the dead for as it follows of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question Again when he was convened before Felix the Roman Deputy he insists upon the same Argument for whereas he was charged by Tertullus with being an Heretick which word is still continued Act. 24.5 as that name of Obloquy whereby men are wont to disgrace all new Discoveries of old Truths Paul doth in despight of that opprobrious Name own that which they called Heresie Ver. 14. and aloud proclaimes that he believed as all the Jews either did or else had reason to do from their writings there should be a Resurrection of the dead Ver. 15. both of the just and of the unjust And now again being brought forth before a mixt Auditory both of Jews and Romans he doth not only assert the Doctrine but likewise in these words offers to dispute the Case and to prove the Resurrection by the dint of Reason The words themselves which are proposed by way of question contain three parts 1. A Proposition that God will raise the Dead for these words Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the Dead Imply that God will certainly raise them 2. An Opposition that this is judged very incredible for these words Why is it judged incredible with you that God should raise the Dead Implies that this is ordinarily esteemed and reputed as a thing incredible 3. A Demonstration or a Conviction that though this was judged incredible yet indeed in it self it was not so For this question Why is it judged incredible c. implies that in the opinion of the Questioner there was no sufficient Reason why it should be so esteemed And these three Parts afford us three Doctrinal Conclusions 1. That God will raise the Dead 2. That this Doctrine concerning the Resurrection of the Dead seems to natural men very incredible and very unreasonable 3. That the Resurrection of the Dead however it be judged incredible by natural men yet is in it self highly credible highly rational Doct. 1 The first Conclusion is That God will raise the Dead By Dead here I mean that part of man which dies viz. his Body for the soul dies not but when the body returns to its dust the soul returns to him that gave it And fear not them saith our Saviour Eccl. 12.7 Mat. 10.28 which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul with this part of our selves as soon as ever we dislodge from the Body in the Apostle Pauls Language we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. 1 Cor. 5.8 dwell and cohabite with the Lord as in our proper Fathers house for Heaven is the Souls Native and Original home and therefore the re-union of that at last with the Body is rather a return than a Resurrection To speak properly the Body only rises thus our Saviour The hour is coming saith he Joh. 5.25 when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they who hear shall live where that we might not be mistaken who he meant by dead he adds by way of Explication the houre is coming when all who are Ver. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Tombes or Monuments shall hear his voice Now what else are Monuments but as one calls them Tertul. Cadaverum stabula The stalls or receptacles of our corrupt and perishing bodies And therefore when our Saviour envites all to come unto him he uses this by way of motive that whoever came to him he would not lose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. any thing that belonged to him For saith he Joh. 6.39 I will raise him up at the last day And again He that believes on the Son he shall have Eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last day Implying not only that if the body were not raised something which did essentially belong to man would be lost and perish but likewise that without this raising of the body Eternal Life would not be a state of happiness because it would be nothing else but an Eternal separation from that part unto which the soul alwaies desires to be joyned and from which it is unwillingly severed as the Apostle argues 1 Cor. 5.1 and following verses But doth our Saviour do his Apostles say this only Say not the Prophets the same Is not this Article of our Faith as well as all the rest to be proved out of the Old Testament Volkol l. 2◠It will concern us a little to enquire into it that we may stop those mens mouths who traduce our Religion when they tell us that it is wholly new for if our Saviour had taught any thing which was either contrary to or not eminently contained in the Writings of Moses and the Prophets the Jews would have had juster Reason to disbelieve his Doctrine than as yet they can pretend For to insist only upon this of the Resurrection which of all other Divine Discoveries seems to have least footing in the Old Testament It is plain that the Sadduces who denied the Resurrection are charged by our Saviour with Ignorance of the Scriptures Ye erre saith he not knowing the Scriptures i. e. not reflecting upon those places of Scripture wherein the Resurrection is though not directly spoken of yet plainly and by good consequence implied And thereupon he interprets one place which though not minded by them yet did verifie his Assertion The Place is Exod 3. that stile which God in his Apparition to Moses did assume Mat. 22 31 32. when he calls himself The God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob this saith our Saviour doth demonstrate the Resurrection For God is not God of the dead but of the living which words conclude two things 1. That the fouls of Abraham Isaac and Jacob were then living with God 2. That the living of their souls did necessarily infer that their bodies