was coming iii. Matth. 11. i. John 30. and because He brought this Baptism along with him or rather sent it a little before him as a testimony of him which would prepare his way and dispose their hearts to receive him as the Christ of God For it is manifest that it was intendded as a proof of this from those words of our Saviour himself by which he stopt the mouths of the Pharisees and took away all matter of cavil from them when he asserted his supreme Authority both over them and over their Temple xxi Matth. 23 24 25 26. There you read that our Saviour having come in Triumph to Jerusalem ver 8 9. and there received Hosanna's from old and young and been saluted as the Son of David that is their KING who the Prophet had said ver 5. should come unto them meek and sitting upon the Foal of an Asse and he having cast the buyers and sellers out of the Temple ver 12. and prohibited them to carry so much as a vessel through it as S. Mark tells us xi 16. and being now teaching the people there the Chief Priests and the Elders came to him and examined him by what Authority he did these things and who gave him this Authority That is they bid him produce his Commission if he had any and show them from whom he was SENT and CAME to take this Office not only of a Teacher but of a Reformer and that of the Temple it self and likewise who warranted him to ride in such pomp to Jerusalem as the Son of David the Lord of that Country The Answer of our Saviour to this question is that they might soon be resolved if they would but satisfie him in another question concerning another person who was come also in an unusual manner among them And that was whether John had a Commission from God to baptize or came of himself by the allowance of men only Answer me but this question says he and I will tell you by what authority I do these things Consider of it and tell me what you think whence was John's Baptism from Heaven or of Men That is who gave him his power to preach to reprove to call men to repentance to receive confession of sins and to do all other things belonging to his Ministry which Baptism accompanied and constantly waited upon Did God bid him go or was it from a motion of his own While they consulted for an Answer to this question of our Saviours they clearly saw their own answered And they were not so dull but that they could easily discern our Lord would irrefragably prove his Divine Authority and make them confess he was the Messias unless they would adventure to say that which all the Country would decry not only as a falsity but an egregious calumny For if they had affirmed that John entred upon the Office of Baptizing and Teaching the people out of his own private will and inclination or by commission from some men in this opinion they knew they should be singular because all the people held him to be a Prophet That is it was the sence of the whole Nation then and so it was afterward as appears by Josephus that the Baptist was a Divine Man inspired by God and sent of him to do what he did which would have made them the publick scorn and hatred if without a reason able to confute all the Country they should have denied it But then if they should grant this and say He was sent of God which was the only thing they could say with safety if they would affirm either they saw themselves in as ill or worse a case another way being as much afraid of what Jesus would say if this were confessed as they were of what the people would say if it were contradicted For as the people would have cried shame on them if they had disparaged John's ministry so if they allowed it to be from Heaven then they knew Jesus would unanswerably prove his Commission to be from Heaven too and tell them that John whom they took for a Divine Man should acquaint them with his authority and from whom he had it for he bare witness in express words that he was the Christ the Son of God They thought it a safer course therefore to leave this question undetermined and to say they could not tell whence his Baptism was than by
person whom all their inspired men pointed at and foretold should come to be their King For the descriptions they have left of the cruel usage and horrible sufferings of the Messiah or Christ were answered to the life and exactly fulfilled in our Saviour Jesus whose torments rather exceeded than fell short of the tragicalness of all their expressions Thence it is that when He had ended all his sufferings he said xix John 30. IT IS FINISHED and so bowed his head i.e. did reverence to God and gave up the ghost i.e. resigned his Spirit to God in that prayer which S. Luke mentions By which words It is finished He bad them mark that now all things that were written of him in the xxii Psalm liii Isaiah and other places of their holy Books were perfectly fulfilled and received such a punctual completion in him that there remained nothing more to be done but only to die He had done all his Fathers will and finished his whole work in every point and so having no further business here He worshipped God that sent him and departed the world to go to him XII It will also much advantage this discourse to observe the accidents that hapned at our Saviour's death and accompanied his bloud-shedding which have no small force to verifie what he said concerning himself And to omit the death of Judas which prevented our Lord's and declared that he thought Jesus innocent and himself guilty together with several other things which may be better mentioned afterward let us only observe how the Sun contrary to its usual course when the Moon could not interpose it self between its light and them was eclipsed three whole hours as he was in his passion xxiii Luke 44 45. And that in the conclusion of it the veil of the Temple of that Temple wherein the Jews so much confided was rent in twain from the top to the bottom xxvii Matth. 51. The Earth quaked the Rocks rent and the Graves were opened and many bodies of Saints which slept arose and went out of the Graves after his Resurrection and appeared unto many in the holy City ver 52 53. What judgment can any sober man make of so many strange things concurring at this moment When was it ever heard that the Sun blusht as one may say to show its face and look upon him when any malefactor or innocent man either was hang'd upon a gibbet or that the holy place was torn together with that man's body or that the Earth groaned when he expired and the hearts of Rocks trembled when he cried out and the monuments of the dead opened at his death which three days after gave them life All these things were peculiar to the death of Jesus and never met together but only to honour his bloud And so notorious they were that the Centurion and those who under him had the charge at that time to see the execution done were convinced by them and by the words that he spake that he was no Deceiver but in truth the Son of God So S. Matthew there relates ver 54. that when the Centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus saw the Earthquake and those things that were done they feared greatly saying Truly this man was the Son of God Whatsoever the Jews had decreed they saw by the displeasure of the Heavens by the trembling of the Earth by the hand of God upon the Temple which was soon known by the Priests that Jesus had exceeding great wrong done him having spoken nothing but the truth when he confessed to Pilate that he was the Son of God They dreaded to think what would be the consequences of this horrid murder and were sorely afraid that they themselves who had attended upon it should feel some of those tokens of Gods wrath which elsewhere was very visible But S. Mark tells us that the Centurion also observed the words of our Saviour as well as was struck with these miraculous accidents and that they helped to convince him xv 39. And when the Centurion which stood over against him saw that he so cried out and gave up the ghost he said Truly this man was the Son of God That is when he heard him call God FATHER for those were the words as you heard out of S. Luke xxiii 46. which he cried with a loud voice at the giving up of the ghost Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit and when he saw that he stood in this to the very last breath that God was his Father and also beheld such strange testimonies of it both in the Heaven and in the Earth he said without all doubt he ought to have been acknowledged to be no less than he said and not crucified as a malefactor And S. Luke relates it thus that Jesus crying with a loud voice and saying those words before mentioned The Centurion saw what was done that is all spoken of in the precedent verses xxiii Luke 44 45 46. and GLORIFIED God saying Certainly this was a righteous man Which was as if he had said God be praised for showing us the truth or let us do God honour in acknowledging the truth whatever come of it I make no question but this man was innocent and said true when he affirmed he was God's Son though the Jews have got him crucified for this saying and brought us to wait upon his execution That as I have often noted was their quarrel with him That he being a man made himself equal with God x. John 33. v. 18. This was the blasphemy they accused him of that he said They should see the SON OF MAN that is Himself sitting at the right hand of power But the Centurion an honest Gentile acquitted him of this crime and seeing the things that were done and hearing the words he uttered concluded him to be Righteous free from all blame and not at all guilty of that blasphemy for which he was arraigned and suffered but ought to have been believed and acknowledged as the CHRIST the Son of the blessed Thus was that fulfilled which our Saviour had foretold viii John 28. When ye have lift up the Son of Man upon the Cross then shall ye know that I am He that is the CHRIST and that I do nothing of my self assume not this authority of preaching thus without Gods leave but as my Father hath taught me I speak these things that is even this that I am his CHRIST is that which he bid me affirm And he that sent me is with me to justifie what I say and do the Father hath not left me alone no not upon the Cross nor after death as appears even by this Testimony which he forced the Centurion to give him For I do always those things that please him Keep to my office that is both now and when I suffer you to lift me up to the Cross for God declared that he was never better pleased with him than when he laid down his life in this
the raising of Lazarus which had drawn many of the Jews to him and he promises shortly to make it appear more brightly by raising up Jesus from the dead which would draw also many such Gentiles as these to believe on his name To conclude this that which the above named Jewish writer pretends in favour of Moses that he appeared and did his wonders in an age when the world was full of wisdom and knowledge is a great deal truer of our blessed Saviour For as he rightly notes * Sepher Cosri Par. 1. Sect. 63. that Learning still went along with the Monarchies so it never was at a greater height than in the greatest Empire that of the Romans and in the highest pitch of that Empire when our Saviour appeared Upon which account there cannot be any suspicion of fraud in this or the rest of our Saviours miracles which were not wrought in an ignorant age nor in an obscure and barbarous Nation nor in some blind corner of the Country but openly near a famous City for Bethany was hard by Jerusalem where there were professors of wisdom and in a time when men could easily distinguish between a real miracle and a mere delusion This therefore ought to have opened their eyes to see who he was whose miraculous works they could not but see And it is justly mentioned to their eternal reproach in the conclusion of this story xii John 37. that though he had done so many miracles before them yet they believed not on him For they could not with any colour ascribe them to any power but that of Gods who hereby told them what the voice from Heaven told him that this was his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased II. And truly there can no good reason be given which is the second thing that I told you should be considered why the Apostles should spend so great a part of the short History they have left of his Life in relating his miraculous works if they had not both known them to be evident and notorious things which all the Country could witness and likewise esteemed them mighty demonstrations that he was the Son of God Why else are they so large in describing his cures of several sorts with the manner of them if they were not sure that they could not be contradicted and if they did not desire they should be carefully heeded and concluded likewise that if they were men would acknowledge him to be the CHRIST whom God had sanctified and sent into the world to declare his will to them Which belief if it were once rooted deeply in their hearts the Apostles knew very well would irresistibly constrain them to be obedient to him in every thing This is that which gives his words such authority which makes them sink into our hearts and possesses them of our very Souls and turns all other opinions and perswasions which are inconsistent with them out of doors a belief that our Creator speaks unto us by his mouth They were well aware that it was no easie thing to perswade the world of this but that men might justly doubt of so strange a report For there is such a vast distance between God and us as the Jews make that Gentile King Cosar discourse in the foremention'd Book called after his Name that a man will be apt to think the Majesty of Heaven will not enter into such familiarity and friendship with flesh and bloud as to talk with them Before we can believe this says He we must see prodigies and miracles and behold the course of nature inverted by such astonishing works as can be done by none but him that created all things And it is well if after all this the mind of man will rest satisfied that the Lord of the World the Lord of the Sun and Moon and Stars the Lord of Angels as well as all inferiour Creatures will have society with such vile clay such contemptible dirt as we are And therefore as the Jew in that Discourse with him declares how God demonstrated his presence with Moses by mighty miracles seen by all the people and by their enemies too which were the fittest argument for God to use far beyond the little reasonings and disputings of Philosophers even so the Apostles prove to us that God was in our Saviour and that we ought to believe what he says of himself or concerning us by enumerating many of the mighty wonders which he did in the midst of the people wonders that amazed all beholders and of which they could give no account but that God was with him and spake by him as his Son else he could not have done those things which so much exceeded all the power of Creatures nay all that his own power had wrought for the honour of his servant Moses It was unreasonable that they should in those days ask any greater tokens of a Divine authority and when they did our Saviour told them they should have none but the sign of the Prophet Jonas that is his Resurrection of which I shall speak presently And it is as unreasonable in us now to expect any thing should be better attested than this truth That our Saviour did all those things which the Apostles have recorded We have them reported from those that saw them and that had all opportunities to examine them from those that beheld more of them than they could number men of great fidelity and admirable vertue men that had no interest so great as this to declare the truth for the good of mankind whatsoever they lost by it Unless we will demand that Christ should come again in every Age and also work his wonders in every Nation in every place before every particular mans eyes we can have no better assurance than we have of these things Now how absurdly unreasonable is he who will not be satisfied without such a new descent of our blessed Saviour from Heaven continually repeated and unless he may see him crucified afresh before his eyes For men may as well disbelieve that part of the story as all the rest and require that they may see all those barbarous cruelties and indignities which we read of acted over again upon our Saviour perpetually to the end of the World The very mention of which as it is horrible so should it be done it would destroy the very nature of faith which is the receiving of something upon report And that is one sure way of conveying the notice of things to us which we could not otherwise know And things so made known if the Witnesses be good are accounted by all mankind to be as sufficient a ground to proceed upon in the most considerable actions of humane life as the knowledge of them by seeing feeling and by the rest of our senses is Let us therefore receive the Testimony of the Apostles of our Lord seeing there is no exception as you may hear more before I have done that lies against their
persons with any shadow or colour of reason Let us perswade our selves that this is a true History which they have written and then we have no faculty of discoursing if we cannot conclude who our Saviour was He could not possibly have done such things as the blind man well argued when his eyes were opened by him ix John 31 33. if he had been a sinner that is a deceiver and not authorized by God to come in his Name If he had been a mere pretender to this dignity God would not have honoured him on this fashion nor have given countenance to a lye by as great miracles as can be wrought for the proof of any Truth He would not have deprived himself of all means to declare his will to us as he must have done if he had suffered such a vast number of miracles to be wrought by a deceiver for three years together and given the most honest-hearted men no means to discover the cheat We cannot believe him to be wise and to have a care to preserve his own authority and to support his government and not think that he would some way or other have controuled the designes of a person of such high pretences if he had opposed Him and come without his consent as his only begotten Son into the world In brief if all these things be true which are reported then our Saviour was God manifested in our flesh and you know what regard and reverence is due to such a person And that they are true we have not the least reason to doubt being reported by eye witnesses of his majesty and power who were so convinced of his Divine authority that they ventured their fortunes and lives in his service merely to promote his honour And as that whereby they perswaded others to believe in him was the power of the SPIRIT working so many miracles by their hands and the power of the HOLY GHOST in divers other wonderful gifts so it was the same SPIRIT that first convinced them and made them confidently conclude that he was the Son of God For the first time that we find they made a solemn acknowledgment of him was upon the working of a great miracle before S. Peter James and John heard the voice from Heaven when they were with him in the holy Mount He had fed you read xiv Matth. 19 c. five thousand men beside women and children with five Loaves and two Fishes And as soon as he had done straight-way constrained his Disciples to get into a ship and go before him unto the other side ver 22. lest they should joyn with the multitude in the design which he saw they had in hand vi John 15. to take him by force and make him a King When he had dismissed the multitude and spent the rest of the day in prayer he overtook his Disciples in the midst of the Sea in the fourth watch of the night and found them tossed with the waves because the wind was contrary xiv Matth. 24 25. They were afraid at the first sight of him and imagined it had been a Ghost who perhaps they thought had raised that storm But when he spake to them and bad them be of chear and said It is I be not afraid Peter was desirous if it were he that he would call him to him and enable him to walk upon the water with him And so he did as if it had been firm land till his heart began to fail him when he saw the wind boisterous But then our Lord put forth his hand and kept him from sinking and both brought him safe to the ship and made a calm Upon this They that were in the ship that is the rest of the Disciples came and worshipped him saying Of a truth thou art the Son of God ver 33. The sudden ceasing of the wind that is his coming to them upon the water his bearing up Peter and making him walk along with him and that when the surface of the water was not plain but very rough by the crossness of the wind and his feasting also great multitudes with little provision made them conclude without any more ado that he was greater than any man ever was Their minds were overcome by this mighty power of God in him which subdued their understandings perfectly to the faith and so bowed and inclined their hearts that they could not but prostrate themselves at his feet and acknowledge him to be the anointed of God They believed no doubt before that he was a great Prophet and a teacher sent of God as Nicodemus did nay had some beginnings of faith that he was the Messiah i. John 41 45. But it was not till now that they were sure of it and did him honour as of a truth or certainly the Son of God And they were no easie People that believed lightly and foolishly only out of love of novelty or some such vain humour but were convinced and overpowred by the hand of God which was stretched out to work such wonders as these whensoever Jesus pleased III. And therefore he had great reason which is the third and last consideration when any disputed or doubted of his authority to refer them as he doth very often to his miraculous works for a proof of it and he appeals to them as one of his Witnesses according as S. John here calls them when he says the SPIRIT beareth witness So you read in several places of his Gospel where you find that when the Jews incircled him as if they would not let him stir till he told them plainly whether he was the CHRIST or not x. Joh. 24. He answered them I told you and ye believed not the works that I do in my Fathers name they bear WITNESS of me As if he had said I have no more for the present to tell you than I have told you often by my works If you can see nothing in these to convince you that I am the CHRIST all my telling you so in words will be to no purpose but for the present you must remain in unbelief To the same effect he discourses again in the same Chapter vers 37 38. If I do not the works of my Father believe me not though I should say never so oft I am his Son But if I do though ye believe not me believe the WORKS that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him And thus he reasons with S. Philip xiv Joh. 10 11. 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 a clear sign he spake not of himself and that he was most nearly one with the Father Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me or else believe me for the very WORKS sake And so he tells all his Apostles that the Jews were inexcusable upon
there being nothing more to be done for the opening their eyes and perswading them that Jesus was the Son of God They had made a fair step to it in our Saviour's life-time by resisting the mighty power of the Spirit but it was possible they might see their error because there was still a more mighty power behind which first raised up and glorified Jesus and then enabled his Apostles to do more wonderful things than he had done when he was on Earth And therefore I observe that afterward the word HOLY GHOST is sometimes used in this large sence for all the Power that was given the Apostles whether of Prophecy and Languages or of healing and casting out Devils which last are sometimes peculiarly called the SPIRIT and so not to be distinguished from the other which it incloses Thus the word HOLY GHOST in ii Hebr. 4. may be referred not only to gifts immediately preceding but to signs wonders and miracles before mentioned And after S. Peter and John had cured a lame man they say the HOLY GHOST was a witness to Jesus v. Acts 31. But though this word be so largely used in some places as SPIRIT also sometimes signifies all the rest ii Acts 4 17. and sometimes all but that which is called power 1 Cor. ii 4. yet commonly you will find the word HOLY GHOST having a peculiar reference to those other gifts of Illumination not of Power iv Acts 8. v. 3. vii 55. x. 44 45. and especially xix 2 6. where you read that S. Paul found certain Disciples at Ephesus who had not so much as heard whether there was any HOLY GHOST who had heard no doubt of the miraculous works both of Christ and his Apostles Now when these and the HOLY GHOST were both joyned together when Jesus had given them the witness of his Bloud and of his Resurrection and the Gospel came not only in POWER but in the HOLY GHOST as S. Paul speaks 1 Thess i. 5. Then they who persist to blaspheme the name of Jesus were in an hopeless condition past all the methods of God to bring them to forgiveness All which I have said as distinctly as I could to explain that which has perplexed so many and to show the strength of this Witness which our Saviour so much relied upon that he knew not a greater to convince them when once it had said all that it intended in his behalf To which let this be added as an argument of the greatness of this testimony that they who apostatized from the Christian Faith are therefore condemned to a sorer punishment than they who forsook Moses not only because they accounted the BLOUD of Jesus an unholy thing and despised that witness but also did despite to the SPIRIT of Grace which by raising him from the dead proved his BLOUD to be the Bloud of the Son of God x. Hebr. 29. This is set down last of all in that place because it filled up the measure of their sin This made them uncapable of the benefit of any sacrifice for sin as it is ver 26. that they so slighted yea vilified and reproached carried themselves contumeliously as the word imports towards the SPIRIT of God which was the greatest Testimony on Earth that our Saviour had and was followed with the HOLY GHOST sent down from Heaven And they must needs be guilty of such disgraceful usage of the SPIRIT yea of the SPIRIT of Grace that Spirit which God had so graciously poured not only upon Jesus but upon the Apostles and perhaps upon themselves if they did deny Jesus and renounce his Religion because this was in effect to tell the world that this was not the Spirit of God but of the Devil and that it did not prove his Resurrection from the dead but whatsoever it said He was a blasphemer when he called himself the Son of God Thus I have done now with this last Witness on Earth the SPIRIT which you see concurs and agrees with all the former in this Truth There is not the smallest difference between them nothing to make us suspect them to be false witnesses for they are all found to speak in our vulgar phrase in the very same story punctually and in terms affirming this that Jesus is the Son of God This he preached who never did any sin neither was guile found in his mouth This John Baptist likewise proclaimed with a loud voice The Bloud of Jesus attested this before all the people this was the very Title over his Cross that he was KING OF THE JEWS and this the SPIRIT said it was the language of every one of his wonderful works and of his Resurrection also and his Inthronization of which the Holy Ghost gave assurance which conspired to testifie this and expresly justified it to all the World And therefore how can we chuse but think this a sure word that he is the Son of God which is established out of the mouth not of two or three but of twice three witnesses of unquestionable credit And these three last treated of challenge from us a very careful consideration and we ought the more duly to weigh what they say because they were on Earth and upon that account nearer to us as I told you more evident at first sight more strongly attested by innumerable witnesses that they might serve for a greater confirmation even of the truth of the rest The Testimony of the FATHER is certain because it was heard by several excellent persons yea once by a multitude of people That of the WORD also is infallible and we cannot with any reason doubt whether there was such evidence because S. Steven S. Paul S. John were persons of unspotted reputation who heard it and also did and suffered the hardest things upon the credit of it That the HOLY GHOST also fell upon him at his Baptism a great Prophet so confidently affirmed that it was prophaneness to deny it But yet excepting the Testimony of the Holy Ghost after his Ascension there were none of those Witnesses in Heaven heard by so many as these three last mentioned who as S. John says bare witness in Earth It was a notorious thing to all the Country which Jesus travelled that he led a most holy life No man could fasten the suspicion of any crime upon him but the cry of the people was like that when he opened a blind mans eyes He hath done all things well vii Mark 37. And yet he lived not a retired life he did not hide himself in corners nor shut up himself in private houses but conversed so freely that they found fault with him though unjustly for being too familiar and keeping company with Publicans and sinners And as for his BLOUD the second Witness on Earth that was shed in the face of the Sun at a great feast when from foreign Countries they were assembled at Jerusalem All the accidents which we say attended his death were things that never have been contradicted
questioned For if we do not allow this way of conveying down a testimony to future times we can know nothing of what was done before us And by denying all credit to these writings we shall only teach posterity how little credit is due to any of ours Nay we shall shake all mens titles to their estates and Kings will not be able to keep their Crowns fast upon their heads Nothing will be certain but it may be questioned whether all the Records in the Tower and the publick Acts of former Kings and Parliaments be not mere Forgeries Besides no body in those days ever went about to disprove what these Witnesses of Christ preached and have writ Neither Jew nor Gentile undertook to show that these things were only devised for his credit There were too great Testimonies from Heaven still remaining in the Church for several Ages to confute such a slander And therefore all that the Devil himself could think of to shake mens belief was to set up some wonder-workers of his own to confront Jesus and as it were to vie miracles with him and his Disciples But all were so soon scattered like mists before the Sun that they appeared to be but thin shadows in comparison with the living SPIRIT of God that was in the Church which baffled and overcame them all Insomuch that Origen assures the Heathen and they never went about to confute him that there were not above thirty of Simon Magus his followers then to be found in the world though he had made diligent enquiry after them by travel into all parts They were all vanished though he made a great noise for a time whilest the followers of Jesus multiplied and increased even by their persecutions Nor could Apollonius afterward gain any Proselytes that continued but his fame soon died together with himself Whereas the authority of Jesus bare up it self against all the opposition of the Roman Empire and not only was supported but advanced and prevailed more and more their barbarous cruelties only making it grow the faster For herein as Lactantius observes the faith and constancy of Christians was bravely displayed Men thought they did not without cause abhor the Heathenish superstition when they saw them rather die than do that which others doing lived and enjoyed the greatest worldly prosperity It made them enquire what that good was which they defended even unto death which was dearer than all the pleasures and glory of this world The people heard them in the midst of torments glory in Christ Jesus And whilest they enquired who he was the truth of the Gospel was divulged and spread abroad among them Their sufferings brought many to see their Martyrdom and there they saw that which moved their enquiry and by their enquiry they were satisfied and learnt to believe in Jesus as those Martyrs did But it is time to put an end to this Chapter which I shall conclude with a few remarks upon some places of the holy Books relating to the testimony of the Apostles or those that followed them The first is in the 2 Cor. vi 4 5 6 c. where you read how the Apostles approved themselves as the ministers of God in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in watchings in fastings by pureness by knowledge by long-suffering by kindness by the Holy Ghost by love unfeigned by the word of truth c. In which words if they be well considered you will find every one of these three WITNESSES which S. John says gave testimony to our Saviour on Earth so that he might be said to come in the ministry of the Apostles by Water and Bloud and the Spirit They expressed the Holiness of his life by their pureness by their long-suffering by their kindness by love unfeigned by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left that is they were every way appointed and armed with integrity against all calumnies there was none that could touch their reputation and say that these men had any worldly design And as they witnessed to him thus in their holy lives so they did in their holy doctrine by knowledge and by the word of truth preaching the Gospel sincerely as those that studied not to please men but God who trieth the hearts And they were made conformable also to his death and thereby continued the witness of the BLOUD in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in imprisonments and all the rest of the hardships here mentioned which I need not transcribe again And lastly He forgets not to remember them of the Witness of the SPIRIT which they brought along with them For he says they approved themselves as ministers of God by the Holy Ghost and by the power of God That is beside all the other Divine gifts wherewith they appeared they confirmed their doctrine by many miraculous works which could not be done but by the power of God Thus they became not only his witnesses as our Saviour said they should xxiv Luke 48. but they witnessed to him after the very same manner that he had taught in his example by Water by Bloud and by the Spirit And therefore when he exhorts Timothy to preach the Gospel and to be strong in the grace of Jesus Christ and to commit the charge of preaching also to other faithful persons He enforces his perswasion by this argument that the things he was to deliver were only such as he had heard of him among or by MANY WITNESSES 2 Tim. ii 2. He learnt them by so many good evidences which S. Paul had given him that he need not fear to speak them to any man much less doubt to commend them to other faithful preachers upon the same account that he had received them that they might be able to instruct posterity Such one would think from what hath been said were those TWO WITNESSES mentioned in xi Rev. 3. men of an Apostolical spirit whom Jesus raised up after his prime Witnesses had left the world to justifie still by all manner of arguments that great Truth which they had preached and sealed with their Bloud and God had sealed by the testimony of the Spirit The next words indeed seem to import that the whole body of Christians whom they instructed joyned with them in this testimony But still these great ministers of Jesus Christ the guides and leaders of those Christians whosoever they were and in what times soever they lived I meddle not with such difficulties were his most eminent Witnesses Who preached the Gospel with such power that it excited against them the fury of unbelievers who could not endure that such Witnesses should speak for Jesus For they testified to him these three ways here mentioned which is all that I alledge this place for not taking upon me to interpose in the controversies there are about the explanation of this Vision by Water Bloud and the Spirit First by Water if
we understand thereby their holy preaching and living For it is said ver 3. that they had power to prophesie which signifies that they were endowed with extraordinary gifts for Prophets were next to Apostles in the Church to interpret and expound the holy writings and prove out of Moses and the Prophets as our Saviour did xxiv Luke 27. all things that concerned him both his sufferings and his glory And this they did cloathed in sackcloth that is in the habit of mourners for the abominations I suppose which they saw committed and the provoking infidelity of those to whom they preached Which was a notable mark of their great piety and charity as you may learn from ix Ezek. 4. and v. Matth. 4. They are said also to be the two Olive-trees ver 4. that is like Zerubbabel and Joshua two famous persons among the Jews after the captivity who were represented by this Emblem iv Zach. 3. King and Priests unto God men endowed with great authority and illumination from above and with as great purity For they had so much of the oil of gladness that they imparted it to others to the Candlesticks that is the Churches wherein they shined For so S. John teaches us in the beginning of this Book to interpret Candlesticks which is a great argument of the excellency of these men who by the witness of their life and doctrine made all those who were under their care to testifie some way or other to the same truth that they did At least by their lives for they are said to stand before the God of the Earth Which is an Hebrew phrase signifying to minister unto God to be imployed in his worship and service as the Priests and People were at the Temple and therefore sets forth the piety and devotion of these persons whose business it was to serve God even then when it was most dangerous so to do And as by Water so by Bloud also they bare witness of him For they had war made against them and in the fight since they would not yield they were killed ver 7. Nay it was notorious to all that their persecutors had not only drawn the sword against them but that they had resisted unto bloud for their dead bodies lay in the street of the great City ver 8. and they would not suffer them to be put in graves ver 9. which shows the enraged malice which they bare to these zealous WITNESSES who had tormented them ver 10. by the sharpness of their arguments and by their constant reproofs of their infidelity and wickedness Nor was the Witness of the SPIRIT wanting for they approved themselves as Ministers of God to speak in S. Paul's language and Witnesses of Christ by wonders and miracles so great that they might be compared to the two great Prophets Moses and Elias who appeared with our Saviour on the holy Mount For they sent fire out of their mouths ver 5. and had power to shut up Heaven that it should not rain ver 6. both which were the known works of Elias They had power likewise over the Waters to turn them to bloud and to smite the Earth with all plagues as often as they pleased ver 6. which is the plain description of men like to Moses who brought such plagues on the Egyptians as these had power to do upon those who were like them both in hardness of heart and in oppression of the faithful servants of God And therefore I suppose they are described with a power to hurt and destroy rather than with that healing and saving vertue wherewith the first Witnesses of Christ principally came to signifie that their rebellious enemies should be punished for their rejecting Jesus and doing despight to the SPIRIT of grace which once came to them in a more healthful and salutary manner casting out Devils turning Water into Wine healing all manner of Plagues and Diseases and that as often as they themselves pleased to desire And more than this you read ver 11. that after the time appointed by God for it he restored these Prophets to life again and thereby made their testimony something like that of his Son 's That is men animated with the very same spirit stood up in their place to the amazement of all their opposers Who were so far from being able to hurt them that they were as safe as if they had been in Heaven The presence of God was with them as in the cloud which preserved the Israelites from all danger And he advanced them to great honour by the Heavenly gifts wherewith they were adorned As Elias is said to come though he did not appear in person but another in his spirit and power and David is said to be raised up to reign over the Jews xxx Jer. 9. because his Son that is Christ was set upon his Throne so did the Spirit of life from God enter into these witnesses and they stood upon their feet when he raised up other Apostolical persons in their stead who were not less eminent than those who were dead but full of the same spirit of wisdom holiness burning zeal and might and power also from God This frighted all their enemies as well it might when they saw the Christian Cause would not die do what they could But if they killed some others started up in their room to witness unto Jesus and assert the same truth by wonders by their admirable preaching by their holy life and by death it self if nothing else would satisfie them For thus all the MARTYRS testified to him Whose BLOUD witnessed not only that they believed his Religion and that they valued the favour of Jesus more than their lives but that they had very good reason so to do or else men of such wisdom would not have endured such torments as they freely exposed themselves unto with so much chearfulness as we find they did For as S. Hilary tells us Some gloried in the chains which they wore in prison others being beaten till they died did nothing but give thanks others readily laid down their necks to be cut off and more ran to those piles which they saw built to burn them and with a devout haste leapt into those fires at which the ministers of their torments trembled and there were those who were thrown into the Sea not as if they were to be drown'd but went to partake of the refreshment of eternal bliss So he writes upon those words of the Psalmist lxv 10 12. Thou hast tried us as silver is tried we went through fire and water c. The fruit of which was that thereby many were converted unto Christ Their death gave life to others who seeing their zeal their constancy their meekness their patience and their charity became Proselytes to that faith for which they suffered A new race of illustrious Martyrs rose up in their stead in whom they yet lived For there was no other cause as that Father adds upon the following
