Age. Increase of wickedness not only in themselves but others hath made some so impudent as to scoff at Religion and blaspheme Christ While they see those who acknowledge him do no better than themselves they are inclined to think that their belief makes them no more worth than those who have none at all Nay since they concur with them in their wicked practises they imagine that their fear of Hell and hope of Heaven is no part of their belief but only of their profession The hands of Infidels are strengthened in their impieties by the perfidiousness of ungodly believers They joyn with them to pull down Christian belief and make that be thought nothing which doth nothing above what infidelity doth And therefore let all those who love the memory of our Saviour who love their posterity and would not have them in danger to be drown'd in a deluge of infidelity put a stop to it by holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience 1 Tim. iii. 9. Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity and endeavour all he can to support the honour of his Name and of his Religion by a strict observance of all his holy commands They who believe not or mind not what they believe may think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot speaking evil of you 1 Pet. iv 4. But ye beloved building up your selves on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost keep your selves in love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life Jude 20.21 And that now is the next thing which flows from hence If we believe the Record or Witness which God hath given of his Son it contains in it the greatest joy in the World For this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son But I must refer that to another Discourse alone by it self Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy-Ghost GLory in the highest Let the Holy and undivided Trinity be for ever glorified by all Mankind especially by all Christian People who are made partakers of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him But God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit Blessed be God I most thankfully receive the manifold testimony which he hath given of his well beloved Son and humbly bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family of Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant me according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by the same spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in my heart by faith that being rooted and grounded in love I may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the bredth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that I may be filled with all the fulness of God And God forbid that any Soul who hears the voice of these Witnesses of God should refuse and turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven and hath declared to us the unsearchable riches of God's grace and the whole counsel of his will O that all they upon whom the glorious Gospel of Christ hath shined may most heartily believe in his Name Let them all be knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge And God forbid that any of them should hold the truth in unrighteousness But as they have received Christ Jesus the Lord so let them walk in him rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as they have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving And quicken that faith O thou author and finisher of it that it may work with great power in all Christian hearts and mightily bow their wills to forgo any of their own desires rather than displease thee and forfeit thy love and favour Let it inable them to overcome the World that they may be no longer slaves to the lusts of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life but conquering all these may yield themselves unto God to be the servants of righteousness and obey from the heart that form of doctrine which is delivered unto them And may the powerful working of faith and love and hope make all our duty easie to us that we may ever render thee cheerful as well as constant service May thy testimonies be our daily delight and the rejoycing of our heart May we love them above gold yea above fine gold May they be dearer unto us than thousands of gold and silver May we daily renew our strength and run and not be weary and walk and not faint May the holiness of our lives bear witness to the sincerity of our faith that others may glorifie thee our God for our professed subjection to the Gospel of Christ And we obtaining a good report by faith and carrying this testimony out of the world with us that we have pleased thee thou mayst receive us to thy self to be glorified with thee and to rejoyce in thy love towards us for ever Amen THE END Our Lords Ascension Acts. 1 9. And when he had spoken these things while they be held he was taken up a Cloud receiued him out of their sight to And while they stedfastly looked toward heaven behold two men stood by them in white apparell H. Which also said this same le sus shall so come as you haue seen him go into heaven THE WITNESSES TO CHRISTIANITY OR The Certainty of our FAITH and HOPE In a Discourse upon 1 S. JOHN V. 11. PART II. By SYMON PATRICK D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed by E. Flesher for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty MDCLXXVII TO The most Reverend Father in God GILBERT By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY Primate of all England and Metropolitan and one of His Majestie 's most Honourable Privy Council c. May it please Your Grace TO cast your eye upon the Second Part of that Work the First Part of which I took the confidence to address unto your Grace the last year It is concerning that ETERNALL LIFE which was with the Father as St. John speaks and now is manifested to us by his Son Jesus Christ who hath published the most gracious Purposes of God the Father towards us The thoughts of which as they cannot but be at all times exceeding welcome to Devout Christians especially to those who are faithfull Ministers in Christ's Kingdom so never more then when they
Verse why they gave themselves as whole burnt offerings to Christ but that by the example of their Faith and Martyrdom they might instruct many more to be Martyrs Nay their BLOUD did not only water many young plants and made them grow to their perfection but He tells us a little after in his exposition of the same Psalm Plures scimus c. We know many who were wholly ignorant of the Divine Sacraments i. e. the Christian Religion that by the example of the Martyrs run to Martyrdom No wonder then that these above all others have been called the WITNESSES of Jesus for that 's the interpretation of the word MARTYR and that Christians were forward even to kiss their wounds and to embrace their dead bodies as the remains of those who had done most eminent service to our Lord. Who himself therefore witnessed to them after they were dead and declared that their bloud was very dear and precious in his sight and that it had sealed nothing but the truth For there can no other reason be given but this why at the Monuments of these MARTYRS or WITNESSES our Saviour was pleased to have so many miracles wrought afterward and before such a number of people that Porphyry himself as we learn both from S. Cyril and S. Hierom though an avowed enemy of our Religion could not but acknowledge them They still spake and bare Witness to Jesus by these wonderful works when they were dead or rather Jesus spake for them as I said and declared from Heaven that these were his faithful Witnesses whose word ought to be believed whereby they had declared him to be the Lord. A PRAYER WHO would not believe on thee O Lord who would not magnifie thy Name For great and marvellous are thy works just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints All Nations ought to come and worship before thee whose Majesty and Glory is so many ways made manifest Thou hast raised poor and ignorant men to be mighty Ministers of thy Grace and Witnesses of thy Resurrection and co-workers with thee for the illumination and conversion of the world Blessed be thy name for all the glorious Lights which have been in thy Church in every Age by whom thy holy Faith hath been preserved and propagated to our days Blessed be thy name for all the Martyrs who sealed it with their Bloud and for all the Confessors who freely acknowledged thee with the danger of their lives Great was thy glory which shone in their most exemplary holiness fortitude patience love unseigned both to friends and enemies and in that mighty power whereby they approved themselves as the Ministers of God Thanks be to thee O God the Lord of Heaven and Earth for the comfort of thy holy Scriptures wherein we read the story of our Saviours wondrous love and of that most miraculous power which appeared in him to testifie unto him and at last raised him from the dead and advanced him to the throne of Glory From whence he sent the Holy Ghost to endue his Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers with power from on high that they might be his Witnesses and commit that which they had received to faithful men who should be able to teach others also O God I cannot but again adore thy incomprehensible love which can never be sufficiently praised Who can understand the exceeding riches of thy grace that thou whose naked glory is too bright for our weak minds to fix their eyes upon wouldest be pleased in most admirable condescending love to manifest thy self and visit us in our flesh Thou art infinitely above the greatest of us who are far less worthy to approach thee than the lowest creature in this world is fit for our friendship and society So much the more marvellous is thy unheard of love that thou wouldest admit us to such a near relation unto thee So much the greater is our happiness that in Christ Jesus thou hast made thy self our portion and designed us to be eternally blessed with thee Great was his care and kindness all the days of his flesh towards the most miserable wretches who received the greatest tokens of his love I rejoyce now to think with what tenderness he received the poor fed the hungry visited the sick cured the diseased and when he had left the world communicated the same power unto others that they might exercise the same charity that he had done I see both the power and goodness of our Lord in all those works of wonder which he did I see that his mercy endureth for ever which hath preserved a faithful record of these things that we through patience and comfort of the holy Scriptures might have hope Now the God of all grace inspire me and all other Christian Souls with the same faith love and ardent zeal which was in those burning and shining Lights the Witnesses of Christ. That we may be followers of them as they were of him and acknowledging the same Lord being members of the same body partaking of the same Sacraments and living upon the same Heavenly food we may lead the same holy lives in hope to shine one day with them in the same celestial glory Help us to continue in the things which we have learnt and have been assured of knowing of whom we have learnt them that we may not at any time let them slip For how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him thou O God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to thine own will May we always carefully lay up and preserve these sacred truths in our heart which were in so glorious a manner delivered to us May they work there perpetually with great power and be reverenced as the holy Oracles of God! May they be the spring of all our motions throughout the whole course of our life That with an even steddy pace whatsoever dangers come in our way we may walk on towards that happy place where those holy ones rejoyce for ever with our Lord. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be given by us and by those glorified Spirits and by all the Angels in Heaven everlasting Praises Amen CHAP. IX The Vse we are to make of their Testimony IT is time now to bring this Discourse to an issue and having examined all these Divine Witnesses taken their proofs and depositions and found their testimony upon due enquiry to be good and legal to consider with our selves what we have to do and what judgment we will pass now that we have heard their evidence God the Father of all says that Jesus is his Son the Word himself appeared oft to justifie this Truth the Holy Ghost came down from Heaven to attest it the Prophet of the Highest proclaimed it the holy life of our
in your breasts and preserve the fire for one hour from going out and you cannot imagine till you try to what an heavenly temper it will purifie and refine your Spirits It will make you heartily in love with the Life of Christ here which leads to such a blissfull Life in the other world You will zealously follow those holy desires and resolutions which you will necessarily feel it inspiring you withall And you will not suffer any temptation whatsoever to divert you from that earnest pursuit but still be saying as St. Austin begins and ends his Confessions Thou Lord hast made us for thee and our heart is uneasie and restless untill it repose it self in thee Who being that Good which needs no good art always at rest for thou thy self art thine own Rest But to understand this what man will give to man what Angel to Angel or what Angel to man Let it be askt of thee let it be sought in thee let it be knockt for at thee So so shall it be received so shall it be found so shall it be opened Amen III. And the more we think of it the more we must needs still desire it because our Understanding being filled with the knowledge and our Will with the love of the chiefest Good we shall sensibly perceive a Divine joy resulting from these and flowing into our heart with inexpressible pleasure For it is essentially included in every act both of that Knowledge and that Love as may be clearly discerned by what hath been already said We are now compounded of different and sometimes contrary passions which frequently disquiet us and disturb our peace by falling out with our Reason and with one another But in that blessed LIFE there will be no such troublesome mixture no fear no sorrow no hatred no anger or any the like remaining But joy alone advanced to the greatest height of glory will be left in the possession of the whole Soul and have the sole Dominion of it to it self The reason is because we shall for ever have the presence of the greatest Good which will exclude the presence of any evil to give us the least fear of losing what we love That 's the originall of all our Passions As we are glad when we enjoy any thing that we love so we are troubled when we want it or when we lose it and we are full of care and solicitude when we eagerly pursue it and rise up in hatred and displeasure at that which opposes our desires When Love then is secure by the possession of that Supreme Good whom no evill can approach the cause of all other passions will be banished and Joy alone be left to triumph in the conquest of them For which cause this heavenly Joy must needs be the more excessive when we shall have nothing else to do but to rejoyce This will mightily increase the greatness of it that there will be no employment for the rest of our Passions which here whether we will or no take their turns together with it and consequently there will be nothing to diminish the greatness of it by any trouble or disorder that can be given it For the proof of which I need onely refer you to the foregoing discourses and desire you to reflect upon what you have read of the Knowledge and Love of God You could not but observe how joy and pleasure was so inseparably knit to them and interwoven with them that I could not well speak of them but I must touch upon this also 1. As for the first of them we all feel a certain complacency which our very Senses as well as our Understanding takes in objects conformable to them even before our appetite moves at all towards them Truly the light is sweet says the Wise man and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the Sun xi Eccles. 7. Look then how much the Divine Light excells all other and how much the Majesty and Splendour of the Authour of Nature is beyond the best of his Works the glory and brightness of the Sun and so much sweeter and more pleasant will it be for our Mind to be filled with that Light and to behold that first and Originall beauty from whence all other are derived We cannot think of God and of our Saviour now without a singular joy and therefore we shall not be able to SEE them without an excess of it 2. And secondly as for Love Joy is a no less necessary attendant on it or rather is intwined with it being nothing else but that delight and pleasure which springs up from the sense of any Good that we have taken possession of So that look how great the Good is to which the passion of Love hath carried us proportionable will be the Joy when we feel that we are owners of it And if it now please us so much to think that we are really beloved of God and of his Son Jesus what an endless pleasure will the sense of their Love yield us when it hath placed us in Heaven Do but consider now how vast the Love of the Lord Jesus is in coming down from Heaven to us and that he knows better reasons of his Love then we do and that his own pleasure is concerned in loving us and that he cannot but finish his Love to those who are purchased with his Bloud and are of his Spirit and it will give a marvellous satisfaction to your heart at present But what it will do then when he will have expressed all his Love to us and perfected his kind intentions towards us we are not able to tell We can onely consider a little farther how he hath plainly told us that they who love him will rejoyce now because he is gone to the Father xiv Joh. 28. And therefore it must needs be an additionall pleasure in the other life to see what we here believe our Dearest Lord shining in the Glory of God the Father and inthroned on the right hard of the Majesty in the Heavens It will be an exceeding high satisfaction to us to behold him who loved us so much and was so ill requited for it by men so gloriously rewarded for it by God himself But it is so easie to apply what hath been said to this purpose that I shall leave such considerations as these to your own diligence and note something that is not altogether so obvious 3. Which is that pious Souls will considerably augment their joy by the reflexions they will make upon their happiness and the strong attention of their mind to their own delight and pleasure For we are never so truly delighted as when we find that we are not deceived in the comfort and contentment which we promised our selves and when we take notice of all the pleasing motions that are in our hearts and duly mark and observe the sweetness of them Before this reflexion and self-observation our Souls are onely touched by the Objects