should live too since God is not God of this or that part only but of the whole man Another place in the Old Testament which did imply the Resurrection is the promise God made to Abraham Gen. 12.1 that he would bring him to a Land flowing with Milk and Honey But by this Land as the Apostle excellently argues Heb. 11.8 16. was not meant Canaan for there Abraham had no possession but confessed of himself that he was a Pilgrim and stranger in it which manifestly shews that he desired a Country not that which he left but a better even a heavenly one and that he looked after it as a Place of Happiness not only for his Soul but likewise for his Body is plain from what the Apostle saith afterwards concerning the undaunted Constancy of the Primitive Martyrs i.e. such as died in bearing their witness for the Truths of God before the coming of our Saviour in the flesh They would not Ver. 35. saith he accept of
will believe him Vain men as well as Cruel Vain in that they conceived it lay in their own Power to believe when they pleased Cruel in that they did insult over a man whom they had so inhumanely murdered Both Vain and Cruel in that they could imagine our Saviour after the Miracles of his Life and more than miraculous Patience of his Death fruitlesly shewn amongst them would now descend at last meerly to satisfie their Impious Curiosity We are all of the Tormented Persons mind Luk. 16.30 31. though Preaching can do no good upon us yet we think if one came from the dead and taught us we should then certainly be converted But our Saviour hath resolved the Case clean otherwise If they saith he hear not Moses and the Prophets who speak in the Name of God with that Authority as becomes his Power and with that Purity as becomes his Holiness if these men thus speaking be not listened to neither will men be perswaded though one rose from the dead So that our Saviour who best understood all the Topicks and Methods of Perswasion hath left it as an Eternal and Experienced Truth That no Miracle can convince them whom the Word will not work upon that Illustrations of Faith are infinitely more satisfying than Impressions from sense since the one perish presently and decay by using but the other soak into the soul and grow up into a kind of Connaturalness with it moulding and fashioning the mind unto their own temper and every day adds fresh life and vigour to them But a Natural man going not further than his Eye of natural Reason can carry him having never seen any thing like to the Resurrection no wonder if he doth not believe it 4. The last and true Reason why Natural men do not believe the Resurrection of the dead is because they are unwilling to believe it It is harsh and severe Doctrine It laies the Axe to the Root of the Tree of Self and cuts off all our Fantastick Enjoyments It is the Fan that blows away our Husky and Chaffie Pleasures and leaves us to fix upon nothing but a solid and substantial Good And therefore when one comes and presses this closely upon us we are ready to cry out as the woman when she had lost her Son did to the Prophet What have we to do with thee O thou man of God art thou come to call our sins to remembrance and to slay our Son i.e. To kill and destroy our Pleasures which are the Darlings of our Soul Hence it is that either we fortifie our selves with Objections against the Resurrection as the Heathen world did and take a great deal of pains to strengthen our Unbelief or else like Felix Act. 24.25 we run away from the sound of it for fear it should put us into a fit of trembling Should a man come and preach as some among the Jews did Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye Isa 22.13 such an one as this we should welcome into our house and thank him for his Poyson But let them call to us to repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand they will fare as John and our Saviour did though they may scape with their Lives yet they shall not escape our Censure Let a Paul teach us that now God commandeth all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the World in Righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead This Doctrine so sober in it self of so great concernment to the Party that hears it and of so little to him that speaks it will yet be entertained with scorn and obloquy Take him away he is not fit to live Act. 22.22 saies the enraged Jew He is a Babler and an impertinent Prater saies the learned Athenian A meer Fanatick saies Festus in short without enquiring whether the Resurrection thus declared be possible or not we hastily conclude that it is impossible and upon that undoing Presumption rashly venture upon our own Damnation And so much for the second Observation Doct. 3 The Third Observation was That the Doctrine of the Resurrection however Incredible it may seem to Natural men yet it is in it self highly credible and may be evinced even by that which Natural men do most pretend to and that is Reason Now the credibility of it will appear from these three Arguments 1. It is Possible it may be God can do it II. It is necessary it must be There is no Providence without it III. It is evident and certain that it hath been and so hath been as withal it demonstratively proves that it shall be The First Argument Reason 1 which proves the Doctrine of the Refurrection Credible is the Possibility of it it may be and this must be well weighed in opposition to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or How of naturall men who think it implies a contradiction that a body so scattered and dispersed one man sometimes feeding upon another and so confounding the Integral parts of both should ever be restored again Orig. l. 2. 