Verse why they gave themselves as whole burnt offerings to Christ but that by the example of their Faith and Martyrdom they might instruct many more to be Martyrs Nay their BLOUD did not only water many young plants and made them grow to their perfection but He tells us a little after in his exposition of the same Psalm Plures scimus c. We know many who were wholly ignorant of the Divine Sacraments i. e. the Christian Religion that by the example of the Martyrs run to Martyrdom No wonder then that these above all others have been called the WITNESSES of Jesus for that 's the interpretation of the word MARTYR and that Christians were forward even to kiss their wounds and to embrace their dead bodies as the remains of those who had done most eminent service to our Lord. Who himself therefore witnessed to them after they were dead and declared that their bloud was very dear and precious in his sight and that it had sealed nothing but the truth For there can no other reason be given but this why at the Monuments of these MARTYRS or WITNESSES our Saviour was pleased to have so many miracles wrought afterward and before such a number of people that Porphyry himself as we learn both from S. Cyril and S. Hierom though an avowed enemy of our Religion could not but acknowledge them They still spake and bare Witness to Jesus by these wonderful works when they were dead or rather Jesus spake for them as I said and declared from Heaven that these were his faithful Witnesses whose word ought to be believed whereby they had declared him to be the Lord. A PRAYER WHO would not believe on thee O Lord who would not magnifie thy Name For great and marvellous are thy works just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints All Nations ought to come and worship before thee whose Majesty and Glory is so many ways made manifest Thou hast raised poor and ignorant men to be mighty Ministers of thy Grace and Witnesses of thy Resurrection and co-workers with thee for the illumination and conversion of the world Blessed be thy name for all the glorious Lights which have been in thy Church in every Age by whom thy holy Faith hath been preserved and propagated to our days Blessed be thy name for all the Martyrs who sealed it with their Bloud and for all the Confessors who freely acknowledged thee with the danger of their lives Great was thy glory which shone in their most exemplary holiness fortitude patience love unseigned both to friends and enemies and in that mighty power whereby they approved themselves as the Ministers of God Thanks be to thee O God the Lord of Heaven and Earth for the comfort of thy holy Scriptures wherein we read the story of our Saviours wondrous love and of that most miraculous power which appeared in him to testifie unto him and at last raised him from the dead and advanced him to the throne of Glory From whence he sent the Holy Ghost to endue his Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers with power from on high that they might be his Witnesses and commit that which they had received to faithful men who should be able to teach others also O God I cannot but again adore thy incomprehensible love which can never be sufficiently praised Who can understand the exceeding riches of thy grace that thou whose naked glory is too bright for our weak minds to fix their eyes upon wouldest be pleased in most admirable condescending love to manifest thy self and visit us in our flesh Thou art infinitely above the greatest of us who are far less worthy to approach thee than the lowest creature in this world is fit for our friendship and society So much the more marvellous is thy unheard of love that thou wouldest admit us to such a near relation unto thee So much the greater is our happiness that in Christ Jesus thou hast made thy self our portion and designed us to be eternally blessed with thee Great was his care and kindness all the days of his flesh towards the most miserable wretches who received the greatest tokens of his love I rejoyce now to think with what tenderness he received the poor fed the hungry visited the sick cured the diseased and when he had left the world communicated the same power unto others that they might exercise the same charity that he had done I see both the power and goodness of our Lord in all those works of wonder which he did I see that his mercy endureth for ever which hath preserved a faithful record of these things that we through patience and comfort of the holy Scriptures might have hope Now the God of all grace inspire me and all other Christian Souls with the same faith love and ardent zeal which was in those burning and shining Lights the Witnesses of Christ. That we may be followers of them as they were of him and acknowledging the same Lord being members of the same body partaking of the same Sacraments and living upon the same Heavenly food we may lead the same holy lives in hope to shine one day with them in the same celestial glory Help us to continue in the things which we have learnt and have been assured of knowing of whom we have learnt them that we may not at any time let them slip For how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him thou O God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to thine own will May we always carefully lay up and preserve these sacred truths in our heart which were in so glorious a manner delivered to us May they work there perpetually with great power and be reverenced as the holy Oracles of God! May they be the spring of all our motions throughout the whole course of our life That with an even steddy pace whatsoever dangers come in our way we may walk on towards that happy place where those holy ones rejoyce for ever with our Lord. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be given by us and by those glorified Spirits and by all the Angels in Heaven everlasting Praises Amen CHAP. IX The Vse we are to make of their Testimony IT is time now to bring this Discourse to an issue and having examined all these Divine Witnesses taken their proofs and depositions and found their testimony upon due enquiry to be good and legal to consider with our selves what we have to do and what judgment we will pass now that we have heard their evidence God the Father of all says that Jesus is his Son the Word himself appeared oft to justifie this Truth the Holy Ghost came down from Heaven to attest it the Prophet of the Highest proclaimed it the holy life of our
Saviour spake as much and his Bloudy Death sealed it to which the Spirit set its seal also and undeniably witnessed that bloud was sacred which he shed for a testimony upon the Cross All these have done their part all that Witnesses by their office are to do for the making of this good that Jesus is the Son of God That which remains is our task who are bound to consider and seriously ponder and impartially judge and then faithfully improve their sacred Testimony that Jesus may have the glory that is due unto him and we may have that benefit which God by him designs to bestow upon us I. And first of all let us consider a-while the great weight and importance of this Truth that Jesus is Gods Son If the whole frame of Christian Religion did not rely upon it there would not have been such care taken to settle it and lay it deep in our hearts by so much labour and strength of argument It is equally blameable to be laborious about a trifle and to be superficial and slight in things of greatest moment No man of sense will with a great deal of diligence summon together a number of Witnesses to make good that which when it is proved it is indifferent as to any thing that depends upon it whether it be true or false No question there is a considerable interest of ours which is concerned in this truth else the Holy men of God would not have called HEAVEN AND EARTH TO WITNESS and bear their testimony to it The Father the Word the Holy-Ghost would not have concurred with the Water the Bloud and the Spirit to assert and maintain it but that all is little enough to justifie it and that it is a thing of which we cannot but desire the greatest assurance It is 1. the Foundation of all other Truths in the Christian Religion as you may read 1 Cor. iii. 11. xvi Matth. 17 18. It is the Rock on which the Church is built the Ground that supports the whole Fabrick which if it be infirm and rotten all falls to rubbish and confusion And therefore 2. the Devil laboured to undermine this Truth above all others Like a subtile Enemy when the Apostles as wise Master-builders had laid this foundation he imployed false Teachers and counterfeit Apostles as so many Pioneers to work under this and lay their trains to blow it up which he knew was a nearer way to ruine all than to plant his Batteries against the building onely The History of the first times afford too plentiful instances of this For we find there arose many Anti-christs 1 Joh. ii 18. and many false Prophets went out into the World iv 1. And the very spirit of Antichrist as he tells us vers 3. was this to deny that Jesus who came in flesh in a mortal condition and subject to our miseries was Christ. They would not have it thought that any one who suffered so vilely was the great KING that had been so long expected Or if they believed Jesus to be a great Prophet and that he was raised from the dead and rewarded for his labours in Heaven as other Prophets were yet they denied that he was made LORD OF ALL the Head of the Church and of all Principalities and Powers who was to be honoured by all Men even as they honour the Father And therefore 3. the Apostles imployed as great care and earnest indeavour for to strengthen and support this weighty truth as the Enemies of Religion laboured might and main as we say to weaken and overthrow the belief of it This was the thing they every where preached as you read in the History of the Acts of the Apostles And for this very end S. John wrote this Epistle to confirm his Disciples in this Faith against all the subtile opposition of their adversaries as you may collect from many passages beside that which I have expounded And it was the thing aimed at also in his second Epistle where he rejoyces to hear that they walkt in the truth vers 3. and cautions them against those deceivers and Antichrists vers 7. And indeed 4. it was the great note of difference between the true Prophets and the false as you may see 1 Cor. xii 3. and in the place now mentioned in this Epistle iv 1 2. which also 5. makes him command his Disciples that if any one pretending to the Spirit did not acknowledge this they should not use the common civility to him of bidding him God speed ii Epist 10. And if any man apostatiz'd from this faith which is the last thing I shall mention S. Paul pronounces a most dreadful curse upon him and wishes or predicts the Lord would come and speedily execute it 1 Corinth xvi 22. For whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of CHRIST hath not God 2. epist of S. Joh. 9. This being a truth therefore of so great moment as appears by these considerations and by the many Witnesses to which S. John here appeals for the proof of it let us be sure to settle a sense of its concernment to us in our hearts and then to think often of it and study it so thoroughly that we may perceive both the truth and importance of it or else we shall prove our selves despisers of God who do as bad as say that it was a needless pains which he bestowed in giving so many evidences of that for which we have no regard or no list to bring to trial and examination And that truly I doubt is the temper of most Christian People at this day They think all discourses on this subject useless or little worth because they prove that which they believe already Heathens might reap some profit by them but what say they have we to do with them But while such thoughts as these have too long possessed the drowsie Christian world they remain alas in the very dregs of Heathenism with a little smack or taste of Christianity It is a sad thing to consider but so it is that they who cannot endure to think upon what ground their belief stands because they would not put themselves to the trouble of understanding it are of that base temper which is the mother of Idolatry of Mahometism and of all spurious Religions in the World For what is it makes Men worship the Sun Moon and Stars or address their services to dead men nay to a piece of wood or a red cloth or some such paultry thing what makes Mahomet so reverenced by a great part of the World as the Prophet of the Highest but that they have ever been so taught and it is the custome to honour him They examine no further nor enquire for any other reason that is do not observe that there is no other reason for their belief Upon the very same account do many receive Jesus for the Son of God He hath no better footing in their Souls nor stands upon firmer grounds than Mahomet or
to lurk in the dark and put off their stuff when no body can see what it is who know it is deceitfully wrought and will not abide the light They do wisely and as cunning Merchants who make up in words and great assurances of their honesty what is wanting in the goodness of their wares But why we should have so little wit as to take their words who can tell We must answer for this folly no doubt to Almighty God who hath given us more understanding if we would use it and taught us by himself to call for good witnesses of that which is offered to us for a truth And the more strictly we examine these which S. John here alledges the better we shall be satisfied that they intend not to deceive us Which is a mark we should always have much in our eye when we are enquiring after Truth If the more we search consider and ponder the proofs which are brought the better they appear and the clearer they grow it is a very good sign there is nothing wanting to make it fully entertain'd but only longer thoughts and greater and more serious consideration As on the other hand we have great reason to suspect and turn away from that which the longer we weigh its proofs the lighter they seem and the propounders of them also begin to shift and shuffle till they have put all into a mist in which we can see nothing but that they are at a loss and are fain to puzzle us because they cannot clear that which they were about Thanks be to God there is nothing of this in the evidences we give for the true Christian Religion They are plain and perspicuous and show themselves in a greater brightness the more we look upon them and the better we are acquainted with them Search and try what has been said and the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ will shine with greater lustre in your eyes and you will confess with S. Peter 2 i. 3. that he hath called us to the knowledge of him by glory and vertue that is by a most amazing power of God which declared him to be his only Son our Lord. II. Let us therefore in the next place consider seriously how excellent and perfectly rational the Faith of Christians is There is nothing founded upon such Authority as our most holy Religion It is no childish silly thing to be a believer A man doth not betray his weakness and easie credulity when upon examination and search he suffers his Soul to be planted with these new Principles but demonstrates the strength the nobleness and ingenuity of his mind which can discern and judge aright for nothing can pretend to so much reason as they There are a vast heap of things which I could here accumulate beside those which I have treated of to make good this assertion But because the method of the Apostle which I have followed is so clear and easie and the Witnesses so full and pregnant that every one of them affords us many evidences I will content my self with a brief review of what hath been said Which will be sufficient to convince us that our Faith is the highest improvement of our Reason and doth not debase but clevate and raise our understanding upon the surest grounds of Divine demonstration For if you consider what Testimonials they brought along with them who have pretended to speak in God's name you will find there is nothing comparable to the Witness which God hath given of his Son No not in that Religion which was really founded by his Authority much less in that where there was only the Name of God pretended without any Power I. Mahomet I mean to begin first with the latter of these took upon him to be the Apostle and the Prophet of God greater not only than Moses but than Jesus himself And such was his confident brags of Revelations from God that among a company of wild Arabians whom Algazel acknowledges to have approached the nearest to Beasts of all other men He made some proselytes to his belief But what proof did he give that he was divinely sent Was it ever heard that God spake to him so much as once as he did often to our Saviour At what time or in what place and in whose audience did God say to him Thou art my Prophet When did a voice from Heaven come to any three or but one man and say This is the Apostle of God hear him It is a marvellous Providence of God that this Impostor who wanted no confidence should never adventure in all the relations he hath made of himself quite contrary to our Lord who wrote nothing of his own life but left all to his Disciples to tell any such story as this for his greater credit and glory among his followers We read indeed of some idle tales which he reports of an Angel speaking to him and of his ascension into Heaven I know not how many millions of miles But what witness was there of these things what was his name who saw the Angel appear to him or who stood by when he was transported and carried out of sight as he dreamed Or when and to whom did Moses or any one else appear and verifie it that he had been with them in glory If we must take his own word which is all we can hear of to vouch it then we must not refuse to believe every foolish fellow who has impudence enough to pretend to prophesie But what then will become of the faith of Mahomet himself if the sword were out of his hand Let us hear such a man as John the Baptist whose piety and vertue is attested by those who were no Friends of our Religion affirm that he heard and saw such things as he reports and we will be content to abate them the Apostles and such a multitude of people as heard God say he would Glorifie his Name in our Saviour And in what Glory hath that false Prophet appeared since he left the World Whose eyes hath he struck out with the brightness of his countenance Nay by whom hath he been so much as seen since he was buried I need not put the question about his Resurrection for they never pretended it Only the sottish people would not believe when he died that he was really dead but said he was taken up to Heaven as Jesus was And Omar one of his successors threatned death to them that should say he was dead for he was only gone away as Moses did into the Mount and would return again From whence perhaps arose that vulgar error among us that the Mahumedans expect the return of their Prophet * See Poceek in Gregor Abul Phar. p. 180. 264. But Abu Becri proved to them out of the Alcoran that He was to die as other Prophets before him and so appeased Omar and the multitude And was it ever heard that the Holy Ghost sell down upon him in a
to think their offences have made their enemy is a thing that can never be certainly resolved without a Revelation Without which also we can have little security of the immortality of our Souls and of the life to come Which hath inclined all Mankind to listen after a Revelation and to catch at any thing which pretends to come from God to them For as Plato acknowledges when he ordains there should be no alterations made in the ancient Customes about Sacrifices because it is not possible for mortal nature to know any thing of these matters without it No says he not long after in the same Book * In Epinom as no body shall ever perswade me that there is any greater Piety than true Vertue and as there is nothing more excellent can be taught than how those that honour Vertue should rightly worship God with Sacrifices and other rites of purifying So none can teach this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unless God show him the way and be his Guide and Leader in so excellent a work But if we search into all the records that are in the World what is there that can stand in competition with the Christian way of worshipping God or pretend to come with such authority from him I have examined those that have most to say for themselves and they can produce no such WITNESSES as Christianity doth No not that ancient Revelation made by God to Moses As for the old Pagan ways which were very various I am ashamed to mention them It is manifest they suffered themselves to be cheated by impure Spirits and took the answers of Daemons for the Oracles of God But ask now of the days that are past which were before us since the day that God created Man upon the Earth and ask from the one side of Heaven unto the other whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is or hath been heard like it that God indeed appeared among Men and was manifest in the flesh as is evident by all the signs and wonders and mighty deeds by voices from Heaven by his Resurrection from the dead and all the other Witnesses which have testified this truth to the world Ask again hath God ever assured Men of any thing by so many and such evident testimonies as those which I have produced Unto us it was shown that we might know that Jesus is the Lord and beside him there is no other if I may again allude to the words of Moses iv Deut. 34 35. out of Heaven he hath made us hear his voice that he might instruct us and upon Earth he hath shown us his great wonders that every tongue might confess Jesus is the Lord to the Glory of God the Father III. That now is the next thing I am to press as a necessary consequence of what hath been said in the foregoing Treatise Though there were such slender proofs in comparison with ours that God spake to Moses and though others as I said were drawn away by the subtilties of evil Angels yet they all believed and gave great reverence to that which was delivered to them Every Nation gladly received and held fast that which did but pretend to come from Heaven Which must needs extremely reproach us and put us to eternal shame if we having better evidences should not only be Believers but have a stronger faith in Jesus That which Plato thought was to be wisht for is now come to pass God is come to be our Guide and Director The very wisdome of the Father hath appeared to teach us He that made all the World is come down hither to reform us The WORD IS MADE FLESH that as he had Principalum in coelis to use the words of Irenaeus * L. 4. cap. 37. the Lordship in Heaven so he might have Principatum in terra the same Soveraignty upon Earth He hath appeared also in wonderful and astonisht brightness to convince us of his authority and to make us know assuredly that he is God blessed for ever Shall we not then hear his words shall we not deliver up our selves to receive his Heavenly instruction which came with such powerful demonstration God forbid that any of us should be so perverse as hearing such WITNESSES speak unto us for the Lord Jesus we should give no credit to them I cannot but believe as S. Austin * L. de vera Relig. cap. 3. excellently discourses that if Plato now lived and would vouchsafe to answer my Questions or rather if any Scholar of his being perswaded that truth is not to be seen with corporeal eyes but by a pure mind and that nothing hinders the sight more than a life addicted to lust and false Images of sensible things which impressed on us beget various errors and that therefore the mind is to be purified that it may behold that unchangeable beauty which is always the same and always like it self If I say a Scholar of his thus taught by him should ask him whether in case there should be a Man Great and Divine that should perswade the People at least to believe such things though they could not perceive them or if they did perceive them were so ingaged in vulgar errors that they durst not or could not oppose them He would not judge him worthy of Divine honour I believe he would Answer that this could not be done by Man unless perhaps the very power and wisdome of God should honour some person who was not taught of men but from the Cradle illuminated by the most intimate knowledge of things with so great a grace and strengthen him with such resolution and bear him up with such a majesty that contemning all things that evil Men desire and induring all things that they dread and doing all things that they admire he should convert Mankind with equal kindness and authority to so wholesome a Faith And he would add that it was to no purpose to ask him what the Honours are which ought to be given to such a person when it is easie to be discerned what honour is due to the wisdome of God by the guidance and governance of which he would singularly deserve of Mankind and do some thing for their Salvation proper only to himself and which was above Men to do Now if these things which I have supposed be really done if there be good records of them if from a Country in which alone One God was worshipped and where such a person was to be born there came chosen men who by their Vertues and their Sermons have kindled in Mens breasts the flame of the Divine love and have left the inlightned Earth under a most wholesome Discipline if every where it is preached that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God if to the perceiving and embracing this that the Soul may be cured and recover strength to entertain so great a light the covetous hear such
Are not the Witnesses good who affirm that Jesus is the Son of God Have we not examined them and find no cause why we should reject them Or will you receive nothing upon the credit of a Witness That 's a very strange obstinacy which rejects so certain a way of knowing many things that cannot be otherways known For the notices of things do not come to us all one way but by divers means either by our Senses or by our Reason and Discourse or by Report By all these ways the knowledge of things is conveyed to our Mind And if we refuse to be informed by any of them there are a great number of things certainly true and of great consequence to us of which we must remain ignorant That there are other Countries far distant from this where we live and that such and such things are there to be had and have been there done most Men can know by no means but only by report for there are but few that can go and see And he that will not receive the testimony of another in this case deprives himself of a considerable piece of knowledge whereof others partake and which might be as useful to him as it proves to them But if for this wilful loss he shall pretend to assign a just cause saying that he cannot believe any thing unless it be demonstrated to him by clear and evident consequences from Principles of known reason he will become ridiculous For it is absurd to expect the knowledge of any thing in any other way but that which is proper for its conveyance to us To demand a proof of a matter of reason from our senses or for what we discern by our senses from our reason is equally ridiculous and so it is to demand an evidence for things of Faith which we know by report only either from our Senses or our Reason That there are some things come to our notice only by Faith is plain from what passes every day And it is as plain that they must be proved to be true in their proper way that is by the soundness of the Testimony upon which we receive them As no man requires a reason for what he sees and feels nor asks that he may see with his eyes that of which he reasons and discourses so he ought not to seek for a testimony of sense or reason for that which he can know by no way but by report As for example no Man demands a reason to prove that the Sun shines In this his sense gives him satisfaction and if he were born blind no reason could prove to him that it was not Night Nor does any man that is in his wits require that he may behold God with his eyes whom he knows by discourse and the reason of his mind and knows him also by that to be invisible In like manner it is altogether preposterous when a man comes and reports that such a person dyed on such a day to ask for a reason to prove it or to demand that he may see it for it is impossible to see him dye again upon that day That is not a thing to be known either of those ways by sense or reason but only by the testimony of others who were present at that time and are we think worthy of belief Why do we ask then for any other proof that Jesus was born of a Virgin at such a time did such wonderful works preached such an holy Doctrine was crucified dead and buried rose again from the dead ascended to Heaven and sent from thence the Holy Ghost These are not things now to be seen or felt nor can we gather them from the meer discourse of our own reason which tells us nothing of them But we have them by report from a great many Witnesses who say they saw and heard and felt all that which they would have us believe There is no other use of reason in this case but only to examine and judge whether this report be credible and founded in the testimony of God Now that is evident to any impartial enquirer from what hath been said concerning these Witnesses whose report there is no reason to suspect as it is certain it can never be disproved Why should we then be so much our own enemies as to deprive our selves of this saving knowledge of Jesus Christ That is why do we not give credit to the report of these Witnesses concerning Jesus since by the only proper means whereby such things can be proved I have made it good that the Father declared him to be his Son and He appeared in Glory to testify to himself and the Holy Ghost demonstrated he could be no less and his Life Death Resurrection and all the rest of which there were so many upright Witnesses assure us that it is a certain truth Would we be so difficult to be perswaded to go to a Man or a Place where several honest neighbours informed us upon their word nay upon their life we should be promoted to great honor or be possessed of a fair estate Do we not believe one another in our daily traffick and drive considerable bargains merely upon the credit we give to some persons who inform us of the advantage we may make by them Do not men undertake long journeys and more dangerous voyages merely because they are told that such an one is dead to whom they are heir or that such rich commodities are to be had in exchange for meaner goods Who is there that does not desire his Witnesses may be accepted and their testimony taken for good proof either to clear his innocence or to settle his estate Now says the Apostle immediately after the alledging of all these Witnesses in Heaven and in Earth to prove the truth of Christianity If we receive the Witness of men the Witness of God is greater for this is the Witness of God which he hath testified of his Son The meaning of which is this If men whose honesty you cannot impeach give their testimony in a Court of Judicature it is never disallowed nor can you be permitted to set it by and make nothing of it but it is necessarily admitted for an end of strife The weightiest causes are decided all matters depending are determined and judged according to the evidence that is given by witnesses of unblemished faith In the mouth of two or three witnesses as the known saying was every word or rather matter is established That is brought to an issue and concluded if any controversie have arose to unsettle it Nay the testimony of one man if we have no reason to suspect his credit is in our own private thoughts though not in Law satisfaction great enough to assure us of the truth of what he says And we think it such a reproach to give him the lye that we cannot but believe him finding a desire in the same case to be believed our selves Now if things stand thus between us and
good works ii Tit. 14. To the doing of which 6. he hath given us the Spirit for our helper Every Miracle that it wrought to say nothing but what is within the verge of these words bids us consider what a Potent Lord we serve for whom nothing is too hard By a Thousand Wonders by more miraculous works than we could have had time to read should they have been all written did he awake the sleepy World commanding them to arise and go about his work and he would be with them his Power which nothing can withstand should aid and succour them The obedience me thinks which the Winds and the Sea and the Fishes and the Graves and the Devils themselves paid him call upon us and tell us both what we ought to do and what assistance we may expect from the power of his might to make us obedient to his Faith Who can resist the joynt importunity of so many Witnesses who can hear all these tell us that the Son-of-God is come by whom we must be governed and yet be so senselesly obstinate as to say We will not have this man to rule over us O deaf ears O hearts harder than the nether Milstone which will not let such loud voices sink into them such mighty arguments penetrate and mollifie them into compliance with him What can reduce such Souls and bring them under any government who will not be reclaimed by the authority of the Son of God I may call Heaven and Earth to Witness against such obdurate hearts The Father Word and Holy Ghost these are Witnesses in Heaven that testifie it is our duty and interest too to submit our selves unto him The Water Bloud and the Spirit they are Witnesses on Earth which agree together to perswade us to take his easie Yoke upon us Can neither Heaven nor Earth prevail with us Is not God the Father Almighty great enough to lay his commands upon us Is the WORD of God of less credit than the common vogue and opinion of the World with us Cannot the Holy Ghost be believed concerning the place from whence it comes when it says that no unclean thing shall enter in thither Do we think his holy life to be a troublesome folly and despise his bloud and resist his spirit and receive all the grace of God in vain Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth after God had sent many of his Servants who were disregarded He last of all sent his Son into the World saying surely they will reverence my Son but they have rebelled against him I might call for Hell it self to witness against such perverse and disloyal Creatures The Devils will not fail to accuse such men hereafter for they believe and tremble they acknowledge this great Truth that Jesus is the Holy one of God iv Luke 34. which is the very same that Jesus himself said when he tells us the Father hath sanctified him i.e. made him his holy One and sent him into the world x. John 36. And that is more I doubt than a great many irreligious spirits will confess in their works I am sure the most of the Christian world utterly deny it Do you think the Devils who made that confession would have disobeyed him if they might have taken our place and had his Salvation offered to them Would they not have shaken off their chains and taken upon them his yoke had they received such gracious invitations as he hath made to us Let us not be worse than they I beseech you by casting away that hope which was never given them and slighting such tenders of mercy which are peculiarly directed to the children of men But let us rather admire adore and magnifie this amazing love of God who sent his Son so kindly to speak to such wretches as we are And let us show that we are sensible of his love by hearkening to his voice and readily submitting our selves with all dutiful nay joyful affection to his commands See I beseech you again that you refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven Let all his Laws be held most sacred and be devoutly reverenced and observed Know that this is your wisdom and understanding nay remember that it is your life And therefore keep your Souls diligently lest you forget those things which you have heard and lest they depart from your hearts all the days of your life Chuse death rather than the life of the unrighteous fornicators idolaters adulterers thieves covetous drunkards revilers and extortioners who he hath pronounced shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Do you not remember how observant the children of Jonadab the son of Rechab were of their Fathers Commandment and how they could not be tempted no not by a Prophet to contradict it xxxv Jer. 6. What Arguments I pray you had they so reasonable and moving as those which urge us for this injunction Might they not have slipt many ways with better colour than we can do from this obligation Did there want plausible pretences to plead their excuse if they had absolved themselves and not observed it Might they not have said that every Creature of God was good and none to be refused That their stomachs sometimes required a little Wine and that it was reasonable to give them satisfaction That their Father had gone beyond his Authority and taken away the just liberty which God had left them That they were restrained enough by the Divine Laws and that there needed no more of his making O the insensibleness and ingratitude of Christian people that can think of these mens reverence to so severe and hard a command of their Father and be less obedient to their most gracious Lord What a forehead hath that man who dares venture to break any of his Precepts when he hath so many Reasons to believe that he hath laid none upon us but those which are the very mind and will of God and are such a necessary indispensable burden that unless we carry them we cannot be saved There is nothing that can be pretended why we should not strictly tye our selves to his will Not only the love which engaged the Rechabites enforces our obedience but infinitely more reason than there was in their Fathers will and pleasure for we are assured that Jesus is the Son of God He could not but have a perfect understanding of what was fit and convenient for us If there had been any other way more easie to Heaven than this he hath set before us we cannot but think He would have revealed it unto us If there were any license that could be granted us to dispense with our obedience He was not so unkind as to conceal it much less would he have taken it upon his death that none will be allowed For he declared openly in his Sermons that he will not only take
