to Preach was that the Kingdom of the Messiah was come Whosoever should not receive them the Messengers of this good Tidings nor hearken to their Message incurred a heavier doom than Sodom and Gomorrha at the day of Judgment v. 14 15. But v. 32. Whosoever shall confess me before men I will confess him before my Father who is in Heaven What this confessing of Christ is we may see by comparing Iohn XII 4. with IX 22. Nevertheless among the chief Rulers also many believed in him But because of the Pharisees they did not CONFESS HIM lest they should be put out of the Synagogue And Chap. IX 22. These words spake his Parents because they feared the Iews For the Iews had agreed already that if any man did CONFESS THAT HE WAS THE MESSIAH he should be put out of the Synagogue By which places it is evident that to confess him was to confess that he was the Messiah From which give me leave to observe also what I have cleared from other places but cannot be too often remark'd because of the different sense has been put upon that Phrase viz. That believing on or in him for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred either way by the English Traslation signifies believing that he was the Messiah For many of the Rulers the Text says believed on him But they durst not consess what they believed for fear they should be put out of the Synagogue Now the Offence for which it was agreed that any one should be put out of the Synagogue was if he did confess that Iesus was the Messiah Hence we may have a clear understanding of that passage of St. Paul to the Romans where he tells them positively what is the Faith he Preaches Rom. X. 8 9. That is the Word of Faith which we preach That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved And that also of St. Iohn IV. 14 15. We have seen and do testifie that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the World Whosoever shall confess that Iesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and be in God Where confessing Jesus to be the Son of God is the same with confessing him to be the Messiah Those two Expressions being understood amongst the Jews to signifie the same thing as we have shewn already How calling him the Son of God came to signifie that he was the Messiah would not be hard to shew But it is enough that it appears plainly that it was so used and had that import amongst the Jews at that time Which if any one desires to have further evidenced to him he may add Mat. XXVI 63. Iohn VI. 69. XI 27. XX. 31. to those places before occasionally taken notice of As was the Apostles Commission such was their Performance As we read Luke IX 6. They departed and went through the Towns preaching the Gospel and healing every where Jesus bid them Preach saying The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand And St. Luke tells us they went through the Towns Preaching the Gospel A word which in Saxon answers well the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifies as that does Good news So that what the inspired Writers call the Gospel is nothing but the good Tidings that the Messiah and his Kingdom was come And so it is to be understood in the New Testament And so the Angel calls it Good tidings of great joy Luke II. 10. Bringing the first News of our Saviour's Birth And this seems to be all that his Disciples were at that time sent to Preach So Luke IX 59 60. To him that would have excused his present Attendance because of burying his Father Iesus said unto him let the dead bury their dead but go thou and preach the Kingdom of God When I say this was all they were to Preach I must be understood that this was the Faith they preached But with it they joyned Obedience to the Messiah whom they received for their King So likewise when he sent out the Seventy Luke X. their Commission was in these words v. 9. Heal the sick and say unto them the Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you After the return of his Apostles to him he sits down with them in a Mountain And a great multitude being gathered about them St. Luke tells us Chap. IX 11. The people followed him and he received them and spake unto them of the Kingdom of God and healed them that had need of healing This was his Preaching to this Assembly which consisted of Five Thousand Men besides Women and Children All which great multitude he fed with five Loaves and two Fishes Mat. XIV 21. And what this Miracle wrought upon them St. Iohn tells us Chap. VI. 14 15. Then these men when they had seen the miracle that Iesus did said This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the World i. e. the Messiah For the Messiah was the only Person that they expected from God and this the time they looked for him And hence Iohn the Baptist Mat. XI 3. stiles him He that should come As in other places Come from God or Sent from God are Phrases used for the Messiah Here we see our Saviour keeps to his usual method of Preaching He speaks to them of the Kingdom of God and does Miracles by which they might understand him to be the Messiah whose Kingdom he spake of And here we have the reason also why he so much concealed himself and forbore to own his being the Messiah For what the consequence was of the multitudes but thinking him so when they were got together St. Iohn tells us in the very next words When Iesus then perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a King he departed again into a mountain himself alone If they were so ready to set him up for their King only because they gathered from his Miracles that he was the Messiah whilst he himself said nothing of it What would not the People have done And what would not the Scribes and Pharisees have had an Opportunity to Accuse him of if he had openly professed himself to have been the Messiah that King they looked for But this we have taken notice of already From hence going to Capernaum whither he was followed by a great part of the People whom he had the day before so miraculously fed He upon the occasion of their following him for the Loaves bids them seek for the Meat that endureth to Eternal Life And thereupon Iohn VI. 22-69 declares to them his being sent from the Father And that those who believed in him should be raised to Eternal Life But all this very much involved in a mixture of Allegorical terms of eating and of Bread Bread of Life which came down from Heaven c. Which is all comprehended and expounded in these short and plain
have I spoken to you in Proverbs i. e. In General Obscure Aenigmatical or Figurative terms All which as well as Allusive Apologues the Jews called Proverbs or Parables Hitherto my declaring of my self to you hath been obscure and with reserve And I have not spoken of my self to you in plain and direct words because ye could not bear it A Messiah and not a King you could not understand And a King living in Poverty and Persecution and dying the Death of a Slave and Malefactor upon a Cross you could not put together And had I told you in plain words that I was the Messiah and given you a direct Commission to Preach to others that I professedly owned my self to be the Messiah you and they would have been ready to have made a Commotion to have set me upon the Throne of my Father David and to fight for me that your Messiah your King in whom are your hopes of a Kingdom should not be delivered up into the hands of his Enemies to be put to Death And of this Peter will instantly give you an Example But the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in Parables but I shall shew unto you plainly of the Father My Death and Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Ghost will speedily enlighten you and then I shall make you know the Will and Design of the Father What a Kingdom I am to have and by what means and to what end v. 27. And this the Father himself will shew unto you For he loveth you because ye have loved me and have believed that I came out from the Father Because ye have believed that I am the Son of God the Messiah That he hath anointed and sent me Though it hath not been yet fully discovered to you what kind of Kingdom it shall be nor by what means brought about And then our Saviour without being asked explaining to them what he had said And making them understand better what before they stuck at and complained secretly among themselves that they understood not They thereupon declare v. 30. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things and needest not that any man should ask thee 'T is plain thou knowest mens Thoughts and Doubts before they ask By this we believe that thou comest forth from God Iesus answered Do ye now believe Notwithstanding that you now believe that I came from God and am the Messiah sent by him Behold the hour cometh yea is now come that ye shall be scattered And as it is Mat. XXVI 31. and shall all be scandalized in me What it is to be scandalized in him we may see by what followed hereupon if that which he says to St. Peter Mark XIV did not sufficiently explain it This I have been the more particular in That it may be seen that in this last Discourse to his Disciples where he opened himself more than he had hitherto done and where if any thing more was required to make them Believers than what they already believed we might have expected they should have heard of it there were no new Articles proposed to them but what they believed before viz. That he was the Messiah the Son of God sent from the Father Though of his manner of proceeding and his sudden leaving the World and some few particulars he made them understand something more than they did before But as to the main design of the Gospel viz. That he had a Kingdom that he should be put to Death and rise again and ascend into Heaven to his Father and come again in Glory to Judge the World This he had told them And so had acquainted them with the Great Council of God in sending him the Messiah and omitted nothing that was necessary to be known or believed in it And so he tells them himself Iohn XV. 15. Henceforth I call ye not Servants for the Servant knoweth not what his Lord does But I have called ye Friends for ALL THINGS I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you though perhaps ye do not so fully comprehend them as you will shortly when I am risen and ascended To conclude all in his Prayer which shuts up this Discourse he tells the Father what he had made known to his Apostles The Result whereof we have Iohn XVII 8. I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them and THEY HAVE BELIEVED THAT THOV DIDST SEND ME Which is in effect that he was the Messiah promised and sent by God And then he Prays for them and adds v. 20 21. Neither pray I for these alone but for them also who shall believe on me through their word What that Word was through which others should believe in him we have seen in the Preaching of the Apostles all through the History of the Acts viz. This one great Point that Jesus was the Messiah The Apostles he says v. 25. know that thou hast sent me i. e. are assured that I am the Messiah And in v. 21. 23. he Prays That the World may believe which v. 23. is called knowing that thou hast sent me So that what Christ would have believed by his Disciples we may see by this his last Prayer for them when he was leaving the World as well as by what he Preached whilst he was in it And as a Testimony of this one of his last Actions even when he was upon the Cross was to confirm this Doctrine by giving Salvation to one of the Thieves that was crucified with him upon his Declaration that he believed him to be the Messiah For so much the words of his Request imported when he said Remember me Lord when thou comest into thy Kingdom Luke XXIII 42. To which Jesus replied v. 43. Verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paridise An Expression very remarkable For as Adam by sin left Paradise i. e. a state of Happy Immortality Here the believing Thief through his Faith in Iesus the Messiah is promised to be put in Paradise and so re-instated in an Happy Immortality Thus our Saviour ended his Life And what he did after his Resurrection St. Luke tells us Acts I. 3. That he shewed himself to the Apostles forty days speaking things concerning the Kingdom of God This was what our Saviour preached in the whole Course of his Ministry before his Passion And no other Mysteries of Faith does he now discover to them after his Resurrection All he says is concerning the Kingdom of God And what it was he said concerning that we shall see presently out of the other Evangelists having first only taken notice that when now they asked him v. 6. Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel He said unto them v. 7. It is not for you to know the Times and the Seasons which the Father hath put in his own power But ye shall receive Power after that the Holy Ghost is come
to any man an Authority to make a Religion for me or to alter that which God hath revealed And if they please to call the believing that which our Saviour and his Apostles preached and proposed alone to be believed an Historical Faith they have their liberty But they must have a care how they deny it to be a Justifying or Saving Faith when our Saviour and his Apostles have declared it so to be and taught no other which men should receive and whereby they should be made Believers unto Eternal Life Unless they can so far make bold with our Saviour for the sake of their beloved Systems as to say that he forgot what he came into the World for And that he and his Apostles did not Instruct People right in the way and Mysteries of Salvation For that this is the sole Doctrine pressed and required to be believed in the whole tenour of our Saviour's and his Apostles Preaching we have shewed through the whole History of the Evangelists and the Acts. And I challenge them to shew that there was any other Doctrine upon their assent to which or disbelief of it men were pronounced Believers or Unbelievers And accordingly received into the Church of Christ as Members of his Body as far as meer believing could make them so or else kept out of it This was the only Gospel-Article of Faith which was preached to them And if nothing else was preached every where the Apostles Argument will hold against any other Articles of Faith to be be believed under the Gospel Rom. X. 14. How shall they believe that whereof they have not heard For to Preach any other Doctrines necessary to be believed we do not find that any body was sent Perhaps it will farther be urged That this is not a Saving Faith Because such a Faith as this the Devils may have and 't was plain they had For they believed and declared Iesus to be the Messiah And St. Iames Chap. II. 19. tells us The Devils believe and tremble And yet they shall not be saved To which I answer 1. That they could not be saved by any Faith to whom it was not proposed as a means of Salvation nor ever promised to be counted for Righteousness This was an Act of Grace shewn only to Mankind God dealt so favourably with the Posterity of Adam that if they would believe Iesus to be the Messiah the promised King and Saviour And perform what other Conditions were required of them by the Covenant of Grace God would Justifie them because of this Belief He would account this Faith to them for Righteousness and look on it as making up the defects of their Obedience Which being thus supplied by what was taken instead of it they were looked on as Just or Righteous and so inherited Eternal Life But this Favour shewn to Mankind was never offered to the fallen Angels They had no such Proposals made to them And therefore whatever of this kind was proposed to men it availed them not whatever they performed of it This Covenant of Grace was never offered to them 2. I Answer That though the Devils believed yet they could not be saved by the Covenant of Grace Because they performed not the other Condition required in it altogether as necessary to be performed as this of Believing and that is Repentance Repentance is as absolute a Condition of the Covenant of Grace as Faith and as necessary to be performed as that Iohn the Baptist who was to prepare the way for the Messiah Preached the Baptism of Repentance for the remission of sins Mark 1. 4. As Iohn began his Preaching with Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Mat. III. 2. So did our Saviour begin his Mat. IV. 17. From that time began Iesus to Preach and to say Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Or as St. Mark has it in that parallel place Mark I. 14 15. Now after that John was put in Prison Iesus came into Galilee Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and saying The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand Repent ye and believe the Gospel This was not only the beginning of his Preaching but the sum of all that he did Preach viz. That men should Repent and believe the good Tidings which he brought them That the time was fulfilled for the coming of the Messiah And this was what his Apostles preached when he sent them out Mark VI. 12. And they going out preached that men should Repent Believing Jesus to be the Messiah and Repenting were so Necessary and Fundamental parts of the Covenant of Grace that one of them alone is often put for both For here St. Mark mentions nothing but their Preaching Repentance as St. Luke in the parallel place Chap. IX 6. mentions nothing but their Evangelizing or Preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of the Messiah And St. Paul often in his Epistles puts Faith for the whole Duty of a Christian. But yet the tenour of the Gospel is what Christ declares Luke XII 3. 5. Vnless ye repent ye shall all likewise perish And in the Parable of the Rich Man in Hell delivered by our Saviour Luke XVI Repentance alone is the means proposed of avoiding that place of Torment v. 30 31. And what the tenor of the Doctrine which should be preached to the World should be He tells his Apostles after his Resurrection Luke XXIV 27. viz. That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name who was the Messiah And accordingly believing Iesus to be the Messiah and Repenting was what the Apostles preached So Peter began Acts II. 38. Repent and be baptized These two things were required for the Remission of Sins viz. Entring themselves in the Kingdom of God And owning and professing themselves the Subjects of Iesus whom they believed to be the Messiah and received for their Lord and King For that was to be baptized in his Name Baptism being an initiating Ceremony known to the Iews whereby those who leaving Heathenism and professing a submission to the Law of Moses were received into the Common-wealth of Israel And so it was made use of by our Saviour to be that Solemn visible Act whereby those who believed him to be the Messiah received him as their King and professed Obedience to him were admitted as Subjects into his Kingdom Which in the Gospels is called the Kingdom of God And in the Acts and Epistles often by another name viz. The Church The same St. Peter Preaches again to the Iews Acts III. 19. Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out What this Repentance was which the New Covenant required as one of the Conditions to be performed by all those who should receive the Benefits of that Covenant is plain in the Scripture to be not only a sorrow for sins past but what is a Natural consequence of such sorrow if it be real a turning from them into a new and