7. and thence conclude it impossible as Celsus the Epicurean Philosopher and others Now the Resurrection will appear possible upon a twofold account 1. In respect of God who raiseth the Body 2. In respect of the Body which is raised by him 1. The Resurrection is possible in respect of God who raiseth the Body he is able to do it which is intimated here by our Apostle Why saith he is it judged incredible with you that God should raise the dead As if he had said did we affirm that the body of man like Plants did rise by any Seminal and Prolifick vertue of its own then none would wonder if you did deride and disbelieve us But we teach no such Doctrine we only affirm that God will raise the dead by an immediate Act of his Omnipotence And then why should this appear incredible to you For cannot God do whatever he pleases What should hinder him that he cannot as well raise the Dead as make the Living It is with this that God himself doth silence Sarahs scruples Gen. 18.14 Is any thing too hard for the Lord With this he doth repress Moses Diffidence Who hath made mans mouth Or who maketh the deaf or dumb the seeing or the blind Is it not I the Lord As if he had said I that have done the greater am I not able to do the less I who have made mans mouth am not I able to dispose and fit it for what ends I please With this the Angel doth relieve Maries surprize and wonder Luk. 1.37 when upon the promise that she should conceive a child without the knowledge of a man which certainly was every whit as impossible as that I am treating of she began to stagger and Hesitate a little With
of the Holy Spirit which was to be upon the Messiah for that of him and not of Solomon that Psalm was written is clear from the foregoing Verse where speaking of the same Person he saith Ver. 6. Heb. 1.8 9. Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever And therefore by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews is rightly applied unto our Saviour Joh. 3.34 of whom John Baptist gives this Testimony That God gave unto him the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. not in that stinted and limited measure wherein formerly it was dispensed but suited to the Largeness of an Immence Donor and to the Capacity of an Infinite Receiver who was God as well as Man and by that neer Union did infuse into his Manhood whatever is conceiveable of Power Purity or Perfection And that this is the meaning of Jesus being the Christ i.e. anointed with the Spirit two places amongst many other will clear one is that of our Saviour in his Sermon Luk. 4.18 wherein he applies unto himself that passage in the Prophet Isay The Spirit of the Lord is upon me wherefore he hath anointed me i. e. By putting his Spirit upon me he hath abundantly fitted me for my employment Another place is that of the Disciples in their Prayer to God Act. 4.27 where applying Davids words in the second Psalm unto our Saviour Herod say they and Pilate together with the people of Israel were gathered against thy holy Child Jesus whom thou hast anointed i. e. as Peter explains it in another place Whom thou hast anointed with the Holy Spirit and with Power Act. 10.38 thereby enabling and qualifying him for so great and weighty an undertaking And so much for the first Observation Doctrine 2 The second Observation is this That the way infallibly to prove that our Saviour is the true Messiah is impartially to weigh the truth of his Predictions Before I address my self to the proof of this I must answer an Objection which many may be ready to make viz. That this is a thing sufficiently believed already and therefore it will be only lost labour to go about to prove it To which I answer 1. That the greatest part of those who call themselves Christians are not so indeed For as the Apostle saies of his Thessalonians so may we say of most in our respective Auditories 1 Thes 3.2 All have not Faith There being in all places many too many whose Conversation should the Apostle have seen he would have told them as he did the Philippians weeping That they were enemies of the Cross of Christ for their belly was their God and they gloried in their shame Phil. 3.18 19. For let us not deceive our selves as if Viciousness and Pravity of Life could be reconciled with Sincerity and Truth of Faith but rather let us argue with David The wickedness saith he Psal 36.1 of the wicked saith in my heart there is no fear of God before his eyes i.e. when I see the Actions of wicked men I do as evidently perceive that inwardly they fear not God as if they did in express terms proclaim and avouch it So may we without any uncharitableness conclude from the Lives of most Christians that their hearts are full of Unbelief For there is so necessary so inseparable a Connexion between Faith and Obedience that they can no more be severed than Fire and Heat And therefore since the fruits of Unbelief are so apparent every where it is our duty not only to Preach but to Prove Jesus to be Christ that so we may root out those innate and soul-destroying Seeds 2. My second Answer to that Objection is That the firmest and best rooted Faith is yet capable of an Encrease and Progress He that believeth a little ought to believe much and he that believeth much may believe more and therefore Arguments which do enforce grounds of Faith can never be unseasonable for which reason it is that though these Disciples did believe on our Saviour had confessed him and in token of firm affiance did promise to dye with him rather than to forsake him yet our