as to shew us by what means we may become so exceeding Blessed The serious Reader I doubt not will be sensible of all this when he hath perused the following Work In which I have endeavoured to satisfy those also who wish I had said something of that part of this Record which I undertook to explain THESE THREE ARE ONE Which words I have reason to believe whatsoever the Socinians have pretended to the contrary were always a part of this Holy Scripture For they are alledged by Saint Cyprian in his Book of the Vnity of the Catholick Church to shew how dangerous it is to break that Unity by the clashing of our wills which not onely coheres by celestiall Sacraments but proceeds as he speaks from the Divine firmness For our Lord saith I and the Father are one And again it is written of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost Et hi tres unum sunt And these three are one By which that the Apostie would have us to understand not merely the consent of their Testimony though that is not to be excluded but the Unity of their Nature or Essence we have great reason to think Because there can no account be given why he should not use the same form of speech here which follows when he speaks of the other three Witnesses if these three in Heaven were no otherwise three then those three in Earth Which being admitted and if we take in the constant sense of the Church to interpret the words we cannot make any farther doubt of it that these three are one in their Essence then it is certain there are Three Persons whose Essence is one and the same For else there would not be three Witnesses in heaven but onely one which would cross the design of the Apostle whose scope is to shew that our Faith doth not rely upon a single Testimony And indeed the Holy Scriptures in other places ascribe such Actions and Works to each of them as are proper to Persons which is a sufficient warrant to the Church to express the distinction that is between them by this Name Non quia Scriptura dicit as St. Augustine * Lib. vii de Trinitate cap. 4. speaks concerning this very business sed quia Scriptura non contradicit Not because the Scripture saith they are Persons but because the Scripture doth not say the contrary but rather I may adde directs us to say they are for the reason before mentioned When humane scantness as that Holy Doctour of the Church goes on endeavoured to express in words that which it conceived in the secret of the mind concerning our Lord God the Creatour it was afraid to say there were three Essences lest any diversity should be thought to be in that highest Equality and on the other side to say there were not tria quaedam really three was to fall into the heresy of Sabellius For it is certain there is the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost and that the Son is not the Father nor the Holy Ghost the Father or the Son It sought therefore what three it should call them and it said three Persons as the Latine Church speaks by which Name it would not have any diversity understood but onely singularity That not onely Vnity should be there conceived because we say there is one Essence but a Trinity also because we say there are three Persons This Faith we ought to defend and in this simple belief we ought I have shewn to acquiesce We ought to defend it because it is the Catholick Faith revealed in the Holy Scriptures according as they have been always understood by the Church of Christ For it is sufficient as St. Gregory Nyssen * Lib. iii. contra Eunomium p. 126. excellently discourses against those that demanded more proof of these things to the demonstration of this Doctrine that we have a Tradition descended to us like an inheritance by succession from the Apostles and transmitted through the hands of holy men that followed them They that will innovate need the help of mighty arguments if they will go about to shake the Faith not of men built on the sand and wavering like Euripus but grave settled and constant in their opinion And while we see nothing but mere discourse against it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is there so silly and brutish as to think the Doctrine of the Evangelists and Apostles and of those Lights that succeeded them in the Church to be weaker then their Babble without demonstration But we shall not wholly avoid the imputation of folly unless we also rest satisfied in this plain belief not busying our selves in more curious enquiries For the greatest Lights in the Church I have shewn will lead us no farther but tell us we shall groap in darkness if we will needs pry too much into this Mystery Which we ought to discourse of as becomes Divines not Philosophers Lest as Henricus à Gandava censures Albertus Magnus in his Book of Ecclesiasticall Writers whilst we follow too much the subtilty of secular Philosophy we cloud the splendour of Theologicall purity We must remember that we are men and that our understandings are but shallow which ought not therefore to venture boldly into such depths as that of the Divine Essence There is nothing so much becomes us when we think of God as an holy fear and reverence producing in us low thoughts of our selves Without which we are not like to be illuminated from above nor can we should we know never so much be acceptable to God Quid enim prodest alta de Trinitate disputare si careas humilitate unde displiceas Trinitati as Thomas à Kempis honestly speaks For what will it profit thee to dispute loftily of the Trinity if through want of humility thou displeasest the Trinity The way to ETERNALL LIFE it is certain lies in that rode which we shall be in danger to miss if we give our selves too great a liberty of disputing about things so much above our reach We ought to be aware of this artifice of the grand Deceiver who is wont to draw us secretly from attending to our known duty while we are amusing our selves with sublime speculations Which the holy Fathers of the Church have carefully observed and caution'd us against by their severe reproofs What means saith Saint Gregory Nazianzen * Orat. xxxiii p. 533. this ambitious humour of disputing and itch of the tongue what new disease and unsatiable appetite is this While our hands are bound why do we arm our tongue Hospitality Brotherly love Conjugall affection Virginity are no longer praised Feeding the poor Psalmody Nocturnall stations Tears are not now in request We do not bring under the body by Fastings nor leave it a while to go to God by Prayer We do not bring the worse in subjection to the better the Dust I mean to the Spirit We do not make our life a meditation of death
Our Passions are not mastered Forgetting our heavenly Originall we let anger swell and rage and take no care to suppress that pride and haughtiness which will at last lay us low We do not chastise irrational sadness nor foolish pleasure nor unchaste laughter nor disorderly aspects nor unsatiable hearing nor immoderate talking nor absurd thoughts nor any of those things by which the Evill one takes advantage against us to our ruine There is nothing like to this but quite contrary we give liberty to other mens evill affections and like Princes when they have got the Victory require nothing of them but onely that they be on our side and take our part though they oppose God the more impiously and audaciously These things it seems were then too manifest to be denied and notwithstanding these reproaches of holy men the humour propagated it self to after-times For the cure or prevention of which nothing is so necessary to be believed and preserved perpetually in mind as that Counsel which the same great Doctour gives in another place * Orat. xxix p. 493. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Wouldst thou be a Divine and worthy of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Keep the Commandments Go in the way of God's precepts Practice is the best step thou canst take to contemplation Which is the surest advice for all Christians to follow who must not think by any other means to arrive at that blissfull sight of God in which our knowledge of him will be perfected in the other World Of which Beatificall Vision I have not adventured to say much in the ensuing Treatise because our manner of living as Saint Augustine * Epist cxii ad Paulinam speaks in an Epistle of his upon this very subject is of more consideration in this inquiry then our manner of speaking Nam qui didicerunt à Domino Jesu mites esse humiles corde plùs cogitando orando proficiunt quà m legendo audiendo For they that have learned of the Lord Jesus to be lowly and humble in heart profit more by meditation and prayer then they can by reading and hearing But something I have said as far as I could find any directions in the Holy Scriptures which warrant us to conclude that the participation we have of God now shall be so improved in the other World that whatsoever we enjoy of him here we shall in a higher and after a more perfect manner with the addition of immortality enjoy when we rise from the dead We are now the Sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus who bids us be confident of it and rejoyce in it And yet he mentions this as a speciall priviledge belonging to us after the resurrection when we shall not marry nor die any more but be equall to the Angels and be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sons of God being the children of the Resurrection xx Luk. 35 36. Just as it was with our Lord Christ himself who was in a more speciall and excellent manner called the Son of God after his rising from the dead when God said to him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee advanced him that is to a more excellent degree of likeness to him in power and dominion putting all things under his feet So it shall be with all those Sons whom he brings unto glory They shall be more nearly related to God at the Resurrection and resemble him more exactly whose Image they now bear in Wisedom and Goodness But how much he will then impart of himself to us the Apostles themselves were not able to inform us We are now the Sons of God faith Saint John 1 Ep. iii. 2. but it doth not yet appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how we shall be the Sons of God in the other world We now find I may adde by a parity of reason a great pleasure in holy thoughts we feel the joys of ardent love are ravisht with the melody of Songs of praise and with the sweet violence of a glance of light from heaven upon us and we are fure we shall be so happy as to have a great increase of this pleasure when we remove from hence But it doth not appear how we shall think nor what will be the satisfaction of heavenly Love nor what new Songs shall be put into our mouths nor how God will look in upon us when we shall see him as he is We must be content to know that all these will bear a proportion to the infinite Goodness of Him who is Omnipotent and hath loved us so much as to purchase us with a great price and to give his Holy Spirit to us and according to the Love of him that died for us and is gone to prepare a place for us that where he is there we may be also In this hope we may now rejoyce though we do not at present see our Lord with joy unspeakable and full of glory For I have proved by undeniable arguments that God the Father hath given power to his Son Jesus to make us more happy then we can now conceive and that He will undoubtedly bring us to live with himself What greater Good can we desire then this Or what greater Motive can be thought of to perswade us sincerely to embrace the Christian Religion whose business it is as Lactantius concludes his Book of a Blessed Life to direct us to the Eternall Rewards of the heavenly Treasure Of which that we may be capable we must presently disingage our selves from the insnaring pleasures of this Life which deceive mens Souls by their pernicious sweetness And how great a felicity ought we to esteem it to go being delivered from the impurities of this Earth to that most equall Judge and most indulgent Father who for our labours will give us rest for death life for darkness light for earthly short goods those that are celestiall and eternall None of the sharpnesses and miseries which we endure here while we are employed in the works of righteousness are in any manner to be compared with that reward Therefore if we will be wise if we will be happy let us propose the worst things that can be to our selves and resolve to suffer them since it is manifest that this frail Pleasure we have here shall not be without punishment nor Vertue without a divine reward All mankind ought to endeavour with all speed to direct themselves into the right way that having undertaken and performed the duties of a vertuous life and patiently endured its labours they may be worthy to have God for their Comforter For our Father and Lord who made and settled the Heaven who brought the Sun and the rest of the Stars into it and out of Nothing raised the rest of the World to this perfection wherein we see it beholding the Errours of mankind sent a Leader who should lay before us the way of righteousness Him let us all follow Him let us hear Him let us most
p. 280 c. The use we should make of this Record p. 286. A Meditation p. 294. CHAP. IX The Testimony of the WATER concerning Eternall Life p. 299. Where first the purity of our Saviour's Doctrine is considered in many particulars p. 300. to 312. Secondly the purity of his Life Ib. to p. 317. Thirdly the Baptism of John Ib. Lastly his own Baptism p. 322. A Meditation p. 330. CHAP. X. The Testimony of the BLOVD is considered p. 333. in Ten particulars The first p. 335. The second p. 339. The third p. 346. The fourth p. 348. The fifth p. 350. The sixth p. 352. The seventh p. 356. The eighth p. 362. The ninth p. 365. The tenth p. 371. A Meditation p. 376. CHAP. XI The Testimony of the SPIRIT considered p. 381. First in the Miracles he wrought p. 384. which are considered in generall p. 388. and then in 6 particulars p. 397. Secondly in his Resurrection from the dead p. 407. and Ascension to heaven p. 417. explained in eight particulars to p. 426. An explication of 2 St. Peter i. 3 4. p. 427 c. A Meditation p. 434. CHAP. XII The Testimony of the holy APOSTLES p. 439. who opened this Doctrine more fully 443. declaring first how our Lord will appear in person at the last day Ib. p. 444 c. Secondly that in the mean time Souls do not sleep p. 445. proved by severall testimonies of St. Paul and St. John p. 447. to 457. which was always the sense of the Church p. 460. The certainty of the Apostles testimony p. 464. proved by their Life and Doctrine p. 470. by their Bloud p. 474. and by the power of the Spirit which accompanied them p. 478. by which they cured some and delivered others to Satan p. 481 c. A Meditation out of St. Chrysostom p. 491. CHAP. XIII The Vse we are to make of this RECORD First in admiring the great love of God p. 499. Which is illustrated secondly by what God hath done for us more then for any in former times p. 507. How uncertain the Philosophers were in their reasonings about this matter p. 508. How little of it was revealed to the Jews p. 514. who had no express promises of Eternall Life p. 515 c. and therefore saw it but obscurely p. 524. and had no such Witnesses of what they knew p. 532. Which ought thirdly to excite in our hearts such love to God as moves us universally to obey him p. 536. No motive comparable to this p. 539. whose strength appears in six properties it hath p. 541. to 551. Which fourthly makes it more strange that it doth so little move men p. 552. Want of Faith is the reason of it p. 555. which we must therefore awaken p. 556. by the consideration of what hath been said which is briefly summed up p. 557. to 566. A Meditation out of St. Chrysostom to the same purpose p. 571. CHAP. XIV A farther Improvement of this RECORD p. 577. which we ought to believe with an unshaken Faith p. 578. An incouragement to Faith p. 583. For the quickning of which severall questions are proposed which is the Fifth Vse p. 586. First about the way to this Felicity p. 587. Secondly about the nature of the way p. 597. Thirdly about the unreasonableness of being desirous to stay always here p. 606. Fourthly about their distance from it who never have their thoughts in heaven p. 608. Fifthly about the danger of resisting so mighty a motive to well-doing p. 611. Sixthly about mens resolutions all these things considered p. 617. The last Use concerns the great joy the righteous should have in the thoughts of what they hope for p. 624. which is a strong support under the greatest afflictions p. 629. demonstrated in three Observations p. 630. to 636. where the resolution of good men before Christ came is represented to p. 642. The examples of the Martyrs presented p. 643 c. Comfort from hence derived against the death of friends p. 646. or in any other sad condition p. 649. even in death it self p. 653. The Conclusion out of St. Gregory Nazianzen p. 655. ERRATA PAge 101. line 6. reade VI. p. 109. marg r. prosolog p. 461. marg penult Hom iv in Hebr. p. 508. 2. r. own peculiar p. 534. antep r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 606. marg r. iii. IMPRIMATUR Guil. Sill R. P. D. Hen. Episcopo Lond. à Sacris Domesticis Oct. 21. 1676. 1 S. Joh. V. 11. AND THIS IS THE RECORD THAT GOD HATH GIVEN TO VS ETERNALL LIFE AND THIS LIFE IS IN HIS SON AN INTRODUCTION To the following Discourse HAving made in the former Treatise as diligent a search as I could into the Records of Heaven and Earth and found there the clearest Evidences that Jesus is the Son of God to whom therefore we owe the most humble and chearful Obedience I purpose now to make a farther inquiry into them after the Royal Powers which belong to so great a Prince who both in his Nature and in his Office so infinitely excells all other that his loyal Subjects may well expect from him the greatest grace and favour He was God appearing as Man Epist ad Ephes to use the words of Ignatius and Man working mightily as God but yet submitted himself to the meanest condition and the basest death for the purging away our sins by his bloud whereby he obtained as the most ample Dominion over all creatures so the larges◠Power both to remit sins and also to reward the services of all those that believe on him To whom his affection is so great and extends it self in such boundless love that his kindness towards them will not be perfected I shall prove till he hath bestowed on them ETERNAL LIFE A Blessing for which all mankind most passionately wish not onely because the weakness of our bodies the inconstancy of all their enjoyments the troubles we mee◠with in the world and the necessity of dying make it most desirable but because it comes recommended to us by its own proper worth and excellence which is so exceeding great that it renders the most constant untroubled possession of this world's goods and a perpetuity in this life could it be obtained without any sickness or infirmity a vile and contemptible purchace in comparison with it This therefore all considerate minds would gladly be well assured of There is nothing of such importance to their satisfaction as a certainty of immortal happiness when they leave this Body Which will make our Obedience to God's commands as stedfast as our Belief is and withall most sweet and easie whatsoever opposition we have to discourage us For the hope of Eternal Life is able to lift us up above all the temptations wherewith the world can assault us be they either the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life or be they those hatreds reproaches persecutions loss of goods yea and death it self which
Correspondencies And they who have neither Father nor Mother Wife nor Children near Kindred nor Relations whereon to place their affection let them consider if they have but a singular Friend what the pleasure is that two persons who sincerely and purely love take in the sweet company and conversation of each other Or if I must suppose any man to be so unkind and so unhappy as to have no love for any body but his own self let him think what contentment he hath and how he is pleased if he can arrive any thing near to a quiet enjoyment of his dear Self And such a delightfull state may be a small image of Heaven where holy Souls will love God with a far greater flame then ever they did or shall then love themselves because He will appear infinitely more lovely and to bear also a far greater love to them then it is possible for then to do to themselves Now none can tell how transporting it will be to a good Soul when it feels i◠self the Beloved of God as well as full of love to him because we cannot think how great the Love of the Almighty is unless we could know how great he is himself This is a thing that cannot fail to have a strange power over our affections and to master them so that we shall be taken quite out of our selves for we all extreamly love to be beloved If any neighbour shew us an unexpected and undeserved kindness we are apt to think he is the best person in the world And the poorest Wretch that is if we see in him the undoubted signs of an hearty love to us we cannot chuse but requite it with some expressions of kindness back again Nay if a Dog as I have said elsewhere or such a dumb creature do but fawn upon us and delight in our company and with a great deal of observance follow us wheresoever we go we cannot but be so far pleased with this inclination towards us as to make much of it and to be troubled to see any harm befall it and to love to see it play and be well pleased Judge then what a pleasure it will be to pious Souls to find themselves beloved of him who hath put these kind resentments into our nature To what an height will the sweet breathings of his Love blow up the flames of theirs Into what Ecstasies will they fall when they feel by the happy fruits what an exceeding great affection their Heavenly Father bears to them It is above our present thoughts to apprehend the joy that will then overflow them but we may conceive a little of it if we remember that GOD is Love and that by our Love He will be in us and by his Love we shall be in Him But if you please let us fall much lower then this and onely represent to our selves how great an happiness we shall account it to be beloved of the whole Family of God in Heaven Look down from the highest Angel to the smallest Infant that shall be blessed there from the noblest to the meanest in that celestiall Court and there is not one of them but will love us and be ready to shew their sincere and most affectionate kindness towards us They that are the greatest in that Glory will be the greatest Lovers they that enjoy most of God will be disposed to let us enjoy most of them For there is no Pride nor Envy in the heavenly Quire but the more any are Beloved the more they will delight in the most effectuall expressions of their Love And how can they chuse but interchange to each other unspeakable contentment who live in the comfort of such indissoluble Amity and Friendship Nothing can be thought of beyond this to set forth their happiness But we much conclude with * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 459. Philo that this i◠the best definition of immortall life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be held fast in an unfleshly and incorporeall love and friendship of God You will say perhaps that I have been now speaking of some other Love besides his which supposing our hearts so fixed on him we shall not be capable to entertain our selves withall in the other world For who can divert himself from so beloved a Good which sends also such tokens of Love to him and turn to any other object We cannot think that they who love God perfectly will be inclined to love any thing else And you may think so still if you please without any prejudice to what I have said This will but make that LIFE the more desirable and move us to wish for such an happy state where God will be in all our thoughts and we shall always love him and yet love one another too For these are not at all inconsistent but we may delight our selves in the sweet society of Angels and Saints and yet always SEE GOD because we see and love Him in every thing They will be his Beauties which we shall behold in them Those holy ones will shine in his Glory So that our affections will not incline to run to any person merely for himself but because we behold the face of God in him and see his Graces wherewith he is adorned All the Love there will be Divine And the more of God shall appear in any persons the more lovely they will be and the more we shall be ravisht with their company and rejoyce in a happy league of friendship with them Well then withdraw your thoughts a while from all the things you love here and raise them above to look at Love where it reigns and hath an uncontrolled Empire Behold it sitting on its Throne advanced to its utmost pitch of Perfection and shewing it self in its full Glory And then keep the beginnings of this Heavenly LIFE out of your Souls if you can It will be impossible you should not think there is nothing so much to be desired as to be all Love O happy Life will you say where they love as much as they are able and where they shall be able to love more then now can be conceived and where they will be beloved more then they can love and have their Love hereby heightned when they reflect upon it in an endless Circle of joy and pleasure Let us enter upon this Life with all the speed we can make Let us begin it this very moment and endeavour that no moment may pass hereafter but in the Love of God For there is no heart so stony sure and insensible that will not be dissolved into flesh and receive any impressions from God if it be once touched with the serious thoughts of this state of Love No Soul so hard frozen and icy that will not be thawed and melted to run whether God pleases when it doth but feel the least spark of this heavenly Fire fall down upon it Do but go from the reading of this with the thoughts of this Happiness burning
Schoolmen imagine is the Aureola or little golden Crown which the Judge will give to rare Vertues By which they mean some accidentall reward superadded to the essentiall Blessedness Like the little crown of gold wherewith the other crown upon the Table of Shew-bread was finished as the Vulg. Lat. renders xxv Exod. 25. from whence this expression seems to be borrowed But that the overplus of reward which Christ will give to some shall consist onely in a peculiar brightness of their body I see no ground to determine because God hath so many other ways to crown the faith and love and hope of those whom he delights to honour It is better to conclude all this discourse with the words of the same Father which follow a little after * Ib. cap. 21. What and how great the spirituall grace of the Body will be because the time is not come to make experiment I am afraid lest all that we say of it be rashly spoken And therefore I shall onely adde of which we may be certain that as Macarius observes whether it be a greater or a lesser glory that we attain we shall all shine together in one most blessed and glorious place His words are these As Birds produce feathers of a different kind Homil. 32. and some fly nearer to the earth others farther off but all fly in one common air or as there is one Heaven which hath many Stars in it some greater then others but all fixed in heaven So the Saints shall be differently planted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in one Heaven of the Divinity and in one invisible country Thither let us all direct our paths thither let us continually aspire saying as he does in another place to which I shall adde the words of another great man O how ineffable are the promises of Christians Macarius Homil. 4. who have such glorious expectations that the Faith and riches of one single Soul cannot be equalled by the glory and beauty of heaven and earth though we take in all their furniture and treasures and variety and goodliness and bravery And yet how fairly do these things shine in our eyes and with what pleasure do we behold their beauty Anselm in Protolog If then the created life be so good how good is that Life which creates If the salvation we receive be so pleasant how sweet is that Salvation which gives all Salvation If that wisedom be so lovely which understands the works of God how lovely is that Wisedom which of nothing contrived them all Finally if there be so many and so great delights in delectable things what and how great is that Delight which is in him that made all things delectable He that shall enjoy this Good what shall he have what shall he not have He shall have what he will and what he would not he shall not have If honour and riches be desired God will make his good and faithful servants rulers over many things Nay they shall be called Sons of God and Gods and where his Son is there they shall be heirs of God and coheirs with Christ If they desire true security there is none like that for certainly they shall be as certain that these or rather this Good shall never by any means be wanting to them as they are certain they shall never leave it of themselves nor God their Lover ever take it away against the will of those he loves nor any thing stronger then He be able to separate them and God They shall rejoyce therefore perpetually And they shall rejoyce as much as they love and love as much as they know And how much O Lord shall they know thee then how much shall they love thee Certainly neither eye hath seen nor ear heard nor hath it entred into the heart of man in this life how much they shall know thee and how much they shall love thee in that I beseech thee O God let me know thee let me love thee that I may rejoyce in thee And if I cannot do it to the full in this life O that I may profit every day untill it come to the full Let thy Knowledge grow in me here and there be made full let thy Love increase and there also be full that here my Joy may in hope be great and there in possession full Amen CHAP. IV. Of the ETERNITY of this LIFE FRom this larger then was at first designed consideration of the nature of this LIFE pass we now to a short Meditation of the ETERNITY of it which indeed is the Crown that God sets upon its head the Circle if I may so speak which wreathing it self about this Happiness makes it to be our sovereign Good And it may not be unworthy our observation that this Eternity of Life is as far above the continuance of all other blessings heretofore promised as the Life it self is LIFE among the Jews according to the letter of their Law signifying onely all earthly good things there was onely a long life not an eternall in the land of Canaan promised to them that kept that Law But quite otherwise the LIFE promised by Christ consisting onely in the enjoyment of spirituall and heavenly blessings it is not a long but an eternall never-ending life in the possession of these good things which he hath assured to us It being but fit that as the Life exceeds that which Moses promised so the duration of it also should as much out-run his as for ever extends it self beyond an Age. Now the word ETERNALL may be conceived to comprehend in it these Three things I. First that there is nothing but LIFE in this state of Blessedness which shall not be interrupted by any dolefull accident Life and Death I told you in the holy language signifie the same with Blessedness and Misery And therefore the Eternity of life must include in its notion a state of pure happiness of mere and unmixed pleasure without any thing that deserves the name of Death to give it the least annoyance There we may hope to be so happy as to know without mistake and to be wise without folly and to increase in knowledge without our present toil to acquire it Love is there without hatred jealousy or envy joy without any sighing or sorrow praises without complaints obedience without reluctance speed and alacrity without dulness and heaviness in one word perfect purity and holiness without spot or blemish to sully the glory of it As this lower region of the air we see is the place of clouds and darkness thunder and lightning storm and tempest but to the dwellings of the Sun and fixed Stars none of these pitchy vapours ascend to obscure their brightness or trouble their peace just so is this World the scene of misery and vexation confusion and disorder our bodies are tossed with severall storms and our Souls many times hurried with more violent tempests the fierce gusts of their own passions but when
to search how full it is Alas what shallow brains have we to contain a wide and deep Ocean what weak eyes to look stedfastly upon the most glorious Light of heaven How much too short and narrow are our thoughts to compass an Eternall duration When we have done all we can the best way I think to our satisfaction will be to have recourse to a passage from the mouth of God himself wherein we must rest our selves contented It is in the xxi Rev. 7. where St. John was told by him who sat upon the throne ver 5. that He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son A most marvellously-large Conveyance is here delivered to us from him who hath all that can be in his possession The Great Lord of Heaven and Earth makes us a grant in these words so exceeding full that we cannot desire it should run in more comprehensive terms For by this promise 1. He makes over to us ALL things Heart cannot wish more to make us compleatly happy then he settles upon us for there is no good thing that he will withhold from those that stedfastly adhere to him And observe 2. the tenure wherein we shall hold these vast and large possessions which is as an Inheritance We have an everlasting perpetuall estate made us in all things The terms of this writing are such as if it had run in these words By an eternall indefeasible right he shall possess all blessings For Inheritances it is well known among the Hebrews never failed nor went out of the family They could not be so alienated by sale or gift but they returned in the year of Jubilee to their first owner or his posterity Which makes the word INHERIT in the holy language to signify the enjoyment of a purchace or possession out of which the inheritour can never be thrown and which he cannot quit but shall remain settled in him to perpetuity This St. Paul calls the riches of the GLORY of his inhehitance i. Eph. 18. to signify that our celestiall Patrimony is not onely exceeding large and firmly settled on us but also most noble and brings along with it everlasting honour and renown Which is more fully explained you may note 3. and the reason of it given in the next words I will be GOD to him I will confer that is such benefits on him as are fit for the bounty of the omnipotent Goodness to bestow Look what He was to Abraham in this world to whom he promised to be a God xvii Gen. 7. that he will be to us eternally In blessing he will bless us and be our exceeding great reward The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 GOD answers to the Hebrew word Elohim which doth not respect the Essence of the Almighty but his Providence as * in Psal xiv 1. Genebrard among others hath well observed and signifies as much as the Judge the Moderatour and Governour of the World from whence it is that Judges Magistrates and Rulers are called by this name to whom it belongs to give rewards and punishments And accordingly the Hebrew writers observe that it is never said the Lord will be the God of any persons but when he expresses some singularly-great kindness and stands in a speciall relation of love to them In particular Abarbinell notes upon Deut. vi that he is never called the God of Israel till he had brought them in a wonderfull manner out of the land of Egypt the house of bondage I find indeed that he promised to be their God before when he told Abraham that he would give him and his seed the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession xvii Gen. 8. But he did not begin to be so till he began to lead them thither and in token of their being his they had kept the Passeover and received his Law from Mount Sinai Before this Moses says We were bondmen in Egypt and the LORD brought us out with a mighty hand vi Deuter 21. And the LORD shewed signs and wonders great and sore upon Egypt upon Pharaoh and upon all his houshold before our eyes ver 22. He doth not say in all these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the LORD our GOD but onely the LORD brought us out and the LORD shewed because he speaks of the time before the giving of the Law which was the greatest kindness he did them after they came out of Egypt But as soon as he had made mention of that says Abarbinel in the very next words ver 24. he alters his style and tells them The LORD commanded us to doe all these statutes to fear the LORD our GOD for our good always c. And ver 25. It shall be our righteousness if we observe to doe all these Commandments before the LORD our GOD as he hath commanded us And so he speaks vii 1. When the LORD thy GOD shall bring thee into the land c. and ver 2. When the LORD thy GOD shall deliver them before thee c. and ver 6. Thou art a holy people to the LORD thy GOD the LORD thy GOD hath chosen thee to be a speciall people to himself c. For from the time of his appearing on mount Sinai and so forward says that learned Hebrew Writer He was our God because then we took upon us his Divinity And I think I may as truly observe that till the Resurrection of our Lord from the dead which compleated that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 departure which Moses and Elias discoursed with him about and said he should accomplish at Jerusalem ix Luke 31. we never reade that the Father Almighty is called the God of those who believe in his Son Jesus Then he demonstrated beyond all contradiction that he was their Saviour and mighty Deliverer who would rescue them from the bondage of corruption the fear of death the power of the grave and give them immortall life And therefore then he bids Mary go and tell his Disciples whom he calls Brethren and say to them I ascend to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God xx Joh. 17. This is the first time he is called their God but ever after there is no language more common For as St. i. Eph. 3 17. 1 Pet. i. 3. Peter and St. Paul call him the GOD of our Lord Jesus Christ I suppose because he had raised him from the dead and highly glorified him for his obedient suffering of death so they address themselves to him as particularly related to them and ready to bestow upon them the like blessedness saying i. Rom. 8. 1 Cor. i. 4. iv Phil. 19. 1 Thess iii. 9. I thank MY GOD always c. MY GOD shall supply all your need We rejoyce before OVR GOD c. as you may reade in many places of St. Paul's Epistles Which shews that this promise in the Revelation made after our Saviour's Ascension of being the God of
those who overcome includes in it the bestowing on us the most excellent benefits Because he will be our GOD in a more excellent manner then he ever was yet to men such a GOD as he was to our Blessed Lord himself He will prefer us to live with him in great splendour and glory He will give us an inheritance in a better Country which is an heavenly where all delights flow and never cease to spring up to those happy Souls who shall enjoy the eternall fruits of his greatest love For so he adds 4. and he shall be to me a Son A Son you know expects the Inheritance of his Father because to him it properly belongs and upon him it descends And therefore to be to GOD a Son is to be made like him and to live with him in that very happiness and bliss which he enjoys So St. Paul expresses it viii Rom. 17. he shall be an heir of GOD a co-heir with Jesus who as the Son of God inherits his Glory He shall participate that is with God in his everlasting life kingdom honour and joy which what it is we are not able to tell no more then we can comprehend what his Majesty is who possesses heaven and earth and is infinite in all perfections But we have the greatest reason that can be to expect so great a bliss because we know that God loves his Son Jesus and hath given ALL THINGS into his hand iii. Joh. 35. We are sure that God hath made him most blessed for ever He hath made him exceeding glad with his countenance Honour and Majesty hath he laid upon him and his glory is great in his Salvation xxi Psal 5 6. Now it is most evident you may again observe 5. that the generall intendment of this promise is to put us in hope of being made like to Christ our Elder Brother For he is not ashamed to call us by that name And this being his great Prerogative that he is Heir of all things when the Father of mercy assures us that we shall inherit all things it is as much as to say we shall share with Christ in his large possessions It is easy to note how the Holy Gospell describes our expected felicity in the same terms wherein it speaks of that which Christ our Head enjoys with whom St. Paul says we shall appear in glory and reign with him and have a glorious body like his and in order to it be caught up in the clouds 1 Thess iv 17. which was the manner of his ascension to heaven i. Act. 9. And accordingly here God promises to him that overcomes that he shall inherit all things in conformity still with our Saviour whom he hath appointed heir of all things i. Heb. 2. I cannot say there is any allusion in these words to the Olympick rewards given to the Conquerours in those Combats but so it is that they who overcame there were accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equall to their Gods that is their Hero's or deified men Fabri Agonist L. ii c. 11.16 17. and therefore had Statues erected to their honour and an annuall Pension settled on them for their more noble maintenance But what was this to the reall Divine honour and glory which God will give to victorious Souls To whom he promises not a small Pension or Annuity but an inheritance and that of all things i. e. to shine in the glory of our Blessed Saviour who is King of kings and Lord of lords and can prefer all his Subjects to such a greatness that they shall be more like Gods then men So St. Greg. Nazianzen often speaks that * Orat. xxxvi p. 592. we shall be made Gods in the other World by him that was made Man for us in this It is hard to tell what Heraclitus meant by that speech recorded in Clemens Alexandrinus * L. iii. Padag c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men are Gods Gods are men But it is verified in the Christian Religion which reveals a Divine state to which we shall ascend when we leave the earth by him who came down from Heaven into a vile condition that he might promote us thither Let us study then these words very hard and think often what it is to have ALL THINGS that the love of the Almighty will bestow when in the most eminent sense and in another World he shall become OUR GOD and what it is to have an estate in him that can never be cut off but remains as firm as the Throne on which he sate when he spake these words And then if you believe in him it will fill you with unspeakable joy without entring into particular enquiries to think that you shall be so happy as to be his Sons and Heirs who want nothing that can be desired or he can give And indeed these other words ETERNALL LIFE wherein God's gracious promise commonly runs are of the same import and force with those now mentioned All that we hope for is contained in them As 1. Pardon of Sin without which we cannot take one step toward so great a bliss For death the fruit and punishment of sin will still remain unless sin be pardoned and then what hope can we have of life much less of Eternall life which is therefore perhaps called by the name of Righteousness v. Gal. 5. because it includes our perfect justification and absolution from the guilt of sin without which we could not attain it And 2. it supposes the Adoption of Sons which is begun in this life but not perfected till the next when we shall be made the children of God by receiving a new life from him at the Resurrection of the dead And 3. the Redemption of the Body is another blessing included in it For being raised again it will be freed from its present weaknesses alterations and pains to which it is obnoxious and stand in need of not so much as food and raiment And therefore the time when he will bestow it is called the day of our Redemption iv Eph. 30. To which must be added 4. the carrying of it up to heaven to meet the Lord For being raised a spirituall body it will not be fit for this World but for the other Where 5. we shall rest with him in the celestiall Inheritance and enjoy all the happiness it affords for LIFE you have heard signifies all good things And lastly the Perpetuity of them is plainly expressed in the word ETERNALL which makes the happiness of this heavenly LIFE appear so exceeding great that our present Life compared to it is as Censorinus says of Time in regard of Eternity no more then a Winter's day Let this then suffice us to know that we shall have a perfect enjoyment of all the Good we are capable to receive when we are made greater then we are by the change that shall be wrought in us at our departure hence and at the resurrection of the dead And let our pains