accounted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection from the Dead neither marry nor are given in marriage Neither can they die any more for they are equal unto the Angels and are the SONS OF GOD being the Sons of the Resurrection And he that shall read St. Paul's Arguing Acts XIII 32 33. will find that the great Evidence that Jesus was the Son of God was his Resurrection Then the Image of his Father appeared in him when he visibly entred into the state of Immortality For thus the Apostle reasons We Preach to you how that the Promise which was made to our Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us in that he hath raised up Iesus again As it is also written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee This may serve a little to explain the Immortality of the Sons of God who are in this like their Father made after his Image and Likeness But that our Saviour was so he himself farther declares Iohn X. 18. Where speaking of his Life he says No one taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again Which he could not have had if he had been a Mortal Man the Son of a Man of the Seed of Adam Or else had by any Transgression forfeited his Life For the wages of Sin is Death And he that hath incurred Death for his own Transgression cannot lay down his Life for another as our Saviour professes he did For he was the Just One Acts VII 57. and XII 14. Who knew no sin 2 Cor. V. 21. Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth And thus As by Man came Death so by Man came the Resurrection of the Dead For as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive For this laying down his Life for others our Saviour tells us Iohn X. 17. Therefore does my Father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again And this his Obedience and Suffering was rewarded with a Kingdom which he tells us Luke XXII His Father had appointed unto him And which 't is evident out of the Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. XII 2. he had a regard to in his Sufferings Who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God Which Kingdom given him upon this account of his Obedience Suffering and Death He himself takes notice of in these words Iohn XVII 1-4 Iesus lift up his eyes to Heaven and said Father the hour is come glorifie thy Son that thy Son also may glorifie thee As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him And this is Life Eternal that they may know thee the only true God and Iesus the Messiah whom thou hast sent I have glorified thee on Earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do And St. Paul in his Epistle to the Philippians Chap. II. 8-11 He humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the death of the Cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name That at the name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth And that every Tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord. Thus God we see designed his Son Christ Iesus a Kingdom an Everlasting Kingdom in Heaven But Though as in Adam all die so in Christ all shall be made alive And all men shall return to Life again at the last day Yet all men having sinned and thereby come short of the Glory of God as St. Paul assures us Rom. III. 23. i.e. Not attaining to the Heavenly Kingdom of the Messiah which is often called the Glory of God as may be seen Rom. V. 2. XV. 7. II. 7. Mat. XVI 27. Mark VIII 38. For no one who is unrighteous i. e. comes short of perfect Righteousness shall be admitted into the Eternal Life of that Kingdom As is declared 1 Cor. VI. 9. The unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And Death the Wages of Sin being the Portion of all those who had transgressed the Righteous Law of God The Son of God would in vain have come into the World to lay the Foundations of a Kingdom and gather together a select People out of the World if they being found guilty at their appearance before the Judgment-seat of the Righteous Judge of all men at the last day instead of entrance into Eternal Life in the Kingdom he had prepared for them they should receive Death the just Reward of Sin which every one of them was guilty of This second Death would have left him no Subjects And instead of those Ten Thousand times Ten Thousand and Thousands of Thousands there would not have been one left him to sing Praises unto his Name saying Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever God therefore out of his Mercy to Mankind and for the erecting of the Kingdom of his Son and furnishing it with Subjects out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation proposed to the Children of Men that as many of them as would believe Iesus his Son whom he sent into the World to be the Messiah the promised Deliverer And would receive him for their King and Ruler should have all their past Sins Disobedience and Rebellion forgiven them And if for the future they lived in a sincere Obedience to his Law to the utmost of their power the sins of Humane Frailty for the time to come as well as all those of their past Lives should for his Son's sake because they gave themselves up to him to be his Subjects be forgiven them And so their Faith which made them be baptized into his Name i.e. Enroll themselves in the Kingdom of Iesus the Messiah and profess themselves his Subjects and consequently live by the Laws of his Kingdom should be accounted to them for Righteousness i.e. Should supply the defects of a scanty Obedience in the sight of God Who counting this Faith to them for Righteousness or Compleat Obedience did thus Justifie or make them Just and thereby capable of Eternal Life Now that this is the Faith for which God of his free Grace Justifies sinful Man For 't is God alone that justifieth Rom. VIII 33. Rom. III. 26. We have already shewed by observing through all the History of our Saviour and the Apostles recorded in the Evangelists and in the Acts what he and his Apostles preached and proposed to be believed We shall shew now that besides believing him to be the Messiah their King it was farther required that those who would have the Priviledge Advantages and
of the Scripture all along put Messiah for Christ. Christ being but the Greek name for the Hebrew Messiah and both signifying The Anointed And that he was the Messiah was the great Truth he took pains to convince his Disciples and Apostles of appearing to them after his Resurrection As may be seen Luke XXIV which we shall more particularly consider in another place There we read what Gospel our Saviour Preach'd to his Disciples and Apostles And That as soon as he was risen from the Dead twice the very day of his Resurrection And if we may gather what was to be believed by all Nations from what was preached unto them we may observe that the Preaching of the Apostles every where in the Acts tended to this one Point to prove that Jesus was the Messiah Indeed now after his Death his Resurrection was also commonly required to be believed as a necessary Article and sometimes solely insisted on It being a mark and undoubted Evidence of his being the Messiah and necessary now to be believed by those who would receive him as the Messiah For since the Messiah was to be a Saviour and a King and to give Life and a Kingdom to those who received him as we shall see by and by there could have been no Pretence to have given him out for the Messiah and to require men to believe him to be so who thought him under the Power of Death and Corruption of the Grave And therefore those who believed him to be the Messiah must believe that he was risen from the Dead And those who believed him to be risen from the Dead could not doubt of his being the Messiah But of this more in another place Let us see therefore how the Apostles preached Christ and what they proposed to their Hearers to believe St. Peter at Ierusalem Acts II. by his first Sermon converted Three Thousand Souls What was his word which as we are told v. 41. they gladly received and thereupon were baptized That may be seen from v. 22. to v. 36. In short this Which is the Conclusion drawn from all that he had said and which he presses on them as the thing they were to believe viz. Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Iesus whom ye have crucified Lord and Messiah v. 36. To the same purpose was his Discourse to the Jews in the Temple Acts III. the design whereof you have v. 18. But those things that God before had shewed by the mouth of all his Prophets that the Messiah should suffer he hath so fulfilled In the next Chapter Acts IV. Peter and Iohn being examined about the Miracle on the lame Man profess it to have been done in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth who was the Messiah in whom alone there was Salvation v. 10-12 The same thing they confirm to them again Acts V. 29-32 And daily in the Temple and in every House they ceased not to teach and preach Iesus the Messiah v. 42. What was Stephen's Speech to the Council Acts VII but a Reprehension to them that they were the Betrayers and Murderers of the Iust One Which is the Title by which he plainly designs the Messiah whose coming was foreshewn by the Prophets v. 51 52. And that the Messiah was to be without sin which is the import of the word Just was the Opinion of the Jews appears from Iohn IX v. 22. compared with 24. Acts VIII Philip carries the Gospel to Samaria Then Philip went down to Samaria and preached to them What was it he preached You have an account of it in this one word The Messiah v. 5. This being that alone which was required of them to believe that Iesus was the Messiah which when they believed they were baptized And when they believed Philip 's Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and the name of Iesus the Messiah they were baptized both Men and Women v. 12. Philip being sent from thence by a special call of the Spirit to make an Eminent Convert out of Isaiah preaches to him Jesus v. 35. And what it was he preached concerning Iesus we may know by the Profession of Faith the Eunuch made upon which he was admitted to Baptism v. 37. I believe that Iesus Christ is the Son of God Which is as much as to say I believe that he whom you call Jesus Christ is really and truly the Messiah that was promised For that believing him to be the Son of God and to be the Messiah was the same thing may appear by comparing Iohn I. 45. with v. 49. where Nathanael owns Jesus to be the Messiah in these terms Thou art the Son of God Thou art the King of Israel So the Jews Luke XXII 70. asking Christ whether he were the Son of God plainly demand of him whether he were the Messiah Which is evident by comparing that with the three preceding Verses They ask him v. 67. whether he were the Messiah He answers If I tell you you will not believe but withal tells them that from thenceforth he should be in Possession of the Kingdom of the Messiah expressed in these words v. 69. Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of God Which made them all cry our Art thou then the Son of God i. e. Dost thou then own thy self to be the Messiah To which he replies Ye say that I am That the Son of God was the known Title of the Messiah at that time amongst the Jews we may see also from what the Jews say to Pilate John XIX 7. We have a Law and by our Law he ought to die because he made himself THE SON OF GOD i. e. by making himself the Messiah the Prophet which was to come but falsely and therefore he deserves to die by the Law Deut. XVIII 20. That this was the common signification of the Son of God is farther evident form what the Chief Priests mocking him said when he was at the Cross Mat. XXVII 42. He saved others himself he cannot save If he be the King of Israel let him now come down from the Cross and we will believe him He trusted in God let him deliver him now if he will have him for he said I am the SON OF GOD i. e. he said he was the Messiah But 't is plainly false for if he were God would deliver him For the Messiah is to be King of Israel the Saviour of others but this Man cannot save himself The Chief Priests mention here the two Titles then in use whereby the Jews commonly designed the Messiah viz. Son of God and King of Israel That of Son of God was so familiar a compellation of the Messiah who was then so much expected and talked of that the Romans it seems who lived amongst them had learned it as appears from v. 54. Now when the Centurion and they that were with him watching Iesus saw the Earthquake and those things that were done
fill out the time foretold of his Ministry And after a Life illustrious in Miracles and Good Works attended with Humility Meekness Patience and Suffering and every way conformable to the Prophesies of him should be lead as a sheep to the slaughter and with all quiet and submission be brought to the Cross though there were no guilt nor fault found in him This could not have been if as soon as he appeared in Publick and began to Preach he had presently professed himself to have been the Messiah the King that owned that Kingdom he published to be at hand For the Sanhedrim would then have laid hold on it to have got him into their Power and thereby have taken away his Life at least they would have disturbed his Ministry and hindred the Work he was about That this made him cautious and avoid as much as he could the occasions of provoking them and falling into their hands is plain from Iohn VII 1. After these things Iesus walked in Galilee out of the way of the Chief Priests and Rulers for he would not walk in Iewry because the Iews sought to kill him Thus making good what he foretold them at Ierusalem when at the first Passover after his beginning to Preach the Gospel upon his Curing the man at the Pool of Bethesday they sought to kill him Iohn V. 16. Ye have not says he v. 38. his word abiding amongst you For whom he hath sent him ye believe not This was spoken more particularly to the Jews of Ierusalem who were the forward men zealous to take away his Life And it imports that because of their Unbelief and Opposition to him the Word of God i. e. the Preaching of the Kingdom of the Messiah which is often called the Word of God did not stay amongst them He could not stay amongst them Preach and explain to them the Kingdom of the Messiah That the Word of God here signifies the Word of God that should make Jesus known to them to be the Messiah is evident from the Context And this meaning of this place is made good by the event For after this we hear no more of Jesus at Ierusalem till the Pentecost come twelve month though 't is not to be doubted but that he was there the next Passover and other Feasts between but privately And now at Ierusalem at the Feast of Pentecost near fifteen Months after he says very little and not a word of the Kingdom of Heaven being come or at hand nor did he any Miracle there And returning to Ierusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles it is plain that from this time till then which was a Year and a half he had not Taught them at Ierusalem For 1. It is said Iohn VII 2. 15. That he teaching in the Temple at the Feast of Tabernacles The Iews marvelled saying How knoweth this man letters having never learned A sign they had not been used to his Preaching For if they had they would not now have marvelled 2. Ver. 19. He says thus to them Did not Moses give you the Law and yet none of you keep the Law Why go you about to kill me One work or miracle I did here amongst you and ye all marvel Moses therefore gave unto you Circumcision and ye on the Sabbath-day circumcise a man If a man on the Sabbath-day receive Circumcision that the Law of Moses should not be broken are ye angry with me because I have made a man every way whole on the Sabbath-day Which is a direct defence of what he did at Ierusalem a Year and a half before when he last preached to them there which is reported Iohn V. 1-16 And it is at that very time when he told them v. 38. Ye have not the Word of God remaining among you because whom he hath sent ye believe not Whereby I think he signifies his not staying and being frequent amongst them Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom because their great Unbelief Opposition and Malice to him would not permit his stay and Preaching amongst them This was manifestly so in fact For the first Miracle he did at Ierusalem which was at the second Passover after his Baptism brought him in danger of his Life Which made him forbear Preaching again there till the Feast of Tabernacles immediately preceding his last Passover So that till half a Year before his Passion he did but one Miracle and preached but once publickly at Ierusalem These Tryals he made there But found their unbelief such that if he had staid and persisted to Preach the good tidings of the Kingdom and to shew himself by Miracles among them he could not have had time and freedom to do those Works which his Father had given him to finish as he says v. 36. of this fifth of St. Iohn When upon the curing of the withered Hand on the Sabbath-day The Pharisees took Counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy him Iesus withdrew himself with his Disciples to the Sea And a great multitude from Galilee followed him and from Judea and from Ierusalem and from Idumea and from beyond Jordan and they about Tyre and Sidon A great multitude when they had heard what great things he did came unto him and he healed them all and CHARGED THEM THAT THEY SHOVLD NOT MAKE HIM KNOWN That it might be fulfilled what was spoken by the Prophet Isaiah saying Behold my servant whom I have chosen my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased I will put my spirit upon him and he shall shew Iudgment to the Gentiles He shall not strive nor cry neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets Mat. XII and Mark III. And Iohn XI 47. Upon the News of our Saviour's raising Lazarus from the Dead The Chief Priests and Pharisees convened the Sanhedrim and said what do we For this man does many Miracles v. 53. Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death v. 54. Iesus therefore walked no more openly amongst the Iews His Miracles had now so much declared him to be the Messiah that the Jews could no longer bear him nor he trust himself amongst them But went thence unto a Country near to the Wilderness into a City called Ephraim and there continued with his Disciples This was but a little before his last Passover as appears by the following words v. 55. And the Iews Passover was nigh at hand And he could not now his Miracles had made him so well known have been secure the little time that now remained till his hour was fully come if he had not with his wonted and necessary caution withdrawn And walked no more openly amongst the Iews till his time at the next Passover was fully come And then again he appeared amongst them openly Nor would the Romans have suffered him if he had gone about Preaching that he was the King whom the Jews expected Such an Accusation would have been forwardly brought against him by the Jews if they could
Luke VI. And I desire my Reader once for all here to take notice that I have all along observed the order of time in our Saviour's Proaching and have not as I think passed by any of his Discourses In this Sermon our Saviour only teaches them what were the Laws of his Kingdom and what they must do who were admitted into it of which I shall have occasion to speak more at large in another place being at present only enquiring what our Saviour proposed as matter of Faith to be believed After this Iohn the Baptist sends to him this Message Luke VII 19. Asking Art thou he that should come or do we expect another That is in short art thou the Messiah And if thou art why dost thou let me thy Fore runner languish in Prison Must I expect deliverance from any other To which Jesus returns this Answer v. 22 23. Tell John what you have seen and heard The Blind see the Lame walk the Lepers are cleansed the Deaf hear the Dead are raised to the Poor the Gospel is preached and blessed is he who is not offended in me What it is to be offended or scandalized in him we may see by comparing Mat. XIII 28. and Mark IV. 17. with Luke VIII 13. For what the two first call scandalized the last calls standing off from or forsaking i. e. not receiving him as the Messiah Vid. Mark VI. 1-6 or revolting from him Here Jesus refers Iohn as he did the Jews before to the Testimony of his Miracles to know who he was And this was generally his Preaching whereby he declared himself to be the Messiah Who was the only Prophet to come whom the Iews had any expectation of Nor did they look for any other Person to be sent to them with the Power of Miracles but only the Messiah His Miracles we see by his Answer to Iohn the Baptist he thought a sufficient declaration amongst them that he was the Messiah And therefore upon his curing the possessed of the Devil the Dumb and Blind Mat. XII the People who saw the Miracle said v. 23. Is not this the Son of David As much as to say Is not this the Messiah Whereat the Pharisees being offended said He cast out Devils by Beelzebub Jesus shewing the falshood and vanity of their Blasphemy justifies the Conclusion the People made from this Miracle saying v. 28. That his casting out Devils by the Spirit of God was an Evidence that the Kingdom of the Messiah was come One thing more there was in the Miracles done by his Disciples which shewed him to be the Messiah That they were done in his Name In the name of Iesus of Nazareth rise up and walk says St. Peter to the lame man whom he cured in the Temple Acts III. 6. And how far the Power of that Name reached they themselves seem to wonder Luke X. 17. And the seventy returned again with joy saying Lord even the Devils are subject to us in thy Name From this Message from Iohn the Baptist he takes occasion to tell the People that Iohn was the Fore-runner of the Messiah That from the time of Iohn the Baptist the Kingdom of the Messiah began To which time all the Prophets and the Law pointed Luke VII and Mat. XI Luke VIII 1. Afterwards he went through every City and Village preaching and shewing the good tidings of the Kingdom of God Here we see as every where what his Preaching was and consequently what was to be believed Soon after he Preaches from a Boat to the People on the shoar His Sermon at large we may read Mat. XIII Mark IV. and Luke VIII But this is very observeable That this second Sermon of his here is quite different from his former in the Mount For that was all so plain and intelligible that nothing could be more so Whereas this is all so involved in Parables that even the Apostles themselves did not understand it If we enquire into the reason of this we shall possibly have some Light from the different Subjects of these two Sermons There he preached to the People only Morality Clearing the Precepts of the Law from the false glosses which were received in those days And setting forth the Duties of a good Life in their full Obligation and Extent beyond what the Judiciary Laws of the Israelites did or the Civil Laws of any Country could prescribe or take notice of But here in this Sermon by the Sea-side he speaks of nothing but the Kingdom of the Messiah which he does all in Parables One Reason whereof St. Matthew gives us Chap. XIII 35. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet saying I will open my mouth in Parables I will utter things that have been keep secret from the Foundations of the World Another reason our Saviour himself gives of it v. 11 12. Because to you is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them it is not given For whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundantly But whosoever hath not i. e. improves not the Talents that he hath from him shall be taken away even that that he hath One thing it may not be amiss to observe That our Saviour here in the Explication of the first of these Parables to his Apostles calls the Preaching of the Kingdom of the Messiah simply the Word And Luke VIII 21. The Word of God From whence St. Luke in the Acts often mentions it under the name of the Word and the Word of God as we have elsewhere observed To which I shall here add that of Acts VIII 4. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the Word Which Word as we have found by examining what they preached all through their History was nothing but this That Iesus was the Messiah I mean This was all the Doctrine they proposed to be believed For what they taught as well as our Saviour contained a great deal more but that concerned Practice and not Belief And therefore our Saviour says in the place before quoted Luke VIII 21. They are my Mother and my Brethren who hear the Word of God and do it Obeying the Law of the Messiah their King being no less required than their believing that Jesus was the Messiah the King and Deliverer that was promised them Mat. IX 13. We have an Account again of this Preaching what it was and how And Iesus went about all the Cities and Villages teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing every Sickness and every Disease amongst the people He acquainted them that the Kingdom of the Messiah was come and left it to his Miracles to instruct and convince them that he was the Messiah Mat. X. When he sent his Apostles abroad their Commission to Preach we have v. 7 8. in these words As ye go preach saying the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Heal the sick c. All that they had
and thereby being grown into a belief that he was the Messiah were in some degree prepared to receive the Particulars that were to fill up that Character and answer the Prophesies concerning him Which from henceforth he began to open to them though in a way which the Jews could not form an Accusation out of The time of the accomplishment of all in his Sufferings Death and Resurrection now drawing on For this was in the last Year of his Life he being to meet the Jews at Ierusalem but once more at the Passover who then should have their will upon him And therefore he might now begin to be a little more open concerning himself Though yet so as to keep himself out of the reach of any Accusation that might appear Just or Weighty to the Roman Deputy After his Reprimand to Peter telling him That he savoured not the things of God but of man Mark VIII 34. He calls the People to him and prepares those who would be his Disciples for Suffering Telling them v. 38. Whoever shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the holy Angels And then subjoyns Mat. XVI 27 28. two great and solemn Acts wherein he would shew himself to be the Messiah the King For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall render every man according to his works This is evidently meant of the Glorious Appearance of his Kingdom when he shall come to Judge the World at the last day Described more at large Mat XXV When the Son of Man shall come in his Glory and all the holy Angels with him then shall be sit upon the THRONE of his Glory Then shall the KING say to them on his right hand c. But what follows in the place above quoted Mat. XVI 28. Verily verily there be some standing here who shall not tast of Death till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom Importing that Dominion which some there should see him exercise over the Nation of the Jews was so covered by being annexed to the preceding v. 27. where he spoke of the Manifestation and Glory of his Kingdom at the day of Judgment That though his plain meaning here in v. 28. be that the appearance and visible exercise of his Kingly Power in his Kingdom was so near that some there should live to see it Yet if the foregoing words had not cast a shadow over these later but they had been left plainly to be understood as they plainly signified that he should be a King And that it was so near that some there should see him in his Kingdom This might have been laid hold on and made the matter of a plausible and seemingly just Accusation against him by the Jews before Pilate This seems to be the reason of our Saviour's inverting here the order of the two Solemn Manifestations to the World of his Rule and Power thereby perplexing at present his meaning and securing himself as was necessary from the malice of the Jews which always lay at catch to intrap him and accuse him to the Roman Governour And would no doubt have been ready to have alledged these words Some here shall not tast of Death till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom against him as Criminal had not their meaning been by the former Verse perplexed and the sense at that time rendred unintelligible and not applicable by any of his Auditors to a sense that might have been prejudicial to him before the Roman Governour For how well the Chief of the Jews were disposed towards him St. Luke tells us Chap. XI 54. Laying wait for him and seeking to catch something out of his mouth that they might accuse him Which may be a reason to satisfie us of the seemingly doubtful and obscure way of speaking used by our Saviour in other places His Circumstances being such that without such a Prudent carriage and reservedness he could not have gone through the Work which he came to do Nor have performed all the parts of it in a way correspondent to the Descriptions given of the Messiah and which should be afterwards fully understood to belong to him when he had left the World After this Mat. XVII 10 c. He without saying it in direct words begins as it were to own himself to his Apostles to be the Messiah by assuring them that as the Scribes according to the Prophecy of Malachy Chap. IV. 5. rightly said that Elias was to Usher in the Messiah So indeed Elias was already come though the Jews knew him not and treated him ill Whereby They understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptist v. 13. And a little after he somewhat more plainly intimates that he is the Messiah Mark IX 41. in these words Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my Name because ye belong to the Messiah This as I remember is the first place where our Saviour ever mentioned the name of Messiah and the first time that he went so far towards the owning to any of the Jewish Nation himself to be him In his way to Jerusalem bidding one follow him Luke IX 59. who would first bury his Father v. 60. Iesus said unto him let the dead bury their dead but go thou and preach the Kingdom of God And Luke X. 1. Sending out the Seventy Disciples he says to them v. 9. Heal the sick and say the Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you He had nothing else for these or for his Apostles or any one it seems to Preach but the good News of the coming of the Kingdom of the Messiah And if any City would not receive them he bids them v. 10. Go into the streets of the same and say Even the very dust of your City which cleaveth on us do we wipe off against you Notwithstanding be ye sure of this that the Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you This they were to take notice of as that which they should dearly answer for viz. That they had not with Faith received the good Tidings of the Kingdom of the Messiah After this his Brethren say unto him Iohn VII 2 3 4. The Feast of Tabernacles being near Depart hence and go into Judea that thy Disciples also may see the works that thou doest For there is no man that does any thing in secret and he himself seeketh to be known openly If thou do these things shew thy self to the World Here his Brethren which the next Verse tells us did not believe in him seem to upbraid him with the inconsistency of his carriage as if he designed to be received for the Messiah and yet was afraid to shew himself To whom he justified his Conduct mentioned v. 1. in the following verses by telling them That the World meaning the
believe him to be the Messiah And though they with others expected a Temporal Kingdom on Earth might yet rest satisfied in the truth of their Master who had honoured them with being near his Person that it would come without being too inquisitive after the time manner or seat of his Kingdom As men of Letters more studied in their Rabbins or men of Business more versed in the World would have been forward to have been Men great or wise in Knowledge or ways of the World would hardly have been kept from prying more narrowly into his Design and Conduct Or from questioning him about the ways and measures he would take for ascending the Throne and what means were to be used towards it and when they should in earnest set about it Abler men of higher Births or Thoughts would hardly have been hindred from whispering at least to their Friends and Relations that their Master was the Messiah And that though he concealed himself to a fit Opportunity and till things were ripe for it yet they should ere long see him break out of his Obscurity cast off the Cloud and declare himself as he was King of Israel But the ignorance and lowness of these good poor men made them of another temper They went along in an implicite trust on him punctually keeping to his Commands and not exceeding his Commission When he sent them to Preach the Gospel He bid them Preach The Kingdom of God to be at hand And that they did without being more particular than he had ordered or mixing their own Prudence with his Commands to promote the Kingdom of the Messiah They preached it without giving or so much as intimating that their Master was he Which men of another Condition and an higher Education would scarce have forborn to have done When he asked them who they thought him to be And Peter answered The Messiah the Son of God Mat. XVI 16. He plainly shews by the following words that he himself had not told them so And at the same time v. 20. forbids them to tell this their Opinion of him to any body How obedient they were to him in this we may not only conclude from the silence of the Evangelists concerning any such thing published by them any where before his Death but from the exact Obedience three of them paid to a like Command of his He takes Peter Iames and Iohn into a Mountain And there Moses and Elias coming to him he is transfigured before them Mat. XVII 9. He charges them saying See that ye tell no man what you have seen till the Son of Man shall be risen from the dead And St. Luke tells us what punctual Observers they were of his Orders in this case Chap. IX 36. They kept it close and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen Whether twelve other men of quicker Parts and of a Station or Breeding which might have given them any Opinion of themselves or their own Abilities would have been so easily kept from medling beyond just what was prescribed them in a matter they had so much Interest in and have said nothing of what they might in Humane Prudence have thought would have contributed to their Master's Reputation and made way for his advancement to his Kingdom I leave to be considered And it may suggest matter of Meditation whether St. Paul was not for this reason by his Learning Parts and warmer Temper better fitted for an Apostle after than during our Saviour's Ministry And therefore though a chosen Vessel was not by the Divine Wisdom called till after Christ's Resurrection I offer this only as a Subject of magnifying the Admirable Contrivance of the Divine Wisdom in the whole Work of our Redemption as far as we are able to trace it by the foot-steps which God hath made visible to Humane Reason For though it be as easie to Omnipotent Power to do all things by an immediate over-ruling Will and so to make any Instruments work even contrary to their Nature in subserviency to his ends Yet his Wisdom is not usually at the expence of Miracles if I may so say but only in cases that require them for the evidencing of some Revelation or Mission to be from him He does constantly unless where the confirmation of some Truth requires it otherwise bring about his Purposes by means operating according to their Natures If it were not so the course and evidence of things would be confounded Miracles would lose their name and force and there could be no distinction between Natural and Supernatural There had been no room left to see and admire the Wisdom as well as Innocence of our Saviour if he had rashly every where exposed himself to the Fury of the Jews and had always been preserved by a miraculous suspension of their Malice or a miraculous rescuing him out of their Hands It was enough for him once to escape from the men of Nazareth who were going to throw him down a Precipice for him never to Preach to them again Our Saviour had multitudes that followed him for the Loaves Who barely seeing the Miracles that he did would have made him King If to the Miracles he did he had openly added in express words that he was the Messiah and the King they expected to deliver them he would have had more Followers and warmer in the Cause and readier to set him up at the Head of a Tumult These indeed God by a miraculous Influence might have hundred from any such Attempt But then Posterity could not have believed that the Nation of the Iews did at that time expect the Messiah their King and Deliverer Or that Iesus who declared himself to be that King and Deliverer shewed any Miracles amongst them to convince them of it Or did any thing worthy to make him be credited or received If he had gone about Preaching to the multitude which he drew after him that he was the Messiah the King of Israel and this had been evidenced to Pilate God could indeed by a Supernatural Influence upon his mind have made Pilate pronounce him Innocent And not Condemn Him as a Malefactor Who had openly for three Years together preached Sedition to the People and endeavoured to perswade them that he was the Messiah their King of the Blood-Royal of David come to deliver them But then I ask whether Posterity would not either have suspected the Story or that some Art had been used to gain that Testimony from Pilate Because he could not for nothing have been so favourable to Iesus as to be willing to release so Turbulent and Seditious a Man to declare him Innocent and cast the blame and guilt of his Death as unjust upon the Envy of the Jews But now the Malice of the Chief Priests Scribes and Pharisees the Headiness of the Mob animated with hopes and raised with miracles Iudas's Treachery and Pilate's care of his Government and the Peace of his Province all working
Naturally as they should Iesus by the admirable wariness of his Carriage and an extraordinary Wisdom visible in his whole Conduct weathers all these Difficulties does the Work he comes for uninterruptedly goes about Preaching his full appointed time sufficiently manifests himself to be the Messiah in all the Particulars the Scriptures had foretold of him And when his hour is come suffers Death But is acknowledged both by Iudas that betrayed and Pilate that condemned him to dye innocent For to use his own words Luke XXIV 46. Thus it is written and thus it behooved the Messiah to suffer And of his whole Conduct we have a Reason and clear Resolution in those words to St. Peter Mat. XXVI 53. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more than twelve Legions of Angels But how then shall the Scripture be fulfilled that thus it must be Having this clue to guide us let us now observe how our Saviour's Preaching and Conduct comported with it in the last Scene of his Life How cautious he has been in the former part of his Ministry we have already observed We never find him to use the Name of the Messiah but once till he now came to Ierusalem this last Passover Before this his Preaching and Miracles were less at Ierusalem where he used to make but very short stays than any where else But now he comes six days before the Feast and is every day in the Temple Teaching And there publickly heals the Blind and the Lame in the presence of the Scribes Pharisees and Chief Priests The time of his Ministry drawing to an end and his hour coming he cared not how much the Chief Priests Elders Rulers and the Sanhedrim were provoked against him by his Doctrine and Miracles He was as open and bold in his Preaching and doing the Works of the Messiah now at Ierusalem and in the sight of the Rulers and of all the People as he had been before cautious and reserved there and careful to be little taken notice of in that place and not to come in their way more than needs All now that he took care of was not what they should think of him or design against him for he knew they would seize him But to say or do nothing that might be a just matter of Accusation against him or render him Criminal to the Governour But as for the Grandees of the Iewish Nation he spares them not but sharply now reprehends their miscarriages publickly in the Temple where he calls them more than once Hypocrites As is to be seen Mat. XXIII And concludes all with no softer a Compellation than Serpents and Generation of Vipers After this serve Reproof of the Scribes and Pharisees being retired with his Disciples into the Mount of Olives over against the Temple And there fore-telling the Destruction of it His Disciples ask him Mat. XXIV 3 c. When it should be and what should be the signs of his coming He says to them Take heed that no man deceive you For many shall come in my Name i. e. taking on them the Name and Dignity of the Messiah which is only mine saying I am the Messiah and shall deceive many But be not you by them mislead nor by Persecution driven away from this Fundamental Truth That I am the Messiah For many shall be scandalized and Apostatize but he that endures to the end the same shall be saved And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the World i e. The good News of me the Messiah and my Kingdom shall be spread through the World This was the great and only Point of Belief they were warned to stick to And this is inculcated again v. 23-26 and Mark XIII 21-23 with this Emphatical Application to them in both these Evangelists Behold I have told you before-hand remember ye are fore-warned This was in his Answer to the Apostles Enquiry concerning his Coming and the end of the World v. 3. For so we translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We must understand the Disciples here to put their Question according to the Notion and way of speaking of the Iews For they had two Worlds as we translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The present World and the World to come The Kingdom of God as they called it or the time of the Messiah they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the World to come which they believed was to put an end to this World And that then the Just should be raised from the Dead to enjoy in that new World a Happy Eternity with those of the Jewish Nation who should be then living These two things viz. The visible and powerful appearance of his Kingdom and the end of the World being confounded in the Apostles Question Our Saviour does not separate them nor distinctly reply to them apart But leaving the Enquirers in the common Opinion answers at once concerning his coming to take Vengeance of the Iewish Nation and put an end to their Church Worship and Common-wealth Which was their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they counted should last till the Messiah came And so it did and then had en end put to it And to this he joyns his last coming to Judgment in the Glory of his Father to put a final end to this World and all the Dispensation belonging to the Posterity of Adam upon Earth This joyning them together made his Answer obscure and hard to be understood by them then Nor was it safe for him to speak plainer of his Kingdom and the Destruction of Ierusalem unless he had a mind to be accused for having Designs against the Government For Iudas was amongst them And whether no other but his Apostles were comprehended under the name of his Disciples who were with him at this time one cannot determine Our Saviour therefore speaks of his Kingdom in no other stile but that which he had all along hitherto used viz. The Kingdom of God Luke XXI 31. When you see these things come to pass know ye that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand And continuing on his Discourse with them he has the same Expression Mat. XXV 1. Then the Kingdom of Heaven shall be like unto ten Virgins At the end of the following Parable of the Talents he adds v. 31. When the Son of Man shall come in his Glory and all the holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory and before him shall be gathered all the Nations And he shall set the Sheep on his right hand and the Goats on his left Then shall the KING say c. Here he describes to his Disciples the appearance of his Kingdom wherein he will shew himself a King in Glory upon his Throne But this in such a way and so remote and so unintelligible to a Heathen Magistrate That if it had been alledged against him it would have seemed rather the Dream of a crazy Brain than the