imagine that the prolonged harmony of one day should it bless the Soul would make it account all the pleasures in this world harsh and troublesome and cause it to cry out as the man St. Hierom speaks of who after he had dreamt he was in Paradise called still to those who were about him Set me again in those flowry fields restore me to those pleasant walks O let me enjoy that melody once more let me hear those sweet songs trouble me no more with any of these worldly noises but bless me again with those heavenly touches Lift up your minds then by such thoughts as these to conceive what not one day or year or age but an eternity of such rare ravishing delight would be and that is a part of that blessed LIFE which I am treating of Which by your own confession must needs be more desirable then all that can be expressed by Musick and sweet Airs and melodious Strains and Songs or any such like words which must be acknowledged to be weak and imperfect able to express onely the outward images and shadows of those Divine enjoyments And the more perfectly you digest and frequently excite such thoughts as these the more you will apprehend of this bliss and the more impossible it will be that any thing should hinder you from beginning to be so happy by devoting your selves to a Christian life One part of which is to praise and bless the Lord at all times to bear in your gratefull minds a faithfull remembrance of his benefits and to express it as oft as you can in the most thankfull acknowlegments In which exercise whilst you seriously employ your selves you will be able thereby to know in part what the blessing of Eternall Life is wherewith our Lord hath promised to reward our hearty obedience V. And here it will be seasonable to adde that such will be our Knowledge and Love of God and our true Delight in him that they will produce a most sweet harmony between our Wills and his and move us to yield a free and constant Obedience to him with all our powers The Vnderstanding which now is subject to many mistakes and errours will then shine upon the Will with the rays of the purest Light And the Will which now is oft too refractory will not then in the least rebell against the Understanding but be obsequious to its illuminations And the Affections will be as ready to obey the Will and follow its motions which will all agree with the Mind of God and perfectly correspond to his desires His Will shall be always done and ours shall be but a sweet compliance with his For our knowing him making us like him will take away all liberty from us of doing any thing but what he would have us And the whole appetite being so intirely filled and satisfied as hath been said with this great Good there can be no room left for any inordinate desires but we must eternally cleave to God and cannot be turn'd aside from him any more And it will not prove any trouble to us neither to be thus fast bound to his will and observe all his motions but we shall fly as swiftly about in that free light as the winged Angels now do who never fetch so much as one sigh when they receive his commands but chearfully in every thing obey his pleasure Nay it would be the greatest trouble to us if we should doe otherways We should create a disturbance in the midst of that heavenly Rest should we not thus readily obey him One groan would spoil all the sweet accents of the joyfull Praises which are there continually offered Much more would one act of disobedience be so jarring with that harmony as to make us lose the pleasure of it But there will be no danger of this we shall all be changed as the Apostle speaks not onely in our Body but also in our Spirit and in this as well as all other things that our liberty of indifferency the freedom we now have to chuse good or let it alone yea to chuse evill as well as good shall be turned into a chearfull spontaneous motion towards that which is Good alone The will as some have expressed it shall remain but not the choice we shall willingly serve God but not chuse whether we will serve him or no. For that Sight which we shall have of his Beauty will not let us take our eyes off from him and that Love which flows from thence cannot but be exercised by those who have that blessed Sight and they that cannot but see and love so great a Good will not be able to turn their minds and hearts inordinately to any thing else They therefore who shall be accounted worthy of that World to come will be free from Sin and from the fear of sinning whereby they will be secure of perpetuall Blessedness which is necessary to make us perfectly happy For they are very short of it who are in danger or in fear of losing the felicity they enjoy Both these will be far remote from that happy World where they will be fixt in their Happiness because they will be fixt in their Obedience Which as it may grow it is possible still more and more chearfull so it will infuse a greater sense of the Divine Love into their hearts and every act wherein they doe the will of God may be rewarded perhaps with a greater increase of happiness Who would not chuse then to obey God now that hereafter he may not be able to doe otherwise Who would not strive to bring his will in subjection to Christ that he may at last exchange his own will wholly for his the liberty that is of a man for the liberty of the Divine Nature which is always determined by an happy necessity to that which is Good Yea who would not chuse such an happiness as is always it is probable growing more perfect the excellency of which we can never comprehend because it will be growing more excellent A Life so noble that every operation of it makes it more divine It is no disparagement to its worth to say that we cannot at first know all that we shall know nor love so much as we shall be able to love nor possess all the joy of our Lord but it is rather a commendation of it that after such an height of knowledge love and joy as we shall arrive unto at first we shall be advancing to a greater nearness and familiarity with God IV. But it is time to bring this Discourse to a conclusion when I have told you that it is not the Soul onely which will be happy in this Eternall LIFE That word I said at the first imports the supreme felicity of the whole Man and therefore Man consisting of a Body as well as a Soul that must come in for a share in this Bliss and at last be made partaker of it Yet I shall not stay to tell you
particularly what the LIFE of the Body shall be after the Resurrection because I have been longer then I intended in describing the operations of our nobler part about its highest Good It shall be sufficient to give you but these two marks whereby to know the exceeding happy condition to which it will be promoted First it must needs be transformed into a very noble Being which is to be the companion of such an exalted Soul and be capable to comply with it in these sublime operations We reade much of its brightness and glory which the Scripture seems to say shall be so great that it will contend with the splendour of the Sun it self And we may very well believe it seeing it is to be the Vesture of a Spirit so illuminated by the Vision of God For which reason among others it may be that the Apostle calls it a Spirituall Body Which as it needs no supports of meat and drink and is made immortall and no longer liable to any disease so is it of a purer sense and a quicker power then this present flesh moving with so much agility and ease that we shall feel it is no burthen to us And the Apostle indeed tells us which is the Second thing that Christ by his power which is able to subdue all things to himself will fashion it like to his own glorious body iii. Phil. 21. Now what the brightness of that is you may guess by the Visions of the two great Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul The first of which when he saw our Saviour transfigured in the holy Mount Matth. xvii was so overcharged with joy that the sight put him in a manner beside himself For he knew not saith the text what he said when he uttered those words Let us make here three tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias He knew indeed that it was good being there ix Luk. 33. though he scarce knew where he was This was the onely thing in his thoughts that they should be most happy men might they never stir from that glorious place but always remain thus transported as at present he was Let us be fixed here was his wish let us always live in such pure light and enjoy such beautifull sights from whence he was loth to take his eyes or to leave such good company as now appeared in glory v. 31. And yet this you must remember was no more then a glimpse of that Glory which our Saviour was to have after his Resurrection and which he now shines in and shall one day be revealed Judge then by this what happy creatures they will be whose bodies shall be made like that glorious body which when it was but a while transformed in this world made the place seem no less then a Paradise How illustrious will the condition of true Christians be when they shall not merely dwell in such Tabernacles as St. Peter wisht but in bodies resembling that which was so transfigured or rather of a far greater splendour there appearing then as I said but a twinkling of that Glory of our Saviour to whom we shall be conformed For if you observe it afterward when the Heavenly light of our Saviour's glorified Body incompassed the other Apostle St. Paul to whom he appeared in his way to Damascus he could not look upon it as St. Peter had done upon the other but it was so shining that it put out his eyes he continuing three days without sight ix Act. 9. And for any thing we know he had never recovered the use of them more had not the same Jesus restored his sight to him by a Miracle These senses of flesh were not able to bear a Light so effulgent It was to deprive them of all their operations to approach near to such a brightness And yet such glorious creatures will our Lord make his faithful Servants So astonishing is his love that he will never cease his kindness to them till they be numbred among his Saints in glory everlasting that is till he impart his own most excellent glory to them Which signifies that they must be wonderfully changed from what our bodies are now in this vile state wherein they are not capable to behold such a glory as shall then be revealed But the serious belief and hope of it founded upon the word of our Saviour and of those who were eye-witnesses of his Majesty is a marvellous comfort to us and should make us study to purify our selves more and more and to perfect holiness in the fear of God We should cleanse and refine our affections and render them still more spirituall and heavenly that being less moved with the things of this world and finding our inclinations weaker towards them we may more readily and chearfully comply with the will of God and prevent as much as we can the resurrection of the dead when we shall have no lust to doe otherwise then as God would have us but shall intirely please our selves in accomplishing his good will and pleasure For the more faithfully and eminently any persons serve the Lord Christ out of pure love to him and to his Christian Brethren the greater marks of his favour will he set upon them Their very Bodies it is probable will shine in a greater glory and be made so much the more illustrious according as their light here shone brighter before men and moved them to glorify their heavenly Father For St. Paul seems to teach not onely that the bodies we shall have after the Resurrection will differ as vastly from those we have now as Earth does from Heaven but that those heavenly bodies which we shall put on will differ very much among themselves in brightness and glory As the glory of the celestiall bodies is one and the glory of the terrestriall another so he tells us among the celestiall there is one glory of the Sun and another glory of the Moon and another glory of the Stars for one star differeth from another star in glory So also is the resurrection of the dead 1 Cor. xv 40 41 42. That is some will have bodies more bright then others and shine as Stars of a greater magnitude to note them to be persons of eminent rank who have done very glorious service to their Lord. The Martyrs for instance whose bodies were slain or burnt to ashes for Christ's sake we may well suppose will be more splendid then those who were laid in their graves in peace Nay the Church in St. Austin's time out of their great affection to them wisht to behold the scars of those glorious wounds which they received for Christ's sake shining with a peculiar glory in their immortall Bodies And perhaps saith he L. xxii de Civ Dei c. 20. we shall see them For it will not be a deformity in them but a dignity and in the body will shine the beauty of their vertue more then of their body This the Writers whom we call the
many Ages the sweet society of some good Friends in pure love and innocent conversation But hark He tells us we shall live with him and see his Glory and be with his Son Jesus and reign together with him in his heavenly Kingdom and be equall to the Angels and enter into the joy of our Lord and continue with him for ever What manner of love is this that we should be called the Sons of God and being like him behold him as he is Where is our love whither is it run after what is it wandred if it be not here ready to acknowledge this kindness in making us such great such exceeding great and precious promises Ah me that we should have lost our selves so much as not to find our affections forward to meet such a love as this with the highest transport of joy When our hearts so abound with love that we have enough for every thing in the world when there is not a pretty bird or a dog but we have some to spare for it have we none at all for our Lord God for LOVE it self for that Love which hath so loved us Ah blessed Jesus that thou shouldst be pleased to doe so much for those whose hearts thou knewest to be so cold that they would scarce be warmed with the brightest beams of thine inconceivable love How shall we excuse our selves to thee that our Souls are still so frozen after thou the Sun of righteousness hast shone so long so powerfully upon us Let us consider are we fed with a mere fancy do we live onely in a pleasing dream or are we left in doubt of the truth of these things and hang in such suspence that we know not what to think of them No such matter neither He hath compleated his kindness by giving us a Certainty and full assurance of those things which are revealed to us in his Gospell Here are WITNESSES of the highest quality to attest the truth of his Love by whom we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true c. This is the true God and Eternall Life And as if one or two were not sufficient here are six Witnesses come to tell us how he loves us Heaven and Earth conspire to draw our hearts to be love of him who hath not onely given us exceeding great Promises but exceeding great Certainty that they are all true and faithfull He knew very well they would seem incredible being as much beyond all our thoughts as they are beyond our deserts And therefore he took care to give us such evidences of their truth as should not merely work in us belief but a full assurance of faith By Himself by his Word by the Holy Ghost by the Water the Bloud and the Spirit we are so many ways rooted and grounded in this perswasion that we cannot but see we are doubly beholden to his infinite bounty first for such exceeding great and precious promises and then for as wonderfully great confirmation of them to our unspeakable and endless comfort And are we not yet apprehensive of his love Doth it not yet feelingly touch our hearts but leave us indifferent whether we will love him or not Ah fools that we are who must be sent to school to those brute creatures mentioned before to teach us better nature and better manners How do our very dogs as I have said elsewhere follow us and fawn upon us for a crust of bread how close do they keep to us how ready are they to defend us and our houses and all belonging to us Even when we are dead some of them have been known not to forsake their Masters for any other And what is all this service for but such things as we have no use of or make no account of our selves O blessed God! who can endure to stay so long as to hear this applied to himself before he learn to love thee I see whither this lesson tends I behold already how shamefull it is to dispose of my heart away from thee Thou hast given us thine own dear Son What a gift how great a boon Thou hast promised us eternall life How invaluable a possession Thou hast given us good hopes and strong consolation What an excessive kindness Shall we not devote our selves to thee shall we not forsake all and follow thee whithersoever thou wilt lead us We cannot refuse we must resolve to surrender our hearts intirely to thee We should be worse then Dogs should we not with all our minds and soul and strength love that transcendent goodness which by the most miraculous demonstrations hath perswaded us that we shall live eternally with himself and enjoy the everlasting fruits of his infinite love This is the most comfortable news that could possibly arrive from heaven Should we have had our own wishes nothing greater nothing so great could have entred into our hearts desire This sweetens the bitterness of all afflictions and this heightens all our joys when we hope the one shall shortly but the other shall never end Plutarch deservedly blamed Epicurus of great incogitancy who making all happiness consist in Pleasure denied the state of the future life which it is the greatest pleasure to hope for and expect Nothing casts such a damp upon all a man's enjoyments here as the cold thoughts of an endless death seizing on his heart He cannot but sigh to think that shortly there must be a finall period put to all his delights As on the contrary this gives life and spirit to them if he can think they shall be improved and perpetuated for ever And therefore how much do we owe to the love of God who hath given us assurance even of the Resurrection of our body to an immortall life and told us it shall be so far from being lost by going to the grave that like Seed it shall rise again quite another thing then it was when cast into the ground no longer weak contemptible corruptible and mortall but powerfull spirituall glorious incorruptible and immortall and consequently capable of purer more spritely and more lasting pleasures then now it injoys O how much more comfortable is this opinion then that of the Epicurean as Tertullian excellently speaks * De Testimonio animae c. iv which vindicates thee from destruction How much more seemly then the Pythagorean which doth not send thee into beasts How much more full then the Platonicall which restores even thy body as a new dowry to thee O tast and see how gracious the Lord is Bonum Deum novimus solum optimum à Christo ejus addiscimus * Id. De Resurrectione carnis cap. ix We knew God was good before but so most excellently good we learn onely from his Christ who bidding us next him to love our Neighbour doth that himself which he expects from us He loves even our body which is so many ways of kin to him II.