be more imployed to know the truth and certainty of this then to know what the Good is we shall enjoy which will be best known by possessing it And herein now we may admire the Goodness of God and see how liberall he is of his bounties where we are capable to receive them Though he hath said little to make us particularly understand the LIFE of the next world yet he hath said very much to assure us that there is such an happy Life Where we can understand and comprehend his mind there he fully expresses himself and therefore where he is more silent it is no doubt because should he speak of such matters we cannot understand him We are able to conceive any thing that he shall declare for the reason of our hope and the ground of our faith and it highly concerns us to be very well satisfied in the foundation of such expectations in a future World And therefore herein our gracious God hath not been sparing to reveal himself but hath granted us the strongest Evidences for our claim to such an Inheritance Which makes me conclude that if we were as capable to receive instruction concerning the Inheritance it self and to have a Terrier as I may call it or particular description of that heavenly Country of the manner of their Life and all the fruits growing there delivered to us He that hath been so large in the assurances he hath given us would not have denied us also this satisfaction Well therefore it is for us that this is the onely reason why we want it and know not what we shall be because we cannot till we be changed be made partakers of so great a knowledge And well is it for us that we have also so good a cause to think that this is the onely reason because God hath manifested himself so fully to us in other things that belong to our happiness by giving us the most firm grounds whereon to build our future hopes This is the thing which this present Treatise chiefly intends to shew as God himself speaks concerning the promises of the New Jerusalem xxi Rev. 5. that these Words are faithfull and true There is no couzenage or deceit in these promises no fraud or collusion in the drawing them up nor any alteration in God's mind since they were made and he hath set such seals to them But I may say as he there doth to St. John who it 's possible might doubt of what the Angel had shewn him Behold or as Andreas Caesariensis reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold behold I make all things new See here and observe I my self who sit upon my Throne assure thee of the Certainty of these Visions If thou wilt take my word I here pass it to thee that I will fulfill all these promises Such I say is the unquestionable credit of the Words of ETERNALL LIFE God himself hath spoken them He hath bid us believe them yea he hath said we must account him a liar if we do not rely upon them For this saith St. John is the Record that God hath given us eternall Life and this Life is in his Son Before I come to a particular examination of all that hath been said and done to verify this let me note these two things First that the Apostle saith we have a RECORD of this truth which is attested from the mouth of severall infallible Witnesses who have deposed what they saw and heard about it to the satisfaction of all those that will consider their testimony There being such a RECORD that is that Jesus is the Son of GOD we have no reason to doubt of the Eternall Life he promises but upon the very same grounds that we believe the one we ought to believe the other If the Father the Word the Holy Ghost and all the other Witnesses have proved the former by undeniable testimonies then at the sametime they proved this also that we shall live by him For 1. it is evident that if Jesus was the Son of God sent by him in a speciall manner into the world to act in his stead we are to believe all that he says of himself or that others by his commission and authority have declared him to be Now if we look into his Gospell we shall find that he most earnestly affirms himself to have been before Abraham was viii Joh. 58. and to have had a Glory with God before the world was xvii 5. and to be so one with the Father that the Father was in him and he in the Father x. 30 38. And they who were his inspired Witnesses whom he said he would send as the Father sent him xx 21. and who were filled by him with the Holy Ghost declared him to be God's WORD who in the beginning was with God and was GOD i. Joh. 1 2. the image of the invisible God the brightness of his glory and the character of his person who in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens were the works of his hands i. Col. 15. i. Heb. 3 10. From all which we may certainly conclude that he is not onely the Son of God in regard of his Authority but by Nature begotten of him before all worlds of one substance with the Father And therefore We may be confident 2. that he being thus nearly related to God must needs know his mind and be acquainted with his most secret purposes and resolutions To which he was so privy that he says he was then in heaven when he was come down to reveal them to men iii. Joh. 13. So that we may safely look upon the promises he makes us of ETERNALL LIFE as the declarations of God's gracious will and pleasure which shall undoubtedly be fulfilled No man indeed as St. John speaks i. 18. hath seen GOD at any time the onely-begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him For who could dive into God's mind and tell us what was in his thoughts What man could enter into his breast and see what was in his heart to doe for us None but his onely-begotten Son who being in his bosome and privy to his most secret Counsels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath declared or expounded him i. e. his hidden will and decrees which else had not been revealed to us It is the opinion of Maimonides in severall parts of his Works * L. de Fund Legis cap. i. n. 10. More Nev. part i. c. 37. 54. c. that when Moses prayed God to shew him his Glory he meant his Essence of which he desired to have a distinct conception as it is in it self such as we have of a man when we have seen his face and by the image of him remaining in our mind can distinguish him from all other men But there are other of their Learned men who by his Glory understand the Rewards he will give the pious and the prosperity he sometimes bestows on the
would not be such a Son as he now declared him able to bless all Nations Who it is manifest had him not for their visible Leader as the Israelites had Moses and Joshua to give them a temporall inheritance and therefore were to have his spirituall Divine Benediction in another world where He is the authour of eternall Salvation to all that obey him And lest you should imagine this to be merely a collection of mine own which I have forced out of these words I will refer you to our Saviour's own interpretation of them in that speech of his v. Joh. 26. For as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself Here he teaches us to argue that if he be the SON of God as this voice said he was then he is by the same voice declared to have LIFE in himself because the Father hath so whom his SON his onely SON doth perfectly resemble And he teaches us withall that this is a power communicated to him as he is the Christ for he saith the Father hath given him to have life in himself and that as you reade in the next verse because he is the Son of man that is the great person he promised to send of the seed of Abraham Now we reade of no other time when the Father might be said to have given him this power but now when he owned him for his SON and anointed him as you shall hear with the Holy Ghost to preach the glad tidings of immortal life Now God the Father sealed and authorized him to be the person to whom we must repair for the meat that endureth to everlasting life vi Joh. 27. He declared him now to be the bread of God as he calls himself which gives life to the world ver 33. the bread of life ver 35. the living bread ver 51. the manna which came down from heaven and nourishes to eternall life in short to have all things committed to him that whatsoever things the Father doeth these also you may be sure the Son doeth likewise v. Joh. 19. He doeth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the same equality and perfect likeness of power as Greg. Nazianz * Orat. 36. p. 584. D. expounds the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 likewise in this place So that we need no more doubt of his ability then we do of God the Father's to give eternall life to all his followers II. And that he will imploy his power to make us partakers of it which is the other part of the Record concerning this Eternal Life is manifest from the next part of this voice of God the Father which said in thee I am well pleased He expresses here that he takes a singular delight in this person and bears such a dear affection to him that there is nothing he will deny him Now that hereby is denoted also his exceeding great love and good will towards all those that belong to his Son you may be soon satisfied by observing that these are the very words wherein God declares his loving-kindness towards his Church in the days of Christ lxii Isa 4. There the Lord calls her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hephzi-bah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some Greek versions render it my delight is in her That 's the reason he himself gives of her name as it there follows for the LORD delighteth in thee Where the LXX use the very word in which this voice from heaven is recorded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the LORD is well pleased in thee From whence I think it reasonable to conclude that the same thing being said of both God declared his delight in all Christians and the pleasure he will take in bestowing his benefits on them when he declared himself to be well pleased in this his dear Son whom they acknowledge for their Lord and Master He tells us by this voice that he will be reconciled to us and forgetting our ill behaviour towards him will espouse us to himself as it follows in the Prophet in the tenderest love and rejoice to bestow his choisest favours on us And that this is no inference merely wrung from these words or a notion of my own contrivance you may presently agree if you consider that thus John Baptist in all likelihood understood them For seeing Jesus a little after he had baptized him coming towards him he cried out Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world i. Joh. 29. And again the next day after this he pointed two of his Disciples unto Jesus and said in part the very same words Behold the Lamb of God ver 36. Now what is it to be the Lamb of God but to be a Sacrifice of God's own appointment so pleasing and acceptable to him that it obtains all the ends for which it was offered And what is it to take away the sins of the world but by overcoming all the temptations to which Adam yielded and being obedient even to the death to restore us unto a right of entring Paradise again from whence our Sins have excluded us to open the Kingdom of heaven to all believers by removing as I may say the flaming Sword that is taking those obstacles out of the way that debarred us from approaching to the Tree of life This no doubt is the compleat meaning of Carrying away the sins of mankind which are the onely impediments that hinder us from the enjoyment of immortality and therefore being gone we have free leave to return to it Now John the Baptist had no other ground that we can find for this Conclusion but onely this Voice which I proved he heard from the Father concerning the pleasure which he took in his Son Whereby he did as good as affirm that his delight in Jesus who delighted to doe his will was so great that he would restore us into his ancient love for his sake and be perfectly appeased and reconciled to us by his means so that we should be no longer banished from his blessed presence but by the forgiveness of our sins be placed again in that happy state from which we had stood so long exiled II. Now from hence let us pass to take a review of the Second Testimony of the Father to him where we shall find the same thing recorded again that He hath given us eternall life and that this life is in his Son i.e. it is in his power to give it The places are well known where we may meet with it in xvii Matt. and other Evangelists which tell us that Jesus being on an high Mountain with three of his Disciples who were wont to attend him on particular occasions was transfigured before them and a voice came from Heaven which said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him It would be too tedious to speak of this Mountain and his Transfiguration there in such a glorious manner that his Countenance
verily I say unto you he that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life v. Joh. 24. let us take it for as express a declaration from God the Father as if that voice which required them to hear Jesus had said You that are obedient to my Son have everlasting life and are in no danger to perish being translated from the dominion of death to be heirs of life II. And now from the consideration of the words that were spoken let us pass to the manner wherein they were delivered which is so vastly different from that wherein God spake formerly to Moses and the children of Israel from another mountain that I cannot but think it was intended to signifie something of the grace of Eternall Life which Jesus brings to us When he was transfigured and his face shone as the Sun the Evangelist tells us moreover that his raiment became glistering exceeding white as snow and that a bright cloud also overshadowed them out of which the voice before named came saying This is my beloved Son c. Which if it be compared with former divine Manifestations of the same kind we may reasonably look upon as an indication that this Person came to discover 1. something more glorious then Moses had done and 2. something that expresses more abundant love and kindness of God towards men which is nothing else but Eternall Life First I say something more glorious and resplendent or as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. iv 6. the light of the knowledge of the glory of God which we behold in the face of Jesus Christ For the Mount to which Moses went up and where he and the people heard God speak to them was all covered with clouds and thick darkness Thus God himself told him beforehand he would appear xix Exod. 9. And so he did when the day prefixed for it came vers 16 18. Unto that thick darkness Moses drew near xx 21. And the people also stood underneath the mountain beholding it burn with fire into the midst of heaven with darkness clouds and thick darkness iv Deut. 11. xix Exod. 17. All which places the Reader may be pleased to consult together with xxiv Exod. 18. where we find that Moses went into the midst of this cloud and there was covered and quite obscured from their sight A very fit emblem of the obscurity of the knowledge which they then had of God and of his will and of the terrours of the Law which was a ministration of death as the Apostle speaks and so astonished them with the thunders and lightning which came out of the cloud that they fled and stood afar off xx Exod. 18. As on the other side God appearing now to our Saviour in a quite contrary manner on the top of another Mountain where there was no black cloud though it was in the night no smoak or sulphureous vapour much less a thick darkness hiding him from his Disciples sight nothing but a bright and lightsome cloud which overshadowed them and shewed them the glory wherein he shone it was a lively representation of the light which he the Light of the world came to give to them that sate in darkness and in the shadow of death and of the glory and bliss whereof he was the Minister unto which he invited mankind in words of grace and sweetness as he did his Disciples to stay here on the mountain by those chearfull beams wherewith the glory of the Lord surrounded them For this manner of appearing as I said Secondly plainly suggests some greater manifestation of the love and kindness the goodness and bounty of Heaven to mankind then had been made before in that way of revelation to Moses which was so much different from the sweetness and amiableness of this When Moses conversed with God upon mount Sinai he descended thither in Fire as the places before mentioned tell you And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire in the eyes of the children of Israel xxiv Exod. 17. v. Deut. 22 23. But when our Blessed Lord took his Apostles with him to a sight of the Divine Glory there was onely the appearance of a wonderfull bright and chearful light some mild rays from heaven which had nothing of terrour in them but ravished them with joy to find themselves in so glorious a Presence And therefore they were not left at the foot of this high mountain as Moses left the Israelites at the bottom of the other but he brought them up with him xvii Matth. 1. And they were not put into a fright as the Israelites were who removed their station at the sight of the fire on mount Sinai nor did they shriek as their Forefathers did there who cried out saying Why should we die for this great fire will consume us if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more we shall die Speak thou with us and we will hear but let not God speak with us lest we die v. Deuter 25. xx Exod. 19. But they were ravished out of themselves with the glory of this sight which was so inviting to their eyes that they wisht for no other station but desired to remain perpetually fixed there They were so far from running away that they said Let us make here three Tabernacles as if they meant to pitch there the place of their abode and never take their eyes from so beautifull a Light It is observable also that in the dark Mountain where Moses was together with the fire and thunder and lightnings there was the noise of a Trumpet exceeding loud which made not onely all the people tremble but the whole mount quaked greatly xix Exod. 16 18. And God spake likewise to the people with a great voice v. Deut. 22. wherewith both they were so astonished as to wish never to hear it more and Moses himself also so terrible was the sight together with the noise said I exceedingly fear and quake xii Heb. 21. Whereas on the Mountain where our Lord was transfigured there was not one such frightfull flash nor the least dreadfull sound nothing but his own glistering Body the splendour of Moses and Elias the brightness of a heavenly cloud and this one sweet voice which proclaimed nothing but love and grace in their ears This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him St. Matthew indeed tells us that when the Disciples heard they fell on their faces and were sore afraid xvii 6. But this doth not signify that they were seised with any horrour at the dreadfulness of the sound but onely amazed at the suddenness of the voice and the marvellous splendour of the Light And therefore the other Evangelists do not mention any such terrour after the voice which being accompanied with a glory they had never beheld might well amaze them but did not make them tremble The very
it a disparagement to their Master Moses did they not satisfie themselves with this ridiculous reason for it to be spoken unto after such a manner as the Scripture of truth relates then by their own confession it is a great honour to our Lord and Master and argues his high dignity that the Divine Majesty spake to him in such a way as they cannot but esteem most perfect and agreeable to his Divine Goodness And we may look upon this pure Light in which God is said to dwell as a sign that Heaven was to be opened by this Person and that he would restore us to the Glory of God of which we we all faln short and bring mankind to that joy and satisfaction of heart which the Disciples began to feel in themselves at this most comfortable sight And I make no question had not the holy Books told us so expresly that God spake to them in clouds and fire and vapour they would have fabled that he appeared to their Master in pure light and shone about him in the brightness of his glory without the least darkness to obscure it For I find that many of those things which the holy Story of the New Testament reports in honour of John Baptist or of our Blessed Saviour they have thrust into the Story of Moses where he himself in his Books hath not confessed the contrary to keep him in the greater credit with their Nation in this time of their calamitous desertion It being recorded for example that John Baptist was born when his parents were very old and could not believe it was possible for them to have a child which makes his birth a wonder being out of the course of Nature they have made bold to tell the same of Moses but with a large addition of years whose mother Jochebed they say was no less then an hundred and thirty years old when she was delivered of him which Aben Ezra in his Notes upon the text * A. Ezra in ii Exod. ver 1. is desirous should pass for a current truth And as we reade that when our Saviour came into the world the Glory of the LORD an exceeding great light from heaven shone round about the shepherds who had the first news of it which was intended as a note of his Divinity and heavenly descent So they have devised * R. Solomon in ii Exod. 3. that at the Nativity of Moses the house where he was born was filled with such a light that they could not see by reason of its splendour In like manner the Apostle proves our Lord to be greater then the Angels far above all principality and power c. i. Heb. 3 4. i. Eph. 19 20. and therefore Moses forsooth must be raised to this wondrous pitch â— Moses Haccozi whom some of their Rabbins all are not so immodest will have to be higher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then the Angels of Ministry far above all creatures as another expresses it both superiour and inferiour R. Joshuah F. Sobib in xxx Exod. As if they meant to equall him with that great Lord who we believe is raised far above every name that is named not onely in this world but also in that which is to come And because also our Lord we affirm and are sure is now the Minister of the heavenly Sanctuary where he presents his own bloud before God for us as Aaron did the bloud of beasts in the earthly Sanctuary therefore they likewise have feigned as Maimonides relates from the mouth of their Doctours * Ludov. Capell ex prâ—fat in Talm. Not. in xvii Matth. 3. that their Master Moses is not dead but ascended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and ministers to God in the heavenly places And because our Lord is here said to be transfigured on this Mountain and his face shone like the Sun they have therefore transformed Moses also who they say was found by the Angel of death whom God sent to the Mountain whether he was gone up to take away his life writing the great Name of God and his face was as the Sun and he himself like an Angel of the Lord. I have observed the same before about the Bath kol voice from heaven which spake to our Saviour whose glory they study to eclipse by spreading abroad a number of tales concerning the like approbation given to their Doctours I am bold to call these reports by that name and to ascribe them to that cause because there are no footsteps of such things in the history which Moses wrote of himself who by all just ways endeavoured to beget in them a belief that he was a Prophet sent of God and because such inventions might easily come into the minds of those obstinate persons who knew not how to confute Christianity which interest and prejudice would not let them receive but were desirous by any means though never so false to raise Moses to the same degree of greatness and esteem with the Authour and finisher of our faith But it is to be considered then that they suppose such things to be a notable sign of the excellency of that person to whom they really belong and consequently that our Lord Jesus who hath these very marks upon him which they would ingrave on Moses being thus described in those Books that are certainly Divine among us as clearly as Moses is in any other regards commended in those that are truly holy among them is a Great Prophet indeed far greater then Moses who never durst say any such thing of himself nor is so magnified by any of the succeeding Prophets the Authour of a better Covenant and of more divine Promises such as this of ETERNALL LIFE which it is most agreeable for him to bestow whose Kingdom was not in this world as Moses's was but he reigns in the other world Lord of all for evermore III. To him God the Father hath given a third Testimony unto which it is now time to pass and it is a very express Record of this Truth that we have Eternall Life and that it is in his Son It is set down you know in the xii Joh. 28. where upon our Saviour's request to God that he would glorifie his own Name a voice from heaven gave this answer I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again The particle it hath nothing answering to it in the Greek but is put in by the Translatours to supply the sense And some are of the opinion that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be understood and the meaning to be thus rendred I have both glorified thee and will glorifie thee again But there is no need of this we may as well refer the word glorifie to Name as our translation doth and it will come at last to the same sense for God's name was glorified by glorifying his Son Fragment L. viii in Joh. as appears from xi Joh. 4. And so St. Cyrill of Alexandria observed
then this to demonstrate the truth I am endeavouring to prove the great love of our most Blessed Lord would not deny it Who appear'd again as I shew'd in the former Treatise to a very learned person of great note and great sanctity among the Jews and as great an enemy to him being consenting as he himself confesses xxii Act. 20. unto his death when the bloud of his Martyr Stephen was shed St. Paul I mean who travelling towards Damascus in a burning rage and fury and with a sharp commission against Christians and therefore in no fit disposition to receive a truth or to fall into a fancy directly opposite to his present temper and interest was suddenly surprized with a great light from heaven and beheld that Jesus whom he no more thought to be so glorious then he did the Thieves that were crucified with him presenting himself and distinctly speaking to him in such a splendid manner that he fell down to the ground and could not see for the glory of that light vers 7 11. Whosoever will carefully observe what he was and how far as I said from any such thoughts and how desperately he had been lately ingaged against St. Stephen and now was prosecuting other of Christ's Disciples will easily conclude that he had now a reall sight of the Majesty of the Lord Jesus at whose feet he fell whom otherwise no man should have despised and blasphemed more then He. Now if the Vision be considered you will find that it contains in it this Truth that Jesus is possessed of Eternall Life to give unto us as well as that he is the Son of God For I. He beheld him appearing in such a brightness as that before mentioned far exceeding the splendour of the Sun at noon-day according as he himself tells the story xxvi Act. 13. Which plainly declared him to be the King of Glory cloathed with the Majesty of God and possessed of an heavenly Kingdom and therefore able to give ETERNALL LIFE to his servants which is one of the things that St. John here saith God hath testified to us How should he come by such a robe of light and how should he appear thus first to St. Stephen and now to St. Paul and how should he present himself thus near to him and perfectly astonish his bold spirit if he had not power to doe what he pleased And therefore St. Paul is told by our Lord at this very time when he saw him in such Majesty that he should be a witness of what he had seen Which had been to no purpose unless this Apparition had something remarkable in it to prove that he was what he pretended to be in his life-time the Son of God most High whom according to his word which he passed by a voice from heaven he had glorified and given him power over all flesh II. And accordingly you find that the thing St. Paul witnessed was that Jesus was over all God blessed for ever ix Rom. 5. and had sent him to preach the Resurrection and everlasting life xiii Act. 46. xvii 18. These doctrines our Lord himself had taught him when appearing and speaking to him in such a glorious light he said I am Jesus As much as to say I am he whom you buffeted Afterius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. whom you scourged whom you dragged about first to Caiaphas then to Pilate whom you called continually the Carpenter's son whom you number among the dead laughing aloud at those that preach the Resurrection It is I that speak and therefore believe that which my servant Stephen saw though when he told you so you would not believe it Thus he learnt saith Asterius by experience that Christ was alive and was neither corrupted by death nor stoln away secretly by his Disciples but risen from the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and reigned over the whole world This he preached with as great a zeal as before he persecuted He was such an Auxiliary as before he had been an enemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both strong and resolute III. For you may observe that he did not merely rationally conclude from the glory wherein Jesus was that all he had said was true and that he was able to give Everlasting Life but he heard him also say expresly at this time when he appeared to him that he would bestow this celestial Inheritance upon us even us Gentiles who were shangers to the promises foreiners and aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel having no such hope There was nothing against which the Pharisaicall spirit was more imbittered then this that other Nations should share with them and be equall to them in the blessings of the Messiah The Religion wherein St. Paul had been bred was concerned in no principle more then this that the rest of the world were all unclean and never to be united to them unless they would be circumcised and observe the Law of Moses And therefore had he not been pressed with undeniable evidence he would never have consented to this truth which was so much against the grain of that spirit which possessed him and which he but once mentioning to his Country-men they were ready to tear him in pieces xxii Act. 21 22. And yet he reports this for a certain Truth from the mouth of Jesus himself who bad him as he relates this glorious Vision to Agrippa a Prince well skilled in the Law go unto the Gentiles to open their eyes as He had done his to turn them from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and INHERITANCE among them that are sanctified by faith in him xxvi Act. 17 18. And accordingly he went and preached every-where in obedience to this heavenly Vision the comfortable doctrine of the Resurrection and Eternall Life to us Gentiles as well as others witnessing both to small and great that as the Prophets had foretold Christ ought to suffer and should be the first that should rise from the dead and shew LIGHT unto the people of Israel that is and to the Gentiles vers 22 23. By Light in the holy language is meant the gladsome discovery of God's good will and pleasure For as by Darkness it expresses ignorance sorrow and heaviness so by its opposite knowledge joy and chearfulness And the Light which we have by Christ's sufferings and rising from the dead can be nothing else but the blessed hope of immortality This St. John tells us is the light of mankind i. 4. In him was LIFE and the life was the LIGHT of men that is their singular comfort and satisfaction which makes their life not to be irksome to them and with this Light St. Paul endeavoured to fill the world that they might all know how much they were indebted to Jesus who brought Life and immortality to light by his Gospell And can it enter into any man's thoughts that he would have set himself to preach this
risen from the dead and after all my sufferings such as you must endure for my sake am alive as thou seest and in a far better condition then I was before when thou wast not thus afraid of me Though in my first attempt to raise a Church I suffered death and laid the foundation of it in my bloud yet it is apparent I have overcome death and now live in greater splendour then ever If our Lord had stopt here and said no more this had been sufficient to convince him of his power to present to himself a glorious Church and from the lowest and most afflicted condition to raise it to the greatest honour here and to eternall glory in the other world But he proceeds for the stronger confirmation of his faith and says Behold more then this I am alive for evermore I have Eternall Life and can never lose this power and therefore thou mayst believe me when I say that I am the Omega whom thou knowest to be the Alpha for I can perfect what I have undertaken and bring to an happy issue all the good I have begun to work for you The latest posterity shall find that I am alive and able to promote them to everlasting bliss Fear not these words are all true and therefore I conclude them with an AMEN wherewith I was wont thou mayst remember to confirm my sayings that thou mayst rest assured I now say nothing but the certain indubitable truth when I tell thee I am he that was dead and now am alive and that I live for evermore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Andreas Caesariensis conceives his meaning How canst thou imagine then that thou art in danger to suffer any harm by my appearing to thee since the power which thou seest me have is to give life not death unto my servants I never used thou mayst remember to kill men but to save them and therefore thus thou mayst be confident I will still imploy my omnipotent power for I am Alpha and Omega the same at last that I was at first I am come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly And indeed as he still goes on I have the keys of hell and of death or as we render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here translated hell in 1 Cor. xv 55. the keys of the grave and of death I can open the graves as I did at my death and can loose the bands of death as I did at my resurrection I can bring you out of that dark estate where no body sees you and restore you to life again nay raise you to that Light wherein thou beholdest me shine And here again it is observable that our Saviour takes to himself that very power which is ascribed to Almighty God by Hannah who says in her Song 1 Sam. ii 6. The Lord killeth and maketh alive he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up Whereby he would suggest to St. John that all things are committed to his trust and are in his power for that is frequently denoted in the holy language by Keys the badge of a Steward's authority and power in a family and therefore it is not too hard for him to overcome the great Conquerour of all men to open the prison-doors that have been so long shut and fast locked to loose the chains of death and overthrow him quite who hath the power of it that is the Devill But this he would have us stedfastly believe and therefore immediately bids him not lie as a man dead but get up and write the things that thou hast seen ver 19. That is Let my Church know that I am alive and that I bear the same affection to them that I ever had Send them this comfort from me that I not onely live but always live and have all power committed to me even over the grave and death so that if any man lose his life for me I can give it him again with such an increase of dignity and glory as thou seest me enjoy And we must needs confess that there is an exceeding great comfort in this assurance which he gave thus in his own person and with his own mouth to this holy Apostle who knows as he speaks in another case xix Joh. 35. that he saith true For hereby we rest satisfied of one part of the Record which is to be proved that Life is in Jesus and see moreover much reason to believe the other part that he intends to bestow it on us VI. But for a fuller evidence of that you may consider in the last place that this WORD of God gave frequent testimonies of it to St. John in the following Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia Where they are so obvious that I may leave it to the most careless hand to gather them To one he saith I will give to him that overcometh to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God ii Rev. 7. To another I will give him a crown of life and He shall not be hurt of the second death ver 10 11. To a third I will give him the white Stone c. a certain knowledge and assurance i.e. as I hope to shew in another place of the promised reward ver 17. To another He shall be cloathed in white raiment and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels iii. 5. And to name no more he promises to grant to him that overcometh to sit down with him in his throne ver 21. Which though it may have some respect to the high place and dignity he should injoy in the Church in this world yet had not its full completion but in the other life where he will crown the fidelity of all victorious Souls with the greatest glory and honour How can we doubt of it when we hear such express promises of immortall bliss so oft repeated from the mouth of the WORD of God himself after he went to heaven Great is our assurance great is the confidence we may take from such a Record as this if we be in the number of those that overcome remain constant that is and fixed in our Christian resolution notwithstanding any assaults that are made upon us either by the good or bad things of this world to tempt us to revolt from our duty For St. John saw and heard these things from the Lord Jesus himself upon his own Day the day of his resurrection from the dead and in a glory so bright that it was an emblem of the happiness he will bestow upon us and with such earnest asseverations of their truth and certainty as are sufficient to awake the dullest and most lethargick Souls to attend to what he says For thus he begins his Letter to the Church of Laodicea who were grown strangely chill and indevout These things saith the Amen the faithfull
and true Witness the beginning of the Creation of God iii. 14. By the name of AMEN which he gives himself he would have them understand that by him all the promises made to the Church shall undoubtedly be fulfilled according to that of St. Paul 2 Cor. i. 20. In him all the promises of God are Yea and in him Amen He may be believed for he is a Witness who affirms and testifies nothing but the very truth which can never fail because he is the Efficient cause of all things by whom they were at first created and by whom mankind is now repaired and therefore is the Head of all creatures especially of all Christians who shall rise again from the dead to immortall life So I expound the last words the beginning of the Creation of God as Andreas Caesariensis doth who takes in both senses of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I have of the word Creation which signifies not onely Principium the beginning or originall but Principatum the principality or dominion which the Son of God hath over all creatures of which he is the Authour What may we not expect from so great a Prince who hath such an absolute command over all things And why should we doubt of his Sovereignty who appeared in such an amazing splendour to St. John and proclaimed in these and other such like Titles the supereminent glory of his Majesty Or why shoul◠we question his truth who had approved himself so many ways the true and faithfull Witness especially by sending the Holy Ghost as you shall hear presently to bear witness to him according to his promise We ought to rely upon his word and to fear nothing but lest we should reject or distrust the testimony of a Person so great and so just whose power appeared from his very first entrance into the world to be so far transcending all creatures that the Apostles might see before his ascension to the glory wherein St. John beheld him that as he had the Words of eternall Life so he had that Life in himself which in due time he would bestow upon them For though He had all the passions of a man Greg. Nazianz orat xxxv p. 575. yet he had all the perfections likewise of God that none might be so profanely contumelious as to contemn his Deity because he took upon him the grossness of our Humanity He was born of a woman but she a Virgin that was humane this Divine He was wrapt in swaddling-cloaths when he was an infant but shaked off the cloaths that wrapt him in the sepulchre when he was dead He was laid in a manger but then glorified by Angels pointed to by a Star and worshipped by the Wise men He was driven into Egypt but there drove away the errours of the Egyptians The Jews saw no beauty in him but he shone upon the mountain brighter then the Sun prefiguring the glory to which he should ascend He was baptized and tempted as Man but he took away the Sins of the World and got the victory as God He was hungry but fed many thousands and is himself the heavenly Bread which giveth life He was thirsty but gave the waters of life and made rivers of living waters flow from those that believed on him He was called a Samaritan and they said he had a Devill but he put Devills to flight and tumbled whole legions of them into the deep and made the Prince of Devills fall like lightning from heaven He was sold for thirty pieces of silver but purchased the whole World with the great price of his own bloud He was led as a sheep to the slaughter but was the Shepherd of Israel and now is of all the World He was dumb as a lamb before the shearers but is the WORD preached by the voice of one crying in the wilderness He was wounded and bruised but healed every sickness and all manner of disease He was lifted up on the tree and there fixed but restored us to the tree of life and saved the thief who was crucified with him He laid down his life but had power to take it again and the veil rent the rocks were cleft and the dead were raised He died but he gives life and by death extinguished death He was buried but rose again out of the grave He went down into hell but he brought up Souls with him and ascended into heaven and will come again to judge the quick and the dead and to examine all such discourses as detract from his glory O my Soul for ever praise him and let thy heart rejoyce in his holy Name Love him as thy Life confide in his word depend on his power and expect from him the blessing of Eternall Life For he is the AMEN the faithfull and true witness who cannot lie the beginning of the Creation of God whom all Creatures without a voice confess to be their Lord. The Heavens cry Proclus Orat. xiii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it was God who bowed them and came down to be a man for our sakes The Sun cries It was my Lord who was crucified in the flesh at the light of whose Divinity I was afraid and withdrew my beams The Earth cries It was He that formed me who suffered which made me quake and tremble at the horrid fact The Sea cries He was not my fellow-servant who walkt with one of his Disciples upon my back The Temple cries He that was worshipped here is now blasphemed and therefore I rend my garments Nay Hell cries He was not a mere man who descended hither for whom I received as a Captive I found to be the Omnipotent God And if we ask the heavenly powers and desire the Angels and Archangels and the whole host of heaven to tell us Who was he that appeared on earth and was crucified in the flesh they will all answer aloud in the words of the Prophet David The Lord the God of hosts he is the King of Glory To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen CHAP. VIII Concerning the Testimony of the HOLY GHOST the Third Witness in Heaven NOW I proceed to examine the Testimony which the Third Witness in Heaven gave concerning this future state which is the HOLY GHOST the Third Person in the Blessed Trinity Who openly assures us by as many ways and by the same means that we have eternall Life in Christ Jesus as he did that Jesus is the Son of God And that I may not be tedious in a business wherein we have already received such satisfaction let us take but a small taste of those three Testimonies of the Holy Ghost which I alledged in the former Treatise I. And first you know that there was a visible appearance of the HOLY GHOST at our Saviour's Baptism when the Divine Glory came down from heaven and rested on him in the sight of John the Baptist whereby he was persuaded that this was the Messiah the King of