Deliverance of his Kingdom should enter themselves into it And by Baptism being made Denizons and solemnly incorporated into that Kingdom live as became Subjects obedient to the Laws of it For if they believed him to be the Messiah their King but would not obey his Laws and would not have him to Reign over them they were but greater Rebels and God would not Justifie them for a Faith that did but increase their Guilt and oppose Diametrically the Kingdom and Design of the Messiah Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good works Titus II. 14. And therefore St. Paul tells the Galatians That that which availeth is Faith But Faith working by Love And that Faith without Works i.e. the Works of sincere Obedience to the Law and Will of Christ is not sufficient for our Justification St. Iames shews at large Chap. II. Neither indeed could it be otherwise For Life Eternal Life being the Reward of Justice or Righteousness only appointed by the Righteous God who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity to those only who had no taint or infection of Sin upon them it is impossible that he should Justifie those who had no regard to Justice at all whatever they believed This would have been to encourage Iniquity contrary to the Purity of his Nature and to have condemned that Eternal Law of Right which is Holy Just and Good Of which no one Precept or Rule is abrogated or repealed nor indeed can be whilst God is an Holy Just and Righteous God and Man a Rational Creature The Duties of that Law arising from the Constitution of his very Nature are of Eternal Obligation Nor can it be taken away or dispensed with without changing the Nature of Things overturning the measures of Right and Wrong and thereby introducing and authorizing Irregularity Confusion and Disorder in the World Which was not the end for which Christ came into the World But on the contrary to reform the corrupt state of degenerate Man And out of those who would mend their Lives and bring forth Fruit meet for Repentance erect a new Kingdom This is the Law of that Kingdom as well as of all Mankind And that Law by which all Men shall be judged at the last day Only those who have believed Iesus to be the Messiah and have taken him to be their King with a sincere Endeavour after Righteousness in obeying his Law shall have their past sins not imputed to them And shall have that Faith taken instead of Obedience Where Frailty and Weakness made them transgress and sin prevailed after Conversion in those who hunger and thirst after Righteousness or perfect Obedience and do not allow themselves in Acts of Disobedience and Rebellion against the Laws of that Kingdom they are entred into He did not expect 't is true a Perfect Obedience void of all slips and falls He knew our Make and the weakness of our Constitutions too well and was sent with a Supply for that Defect Besides perfect Obedience was the Righteousness of the Law of Works and then the Reward would be of Debt and not of Grace And to such there was no need of Faith to be imputed to them for Righteousness They stood upon their own legs were Just already and needed no allowance to be made them for believing Jesus to be the Messiah taking him for their King and becoming his Subjects But whether Christ does not require Obedience sincere Obedience is evident from the Laws he himself pronounces unless he can be supposed to give and inculcate Laws only to have them disobeyed and from the Sentence he will pass when he comes to Judge The Faith required was to believe Iesus to be the Messiah the Anointed who had been promised by God to the World Amongst the Iews to whom the Promises and Prophesies of the Messiah were more immediately delivered Anointing was used to three sorts of Persons at their Inauguration Whereby they were set apart to three great Offices viz. Of Priests Prophets and Kings Though these three Offices be in Holy Writ attributed to our Saviour yet I do not remember that he any where assumes to himself the Title of a Priest or mentions any thing relating to his Priesthood Nor does he speak of his being a Prophet but very sparingly and once or twice as it were by the by But the Gospel or the Good News of the Kingdom of the Messiah is what he Preaches every where and makes it his great business to publish to the World This he did not only as most agreeable to the Expectation of the Iews who looked for their Messiah chiefly as coming in Power to be their King and Deliverer But as it best answered the chief end of his Coming which was to be a King and as such to be received by those who would be his Subjects in the Kingdom which he came to erect And though he took not directly on himself the Title of King till he was in Custody and in the hands of Pilate yet 't is plain King and King of Israel were the Familiar and received Titles of the Messiah See Iohn I. 50. Luke XIX 38. Compared with Mat. XXI 9. And Mark XI 9. Iohn XII 13. Mat. XXI 5. Luke XXIII 2. Compared with Mat. XXVII 11. And Iohn XVIII 33-37 Mark XV. 12. Compared with Mat. XXVII 22. Mat. XXVII 42. What those were to do who believed him to be the Messiah and received him for their King that they might be admitted to be partakers with him of this Kingdom in Glory we shall best know by the Laws he gives them and requires them to obey And by the Sentence which he himself will give when sitting on his Throne they shall all appear at his Tribunal to receive every one his Doom from the mouth of this Righteous Judge of all Men. What he proposed to his Followers to be believed we have already seen by examining his and his Apostles Preaching step by step all through the History of the four Evangelists and the Acts of the Apostles The same Method will best and plainest shew us whether he required of those who believed him to be the Messiah any thing besides that Faith and what it was For he being a King we shall see by his Commands what he expects from his Subjects For if he did not expect Obedience to them his Commands would be but meer Mockery And if there were no Punishment for the Transgressors of them his Laws would not be the Laws of a King that had Authority to Command and Power to Chastise the disobedient But empty Talk without Force and without Influence We shall therefore from his Injunctions if any such there be see what he has made Necessary to be performed by all those who shall be received into Eternal Life in his Kingdom prepared in the Heavens And in this we cannot be deceived What we have from his own Mouth
especially if repeated over and over again in different places and expressions will be past Doubt and Controversie I shall pass by all that is said by St. Iohn Baptist or any other before our Saviour's entry upon his Ministry and Publick Promulgation of the Laws of his Kingdom He began his Preaching with a Command to Repent As St. Matt. tells us IV. 17. From that time Iesus began to preach saying Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand And Luke V. 32. he tells the Scribes and Pharisees I came not to call the righteous Those who were truly so needed no help they had a right to the Tree of Life but sinners to Repentance In this Sermon as he calls it in the Mount Luke VI. and Matt. V c. He commands they should be exemplary in Good Works Let your light so shine amongst men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven Matt. V. 15. And that they might know what he came for and what he expected of them he tells them v. 17-20 Think not that I am come to dissolve or loosen the Law or the Prophets I am not come to dissolve or loosen but to make it full or compleat By giving it you in its true and strict-sense Here we see he confirms and at once reinforces all the Moral Precepts in the Old Testament For verily I say to you Till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be done Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach men so he shall be called the least i. e. as it is interpreted Shall not be at all in the Kingdom of Heaven V. 21. I say unto you That except your Righteousness i. e. your Performance of the Eternal Law of right shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And then he goes on to make good what he said v. 17. viz. That he was come to compleat the Law viz. By giving its full and clear sense free from the corrupt and loosning glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees v. 22-26 He tells them That not only Murder but causeless Anger and so much as words of Contempt were forbidden He Commands them to be reconciled and kind towards their Adversaires And that upon Pain of Condemnation In the following part of his Sermon which is to be read Luke VI. and more at large Matt. V VI VII He not only forbids actual Uncleanness but all irregular desires upon pain of Hell-fire Causless Divorces Swearing in Conversation as well as Forswearing in Judgment Revenge Retaliation Ostentation of Charity of Devotion and of Fasting Repetitions in Prayer Covetousness Worldly Care Censoriousness And on the other side Commands Loving our Enemies Doing good to those that Hate us Blessing those that Curse us Praying for those that despightfully use us Patience and Meekness under Injuries Forgiveness Liberality Compassion And closes all his particular injunctions with this general Golden Rule Matt. VII 12. All things whatsoever ye would have that Men should do to you do ye even so to them For this is the Law and the Prophets And to shew how much he is in earnest and expects Obedience to these Laws He tells them Luke VI. 35. That if they obey Great shall be their REWARD they shall be called The Sons of the Highest And to all this in the Conclusion he adds this Solemn Sanction Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things that I say 'T is in vain for you to take me for the Messiah your King unless you obey me Not every one who calls me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven or be Sons of God But he that does the Will of my Father which is in Heaven To such Disobedient Subjects though they have Prophesied and done Miracles in my Name I shall say at the day of Judgment Depart from me ye workers of Iniquity I know you not When Matt. XII he was told That his Mother and Brethren sought to speak with him v. 49. Stretching out his hands to his Disciples he said Be hold my Mother and my Brethren For whosoever shall do the Will of my Father who is in Heaven he is my Brother and Sister and Mother They could not be Children of the Adoption and fellow Heirs with him of Eternal Life who did not do the Will of his Heavenly Father Matt. XV. and Mark VI. The Pharisees finding fault that his Disciples eat with unclean hands he makes this Declaration to his Apostles Do ye not perceive that whatsoever from without entreth into a man cannot defile him because it enters not into his Heart but his Belly That which cometh out of the Man that defileth the Man For from within out of the Heart of Men proceed evil Thoughts Adulteries Fornicati-Murders Thefts false Witnesses Covetousness Wickedness Deceit Laciviousness an evil Eye Blasphemy Pride Foolishness All these ill things come from within and defile a Man He commands Self-denial and the exposing our selves to Suffering and Danger rather than to deny or disown him And this upon pain of loosing our Souls which are of more worth than all the World This we may read Matt. XVI 24-27 and the parallel places Matt. VIII and Luke IX The Apostles disputing amongst them who should be greatest in the Kingdom of the Messiah Matt. XVIII 1. He thus determines the Controversy Mark IX 35. If any one will be first let him be last of all and Servant of all And setting a Child before them adds Matt. XVIII 3. Verily I say unto you Vnless ye turn and become as Children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. XVIII 15. If thy Brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone If he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy Brother But if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three Witnesses every word may be established And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it to the Church But if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen and Publican V. 21. Peter said Lord how often shall my Brother sin against me and I forgive him Till seven times Iesus said unto him I say not unto thee till seven times but until seventy times seven And then ends the Parable of the Servant who being himself forgiven was rigorous to his Fellow-Servant with these words v. 34. And his Lord was worth and delivered him to the Tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you if you from your hearts forgive not every one his Brother their Trespasses Luke X25 To the Lawyer asking him What shall I do to inherit Eternal Life He said What is written in the Law How readest thou
new clad as I may so say with a true Repentance and Amendment of Life Nor adorned with those Vertues which the Apostle Col. III. requires to be put on 3. Those who were invited did come and had on the Wedding-Garment i.e. Heard the Gospel believed Iesus to be the Messiah and sincerely obeyed his Laws These three sorts are plainly designed here whereof the last only were the Blessed who were to enjoy the Kingdom prepared for them Mat. XXIII Be not ye called Rabbi For one is your Master even the Messiah and ye all are Brethren And call no man your Father upon the Earth For one is your Father which is in Heaven Neither be ye called Masters For one is your Master even the Messiah But he that is greatest amongst you shall be your Servant And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased And he that shall humble himself shall be exalted Luke XXI 34. Take beed to your selves lest your hearts be at any time over-charged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life Luke XXII 25. He said unto them The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them And they that exercise Authority upon them are called Benefactors But ye shall not be so But he that is greatest amongst you let him be as the younger And he that is chief as he that doth serve John XIII 34. A new Commandment I give unto you That ye love one another As I have loved you that ye also love one another By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another This Command of loving one another is repeated again Chap. XV. 12. 17. John XIV 15. If ye love me keep my Commandments V. 21. He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me And he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self to him V. 23. If a man loveth me he will keep my words V. 24. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings John XV. 8. In this is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit so shall ye be my Disciples V. 14. Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Thus we see our Saviour not only confirmed the Moral Law and clearing it from the corrupt glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees shewed the strictness as well as obligation of its Injunctions But moreover upon occasion requires the Obedience of his Disciples to several of the Commands he afresh lays upon them With the enforcement of unspeakable Rewards and Punishments in another World according to their Obedience or Disobedience There is not I think any of the Duties of Morality which he has not some where or other by himself and his Apostles inculcated over and over again to his Followers in express terms And is it for nothing that he is so instant with them to bring forth Fruit Does He their King Command and is it an indifferent thing Or will their Happiness or Misery not at all depend upon it whether they obey or no They were required to believe him to be the Messiah Which Faith is of Grace promised to be reckoned to them for the compleating of their Righteousness wherein it was defective But Righteousness or Obedience to the Law of God was their great business Which if they could have attained by their own Performances there would have been no need of this Gracious Allowance in Reward of their Faith But Eternal Life after the Resurrection had been their due by a former Covenant even that of Works the Rule whereof was never abolished though the Rigour were abated The Duties enjoyned in it were Duties still Their Obligations had never ceased nor a wilful neglect of them was ever dispensed with But their past Transgressions were pardoned to those who received Iesus the promised Messiah for their King And their future slips covered if renouncing their former Iniquities they entred into his Kingdom and continued his Subjects with a steady Resolution and Endeavour to obey his Laws This Righteousness therefore a compleat Obedience and freedom from Sin are still sincerely to be endeavoured after And 't is no where promised That those who persist in a wilful Disobedience to his Laws shall be received into the eternal bliss of his Kingdom how much soever they believe in him A sincere Obedience how can any one doubt to be or scruple to call a Condition of the New Covenant as well as faith Whoever read our Saviour's Sermon in the Mount to omit all the rest Can any thing be more express than these words of our Lord Mat. VI. 14. If you forgive Men their Trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you But if ye forgive not Men their Trespasses neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses And Ioh. XIII 17. If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them This is so indispensible a Condition of the New Covenant that believing without it will not do nor be accepted If our Saviour knew the Terms on which he would admit Men into Life Why call ye me Lord Lord says he Luke VI. 46. and do not the things which I say It is not enough to believe him to be the Messiah the Lord without obeying him For that these he speaks to here were Believers is evident from the parallel place Matt. VII 21-23 where it is thus Recorded Not every one who says Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven No Rebels or Refractory Disobedient shall be admitted there though they have so far believed in Jesus as to be able to do Miracles in his Name As is plain out of the following words Many will say to me in that day Have we not Prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils and in thy Name have done many wonderful Works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye workers of iniquity This part of the New Covenant the Apostles also in their Preaching the Gospel of the Messiah ordinarily joined with the Doctrine of Faith St. Peter in his first Sermon Acts II. when they were pricked in heart and asked What shall we do says v. 38. REPENT and be Baptized every one of you in the Name of Iesus Christ for the Remission of Sins The same he says to them again in his next Speech Acts IV. 26. Vnto you first God having raised up his Son Iesus sent him to bless you How was this done IN TVRNING AWAY EVERY ONE FROM YOVR INIQVITIES The same Doctrine they Preach to the High Priest and Rulers Acts V. 30. The God of our Fathers raised up Iesus whom ye slew and hanged on a Tree Him hath God Exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give REPENTANCE to Israel and Forgiveness of Sins And we are witnesses of these things and so is also the Holy Ghost whom God