the heir of all things He is called by the same name that they were If there were no other reason for it his office would give him a title to it because he is the Lords Christ anointed by God to the highest dignity and government under him not only over that Country but over all Nations on the Earth who by believing on him were all to be made a chosen generation a royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar people 1 Pet. ii 9. But to show his most excellent greatness he is called the Son of God with two marks of his preeminence above all other who have had that name First he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Son that eminent King the King of Kings like to whom none ever was For secondly whereas those sons of the highest spoken of before were to die like other men Psal 82.7 and to fall like one of the Princes in other Countries He is called the Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that God who liveth xvi Matth. 16. that is of the immortal eternal God And by consequence is like his Father an everlasting King of whose Kingdom as the Angel told his Mother i. Luke 33. there shall be no end Thus the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews who understood this language well enough hath discoursed in the First Chapter Where he proves that Jesus is the Son of God in a more eminent sence than any Angel in Heaven according to those ancient prophecies before named concerning David and Solomon as you read ver 4 5. From whence the Jews learns to call the Messiah who they confess is in those places mystically spoken of by that name of the Son of God Which the Apostle there shows is the greatest name of excellence and signifies the highest honour and dignity such as God hath conferred upon no other And then he proceeds to show that according to other prophecies which speak of his supereminence his Throne is for ever and ever ver 8. For God who is his God in a peculiar manner loving and rewarding him hath anointed him with the oil of gladness preferred him that is above all that partake of Kingly dignity ver 9. He hath made him indeed his first-born the Prince of all the Kings of the Earth as S. John speaks i. Revel 5. to whom we are to submit our selves with the greatest devotion of spirit and from whom we may then expect Protection Blessing and the noblest Rewards For he is the long expected Son of God who excells all other that were ever called by that name the King of inconceivable Majesty whose splendor could not so much as be fore-shadowed by Solomon in all his glory Thus Nathanael I observe puts these two expressions together in his confession of our Saviour out of a vehement affection redoubling his words Thou art that Son of God thou art that King of Israel i. John 49. This is the business upon which we are to examine these Witnesses we are to consider what they say to this point that the Lord Jesus was sent from God as Moses had formerly been only Moses as a Servant but he as a Son according to what you read iii. Heb. 5 6. with a fulness of authority with all the power of God so that we may confidently rely on every thing that he hath said as the very mind and sence of God This if we can hear them speak they are witnesses so beyond all exception that we cannot chuse but reverence him and receive him and obey him and put our trust in him and rejoyce in his royal favour and love evermore For the first three are no less persons than the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost Whose gracious assistance let us humbly implore that this and all other our works may be begun continued and ended to the glorifying of his holy Name A PRAYER O Father of lights from whom cometâ— every good and every perfect gift illuminate my mind in these Meditations that I may be able to enlighten others anâ— lead them into a good understanding in aâ—â— things Guide and direct my thoughts thaâ— I may reason and discourse aright Shine intâ— all our Souls by the light of the glorious Gospâ—â— of Christ John 6.40 that we seeing the Son may believe on him and being made thy childreâ— by adoption and grace may be daily more anâ— more renewed by thy holy Spirit Settle iâ— our Souls that mighty faith whereby we may have power and strength to have victory and to triumph over the Devil the World and the Flesh Strengthen it every day by constant Meditation on those things which thou O Father Son and Holy Ghost hast so many ways declared to us that it may grow still more victorious and we may feel the happy fruit of it in greater joy and triumph of spirit in assured expectation of the Crown of righteousness which thou hast promised to all faithful Souls O that none of the inticing allurements of this world may ever more deceive us and steal away our hearts from our true happiness nor any of the troublesome passages of this life ever hereafter dishearten us and divert us from the pursuit of it But the Faith of Christ may so intirely possess our hearts as to keep us stedfast and upright in the midst of all the temptations of what kind soever they be that assault us And looking up unto Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith we may still say with true resolution of spirit Thou art the Son of God most high thou art the King of incomprehensible Majesty thou art the Lord of all We will constantly adhere to thee as thy faithful subjects We will follow thee in faith and love and patient obedience to the very death And hope that as we feel by thy power in us we are the children of God so we shall be heirs heirs of God joynt-heirs with thee O blessed Lord to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be glory and dominion for ever Amen CHAP. II. Concerning the Witnesses in general and the Testimony of the FATHER in particular IF any man urge us to receive a thing which is new and strange we either turn away our ears if we take him for a frivolous person or else require him to show us good evidence for what he says if he seem to be wise and serious And the more importunate he is to be believed the more earnest we are to know what he hath to show for himself and to call for his proofs in which if he fail or they come not home to the purpose he is so far from gaining any credit with those who examine them that they prove a very considerable argument against him Especially when he pretends to come from God and to bring us messages from Heaven we all expect the clearer and diviner demonstrations before we can resign our mind unto him For that which is to make all things credible must have very
Scripture sounding in their ears as an answer to their prayers or their doubts Or lastly there being many Jews in our Saviours time and afterward who knew very well what had been reported of him but yet continued sworn enemies to his Religion they ventured to report the same of their own Doctors and perswaded the people that they were approved by voices from Heaven and therefore ought to be received by all posterity as men of a Divine stamp who had the highest testimony from Almighty God This I am sure of there is nothing to make it credible that any man among them in those Ages was thus honoured by God No body appears that dare say they heard it Nor does any of them pretend that they saw these Rabbies shine in the least glimpse of such glory as our Saviour did when he was honoured with that glorious testimony from Heaven which pronounced him the Head of all principality and power Much less were they as S. Luke speaks by many infallible proofs for we rely not upon the voice from Heaven by it self alone declared to be the men of God And therefore that which to me seems nearest to the truth in this matter is that there had been a perfect deep silence since the death of the latter Prophets and no Revelation made of Gods mind of any sort whatsoever in that Nation till John the Baptist came who was filled with the Holy Ghost and sent by God in the spirit and power of Elias to prepare the way of our Lord. Who when he first appeared had such an approbation given him by God the Father in the audience of John as had not been vouchsafed to any person and in such a manner by a voice from Heaven as had not been in use for many ages but yet was the most ancient way of his communicating his mind to men Thus God called to Adam in the Garden and thus he spake to Abraham and Moses and Samuel and therefore so he now speaks to him who was the second Adam the true seed promised to Abraham the Prophet like to Moses Testifying both to him and to others by his own voice from Heaven which was the old way of Revelation before all others and a clearer way there cannot be that he was his only begotten Son And here perhaps it may not be amiss to observe that this voice anciently was very low like a small whisper in ones ear whereas the voice to our Saviour was loud and strong making a great noise in the ears of those that heard it So Eliphaz tells us iv Job 16. that in a vision which he had There was silence and I heard a voice The Hebrew is exactly rendred by Mercer I heard silence and a voice that is a still voice as the Margin of our Bible hath it And so Elias is said to hear a voice of silence 1 Kings xix 12. a still small voice as we render it a speech next to silence which did but whisper very low and made no noise at all in his ears On the contrary you read in the place last expounded xii John the voice which spake of our Saviour was so loud and audible that the people who were at some distance thought it had been a clap of thunder It did not silently creep into their ears but rent the clouds to make its way with a great deal of power and force into them I cannot say that the other voice was so loud which the Disciples heard on the holy Mount but it was so clear and piercing that when they heard it xvii Matth. 6. they were astonished and fell flat upon their faces The light wherein he appeared was not more visible than the voice which testified to him was audible and both were very amazing Which may very well denote the excellency of our Saviours person and the efficacy of his doctrine above all that had been before him He declared Gods mind more fully and perfectly and spake it more plainly and perspicuously He transcended all others in both these as much as a full voice is above a little murmur or whisper in the ear or a speech distinctly pronounced is to be preferred before the lisping of imperfect words But whatsoever become of this we may certainly conclude from the audibleness and clearness of the voice whereby God gave his testimony to Jesus that they are the more to be believed who affirm they heard this voice from Heaven and report it to us it not being easie for them to be deceived This voice was like that of an Herald who proclaims a Prince and it said in effect I have set my King upon my holy hill of Sion Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Which had a most eminent and full completion at his Resurrection and Exaltation but began to be fulfilled when he was tranfigured upon this holy hill and had a representation of his future glory made to him Which he did not assume to himself as the Apostle discourses v. Hebr. 4 5. but was called unto it by him that said then Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and said now This is my well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him And thus you see having made an enquiry into the Testimony of one of these Witnesses the first and greatest we find it so full and clear on his behalf that we must either disbelieve God or else believe in Jesus and receive him for the Son of God For he received more than once honour and glory from God the Father Who was so highly glorified also by Him that he hath now completely glorified him with himself and therefore expects that his Name should be perpetually glorified and praised by us in some such words as these A PRAYER ADored be thy love O Lord of Heaven and Earth adored be thy great and wonderful love which hath thus glorified thy Son Jesus and given us such abundant satufaction that in him thou art well pleased Lord what is man that thou shouldest speak from Heaven with so much kindness to him that thou shouldest so often tell us thou hast sent thy dearly beloved Son in great humility to visit us what an amazing love is this that thou shouldest admit any of us into such a familiarity with thy self as to hear thy voice and behold the brightness of thy glory Our heart ought to answer thee again with the voice of joy thanksgiving and praise Thy high praises ought to be in all our mouths It becomes us to say continually with the most elevated minds and hearts Glory be to thee O Lord Glory be to thee O Lord who dwellest on high and yet humblest thy self to behold the things that are in Heaven and in Earth For ever be thy Name glorified by us and by all mankind who hast honoured our Nature so highly in the person of thy only begotten Son Christ Jesus whom after thou hadst several ways glorified on Earth thou hast now advanced
testimony of my self because I do but repeat the very same thing which the Father hath said before me For though alone as I have confessed heretofore my testimony of my self is worth nothing and cannot challenge belief yet added unto so high a testimony as his it ought to be duly regarded and accepted But besides this I must add another consideration of great moment Which is that the Testimony of the WORD concerning himself now that he is in the Heavens is of great validity even singly considered though it had no such authority alone when he was upon the Earth For during his stay here on Earth it could not appear by his bare saying so that he was the Son of God the King of Israel because he was in a poor mean and low condition altogether unlike a King And therefore if the Father and the Spirit had not testified so much none could have believed on him But when he was in the Heavens then what he said of himself carried great authority and power with it because he could not say those words to any one but he must appear as a King in glory There were things as well as words to speak for him At the same time that he bare witness of himself they to whom he spake must needs see the truth of his Testimony by the royal state and majesty wherein they beheld him If the question should be whether a person be alive his own appearing in Court would be the best testimony that could be given of it If whether such a one be a King his sitting upon his Throne with his Crown on his head in his royal Palace and his Ministers round about him would be the surest evidence that could be desired to put it out of doubt In this case therefore where the question is whether Jesus be the Son of God or no there cannot be expected a better resolution of it than his own witness to himself by appearing upon the Throne of his Glory There several persons of unblemished credit beheld him and had the confidence to venture their lives upon the certain knowledge they had that they were not deceived From thence he spake to them and directed them to speak and carry his messages to others that they might believe on the Name of the Son of God And let it but be remembred which I noted at the beginning that we are now examining those witnesses which speak from Heaven and not those which speak on the Earth and then you will soon discern that these testimonies of the WORD though concerning himself ought to be received with great reverence and to be judged very full and powerful to prove Jesus to be the Son of God Especially since besides his own word for it we have also the word of the Father who several times called him his Son and that before he took this honour to himself A PRAYER LET all mankind therefore honour thee O blessed Jesus even as they honour the Father Be thou adored every where upon Earth with the same reverence and love wherewith all the Angels in Heaven worship thee whom they and we acknowledge to be the LORD the WORD of God the Wisdom of the Father the bright morning Star the Light of the World the Prince of Life the Heir of all things the KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS God blessed for ever Thou art