committed to him towards the poor and the broken in heart and the miserable captives to whom he preached the acceptable year of the Lord. Or else as St. Chrysostome's words are He remembers us hereby of the old history For the whole World being once shipwreck'd and humane kind being in great danger to be totally lost this Creature appeared with an Olive-branch in her mouth and brought them glad tidings that the tempest was over and that there was now an universal calm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All which things were a type and figure of what was to come For now when the affairs of mankind were in a worse condition and they were all in danger of a soarer punishment the unspeakable grace of God in our Saviour steps in for our rescue And therefore a Dove appeared again not bringing an Olive-branch but shewing us our Deliverer from all evill and administring unto us good hopes For it doth not bring merely one man and his family out of danger but appeared to lead all the world to heaven and in stead of an Olive-branch brought the adoption of Sons to all mankind And where the dignity of this adoption is there is the destruction of all evill things and the gift of all things that are good To the same purpose speaks Theophylact who contracts his sense in fewer words As the Dove brought to Noah the news that the waters of the floud were gone so now the HOLY GHOST brought the joyfull news of the doing away of Sin There was an Olive-branch and here was the mercy of God And thus John Baptist understood it who having seen this sight cried out Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world that is Death the punishment of Sin and consequently restores us to immortall life i. Joh. 29 30 c. This he thought declared God to be reconciled and lookt upon it as a token that the heavens had laid aside their displeasure and would be at peace with the sinfull sons of men The windows you know of heaven were opened in the old World but dark and pitchy clouds were all that appeared which poured down nothing but a floud of rain upon mankind Whereas now quite contrary when the heavens were opened again there was no dismall sight presented it self but onely a pure light and glorious brightness shone from the face of God And the HOLY GHOST in the form of a Dove appeared not like that of Noah after the deluge had swept all mankind very few excepted from the face of the earth but to give notice to the World that God would not take such vengeance upon men for their wickedness but be graciously reconciled to them by saving them from death and giving them the blessing of Eternall Life One might well gather as much from this sight especially when there was such an Olive-branch of peace if I may so call it in the mouth of this Dove as that voice from heaven which came along with it saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased One of these illustrates and explains the other and both of them tell us that the heavens now look upon us with a serene countenance and that we are no longer shut out of them but God is so well satisfied that he will admit us into those celestiall habitations II. This was farther declared afterward when the Apostles according to his promise were on the day of Pentecost baptized with the Holy Ghost whereby they were sent by him as he was by the Father Then the Heavens poured down such a large showr of the Divine grace as presently overflowed the World with a comfortable sense of ETERNALL LIFE This was one great end of the coming of the HOLY GHOST which then witnessed to our Saviour and openly shew'd him to the World as the Prince of life iii. Act. 15. For 1. it was a plain demonstration that He whom the Jews had murthered was alive from the dead and had not lost his power which was so eminent in him all the while he was on earth to doe good and bestow benefits upon mankind And 2. the greatness of the benefit shews that he was greater in power then ever having ennobled all his Servants and raised men of the lowest condition to the highest dignities by bestowing on them the gift of the HOLY GHOST It was his gift as he fore-told in his life-time when he said I will send the Comforter from the Father xv Joh. 26. and He shall receive of mine and shew it unto you xvi Joh. 14 15. And therefore the Holy Ghost declared his greatness and power over all as St. Peter discourses in the very first Sermon he preached after our Saviour's resurrection on the day of Pentecost ii Act. 33. Where he tells the Jews that what they saw and heard and were amazed at was shed forth and poured on them by Jesus who had now received the promise of the Holy Ghost And therefore says he ver 36. let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that Jesus whom ye crucified both Lord and Christ Which is as much as to say You ought to look upon this as an undoubted argument that he is Lord of all things the Christ or King whom God the Father hath appointed because he hath sent such royall gifts to his servants as none but the Lord of the world could possibly bestow And by the way we may take notice that the better sort of the Jews themselves expect the Messiah should bring such grace to men For Abarbinel in the place fore-mentioned acknowledging Miraculous works to be a note whereby the Messiah shall be known reckons this for one of them the effusion of the Spirit of God spoken of by the Prophet Joel Our Lord therefore sending this down in a plentifull manner on the day of Pentecost thereby manifested if they would have seen it that he had the mark of their King upon him and indeed could doe that which they all confess is the Work of God alone who onely can pour out the gifts which the Prophet there promises There is no reason to question the power of such a King as this to doe what he pleases even to prefer his subjects to his heavenly Kingdom They may be raised when he thinks good to reign with him above as now they began to doe upon the earth It depends upon his will alone to exalt them to that very place from whence this mighty power of the Holy Ghost came down upon them But that we may be satisfied the HOLY GHOST was an express Witness of his being the Prince of life a King that hath Life in himself a Prince and a Saviour as it is v. Act. 31. who can deliver men from the oppression of all their Enemies the greatest of which is Death you may consider 3. that the miraculous change which was wrought on a sudden in the minds of very ignorant men is an evident argument what he
flesh armed what might which thou hast given to grass and hay As well may a butterfly think of mounting up to heaven or a flower attempt to pluck up a cedat as we poor wretches conceive a thought of effecting such wonderfull things This sure signifies that men are very dear to God or else he would not thus dwell among them It may well make us believe there is nothing so great nothing so glorious promised by Jesus but he will work it for us having already transformed us into such noble creatures As Manoah's wife said to him xiii Judg. 23. If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands neither would he have shewed us such things as these so might they in this case say and with greater advantage then she If the Lord would let us still remain under the power of death he would not have given such gifts into our hands for that is more then to receive the poor oblations we make to him nor would he have revealed such secrets to us He would not have sent us the spirit of wisedom and knowledge nor raised us to the degree of prophecy nor put new tongues into our mouths to declare his wonderfull works nor made all diseases submit to our word All which gifts with divers others they had reason to look upon as the earnest of the Spirit and the Seal of the Holy Ghost whereby they had an assurance given them as I hope to shew elsewhere of the everlasting inheritance which Jesus hath promised in the heavens For they demonstrated that He who had power thus to alter and advance mean men and to make them Stuporem mundi the wonder and amazement of the world could also give that Life which he had promised by that very power which they felt already working in them And they also made it evident 6. that he would bestow it For there is no more reason that he should thus bestow the Holy Ghost at present then that he should hereafter give us Eternall Life His faithfull promise is the security for both our hopes are built upon that sure foundation If there be any difference between the ground there is for one more then the other the advantage lies on the side of the hope of Eternall Life Which there is more reason now that he should give us then there was for giving the Holy Ghost even because he hath already done so much for his Church and there is more reason we should expect it because as I said before we have seen a remarkable instance of his fidelity in pouring out such rivers of living water when he sent the Spirit which he promised And here it comes to my mind in xi Isa that another Wonder which Abarbinell says the Messiah shall work at his coming is a Miracle like that of dividing the Red sea when Israel came out of Egypt Which he endeavours to prove from xi Isa 15. The Lord shall utterly destroy or dry up the tongue of the Egyptian Sea c. that is says he of Nile the great River of Egypt This our Lord hath done more excellently then they imagine For it was nothing near so great a wonder that Israel should be baptized into Moses in the Sea as it was that the people who followed Jesus should be baptized into him with the Holy Ghost poured down upon them from heaven The passing through the Sea and the Cloud to boot was not such a certain argument that Moses would bring them out of the great affliction wherein they had been plung'd and lead them to Canaan their rest and inheritance as these rivers of living water the gifts of the Holy Ghost and the admirable effects thereof filling the world with the Glory of the Lord were an undeniable proof to those who were under its conduct that Jesus was the person who would lead them to a better rest in a more heavenly Country which flows with far sweeter delights then milk and hony This did as it were dip their souls into this belief and made them sensible that Jesus is the Authour of Eternall Salvation far more then the Sea it self could baptize their forefathers into Moses i.e. persuade them that he was the Prophet of God who would deliver them and bring them to the peaceable enjoyments they desired And therefore I observe after the Jews who quarrelled at St. Peter's preaching to the Gentiles were satisfied that the Holy Ghost was faln upon them even as upon themselves they had no more to say but this then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life xi Act. 18. This they lookt upon as the beginning of God's favour and loving-kindness to them which would conclude in nothing less then the ETERNALL LIFE of which we are discoursing And so this very Apostle St. John after he had put the Disciples in mind of the UNCTION they had received and exhorted them to continue in that Doctrine which it taught Chap. ii of this Epistle 20 24. immediately adds that this is the promise which he hath promised us even Eternall Life ver 25. Which was as much as to say that the Vnction by the HOLY GHOST had so perfectly instructed them in the certainty of this great happiness that it was sufficient to move them to abide in the Doctrine of Jesus none being able to teach them better or to put them in hope of any thing greater then this ETERNALL LIFE which he promised and by the HOLY GHOST assured It is true indeed which some are forward to object that we in these days see not such evidences as those Believers had the Holy Ghost not inhabiting thus in every one of our Souls as it did in theirs Nor is there the like reason it should we being ingaged in no such hard services as theirs which stood in need to be incouraged with the strongest hopes of a glorious reward They were in deaths often as St. Paul speaks and therefore were in danger to faint without a most lively gust of immortall Life The whole World was their enemy and with the greatest rage oppos'd their preaching which required a clearer sight of the World to come and a more sensible descent of invisible powers for their assistence and support From whence we also derive no small benefit because the more sensible demonstration they had of it the firmer grounds of hope are laid for us whose faith relies upon their testimony and the power of the HOLY GHOST in them This is sufficient to hearten us in our duty that our Lord hath given to those whose testimony we have the greatest reason to believe such visible and palpable evidences of his being alive and of his intentions to quicken his servants to Life everlasting with himself Let us but heartily apply ourselves upon these grounds to live by the faith of the Son of God and we shall find the same Spirit that wrought in them operating in us
Wisedom of God when he had quitted the empty pleasures of the World However fabulous this Story may prove which seems to have been composed in imitation of that Vision of Hercules which many Greek Writers mention you may make it true if you please For behold how the true Wisedom of God our Blessed Lord and Saviour presents himself to you He hath appeared in most admirable beauty and a glorious form to many of his Servants which they have described and left us the picture of In his Gospell he is so lively expressed that we cannot if we look upon him but behold him as the onely-begotten of the Father the brightness of his glory and the character of his person Would it would but please you to listen to the offers he makes you the portion of Life and Glory hereafter together with true peace and contentment here which he will assure to you O that you would but draw a lively image of these things in your mind and represent the King of glory as soliciting your heart to his service Do you not believe that it would be infinitely more obliging then such an apparition as that now named Would it not more easily make you abandon the sinfull pleasures of this world then the other made him forsake the lawfull Would not the beauty of our Saviour and the splendour of his glory in the heavens set before your eyes be more inamouring then any imaginary or reall beauty whatsoever Would not these words of his be more piercing then any other I will give to him that overcomes to inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son Would it not transport our hearts with joy to hear that he will be contracted to us and assure us of such a dowry with himself in the heavens Would it not make all his commands so far from being grievous that we should think them sweet and delicious above all the pleasures wherein sensuall men are drowned He can make no doubt of it that hath not lost his reason and is able to understand what the difference is between such a certain truth as this and a dream and between the commands of our Lord and the obedience which that youth undertook to perform Jesus is certainly in the heavens He sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high He unfeignedly wishes we would be espoused to him He will settle an eternall inheritance upon us and He doth not require us to go into Monasteries and deserts to live like Hermites and Anchorets to immure our selves from all society though if he did we should have no ill bargain of it but onely to retire seriously into our selves and there often meet with him to live soberly righteously and godly while we are in the world to let no company draw us from his precepts nor suffer any creature to rob him of our affection And what a reasonable demand this is you will then see when you heartily believe this ETERNALL LIFE which he hath promised Believe and then you will think there is nothing too much or too hard to be done or suffered for the attaining such a glorious Life with our Saviour Which moved St. Stephen to suffer stoning and St. Paul to be in deaths often and St. John to endure banishment in a most desolate Island and worse things afterward that they might be so happy And let us with honest hearts desirous to be what God would have us beg the assistence of the HOLY GHOST to guide us in this way of understanding which we shall find incomparably the best to settle in our mind a sense of the happiness to come For when the Soul comes to the perfection of the Spirit Macar Hom. xvi xviii wholly purged from all affections and united to the Spirit the Comforter by an unspeakable communion so that by this heavenly mixture it becomes worthy to be a spirit it is all Light all Eye all Spirit all Joy all Rest all Exultation all Love all Goodness and Sweetness It becomes hereby privy to the Counsels of the Heavenly King and knows his Secrets It hath a confidence in the Almighty and enters into his Palace where the Angels and the spirits of the Saints are though it be as yet in this world For though it hath not attained the intire inheritance prepared for it there yet it is secure from the Earnest it hath received as if it were crowned and possessed of the Kingdome Who would not labour then to be so happy not onely hereafter but also here Georg. Nicomed in concept S. Annae there in possession and here in hope What a work is it to ascend up into heaven What laborious steps can lead us to so great an height What are the sweats of this mortall life to those eternall recompences By what pains shall we be worthy of friendship with our Maker How shall we make our selves a proper habitation for him to dwell in For he hath said I and my Father will come and dwell in him that loves me and keeps my Commands This is the end of the Good we have in hope this is the heavenly Kingdom this is the enjoyment of eternall pleasure this is the never-ceasing joy the perpetuall triumph the retribution transcending all our labours nay all understanding There are no labours no not in thought equall to this recompence of reward They all fall so infinitely below it that for mean for inconsiderable pains our transcendently-good Lord will give an enjoyment far surpassing all our thoughts All humane endeavours are of no account though we should wear out a whole life in them compared with the future Blessedness Though we should sustain a perpetuall combate all our days though they should be prolonged to an hundred years or to twice as much or thrice or a thousand times and all this while we should contend in a vertuous course we shall seem to have done nothing when we come to confer it with what we shall receive And therefore let us gladly by such small and poor labours strive to purchase these super-sublime recompences and treasure up these never-consuming riches I call those poor and small which not onely seem so to all but the perpetuall combate of an whole Age the most unwearied pursuit of vertue the most incessant and fervent pains in its service For such are the Goods which our munificent Lord will give in exchange for them such are the superabundant riches of his retributions such is the Hyperbole of his loving-kindness and goodness that for few things he will give infinite for beggery the greatest riches for perishing things Goods that last for ever These let us seek and dedicating our selves wholly to the Lord make haste to the obtaining so inestimable a Good Let us consecrate Soul and body to him and be fastened to his Cross that we may be worthy of his Eternall Kingdom giving glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost for ever and ever
he be seduced into this belief by any earthly appetite or desire and therefore we ought to conclude he was abundantly satisfied by the most evident demonstrations that he should live for ever and be the Authour of Eternall Life to others which among other reasons should very much satisfy us III. Who may farther consider also the Baptism of that famous person St. John the Baptist That is his whole Ministry which is comprehended under the name of his Baptism as Circumcision sometimes includes the whole Law of Moses In this we shall find if we examine it a plain testimony to the great truth we are treating of that ETERNALL LIFE is in Jesus for all the faithfull All that Nation who persecuted our Saviour held John for a Prophet and went to be baptized of him Insomuch that the wisest of them durst not affirm that his Commission was from men or that he taught and baptized the people from a private motion of his own but rather that he undertook this office by authority from heaven Upon which account they were bound to receive his testimony concerning our Saviour as unquestionable which they themselves clearly discerned to be a good consequence and therefore would not reason this matter out with our Saviour but let it fall to the ground when they themselves had begun the dispute Now He testified as plainly that by him we shall have Eternall Life as he did that he is the Son of God For 1. as soon as ever he began to preach he told them the Kingdome of heaven was at hand iii. Matt. 2. Which language the Jews understood well enough and therefore never askt what he meant for so they had learnt out of the Prophet Daniel to call the Kingdome of Christ Whose throne was to be erected by an heavenly power and not by any humane means and under whose government they expected the greatest blessings that heaven ever meant to bestow upon them Now that under this name the Baptist comprehends the Eternall Felicity which Christ should bring is apparent from the exposition which he makes of it in the following part of the Chapter Where he tells those who were dubious that he was not the Christ but they might shortly expect him and that when he came he would gather the wheat into his garner as well as burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire iii. Matt. 12. This he said when the chief of the Jews came to his Baptism which was a testimony that Jesus who presently came after him was to open the Kingdome of heaven and gather all pious men thither as wheat into a garner Which though it denote first of all the Church of Christ yet must needs include in it the notion of a Church to be made exceeding glorious because the King of it hath his seat and throne no-where but in Heaven And then 2. after this the Baptist gave a more express testimony of what they were to expect from Jesus when he said Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the World i. Joh. 29. Which words must needs intend as hath been said already that He is to restore us to the favour of God wherein our first Parents stood to take away that which separates between God and us and to make us capable of Paradise again And still more expresly 3. he says iii. Joh. 36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life Unto which testimony our Blessed Saviour himself appeals v. Joh. 33. after he had been discoursing ver 25 26 c. of his power to give life to mankind Indeed there was a witness he shews which in itself was far stronger then this and that was the Works which he did but this was a better witness to them and therefore our Saviour uses it who durst not affirm John's Baptism was not from heaven whereas they boldly said the works of our Saviour were not from thence but from the Devill This is the meaning of those words that follow ver 34 35 36. after his appeal to John's witness But I receive not testimony from man but these things I say that ye might be saved He was a burning and shining light and ye were willing for a season to rejoyce in his light But I have greater witness then that of John c. That is Though I do not chiefly rely on any humane testimony such as John's was and indeed do not need it having one more immediately divine and heavenly yet for your sakes who have a good opinion of him and own him for a Prophet and whom I would willingly convince and save by any means I instance in him so much and re-mind you of what he said concerning me That which makes me first of all speak of his testimony and so often refer you to it is not because it is the first and chiefest in its own nature much less the onely testimony I have but because I think it will be most effectuall to doe you good He being in himself a most excellent person shining among you in great wisedom and zeal and also by you so esteemed and received among you at least for a season with a great deal of satisfaction And to this now adde 4. another thing which I took notice of in the former Treatise and must here just call to remembrance that our Saviour himself was baptized of him at Bethabara a place that denoted him to be the person who should lead men to their Rest the Joshua that should conduct them into the land of promise and you will confess this WATER we are speaking of to be the Water of life which if we drink of it will revive and chear our fainting spirits If we do but receive I mean the Doctrine of the Lord Jesus into our hearts if we seriously consider it together with the strain of his Life if we mark the office of St. John Baptist the end of his Ministry and the testimony which his Baptism gave to our Saviour we shall find them all leading us into this comfortable belief that He is the Prince of life and that none can miscarry who live as he taught and tread in his steps but have good hopes in this world which shall not make them ashamed in the world to come IV. This Jesus himself also bad his Disciples believe by the same Authority whereby he baptized and gathered Disciples to himself Which none could doe I shew'd you as he did but the Christ in whose days the Jews expected an Universal Baptism and cleansing of the people Now the very end and intention of his Baptism was it is very well known for the Remission of sins and consequently for Eternall life This he taught men to believe and then authorized his Disciples to receive men to these high and noble Privileges by baptizing them in his Name Upon which followed such a marvellous change in their Souls they were so inlightned renewed and transformed
for so villanous a Murther But they granting that his Bloud was shed by them we shall soon prove it was for another cause even that which is recorded in our Books Which none ever undertook to confute though they were put forth in the face both of Jews and Romans who might long since have exposed our Religion to shame if Pontius Pilate could have averred out of the Records of the Court where our Saviour was judged that things were not so as his Disciples have related And that this Bloud of his so shed and upon such an account as we have received is of very great force to induce us to believe another World and an eternall Happiness there for us with Jesus I am now to demonstrate and shall easily make good unless we will entertain such low and slight thoughts of him as no man can suffer to lodge in his mind who attends to the Doctrine he preached and all the arguments which prove him to be the Son of God That alone indeed is sufficient to justify all that he preached particularly that God by him will give Eternall Life to those that obey him If he be so nearly related to God as even his Bloudy Death I shew'd in the former Treatise proved him to be we may believe him when he says that As the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself But I shall wave this generall way of reasoning though undeniable and offer some things more particular to every one's serious consideration I. It is apparent by the whole story which it would be too long to relate that to lay down his life was an act perfectly voluntary in our Saviour who if he had pleased might have avoided it He might have chosen whether he would have died or no for no man as he said x. Joh. 18. could take his life away but he laid it down of himself openly professing I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again He need not have faln into their cruel hands it is plain unless he had freely consented to it And when they were about to apprehend him many legions of Angels were ready for his rescue if he had pleased to lay his commands upon them xxvi Matt. 53. Nay when he made the Souldiers feel his power so that they went backward and fell to the ground xviii Joh. 6. he could withall have escaped and gone his ways as he had done at other times when this reason alone is given why they did not apprehend him as they attempted because his hour was not yet come vii Joh. 30. viii 20. that is He did not see it to be the fittest time for him to resign up himself to their power Now it cannot enter into man's deliberate thoughts that he would have so freely without any constraint or resistence given up his life especially when by preserving it he might have lived in great repute esteem and admiration of the people yea have been honoured for escaping out of the hands of his enemies if he had not been sure of ETERNALL LIFE and a greater glory in the Heavens which he should win by going so willingly out of this present world He that saved others could surely have saved himself and spoiled their jeer xxvii Matt. 42. if his will had not been otherwise resolved He that raised Lazarus from the dead could have more easily struck all his opposers dead at his feet if it had been his pleasure What should make his will then thus bent upon death What hindred the putting forth of his power for himself which it is manifest he so often used for the benefit of others What could move him so tamely like a Lamb to give his throat to the bloudy knife and to hang so meekly upon an infamous cross if it were not the contemplation of an incomparable felicity which he hoped to obtain by his Obedience to God and bearing witness to the Truth All men of sense cannot chuse but look upon this as an undoubted Argument that he himself stedfastly believed and had good assurance of the truth of what he preached For who is there that can find in his heart to die and die in such a manner so painfully and with such ignominy for that which he thinks in his conscience is false nay does not know to be certain It is next to an impossibility that any man in his wits should so far forget himself as to be forward to throw away all he hath against the strongest inclinations and perswasions of nature which abhors death and most of all a cruell and disgracefull death merely to justifie a lie which humane Nature is ashamed of without the help of torments to make it odious There have been sundry examples of rashness and foolish boldness but none can be produced nor easily imagined of such an one as this For what can a man propose to himself who lays his life at the stake to make good that which he believes hath no truth in it What can he hope to get by such a mad resolved obstinacy No man attempts any thing without an end much less will he expose his life to the least hazzard without a cause of some moment What can you see then in this case weighty enough to be cast into the balance against a man's life which should make him sacrifice it freely as our Saviour did Riches and all the Pleasures they can provide for us could be of no consideration because they will doe a man no service when he is dead and our Saviour had no posterity to whom to leave them Honour and Fame also seem to be of as little value for what satisfaction is it to be talkt of in the world when we have left it and hear nothing of what is done in it Yet this is all that can be imagined to have any power in this business One may possibly you may fansy for to get a great Name in the world by being the Authour of a new Opinion or Sect throw away his life though he know that he doth but broach a lie A strange supposition this is which a man in his right senses one would think should not be inclined to make But since some have pretended it is possible I shall briefly shew that it could have no hand in our Saviour's Sufferings As will appear if we consider either the Circumstances of his Death or the quality of his Doctrine or the manner of his Life II. The Circumstances of his Death were such that if they be but a little examined you will presently find there is no place for this conceit For 1. it stands upon good record that He himself knew of his death beforehand and foretold it with the manner of it and yet was so far from endeavouring to avoid it that he went of his own accord to the very place where he knew they would come to apprehend him This is a plain declaration that he was
no Impostour For though you may fansy a man tickled with so much vain-glory that he will not stick to embrace death when he cannot evade it rather then unsay what he hath published though he know it to be false yet this is all that can with any colour be supposed No such person can be conceived willing to seek death to offer himself to it to go to the very place where he knows it waits for him when he may as well avoid it and designedly put himself into those hands which it is apparent are resolved to kill him No though fame be his design yet the preservation of his life without all doubt is his greater concernment and if he can he will enjoy both his fame together with his life But if any body will be so extravagant as to fansy that He might intend to get fame even by running himself into this danger let him observe farther 2. what our Saviour met withall in his passage to his death which would have stopt such vain forwardness For there was something so dreadfull appeared to him in the way to his Passion that when it approached he fell into an Agony A great horrour seized on him which declared how much Nature was against his proceeding Whose strong and violent inclinations would have prevailed against a fancy and vain humour if he had not known that he was ingaged in a good Cause and did not deceive the World Such terrible apprehensions as then presented themselves would have made him take the opportunity of the night and consult for his safety if he had been a Deceiver and not very well assured that this was the way to everlasting Life And then if you consider again 3. that he was not hastily hurried to the gibbet but had a long time to weigh what he was about to suffer it will seem incredible that he should not repent of his obstinacy if he had been conscious to himself of any falshood For though in a sudden heat of mad zeal a man may be supposed so foolish as to maintain an untruth with the hazzard of his life yet the sight of long-continued torments set a great while before his eyes would make him in all likelihood confess the truth But 4. that which quite overthrows this idle supposition is that the kind of his death was such as could procure him nothing less then glory and fame there being nothing more infamous and reproachful then to die like a vile slave upon a Cross This he could not but foresee would expose him to the scorn of all the World did not something else gain him more credit then this could do disgrace And so it proved afterward notwithstanding all the Miracles he had wrought his Crucifixion was the laughter of the Gentiles and a stumbling-block to the Jews From whence we may conclude that if we will but allow him to be a man of common sense he would not have taken this way of all other to procure fame No course he could have thought of to propagate his Doctrine would have been more mad then this if it were not taken as in all reason it ought to be for a token of his sincerity and truth in what he preached which would be published he knew to his immortall honour and glory in all the world But dying such a death as he did there could be no hope it must be farther considered 5. that his Doctrine should be so much as published by his followers much less received by others unless he were both sure himself that it was the truth and that he could make the truth of it appear to them And then what would have become of all the glory for which it is supposed he might be tempted to part with his life All that he could doe to secure his Disciples that he preached nothing but the truth and to incourage them also to preach Christ crucified which was a most odious and dangerous undertaking was to tell them that He would rise again the third day and appear alive to them Now it is as manifest as the Sun that if he knew himself to be an Impostour he could have no hope that God would raise him up again and it is as manifest on the other side that if he did not rise again there was no hope that his Apostles would preach him because he had proved himself a liar and if he was not preached by them there could be no hope of glory and fame and consequently he would never have died in expectation of that which if he did but abuse the World he knew could not possibly attend upon his Name For it is visible it must either have been buried in silence or else remembred with reproach He himself having blasted it by failing in the performance of his word But I have said enough of this and therefore shall consider onely one thing more 6. what it was that comforted our Saviour and supported his spirit upon the Cross Was it the hopes he had to be cried up by his followers and magnified every-where when he was dead and gone for a man of an invincible spirit No He comforted himself with the thoughts of his own integrity He humbly addressed himself in prayer to God He relieved himself with the thoughts that he was his Father to whom therefore he commends his spirit and breathed out his Soul in a pious confidence that He would receive it and glorify him in the heavens For a little before he suffered he lift up his eyes thither as St. John testifies and said Father the hour is come glorify thy Son that thy Son may glorify thee c. I have glorified thee on earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to doe And now O Father glorify thou me with thy own self with the glory I had with thee before the World was xvii Joh. 1 4 5. And when the moment of his departure was come and he was just expiring on the Cross He cried out with a loud voice that all might hear him Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit And having thus said he gave up the ghost He that shall impute all this also to vain-glory we may rather conclude takes a pride in cavilling and contradicting and hath lost all sense of the Nature of man which finds no inclinations in it to be thus audacious For how can he repose any hope in God who at that very instant when he expresses it is committing the greatest open affront unto him imaginable Our Blessed Saviour was ever a devout worshipper of him and in all his ways acknowledged him and therefore since he did thus seriously betake himself to him in his sorest distress it is apparent he was perswaded of his own sincerity and truth which God the searcher of all hearts knew to whom therefore he appeals and was confident he should live with him for ever and be able to give Eternall Life to others III. But what need is there to insist any