he was convinced of it declares his assent to it in these words Rabbi thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel From which it is evident that to believe him to be Him of whom Moses and the Prophets did write or to be the Son of God or to be the King of Israel was in effect the same as to believe him to be the Messiah And an assent to that was what our Saviour received for believing For upon Nathanael's making a confession in these words Thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel Iesus answered and said to him Because I said to thee I saw thee under the Fig-tree dost thou BELIEVE Thou shalt see greater things than these v. 51. I desire any one to read the latter part of the first of Iohn from v. 25. with attention and tell me whether it be not plain that this Phrase The Son of God is an Expression used for the Messiah To which let him add Martha's declaration of her Faith Iohn XI 27. in these words I believe that thou art the Messiah THE SON OF GOD who should come into the World And that passage of St. Iohn Chap. XX. 31. That ye might believe that Iesus is the Messiah THE SON OF GOD and that believing ye might have life through his name And then tell me whether he can doubt that Messiah and Son of God were Synonymous terms at that time amongst the Jews The Prophecy of Daniel Chap. IX where he is called Messiah the Prince And the mention of his Government and Kingdom and the deliverance by him in Isaiah Daniel and other Prophesies understood of the Messiah were so well known to the Jews and had so raised their hopes of him about this time which by their account was to be the time of his coming to restore the Kingdom to Israel That Herod no sooner heard of the Magi's enquiry after him that was born King of the Iews Mat. II. But he forthwith demanded of the chief Priests and Scribes where the Messiah should be born v. 4. Not doubting but if there were any King born to the Jews it was the Messiah Whose Coming was now the general Expectation as appears Luke III. 15. The people being in expectation and all men musing in their hearts of John whether he were the Messiah or not And when the Priests and Levites sent to ask him who he was He understanding their meaning answers Iohn I. 19. That he was not the Messiah But he bears witness that Jesus is the Son of God i. e. the Messiah v. 34. This looking for the Messiah at this time we see also in Simeon who is said to be waiting for the consolation of Israel Luke II. 21. And having the Child Jesus in his Arms he says he had seen the Salvation of the Lord v. 30. And Anna coming at the same instant into the Temple she gave thanks also unto the Lord and spake of him to all them that looked for Redemption in Israel v. 38. And of Ioseph of Arimathea it is said Mark XV. 43. That he also expected the Kingdom of God By all which was meant the Coming of the Messiah And Luke XIX 11. 't is said They thought that the Kingdom of God should immediately appear This being premised let us see what it was that Iohn the Baptist preached when he first entred upon his Ministry That St. Matthew tells us Chap. III. 1 2. In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the Wilderness of Judea saying Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand This was a declaration of the Coming of the Messiah the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God being the same as is clear out of several places of the Evangelists and both signifying the Kingdom of the Messiah The Profession which Iohn the Baptist made when sent to the Jews Iohn I. 19. was That he was not the Messiah but that Jesus was This will appear to any one who will compare v. 26-34 With Iohn III. 27. 30. The Jews being very inquisitive to know whether Iohn were the Messiah he positively denies it but tells them he was only his Fore-runner and that there stood one amongst them who would follow him whose Shoe-latchet he was not worthy to untie The next day seeing Jesus he says he was the Man and that his own Baptizing in Water was only that Iesus might be manifested to the World and that he knew him not till he saw the Holy Ghost descend upon him He that sent him to Baptize having told him that he on whom he should see the Spirit decend and rest upon he it was that should Baptize with the Holy Ghost And that therefore he witnessed that this was the Son of God v. 34. i. e. the Messiah And Chap. III. 26 c. They came to Iohn the Baptist and tell him that Iesus baptized and that all Men went to him Iohn answers He has his Authority from Heaven You know I never said I was the Messiah but that I was sent before him He must increase but I must decrease For God hath sent him and he speaks the words of God And God hath given all things into the hands of his Son And he that believes on the Son hath eternal life The same Doctrine and nothing else but what was preached by the Apostles afterwards As we have seen all through the Acts v. g. that Jesus was the Messiah And thus it was that Iohn bears witness of our Saviour as Jesus himself says Iohn V. 33. This also was the Declaration was given of him at his Baptism by a voice from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Mat. III. 17. Which was a declaration of him to be the Messiah the Son of God being as we have shewed understood to signifie the Messiah To which we may add the first mention of him after his Conception in the words of the Angel to Ioseph Mat. I. 21. Thou shalt call his name Iesus or Saviour for he shall save his people from their sins It was a received Doctrine in the Jewish Nation that at the Coming of the Messiah all their sins should be forgiven them These words therefore of the Angel we may look on as a declaration that Jesus was the Messiah whereof these words his People are a further mark which suppose him to have a People and consequently to be a King After his Baptism Jesus himself enters upon his Ministry But before we examine what it was he proposed to be believed we must observe that there is a three-fold declaration of the Messiah 1. By Miracles The Spirit of Prophecy had now for many Ages forsaken the Jews And though their Common-Wealth were not quite dissolved but that they lived under their own laws yet they were under a Foreign Dominion subject to the Romans In this state their account of the time being up they were in expectation of the Messiah and of deliverance by him in a Kingdom he was
to set up according to their Ancient Prophesies of him Which gave them hopes of an extraordinary Man yet to come from God who with an Extraordinary and Divine Power and Miracles should evidence his Mission and work their Deliverance And of any such extraordinary Person who should have the Power of doing Miracles they had no other expectation but only of their Messiah One great Prophet and worker of Miracles and only One more they expected who was to be the Messiah And therefore we see the People justified their believing in him i. e. their believing him to be the Messiah because of the Miracles he did Iohn VII 31. And many of the people believed in him and said when the Messiah cometh will he do more Miracles than this man hath done And when the Jews at the Feast of Dedication Iohn X. 24 25. coming about him said unto him How long dost thou make us doubt If thou be the Messiah tell us plainly Iesus answered them I told you and ye believed not the works that I do in my Father's name bear witness of me And Iohn V. 36. He says I have a greater witness than that of John for the works which the Father hath given me to do the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me Where by the way we may observe that his being sent by the Father is but another way of expressing the Messiah Which is evident from this place here Iohn V. compared with that of Iohn X. last quoted For there he says that his Works bear witness of him And what was that witness viz. That he was the Messiah Here again he says that his works bear witness of him And what is that witness viz. That the Father sent him By which we are taught that to be sent by the Father and to be the Messiah was the same thing in his way of declaring himself And accordingly we find Iohn IV. 53. XI 45. and elsewhere many hearkened and assented to this Testimony and believed on him seeing the things that he did 2. Another way of declaring the Coming of the Messiah was by Phrases and Circumlocutions that did signifie or intimate his Coming though not in direct words pointing out the Person The most usual of these were The Kingdom of God and of Heaven because it was that which was oftnest spoken of the Messiah in the Old Testament in very plain words And a Kingdom was that which the Jews most looked after and wished for In that known place Isa. IX The GOVERNMENT shall be upon his shoulders he shall be called the PRINCE of Peace Of the increase of his GOVERNMENT and Peace there shall be no end Vpon the THRONE of David and upon his KINGDOM to order it and to establish it with Iudgment and with Iustice from henceforth even for ever Micah V. 2. But thou Bethlehem Ephratah though thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be the RVLER in Israel And Daniel besides that he calls him Messiah the PRINCE Chap. IX 25. In the account of his Vision of the Son of Man Chap. VII 13 14. says There was given him Dominion Glory and a KINGDOM that all People Nations and Languages should serve him His Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which shall not pass away and his KINGDOM that which shall not be destroyed So that the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven were common Phrases amongst the Jews to signifie the times of the Messiah Luke XIV 15. One of the Jews that sat at meat with him said unto him Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God Chap. XVII 20. The Pharisees demanded When the Kingdom of God should come And St. Iohn Baptist came saying Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand A Phrase he would not have used in Preaching had it not been understood There are other Expressions that signified the Messiah and his Coming which we shall take notice of as they come in our way 3. By plain and direct words declaring the Doctrine of the Messiah speaking out that Jesus was He As we see the Apostles did when they went about Preaching the Gospel after our Saviour's Resurrection This was the open clear way and that which one would think the Messiah himself when he came should have taken especially if it were of that moment that upon mens believing him to be the Messiah depended the forgiveness of their sins And yet we see that our Saviour did not But on the contrary for the most part made no other discovery of himself at least in Iudea and at the beginning of his Ministry but in the two former ways which were more obscure Not declaring himself to be the Messiah any otherwise than as it might be gathered from the Miracles he did and the conformity of his Life and Actions with the Prophesies of the Old Testament concerning him and from some general discourses of the Kingdom of the Messiah being come under the name of the Kingdom of God and of Heaven Nay so far was he from publickly owning himself to be the Messiah that he forbid the doing of it Mark VIII 27-30 He asked his Disciples whom do men say that I am And they answered John the Baptist but some say Elias and others one of the Prophets So that it is evident that even those who believed him an extraordinary Person knew not yet who he was or that he gave himself out for the Messiah though this was in the third Year of his Ministry and not a year before his Death And he saith unto them but whom say ye that I am And Peter answered and said unto him Thou art the Messiah And he charged them that they should tell no man of him Luke IV. 41. And Devils came out of many crying Thou art the Messiah the Son of God And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak that they knew him to be the Messiah Mark III. 11 12. Unclean spirits when they saw him fell down before him and cryed saying Thou art the Son of God And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known Here again we may observe from the comparing of the two Texts that Thou art the Son of God or Thou art the Messiah were indifferently used for the same thing But to return to the matter in hand This concealment of himself will seem strange in one who was come to bring Light into the World and was to suffer Death for the Testimony of the Truth This reservedness will be thought to look as if he had a mind to conceal himself and not to be known to the World for the Messiah nor to be believed on as such But we shall be of another mind and conclude this proceeding of his according to Divine Wisdom and suited to a fuller Manifestation and Evidence of his being the Messiah When we consider that he was to
have heard it out of his own mouth And That had been his Publick Doctrine to his followers Which was openly preached by the Apostles after his Death when he appeared no more And of this they were accused Acts XVII 5-9 But the Iews which believed not moved with envy took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort and gathered a company and set all the City in an uproar And assaulted the House of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people And when they found them Paul and Silas not they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the Rulers of the City crying these that have turned the World upside down are come hither also whom Jason hath received And these all do contrary to the decrees of Caefar saying that there is another King one Iesus And they troubled the People and the Rulers of the City when they heard these things And when they had taken Security of Jason and the other they let them go Though the Magistrates of the World had no great regard to the talk of a King who had suffered Death and appeared no longer any where Yet if our Saviour had openly declared this of himself in his Life-time with a train of Disciples and Followers every where owning and crying him up for their King the Roman Governour of Iudea could not have forborn to have taken notice of it and have made use of their Force against him This the Jews were not mistaken in and therefore made use of it as the strongest Accusation and likeliest to prevail with Pilate against him for the taking away his Life It being Treason and an unpardonable Offence which could not scape Death from a Roman Deputy without the Forfeiture of his own Life Thus then they Accuse him to Pilate Luke XXIII 2. We found this fellow perverting the Nation and forbidding to give Tribute to Caesar saying that he himself is the Messiah a King Our Saviour indeed now that his time was come and he in Custody and forsaken of all the World and so out of all danger of raising any Sedition or Disturbance owns himself to Pilate to be a King after having first told Pilate Iohn XVIII 36. That his Kingdom was not of this World And for a Kingdom in another World Pilate knew that his Master at Rome concerned not himself But had there been any the least appearance of truth in the Allegations of the Jews that he had perverted the Nation forbidding to pay Tribute to Caesar or drawing the People after him as their King Pilate would not so readily have pronounced him Innocent But we see what he said to his Accusers Luke XXIII 13 14. Pilate when he had called together the Chief Priests and the Rulers of the People said unto them You have brought this man unto me as one that perverteth the People and behold I having examined him before you have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof you accuse him No nor yet Herod for I sent you to him and lo nothing worthy of death is done by him And therefore finding a man of that mean Condition and innocent Life no mover of Seditions or disturber of the Publick Peace without a Friend or a Follower would have dismissed him as a King of no consequence as an innocent man falsely and maliciously accused by the Jews How necessary this Caution was in our Saviour to say or do nothing that might justly offend or render him suspected to the Roman Governour and how glad the Jews would have been to have any such thing against him we may see Luke XX. 20. The Chief Priests and the Scribes watched him and sent forth spies who should feign themselves just men that might take hold of his words that so they might deliver him unto the Power and Authority of the Governour And the very thing wherein they hoped to entrap him in this place was paying Tribute to Caesar which they afterwards falsely accused him of And what would they have done if he had before them professed himself to have been the Messiah their King and Deliverer And here we may observe the wonderful Providence of God who had so ordered the state of the Jews at the time when his Son was to come into the World that though neither their Civil Constitution nor Religious Worship were dissolved yet the Power of Life and Death was taken from them Whereby he had an Opportunity to publish the Kingdom of the Messiah that is his own Royalty under the name of the Kingdom of God and of Heaven Which the Jews well enough understood and would certainly have put him to Death for had the Power been in their own hands But this being no matter of Accusation to the Romans hindred him not from speaking of the Kingdom of Heaven as he did Sometimes in reference to his appearing in the World and being believed on by particular Persons Sometimes in reference to the Power should be given him by the Father at his Resurrection And sometimes in reference to his coming to Judge the World at the last day in the full Glory and completion of his Kingdom These were ways of declaring himself which the Jews could lay no hold on to bring him in danger with Pontius Pilate and get him seized and put to Death Another Reason there was that hindred him as much as the former from professing himself in express words to be the Messiah and that was that the whole Nation of the Jews expecting at this time their Messiah and deliverance by him from the Subjection they were in to a Foreign Yoke the body of the People would certainly upon his declaring himself to be the Messiah their King have rose up in Rebellion and set him at the Head of them And indeed the miracles that he did so much disposed them to think him to be the Messiah that though shrouded under the obscurity of a mean Condition and a very private simple Life and his passing for a Galilean his Birth at Bethlehem being then concealed and he not assuming to himself any Power or Authority or so much as the Name of the Messiah yet he could hardly avoid being set up by a Tumult and proclaimed their King So Iohn tells us Chap. V. 14 15. Then those men when they had seen the Miracles that Iesus did said This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the World When therefore Iesus perceived that they would come to take him by force to make him King he departed again into a Mountain himself alone This was upon his feeding of Five Thousand with five Barley Loaves and two Fishes So hard was it for him doing those miracles which were necessary to testifie his Mission and which often drew great multitudes after him Mat. IV. 25. to keep the heady and hasty multitude from such Disorder as would have involved him in it and have disturbed the course and cut short the time of his Ministry and drawn on him the Reputation