the King of glory O Christ Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father The Beginner and the Finisher of our Faith the Judge of the World the Author of Eternal Salvation unto all them that obey thee O how happy are they that know thee and stedfastly believe in thee and sincerely love thee and heartily obey thee and have a good hope that thou wilt bless them and imploy thy power for their promotion to that glory wherein thou reignest I rejoyce to hear thee say that thou who wast dead art alive for evermore Amen and hast the keys of Hell and of Death I thank thee for appearing so often to assure our Souls that thou sittest at the right hand of God and hast all power in Heaven and in Earth Great is the consolation which thou hast given us by the sight of that Glory wherein thy first Martyr beheld thee ready to succour all thy faithful servants Marvellous was thy work O Lord for which all thy Church will for ever praise thee in calling S. Paul to be an Apostle separated unto the Gospel of God Adored be thy glorious Majesty which appeared to him for this purpose to make him a Minister and a Witness of what he saw and heard that he might go and open the eyes of the Gentiles to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in thee O how full of comfort is that Revelation which thou hast made of thy self to thy servant John Who received the brightest discoveries of thy glory in Heaven when he was in the most desolate condition upon Earth who beheld thy care over thy Church and thy conquests over thine enemies thy Priestly and thy Royal power to the perpetual joy of those that love thee and the terror of all those that oppose thee O blessed Jesus far be it from any of us in the least to contradict thy will who art so highly advanced far above all principality and power and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come May every Christian Soul be so sensibly affected with the belief of thy Glory as to prostrate it self before thee and say with the same spirit that thy blessed Apostle S. Paul did when thou appearedst unto him Lord what wilt thou have me to do May that ardent love burn in every one of our breasts towards thee and towards one another which was in thy beloved Disciple who bare record of thee and testified to us these things And may none of us prove so false and unkind as to leave our first love but our work and charity and service and faith and patience may be ever commended by thee and the last be more than the first Then shall we be able with a chearful countenance to look up unto thee and to think of thy majesty and glory with exultation and triumph and not with terror and amazement of spirit We will joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy salvation how greatly shall we rejoyce We will rejoyce even in the midst of tribulation and though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we will fear no evil but stedfastly looking up unto Heaven call upon thee O Lord Jesus and beseech thee to receive our Spirit Into thy hands be they recommended both now and ever with most earnest desires and hope that thou wilt help thy servants whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious bloud and make them to be
till he went to hear what the Lord would command concerning the persons who were in doubt ix Numb 8. Our Lord had no need at all to go any whither to make such enquiries but in every place even in Samaria knew the greatest secrets iv Joh. 18 19. For he himself was the Tabernacle of God He was the Tent which God had pitched among Men separated unto him as the Tabernacle and Temple were by the visible descent of the Divine Glory upon him and by its residing in him So that wheresoever he was he had an Oracle continually within himself and without any addresses to the most Holy place or any other knew all things and revealed the mind of God to Men. And all this was so conspicuous that it was far better known than the presence of the Lord upon the Ark. For that was confined to one place whereas Jesus went about doing good Which may be the meaning of that famous Prophecy iii. Jer. 16 17. Where he says they should not make mention of the Ark any more that is worship God before that as the only place But Jerusalem should be the THRONE OF THE LORD to which all Nations should be gathered that is in every part of the City and Country too he would appear as gloriously as he had done formerly in the most holy place of the Temple which could be at no other time but when Jesus appeared among them and sent by his Apostles the Law out of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem to all Nations ii Isa 3 4. The THRONE OF THE LORD I have told you already is in their Language as Maimonides teaches us Every place which God separates for the manifestation of his Divine glory So the Heaven is called his Throne lxvi Isa 1. And by that name Jeremiah calls their Sanctuary xvii Jer. 12. A glorious high Throne from the beginning is the place of our Sanctuary And so I told you the Ark is called because that was the peculiar place in the Sanctuary where he resided But at last you see all Jerusalem by which we may understand the whole Nation was to become the THRONE of the LORD As it did when Jesus appeared who in person was sent to that Nation alone in whom the Divine glory shone illustriously in all places wheresoever he came They beheld the Wisdome the Power the Love of God in him not only in the Temple where he oft appeared but in every part of the holy City In the streets nay in the high wayes in the fields in the wilderness upon the sea there was a most glorious appearance of God such as never was when the Ark alone was the THRONE of the LORD VI. Which puts me in mind and then I shall end this that the Unity of God is as much nay more discovered in our blessed Saviour as it was at the Tabernacle or Temple in former times As there was but one place where God put his Name among the Children of Israel and they were all to go to the very same Oracle whereby they were preserved in the belief and worship of one God So now God hath manifested that this is his ONLY begotten Son and that there is no name given under Heaven whereby we can be saved but only His and that we must seek to no other Mediator but this One in whom now God appears in such a glory as he never did any where else And this is also to keep us in the belief that God is one which may hence also appear by this manifestation of God in the flesh For whereas we call God by several attributes the most holy the most wise the most powerful and the like yet we see all these were in one person Christ Jesus Which may well instruct us that they all together are but One God and that it is one eternal Majesty who is so holy wise powerful and good But as I said this was better made known by our Saviour than by the Divine Majesty residing at the Temple For during all the time that the Holy Oracle of God stood at Jerusalem there were also Oracles which pretended gods maintained among the Gentiles This upheld the Opinion concerning a multitude of gods And all that Moses or the Prophets could do did not destroy this belief in the World no not root it out of Israel till God appeared in our Lord and Saviour Then these other Oracles grew mute and it was held ridiculous to believe any more Gods than One. The Devils lost all their power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the coming of our Saviour among Men. They are the words of Eusebius who produces a sworn enemy of Christianity to avouch what he delivers Porphyry by name who makes this ingenuous confession * Lib. V. Praepar Cap. 1. that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. ever since JESUS was honoured none ever perceived any publick help and succour from the Gods Aesculapius and the rest of the Gods have withdrawn themselves from men and do not converse with them From whence Eusebius argues very rationally on this manner How come you to know those whom you worship to be gods Why did not Aesculapius and the rest of his Companions overthrow the power of Jesus and make it of none effect If he be a mortal Man as you say nay perhaps you call him a jugler and a deceiver and they indeed be Saviours and gods What is the matter that they flee before him and turn their backs of one that is so inconsiderable Why do they yield up all the World to his power and abandon all their subjects in this shameful manner If you have any sence you must conclude that he is stronger than they and that what he speaks is true For though he be but one and as one would suppose alone yet He hath driven away a vast number of gods and made them leave the World He hath abolished their worship and service and exposed them to such contempt that as they appear no longer gods so they can do just nothing They are not able so much as to show themselves as they were wont to their followers But plainly discover that they were Daemons not Gods But on the contrary the worship of this JESUS and that ONE GOD who he saith sent him into the World is every day more and more propagated and takes deeper root in the minds of all People One would have thought that these gods should have bestirred themselves at his coming more than ever They should have made combinations and joyned all their forces against him Their Oracles which were so famous should now above all other times have been frequented and spoken most loudly so that all the World might hear them against this person who came to destroy that Religion and take away all that reverence which was paid them Or if one Oracle had been dumb upon any particular cause yet all of them together one would think should not have lost their voice
of God And there is none can continue in this unworthy slavery but he must lay aside these thoughts also that the WORD was made flesh and the Image of the invisible God hath taken up his abode in our Nature By this he hath called us to the greatest sanctity He remembers us what excellent Creatures we are and how Glorious he is desirous to make us And who is there that need despair of recovering himself by the grace of God though he be sunk never so much below himself now that God is come on purpose to lift him up He hath sent Salvation to us by one that is mighty to save He hath revealed himself so graciously and made such discoveries of his Love and Power and Glory to all mankind that they may confidently hope if they will not cast away all care of themselves to be restored to the image and likeness of God again But this Discourse will come in more seasonably when we have joyned the strength of the other three Witnesses to these and heard them all together some from Heaven others from Earth proclaiming this in our ears Behold the Son of God Jesus is your Lord for he is the Lord of all things And we shall be the more ready for a surrender to him when we see withall how much we are beholden to God Almighty for his marvellous inconceiveable love in calling us so many ways by so many arguments to Repentance Faith Obedience and Everlasting Salvation That which I have now explained deserves to be remembred with the most affectionate acknowledgments and we shall be better disposed to hearken to the rest if we give him hearty thanks for what we understand already and say A PRAYER ADored be thy inestimable love O thou Holy Spirit of Grace and Truth the mighty Power of God who hast given such gifts unto men even to the rebellious also that the LORD God might DWELL among them Blessed be thy Goodness who didst anoint our Lord with that oil of gladness which hath run down to the meannest of his subjects Great and wonderful was that Heavenly Power and Love which appeared in such visible Majesty upon him and filled him with the Holy Ghest so that he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil And much more marvellous was that Almighty Goodness which promoted him to the throne of Glory in the Heavens that he might fill all things Praised be that astonishing Love which first filled the Apostles minds with such Heavenly light and inflamed their wills with such fervent heat that they boldly preached the Gospel to all the world For ever magnified be that diffusive Grace which afterwards spread it self in such variety of gifts wrought by one and the self same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he pleased Let the whole Church be giving continual thanks to thee O Lord for stretching forth thy hand in such signs and wonders to glorifie thy holy child Jesus for giving by the Spirit to some a gift of wisdom to others a gift of healing to others divers kind of tongues to others prophecy and for making some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers that every knee might bow to Jesus and every tongue confess that he is the Lord. I confess him with all my Soul I honour him as my Dearest Lord. I see thy Glory O blessed Jesus by the light of the Holy Ghost which hath shone so oft from Heaven upon us I see the Power thou hast at Gods right hand I see the royal bounty of thy love Now I know that thou knowest all things and believe that thou art the faithful and the true whose words shall never fail O how much ought I and every Christian Soul to rejoyce in the consolations of the Holy Ghost which hath brought us new assurances from Heaven that our Saviour lives and reigns and sits inthroned at the right hand of God in incomparable majesty and glory Inspire all our minds and hearts O thou quickning Spirit inspire them O Lord and Giver of Life with such ardent love and devotion towards him that we may hope to reign with him and then shall we rejoyce before-hand in this hope with joy unspeakable and full of glory Do not wholly absent they self from us O thou Guide and Comforter of our Souls though we have not been so grateful to thee nor followed thy directions and counsels as we ought but still let thy gracious presence fill every part of the Christian Church Though we have not that UNCTION from above which endued them heretofore with the gifts of tongues and prophecy and healing and working of miracles Yet pour down every where much of the spirit of knowledge and love and devotion and purity and fortitude and undaunted resolution and fervent Zeal which may be ever glorifying the great God and our Saviour Christ Jesus O thou who didst open the eyes of the blind and loose the tongue of the dumb enlighten our minds to see more of those wonders which may inflame our love and incourage our hope and open our lips that our mouths may shew forth thy Praise Still let there be hearts full of Faith in the blessed Jesus full of love to all mankind full of ardent desire to see his Kingdom come full of wisdom to open the mysteries of Salvation to instruct men in the truth as it is in Jesus and to convince them mightily and perswade them to be obedient to it That so by the same Heavenly power whereby the Faith of Christ was planted in the world it may be graciously preserved and promoted and we may see it go forward and advance more and more till every Nation now on Earth speak in their own tongues the wonderful works of God Let all the people praise thee O God Let all the people praise thee Kindle in them such devout affections as may offer up continually the sacrifice of praise to thee Let them praise thee with pure minds and upright hearts and unspotted lives and in perfect unity and godly love say every where Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen CHAP. V. Concerning the Witnesses on Earth and first of the WATER HAVING given a brief account of the Testimony of the first Three Witnesses and finding much satisfaction in their perfect agreement we have the greater encouragement to go to the other Three who are also nearer to us than the former and take that evidence which they are willing to afford us for our further confirmation in this belief that Jesus is the Son of God These three you read in the eighth Verse are such as bear witness on EARTH whereby we may be the better acquainted with them and they are the more undeniable and furthest off from all question or exception For should any be so bold as to dispute that there might