Saviour thought fit to fortifie and strengthen them by yet more urging this new Motive Sc. the event of his Predictions Having thus cleared my way to the Doctrine and shewed the necessity of preaching it I affirm That the way to be infallibly assured that our Saviour is the Messiah is to observe the Event of his Precitions Because First Reason 1 This is the way which our Saviour laies most stress upon both here and in other places here it was the very scope and design of his foretelling the Treachery of Judas I tell you saith he before it comes to pass that when it doth come to pass you may believe that I am And again when he had told them of his own departure Joh. 14.29 and that he would send the Comforter that is the Holy Spirit to supply his room and to make up their Joyes he adds And now I tell you before it come to pass Joh. 16.4 that when it doth come to pass ye might believe Again when he had told his Disciples of that violent and inhumane Usage they should meet with These things saith he have I told you that when the time shall come ye may remember that I told you of them i. e. And from thence gather a full and peremptory assurance of my Truth and Veracity So in those many Predictions which we have in Mat. 24. our Saviour subjoyns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mar. 13.23 but you look to it behold I have foretold you all things So that our Saviour so often urging and insisting upon his Prophesies seems to intimate that he was not unwilling to venture his whole Cause upon the force of that single Argument Secondly Reason 2 This is the way which God himself did long before point to and warrant us in the Use of For he foretels by Moses I will raise them up a Prophet from among their Brethren Deut. 18.18 like unto thee and I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him This Prophesie our Saviour hath a peculiar respect to throughout all this Gospel of John as Ch. 5.46 Had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me for he wrote of me And Chap. 6.38 I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me And Chap. 7.16 My Doctrine is not mine but his that sent me which he oftentimes repeats from whence many of the people Ver 40. who heard him conclude This is of a truth the Prophet i. e. That Prophet whose coming Moses had foretold So in that last Prayer which our Saviour made on earth in behalf of his Disciples Joh. 17.6.8 he useth these words I have manifested thy Name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the World For I have given unto
Apollos he taught the things of the Lord Act. 18.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with great exactness and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He convinced the Jews with great earnestness Ver. â—8 proving publikely that Jesus was the Christ. These ought to be our Patterns and it is without doubt one Reason why the Gospel makes so slow a progress because we do not begin at the Foundation We take no Notice that that which mens hearts most rise up against is against Jesus being the Christ and therefore here we should aime our Battery where the Enemy of our souls is most deeply entrenched For our Obedience to the Commands of Christ cannot rise higher than our belief of the truth of Christ and according as this perswasion is more or less wrought in the hearts of men so will their practice be Therefore as in Practice Faith must precede Repentance so in Preaching the Doctrine of Faith must precede the Doctrine of Repentance Or else we build without a Foundation 1 Cor. 3.11 and throw about our Hay and Stubble our own Idle Fancies which will never reach much less pierce the Conscience for all the while the heart is unconvinced it is unconverted Now to convince others there cannot be a better way than that which Paul constantly used to relate the manner and to enforce the mediums by which we were convinced our selves 2. I recommend this to Unbelievers because all the while they are so they lie under the danger of many sad and dreadful Predictions Deut. 18.19 He that hears not the Prophet saith God by Moses I will require it of him And I fear the greatest Unbeliever of us all would at that time upon such a Summons be utterly unprovided of an Answer Joh. 3.36 He that believes not the Son saith our Saviour shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him i.e. He shall bear his own burden and shift for himself as well as he can when he is to grapple with Eternal Vengeance since there is nothing interposed to fence and to keep off that stroke For me saies Christ who am ready to do it 2 Thes 1.8 he scornfully rejects and refuses Hereafter saith the Apostle Paul Christ will appear in flaming fire to take vengeance of them who know not God and who obey not the Gospel of his Son I know very well that these will be derided by the Unbeliever but if it shall appear that other things every whit as incredible nay more incredible since men naturally have some apprehensions of future punishment have been foretold by our Saviour and are already fulfilled If this I say can be proved then I hope the Unbeliever will be perswaded to shaked out that devill which doth blind and possess him and speedily alter his opinion before his Case be desperate and he find by experience that all these things were sad Truths though his Lust and not his Reason would not suffer him to hear them To direct you in this Enquiry take notice of and weigh especially these three Predictions of our Saviour because we are all living witnesses of the truth and fulfilling of them I. Concerning the preaching and spreading of the Gospel II. Concerning the Destruction of Jerusalem and dispersion of the Jews III. Concerning the coming and seduction of Antichrist The first remarkable Prediction is Predict 1 concerning the Preaching and spreading of the Gospel There are two places wherein our Saviour prophesies that his Gospel should be preached all over the World One is in defence of the woman who poured a costly ointment upon his Head Where ever saith he this Gospel shall be preached Mat. 26.