and Death of a Turbulent Seditious Malefactor Contrary to the design of his coming which was to be offered up a Lamb blameless and void of Offence his Innocence appearing to all the World even to him that delivered him up to be crucified This it would have been impossible to have avoided if in his Preaching every where he had openly assumed to himself the Title of their Messiah Which was all was wanting to set the People in a flame who drawn by his miracles and the hopes of finding a Deliverer in so extraordinary a man followed him in great numbers We read every where of multitudes And in Luke XII 1. of Myriads that were gathered about him This conflux of People thus disposed would not have failed upon his declaring himself to be the Messiah to have made a Commotion and with Force set him up for their King It is plain therefore from these these two Reasons why though he came to Preach the Gospel and Convert the World to a belief of his being the Messiah and though he says so much of his Kingdom under the Title of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven he yet makes it not his business to perswade them that he himself is the Messiah or does in his Publick Preaching declare himself to be him He inculcates to the People on all occasions that the Kingdom of God is come He shews the way of Admittance into this Kingdom viz. Repentance and Baptism and teaches the Laws of it viz. Good Life according to the strictest Rules of Vertue and Morality But who the King was of this Kingdom he leaves to his miracles to point out to those who would consider what he did and make the right use of it now Or to witness to those who should hearken to the Apostles hereafter when they preached it in plain words and called upon them to believe it after his Resurrection when there should be no longer any fear that it should cause any disturbance in Civil Societies and the Governments of the World But he could not declare himself to be the Messiah without manifest danger of Tumult and Sedition And the miracles he did declared it so much that he was fain often to hide himself and withdraw from the concourse of the People The Leper that he cured Mark I. though forbid to say any thing yet blazed it so abroad that Iesus could no more openly enter into the City but was without in desart places And there they came to him from every quarter And thus he did more than once This being premised let us take a view of the Promulgation of the Gospel by our Saviour himself and see what it was he taught the World and required men to believe The first beginning of his Ministry whereby he shewed himself seems to be at Cana in Galilee soon after his Baptism where he turned Water into Wine Of which St. Iohn Chap. II. 11. says thus This beginning of Miracles Iesus made and manifested his glory and his Disciples believed in him His Disciples here believed in him but we hear not of any other Preaching to them but by this Miracle whereby he manifested his Glory i. e. of being the Messiah the Prince So Nathanael without any other Preaching but only our Saviour's discovering to him that he knew him after an extraordinary manner presently acknowledges him to be the Messiah crying Rabbi Thou art the Son of God Thou art the King of Israel From hence staying a few days at Capernaum he goes to Ierusalem to the Passover and there he drives the Traders out of the Temple Iohn II. 12-15 saying Make not my Father's House a House of merchandize Where we see he uses a Phrase which by Interpretation signifies that he was the Son of God though at that time unregarded v. 16. Hereupon the Jews demand What sign dost thou shew us since thou doest these things Iesus answered Destroy ye this Temple and in three days I will raise it again This is an instance of what way Jesus took to declare himself For 't is plain by their Reply the Jews understood him not nor his Disciples neither For 't is said v. 22. When therefore he was risen from the dead his Disciples remembred that he said this to them And they believed the Scripture and the saying of Iesus to them This therefore we may look on in the beginning as a Pattern of Christ's Preaching and shewing himself to the Jews Which he generally followed afterwards viz. such a manifestation of himself as every one at present could not understand but yet carried such an Evidence with it to those who were well disposed now or would reflect on it when the whole course of his Ministry was over as was sufficient clearly to convince them that he was the Messiah The reason of this method used by our Saviour the Scripture gives us here at this his first appearing in Publick after his entrance upon his Ministry to be a Rule and Light to us in the whole course of it For the next Verse taking notice that many believed on him because of his Miracles which was all the Preaching they had 'T is said v. 24. But Iesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men i. e. He declared not himself so openly to be the Messiah their King as to put himself into the Power of the Jews by laying himself open to their malice whom he knew would be so ready to lay hold on it to accuse him For as the next Verse 25. shews he knew well enough what was in them We may here farther observe That Believing in his Name signifies believing him to be the Messiah V. 22. tells us That many at the Passover believed in his name when they saw the Miracles that he did What other Faith could these Miracles produce in them who saw them but that this was He of whom the Scripture spoke who was to be their Deliverer Whilst he was now at Ierusalem Nicodemus a Ruler of the Jews comes to him Iohn III. 1-21 to whom he Preaches Eternal Life by Faith in the Messiah v. 15. 17. But in general terms without naming himself to be that Messiah though his whole Discourse tends to it This is all we hear of our Saviour the first Year of his Ministry But only his Baptism Fasting and Temptation in the beginning of it and spending the rest of it after the Passover in Iudea with his Disciples Baptizing there but when he knew that the Pharisees reported that he made and baptized more Disciples than John he left Judea and got out of their way again into Galilee John IV. 1. 3. In his way back by the Well of Sichar he discourses with the Samaritan Woman And after having opened to her the True and Spiritual Worship which was at hand which the Woman presently understands of the times of the Messiah who was then looked for Thus she answers v. 25. I know that the Messiah cometh When he is
come he will tell us all things Whereupon our Saviour though we hear no such thing from him in Ierusalem or Iudea or to Nicodemus yet here to this Samaritan Woman he in plain and direct words owns and declares that he himself who talked with her was the Messiah v. 26. This would seem very strange that he should be more free and open to a Samaritan than he was to the Jews were not the reason plain from what we have observed above He was now out of Iudea with a People with whom the Iews had no Commerce v. 9. Who were not disposed out of Envy as the Iews were to seek his Life or to Accuse him to the Roman Governour or to make an Insurrection to set a Iew up for their King What the Consequence was of his Discourse with this Samaritan Woman we have an Account v. 28. 39-42 She left her Water-pot and went her way into the City and saith to the men Come see a man who told me all things that ever I did Is not this the Messiah And many of the Samaritans of that City BELIEVED ON HIM for the saying of the Woman which testified He told me all that ever I did So when the Samaritans were come unto him they besought him that he would tarry with them And he abode there two days And many more believed because of his own word And said unto the Woman Now we believe not because of thy saying For we have heard him our selves and we know i. e. are fully perswaded that it is indeed the Messiah the Saviour of the World By comparing v. 39. with 41 42. it is plain that believing on him signifies no more than believing him to be the Messiah From Sichar Jesus goes to Nazareth the place he was bred up in and there Reading in the Synagogue a Prophecy concerning the Messiah out of the LXI of Isaiah he tells them Luke IV. 21. This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears But being in danger of his Life at Nazareth he leaves it for Capernaum And then as St. Matthew informs us Chap. IV. 17. He began to Preach and say Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Or as St. Mark has it Chap. I. 14 15. Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and saying The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand repent ye and believe in the Gospel i. e. believe this good News This removing to Capernaum and seating himself there in the Borders of Zabulon and Naphtali was as St. Matthew observes Chap. IV. 13-16 That a Prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled Thus the Actions and Circumstances of his Life answered the Prophesies and declared him to be the Messiah And by what St. Mark says in this place it is manifest that the Gospel which he preached and required them to believe was no other but the good tidings of the Coming of the Messiah and of his Kingdom the time being now fulfilled In his way to Capernaum being come to Cana a Noble-man of Capernaum came to him v. 47. And besought him that he would come down and heal his Son for he was at the point of death v. 48. Then said Iesus unto him except ye see signs and wonders you will not believe Then he returning homewards and finding that his Son began to mend at the same hour in which Iesus said unto him thy Son liveth he himself believed and his whole House v. 53. Here this Noble-man is by the Apostle pronounced to be a Believer And what does he believe Even that which Jesus complains v. 48. They would not BELIEVE except they saw Signs and Wonders Which could be nothing but what those of Samaria in the same Chapter believed viz. that he was the Messiah For we no where in the Gospel hear of any thing else had been proposed to be believed by them Having done Miracles and cured all their sick at Capernaum he says Let us go to the adjoyning Towns that I may preach there also for therefore came I forth Mark I. 38. Or as St. Luke has it Chap. IV. 43. He tells the multitude who would have kept him that he might not go from them I must Evangelize or tell the good Tidings of the Kingdom of God to other Cities also for therefore am I sent And St. Matthew Chap. IV. 23. tells us how he executed this Commission he was sent on And Iesus went about all Galilee teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and curing all Diseases This then was what he was sent to Preach every where viz. The Gospel of the Kingdom of the Messiah and by the Miracles and Good he did let them know who was the Messiah Hence he goes up to Ierusalem to the second Passover since the beginning of his Ministry And here discoursing to the Jews who sought to kill him upon occasion of the man whom he had cured carrying his Bed on the Sabbath-day and for making God his Father He tells them that he wrought these things by the Power of God and that he shall do greater things For that the Dead shall at his Summons be raised And that he by a Power committed to him from his Father shall Judge them And that he is sent by his Father And that whoever shall hear his Word and believe in him that sent him has Eternal Life This though a clear Description of the Messiah yet we may observe that here to the angry Iews who sought to kill him he says not a word of his Kingdom nor so much as names the Messiah But yet that he is the Son of God and sent from God He refers them to the Testimony of Iohn the Baptist to the Testimony of his own Miracles and of God himself in the Voice from Heaven and of the Scriptures and of Moses He leaves them to learn from these the Truth they were to believe viz. that he was the Messiah sent from God This you may read more at large Iohn V. 1-47 The next place where we find him Preaching was on the Mount Mat. V. and Luke VI. This is by much the longest Sermon we have of his any where and in all likelihood to the greatest Auditory For it appears to have been to the Peple gathered to him from Galilee and Iudea and Ierusalem and from beyond Iordan and that came out of Idumea and from Tyre and Sidon mentioned Mark III. 7 8. and Luke VI. 17. But in this whole Sermon of his we do not find one word of Believing and therefore no mention of the Messiah or any intimation to the People who himself was The reason whereof we may gather from Mat. 12. 16. where Christ forbids them to make him known which supposes them to know already who he was For that this XII Chapter of Matthew ought to precede the Sermon in the Mount is plain by comparing it with Mark II. beginning at v. 13. to Mark III. 8. And comparing those Chapters of St. Mark with
words v. 47. 54. Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me hath everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day The sum of all which Discourse is that he was the Messiah sent from God And that those who believed him to be so should be raised from the Dead at the last day to Eternal Life These who he spoke to were of those who the day before would by force have made him King And therefore 't is no wonder he should speak to them of himself and his Kingdom and Subjects in obscure and Mystical terms and such as should offend those who looked for nothing but the Grandeur of a Temporal Kingdom in this World and the Protection and Prosperity they had promised themselves under it The hopes of such a Kingdom now that they had found a man that did Miracles and therefore concluded to be the Deliverer they expected had the day before almost drawn them into an open Insurrection and involved our Saviour in it This he thought fit to put a stop to they still following him 't is like with the same design And therefore though he here speaks to them of his Kingdom it was in a way that so plainly bauk'd their Expectation and shock'd them that when they found themselves disappointed of those vain hopes and that he talked of their eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood that they might have Life the Jews said v. 52. How can this man give us his flesh to eat And many even of his Disciples said It was an hard saying who can bear it And so were scandalized in him and forsook him v. 60. 66. But what the true meaning of this Discourse of our Saviour was the Confession of St. Peter who understood it better and answered for the rest of the Apostles shews When Jesus asked him v. 67. Will ye also go away Then Simon Peter answered him Lord to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life i. e. Thou teachest us the way to attain Eternal Life And accordingly We believe and are sure that thou art the Messiah the Son of the living God This was the eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood whereby those who did so had Eternal Life Sometime after this he enquires of his Disciples Mark VIII 27. Who the People took him for They telling him for Iohn the Baptist or one of the old Prophets risen from the Dead He asked what they themselves thought And here again Peter answers in these words Mark VIII 29. Thou art the Messiah Luke IX 20. The Messiah of God And Mat. XVI 16. Thou art the Messiah the Son of the living God Which Expressions we may hence gather amount to the same thing Whereupon our Saviour tells Peter Mat. XVI 17 18. That this was such a truth As flesh and blood could not reveal to him but only his Father who was in Haven And that this was the Foundation on which he was to build his Church By all the parts of which passage it is more than probable that he had never yet told his Apostles in direct words that he was the Messiah but that they had gathered it from his Life and Miracles For which we may imagine to our selves this probable Reason Because that if he had familiarly and in direct terms talked to his Apostles in private that he was the Messiah the Prince of whose Kingdom he preached so much in publick every where Iudas whom he knew false and treacherous would have been readily made use of to testifie against him in a matter that would have been really Criminal to the Roman Governour This perhaps may help to clear to us that seemingly abrupt reply of our Saviour to his Apostles Iohn VI. 70. when they confessed him to be the Messiah I will for the better explaining of it set down the passage at large Peter having said We believe and are sure that thou art the Messiah the Son of the living God Iesus answered them Have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is a reply seeming at first sight nothing to the purpose when yet it is sure all our Saviour's Discourses were wise and pertinent It seems therefore to me to carry this sense to be understood afterwards by the eleven as that of destroying the Temple and raising it again in three days was when they should reflect on it after his being betray'd by Iudas You have confessed and believe the truth concerning me I am the Messiah your King But do not wonder at it that I have never openly declared it to you For amongst you twelve whom I have chosen to be with me there is one who is an Informer or false Accuser for so the Greek word signifies and may possibly here be so translated rather than Devil who if I had owned my self in plain words to have been the Messiah the King of Israel would have betrayed me and informed against me That he was yet cautious of owning himself to his Apostles positively to be the Messiah appears farther from the manner wherein he tells Peter v. 18. that he will build his Church upon that Confession of his that he was the Messiah I say unto thee Thou art Cephas or a Rock and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Words too doubtful to be laid hold on against him as a Testimony that he professed himself to be the Messiah Especially if we joyn with them the following words v. 19. And I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven And what thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and what thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Which being said Personally to Peter render the foregoing words of our Saviour wherein he declares the Fundamental Article of his Church to be the believing him to be the Messiah the more obscure and doubtful and less liable to be made use of against him But yet such as might afterwards be understood And for the same reason he yet here again forbids the Apostles to say that he was the Messiah v. 20. From this time say the Evangelists Jesus began to shew to his Disciples i. e. his Apostles who are often called Disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the Elders Chief Priests and Scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day These though all marks of the Messiah yet how little understood by the Apostles or suited to their expectation of the Messiah appears from Peter's rebuking him for it in the following words Mat. XVI 22. Peter had twice before owned him to be the Messiah and yet he cannot here bear that he should Suffer and be put to Death and be raised again Whereby we may perceive how little yet Jesus had explained to the Apostles what Personally concerned himself They had been a good while witnesses of his Life and Miracles