remember that your Baptism engages you to learn of him and to become like him Express that Honour towards God that Fear and that Love of him which he requires Imploy your selves carefully in all actions of Justice Charity and Sobriety Yea be prepared chearfully to follow him in suffering as well as in doing his blessed will This will be an infallible testimony that you are the children of God as on the contrary if you want this Witness all other evidence of it will fail you There is no reason to distrust this but the stronger your confidence is without it the more grosly you deceive your selves if you conclude your selves to be dear to him You find both these strongly asserted in this Epistle For the Affirmative read ii 29. If ye know that he is righteous know ye that every one that doth righteousness is born of him And iii. 7. Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous For the Negative read the following words ver 8 9 10. He that committeth sin is of the Devil for the Devil sinneth from the beginning For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his Brother And for your encouragement to purifie your Souls remember that the purity and holiness of Christ's Life and Doctrine secures you of the truth of all his gracious promises We may say with a greater assurance than the Psalmist did in his days xii Psal 6. The words of the Lord i. e. his promises are pure words as silver tried in a furnace of Earth purified seven times Which should make us value them more than thousands of Gold and Silver though never so perfectly refined and to say as he does in another place cxix 140. Thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loveth it Those Metals are not freer from Dross after they have passed never so oft through the Fining-pot than his promises are from all mixture of deceit We may rely upon them with the greatest confidence and be secure they will never fail us It is as certainly true that God will take us to be his Sons and Daughters that he will dwell in us and give us everlasting life as it is that Jesus is the Son of God He that says the one says the other too and he may be alike believed in both But then having these promises we must cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. vii 1. For the Son of God was manifested you heard for this purpose And this was the end for which he gave himself i. e. to die for us that he might sanctifie and cleanse his Church with the washing of Water by the Word v. Ephes 26. and redeeming us from all iniquity purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works i. Tit. 14. Which if we study sincerely then this WATER here spoken of is part of the Waters of Life and this Testimony gives us assurance that we shall have our share in those Eternal good things which he hath promised in his holy Gospel For he is the Truth and in him there is no Lye But of this more hereafter when we have heard the following Witnesses and given glory to Jesus and made our acknowledgments to him in some such words as these A PRAYER I Believe O Lord not only that thou art a Teacher come from God and speakest the words of God but that thou art above all the very WORD of God it self into whose hands the Father hath given all things I admire the holiness of all thy Precepts and rejoyce in the purity of thy exceeding great and precious promises Thou art the Truth the Holy one of God without spot or blemish in whose mouth was found no guile There is all reason that we should receive thy testimony which thou hast given of thy self and all that thou hast testified to us to be the will of God and believe that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Good Lord increase my Faith that as I see still further demonstrations of thy power and glory and cannot but acknowledge the perfect sanctity equity and goodness of all thy Laws and be in love with the beauty of thy most holy life so I may feel my heart inclined more and more to submit it self to be governed by thee to obey thy will and to imitate thy example Happy are those holy Souls who have learnt of thee to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world and whose hearts by that means are full of the blessed hope of immortality hereafter and of thy tender care of them while they are here There is nothing so desirable as to be holy even as thou who hast called us art holy in all manner of conversation It is the perfection of our Nature the end of our Being and the true satisfaction of our hearts to have thy image formed in us in righteousness and sincere holiness Imprint this sense deeper O blessed God in mine and every Christian heart That it may be our perpetual delight as well as our study to give thee the honour that is due unto thy Name to love thee with all our heart and soul and strength to preserve an holy fear of thee in our mind to trust in thee and cast our care upon thee to hope in thy never-failing mercies and to rejoyce evermore in thy love and that good hope which are better than life it self O that we may never cease to testifie our true love and honour and fear of thee with all other religious affections by praying without ceasing and offering the sacrifice of praise continually and in every thing giving thanks especially for the oblation which our Lord made of himself to thee which love may it be published with perpetual praise and thanks every where to the end of the world And give us the grace to add unto our love of thee a sincere and unfeigned love of all men That we may do to them whatsoever we desire that they should do to us Let this be the constant Rule of all our designs desires words and actions Let it ever be before our eyes to make us duly honour and observe our superiours pity succour relieve and comfort all those who are below us and be just faithful and friendly to all others O that every man would speak the truth with his neighbour and be charitable in their judgments one of another meek and gentle in all their words and behaviour ready to distribute and to do good studious of the things that make for peace forward to be reconciled to those
No man then had the impudence to deny the Eclipse of the Sun the Earthquake the rending of the veil of the Temple and the rest of the astonishing things that then hapned The first of them is mentioned by a Pagan-writer and though the Apostles published both that and all the other continually yet there is no book either of Jew or Gentile who were enemies great enough to his Religion that goes about to disprove them And as for his miraculous works they were generally done openly at Feasts in the Synagogues on the high-ways and were so commonly talkt of that the Rulers feared all the world would run after him xii John 19. Therefore the Apostles could not falsifie in the report of these things but they might be easily confuted Which no man ever attempted but both Jews and Gentiles acknowledged that he wrought Miracles for his Apostles also wrought them every where and so did their Successors in some Ages after To these the Ancient Christians appeal as an undoubted testimony to their Faith which they could not be so silly as to mention were there any dispute whether there had been Miracles wrought or no. His Resurrection also was attested by Five hundred people who saw him together at once and it was proved beyond contradiction by the strange descent of those miraculous gifts upon his Apostles according to his promise Which came upon them also at a Feast when all the Nation though living in far distant Countries were assembled together and a great company of Proselytes also and devout people were present to be witnesses of it Yea the Apostles themselves as is notoriously known went over all the world and openly showed the power of Jesus which was in them Now if all these be true Witnesses or rather if you grant there were such Witnesses which no sober man can deny they being visible here on Earth in the company of so much people there can be no doubt remaining of this that Jesus is the Son of God They proclaim this so loudly with one voice that S. John had reason to say We beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father They beheld it in his Preaching and Life they beheld it in his bloudy Death but especially in the power of his SPIRIT both before he died and in raising him up from the dead and they beheld it also when they were with him in the holy Mount and had the Testimony of the rest of the Heavenly Witnesses Which were heard on Earth though they were in Heaven as men of high quality and of unblemished integrity with the hazard of all they had did constantly affirm And though some of those Heavenly Witnesses might not be believed so much at the first which is the cause I suppose that our Saviour bids his Apostles as you have heard not declare what the voice from Heaven said till after his Resurrection xvii Matth. 9. yet when they had received such great testimony that they were good men and men of God by having the Holy Ghost bestowed on them to bestow upon others also and when by this they were able to demonstrate his Resurrection then all the rest that they alledged as a proof that he was the Son of God did highly merit belief also and there was no reason to suspect the truth of such reports as were verified in so authentick a manner For with great power gave the Apostles witness of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus iv Acts 33. And the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus was a powerful Witness that there was nothing so great said of him by the voices from Heaven but it ought to be received as the undoubted truth of God Who at sundry times and in divers manners testified to his Son Jesus that by some means or other the most obstinate hearts might be convinced and those tongues which blasphemed him might confess him to be the Lord. A PRAYER ALL thy works praise thee O holy Jesus they all show the greatness of thy power and declare thee to be the Lord. All thy Saints therefore ought to bless thee and to speak good of thy Name who didst manifest forth thy glory in such miraculous works upon Earth and art now crowned with such glory and honour in the Heavens Great was the glory of that Almighty love which gave health to the sick feet to the lame eyes to the blind and life to the dead How gloriously didst thou triumph over the Devil and all the powers of darkness declaring thy self to be the Redeemer of the World by delivering those who were oppressed by him Great was thy Majesty and therefore greatly to be praised Those triumphs ought to have been attended with the most joyful shouts of Praise and Thanksgiving to thee as the Saviour of men and the Lord of Men and Angels All that saw thy wonderful works ought with never-ceasing love to have glorified thee the great Lover of mankind the Repairer of our ruines the Restorer of our happiness our mighty Deliverer from all our Enemies and the inexhaustible Fountain of life and all other good things which thou every where dispensedst to them How ought all our hearts now to overflow with love to thee the blessings of whose goodness so overflowed in all places that none can tell the number of them Especially when we remember how by the mighty working of the same Spirit which glorified thee so on Earth thou art raised from the dead carried to Heaven set at the right hand of God and made the King of glory This is the Lord 's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes This is the sovereign Balsam of all our wounds This is our solace and comfort in the greatest troubles This raises our Spirits when they are oppressed and gives us life in death it self Be thou honoured and acknowledged by me and by all mankind with the humblest the most hearty and affectionate devotion to thy service Be thou ever praised as much as thou wast reproached and blasphemed Let thy Name be sweet and mentioned with delight and joy throughout all the World Live O blessed Jesus in the glory wherein thou art inthroned Sit and reign there till all thine Enemies become thy foot-stool For among the Gods there is none like unto thee O Lord neither are there any works like unto thy works All Nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy Name For thou art great and hast done wondrous things Thou art Lord alone O give unto the Lord ye kindreds of the people give unto the Lord glory and strength Ascribe unto the Lord the glory due unto his name O worship him in the beauty of holiness Say among the Heathen the Lord reigneth who was dead but is alive again and liveth for evermore O sing unto the Lord a new song sing unto the Lord all the Earth Yea sing unto the Lord a new song and worship him all ye Gods For thou
Lord art high above all the Earth thou art exalted far above all Gods Blessed is the people that know this joyful sound they shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance In thy name shall they rejoyce all the day and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted For thou art the glory of their strength and by thy favour shall we be highly honoured For thou hast a mighty arm strong is thy hand and high is thy right hand I know that thou canst do every thing and that no thought of thine can be hindred Thou canst break the chains of death and raise our dust and ashes to immortal life Thou canst tread Satan under our feet and send thy Angels for our security and defence By thee we shall run through the greatest dangers and surmount all the difficulties that are in our way to thee Who shall separate us from thy love O Christ who diedst for us yea rather art risen again who art even at the right hand of God who also makest intercession for us O live thou for ever in my mind and heart and be the daily delightful subject of my thoughts Direct and guide me in all my ways and lead me safe unto thy self Still let my meditations of thee be sweet and my joy exceeding great in thy salvation Still fix mine eyes on things above where thou art at Gods right hand Lord still increase my Faith that it growing in strength may work by a more vigorous love Let me feel the power of thy holy Spirit perpetually in my heart that being led by the Spirit and mortifying thereby the deeds of the body He that raised thee up from the dead may also quicken my mortal body by his Spirit that dwelleth in me Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that wrought such wonders unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end Amen CHAP. VIII Concerning the Witness of the Holy APOSTLES of our Lord. I Know not what remains to be done for the full explication of these words of the Apostle unless it be sit to note that our Saviour is said to COME not only in his own Person but likewise in his Apostles and Evangelists I need name but one place to prove this ii Ephes 17. And CAME and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them that were nigh It is well known that Jesus of whom he there speaks was not SENT save to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and therefore in his own Person was not to go to those who were afar off such Gentiles as these Ephesians were to whom notwithstanding he is said here to COME He came unto his own saith this very Disciple and though his own received him not yet he kept himself within the confines of their Country and charged his Disciples during his life not to go into any City of the Samaritans to whom he never went but only in his passage from one part of the Jews Country to another We can give no account then of his COMING to them that were afar off as well as unto the Jews who were nigh but only this that by the Apostles whom he sent and who were his Embassadors to preach the glad tidings of Salvation he was made known to the Gentiles even as the Father is said to come to the Jews and to speak to them when he sent him his Son to declare his mind and will among them Now it is possible that S. John might have some respect to his sending them as the Father sent him to prove him to be the Son of God when he saith that Jesus CAME by WATER and by BLOUD and by the SPIRIT and that these three were his WITNESSES on Earth For first the