longer upon such considerations as these when his Doctrine which is the Second thing I mentioned is so holy and pure so heavenly and divine that the constant preacher of such things could not be guilty of so great an impiety as to call the God of heaven at last to bear witness to a known untruth No it condemns lesser lies to so severe a punishment that to say he was sent of God with the words of Eternall life nay was the Way the Truth and the Life when he knew he was not deserved according to his own sentence the heaviest condemnation To which if you add the manner of his Life which was the last thing it will compleat the Demonstration For it was so perfectly conformable to his Doctrine that we cannot but think he believed it and so could not die with a lie in his mouth Particularly it was so free from all covetous designs and from hunting after the applause and praise of men that it is incredible he should seek that by death which he had despised through the whole course of his life If he was so thirsty of vain-glory as to lose his life for it why did he not make it his business to win all he could of it while he lived Why did he not lay the foundation of his after-fame by insinuating himself in the most diligent and men-pleasing manner into the favour of all the Jewish nation and conform himself so perfectly to their humour that they might have presently made him their King Nay why did he not accept the offer when the people intended to advance him to the throne This had been a more likely way to honour and renown if that was all his aim then the lifting him up upon a Cross He might have hoped to build a lasting glory on the love of the Scribes and Elders of the people whereas this infamous death he could not but see would make him so odious that it would rob him of all mens good word and quite frustrate the design of winning a reputation among men This is a truth of which I presume by this time the most suspicious and unbelieving are convinced who cannot but confess that the voluntary death of such a person as this and a death so horrid and ignominious is a plain testimony of his sincerity and proves beyond any reasonable contradiction that he did not invent his Doctrine himself but believed it to be of God and did not seek to gain any thing by it but immortall life and glory in the world to come VI. Now that we must needs be great gainers hereby as well as himself will appear if you consider that he came into the world on purpose to doe mankind good as the business of his whole life testifies He went about doing good and sought all occasions of obliging even the most ungratefull He had compassion on every body he met withall and never denied a cure to those that begg'd it though they were never so poor and contemptible He imployed his Disciples also who attended on him in the same charitable works of healing all manner of diseases and easting out unclean spirits He bad them go and speak peace unto every house into which they entred And as for themselves he professed the greatest love imaginable to them as they themselves have recorded He called them his Friends and did not use them as Servants nay his Children and at last his Brethren which are all terms of much kindness and tenderness which he ever expressed towards them From whence I conclude that unless he could have served them better by his death then by his longer life he would not have so soon and so willingly gone to the Cross and there left these dear Friends for whose sake he had hitherto lived more then his own If he had not died for their sake too and been certain he should thereby shew more love to them and doe them better service then any other way he would have been as much inclined to stay still with them as they were to desire it He saw how loth they were to part with him and with what sad countenances and troubled spirits they received the news He was incompassed with sighs and groans when he did but mention it for sorrow as he speaks xvi Joh. 6. had filled their hearts Would not this have moved a heart less tender then his to alter this resolution when it was in his power to stay longer with them How could he endure to see their tears flow so fast when he was able to dry them up with the speaking but one word that he would not leave them If he had not been sure that he was going as he told them to his Father and that it was on purpose to prepare a place for them which ought to have made them rejoyce rather then weep because he would come again and receive them to himself that where he was there they might be also xiv Joh. 1 2 3 28. without all doubt his great love would have yielded to their prayers and commanded his power to prolong their happiness in his company He should be able he verily believed to doe greater wonders for them and bestow greater blessings upon them if he did not hearken to their importunities or else we cannot but think if we measure him by our selves he would have still continued with these his dear Companions especially since none as he professed could snatch him from their society but it was his own free choice to leave them V. And he earnestly desired them to believe as much and to look upon his BLOUD as the Seal of a New Covenant which contained better promises then the former between God and men So he said just before his death when he spoke of the Representation of it This is my BLOVD of the New Testament or Covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins xxvi Matt. 28. And so the Apostles believed and spake of his BLOUD in the same terms when by his resurrection from the dead they saw that it was the BLOVD of the Covenant x. Heb. 29. and that he was most eminent for this above all other things as the expression is xiii Heb. 20. where the Apostle calls him the Shepherd of the sheep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who was great in the bloud of the everlasting Covenant Now this is one Article every body knows one of the promises contained in it that we shall as certainly have Eternall Life as Israel in due time was brought to the possession of the good Land God promised to their Fathers Abraham you reade xv Gen. 7. had the word of God for it that he would give his posterity the Land of Canaan into which he had brought him out of Chaldaea And when he made so bold as to ask how he should know that this was true you find ver 9 10 11. that God passed this promise into a Covenant which was made by the bloud of sundry beasts
could not contain themselves when they saw what testimonies heaven gave of his innocence and vertue but did him publick honour even at the very place of execution Though he suffered as the highest and vilest offender in the world yet the honest-hearted spectatours were not onely inwardly troubled in their breasts at the sight but beat or knockt them also and shewed thereby that they were not afraid to own him as a most Excellent person whose death they ought to accompany with the bitterest lamentations And so much may suffice concerning the Testimony of his BLOUD which no man can hear speak a word but he must needs think that which got him such honour among the people in the midst of his shame and the reproach of the Cross obtained a far greater glory for him with God in the heavens who best knew how to value his obedience O wonderfull Passion Proclus Homil. xi the Expiation of the World O Death the cause of Immortality and the origin of Life O descent into Hell the bridge by which those who were dead passed into Heaven O Noon which hath revoked the Afternoon-sentence against us in Paradise O Cross the cure of the fatall Tree O Nails which wounded Death and joyn'd the world to the knowledge of God! Great was the victory which He that was incarnate for us obtained on the day of his passion He grappled with death when he was dead Hell and the grave this day ignorantly swallowed a deadly morsell To day death received him dead who always lives To day the chains were loosed which the Serpent made in Paradise The Thief this day made a breach on Paradise which had been guarded by the flaming sword some thousands of years This day our Lord broke the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder Which of the great Men that ancient times boast of are comparable to him All the just fell under the power of death and none could conquer it Abraham Isaac and Jacob are all turn'd to dust and ashes The memory of Joseph in whom the Jews glory lay in his dry bones which they carried out of Egypt with them Moses is extolled by them to the skies but there is not so much as his tomb to be found Such as these and so many death devoured and swallowed them all down But at last it swallowed one and against its will vomited up the whole World Who now triumph over it and cry with a loud voice O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. His Passion is our impassibility S. Athanasius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 598. His Death is our immortality His tears our joy His buriall our resurrection His Baptism our purification His stripes our healing His chastisement our peace His reproach our glory How much are we indebted to him who from first to last consulted our happiness For he descended Id. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. p. 1002. that he might make way for our ascent He was born that he might make us friends with the Vnbegotten He took on him our infirmities that we might be raised in power and say with St. Paul I can doe all things through Christ which strengthneth me He took on him a corruptible body that this corruption might put on incorruption He put on mortality that it might be changed into immortall In fine He was made Man and died that we who die as men might be deified and death might no longer reign over us O blessed and life-giving Cross of our Saviour which triumphed over death and destroyed him that had the power of it which is the Devil O divine Word and true Wisedom of the Father thou hast overcome the Devill when he thought he had been a conquerour * August de Trinitate L. 13. c. 15. Caet ex Athanasio p. 1022. O Lover of men and gracious Lord thou hast both redeemed us that were captives and freed us by thy own death who were servants of sin O Son of God the true Peace-maker thou hast both given us the adoption of Sons and reconciled us to thy Father having destroyed the enmity by thy flesh O rich Saviour and true King who becamest poor that we by thy poverty might be made rich and hast given to us the Kingdom of heaven O Creatour and former of all things the Word of the Father for thou hast created us again we are thy workmanship created unto good works O Light indeed the brightness of the Father for thou hast inlightned us that were in darkness and hast brought us that were blind to see the light O Likeness and reall Image of the Father for thou hast formed us who were lost and again restored the image of God in us O God the Word and Life indeed for thou hast quickned us who were dead and renewed us that were corrupted and cloathed us with immortality O thou Power indeed the arm the right hand of the Father for thou hast both loosed the bands of death and broken the prison-doors in pieces God forbid that we should glory Ib. pag. 1028. save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ To this let us adhere let us walk worthy of this And thus living and believing we shall know also his assumption into the heavens and his session on the right hand of the Majesty on high We shall behold the subjection of Angels to him and his coming again with glory Which Angels have foretold which Saints sing of in their hymns and which when we all see we shall rejoyce and be exceeding glad in Christ Jesus By whom be glory and dominion to the Father world without end Amen CHAP. XI Concerning the Testimony of the SPIRIT the Third Witness on Earth THough the Children of Israel were so strangely delivered out of their bondage being saved by the Bloud of the Paschal Lamb from the destroying Angel and then freed from Pharaoh who thought it 's like that his bloud must next of all pay for the keeping them in Egypt yet still they questioned whether they should come into the good Land or no and were at a sad plunge when they came to the Red Sea imagining that they themselves should be there destroyed and become the next Sacrifice to Pharaoh's cruelty To confirm them therefore in their belief of God's kind intentions towards them and perswade them thoroughly that Moses had not brought them out of Egypt to kill them but to save them He gave him power to doe great wonders at that place and in the rest of their journey which added to the Miracles in Egypt were a strong conviction that God was among them and was conducting them by the hands of his Servant to their long-desired Rest This was the last Argument and the most constant whereby he demonstrated the truth and reality of his promises of bringing them to the land of Canaan They saw his signs
supposed for I shall say no more of it here there is no man can have the face to deny the Resurrection of the body and Life everlasting which Christ our Lord hath promised us There can be no truer reasoning then that of St. Paul 1 Thess iv 14. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him I. For thus much is evident at first sight and is included in the thing it self that this work of the SPIRIT proves a possibility of the Resurrection of the dead and shews that we mortal creatures who live on the earth may live in the heavens So the same Apostle argues elsewhere against those who denied this Truth 1 Cor. xv 12. If Christ be preached upon such credible testimonies as he mentions in the foregoing verses that he rose from the dead how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead It is the grossest absurdity that is to say there can be no such thing as the restoring of a dead body to life when it is so evidently verified in Christ's resurrection Which shews it is so far from being impossible or incredible that it is a thing which hath been done already as is very well attested by Witnesses that cannot with any equity be rejected And by the same reason he proves we ought not to despair of seeing our bodies made glorious and incorruptible For if He be not in his grave as none could shew him there after the third day but is made glorious why may not we partake of the same favour by that power which raised Christ from the dead and set him at God's right hand There is no reason to doubt of it but the greatest reason to hope and be confident that He who raised up the Lord Jesus as St. Paul speaks in the next Epistle 2 Cor. iv 14. will raise up us also by Jesus and set us in his presence in the heavens II. For by his Resurrection the SPIRIT proved the truth of all that the other Witnesses the Water the Bloud and his Miraculous Works too testified Particularly it demonstrated the truth of his Doctrine by which as you have seen life and immortality was brought to light If this had not been true that we shall live for ever by him Jesus would have perished and never have come to life again to deceive the World the second time But seeing God did not leave his Soul in hell nor suffer his Holy i. e. his anointed one to see corruption it is an uncontroulable argument that those who believe on him shall not perish neither but be made alive as he is Because He that said he would rise again the third day said likewise with the same assurance that at the last day he will raise up us also and bestow upon us everlasting Life When God who alone could doe it verified the one and according to his word raised up Jesus the third day He bid us be assured of the other that this Jesus hath Life in himself and will by his power raise up us according to his promise unto a never-dying life This is the Character He had given of himself I am the Resurrection and the Life that is the Authour the Cause of both He that believeth on me shall have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day nothing of him shall perish neither his Soul nor his body for even they that are in their graves shall hear his voice and shall rise again to lise This he often preached and proved many ways but after all he sealed it with his bloud and bad them expect a little and they should see it sealed by his resurrection from the dead Which insuing at the time appointed was a perfect demonstration that he said true when he affirmed that He is the Resurrection and the Life by whom we shall receive this inestimable benefit of rising again after death to live for ever with him Of this as well as the former Consideration I may possibly say so much elsewhere that I shall spare any farther pains about them now III. Let us rather remember how severall persons rose from the dead at that very time when he left his grave xxvii Matt. 52 53. which were notable instances of his power to give life and put us in hope that we shall all rise again as they did There is no cause but his Resurrection to be assigned of this Miracle which fell out the same time that he was missing in his grave as the opening of their tombs at that very moment when he died Never was any such thing heard of before or since and therefore it was intended to demonstrate the mighty power of his Resurrection when many bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of their graves and went into Jerusalem and appeared unto many Whose testimony none have had the confidence to contradict by endeavouring to disprove it but the Jews rather by some concessions of theirs confirm us in the belief of it For it is a common opinion now among their Doctours that the Kingdom of the Messiah shall begin with the Resurrection of the dead Bury me said R. Jeremiah with shoes on my feet and my staff in my hand and lay me on one side that when Christ comes I may be ready But of this conceit we can find no footsteps in the Old Scriptures which makes it probable that they have borrowed this as they have done many other things from the Holy Gospell in which it is recorded that he began his entrance upon his Kingdome with the Resurrection of some pious persons as an earnest of the restoring all the rest to Eternall Life And thus it is likely they have learnt to discourse of the bodies of the just after they are raised concerning which some of them speak so sublimely above the dull and gross conceptions of the rest of their Nation that one can scarce look upon it otherwise then as Christian language When the Soul is in the state of glory Vid. Jo. de Voysin in Pug. fid part iii. dist 2. c. 8. saith the Book Zohar it sustains it self with the light above wherewith it is also cloathed and when it shall return to the body it shall come with the same light and with the body shall shine as with the brightness of heaven More there is in other Authours to the same purpose which say God can give us bodies strong and vigorous like the Angels and that the bodies of the just after the resurrection shall be subtil like the globe of the Moon Vid. eum de Lege Div. in xxii Matt. 3â— and so give no impediment to the Soul in its enjoyment of the Splendour of the Divine Majesty But supposing this to be their own language without any tincture they had received from the Christian Doctrine it will be still more remarkable that our Lord Jesus according to their expectations
his preaching or presently followed it is a very strong argument to induce you to believe that he taught the way of God in truth having revealed all things pertaining to life and godliness as God himself attests For by the Glory wherewith he called us i. e. preached the Gospell and perswaded us to believe we are to understand his Transfiguration on the holy Mount where they saw his glory ix Luk. 32. and to which the Apostle afterward appeals ver 16 17. of this Chapter as a justification of the truth of their Ministry The coming down also of the Holy Ghost at his Baptism the voices from heaven in one of which God said he would glorifie him again as he had done already and the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles are here also to be understood by Glory for by these we are called and moved to receive the knowledge of him And then by Vertue is undoubtedly meant that very thing which I last treated of his mighty power in miraculous works and the mighty power of the SPIRIT in raising him from the dead For it is well observed by Drusius and others that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertue in these holy Writings never signifies as it doth in heathen Authours Piety and morall goodness in opposition to Vice but power and might in opposition to weakness And therefore by this word the Greek Interpreters of the Old Testament render the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which denotes the Greatness Majesty and height of God's excellency and sometimes the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies strength and stoutness According to which in the New Testament it denotes either the mighty power of God as here in this place or else our courage and valour as in the fifth verse of this Chapter But it is no-where found in the sacred style used for piety and therefore we must not render the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to but by vertue that is the power and mightiness of God's arm or strength as the Scripture speaks by which our Saviour convinced the World that God the Father had sent him to give Life unto it Thus the Apostle St. Paul saith which will very much explain this that He was raised up from the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the glory of the Father vi Rom. 4. That is by his glorious power as Camero well renders it for his power appeared most gloriously in that wonderfull Work whereby as St. Peter here speaks he called us to believe on him So we are to understand him it appears by another Argument For if we should say we are called to glory understanding thereby heaven we could not be said to have precious promises as it follows hereby given to us For this would be to say that by calling us to heaven he hath called us to heaven But if we take these words the other way then the sense runs currently and delivers to us this excellent Truth That by such means as I have treated of the Descent of the Holy Ghost the Transfiguration of our Saviour the Voices from heaven the Miracles he wrought the might of his power which wrought in him when God raised him from the dead he perswaded men to receive him as the onely-begotten of the Father who was come by his authority to shew them the true way to everlasting life By these we know that we are not cheated but that he who hath called us is the Son of God by whom we are sure to attain everlasting life if we follow those directions he hath given us which will infallibly bring us to it And then the next words ver 4. are still more pertinent to my purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by which GLORY and VERTUE are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises We are so sure to attain eternall life that we have many promises of it which are so strongly confirmed that we cannot doubt of them being delivered in such a divine manner For when he gave them it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by glory and vertue with such demonstrations of his Authority to promise them and of his power to make them good that we cannot but depend upon his word None I suppose question but by these great these precious yea exceeding great and precious promises he means those of raising us from the dead and carrying us to heaven to live with God and that eternally These are the chiefest things of which our Lord hath given us such assurance when he called us to believe on his Name Things which as much exceed all that was promised Israel as the heavens are wider then the smallest spot of this earth More precious are they then all lands if they flowed with milk and honey more to be desired then gold yea then much fine gold then all the gold of Ophir more to be valued then the Crowns of Kings which are not so much as an Emmet's Egge in comparison with this Happiness Now as there is nothing that can be compared with these promises so we have no testimony on Earth comparable to this of the SPIRIT that exceeding greatness of his power whereby these promises were brought to us and assured to be infallible For by this we know that He hath all power in heaven and earth and is able to doe whatsoever the Father Almighty doeth that is give life to the dead which is the property of the Almighty alone So the Enemies of our Religion are forced to confess who say there are three keys which God keeps to himself and commits to none of his Embassadours the keys of the womb the keys of heaven and the keys of the grave Thy power saith Joseph Albo speaking of God is not the power of flesh and bloud for the power of flesh and bloud is to put those to death who are alive but thy power is to raise those to life who are dead The very same we may justly say of our Lord Jesus Christ who challenges this power to himself as I have noted before out of the first of the Revelation where he tells St. John I have the keys of hell and of death ver 18. He was no ordinary Embassadour but can doe more then any whom God sent into the world ever did or could He can raise even the dead bodies of his subjects to life again And when he hath lifted them out of the dust if I may apply the Psalmist's words to this purpose can set them with Princes even with the Princes of his heavenly Court to praise and bless his love among those great Ministers the Angelicall powers for ever and ever Which is a power he doth not assume to himself vainly but was conferred on him by God the Father who raised him from the dead and gave him glory wherein St. John beheld him when he said I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I live for evermore Amen and have the keys of hell and of death Great is
in heaven binding whom it would and loosing there according to the power given him As a lion let loose among a company of foxes so did he fall upon the societies of Daemons and Philosophers and like a thunderbolt struck through all the armies of the Devill who was so afraid of him that he trembled at his shadow and ran away if he did but hear his voice He delivered the incestuous Corinthian to him being far distant from the place and again he snatcht him out of his hands being perfectly acquainted with his devices And in like manner he taught others by the same severity not to blaspheme But let us not content our selves merely to admire him let us not onely be astonisht at him let us imitate and follow him What though we cannot doe such miracles as the Apostles did and there is no hunger and other miseries to be endured the times being peaceable and quiet God be blessed yet there is their piety and the holiness of their life to be transcribed which was no less admirable And this is the noblest conflict this is the syllogism which cannot be contradicted this by our Works Should we discourse never so excellently but live no better then others we gain nothing For unbelievers do not mind what we say but what we doe saying Do thou first of all follow thine own words and then perswade others For if thou tellest us of millions of good things in the other world but art so intent upon the things of this as if there were no other we believe thy works rather then thy words For when we see thee greedy to snatch other mens goods bitterly bewailing thy friends deceased and in many other things offending how shall we believe thee that there is a Resurrection Thus unbelievers are hindred from being Christians And therefore having seen how glorious our Saviour is Id. Homil. xii in Johan being instructed in his Religion and made partakers of so great a gift let us lead a life agreeable to our principles that so we may injoy those good things which Christ hath promised For He therefore appeared not onely that his Disciples might behold his glory in this world as they say they did i. Joh. 14. but also in the world to come For I will saith he that where I am they may be and see my glory And if he appeared so illustriously here what shall we say of his glory there O happy thrice happy they more happy then can be expressed who shall be thought worthy of that glory Which if we should be so unhappy as not to see better had it been for us if we never had been born To what purpose do we live and breath what are we if we miss of that Light if we may not be permitted then to see our Lord and Master If those who enjoy not the light of the Sun lead a life more bitter then death how miserable will their condition be who are deprived of that light This loss will be punishment sufficient though this is not all they must expect For being banished from this Light they shall not onely be cast into outer darkness but there burn perpetually and miserably consume and gnash their teeth and suffer a thousand other miseries Let us awake therefore let us look about us let us use our utmost endeavours that we may enjoy the happiness Christ designs for us and be far remote from the river of fire which runs with great noise before the dreadful tribunall Into that if we fall there is no redemption And therefore let us purify our life let us make it bright and shining so that we may have boldness of access to the blessed sight of our Lord and obtain the promised good things through the grace and loving-kindness of Christ Jesus by whom and with whom to the Father and the Holy Ghost be glory world without end Amen CHAP. XIII The Vse we are to make of this RECORD I. AND in the very entrance of so pious a design to improve the great grace which Heaven hath bestowed on us it becomes us to stand amazed at the transcendent love of God our Saviour who not contenting himself to have thoughts and intentions of good towards such wretched Sinners hath been pleased to make us a gracious promise that he will bless us and to acquaint us by no less Messenger then his own Eternall Son appearing from heaven in our flesh with the secret purposes of his heart to give us the greatest Blessedness There is nothing so astonishing as this whether we consider the incomparable excellency of the Good he designs us or the favour he hath done us in revealing it to us or the glory of that person by whom he reveals it or the certainty we have that this is a true report that God hath given to us Eternall Life and this Life is in his Son O most joyfull news shall we poor mortalls live for ever and live there where Jesus is May such as we presume to expect such glory honour and immortality as he hath brought to light by his Gospell O wonderfull love which might have concealed its kindness and yet eternally obliged us It had been enough if we had got to heaven without knowing before-hand we should be so happy Why should such offenders injoy the comfort of hoping for so great a Happiness while we are here in these earthly prisons Might we not have been well contented to creep upon our hands and knees to so high a glory Had we not been fairly used if with our heads hanging down and not daring so much as to lift up our eyes to that holy place we had travelled through this world and at last found our selves beyond all expectation at rest with Jesus But O the love of God which hath bid us hold up our heads and look above and behold our Lord in his glory and hope well yea be confident that he hath seated us together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus We are indebted to him beyond all thoughts for promising us so freely out of his exceeding great love and giving us so evident a right to such glory and honour as our own unworthiness and guilt forbad us to promise our selves or to have the least expectance of And what is it that he hath so freely promised To look into that high and holy place where he is at some distance to behold his glory to have an Angel come sometimes to visit us and bring us some message from him in some of the suburbs of heaven And a great favour too I assure you A very singular kindness it ought to be esteemed if we vile wretches may be permitted to be so happy as but to come near the gates of the celestiall palace Well would it be for us to come but within the sound of those melodious hymns which the heavenly host continually sing or to live but in some of the most remote corners of that heavenly countrey and there enjoy for
if we observe as we may easily from what hath been said that as they wanted the express promises which we have so what they understood of the nature of this Felicity by the light they enjoyed was but very dull in comparison with what is revealed to us Who can see more even in their Books then they could do themselves and find out that by the light of the Cospell which was wrapt up in dark figures and clouds under the Law and the Prophets As they saw Christ in Isaar and in a Lunb so they beheld Heaven under the figure of Paradise and in a Land flowing with milk and honey and in the â—â—oly city and the Temple of stone the greatest glory whereof was when it was filled with the cloud 1 King viii 10 c. But now in the Church of the New Testament there is no Temple but the Lord God Almighty and the Lâ—mb are the Temple of it xxi Rev. 22. And he saith not now I will dwell in thick darkness but as it follows there ver 23. the glory of God inlightens the Church and the Lamb is the Light thereof who hath made us with open faâ—e to behold his glory in the heavens and given us full assurance that we shall be changed into the same image from glory to glory 2 Cor. iii. 18. This he published so clearly that the dullest and most illiterate fouls saw there was no Master comparable to him who had the Words of â—â—ernall life and by his Death Resurrection and Ascension opened to all believers the Kingdom of heaven That 's a word St. Austin confesses * Tom. vi L. xix contra Faust Man cap. ult he could not find in all the Old Scriptures and St. Hierom says the same There are Testimonies there saith he of Eternall life whether plain or obscure it matters not though the places he alledges would have been obscure if we had not been inlightned before we reade them by the Gospell but this Name of the KING DOM OF HEAVEN I can meet withall in no place Hoc enim propriè pertinet ad revelationem Novi Testamenti For it properly belongs to the Revelation of the New Testament And it is a word as the Authour of the Answers ad Orthodoxos teaches us which doth not simply siguifie the Resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the state of things after the Resurrection when we shall be so marvell ously changed as to be fit companions for the Angels and reign with our Saviour in his glory Of which things the Jews have now so little knowledge that they expect onely to rise again to feast here upon earth with the Mâ—ssiah whom they look for and after they have spent some years in the enjoyment of the good things of an earthly Paradise then they think their bodies shall die and their Souls onely live for ever * Vid. Jacchâ—ades in viii Dan. 14. L'Empereur ib. Let any one that is able but reade what Manasseh ben Israel hath writ of the Resurrection and he will find it such poor stuff that the best use that can be made of it will be to put our selves in mind how much we stand ingaged to the Divine love for acquainting us so plainly with the Happiness he will give us at the Resurrection of our bodies to an immortall life Our Saviour indeed saith they might have learnt better out of the Scriptures then to imagine there will be eating and drinking and marrying after the resurrection but there was none of their books could teach them that we should be companions of Angels and shine like the Sun and see God and be coheirs with Christ and such like things which by the Gospell are now so clearly discovered to us that the most ignorant know more then the wisest that want this Revelation R. Tanchum who would fain prove the life of the World to come from the words of Abigail who speaks of the binding David's Soul in the bundle of life 1 Sam. xxv 29 * D. Pocock Not. miscell c. vi p. 91. observes that this Mystery which was a stranger to mens understandings in other nations and far remote from their thoughts to the knowledge of which none but very wise men came by much labour and exercise and after long disquisitions and difficult reasonings was known then among the Jews and manisest even to the Women An argument saith he that wisedom was much spred in our Nation and that as Moses speaks iv Dent. 6. we are a wise and understanding people Which is far truer of the Disciples of the Lord Jesus among whom even the most simple are taught such things as whatsoever such a wise woman as Abigail may be supposed to understand in ancient days their greatest Doctours have been so ignorant of since that we see the words of Isaiah xxix 14. sulfilled in them The Wisedom of their wise men shall perish and the undâ—rshanding of their â—â—ndent men shall be hid Where is the wise as St. Paul triumphs over them 1 Cor. i. 20 27. where is the Sâ—â—â—â— where is the disputer of this world God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise Made use 〈◊〉 of such men as the World for waâ—â— of humane learning accounted no better 〈◊〉 fools to publish so clearly and with such evidence the doctrine of Lternall Life that it may justly make men of the greatest repute for learning blush who could not speak one wise word about it But suppose them all to have been indued with a clearer sight then indeed they had of the Life to come yet of the Blessedness which God intends for us there that of St. Paul 1 Cor. ii 9. will still be true Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him There is a passage in the Prophet Isaiah very like this lxiv. 4. which the Jewish Doctours themselves expound in the mysticali sense of the future life and from thence St. Paul is supposed to have borrowed these expressions Though the very words â—â—â—mselves of St. Paul being found in the Apocryphall Book of Elias it is probable as Grotius thinks that this was grown a common saying among the Rabbins who had been taught by ancient tradition to expect such things in the days of the Messiah as never any eye had seen nor ear heard nor had entred into any man's heart to conceive Which is verified in the whole Revelation of God's will in the Gospell especially in this part of it No man had so much as a thought or a desire of such things as God hath done for us and intends to doe by our Lord Jesus That he should send from heaven his own Son his onely-begotten Son begotten of him before all worlds to be incarnate of a pure Virgin to die for our sins that he might rise again to sit at God's right hand where our Nature shines far brighter
so glorious a purchace Or suppose a man will chuse to lose all his worldly goods which he hath got that he may preserve his liberty and not be inslaved here is a greater Good still which will dispose a man to kiss his cords or his chains and sing like Paul and Silas in the innermost prison Or suppose again that to save his life a man should embrace the chains and fetters which tie him fast to his oar nere is something still beyond this which is the onely thing that can make a man chearfully sacrifice his life for the loss of which nothing else can make him any recompence The reason is because there is no proportion between this and all other things either as to greatness or goodness not so much as between a Kingdom and a barly-corn 5. And therefore I may adde that it will make us in love with all piety at once and with all the means leading to it though never so troublesome It doth not work upon us after the way of Art but as Nature it self doth It doth not teach us vertue and godliness by little parcels as a Statuary first forms one part of his statue and then another now working on the face and then on the hands or feet but instills it altogether in the whole mass as I may so speak and works in us such an universall love to goodness as to have a ready will presently to doe whatsoever God would have us Just as you see the spirit of Nature or a particular Soul work in the formation of the body of a plant or of an animall in the womb which it begins in all its proportions together and so proceeds on still to bring the parts to a greater bigness and strength even so doth this mighty Good operate when it touches the heart not inclining it first to the grace of temperance and then by another touch to the grace of charity and after that by a third to the grace of contentedness c. but at once begets an hearty love to universall goodness and forms the whole body of Christian Vertues all together which grow up after the same manner all alike there being the same power inspiring us unto all Which may spare me the labour of shewing what a Motive it is to inforce the practice of every particular Vertue Which it makes easie also because this one thing which is the reason for all is easily kept in our mind Eternall Life is like a short Sentence which contains in it the pith and strength of a long Discourse or like unto a little Leaven which infuses it self into the whole mass wherewith it is mixed And it makes all Divine graces intire and perfect also For where the mind is once impregnated with it and it hath begun a Divine life there it will never produce a monstrous birth No lim of the New man if I may so speak shall here be wanting It will not suffer us I mean to be defective in any part of true piety nor shall one part draw all the nourishment to it and overgrow the rest It will not let us spend our zeal about some particulars while we are cold and remiss in other Christian duties but make us equally affected and spirited unto all From whence likewise arises another benefit that while by the thoughts of this we excite our selves to any one grace we promote our growth also in every one When we stir up our selves to the practice of our present duty we are disposed thereby to the like chearfull obedience on any other emergent occasion When we call up our Souls by this to doe God's will it impowers us also though we should not then think of it to suffer what he would have us And while we animate our selves hereby to suffer one thing it enables us to doe and suffer all O the power of this Divine Good if it once seat it self in the very throne of our hearts How it makes them beat with the love of God and with the love of our neighbour How it inspires us with resolution with confidence with zeal with joy with all other pious affections It will let us scruple none of God's Commands because it is of equall force to make us submit to all Neither prophaneness nor hypocrisy neither listlesness nor despondency can ever lodge in that heart where this belief is deeply rooted that God will give to our little short labours here an immense eternall recompence in the other World 6. One cannot imagine how it should be otherwise if we go on to consider once more how naturally this belief fills our hearts with love to that blessed God who is so good as to design us such inconceivable Blessedness and to his will as the onely way and means to be partaker of it We shall easily be perswaded that the Will of him who promises us immortality must needs be the Rule of Goodness It will never enter into our hearts to suspect that he who loves us so much can enjoyn us any thing but what is truly good for us And so our wills and affections will readily bow and stoop to his without any dispute at all about it But I have said too much already about this business to have any room left for a new argument of the power of this great Good IV. Let us proceed rather to consider what the matter is that a Motive in it self so great and so powerfull should have so little power upon mens hearts to move them to vertue and goodness One may justly wonder at it and ask What is the cause that men are so dull so sluggish so backward to doe well since the reward is so certain so transcendent and it is as certain they will miss of it in any other way but this of vertue and piety Where is the Violence which the holy Gospel speaks of and which in all reason was to be expected when the Kingdom of heaven was opened One would have thought upon the report of so great a Blessedness men would have throng'd into heaven and with eager violence striven to thrust in themselves before others into such preferment as was offered them in our Saviour's Kingdom His Disciples sure thought that men could not chuse when they heard such news but all flock to his fold and prepare themselves to receive his blessing And there have been those * Maldonate and de Celada who have fansied the Apostles were so possessed with these thoughts that this was the reason they were troubled to hear our Saviour say whither he went they could not go that is at present xiii Joh. 33. because they imagined all would run so thick towards the Bliss which he promised that if they went not to heaven with him then it was to be questioned whether there would be any room left for them and all places might not be taken up before they came And to comfort them our Saviour say they bid them not be troubled for in