large here by St. Luke it is plain that the Answer of our Saviour set down by St. Matthew Chap. XXVI 64. in these words Thou hast said And by St. Mark Chap. XIV 62. in these I am Is an Answer only to this Question Art thou then the Son of God And not to that other Art thou the Messiah Which preceded and he had answered to before Though Matthew and Mark contracting the story set them down together as if making but one Question omitting all the intervening Discourse Whereas 't is plain out of St. Luke that they were two distinct Questions to which Iesus gave two distinct Answers In the first whereof he according to his usual Caution declined saying in plain express words that he was the Messiah though in the latter he owned himself to be the Son of God Which though they being Iews understood to signifie the Messiah Yet he knew could be no Legal or Weighty Accusation against him before a Heathen and so it proved For upon his answering to their Question Art thou then the Son of God Ye say that I am They cry out Luke XXII 71. What need we any further witnesses For we our selves have heard out of his own mouth And so thinking they had enough against him they hurry him away to Pilate Pilate asking them Iohn XVIII 29-32 What Accusation bring you against this man They answered and said if he were not a Malefactor we would not have delivered him up unto thee Then said Pilate unto them Take ye him and Iudge him according to your Law But this would not serve their turn who aimed at his Life and would be satisfied with nothing else The Iews therefore said unto him It is not lawful for us to put any man to death And this was also That the saying of Iesus might be fulfilled which he spake signifying what Death he should dye Pursuing therefore their Design of making him appear to Pontius Pilate guilty of Treason against Caesar Luke XXIII 2. They began to accuse him saying We found this Fellow perverting the Nation and forbidding to give Tribute to Caesar saying that he himself is the Messiah the King All which were Inferences of theirs from his saying he was the Son of God Which Pontius Pilate finding for 't is consonant that he examined them to the precise words he had said their Accusation had no weight with him However the Name of King being suggested against Jesus he thought himself concerned to search it to the bottom Iohn XVIII 33-37 Then Pilate entred again into the Iudgment-Hall and called Iesus and said unto him Art thou the King of the Iews Iesus answered him Sayest thou this of thy self or did others tell it thee of me Pilate answered am I a Iew Thine own Nation and the Chief Priest have delivered thee unto me What hast thou done Iesus answered My Kingdom is not of this World If my Kingdom were of this World then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Iews But my Kingdom is not from hence Pilate therefore said unto him Art thou a King then Iesus answered Thou sayest that I am a King For this end was I born and for this cause came I into the World that I should bear witness to the Truth Every one that is of the Truth heareth my voice In this Dialogue between our Saviour and Pilate we may Observe 1. That being asked whether he were the King of the Iews He answers so that though he deny it not yet he avoided giving the least Umbrage that he had any Design upon the Government For though he allows himself to be a King yet to obviate any suspicion he tells Pilate His Kingdom is not of this World And evidences it by this that if he had pretended to any Title to that Country his followers which were not a few and were forward enough to believe him their King would have fought for him if he had had a mind to set himself up by force or his Kingdom were so to be erected But my Kingdom says he is not from hence Is not of this fashion or of this place 2. Pilate being by his words and circumstances satisfied that he laid no Claim to his Province or meant any Disturbance of the Government was yet a little surprized to hear a Man in that poor Garb without Retinue or so much as a Servant or a Friend own himself to be a King And therefore asks him with some kind of wonder Art thou a King then 3. That our Saviour declares that his great business into the World was to testifie and make good this great Truth that he was a King i. e. in other words that he was the Messiah 4. That whoever were followers of Truth and got into the way of Truth and Happiness received this Doctrine concerning him viz. That he was the Messiah their King Pilate being thus satisfied that he neither meant nor could there arise any harm from his pretence whatever it was to be a King Tells the Jews v. 38. I find no fault in this man But the Jews were the more fierce Luke XXIII 5. saying He stirreth up the people to Sedition by his Preaching through all Jewry beginning from Galilee to this place And then Pilate learning that he was of Galilee Herod's Jurisdiction sent him to Herod to whom also the Chief Priest and Scribes v. 10. vehemently accused him Herod finding all their Accusations either false or frivolous thought our Saviour a bare Object of Contempt And so turning him only into Ridicule sent him back to Pilate Who calling unto him the Chief Priests and the Rulers and the People v. 14. Said unto them Ye have brought this man unto me as one that perverteth the People And behold I having examined him before you have found no fault in this man touching these things whereof ye accuse him No nor yet Herod for I sent you to him And so nothing worthy of Death is done by him And therefore he would have released him For he knew the Chief Priests had delivered him through envy Mark XV. 10. And when they demanded Barrabbas to be released but as for Jesus cryed Crucifie him Luke XXIII 22. Pilate said unto them the third time Why What evil hath he done I have found no cause of death in him I will therefore chastise him and let him go We may observe in all this whole Prosecution of the Jews that they would fain have got it out of Iesus's own mouth in express words that he was the Messiah Which not being able to do with all their Art and Endeavour All the rest that they could alledge against him not amounting to a Proof before Pilate that he claimed to be King of the Jews or that he had caused or done any thing towards a Mutiny or Insurrection among the People for upon these two as we see their whole Charge turned Pilate again and again pronounced him innocent For so he did a fourth and a fifth
time bringing him out to them after he had whip'd him Iohn XIX 4. 6. And after all When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing but that rather a Tumult was made he took Water and washed his hands before the multitude saying I am innocent of the Blood of this just man see you to it Mat. XXVII 24. Which gives us a clear reason of the cautious and wary Conduct of our Saviour in not declaring himself in the whole course of his Ministry so much as to his Disciples much less to the Multitude or the Rulers of the Jews in express words to be the Messiah the King And why he kept himself always in Prophetical or Parabolical terms He and his Disciples Preaching only the Kingdom of God i. e. of the Messiah to be come And left to his Miracles to declare who he was Though this was the Truth which he came into the World as he says himself Iohn XVIII 37. to testifie and which his Disciples were to believe When Pilate satisfied of his Innocence would have released him And the Jews persisted to cry out Crucifie him Crucifie him Iohn XIX 6. Pilate says to them Take ye him your selves and Crucifie him For I do not find any fault in him The Jews then since they could not make him a State-Criminal by alledging his saying that he was the Son of God say by their Law it was a Capital Crime v. 7. The Iews answered to Pilate We have a Law and by our Law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God After this Pilate was the more desirous to release him v. 12 13. But the Iews cried out saying If thou let this man go thou art not Caesar 's Friend Whosoever maketh himself a King speaketh against Caesar. Here we see the stress of their Charge against Jesus whereby they hoped to take away his Life viz. That he made himself King We see also upon what they grounded this Accusation viz. Because he had owned himself to be the Son of God For he had in their hearing never made or professed himself to be a King We see here likewise the reason why they were so desirous to draw from his own mouth a Confession in express words that he was the Messiah viz. That they might have what might be a clear Proof that he did so And last of all we see the reason why though in Expressions which they understood he owned himself to them to be the Messiah yet he avoided declaring it to them in such words as might look Criminal at Pilate's Tribunal He owned himself to be the Messiah plainly to the Understanding of the Iews But in ways that could not to the Understanding of Pilate make it appear that he laid claim to the Kingdom of Iudea or went about to make himself King of that Country But whether his saying that he was the Son of God was Criminal by their Law that Pilate troubled not himself about He that considers what Tacitus Suetonius Seneca de Benef. l. 3. c. 26. Say of Tiberius and his Reign will find how necessary it was for our Saviour if he would not dye as a Criminal and a Traytor to take great heed to his words and actions that he did or said not any thing that might be offensive or give the least Umbrage to the Roman Government It behoved an Innocent Man who was taken notice of for something Extraordinary in him to be very wary Under a jealous and cruel Prince who encouraged Informations and filled his Reign with Executions for Treason Under whom words spoken innocently or in jest if they could be misconstrued were made Treason and prosecuted with a Rigor that made it always the same thing to be accused and condemned And therefore we see that when the Iews told Pilate Iohn XIX 12. That he should not be a Friend to Caesar if he let Iesus go For that whoever made himself King was a Rebel against Caesar He asks them no more whether they would take Barrabbas and spare Iesus But though against his Conscience gives him up to Death to secure his own Head One thing more there is that gives us light into this wise and necessarily cautious management of himself which manifestly agrees with it and makes a part of it And that is the choice of his Apostles exactly suited to the design and fore-sight of the Necessity of keeping the declaration of the Kingdom of the Messiah which was now expected within certain general terms during his Ministry And not opening himself too plainly or forwardly to the heady Jews that he himself was the Messiah but leaving it to be found out by the Observation of those who would attend to the Purity of his Life and the Testimony of his Miracles and the Conformity of all with the Predictions concerning him without an express promulgation that he was the Messiah till after his Death His Kingdom was to be opened to them by degrees as well to prepare them to receive it as to enable him to be long enough amongst them to perform what was the work of the Messiah to be done and fulfil all those several parts of what was foretold of him in the Old Testament and we see applyed to him in the New The Iews had no other thoughts of their Messiah but of a Mighty Temporal Prince that should raise their Nation into an higher degree of Power Dominion and Prosperity than ever it had enjoyed They were filled with the expectation of a Glorious Earthly Kingdom It was not therefore for a Poor Man the Son of a Carpenter and as they thought born in Galilee to pretend to it None of the Iews no not his Disciples could have born this if he had expresly avowed this at first and began his Preaching and the opening of his Kingdom this way Especially if he had added to it that in a Year or two he should dye an ignominious Death upon the Cross. They are therefore prepared for the Truth by degrees First Iohn the Baptist tells them The Kingdom of God a name by which the Jews called the Kingdom of the Messiah is at hand Then our Saviour comes and he tells them of the Kingdom of God Sometimes that it is at hand and upon some occasions that it is come but says in his Publick Preaching little or nothing of himself Then come the Apostles and Evangelists after his Death and they in express words teach what his Birth Life and Doctrine had done before and had prepared the well-disposed to receive viz. That Iesus is the Messiah To this Design and Method of Publishing the Gospel was the choice of the Apostles exactly adjusted A company of Poor Ignorant Illiterate Men who as Christ himself tells us Mat. XI 25. and Luke X. 21. Were not of the Wise and Prudent Men of the World They were in that respect but meer Children These convinced by the Miracles they saw him daily do and the unblameable Life he lead might be disposed to
Contrivance of an Ambitious or Dangerous man designing against the Government The way of expressing what he meant being in the Prophetick stile which is seldom so plain as to be understood till accomplished 'T is plain that his Disciples themselves comprehended not what Kingdom he here spoke of from their Question to him after his Resurrection Wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel Having finished these Discourses he takes Order for the Passover and eats it with his Disciples And at Supper tells them that one of them should betray him And adds Iohn XIII 19. I tell it you now before it come that when it is come to pass you may know that I am He does not say out the Messiah Iudas should not have that to say against him if he would Though that be the sense in which he uses this Expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am more than once And that this is the meaning of it is clear from Mark XII 6. Luke XXI 8. In both which Evangelists the words are For many shall come in my Name saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am The meaning whereof we shall find explained in the parallel place of St. Matthew Chap. XXIV 5. For many shall come in my Name saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the Messiah Here in this place of Iohn XIII Jesus fore-tells what should happen to him viz. That he should be betrayed by Iudas adding this Prediction to the many other Particulars of his Death and Suffering which he had at other times foretold to them And here he tells them the reason of these his Predictions viz. That afterwards they might be a confirmation to their Faith And what was it that he would have them believe and be confirmed in the belief of Nothing but this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he was the Messiah The same reason he gives Iohn XIII 28. You have heard how I said unto you I go away and come again unto you And now I have told you before it come to pass that when it is come to pass ye might believe When Iudas had left them and was gone out he talks a little freer to them of his Glory and his Kingdom than ever he had done before For now he speaks plainly of himself and his Kingdom Iohn XIII 31. Therefore when he Judas was gone out Iesus said Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is also glorified in him And if God be glorified in him God shall also glorifie him in himself and shall straitway glorifie him And Luke XXII 29. And I will appoint unto you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me that ye may eat and drink with me at my Table in my Kingdom Though he has every where all along through his Ministry preached the Gospel of the Kingdom and nothing else but that and Repentance and the Duties of a good Life Yet it has been always the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven And I do not remember that any where till now he uses any such expression as My Kingdom But here now he speaks in the first Person I will appoint you a Kingdom And in my Kingdom And this we see is only to the Eleven now Iudas was gone from them With these Eleven whom he was now just leaving he has a long Discourse to comfort them for their loss of him And to prepare them for the Persecution of the World And to exhort them to keep his Commandments and to love one another And here one may expect all the Articles of Faith should be laid down plainly if any thing else were required of them to believe but what he had taught them and they believed already viz. That he was the Messiah John XIV 1. Ye believe in God believe also in me v. 29. I have told you before it come to pass that when it is come to pass ye may believe It is believing on him without any thing else Iohn XVI 31. Iesus answered them Do you now believe This was in Answer to their professing v 30. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things and needest not that any man should ask thee By this we believe that thou comest forth from God John XVII 20. Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word All that is spoke of Believing in this his last Sermon to them is only Believing on him or believing that He came from God Which was no other than believing him to be the Messiah Indeed Iohn XIV 9. Our Saviour tells Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father And adds v. 10. Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me The words that I speak unto you I speak not of my self But the Father that dwelleth in me he doth the works Which being in Answer to Philip's words v. 9. Shew us the Father seem to import thus much No man hath seen God at any time he is known only by his Works And that he is my Father and I the Son of God i. e. the Messiah you may know by the Works I have done Which it is impossible I could do of my self but by the Union I have with God my Father For that by being in God and God in him he signifies such an Union with God that God operates in and by him appears not only by the words above-cited out of v. 10. which can scarce otherwise be made coherent sense but also from the same Phrase used again by our Saviour presently after v. 20. At that day viz. after his Resurrection when they should see him again ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you i. e. By the works I shall enable you to do through a Power I have received from the Father Which whoever sees me do must acknowledge the Father to be in me And whoever sees you do must acknowledge me to be in you And therefore he says v. 12. Verily verily I say unto you He that believeth on me the works that I do shall he also do because I go unto my Father Though I go away yet I shall be in you who believe in me And ye shall be enabled to do Miracles also for the carrying on of my Kingdom as I have done That it may be manifested to others that you are sent by me as I have evidenced to you that I am sent by the Father And hence it is that he says in the immediately preceding v. 11. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me If not believe me for the sake of the works themselves Let the Works that I have done convince you that I am sent by the Father That he is with me and that I do nothing but by his Will and by vertue of the Union I have with him And that consequently I am the Messiah who am anointed sanctified and separate by the Father to
the Work for which he hath sent me To confirm them in this Faith and to enable them to do such Works as he had done he promises them the Holy Ghost Iohn XIV 25 26. These things I have said unto you being yet present with you But when I am gone the Holy Ghost the Paraclet which may signifie Monitor as well as Comfortor or Advocate which the Father shall send you in my Name he shall shew you all things and bring to your remembrance all things which I have said So that considering all that I have said and laying it together and comparing it with what you shall see come to pass you may be more abundantly assured that I am the Messiah and fully comprehend that I have done and suffered all things foretold of the Messiah and that were to be accomplished and fulfilled by him according to the Scriptures But be not filled with grief that I leave you Iohn XVI 7. It is expedient for you that I go away For if I go not away the Paraclet will not come unto you One Reason why if he went not away the Holy Ghost could not come we may gather from what has been observed concerning the Prudent and wary carriage of our Saviour all through his Ministry that he might not incur Death with the least suspicion of a Malefactor And therefore though his Disciples believed him to be the Messiah yet they neither understood it so well nor were so well confirmed in the belief of it as after that he being crucified and risen again they had received the Holy Ghost And with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit a fuller and clearer Evidence and Knowledge that he was the Messiah And were enlightned to see how his Kingdom was such as the Scriptures foretold though not such as they till then had expected And now this Knowledge and Assurance received from the Holy Ghost was of use to them after his Resurrection when they could then boldly go about and openly Preach as they did that Iesus was the Messiah confirming that Doctrine by the Miracles which the Holy Ghost impowered them to do But till he was dead and gone they could not do this Their going about openly Preaching as they did after his Resurrection that Iesus was the Messiah and doing Miracles every where to make it good would not have consisted with that Character of Humility Peace and Innocence which the Messiah was to sustain if they had done it before his Crucifixion For this would have drawn upon him the Condemnation of a Malefactor either as a stirrer of Sedition against the Publick Peace or as a Pretender to the Kingdom of Israel And hence we see that they who before his Death preached only the Gospel of the Kingdom that the Kingdom of God was at hand As soon as they had received the Holy Ghost after his Resurrection changed their stile and every where in express words declare that Iesus is the Messiah that King which was to come This the following words here in St. Iohn XVI 8-14 confirm Where he goes on to tell them And when he is come he will convince the World of Sin Because they believed not on me Your Preaching then accompanied with Miracles by the assistance of the Holy Ghost shall be a Conviction to the World that the Iews sinned in not believing me to be the Messiah Of Righteousness or Justice Because I go to my Father and ye see me no more By the same Preaching and Miracles you shall confirm the Doctrine of my Ascension and thereby convince the World that I was that Iust One who am therefore ascended to the Father into Heaven where no unjust Person shall enter Of Iudgment Because the Prince of this World is judged And by the same assistance of the Holy Ghost ye shall convince the World that the Devil is judged or condemned by your casting of him out and destroying his Kingdom and his Worship where ever you Preach Our Saviour adds I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now They were yet so full of a Temporal Kingdom that they could not bear the discovery of what a kind of Kingdom his was nor what a King he was to be And therefore he leaves them to the coming of the Holy Ghost for a farther and fuller discovery of himself and the Kingdom of the Messiah For fear they should be scandalized in him and give up the hopes they had now in him and forsake him This he tells them v. 1. of this XVI Chapter These things I have said unto you that you may not be scandalized The last thing he had told them before his saying this to them we find in the last Verses of the precedent Chapter When the Paraclet is come the Spirit of Truth he shall witness concerning me He shall shew you who I am and witness it to the World And then Ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning He shall call to your mind what I have said and done that ye may understand it and know and bear Witness concerning me And again here Iohn XVI after he had told them they could not bear what he had more to say he adds v. 13. Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth and he will shew you things to come He shall glorifie me By the Spirit when he comes ye shall be fully instructed concerning me And though you cannot yet from what I have said to you clearly comprehend my Kingdom and Glory yet he shall make it known to you wherein it consists And though I am now in a mean state and ready to be given up to Contempt Torment and Death So that ye know not what to think of it Yet the Spirit when he comes shall glorifie me and fully satisfie you of my Power and Kingdom And that I sit on the right hand of God to order all things for the good and increase of it till I come again at the last day in fulness of Glory Accordingly the Apostles had a full and clear sight and perswasion of this after they had received the Holy Ghost And they preached it every where boldly and openly without the least remainder of doubt or uncertainty But that they understood him not yet even so far as his Death and Resurrection is evident from v. 17 18. Then said some of the Disciples among themselves What is this that he saith unto us A little while and ye shall not see me And again a little while and ye shall see me and because I go to the Father They said therefore what is this that he saith a little while We know not what he saith Upon which he goes on to Discourse to them of his Death and Resurrection and of the Power they should have of doing Miracles But all this he declares to them in a Mystical and involved way of speaking as he tells them himself v. 25. These things