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the whole world there what this woman hath done shall be spoken for a memorial of her Another place is in express terms speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem And saith he Mat. 24.14 this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the whole inhabited world for a Testimony unto all the Gentiles and then shall the end i. e. of Jerusalem come For the understanding of which Prophesie we must take notice of 1. The thing which was preached It is called the Gospel of the Kingdom and what that is our Saviour explaines in his last words to his Disciples when he sent them to preach it Thus it is written Luk. 24.46 47. Act. 13.38 39. 1 Cor. 15.1 3. and thus it behoved the Messiah to dye and to rise again the third day and that in his Name should be preached Repentance and Remission of sins unto all the Gentiles beginning from Jerusalem So that it was a Doctrine very incredible it being as the Apostle observes 1 Cor. 1.23 unto the Jews a stumbling block that he should save others who did not save himself and to the Greeks Foolishness who could by no means endure to hear of a Resurrection as we find by Pauls entertainment at Athens as soon as ever he mentioned it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 17.31 32. they mocked and slighted him So that there was little hopes of the Gospels prevailing by any Quallifications or Innate Dispositions that were in mens minds to receive it 2. The second thing considerable in this Prophesie is the time when it should begin viz. after our Saviours death Had our Saviour sent his Apostles to preach this Gospel in his life-time the Reputation of his Miracles and the unexampled Holiness of his Person might have given some credit and countenance to this Doctrine and have facilitated its entrance but to stay so long till he himself was so shamefully put to death and while the Fact was yet fresh in memory then to send his Disciples forth this seems to the Eye of Reason a Time very unseasonable Yet to shew how ill Judges we are of Divine Proceedings and how infinitely beyond our shallow capacities Gods designs are ordered this was the time which our Saviour both chose and foretold When Joh. 8.28 saith he ye have lift up the Son of man then shall ye know that I am And again When I am lift up from the Earth I will draw all men unto me Joh. 12.32 i. e. When you have executed the utmost of your malice against me in nailing me up to the Cross then shall I manifest what you do not now believe that I am the true Messiah by drawing and gathering Followers unto me whereupon he compares his Death to the falling of Grain into the Earth Ver. 24. which doth not hear forth fruit untill it dye intimating that what course they took to extinguish and hinder his Doctrine he would order for its Advantage and Encrease And yet in humane probability this was not a proper time to preach up the Messiah when with the utmost of virulency and scorn he was so newly crucified 3. Consider the manner of propagating this Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it shall be preached he allowed his followers none but
thence conclude that if Providence hath a respect to any one part of the world it cannot be imagined but it should have an Influence over all for else it must either be Finite or Partial which is absurd So in the asserting of Scriptures begin with that which they all point at and which if one place be questioned thousands of the same kind will evince viz. That the Messiah was to come which is the great design of the Old Testament That the Messiah is come which is the sum of the New and then all the other parts of Scripture will be owned as suited to the Divine and Heavenly Nature of our Messiah who took a body not only that he might dye our Price but that he might live our Pattern And almost each Line of Scripture especially in the New Testament describes either his Life or his Language 2. Here the Doubter must begin because this is the readiest way to ascertain himself whether he be guided by the Spirit of God or not So the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 12.3 None can call Jesus the Lord but by the Holy Spirit and John 1 Joh. 4.2 Every Spirit that confesseth Jesus the Messiah to be come in the flesh is of God They do not mean that saying this in words is a sign of the Spirit for what is more easie but the owning it in heart this whoever doth may be sure he hath the Spirit And the reason is plain because where the Object proposed doth exceed any natural power there must be a new power given by which that Object is to be received Thus the Apostle John argues concerning future glory Hereafter 1 Joh. 3.3 saith he we shall be like him i. e. Christ because we shall see him as he is There will be a proportion and similitude between Christs body and ours because our visive Faculty shall be so exceedingly advanced as that we shall be able to perceive him in his utmost radiance of Glory So in belief since the soul when it doth it is heightned beyond any native Virtue of its own it is a sign that Gods Spirit hath illuminated and enlarged its