his father's house were many Mansions xiv 1 2. that is there was room for all comers though never such multitudes The discourse indeed of our Saviour there shews that this is but a fancy yet if we consider the haste men make in any other advantageous offers and how they will strive to prevent and circumvent one another to gain any preferment here in this world they might well think that men would come in as great crowds to heaven as we have seen them sometime come to Church and would all run as men do in a race contending earnestly who should carry away the crown For bonorum quorundam sicut malorum est intolerabilis magnitudo the greatness of some goods as well as of some evills is so excessive and intolerable as Tertullian if I forget not somewhere speaks that it weighs down all that can be cast into the scale against it and suffers not our wills as you have heard to deliberate about it Whence is it then that we see so little care and concern about that far more exceeding eternall weight of glory that good which is so vast that in this state we cannot bear the very thoughts of it In stead of that forwardness which might have been expected there is a strange backwardness so much as to think of these things A prodigious numness and stupidity hath seized on the hearts of Christian people who seem to have no life at all in them To what shall we impute it seeing the Sun of righteousness hath shone so brightly and strongly on them with these chearfull beams of Eternall Life which he hath brought to light through his Gospell Is there any thing here that can pretend to vie with the Eternall Life he hath revealed I will not stay for an Answer the disparity is so great between this and all other goods What is it then which makes men so indifferent Is there little or no hope that God will bestow such great and glorious things upon such vile wretches as we are No he hath promised and prepared them as you have heard and he cannot be worse then his word nor lose all his own preparations What is it then that stifles their endeavours after this immortall bliss Will he not give it but upon very hard terms and such rigorous conditions as are enough to freez the warmest resolutions when we think of them Not this neither For he hath prepared these good things for those that love him And what is there more easie what more pleasant and chearfull then love especially of the first and chiefest Good which will certainly make all our duty as easie and delightfull as it self is Or will you say that we cannot love him it is an impossible Condition For shame consider that the very offer of such glorious things is enough to make us love him intirely if we did believe them Were we perswaded that he will bestow upon good men such happiness with himself so great so long it would inflame our hearts with the most ardent passion towards his service Therefore I have already named the true cause of all mens coldness and sloth After all our search we shall find it nothing else but this They do not believe They are not perswaded of the certainty of the rewards in the other World or have not fixed this belief in their Minds for if they had it would not easily slip out again They are moved strongly by what they see with their eyes and feel with their hands and taste with their tongues but faith hath little or no place or power in their hearts This is proved to be too true by the lives of men which are so base and unworthy as if they did not hope for the happiness of a fly in the other World Therefore every one of our business must be to awaken that faith in our Souls which we profess that Divine principle which is of such force as to overcome the World For it is manifestly true which the Apostle writes that without faith it is impossible to please God We shall never doe any thing worthy of him unless we believe that God is and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him As on the contrary it is no less manifest that if we do believe we shall not onely please him but we shall please our selves in doing so and find it most delightfull to be religious It will marvellously inliven us and infuse as it were a new spirit and soul into us so that we shall differ as much from our selves as the corn doth when it is sown in the ground and when it shoots up again in all its verdure and beauty It will make us adorn our selves I mean with all the fruits of righteousness and beget in us such a spirituall life as will fructify and increase in all good works And here consider first That the things themselves propounded to our belief are such as we cannot but desire it should be true that God intends to bestow them on us Who is there that would not willingly live for ever that doth not think Immortality the greatest prerogative of humane Nature provided we may live always in joy and pleasure in uninterrupted contentments and never-fading delights Though they should be less then our Lord hath promised there is no heart but above all things wishes to be so happy To see onely the beautifull orders of the heavenly hosts the glorious Company of the Apostles the goodly Society of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs the venerable Quire of Pastors the whole multitude of holy men and women who celebrate a perpetuall feast of joy to live in happy friendship with them to love them and to be beloved of them to bear a part in their eternall Song of praise and thanks to God how desirable is it above any thing that we can fansy in this world No man hath so little love to himself as not to wish he might be numbred among those Saints in glory everlasting It 's impossible we should not be pleased with the thoughts of having a consortship in such an incomparable happiness were we but perswaded that it is not a dream but a reall truth There needs nothing more to bring it into all mens favour but onely to be satisfied that there is such an Happiness And that 's the other thing I would propound to your thoughts That as we naturally desire such an Happiness so if we consider the evident demonstations we have of it in the Gospell this and a great deal more appears to be the undoubted inheritance of all good Souls who shall see God and be with our Lord and behold his glory Which wonderfully recommends the Christian Religion to us wherein we are gratified in our most important desires and have those things made sure and certain to us which we would all fain have for our portion For what is the generall intent of the Gospell but to discover to mankind immortall life
and the way to it This was the great end of our Saviour's appearing who brought that glimmering light that was in mens minds of the other world to a more perfect day And upon this errand the Apostles were sent as you have heard to call men to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess ii 14. Which made the Jews so unexcusable that they would not come unto our Lord that they might have life v. Joh. 40. though there was the greatest reason in the world to believe this Record that God hath given us Eternall life and this life is in his Son A voice from heaven I have shewn you often testified as much and so did the Holy Ghost which descended on our Saviour at his baptism and the many signs and wonders whereby God the Father sealed him and set as it were his mark stamp and character upon him that all might know who he was and believe his word as undoubtedly as if they heard God the Father himself speaking to them continually with his own voice out of heaven From thence our Saviour came it was apparent and therefore did not pretend to discover things of which he had no certain knowledge but onely revealed that happy Country from whence he descended So he professes to a very wise man among the Jews who was convinced by his many Miracles that he was a Teacher come from God iii. Joh. 2. Verily verily I say unto thee We speak that we do know and testify that we have seen ver 11. For as he came down from heaven as he farther tells him ver 13. so at that very moment he was there and had a most intimate familiarity and communication therewith and therefore might well say he had seen the things he reported from thence What they were you may reade in the following verses 15 16. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life c. The very same as I have likewise shewn John Baptist testified ver 36. And so did Moses and Elias who appeared in glory and discoursed with him concerning his return to the other world after he had done the will of God here ix Luke 30 31. At that time our Saviour was transfigured an evident token of the glorifying even of our bodies in the other state as three persons of integrity witness who saw his glory and the two men that stood with him ver 32. and were themselves overshadowed with a bright cloud an emblem of the glory to come in another World and so ravisht with the sight that they wisht they might always remain in that happy place Neither was this onely a sudden transport but it made such a lasting impression upon their minds that ever after they lookt upon it as a notable proof of the majesty and glory of our Saviour 2 Pet. i. 16 17. And so did the ancient Christians as appears by the Syriack Translatour of the New Testament who before the Epistle of St. James takes notice that now follow the Epistles of the three Disciples before whom our Lord was transfigured This we are to mark diligently and take it for an eminent token of the glory to which our Lord was to go and which he should be able to give For it relies upon the report of those who were persons of known worth and uprightness of heart who had no design in the world to serve but onely to promote such an important truth of which they were fully assured They appeal to all that had any acquaintance with them whether ever they saw or had reason to suspect any false or double dealing in them and had not rather been witnesses of their honesty and simplicity in the whole course of their Ministry For we are not as many saith St. Paul 2 Cor. ii 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that sell the word of God and make merchandize of it to inrich themselves thereby such might not stick to corrupt God's word as we render it and mix their own dreams with it but with all sincerity as men who are authorized by God and have him before our eyes to whom we must give an account of our actions we publish the Gospell of Christ Whom they accounted it a great mercy and favour from God to serve And therefore having received this ministry saith he iv 1 2. we are not sluggish in doing our duty nor do we perform it in a base unworthy manner but have so renounced or thrust away far from us all secret devices of inriching our selves that we do not blush to think of our designs for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are such practices as for mere shame men hide and cover pretending for instance onely the good of Souls when they intend nothing but to get their money nor do we walk in craftiness appearing one thing and being another nor corrupt the word of God by mixing any of our own inventions with it but in a free open and plain manner we commend our selves to all mens consciences as having God looking on us All that know us cannot but approve us if they be not led by passion more then reason and if they do not God doth This he repeats again Chap. vi where he gives a proof of their sincerity in the exercise of their Ministry from these two things first that they got nothing by it but many afflictions and then that they did nothing but good to others in recompence for all the trouble they gave them Of the former he speaks ver 4 5. of the second ver 6 7. and then returns to the other again Which argument he handles also at large towards the conclusion of the same Epistle xi 23 24 c. and once more xii 10. And thus he writes also to the Church of Thessalonica 1 Thess ii 4. who knew very well how faithfully they had discharged their trust and that they did not accommodate themselves to any man's humour but plainly delivered the message which God had committed to them No body could say that they had used any flattering speeches to sooth them up in a vain conceit of themselves ver 5. nor used any colours to hide a covetous design no as to their words and addresses the Thessalonians could testify the contrary and as to their mind and heart which God onely could know they call him to witness it never entred into their thoughts Nor did they seek glory and fame either from them or any body else but despised it as much as riches unless it were the honour of obliging them by communicating the blessings of the Gospell to them and receiving no reward from them ver 6. They might indeed have put them to charge and lived upon their cost as other Apostles of Christ did and that honestly too But He and his companions were among them with more gentleness ver 7. they parted that is from their own undoubted right to spare the Thessalonians and as a good nurse cherishes her children so they
defrauded themselves and took the meat as we speak out of their own mouths for the good of others whom they desired to breed up in Christian piety This shews the wonderfull innocency and goodness of these men who got nothing by the Gospell no not what they might have lawfully and justly taken but onely studied how to win Souls to Christ In short he calls them and God also to witness how holily how justly how unblamably they behaved themselves among those that believed ver 10. The first of which words refers to God the second to those actions which belong to humane society and the third to those which every man is bound unto severally by himself in none of which could He Silvanus and Timotheus be charged with any misdemeanour On which argument he once more insists 2 Tim. iii. 10 11. being so confident of his unreprovable vertue that he desired nothing more of all that knew him but to be followers of him and to walk so as they had him for an example 1 Cor. iv 16. iii. Phil. 17. All which I have the more particularly noted because it is from these men that we receive the testimony of Jesus Who they assure us chose to die the most shamefull death when he could have avoided it and with the greatest confidence when he was expiring commended his Spirit into the hands of God Which is an unquestionable argument that he believed and was assured that he should be with God when he went from hence and be able to doe for his followers all that he promised Which they tell us moreover God justified when he raised him from the dead and carried him in their sight up into heaven and afterward sent the Holy Ghost upon them to testify that he was still alive and possessed of an unseen glory In which they also tell us he appeared to severall persons as I have already related One of which was caught up into heaven and heard such things there as made him wish for nothing more then to leave this earth and to be with Christ To whom the Angels they also assure us witnessed upon severall occasions For they attended him at his birth and in his life and when he died and after his resurrection and when he ascended into heaven From whence he sent them many times as ministring Spirits to his Apostles of which we have very large testimonies in the whole book of the Revelation From all which we may safely conclude that there can no other reason in the world be given why any man thus informed should not believe the Gospell but onely his own desperate wickedness For the things propounded therein are most desirable above all other It reveals such a wonderfull love of God to mankind that all men would rejoyce to hear the news of it were they not averse to those pious and vertuous courses whereby they are told they must attain it Nothing attracts all hearts so much as the hope of a blessed immortality which is testified to us so credibly in the Gospell that nothing could make men turn their ears away from it by infidelity but onely the incurable wickedness of their Nature which will not let them part with those vices which the Gospell says they must quit for so great a Good In one word there is nothing in this Book but what is sutable to all mens desires save onely the holy rule of life and therefore it can be nothing else but their hatred to this which makes them reject all the rest They would follow their nobler appetite after those good things which the Gospell promises if they had not perfectly given up themselves to those baser appetites which must be denied for their sake For if our Gospell be hid saith St. Paul in the place before mentioned it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospell of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them 2 Cor. iv 3 4. That which the Gospell reports is as clear as the noon-day Nothing can be more visible then the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the light or the splendour of the Gospell of the glory of Christ By which saith Theophylact the Apostle means the belief of these great Truths that Jesus was crucified that he was received up into heaven and that he will give future rewards This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 splendour the Apostle speaks of which if any man do not see after such evident demonstrations of these things it is his wickedness hinders him And such men after they have long resisted the light fall under the power of the Devil so inevitably that he blinds their eyes Mark as St. Chrysostom observes that the Scripture calls severall things by the name of a God not from their own worth and excellence but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the weakness of those who are subject to them Thus Mammon is the God of some and the belly the God of others and the Devill the God of all such persons because they are basely inslaved to the love of mony and of their fleshly appetite and He rules and governs them as absolutely as if he were their God Yet he hath no power quite to blind their eyes as he farther observes before they disbelieve that which is so credibly reported by such Divine arguments for as the very words of St. Paul are he blinds the minds of them that believe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they became infidels of themselves and having given themselves over to unbelief against such miraculous evidence of the truth of the Christian Faith God gives them over to him to whose service they have so slavishly devoted themselves that they cannot be recovered but as they deserve must unavoidably perish From which miserable condition let all those who are inclined to infidelity take care to save themselves by timely considering those Divine demonstrations which these holy men of God have reported to us who beheld our Saviour's glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father full of grace and truth i. Joh. 14. Upon which words hear what the same eloquent Bishop writes who thus summs up a great part of the evidence we have for the Christian belief The Angels appeared in great glory upon the earth to Daniel S. Chrysostom Hom. xii in Johan David and Moses but they appeared as servants as those that had a Master It is the peculiar glory of our Saviour that he appeared as a Lord as having power over all and though in a poor and vile fashion yet even in that the Creation knew its Lord and Master A Star from heaven called the Wise men to worship him A great company of Angels often attended him and sang his praises To whom others succeeded who published his glory and delivered this secret Mystery one to another the Angels to the Shepherds and the Shepherds to those
in the city and Gabriel to Mary and Elizabeth and Anna and Symeon to those in the Temple Nor were men and women onely transported with the pleasure but an infant that had not seen the light leapt in its mother's womb and all were strangely lifted up in hopes of what was a-coming These things all fell out straightway after his birth But when he appeared in the World there were more Miracles and greater then the former appeared again For not so little as a Star and the Heavens not Angels or Archangels not Gabriel or Michael but the Father himself proclaimed him from heaven and with the Father the Comforter came down with a voice and remained on him And therefore well might the Apostle say We have seen his glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father And not by these things alone but by those which followed after For now not merely Shepherds and an aged Prophetess and reverend men published the glad tidings of the Gospell but the voice it self of the things he did louder then the sound of any trumpet which was heard presently every-where For the fame of him saith the Evangelist went into all Syria and revealed him to all and cried every-where that the King of heaven was come to men For Daemons every-where fled and got away and the Devill departed and Death began to give place and not long after quite vanished and all manner of infirmities were loosed and the tombs dismissed the dead the Daemons left those that were mad and Diseases those that were sick Wonderfull and strange things were to be seen which the Prophets desired to see and did not For one might have seen eyes new made paralytick lims strengthened motion given to withered hands and lame feet ears that were stopt up opened and the tongues of the dumb loosed In one word like an excellent workman that comes into an house which is decayed and rotten by time he repaired or re-built rather humane Nature For who can tell how he made the Souls of men new which is a greater wonder then all the rest For the wills of men oppose their cure which the body doth not They will not yield we see no not to God himself And yet these were reformed by him and all kind of wickedness expelled Nor were they onely freed from Sin but like the bodies to which he gave the best habit after he had cured their diseases they were advanced to the highest degree of vertue A Publican became an Apostle A persecutour a blasphemer a reproacher of Christianity turned the Preacher of the Word A thief was made a Citizen of Paradise and a strumpet became illustrious by a great faith And abundance of others worse then these were listed in the number of the Disciples till whole cities and countries were strangely reformed by the Gospell Who is able to declare the wisedom of his Precepts the vertue of his heavenly Laws the excellent order of his Angelicall Conversation For he hath taught us such a life he hath given us such laws and instituted such a polity that they who use them though before the worst of men straightway become Angels and like to God according to our power The Evangelist therefore recollecting all these things the Miracles he wrought upon mens bodies upon their Souls and upon the elements the Precepts the secret Gifts the Laws the Polity the power of perswasion the future Promises his Sufferings he pronounced this wonderfull lofty voice We beheld his glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father full of grace and truth For they did not admire him onely for his Miracles but for his Sufferings As for example because he was nailed to a Cross and scourged because he was beaten because he was spit upon because those buffeted him to whom he had been a benefactour upon the account even of these which seem most shamefull that voice is worthy to be repeated again because he himself hath called this a Glory For then Death was destroyed the Curse was dissolved Daemons were put to shame and he triumphed over them openly and the hand-writing of sins or obligation to punishment was nailed to the Cross and cancelled And besides these wonders which were invisible there were others apparent unto all which shewed he was the onely-begotten Son of God and the Lord of all the Creation For while his blessed body yet hung upon the Cross the Sun withdrew its beams the earth was astonished and wrapt in darkness the ground shook the tombs were broke open a great many dead people walkt out of their graves and went into the City the stone upon his grave was rolled away and he arose He that was crucified he that was fastned with nails to the cross he that was dead arose and filling his Apostles with great power sent them to all the World as the common physicians of humane Nature the rectifiers of mens lives the sowers of the knowledge of heavenly Doctrine the loosers of the Devill 's tyranny the teachers of the great and hidden Goods the preachers of the glad tidings of the immortality of the Soul the Eternall life of the body and the rewards which as they pass all understanding so never have any end These and many more such like this blessed man beholding which he knew but was not able to write because the world could not have contained the Books he cried out We beheld his glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father full of grace and truth Who is now as able I may adde to give us new bodies and inconceivably-improved Souls and then to perpetuate the happiness of both in heaven as he was to cure diseases and raise dead bodies and purify mens minds when he was here on earth Let our conclusion therefore as he says elsewhere be sutable to our discourse Hom. xiii p. 607. 5. And what 's so sutable as Doxologies and giving glory to God in such manner as is worthy of him Not by our words onely that is but much more by our deeds So our Saviour himself exhorts us saying Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven For there is nothing more bright and shining then an excellent conversation as one of the wise men hath said The ways of the just shine like the light And they shine not onely to those that light their lamps by their works but to all that are near unto them Therefore let us pour oyl continually into these lamps that the flame may rise higher and the light shine more abundantly Having received such grace and truth by Jesus Christ Id. p. 611. let us not grow the lazier by the greatness of the gift For the greater honour hath been done us the more we are bound to excell in vertue Let that therefore be our business to purify our selves so throughly that being thought worthy to see Christ we may not at that Day
blast of outward accidents sometimes this way and sometimes the quite contrary in good company and after some pathetick exhortations doing well and then crossing all again when a new temptation to sin solicits him Sure such men as can believe thus fansy heaven a void and empty space where company is wanting and imagine our Saviour cares not who comes thither so it be but filled They live as if all the regions above the glorious Paradise of God were but so much waste ground which needs a Colony of Planters it matters not of what quality they are so it be but inhabited O vile thoughts that can imagine God wants the company of such as care not for him and that Heaven which threw out the Angels that sinned will entertain those who joyn with them in their foul rebellion It is a wonderful grace that he will invite us on any terms to his most blessed society We doe him no kindness but our selves in seeking his heavenly Kingdom Into which if we will not enter at such a gate as he sets open we shall be shut out and perish in our perverse ingratitude or foolish presumption Consider I beseech you what do all these WITNESSES say concerning the way to it Do they not tell us that streight is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life vii Matt. 14. that we must strive to enter xiii Luke 24. and that there shall in no wise enter into the holy city any thing that defileth xxi Rev. 27. and that without holiness no man shall see the Lord xii Hebr. 14. Which we must therefore excite our selves by his promises to perfect in the fear of God having cleansed our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit 2 Cor. vii 1. And giving all diligence adde to our faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity For so an entrance shall be ministred to us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. i. 5 6 7 11. Examine every one of them and they will tell you as much The FATHER by a voice from heaven bids us hear his Son who says Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven vii Matt. 21. And the WORD saith Blessed are they that doe his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the citâ— xxii Rev. 14. Wherefore as the HOLY Gâ—OST saith To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts iii. Heb. 7 8. This was its language of old and it was poured also on the Apostles that repentance and remission of sins might be preached in our Saviour's name among all nations xxiv Luk. 47 49. Which is the end also of our being washed with WATER in his name for we are baptized into his death and therefore ought to reckon our selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortall body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof vi Rom. 3 11 12. For his BLOUD was shed that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works ii Tit. 14. For which end also he was raised from the dead by the Eternall SPIRIT that he might bless us in turning every one of us from his iniquities iii. Act. 26. And therefore this the APOSTLES say and testifie in the Lord that we henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk iv Eph. 17. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness He therefore that despiseth despiseth not man but God saith St. Paul who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit 1 Thess iv 7 8. And if I should now send you to inquire and ask for the old paths as Jeremiah speaks would you find that the ancient Christians knew any other way to bliss then this Did they who while they were in the flesh lived not according to it who being upon earth had their conversation in heaven whose lives excelled the best laws and statutes of their severall countries which they strictly obeyed who loved all though persecuted by all who blessed when they were cursed honoured those that treated them despitefully did good to those who punished them as evill doers * Vid pl. apud Juâ—â—in Mart. Epist ad Dâ—ognet p. 497. c. did these men I say believe that Heaven might be wone onely by their prayers or by perpetuall disputing about that Religion which they did not practise How come we then to have so great a fondness for our selves as to think that we shall carry that by the name and the profession of Christianity which they could not get without so much labour and to have such cheap thoughts of the Crown of glory as to imagine it will bow and come down to those idle wishes unto which there is nothing so mean in this world but scorns to stoop That one thought is sufficient to convince us what we have to doe to be happy I need not send you so far as those elder times go but to your selves and enquire how you doe in the affairs of this world Sure men never got their estates with so little care as they hope to get Heaven Ask a man why he follows his business so close and he will tell you that an estate is not got by wishing that a family cannot be provided for by lying in bed or sitting by the fire-side that there are opportunities which must be narrowly watcht and cheats which are not easily discovered And yet to see the imprudence and inconsiderateness of Mankind The same person thinks to go to Heaven and possess all the treasures there by his Prayers alone though cold too and but little observed or by a lame Repentance which wants its effects nay by a death-bed groan a few forced tears and promises never performed by some short snatches of Religion a careless behaviour and an unwatchfull life He minds no occasion of doing or receiving good is indifferent whether he lay hold of opportunities and good seasons seldom thinks of the place whither he would go denies himself nothing to which he hath a mind bridles no appetite curbs no passion nay will be drunk for company and swear rather then be thought such a coward as to stand in awe of God or to want the breeding of a Gentleman and in brief doth not half so much upon the account of Eternall Life as many a man does for a single-peny What a strange dulness is this to imagine that all ends which we aim at must be compassed by means proportionable to their greatness but onely the very greatest and last End of all The Souldier gets not
the victory by mere railing at his enemy but as the Apostle speaks 2 Tim. ii 3 c. endures hardness and entangles not himself with the affairs of this life And it is the labouring husbandman as it there follows who partakes of the fruits All things in the world as Solomon saith are full of labour And do we think that our Souls onely are exempted and may be saved by doing nothing that Vertue will grow there without our care or that an eternall harvest of joy will spring up to us without labouring to doe vertuously It is a great shame to say it but such are the hopes of foolish men who are perfectly like the Israelites of whom God says x. Hos 11. Ephraim is an heifer that is taught to plow but loveth onely to tread out the corn That is as D. Kimchi glosses they were taught the Law and instructed to doe good but minded nothing else but merely to enjoy the promises in a fat and fruitfull Land which God had given them Let such remember for a story sometimes sticks longer in their minds then the greatest reason what a Wise man among the Jews said to a Friend of his whom he met exceeding sad and dejected about some affairs which went cross to his designs What 's the matter said he that thou goest so heavily doth any thing of this world trouble thee Yes said the other And what hast thou got said the Wise man again by all thy care solicitude and vexation Alas replied his Friend thou seest by my troubled countenance how little I have got Then said the Wise man consider if of this World which thou hast followed with such diligence thou hast got so little what art thou like to get of the other World which thou mindest not at all A very good Meditation for those who after all their labour and thoughtfulness are like to leave no great matters to their posterity and for those whose greatest cunning and industry is not able to bring about their ends And it may lead us to another profitable Meditation how unequall we are in our dealing while we lay out so many thoughts and so much labour upon things we are not sure to obtain and so few and so little upon those which as sure as God is true shall be the portion of them that diligently seek them The Souldier is not sure to win the victory after all the hardship he has endured And the frost may nip and the bitter winds blast the laborious Husbandman's fairest hopes There is no design save onely that we have for Heaven but after our best diligence may miscarry What madness then is it thus to misplace our endeavours by imploying them so seriously about those things which frequently avoid us and fly from us in the mean time neglecting those of infinite more value which earnestly court us and are desirous to bestow themselves upon us But there is no need of so many words to awaken our thoughts to judge aright in these matters And yet this is all we have to doe for our Salvation when we believe the Gospell to think often what we believe and expect to receive from the bounty of Heaven II. Which if every one did it might spare me the labour of asking again whether we think in our conscience it is any great matter God demands of us when he bids us if we will obtain eternall life obey his will revealed to us by Christ Jesus Review the Christian Doctrine a brief account of which I gave in the former Book Chap. v. and when you have seen all that you are to doe or to deny and suffer for righteousness sake consider to what it will amount If we take it comparatively and cast it into the scales against immortall Life and the weight of Glory it will presently seem so little light and inconsiderable that we shall not think it worth the speaking of But let us wave that advantage and onely consider every thing in it self absolutely 1. What great matter is it that we find God expects we should doe for him Had he bid us govern the World and rule the Nations of the earth he had set us a difficult task indeed But when he requires us onely to govern our selves to set in order our affections and to subdue our unruly passions which give us no small trouble and expose us to great danger what a reasonable demand is this and upon what easie terms does he offer Eternall life We might have complained if he had but required every one of us to be rich and to get great estates much more if he had expected we should be Philosophers and be able to give an account of the secrets of Nature and resolve all the questions we meet withall about the air and the water and the rest of the Elements But when he onely bids us be content with our portion and stay for what his wisedom will dispense to us and make a sober use of it and be so wise as to acknowledge him in all things and to discern good from evill and live vertuously in the enjoyment of him and of our selves and give a reasonable account of all our actions one may well wonder what men would have God to say if they call this a very heavy burthen But what if he should command us with Abraham to offer up an onely Son or to feed all our life upon bread and water or with the Anchorets dig our graves in the wilderness and have no other tools but our nails to doe it should we not think it very hard though we cannot say as we may of the former that it is impossible And yet comparatively speaking Heaven would be a great bargain after all this What a purchace then is it when he calls for no Sacrifice but that of our own bodies which we are to present him holy chast and pure with true devotion and humility of spirit together with the sacrifice of praise continually giving thanks unto him for all his benefits and not forgetting to doe good and to communicate which are all reasonable services and sacrifices with which God is well pleased xii Rom. 1. xiii Heb. 15 16. At what lower rate can Eternall life be set then this that we will not be unreasonable When will we be pleased if it will not satisfie us to know that God will give us Eternall life provided we will live soberly and be gratefull to him who is the giver of all good things and doe to others as we would that they should doe to us Is God beholden to us when we accept of these terms of Salvation They that imagine this too great a mortification and that they doe some mighty matter when they take this course to go to heaven must mortifie that conceit or it is not likely they will come thither 2. But let us proceed to consider what it is we must deny and suffer to attain this Felicity and see to what the reckoning will come If