Apostles were his WITNESSES as they are called in many places both by him and by themselves Ye shall be WITNESSES unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judaea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the Earth says our Saviour just before his Ascension i. Act. 8. The same he said to S. Paul to whom he appeared afterward xxvi 16. xxii 15. And in the same stile S. Peter speaks of himself I exhort you who am an Elder and a WITNESS of the sufferings of Christ i. Pet. v. 1. And as they were witnesses of his sufferings so they were of all that he did as you shall hear presently and of all that was done for him to prove that he was the Son of God and the King of Glory That is they were witnesses that there appeared such witnesses both in Heaven and Earth for him as we have examined And 2. witnesses they were of very great credit worthy of all belief For they were WITNESSES chosen of God x. Act. 41. select Men pickt out by Heaven some of them in an extraordinary manner for this purpose And they spake nothing by hear-say but upon their own certain knowledge being eye-witnesses of his Majesty as ye have heard before from S. Peter 2. i. 16. And S. John says the same in this Epistle iv 14. We have seen and do testifie that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the World First they saw and then bare witness Or as he expresses himself more largely in the beginning of the Epistle That which they had heard and seen with their eyes and looked upon and which their hands had handled of the Word of life for it was manifest and they saw it and bare WITNESS that he repeats it again which they had seen and heard they declared unto the World Why should not such witnesses be believed who spake nothing but what all their senses that could be imployed in this case gave them full assurance was undoubtedly true They were Men sure of common capacity and they had opportunity also to see and hear and feel and examine every thing which Jesus did or was done in honour of him For therefore our Saviour chose them to be his witnesses because they were thus qualified xv Joh. 26 27. When the Comforter is come even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father He shall testify of me And ye also shall bear WITNESS because ye have been with me from the BEGINNING That is because you are abundantly informed how all things have passed from my very first entring into the World to preach the Gospel therefore you shall be imployed to testifie all things that you have seen and heard and felt as the fittest persons to be believed For which reason when they wanted one of their Number by the apostasie of Judas they were very careful according to this Rule of their Master to chuse such an one to succeed him as had been a constant follower of Jesus and had taken notice of every thing they were to witness i. Act. 21 22. Wherefore saith S. Peter of those men which have companied with us all
men in former times but had not such strength to enforce it Blessed be God should we all say A PRAYER BLessed be God who hath not done so for any people He hath shown us HIMSELF his WORD and the HOLY GHOST Israel hath not seen his Glory so as it shines in our eyes And as for his Power and Might they have not known them no more than the Promises and the Laws whereby he now governs us He hath given us a better Covenant founded upon a better Bloud which hath brought in also a better Hope and is confirmed by a more powerful Spirit Blessed be his Goodness that our eyes read and our ears hear those things which many Prophets and righteous men desired to see and hear but could not see nor hear them For it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto us by them that have preached the Gospel unto us which the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven which things the Angels desire to look into O Bless the Lord with us ye Angels of his that excel in strength praise him and magnifie him for ever O all ye Powers of the Lord bless ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever O ye Spirits and Souls of the righteous bless ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever Praise him all ye Apostles and Prophets praise him all ye Martyrs and Confessors praise him all ye glorious Lights who have made the Gospel of Christ to shine throughout the world Praise the Father Almighty praise his Eternal WORD praise the Holy Ghost who have made our Faith to stand not in the wisdom of men but in the mighty Power of God Praise him for the Incarnation the Life the Death the Resurrection the Ascension and the Glorification of the Lord Jesus who hath given us strong Consolation by that sure and stedfast hope which throughout all these means he hath setled in our hearts O praise him for his marvellous love to us whom he hath called after a glorious manner and by an amazing vertue to the knowledge of Christ by whom his Divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness And make us who are so nearly concerned in this love to be very sensible how great it is which hath not only called us to his Heavenly Kingdom but made us sure and certain by so many Witnesses that Jesus is the Lord of all the King of infinite Majesty Power and Glory Let our Souls never cease to show forth and publish the vertues and powerful operations of him who hath called us into his marvellous light Let our mouths be filled with his praise all the day long who out of the riches of his mercy hath made us who were not his people to be a chosen generation an holy nation a peculiar people to himself O that our Faith may grow exceedingly and be deeply rooted and grounded in our hearts And as it stands upon the surest foundations so we may be built up in it with the most assured confidence and stand unshaken and immoveable in it unto the end And as thou hast differenced us from all other people in the clearness of that Light which lets us see that ours is the most holy Faith so help us by thy grace to distinguish our selves from all others by holding the mystery of Faith in a pure Conscience and by the upright actions of an unblameable life O that the light of Christians may so shine before men that others seeing their good works may glorifie thee our Heavenly Father O that it may disperse the darkness which over-spreads so great a part of the world That all impostures may be discovered and they that live in error may be brought to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus O that his Dominion may reach from Sea to Sea even unto the worlds end Let them who dwell in the most desert places kneel before him and his enemies lick the dust Let all Kings of the Earth adore him and all Nations do him service Kindle in the hearts of Princes and Nobles an holy ambition to advance his Glory Inspire the hearts of all Bishops and Priests with an ardent zeal for the conversion of Souls And dispose the hearts of those who are in error that they may be apt and ready to receive thy sacred truth Plant thy Gospel where it hath not yet been and replant it where it hath been rooted out And give us grace who have long been thine own vineyard to bring forth plenty of good fruit That our lives may be as holy as our faith and we may convince Jews Turks and all other Infidels that thou art among us and that Jesus whom we worship is the Lord. To him with the Father and the Holy Ghost be Glory and Praise among all mankind and throughout all Ages world without end Amen CHAP. X. Other necessary Vses we are to make of their Testimony THere is no great skill required to see the difference between that Holy Religion which we profess and all others that are entertained in the rest of the World Some we must have and it is as palpable that this is incomparably the most excellent as it is that there is any Religion at all There is no Nation so barbarous but pays some respect and ceremony to use the phrase of Tully when he defines Religion to some Superiour and more excellent Nature which we call Divine Though they are ignorant what kind of God it becomes them to have yet they know a God must be had and must be worshipped Their own mind teaches them this as soon as they cast their eyes upon the admirable frame of the World which all naturally conclude must have had some most wise and mighty Builder But what respect and reverence that is which will be pleasing to him they are very uncertain it is manifest by the various ways they have invented to express their Devotion They all with one consent acknowledge a necessity of a Revelation to instruct them for there is no Nation but pretends to have received some things by the instinct inspiration or apparition of their Gods That which pure natural reason dictates is not to be found simple and unmixt in any Nation under Heaven For if we should stand meerly to that it hath ever resolved that the worship of God consists in the study of Wisdome Justice and all other Vertues Which as they are most eminent in God so he is best pleased with them in us And they that addict themselves to resemble him in this manner are the men that shall obtain his favour There are a number of notable sayings both in Heathen and Christian Writers to this purpose But when all this is said and acknowledged Men will offend against these Rules of Vertue and what shall they do then what will make him satisfaction and procure a reconciliation with him whom they have reason
words as these Lay not up your treasures upon Earth and the luxurious are told that he who soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption and the proud are told that he who exalteth himself shall be abased the angry are exhorted when one cheek is smitten to turn the other they that live in discord are taught to love their enemies the superstitious are instructed that the Kingdom of God is within us to the curious it is said continually look not at the things that are seen but to those which are not seen and lastly it is said to all Love not the world nor the things that are in the world if these things are read throughout the world if they be chearfully heard with great veneration if after so much bloud such fires so many crucifixions of Martyrs the Church is grown more fertile and hath propagated it self to the most barbarous Nations and to omit the rest if men are every where so converted to God that every day all mankind answers almost with one voice LIFT UP YOUR HEARTS UNTO THE LORD why should we drowsily still continue in a sottish unbelief There is nothing can be said in the excuse of such Souls as having received notice of such a marvellous Love of God to mankind and such evident proofs that it is no fancy will not be perswaded to entertain the belief of it But when light is come into the world chuse to remain in darkness and will be guided merely by themselves when there is a revelation come from God Which ought to be entertained with the greatest joy as the thing which the world wanted and wisht for and without which they could meet with no resolution of their doubts nor certain directions how to please God whom they had so highly offended In this the Christian Religion gives us full satisfaction and propounds nothing to our practice but what the wisest men ever said was best to be done and took for the most excellent piety As for that which it propounds to our belief it is all made credible by this one great Truth which is proved by a number of Witnesses that Jesus is the Son of God We ought to receive that which such a person taught either with his own mouth or by those whom he inspired and sent in the same manner as the Father sent him For if it be so reasonable as I have demonstrated to be a Believer then it is as unreasonable to be an Unbeliever and no man will be able to open his mouth to justifie such a sin against so many Witnesses as will appear to testifie that they called him to the faith by the clearest and the most powerful evidences that ever were For if the Jews were bound to believe in Moses having no more testimony from God than you have heard we are much more bound to believe in Jesus who hath more and greater Witnesses that he not only came from God but is gone to God and hath all things given into his hands whether in Heaven or in Earth As it was said of them therefore xiv Exod. ult that they believed the Lord and his servant Moses so let it be said of every one now that we believe the Lord and his Son Jesus For this very end were these words written by S. John that we may believe on his Name ver 13. And this is the summ of what God would have us to do the Commandment he hath given us That we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another iii. 23. If we do the former we shall see an evident consequence of the latter For when we are perswaded that He is the Son of God we cannot but see that we ought to receive every word that he says with affectionate reverence and to let every thing that is said concerning him into our very hearts so that we fear him and love him and become obedient to him and depend upon his word and as he himself hath taught us honour him as we do the Father Almighty For we are assured by those who heard him and were with him from the beginning and were witnesses of his Resurrection and received the Holy Ghost from him that He was the WORD MADE FLESH and that the Word was God and all things were made by him and is the Son of God not by office only but in his nature and essence and having assumed our Flesh therein reigns Lord of all for ever For what reason should we refuse to receive that which is so credibly witnessed to be the very Truth of God They that report these things were so pious as I have proved that they cannot be suspected to have invented them nay the very end for which they published them quits them from all suspicion of fraud and forgery For they aimed at nothing but by making man sensible of his great Dignity and the high honour God hath put upon him to possess his heart with an ardent love to God and to his Neighbour and to make him perfectly subject unto his will And is there not great reason if we believe what these Witnesses say that we should apply our best endeavours to please him by living soberly righteously and godly and by abstaining from the least appearance of evil Think what Jesus was and then resolve with your selves what regard is due to his Word Will not the wicked man tremble when he hears him say that none shall go to Heaven but they that do the will of his Father which is in Heaven Then he does not believe that these are the words of the Son of God or does not mind what he reads Who can with any face call him Lord Lord and not acknowledge that he ought to do the things that he says And to acknowledge this and not do those things what a madness is that if we believe our Lord is able to call us to a severe account for our neglect of his will What is there that can recommend chastity and purity of heart to our affection together with mercifulness meekness peaceableness poverty or contentedness of spirit the humility of little children saith in God's providence and such like vertues if this will not that the Son of God hath preacht them to the world as the most amiable qualities in the eyes of God without which we shall never see him nor inherit his Heavenly Kingdom Are not these his words Do not his Sermons teach us these Lessons And if we do these things does he not say we shall have everlasting life and enter into his joy and see the glory which God hath given him For what cause do we question whether this be the way to happiness Do not the same Witnesses which tell us that he is the Son of God testifie withall that he came to teach us Gods will and that this is his will which by the Gospel is declared unto us Why do we not seriously believe it then let me ask again