Capacity Thus the Apostle We are saved by Grace through Faith Eph. 2.8 and that not of our selves it is the gift of God i. e. that very Faith by which we apprehend Christ is as much the gift of God as Christ himself that is apprehended by it I know very well this seems harsh to many who are willing to boast in themselves but if ever you come to believe indeed you will find the Difficulties your Natural Reason doth urge and vex you with to be insuperable untill the Spirit of God by infusing new light doth explain and solve them Lastly Begin with enquiring whether Jesus be the Christ because upon this depends the whole course of your future Obedience Our Saviour required no more of any that came unto him but to believe that he was the Son of God not that he did exclude good works but he knew that this was the only way to facilitate and expedite them All the while we are either uncertain that our past sins are pardoned or our present services accepted how lamely how untowardly do we set about our duty But when once we believe on Christ all that care is over and the firmer our Faith is the higher and more ardent will our Love be which like a flame shoots through the soul and carries it out with an heavenly quickness and ardency Therefore saith the Apostle Rom. 10.9 10. If thou confess with thy mouth that Jesus is the Lord i.e. If thou obeyest him and believest in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead i.e. that he is the true Messiah of which his Resurrection is an infallible proof thou shalt be saved For with the heart men believe unto righteousness i.e. unto the justification of their Persons and with the mouth is confession made unto Salvation But to think of making confession or doing any act of Religion without Faith desire at least and the desire of Faith is Faith this is only to mock God and to undo our selves by our foolish and hypocritical presumptions in presenting unto him a Sacrifice which he abhors For without Faith i. e. reliance upon him for mercy and out of Christ God is nothing else but Justice it is impossible to please him When the Doubter hath gone thus far as to find that if he will be satisfied here he must begin his next course will be to run over in his mind those Arguments which our Saviour useth to evince his being the Messiah such are the heavenliness of his Language Joh. 8.43 Why do you not saith our Saviour know my speech i.e. Why do you not perceive even by my manner of discourse that I am come from heaven full of that God in whose Name I speak Joh. 10.21 For as some of the Jews said these are not the words of him that hath a devil These are not the words of one that came to deceive the world and to boast of himself to be that which he was not Another Argument our Saviour urges is the holiness of his Life Joh 8.46 Joh. 10.32 Which of you saith he doth convince me of sin and many good works have I done amongst you for which of them do you stone me An holy humble self-denying man who forbad even his Miracles to be published cannot without intolerable malice be supposed to assume a title which did not belong to him Add to this the God-like Patience and Resolution of his Death dying in defence of this very Tenet unprovoked with injuries breathing out his soul in charity to men Father forgive them Luk. 23.34 for they know not what they do at the same time both praying and pleading for his bitterest Enemies and then giving up himself unto his Father with perfect Affiance Father Ibid. v. 46. into thy hands do I commend my Spirit Add yet farther the Testimony of his Followers who saw him after he was risen the success of his Doctrine in spite of Persecution and above all the fulfilling of Prophesies as I have already mentioned Truly then if he that doubted be not satisfied if he that was almost doth not become altogether a Christian he is strangely wanting to himself for God is not wanting to assist those who do but begin to enquire after him every doubt that ariseth being nothing else but a Motion of Gods Spirit whereby he would draw us unto himself Having thus cleared that to believe is not unreasonable as the Unbeliever supposeth the next thing I shall propose is this That 2. To obey is not dangerous for though we may lose our Lives yet sure we shall be sufficient gainers if we save our souls And therefore let the Doubter strengthen himself with representing Heaven in its fulness of Joy alwaies before his eyes That Doctrine which teacheth that we are not to have an eye to the
deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection Besides these places which do imply this Doctrine there are some that do expresly mention it As that of Job Job 19. Ver. 25. whose words however controverted by many Learned men yet out of the Original are exactly thus For I know that my Redeemer i.e. promised Messiah unto whom this Term of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is most ordinarily applied as Isa 59.