upon you And ye shall be witnesses unto me unto the utmost parts of the Earth Their great business was to be Witnesses to Iesus of his Life Death Resurrection and Ascension which put together were undeniable Proofs of his being the Messiah Which was what they were to Preach and what he said to them concerning the Kingdom of God As will appear by what is recorded of it in the other Evangelists The day of his Resurrection appearing to the two going to Emmaus Luke XXIV They declare v. 21. what his Disciples Faith in him was But we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel i.e. We believed that he was the Messiah come to deliver the Nation of the Iews Upon this Iesus tells them they ought to believe him to the Messiah notwithstanding what had happened Nay they ought by his Suffering and Death to be confirmed in that Faith that he was the Messiah And v. 26 27. Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself How that the Messiah ought to have suffered these things and to have entred into his Glory Now he applies the Prophesies of the Messiah to himself which we read not that he did ever do before his Passion And afterwards appearing to the Eleven Luke XXIV 36. He said unto them v. 44-47 These words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me Then opened he their Vnderstandings that they might understand the Scripture and said unto them Thus it is written and thus it behoved the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day And that Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Ierusalem Here we see what it was he had preached to them though not in so plain open words before his Crucifixion And what it is he now makes them understand And what it was that was to be preached to all Nations viz. That he was the Messiah that had suffered and rose from the Dead the third day and fulfilled all things that was written in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah And that those who believed this and repented should receive Remission of their Sins through this Faith in him Or as St. Mark has it Chap. XVI 15. Go into all the World and Preach the Gospel to every Creature He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved But he that believeth not shall be damned v. 20. What the Gospel or Good News was we have shewed already viz. The happy Tidings of the Messiah being come v. 20. And they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following What the Word was which they preached and the Lord confirmed with Miracles we have seen already out of the History of their Acts Having given an Account of their Preaching every where as it is recorded in the Acts except some few places where the Kingdom of the Messiah is mentioned under the name of the Kingdom of God Which I forbore to set down till I had made it plain out of the Evangelists that That was no other but the Kingdom of the Messiah It may be seasonable therefore now to add to those Sermons we have formerly seen of St. Paul wherein he preached no other Article of Faith but that Iesus was the Messiah the King who being risen from the Dead now Reigneth and shall more publickly manifest his Kingdom in judging the World at the last day what farther is left upon Record of his Preaching Acts XIX 8. At Ephesus Paul went into the Synagogues and spake boldly for the space of three months disputing and perswading concerning the Kingdom of God And Acts XX. 25. At Miletus he thus takes leave of the Elders of Ephesus And now behold I know that ye all among whom I have gone Preaching the Kingdom of God shall see my face no more What this Preaching the Kingdom of God was he tells you v. 20 21. I have kept nothing back from you which was profitable unto you but have shewed you and have taught you publickly and from House to House Testifying both to the Iews and to the Greeks Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Iesus Christ. And so again Acts XXVIII 23 24. When they the Jews at Rome had appointed him Paul a day there came many to him into his Lodging To whom he expounded and testified the Kingdom of God perswading them concerning Iesus both out of the Law of Moses and out of the Prophets from Morning to Evening And some believed the things which were spoken and some believed not And the History of the Acts is concluded with this Account of St. Paul's Preaching And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired House and received all that came in unto him Preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Iesus the Messiah We may therefore here apply the same Conclusion to the History of our Saviour writ by the Evangelists And to the History of the Apostles writ in the Acts which St. Iohn does to his own Gospel Chap. XX. 30 31. Many other signs did Iesus before his Disciples And in many other places the Apostles preached the same Doctrine which are not written in these Books But these are written that you may believe that Iesus is the Messiah the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his Name What St. Iohn thought necessary and sufficient to be believed for the attaining Eternal Life he here tells us And this not in the first dawning of the Gospel when perhaps some will be apt to think less was required to be believed than after the Doctrine of Faith and Mystery of Salvation was more fully explained in the Epistles writ by the Apostles For it is to be remembred that St. Iohn says this not as soon as Christ was ascended For these words with the rest of St. Iohn's Gospel were not written till many Years after not only the other Gospels and St. Luke's History of the Acts but in all appearance after all the Epistles writ by the other Apostles So that above Threescore Years after our Saviour's Passion for so long after both Epiphanius and St. Ierome assure us this Gospel was written St. Iohn knew nothing else required to be believed for the attaining of Life but that Iesus is the Messiah the Son of God To this 't is likely it will be objected by some that to believe only that Iesus of Nazareth is the Messiah is but an Historical and not a Justifying or Saving Faith To which I Answer That I allow to the makers of Systems and their followers to invent and use what distinctions they please and to call things by what names they think fit But I cannot allow to them or
He answered Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind And thy Neighbour as thy self Jesus said This do and thou shalt live And when the Lawyer upon our Saviour's Parable of the good Samaritan was forced to confess that he that shewed Mercy was his Neighbour Jesus dismissed him with this Charge v. 37. Go and do thou likewise Luke XI 41. Give Alms of such things as ye have Behold all things are clean unto you Luke XII 15. Take heed and beware of Covetousness V. 22. Be not sollicitous what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink nor what ye shall put on Be not fearful or apprehensive of want For it is your Father's pleasure to give you a Kingdom Sell that you have and give Alms And provide your selves bags that wax not old and Treasure in the Heavens that faileth not For where your Treasure is there will your heart be also Let your loyns be girded and your lights burning And ye your selves like unto men that wait for the Lord when he will return Blessed are those Servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching Blessed is that Servant whom the Lord having made Ruler of his Houshold to give them their Portion of Meat in due season the Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Of a truth I say unto you that he will make him a Ruler over all that he hath But if that Servant say in his heart my Lord delayeth his coming And shall begin to beat the Men-servants and Maidens and to eat and drink and to be drunken The Lord of that Servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him and at an hour when he is not aware and will cut him in sunder and will appoint him his Portion with Vnbelievers And that Servant who knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes For he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required And to whom men have committed much of him they will ask the more Luke XIV 11. Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased And he that humbleth himself shall be exalted V. 12. When thou makest a Dinner or Supper call not thy Friends or thy Brethren neither thy Kinsmen nor thy Neighbours lest they also bid thee again and a recompence be made thee But when thou makest a Feast call the Poor and Maimed the Lame and the Blind And thou shalt be blessed For they cannot recompence thee For thou shalt be recompenced at the Resurrection of the Iust. V. 33. So likewise whosoever he be of you that is not ready to forego all that he hath he cannot be my Disciple Luke XVI 9. I say unto you make to your selves Friends of the Mammon of Vnrighteousness That when ye fail they may receive you into Everlasting Habitations If ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous Mammon who will commit to your trust the true Riches And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another mans who shall give you that which is your own Luke XVII 3. If thy Brother trespass against thee rebuke him And if he repent forgive him And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying I repent Thou shalt forgive him Luke XVIII 1. He spoke a Parable to them to this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint V. 18. One comes to him and asks him saying Master what shall I do to inherit Eternal Life Iesus said to him If thou wilt enter into Life keep the Commandments He says Which Iesus said Thou knowest the Commandments Thou shalt not Kill Thou shalt not commit Adultery Thou shalt not Steal Thou shalt not bear false Witness Defraud not Honour thy Father and thy Mother And thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self He said All these have I observed from my Youth Iesus hearing this loved him and said unto him Yet lackest thou one thing Sell all that thou hast and give it to the Poor and thou shalt have Treasure in Heaven And come follow me To understand this right we must take notice that this Young Man asks our Saviour what he must do to be admitted effectually into the Kingdom of the Messiah The Jews believed that when the Messiah came those of their Nation that received him should not die But that they with those who being dead should then be raised again by him should enjoy Eternal Life with him Our Saviour in Answer to this Demand tells the Young Man that to obtain the Eternal Life of the Kingdom of the Messiah he must keep the Commandments And then enumerating several of the Precepts of the Law the Young Man says he had observed these from his Childhood For which the Text tells us Jesus loved him But our Saviour to try whether in earnest he believed him to be the Messiah and resolved to take him to be his King and to obey him as such bids him give all he has to the Poor and come and follow him and he should have Treasure in Heaven This I look on to be the meaning of the place This of selling all he had and giving it to the Poor not being a standing Law of his Kingdom but a Probationary Command to this Young Man to try whether he truly believed him to be the Messiah and was ready to obey his Commands and relinquish all to follow him when he his Prince required it And therefore we see Luke XIX 14. Where our Saviour takes notice of the Jews not receiving him as the Messiah he expresses it thou We will not have this man to Reign over us 'T is not enough to believe him to be the Messiah unless we also obey his Laws and take him to be our King to Reign over us Mat. XXII 11-13 He that had not on the Wedding-Garment though he accepted of the Invitation and came to the Wedding was cast into utter Darkness By the Wedding-Garment 't is evident Good Works are meant here That Wedding-Garment of fine Linnen clean and white which we are told Rev. XIX 8. is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Righteous acts of the Saints Or as St. Paul calls it Ephes. IV. 1. The walking worthy of the Vocation wherewith we are called This appears from the Parable it self The Kingdom of Heaven says our Saviour v. 2. Is like unto a King who made a Marriage for his Son And here he distinguishes those who were invited into three sorts 1. Those who were invited and came not i.e. Those who had the Gospel the Good News of the Kingdom of God proposed to them but believed not 2. Those who came but had not on a Wedding-Garment i.e. Believed Iesus to be the Messiah but were not
hath given to them that obey him Acts XVII 30. Paul tells the Athenians That now under the Gospel God commandeth all Men every where to REPENT Acts XX. 21. St. Paul in his last Conference with the Elders of Ephesus professes to have taught them the whole Doctrine necessary to Salvation I have says he kept back nothing that was profitable unto you But have shewed you and have taught you publickly and from house to house Testifying both to the Iews and to the Greeks And then gives an account what his Preaching had been viz. REPENTANCE towards God and Faith towards our Lord Iesus the Messiah This was the Sum and Substance of the Gospel which St. Paul Preached and was all that he knew necessary to Salvation viz. Repentance and believing Iesus to be the Messiah And so takes his last farewel of them whom he should never see again v. 32. in these words And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified There is an Inheritance conveyed by the Word and Covenant of Grace but it is only to those who are Sanctified Acts. XXIV 24. When Felix sent for Paul that he and his Wife Drusilla might hear him concerning the Faith in Christ Paul reasoned of Righteousness or Justice and Temperance the Duties we owe to others and to our selves and of the Judgment to come Till he made Felix to tremble Whereby it appears that Temperance and Iustice were Fundamental parts of the Religion that Paul professed and were contained in the Faith which he Preached And if we find the Duties of the Moral Law not pressed by him every where We must remember That most of his Sermons left upon Record were Preached in their Synagogues to the Jews who acknowledged their Obedience due to all the Precepts of the Law And would have taken it amiss to have been suspected not to have been more Zealous for the Law than he And therefore it was with reason that his Discourses were directed chiefly to what they yet wanted and were averse to the knowledge and imbracing of Jesus their promised Messiah But what his Preaching generally was if we will believe him himself we may see Acts XXVI Where giving an Account to King Agrippa of his Life and Doctrine he tells him v. 20. I shewed unto them of Damascus and at Ierusalem and throughout all the Coasts of Iudea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for Repentance Thus we see by the Preaching of our Saviour and his Apostles that he required of those who believed him to be the Messiah and received him for their Lord and Deliverer that they should live by his Laws And that though in consideration of their becoming his Subjects by Faith in him whereby they believed and took him to be the Messiah their former Sins should be forgiven Yet he would own none to be his nor receive them as true denizons of the New Ierusalem into the inheritance of Eternal Life but leave them to the Condemnation of the Unrighteous who renounced not their former Miscarriages and lived in a sincere Obedience to his Commands What he expects from his Followers he has sufficiently declared as a Legislator And that they may not be deceived by mistaking the Doctrine of Faith Grace Free-Grace and the Pardon and Forgiveness of Sins and Salvation by him which was the great End of his Coming He more than once declares to them For what omissions and miscarriages he shall Judge and Condemn to Death even those who have owned him and done Miracles in his Name when he comes at last to render to every one according to what he hath DONE in the Flesh Sitting upon his Great and Glorious Tribunal at the end of the World The first place where we find our Saviour to have mentioned the day of Judgment is Ioh. V. 28 29. in these words The hour is coming in which all that are in their Graves shall hear his i. e. the Son of God's Voice and shall come forth They that have DONE GOOD unto the Resurrection of Life And they that have DONE EVIL unto the Resurrection of Damnation That which puts the distinction if we will believe our Saviour is the having done good or evil And he gives a reason of the necessity of his Judging or Condemning those who have done Evil in the following words v. 30. I can of my own self do nothing As I hear I judge And my Iudgment is just Because I seek not my own Will but the Will of my Father who hath sent me He could not judge of himself He had but a delegated Power of Judging from the Father whose Will he obeyed in it and who was of purer Eyes than to admit any unjust Person into the Kingdom of Heaven Matt. VII 22 23. Speaking again of that day he tells what his Sentence will be depart from me ye WORKERS of Iniquity Faith in the Penitent and Sincerely Obedient supplies the defect of their Performances and so by Grace they are made Just. But we may observe None are Sentenced or Punished for Unbelief but only for their Misdeeds They are Workers of Iniquity on whom the Sentence is Pronounced Matt. XIII 14. At the end of the World the Son of Man shall send forth his Angels And they shall gather out of his Kingdom all Scandals and them which DO INIQVITY And cast them into a Furnace of Fire There shall be wailing and gnashing of Teeth And again v. 49. The Angels shall sever the WICKED from among the IVST and shall cast them into the Furnace of Fire Matt. XVI 24. For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels And then be shall Reward every Man according to his WORKS Luke XIII 26. Then shall ye begin to say We have eaten and drunk in thy Presence and thou hast taught in our Streets But he shall say I tell you I know you not Depart from me ye WORKERS of Iniquity Matt. XXV 21-26 When the Son of Man shall come in his Glory and before him shall be gathered all Nations He shall set the Sheep on his right hand and the Goats on his Left Then shall the King say to them on his Right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World For I was an hungred and ye gave me Meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in Naked and ye cloathed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in Prison and ye came unto me Then shall the Righteous Answer him saying Lord When saw we thee an hungred and fed thee c. And the King shall answer and say unto them Verily I say unto you In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my