no knowledge of those who work iniquity but bid them depart from him whatsoever relation they pretend to him And by his Bloud he assures us that he preached nothing but the undoubted Truth of God What is it then that makes men still continue either to slight all that he says or to give him the lye It is no better if we presume to believe that we shall shift well enough in another world though we do what we list while we are here It is to contradict the voice of the Father of the Word and of the Holy Ghost It is to oppose the Doctrine the Life the Sufferings the Power and Spirit of the Lord Jesus who all tell us that we must be holy and unblameable before him in love if we hope to be accepted with him They that live wickedly and yet hope well do in effect say that He is a Lyar and that there is no such necessity of holiness without which he says no man shall see the Lord. Or else they despise that blessed sight which is as bad and neither dread his displeasure nor desire his favour If they be believers then they reproach him by their wicked lives as if he were still dead and could do no more to make his disciples better or to reward and punish their good or bad behaviour than Mahomet can or any other impostor All the Oaths curses and blasphemies which we hear out of Christian mouths are as so many spears to pierce our Saviour again because they forely wound his Religion and tend to the destruction of his Kingdom and Government All the lasciviousness wantonness and filthy debaucheries that are among us are a kind of crucifying Jesus afresh they are a scoff and mock at his Cross as a ridiculous piece of folly They reproach him as if he were an ideot that did not understand pleasure but would put himself to unnecessary pain and trouble Nor can we put a much better interpretation upon mens eager pursuit of riches and honours in unjust uncharitable and irreligious ways which charges him with great ignorance to say no worse who took the quite contrary course to happiness As for all those who gibe at his Religion and make themselves sport with the History of his Birth and of his Sufferings they come under another rank being open and professed Enemies to his Majesty They do as much as in them lies to hang him upon the Gibbet again and expose him to the scorn of the world They justifie the Jews in their calumnies and blasphemies and take part with Judas or rather are worse than He who was tempted only by his covetousness to betray him And better it had been for these men if they never had been born It were better for them that a milstone were hang'd about their neck and they were cast into the Sea or that they had been hang'd themselves on a Gallows as high as that of Haman than that they should live thus to expose the Saviour of the world to shame For though he will not die and rise again to convince them yet he will come and appear again to condemn them He will be revealed from Heaven in flaming fire taking vengeance of all them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power 2 Thess i. 8 9. Let us therefore take good heed to our selves that we be neither faithless nor unfaithful to our belief But let us settle such an unmoveable faith in our Souls upon these strong foundations which God hath laid for it and let us so stir it up by new reflections every day on what we believe that we may have our portion among those who are spoken of in the next words ver 10. When he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe But some perhaps will pretend that there are so many things to hinder every man from doing his duty that though he believe never so well and think obedience never so necessary yet he shall never be able to comply with the commands of the Lord Jesus but must be forced to break them even after he hath resolved the contrary To this S. John hath here also taken care to give us an answer when he tells us that such is the power of Christian Faith that by it we OVERCOME THE WORLD ver 4 5. For whatsoever is born of God OVERCOMETH THE WORLD and this is the victory that OVERCOMETH THE WORLD even our faith Who is he that OVERCOMETH THE WORLD but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God V. That is the next thing therefore which I am to give a brief account of that our Lord expects which he would not do if he did not endue us with sufficient strength that in the vertue of this Belief we should get the better of all temptations which stand in the way of our duty and would hinder us from the performance of it By the WORLD with which we are to conflict till we overcome is partly understood wicked men xv John 18. partly the tribulations and miseries we may here endure by their and other means xvi Joh. 33. and partly the allurements and enticing enjoyments wherewith all our senses are entertained 1 John ii 15 16. All these oppose us and set themselves against us either by discouraging or else flattering us from our known duty It is hard to be the object of hatred contempt or scorn harder to endure also poverty hunger restraint and such torments as the Apostles and other blessed Martyrs suffered and perhaps hardest of all to resist the perswasions of pleasure which prosperity and wordly Glory bring along with them What must a Believer do when he is thus beset Must he be content to yield himself too weak to deal with these enemies Must he let the WORLD have the day and declare that it was impossible to stand against its mighty forces Or will it be sufficient to enter into a conflict with them if it be but to say that he was not false or cowardly though he suffer himself to be over-powred by them No the Faith of Jesus is stronger than so if it be deeply rooted in our hearts and will enable us to master all these which seem to be no equal match for us Their strength lies only in the weakness of our Faith If we stand fast as the Apostle speaks in the faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel they will lose their force and flee before us and leave us victorious These six Witnesses are such Champions if I may so call them that the Faith which is led by them and firmly relies upon them cannot come off basely but must needs be triumphant 1. As for the hatred of men and their despisal alas what a contemptible thing does it seem how
devoutly obey For He alone hath purged mens hearts by his truth and set due bounds to their desires and fears shewing them the chiefest Good to which they should tend and the way whereby it may be attained Nor hath He onely shewn it but he hath gone before us in it lest any should shun the course of Vertue because of the difficulty that attends it Let the way of perdition and deceit therefore be forsaken in which death lies concealed under the inticements of pleasure And the nearer any man by reason of his years sees that day approaching in which he must depart this life let him cast in his mind the more seriously how he may go away as pure as may be how he may come innocent to his Judge and not as those whose minds are blinded how he may satisfie his lusts more greedily before he go Let every man deliver himself out of that gulph while he may while he hath some power and convert to God with his whole Soul that he may securely expect that day in which God the Lord and Governour of the World will judge every man's works and thoughts Let him not onely neglect but fly from those things of which men are now so greedy Let him look upon his Soul as better then these fallacious goods whose possession is uncertain and fading For they go away continually more swiftly then they come and if we could enjoy them to the last they must be left to others We can carry nothing away but a life piously and innocently led He shall come rich and wealthy to God whom Continence Mercy Patience Charity and Faith shall wait upon This is our Inheritance which can neither be taken from any man nor transferred to another And whosoever is desirous of it may have it if he please But let no man trust in Riches nor in Dignity nor in Kingly Power these do not make us immortall Let us give our mind to Righteousness which alone will be our inseparable Companion till it bring us to God As long as we live let us continue our warfare unweariedly let us keep our watch let us valiantly encounter with the enemy that being conquerours and triumphing over the vanquisht adversary we may receive from our Lord the reward of Vertue which he hath promised There is the greatest reason I have demonstrated to expect it with such a lively Faith as was in the first Christians in whose words I have chosen to deliver these things rather then mine own who confidently looked Death in the face in whatsoever shape it appeared and were not in the least daunted at the sight of it There were innumerable experiments made of it not onely in Men but in Women and Children as the great Athanasius * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. p. 80 c. justly glories Who takes this to be no small token of the abolishing death so that it had no power but was indeed dead it self that it was contemned by all the Disciples of Christ Before whose Divine appearing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was dreadfull to the Saints themselves who bewailed and lamented those that died as if they were lost But since our Saviour rose from the dead it is no longer terrible but all that believe on him tread it under foot as if it were nothing and chuse rather to die then deny the Faith of Christ For they know certainly that the dead do not perish but that they both live and shall also be made incorruptible by the Resurrection That Evill one the Devill who heretofore by death insulted over us is himself alone now left truly dead Of which this is a sign that whereas before men believed on Christ they lookt on Death as very formidable since they embraced his Faith and Doctrine they do so much slight it that they run chearfully to it and become Witnesses against him of our Saviour's Resurrection Mere Children make nothing of it The weaker Sex so weak is he that had the power of Death now grown who were formerly deceived by him laugh him to scorn as one that is dead and hath lost his power Just as a Tyrant when a lawfull Prince hath vanquisht him and bound him hand and foot is despised and made a mocking-stock by all that pass by him who no longer fear his rage and cruelty even so is Death being overcome by our Saviour trampled upon by all his Disciples who bearing witness to their Master deride it in those words of the Apostle O Death where is thy Victory O grave where is thy sting What conquests hast thou to brag of now Behold we are all made alive through Jesus Christ our Lord. Mankind it is certain naturally abhors Death and the dissolution of their Body and therefore it is no small demonstration of our Saviour's victory over it that he hath so changed the nature of man as to perswade even children in Christ and tender girls to make no account of this Life and with joy to think of Death It may seem to some an incredible thing that Death should thus have lost its power but so it doth that there should be a cloath made of an Indian stone which fire cannot burn or that a mighty Tyrant notwithstanding all his forces should on a sudden be subdued and held in chains by no visible power Let him that doubts of either of these put on that cloath or go into the Dominions of the Conquerour and he shall be satisfied of the weakness of the fire and of the Tyrant In like manner if we meet with an Unbeliever who after so many Wonders and so many Martyrs of Jesus Christ makes a doubt whether Death be destroyed and a period put to his Kingdome we cannot blame his admiration at so great a thing provided he do not harden himself in infidelity nor impudently oppose those things which are most evident Let him for his satisfaction doe as he that would know whether such a Tyrant as I now spoke of be vanquished go into the Conquerour's Country submit himself I mean to Christian instruction and receive the Faith of Christ and then he shall soon see the weakness of Death and the victory that is got over it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For many who were once not onely Vnbelievers but Mockers have afterwards believed and so contemned Death that they have become Martyrs for Christ 's sake I pray God these Treatises may have the like happy effect upon some doubting or unbelieving Soul who shall vouchsafe to examine the Evidence I have produced for the Christian Faith Against which I beseech such persons not to shut their eyes nor harden their hearts in infidelity If they will condescend so far as to consider what we say they may of Scoffers become such zealous Assertours of the power and glory of the Lord Jesus as to be willing and ready though there will be no occasion I hope to try their resolution to testify their love to him and
pleasures here as you may clearly discern from what hath been said consisting in a vehement motion which is very transient and quickly slips away we must rest a while before we can renew it and begin the motion again The duration of the present is short but there are long pauses made before another succeeds For no man can always eat and drink or every moment enjoy any other delight much less can he always attend to what he enjoys though the attention is that which makes the delight But now quite contrary this pleasure that flows from the Vision of God is of such a nature that it is always felt and injoy'd For being firm and steady fixt and unchangeable like God himself it is not received by piece-meal and at certain seasons as our pleasures here are but is full and all together without any space between to disjoyn its parts Which makes those happy souls live in one continued compleat happiness and joy which doth not pass away but still remains They can always love him always praise him always feel a sense of his goodness trickling down their hearts and filling them with ineffable joys without any ceasing Who would not then by a short course of Piety here which must be oft interrupted by sleep and other necessary occasions and it is well if not by many failings run towards this never-discontinued life of happiness in the other world Who would not wish and strive to enjoy such a Good as will never suffer him to be out of enjoyment None sure but they who though they cannot always eat and drink and take their pleasure yet have their hearts so sunk into such delights that they cannot receive any taste of these celestiall entertainments Do but spend a serious and stedfast thought upon them do but give your selves a true gust of them and you will sooner cease to eat and drink then to hunger and thirst after them III. For this word ETERNALL you will soon see in the most obvious acception of it denotes the perpetuity and everlasting duration of this uninterrupted and unintermitted LIFE or state of highest Happiness If we should suppose it to be but of a short continuance yet such is the pleasure of it I have shewn you so satisfying are its joys that any man of sense would chuse rather to spend seventy or eighty years there then to pass them in this miserable world Nay one day of that life is better then a thousand of ours and much rather should we wish to have the meanest place in those celestiall mansions then the greatest preferments on this Earth But besides that it is so transcendently sweet and delicious you must now consider that this LIFE knows no term nor period but lasts as long as him that is the Authour of it He never began to be the Lord and to be Good as Clemens Alex. concludes his V. Book being alway what he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor will he ever cease to doe good though he bring all things to an end Still holy Souls will enjoy the sweet fruits of his love when all things here wither and perish He is the Eternall God blessed for ever from everlasting to everlasting and changes not And such will the state of happiness be to which our Lord will bring his servants to a Crown of glory that fadeth not away 1 Pet. v. 4. to a building of God not made with hands 2 Cor. v. 1. eternall in the heavens xii Heb. 28. to a kingdom that cannot be shaken to a light that is never sullied with any cloud and can never be put out to a splendour and glory that is neither eclipsed nor ever impaired for it is the Glory of God the enjoyment of his eternall brightness which as it is not broken by sleep nor interrupted for a time by any of our earthly employments so much less shall