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. the Redeemer shall come to Sion and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob which no Interpreter but must needs understand of the promised Saviour liveth and at last he shall arise or stand i.e. as Judge over the Dust i.e. either upon Earth as our English Translation hath it or over all men Ver. 26. though now for the present they lye in the dust And after my skin when they i.e. the worms or the diseases he was then afflicted with have pierced through this i.e. body of mine yet out of my flesh shall I see Jehovah whom I shall see for my self and my eyes shall behold Ver. 27. and not a stranger which doth so clearly manifest his belief of the Resurrection that as the words cannot possibly be made sense without it so the Greek Translation by using the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies To raise up again to life in that sense I speak of doth plainly favour it This likewise was the Faith of David where he saies Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy one to see Corruption Psal 16.11 Act. 3. For though as to the Rising on the third day i. e. before the natural Humours were resolved and Corrupted it was literally fulfilled by our Saviour and so applied to him both by Peter and Paul Act. 13. yet it is plain that he who spake those words did likewise believe a Resurrection of his own Person therefore he saies My flesh shall rest in hope But most plain is that of Daniel who Dan 12.2 speaking of Michael i.e. Messiah the Prince and we know it was the Charge against our Saviour that he made himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. Messiah the Prince saies that in his time Many i. e. the multitude of them that sleep in the dust shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt which is so clear a Prophecy of the Future Resurrection and in so express Terms that our Saviour in his Declaration of it seems to allude to these very words of Daniel and to have had them in his eye only what Daniel calls everlasting contempt our Saviour explains by calling it the Resurrection of Condemnation And those saith he Joh. 5.29 who do good shall go forth to the Resurrection of life but those who do evil to the Resurrection of Condemnation So that from hence it evidently appears that we Christians in this particular do own no more than what other holy men among the Jews did before us and our Apostle did very well understand what he said when in the words foregoing my Text he tells them that he was then judged for the Promise i. e. of Future life and happiness not to be attained but after the Resurrection made by God unto the Fathers whereupon he proceeds to make that query Why should it be judged incredible that God should raise the dead And so much for the first Observation Doct. 2 The second Observation is this That the Doctrine of the Resurrection though plainly revealed in Scripture seems to natural men very incredible Act. 17.18 so it appeared to the Learned Philosophers at Athens who called Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prater or Trifler for preaching it And they did so little understand what the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meant that they took it to be the name of some Daemon for thus some said of Paul That he was a publisher of strange Daemons because he preached unto them Jesus and the Resurrection which last word should have been left untranslated for they took 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Paul spake so much of to be the name of some New Goddess So likewise in this Chapter when Paul makes a Relation of his Conversion which yet was very miraculous Festus heard him patiently but when once he began to mention how Christ was raised from the dead Act. 26.23 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Festus could hold no longer but cryed out with a great deal of impatience Paul thou art mad too much learning hath quite unhinged thy braine and overturned thee into madness 2 Cor. 15. Hence the Apostle in that Chapter where he doth most elegantly dispute it brings in an heathen asking this question Ver. 35. But some man will say How are the dead raised up Which is not an How of enquiry into the manner and Method of the Resurrection in what order it shall be accomplished but an How of doubting concerning the whole thing Joh. 3.9 Like Nicodemus's How How can these things be And therefore in the Primitive Persecutions the enemies of Gods People never shewed more witty cruelty in any thing than in devising waies how to elude the Resurrection and that not only by mangling torturing and burning their bodies but by scattering their Ashes in the Rivers â—nseb l. 5. c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith mine Author 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. As if they had been able to conquer God and deprive the Saints of their Resurrection Neither was this only the perswasion of the Heathen world but we see oftentimes in Scripture those who owned higher Principles yet manifesting their doubts and despaires of this c. 7.9 Thus Job notwithstanding his so excellent confession in a fit of impatience cries out As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away c. 14.7 so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more And again There is hope saith he of a tree if it be cut down that it will sprout again and that the tender branch thereof will not cease But if a man dye shall he live again Ver. 14. By which words he seems to conclude that by death at least the Body is utterly lost So Ezekiel when God to try his faith asked him this question c. 37.3 Son of man can these bones live That holy man durst not affirm it but uses an answer which shews that he was altogether uncertain and at a loss about it O Lord God saith he thou knowest i.e. I am not able to resolve thee that dry bones should live belongs as much to a Divine knowledge to comprehend as to a Divine Power to effect it Thus in the New Testament the Apostles though they knew their Master to be the Son of God and the Messiah which was a great master-piece of Faith yet they did not at all understand the Resurrection Mar. 9. for when our Saviour after his Transfiguration did charge them that they should not tell any