we put our sins into the number of those things we must forsake it is apparent already it would be a trouble to keep them We are required indeed to crucifie the flesh which seems an hard saying But when we have enquired the meaning of it there is no severity to be found in it For it doth not oblige us to destroy or so much as to impair any faculty belonging to us neither to weaken the Understanding nor dull the Apprehension nor overload the Memory no nor consume our spirits nor deform our bodies nor prejudice our healths nor spoil our beauty or any thing else that God hath made There is no true pleasure of which he deprives us unless it be sometimes for a better and more excellent end He onely abridges our unjust liberty and limits the hurtfull excesses of our desires and passions which we are not to gratifie against our reason to the injury of our selves or our neighbours and to the indangering the loss of some better good In brief He allows us to please our selves so that every part of us be pleased our Judgment and Conscience as well as the lower Appetites And what now doth all this amount unto but the doing our selves a reall and intire kindness But in some state of things God will have us forsake all our worldly goods and possessions for the kingdom of heaven's sake as he required the Apostles and the first Disciples to Christianity True But do we not set too high a price upon these things if we value our obedience at a great rate upon this account I will let alone the comparison we ought to make between our loss and our gain Weigh things impartially by themselves and consider what it is we part withall should we suffer all our worldly goods to be taken from us rather then part with our Religion Do we lose any more then a Philosopher hath left of his own accord for the convenience of his study and that he might not be incumbred in his contemplations And while we had them were all those things necessary for us Doth Nature require so much Did not a great many of them lie by us unused What a small matter now does the account come to when we have made this abatement And how little reason is there that the parting with these things should make such a noise as if we had made some exceeding rich present to God's almighty love from whom we received them But let us look upon them again together with the loss of life and consider Are they things which we could have kept very long Do we any more then part with them a little before the time And what difference is there between their leaving us and our leaving them but the advantage we have by living a while after them to give a proof of a little very short patience and of intire trust in God and absolute resignation to his will Let the things we leave for God's sake be rated as high as we please all that can be made of them comes at last to this that in obedience to God we let them go a little before we could not enjoy them And suppose we be required to die it is but to go another way out of the world then we must shortly perhaps presently have done There is no difference at all but onely as much as there is between a sword and an acute disease between the flames of fire and those of a burning fever But we may endure many torments perhaps in the world before we die which are worse then death it self It may be so and there is a possibility it may not be so Now supposing we do not suffer any torments what a small matter is it that God asks that we may go to Heaven where we shall have an Happiness so great that we may well if need be as St. Peter speaks consent to endure something that looks more like self-deniall then any thing I have mentioned to obtain it And yet when that necessity comes this will arise to no great expense It is no more then we may naturally suffer by the stone or the gout or by some such disease which may seize upon us and not carry us to heaven neither And it is likewise considerable that wicked men many times take more pains and endure a great deal more then this comes to to go to hell Do we not see what attendance their lusts require from them and that they make provision for their satisfaction with much solicitude and trouble Nay do not their expences frequently run very high to gratifie some worldly or fleshly desire One man breaks his sleep another pines his body a third consumes his estate a fourth nourishes loathsome and foul diseases a fifth breeds cruell and tormenting pains which set him upon the rack a sixth ventures his life and runs the hazzard of the gallows or of a severer death And all sinners contrive and plot and trouble their brains to find opportunities and are often vexed with disappointments and as often put to shame and always troubled with their desires till they meet with some satisfaction and being never satisfied are always troubled with their restless desires Let all these things be considered soberly and then tell me whether God demands great things of us to obtain Eternall Life and doth not rather wonderfully oblige us in accepting so graciously our poor services nay carries us from the happiness of doing his will here to the happiness of having it rewarded with a most glorious recompence in another world And cast in this consideration also which Clemens Alexandrinus * Admon ad Gentes p. 55. propounds to the Gentiles how much many men would be willing to give if it were set at a price to purchase everlasting Salvation And therefore what account can they give of their unwillingness to accept of that on such easie terms which cannot be bought with all the gold if we had it of the fabulous Pactolus We may purchase this most precious Salvation if we will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with our own Treasure which we have within our selves viz. Charity and a lively Faith This is its just price saith he which God will gladly accept For we hope in the living God who is the Saviour of all men especially of the Faithfull But it cannot be obtained by any other means For they that stick to this World as weeds do to the rocks in the sea slight immortality and judge themselves unworthy of the other World which at so low a rate offered it self to their Faith and Charity But we have just reason to proceed a great deal farther then all this and supposing a man could alway live here without the least trouble and in the fullest contentment that either his Soul or body can now enjoy I ask again whether a man that believes the Gospell would be willing to have his Eternall life in this World and not rather chuse to go thither
Peter says that those heavenly Ministers have so great a value for the Gospell that they desire to look into these things wondering that we Gentiles should be made not onely fellow-citizens with the Saints but equall to themselves They rejoyced when they heard the good news that our Lord was come down to men and it seems he hath told us things beyond all their expectation Shall not we then set a due esteem upon them and look into them and consider them who have them so near unto us and are so much concerned in them Then it were better for us if we had no eyes or if we lived in those places where no such things are to be seen for none will be so miserable as they that might have been exceeding happy and chose to remain miserable and that when so few thoughts would have secured their happiness For there is no way to be undone but onely by not believing or not considering the Gospell of God's grace Secure but these two passages and strict piety will necessarily be our imployment and Eternall Life our reward No temptation will be strong enough to make us neglect our work and I am sure faithfull is he who hath promised and will not fail to pay us more then our wages VI. And what now remains but to put those in mind who obediently believe in the Lord Jesus what cause they have to entertain themselves beforehand with great joy in the comfortable expectation of God's mercy in Him to Eternall life Let all his true-hearted Disciples who hear his voice and follow him rejoyce yea let them be glad in him with exceeding joy Let them say O how great is the goodness of God! how rich are those blessings which he hath laid up for them that love him how exceeding great and precious are the promises he hath made them Our calling in Christ Jesus how high is it what is there nobler then his kingdom and glory To which also he hath called us by glory and vertue Heaven and earth concur in the most glorious and powerfull manner to give us assurance that it shall be well exceeding well with all those that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity Why should we suffer our selves then to be dejected at any accident in this world which falls cross to us Shall we take pet when any thing troubles us and let our spirits die within us who have such glorious hopes to live upon and mightily support us Jesus is alive He is alive for evermore And in him is Eternall life for all his followers The Father the Word the Holy Ghost are come to comfort us with this joyfull news The Water the Bloud and the Spirit all say the same and ask us why we are so sad when life and immortality is brought to light by the Gospell It is the desire of the Lord Jesus that we would not mourn as though he still lay in his grave and could doe nothing for us He is certainly risen and gone into the heavens where God hath made him exceeding glad with his countenance And it will adde to his joy if it be capable of increase to see us rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory And therefore let us doe him the honour to glory in his holy Name and let us say alway Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for us 1 Pet. i. 3 4. We ought to say so with joyfull hearts even when death it self approaches which of all other is the most frightfull Enemy of mankind but is made our Friend by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospell 2 Tim. i. 10. Which hath given us as the same Apostle saith such everlasting consolation that it would be a great reproach to it to receive Death timorously which Wise men before our Saviour came concluded might be for any thing they knew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greatest of all goods Our Lord assures us they were right in their conjectures and hath made that certain which Socrates whose words those are left doubtfull Plato Apolog Socr. And therefore we ought not to leave the world as if it were the greatest unhappiness that could befall us It is for him onely to fear death as St. Cyprian speaks * L. de Mortalitate p. 208. who would not go to Christ and he onely hath reason to be unwilling to go to Christ who doth not believe he shall begin to reign with him This is the onely thing as he writes a little after which makes men take death so heavily quia fides deest because Faith is wanting because they do not believe those things are true which He who is Truth it self hath promised But though they give credit to what a grave and laudable person promises they are wavering about that which God saith and receive it with an incredulous mind For if they believed they would entertain that which now seems dreadfull as St. Greg. Nazianzen * Orat. xviii p. 284. says that blessed Martyr did whose Death he doubts whether he should call his departure from this life or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his departure of God or the fulfilling of his desire And thus if we may believe Calcidius the famous Trismegistus died Fr. Archangel Dogm Cabalistica saying to his Son that stood by him My Son hitherto I have lived an exile from my country but now I am going safe thither And therefore when a little while hence I shall be freed from the chain of this body see that you do not bewail me as if I was dead For I am onely returning to that most excellent blessed City whither the Citizens cannot arrive unless they take death in their way There God onely is the Governour in chief who entertains his Citizens with a marvellous sweetness in comparison with which that which we now call Life is rather to be termed Death And what if in our passage to it we should fall into divers temptations or trialls of our sincere affection to the Lord Jesus There is no reason that this should dishearten us and deaden our spirits For it is the singular privilege of a Christian to rejoyce in the Lord alway iv Phil. 4. especially when he suffers for righteousness sake In that case the Apostles thought it an honour that they were counted worthy to be beaten and suffer shame for his Name v. Act. 41. And St. James thought their example was not unimitable by other Christians to whom he saith i. 2. My Brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations And so they did as you reade in the Epistle to the Christian Hebrews of whom the Apostle gives
this testimony x. 34. Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods knowing in your selves that you have in heaven a better and enduring substance This consideration made them look upon the rapine which the seditious people committed in their houses without that dejection which on such occasions appears in other countenances And yet they were men like our selves who walked by faith and not by sight that is did not enjoy the thing it self which they expected 2 Cor. v. 7. And therefore what should hinder the same effect in our hearts if we believe as they did And to shew the mighty power of this heavenly principle these three things may be here pertinently noted out of the records they have left us of their spirit in all their sufferings I. And first I find that when the heaviest cross lay upon them the sense they had of things to come supported them under it with admirable resolution This was the least effect of their holy Faith which made them when the hearts of others sunk under the load and fell down as we say into their knees stand like a strong pillar which bears up the whole weight of the house and never yield at all The thoughts of what our Lord had promised not onely preserved them from murmuring and repining at their present condition knowing what good provision he had made for them hereafter but from fainting and being sluggish in their Ministry For which cause we faint not or do not grow lazy saith St. Paul knowing that is that he who raised up the Lord Jesus would raise up them also for though our outward man perish or wear away yet the inward man is renewed or grows more youthfull day by day 2 Cor. iv 14 16. And 2. this faith also preserved them from swounding fear either of disgrace or pain or death being in nothing terrified by their adversaries saith the same Apostle i. Phil. 28. who seeing them undaunted under all their sufferings had reason to look upon this as an evident token of their perdition and of the Salvation God would give to these his valiant Champions And 3. from sorrowing also and lamenting the loss of any thing because this Good they found was still secure 2 Cor. vi 10. Which made them as he there saith again to be always full of joy though in the eye of the world they lookt very sorrowfully And so lastly they kept their stedfastness and turned not away from the holy commandment delivered unto them Whereby they marvellously promoted Christianity And the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternall glory by Christ Jesus after that they had suffered a while made them perfect stablished strengthened settled them 1 Pet. v. 10. II. But the hope of Eternall life did not merely support and uphold their spirits it wonderfully refreshed and comforted them in all their afflictions so that they durst confidently promise to all other suffering Christians the same heavenly comforts from God Who comforteth us saith St. Paul in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God And our hope of you is stedfast knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings so shall ye be also of the consolation 2 Cor. i. 4 7. Their comfort and rejoycing was the testimony of their conscience that every-where they acted sincerely ver 12. and that they served a good Master who had promised them better fare in the next World where he reigns in full power and glory His Kingdom they knew was not of this World even as he was not of the World and therefore they did not expect he should give them a portion of good things here No He told them plainly in the World ye shall have tribulation but adds in the same breath be of good chear I have overcome the World xvi Joh. 33. III. Which victory of his over death and the grave incouraged them to follow him in all their tribulations not merely with simple comfort but with joy as I have observed already and more then that made them exceeding glad and even shout for joy So our Saviour himself required them to doe when they were reviled and persecuted for his Name sake v. Matt. 12. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven And so they did as St. Paul tells us v. Rom. 2 3. We rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and not onely so but we glory in tribulations also For they had this strong consolation as the Divine Writer to the Hebrews calls it First that nothing either in this World or the other could take away that heavenly Good from them As St. Paul also testifies in that triumph of his viii Rom. 38 39. I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. When their goods were taken away they could make their boast in Christ and say Our inheritance is immovable When they were driven from house and home as we speak they could triumph and say Our house is eternall in the heavens from which none can exclude us When they were in pain they still remembred our Saviour's own words Your joy shall no man take from you In death it self they could glory and say Jesus our Life dies not and because he lives we shall live also And 2. as they knew they could not lose their future Happiness so they knew it to be incomparably greater then all their sufferings viii Rom. 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory 2 Cor. iv 17. Where there is a Third Reason of their exceeding great joy because these afflictions which they endured for Christ's sake would increase their glory hereafter and make their crown beyond all expression heavier And more then that 4. hereby not onely their present afflictions were alleviated and seemed triviall but they gave them a clearer sight of that most excellent glory beforehand while they looked not as it there follows ver 18. at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen The removall of these things here below from before their eyes fixed them more stedfastly on the invisible World Now their joy was full as our Saviour speaks xvi Joh. 24. now it overflowed when all things else had forsaken them and nothing else but those unseen enjoyments remained to comfort them This heavenly glory shone brightest in the dark and horrible pit where their afflictions brought them sweeter contentment then ever was the fruit of any earthly pleasure And so we may still
hope that when other things by any calamity in this world stand afar off and can doe nothing for us there will be the more room for the thoughts and sense of this future bliss to spread it self and fill the whole capacity of pious hearts Then they will be most at leisure then invisible things will seem most reall then they will most strongly affect the heart so that they will not be the worse for their afflictions but the better and their pains will but bring them the sooner to heavenly joys And should not our Faith work thus mightily in our hearts at least supporting us with true satisfaction under all our troubles it would be an exceeding great shame to us when we consider with what resolution courage and chearfulness they whose knowledge of heavenly things was darker then ours received the most dreadfull sufferings even death it self before the coming of our Saviour The Mother and her seven Sons whose story is recorded in the second Book of the Maccabees Chap. vii are a famous instance of this who in hope of a blessed Resurrection when the belief of it stood on a feebler foundation then ours offered themselves to the sharpest torments rather then break the Law of their Creatour Neither the Strapado nor the Wheel to rack their joynts nor Hooks of iron to tear their flesh nor the fury of wild Beasts nor boiling Caldrons nor the fiercest Fires no evill present no evill to come could move the hearts of these young men who were in their flourishing years or make them yield a jot to the wicked tyrant who would have had them transgress the Ordinances of Moses They are the words of that great man Orat. xxii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 401 c. St. Gregory Nazianzen who hath admirably summed up their speeches in an Oration of his which he made in their commendation where he proceeds in this manner One of the Brethren spoke in one fashion and the rest in another according as the words of the Tyrant or the order of their sufferings gave occasion But to comprise all in a little compass this was the substance of what they said O King Antiochus and all you that are here present be it known unto you that we have one King even God Almighty from whom we come and unto whom we must return And we have one Law-giver Moses whom we will never betray nor reproach though another Antiochus more fierce and severe then thou should threaten us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our onely security is to keep the commandment and not to break the law whereby we are guarded Our onely glory is for such great things to despise all glory beside Our onely riches are the hopes we have hereafter Our onely fear lest we should fear any thing more then God With these reasons we now come armed into the field of danger We are but young it is true and this World is sweet our native Country our Friends our Kindred our dear Companions invite us to stay with them But none of them are so sweet as God none so dear as those very dangers which we expose our selves unto for Vertue 's sake Harbour no such thoughts we humbly beseech you for there is another World also which expects us more lofty and durable by far then all that we behold in this Jerusalem that is above is our Country which no Antiochus can besiege no power on earth can touch or indanger All those that are born of God are our Kindred the Prophets and Patriarchs our Friends from whom we have received a pattern of piety And our Companions are all those who hazzard themselves with us this day and are our contemporaries in constant suffering Heaven is more glorious then our Temple it self the Quire of Angels infinitely beyond our solemn Assemblies And there is one great Mystery GOD himself whom all our sacred Mysteries here respect And therefore cease to make us any more offers and promises of little things which are nothing worth We love not those shamefull honours which we shall get by denying God We were not bred to make such unthrifty bargains and cannot traffick with thee on such base and ignoble terms And therefore cease also to threaten us or we can return more dreadfull threatnings which will reprove thy weakness For know that we have a fire into which to throw our Persecutours Dost thou think thou hast to doe with Gentile people Those it is true thou hast overcome they have yielded to thy threatnings and power And no wonder for they did not fight for such glorious things as we They onely defended their cities and goods but we defend the Law of the most High Thou opposest thy self now against the Tables writ with the finger of God against the most holy and divine Service against the Rites of our country which reason and time have made honourable against seven Brethren who are linkt together by one Soul whom it is no such mighty business to overcome but to be worsted by them will be most shamefull And be assured we will set up seven Monuments of thy disgrace for we are the progeny and disciples of those who were led by a pillar of fire and a cloud to whom the Sea parted it self and the Sun stood still and Bread rained down from heaven and who triumphed over mighty kings by prayer and lifting up their hands to heaven And to say something that comes within the compass of thy knowledge we are bred up under Eleazar whose fortitude and courage thou art not ignorant of The Father led the way the Sons follow him to the like combate Therefore it is to no purpose to adde any more threatnings we can suffer greater things then those thou speakest of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are none more valiant then they that are ready to endure all things Why do you delay to begin your cruelty what do you stay for or expect Do you think we may change our minds and recant No we protest again and again we will never eat impure flesh we will never break the Law of our God Thou shalt sooner turn to our Religion then we to thine Let hotter fires be kindled let more ravenous beasts be brought forth let more exquisite torments be invented in short either devise some new punishment or know that we despise these that are before us These saith he were their words to the Tyrant in the relation of which I am wonderfully delighted And then embracing and kissing one another with no less chearfulness then if they had been come to receive their reward Let us go said they with a loud voice let us go to meet these dangers Let us make haste while the Tyrant is hot and chafes lest he cool again and we lose the Salvation What though it cost us our lives must not we leave them some time or other must we not pay the debt we owe to Nature Let us convert then a necessity into our choice
think of removing to a strange country but confidently rely on his knowledge more then our own Let us remember the words of these Witnesses which say He is the Son of God in whom is Eternall Life Let us trust his judgment who thought it more desirable to go away though upon a Cross then to stay here in the greatest pleasure And since all these Witnesses say He is in heaven let us resolve that we will die looking up to him and saying Lord remember it is the will of the Father that we should have Everlasting Life Thou thy self appearedst to St. Stephen and madest him confident thou wilt receive our Spirit The Holy Ghost which is the Spirit of Truth saith thou art glorified and wilt glorifie us with thy self This thou hast preached to us This thy Bloud hath purchased for us This thou didst rise again to prepare against our coming to thee This thy holy Apostles say thou sentest them to publish to the World This thou hast made us believe and wait for and suffer for and long to enjoy O Dearest Lord and most mercifull Saviour who art the true and faithfull Witness though we miserable sinners deserve to be denied yet deny not thy self let not the price of thy precious Bloud be lost let not the Word of the Father of the Holy Ghost thine own Word fail If thou art not alive I am content to perish But if thou art as thou hast perswaded me then I will not cease to call upon thee I will die with these words in my mouth and be confident thou wilt hear me LORD JESUS RECEIVE MY SPIRIT Thus the blessed Martyr St. Stephen expired looking up stedfastly unto Jesus the Authour and Finisher of our Faith who then appeared in glory to him Whose example all the rest of that Noble Army followed triumphing over death in an assured hope of immortall life Which they had not the least doubt of it is manifest from hence that as Clemens Alexandrinus observes * L. vii Stromat p. 756. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the very extremity of their torments they gave thanks to God who they knew would reward their fidelity having in this very way consecrated Jesus to the highest Office of being the Finisher or Crowner of our Faith Therefore their heart was glad and their glory rejoyced And they sang chearfully with the holy Psalmist but with a far greater confidence God shall redeem my Soul from the power of the grave for he shall receive me xlix Psal 15. And O thou Lord Greg. Naz. Orat. x. in Caesarium fratrem p. 176. and Creatour of all things especially of this thy Workmanship O thou God and Father of thy Men O thou Lord of life and death O thou benefactour of Souls and dispenser of all good things O thou who didst form all things and in due time thou best knowest how in the depth of thy wisedom and administration wilt transform us by that Divine Artificer the WORD Receive me also hereafter when thou seest most convenient in the mean time governing me in this flesh as long as it will be profitable And receive me in thy fear prepared not disturbed nor hanging back at the last day and dragg'd by force from hence like the lovers of the World and the Flesh but chearfully and willingly unto that everlasting and blessed Life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And Id. Orat. xlii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 696. O thou WORD of God! thou Light thou Life and Wisedom and Power for I delight in all thy Names O thou Off-spring and Image of that great Mind O intellectuall WORD and visible Man who upholdest all things by the word of thy power May it now please thee to accept of this Book though not the first-fruits yet the last perhaps that I may be able to offer thee both as a gratefull acknowledgment for all thy benefits and an humble supplication that I may have no other troubles beside the necessary sacred ones of my Charge Stop the fury of any disease which may seize on me or thy sentence if I be removed by thee And if thou art pleased to grant me a dissolution according to my desire and I be received into the Heavenly Tabernacles there I hope to offer acceptable Sacrifices to thee at thy holy Altar O FATHER and WORD and HOLY GHOST for to thee belongs all Glory Honour and Dominion for ever and ever Amen THE END Books written by the Reverend Dr. Patrick and Printed for Richard Royston at the Angel in Amen-corner THE Christian Sacrifice a Treatise shewing the Necessity End and Manner of receiving the holy Communion together with suitable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and the Principal Festivals in memory of our Blessed Saviour In Four Parts The Third Edition Corrected The Devout Christian instructed how to Pray and give Thanks to God Or a Book of Devotions for Families and particular persons in most of the concerns of Humane life The 2. Edition in Twelves An Advice to a Friend The 2. Edition in Twelves A Friendly Debate between a Conformist and a Non-conformist in Octavo In two Parts The Witnesses to Christianity or The Certainty of our Faith and Hope In a Discourse upon 1 S. John v. 7 8. In two Parts in Octavo new A Sermon Preached before the King on St. Stephen's day Printed by His Majesty's special command
to the Throne of thy glory in Heaven The hearts of all mankind with all the love they have is too small a Sacrifice to be offered unto thee whose love is like thy self far beyond all that we are able to express O that our love and affection to thee were so likewise a most grateful resentment of thy kindness to us greater than can be uttered O that our minds and wills to make some poor expressions of their thankfulness may most humbly bow themselves and perfectly stoop to thee who hast thus graciously condescended unto us That we may with the most thankful hearts receive thy testimony concerning thy Son sincerely reverence him as our Lord and Saviour and obediently hearken to his voice believing his Revelations following his Instructions submitting to his Precepts and rejoycing for ever in the comfort of his precious Promises There is all reason that we should thus study to approve our selves to thee And it is our interest also to be careful to fulfil all righteousness as our Saviour did That we may have the testimony of a good Conscience at present and a joyful hope to be openly commended and praised by thee hereafter when we shall hear that voice of the King of glory calling to us and saying Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Amen CHAP. III. Concerning the Testimony of the WORD IT is time now to proceed to the Examination of the next Witness which is the WORD and to weigh the evidence which He gives concerning Jesus that is concerning him who was born of the blessed Virgin Mary and called by that Name who said He was the Son of God I make no doubt but we shall find his testimony as full and as strong as the former to verifie this when we have in a few words according to my intended brevity declared who this WORD is who now comes and desires to be heard as a Witness for Jesus And we are told by this very Apostle in the first Verse of his Gospel that the WORD is a Divine being which had a subsistence in the beginning of all things For he was then with God the World was made by him and therefore He was God That is God of God the Father to whom he hath such a relation to speak in the words of S. Greg. Nazianzen as a word or inward thought hath to the mind Not only in regard of his generation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 36. without any passion but because of his intimate conjunction with Him and of his power to declare Him For the Father is known by the Son who is a brief and easie demonstration of the nature of the Father as every thing that is begotten is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the silent Word of that which begat it Now this WORD whom the Ancients call the Eternal Reason the Wisdom the Power of the Father S. John there tells us ver 14. was made flesh and became so related to that Man who was born of the Blessed Virgin as to dwell in Him and be made one with Him A mystery as Gregory Thaumaturgus excellently speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Serm. 3. in Innunc which is to be adored not scrupulously and nicely weighed to be discoursed of in Divine words not measured by humane reasons And therefore I shall say no more of it but that from hence it is that afterward the whole person God-man is called the WORD as you read in the very entrance of this Epistle of S. John Where the WORD is described to be such a person as may be seen and felt and handled as well as heard And He is very properly called by this Name because it is his office to declare the mind and will of God to men as we by our speech declare ours one to another which otherways we could not know For no man hath seen God at any time i. John 18. the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him In these words we have a plain and full account why our Lord Jesus is called the WORD of God Not merely because he hath revealed to us the Counsel and the pleasure of God for so did the ancient Prophets and the holy Apostles but First because he was the immediate Interpreter of the Divine mind and will as the word which we speak is of ours For he was in the very bosom of the Father that is knew his mind not by the instructions of an Angel not by Visions or Dreams nor only by the Holy Ghost but by a more intimate discovery of Gods counsels and purposes to him as a person that was one with him We cannot understand less by his being in his Fathers bosom which is a phrase that signifies He had the nearest familiarity with Him and was privy to his most secret counsels Which He was able also to accomplish and bring to pass and for that reason which is the second may be called the WORD of God Because he hath such a power in Heaven and Earth that at his word or command all things are presently done according to his will For Jesus being represented you may observe in a vision to S. John as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords clothed in a purple i.e. a royal robe is called by the name of the Word of God xix Rev. 13 after he had done publishing God's mind and will and was then only executing some of his Decrees by that power which he hath at God's right hand A power so great that he can by his Word alone as the Scripture speaks in other cases of God Almighty xxxiii Psalm 6. without any visible means to effect it compass his ends and fulfil what he hath spoken either in his threats or promises And lastly the Article before this Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the WORD denotes Him to be the person to whom this Title so particularly and eminently belongs that it can be given to none else Because he hath most perfectly declared God's mind and will to us and revealed to us all his secret purposes concerning us in the fullest manner that can be and hath a power far surmounting all creatures to do every thing as he hath declared And thus I suppose we are to take the word in this place for the WORD made flesh that is for Jesus himself Who manifested his own greatness and glory as you have begun to discern already and bare witness concerning himself in a very eminent and glorious manner that he was the Son of God But you must not expect that I should here produce all the demonstrations which He gave of this Truth from the time of his being made flesh and coming to dwell among us No we are to consider that the Apostle is now speaking of those Witnesses which are in Heaven and thence give their testimony And therefore we must not at present seek for any
meerly by the power of the Spirit and the Holy Ghost so being thus propagated all the learned part of the World is of our Religion They that are of any other are ignorant of good learning as their great enemy But this fears not to be tried because it is sure that knowledge is its Friend and that wisdome as our Saviour said will be justified of her Children Who clearly see even from their own Writings that Mahomet at the best was but an hot Enthusiast who took his own warm thoughts for inspiration But he had no assurance of what he said As the humour wrought he was for new illuminations It was not his fault that his Disciples had not another Book which should have put down the Alcoran For as our famous Professor of this Learning * Mr. Pocock Ib. p. 178. has observed out of Alsharestanius when he lay sick of the Fever of which he dyed he called for Pen and Ink that he might write them an infallible Book it seems as yet he had not done it to keep them from erring when he was dead This Omar lookt upon as a frenzy though Mahomet took it for an inspiration and said Alas the sickness of the Apostle of God is very strong It is sufficient that we have the Book of God i. e. the Alcoran there needs no more But some were of another mind and while the Company that stood by contended and strove among themselves some calling for the Pen and Ink and others agreeing with Omar that he was beside himself Mahomet cryed out Get ye gone it doth not become you to dispute before me and so there was an end But some bewail this as a great misfortune that he did not write them such a Book as he then had in his Head that is more frenzies and ravings of his brain-sick imagination But it is time to have done with this which I have said not meerly to show how senceless that Religion is which hath over-spread so great a part of the World but how happy we are who are taught by our Lord and Master Christ Jesus Whose faith relies upon such certain evident and divine grounds that if we did but live according to it we need not fear but by its power and force it would overcome and vanquish the other though supported by never so numerous followers The Lord of his infinite mercy quicken our Faith that we may out-live them for it is plain we can so far out-reason them that there is no more comparison between our grounds and theirs than there is between the wisest man that ever was and those blocks of Mecca that could neither write nor read II. The only Religion that can come into any competition with ours is that of Moses who indeed was sent of God and as became a faithful servant of his in the House or Family committed to his charge followed his orders and honestly testified and reported those things which God commanded him to speak iii. Hebr. 5. But if you seriously weigh what hath been said you will find the Jews had not such weighty Arguments to perswade them to believe on Moses as we have to believe in Jesus who hath abrogated a great part of that Religion And first for the Witness of the FATHER the Jews say ix Joh. 29. We know that God spake to Moses But how did they know it What evidence were they able to give themselves of it If it had pleased them to lay aside their passion and look beyond the prejudices of their education the proof of it would have appeared so slender in comparison with the assurances they might have had of his speaking to Jesus that they would never have added those scornful words which there follow as for this fellow we know not whence he is God appeared indeed to Moses in the Bush and said to him iii. Exod 6. I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And bids him say to the Children of Israel to whom he ordered him to go I am hath sent me to you vers 14. But which of the Israelites stood by when God spake these words to him What person was there like John Baptist to be a Witness of this Voice which was his Commission What Creature was there with him but the Flock he was feeding that could come afterward and say I was present and heard God call to him out of the Bush Doth the Voice say any where I am hath sent HIM as if it spake to others besides himself or what words did he himself hear comparable to those which God spake to our Saviour saying Thou art my Son my well-beloved Son Nor was the manner alike wherein these two Voices were delivered One out of the Bush the other from Heaven And the Glory wherewith this came to Moses was much inferiour to the glorious appearance of the Holy Ghost descending upon Jesus An Angel of the Lord you read appeared then to Moses in a flame of fire vers 2. But the flame was in the midst of the Bush not upon Moses Whereas the Holy Ghost not an Angel of the Lord came down at our Saviour's Baptism when he was sent and not into some distant place but lighted upon HIM and there remained God therefore is said to DWELL in the Bush xxxiii Deut. 16. but never to dwell in Moses and the dwelling of God there was only by the Presence and Ministry of an Angel Whereas now Jesus himself is the dwelling place of God as I have proved and it is God himself that dwells in him The Divine Majesty came upon him and there it setled its abode in his Person Who is God manifested in the flesh and whose Glory we behold the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father which cannot be said of any other man All this is so plain that Moses himself saw this appearance of God to him though sufficient to perswade him that he was sent of God because he heard him speak to him out of the Bush would not prove a demonstration to others who did not hear or see any thing to make them believe him nor had any credible witnesses to justifie this beside himself He says as much afterward to him that sent him Behold they will not believe me nor hearken to my voice for they will say the Lord hath not appeared unto thee iv Exod. 1. And how could he confute them when they made this exception unless he had some sensible demonstration to give them that God was with him which God immediately furnishes him withall ver 2. though nothing like to the Power of our Saviour as you shall hear presently All the miracles he wrought were as short of our Lords as His first Commission was which you see plainly was nothing so noble nothing so clear as that of our blessed Saviour's Moses himself is sensible of it and confesses he wanted some Witness that God spake to him and that he knew not what to say