it break off by death and cease to be for ever This is the very Crown as I said at the beginning and the perfection of the Happiness we expect This makes it to be absolute Bliss because it wants not that continuance which all our enjoyments here desire but still complain they cannot have Which some anciently thought they saw most lively represented in the History of the Creation of the World where there is a constant mention as the Hebrews observe Pirke R. Eliezer c. 18. of the evening and the morning making one day till the whole six days-work was ended The evening and the morning were the first day saith the Text i. Gen. 5. And the evening and the morning were the second day vers 8. And so you reade of all the other six till you come to the seventh wherein God ended the work which he had made and rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made ii Genes 2. But it is not said here as it is in the conclusion of all the former days that the evening and the morning were the seventh day And therefore they lookt upon the Six days as a Calendar of the severall Ages of this World in which there is a continuall vicissitude of day and night of light and darkness pleasure and grief labour and rest and one generation goes that another may come till all have an end But the Seventh day in which they found no mention of evening and morning they took to be an emblem of that happy Sabbath and perfect repose we shall have in the other Life L. vi contra Cels p. 317. when as Origen speaks we have done all our work faithfully and left nothing undone After this says he follows the day of God's Sabbath and Rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. in which all pious Souls that have finished their work as God did his ascending up to the Spectacle above and the generall assembly of the just and blessed shall feast together with God and keep his everlasting Sabbath of joy and gladness and peace without any succeeding sadness and sorrow or any conclusion of their happy enjoyments Of which also the happy condition of the Hebrews after they came out of their Egyptian bondage was some kind of figure for it is called by the name of a Sabbath or Rest which God gave them from their hard labours and when they come thither they are said to come to their rest In like manner the Apostle speaking of the Christian Happiness calls it by the same name and proves that there still remains another Rest for the people of God iv Heb. 9. And the Spirit it self saith xiv Rev. 13. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord that they may rest from their labours There is nothing we can enjoy in this life but besides that it is short we must attain that short enjoyment by much labour We must not have it with perfect ease but with toil and pains and the sweat of our brows Or if it come at a cheaper rate yet it will stand
to search how full it is Alas what shallow brains have we to contain a wide and deep Ocean what weak eyes to look stedfastly upon the most glorious Light of heaven How much too short and narrow are our thoughts to compass an Eternall duration When we have done all we can the best way I think to our satisfaction will be to have recourse to a passage from the mouth of God himself wherein we must rest our selves contented It is in the xxi Rev. 7. where St. John was told by him who sat upon the throne ver 5. that He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son A most marvellously-large Conveyance is here delivered to us from him who hath all that can be in his possession The Great Lord of Heaven and Earth makes us a grant in these words so exceeding full that we cannot desire it should run in more comprehensive terms For by this promise 1. He makes over to us ALL things Heart cannot wish more to make us compleatly happy then he settles upon us for there is no good thing that he will withhold from those that stedfastly adhere to him And observe 2. the tenure wherein we shall hold these vast and large possessions which is as an Inheritance We have an everlasting perpetuall estate made us in all things The terms of this writing are such as if it had run in these words By an eternall indefeasible right he shall possess all blessings For Inheritances it is well known among the Hebrews never failed nor went out of the family They could not be so alienated by sale or gift but they returned in the year of Jubilee to their first owner or his posterity Which makes the word INHERIT in the holy language to signify the enjoyment of a purchace or possession out of which the inheritour can never be thrown and which he cannot quit but shall remain settled in him to perpetuity This St. Paul calls the riches of the GLORY of his inhehitance i. Eph. 18. to signify that our celestiall Patrimony is not onely exceeding large and firmly settled on us but also most noble and brings along with it everlasting honour and renown Which is more fully explained you may note 3. and the reason of it given in the next words I will be GOD to him I will confer that is such benefits on him as are fit for the bounty of the omnipotent Goodness to bestow Look what He was to Abraham in this world to whom he promised to be a God xvii Gen. 7. that he will be to us eternally In blessing he will bless us and be our exceeding great reward The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 GOD answers to the Hebrew word Elohim which doth not respect the Essence of the Almighty but his Providence as * in Psal xiv 1. Genebrard among others hath well observed and signifies as much as the Judge the Moderatour and Governour of the World from whence it is that Judges Magistrates and Rulers are called by this name to whom it belongs to give rewards and punishments And accordingly the Hebrew writers observe that it is never said the Lord will be the God of any persons but when he expresses some singularly-great kindness and stands in a speciall relation of love to them In particular Abarbinell notes upon Deut. vi that he is never called the God of Israel till he had brought them in a wonderfull manner out of the land of Egypt the house of bondage I find indeed that he promised to be their God before when he told Abraham that he would give him and his seed the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession xvii Gen. 8. But he did not begin to be so till he began to lead them thither and in token of their being his they had kept the Passeover and received his Law from Mount Sinai Before this Moses says We were bondmen in Egypt and the LORD brought us out with a mighty hand vi Deuter 21. And the LORD shewed signs and wonders great and sore upon Egypt upon Pharaoh and upon all his houshold before our eyes ver 22. He doth not say in all these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the LORD our GOD but onely the LORD brought us out and the LORD shewed because he speaks of the time before the giving of the Law which was the greatest kindness he did them after they came out of Egypt But as soon as he had made mention of that says Abarbinel in the very next words ver 24. he alters his style and tells them The LORD commanded us to doe all these statutes to fear the LORD our GOD for our good always c. And ver 25. It shall be our righteousness if we observe to doe all these Commandments before the LORD our GOD as he hath commanded us And so he speaks vii 1. When the LORD thy GOD shall bring thee into the land c. and ver 2. When the LORD thy GOD shall deliver them before thee c. and ver 6. Thou art a holy people to the LORD thy GOD the LORD thy GOD hath chosen thee to be a speciall people to himself c. For from the time of his appearing on mount Sinai and so forward says that learned Hebrew Writer He was our God because then we took upon us his Divinity And I think I may as truly observe that till the Resurrection of our Lord from the dead which compleated that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 departure which Moses and Elias discoursed with him about and said he should accomplish at Jerusalem ix Luke 31. we never reade that the Father Almighty is called the God of those who believe in his Son Jesus Then he demonstrated beyond all contradiction that he was their Saviour and mighty Deliverer who would rescue them from the bondage of corruption the fear of death the power of the grave and give them immortall life And therefore then he bids Mary go and tell his Disciples whom he calls Brethren and say to them I ascend to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God xx Joh. 17. This is the first time he is called their God but ever after there is no language more common For as St. i. Eph. 3 17. 1 Pet. i. 3. Peter and St. Paul call him the GOD of our Lord Jesus Christ I suppose because he had raised him from the dead and highly glorified him for his obedient suffering of death so they address themselves to him as particularly related to them and ready to bestow upon them the like blessedness saying i. Rom. 8. 1 Cor. i. 4. iv Phil. 19. 1 Thess iii. 9. I thank MY GOD always c. MY GOD shall supply all your need We rejoyce before OVR GOD c. as you may reade in many places of St. Paul's Epistles Which shews that this promise in the Revelation made after our Saviour's Ascension of being the God of
those who overcome includes in it the bestowing on us the most excellent benefits Because he will be our GOD in a more excellent manner then he ever was yet to men such a GOD as he was to our Blessed Lord himself He will prefer us to live with him in great splendour and glory He will give us an inheritance in a better Country which is an heavenly where all delights flow and never cease to spring up to those happy Souls who shall enjoy the eternall fruits of his greatest love For so he adds 4. and he shall be to me a Son A Son you know expects the Inheritance of his Father because to him it properly belongs and upon him it descends And therefore to be to GOD a Son is to be made like him and to live with him in that very happiness and bliss which he enjoys So St. Paul expresses it viii Rom. 17. he shall be an heir of GOD a co-heir with Jesus who as the Son of God inherits his Glory He shall participate that is with God in his everlasting life kingdom honour and joy which what it is we are not able to tell no more then we can comprehend what his Majesty is who possesses heaven and earth and is infinite in all perfections But we have the greatest reason that can be to expect so great a bliss because we know that God loves his Son Jesus and hath given ALL THINGS into his hand iii. Joh. 35. We are sure that God hath made him most blessed for ever He hath made him exceeding glad with his countenance Honour and Majesty hath he laid upon him and his glory is great in his Salvation xxi Psal 5 6. Now it is most evident you may again observe 5. that the generall intendment of this promise is to put us in hope of being made like to Christ our Elder Brother For he is not ashamed to call us by that name And this being his great Prerogative that he is Heir of all things when the Father of mercy assures us that we shall inherit all things it is as much as to say we shall share with Christ in his large possessions It is easy to note how the Holy Gospell describes our expected felicity in the same terms wherein it speaks of that which Christ our Head enjoys with whom St. Paul says we shall appear in glory and reign with him and have a glorious body like his and in order to it be caught up in the clouds 1 Thess iv 17. which was the manner of his ascension to heaven i. Act. 9. And accordingly here God promises to him that overcomes that he shall inherit all things in conformity still with our Saviour whom he hath appointed heir of all things i. Heb. 2. I cannot say there is any allusion in these words to the Olympick rewards given to the Conquerours in those Combats but so it is that they who overcame there were accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equall to their Gods that is their Hero's or deified men Fabri Agonist L. ii c. 11.16 17. and therefore had Statues erected to their honour and an annuall Pension settled on them for their more noble maintenance But what was this to the reall Divine honour and glory which God will give to victorious Souls To whom he promises not a small Pension or Annuity but an inheritance and that of all things i. e. to shine in the glory of our Blessed Saviour who is King of kings and Lord of lords and can prefer all his Subjects to such a greatness that they shall be more like Gods then men So St. Greg. Nazianzen often speaks that * Orat. xxxvi p. 592. we shall be made Gods in the other World by him that was made Man for us in this It is hard to tell what Heraclitus meant by that speech recorded in Clemens Alexandrinus * L. iii. Padag c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men are Gods Gods are men But it is verified in the Christian Religion which reveals a Divine state to which we shall ascend when we leave the earth by him who came down from Heaven into a vile condition that he might promote us thither Let us study then these words very hard and think often what it is to have ALL THINGS that the love of the Almighty will bestow when in the most eminent sense and in another World he shall become OUR GOD and what it is to have an estate in him that can never be cut off but remains as firm as the Throne on which he sate when he spake these words And then if you believe in him it will fill you with unspeakable joy without entring into particular enquiries to think that you shall be so happy as to be his Sons and Heirs who want nothing that can be desired or he can give And indeed these other words ETERNALL LIFE wherein God's gracious promise commonly runs are of the same import and force with those now mentioned All that we hope for is contained in them As 1. Pardon of Sin without which we cannot take one step toward so great a bliss For death the fruit and punishment of sin will still remain unless sin be pardoned and then what hope can we have of life much less of Eternall life which is therefore perhaps called by the name of Righteousness v. Gal. 5. because it includes our perfect justification and absolution from the guilt of sin without which we could not attain it And 2. it supposes the Adoption of Sons which is begun in this life but not perfected till the next when we shall be made the children of God by receiving a new life from him at the Resurrection of the dead And 3. the Redemption of the Body is another blessing included in it For being raised again it will be freed from its present weaknesses alterations and pains to which it is obnoxious and stand in need of not so much as food and raiment And therefore the time when he will bestow it is called the day of our Redemption iv Eph. 30. To which must be added 4. the carrying of it up to heaven to meet the Lord For being raised a spirituall body it will not be fit for this World but for the other Where 5. we shall rest with him in the celestiall Inheritance and enjoy all the happiness it affords for LIFE you have heard signifies all good things And lastly the Perpetuity of them is plainly expressed in the word ETERNALL which makes the happiness of this heavenly LIFE appear so exceeding great that our present Life compared to it is as Censorinus says of Time in regard of Eternity no more then a Winter's day Let this then suffice us to know that we shall have a perfect enjoyment of all the Good we are capable to receive when we are made greater then we are by the change that shall be wrought in us at our departure hence and at the resurrection of the dead And let our pains
would not be such a Son as he now declared him able to bless all Nations Who it is manifest had him not for their visible Leader as the Israelites had Moses and Joshua to give them a temporall inheritance and therefore were to have his spirituall Divine Benediction in another world where He is the authour of eternall Salvation to all that obey him And lest you should imagine this to be merely a collection of mine own which I have forced out of these words I will refer you to our Saviour's own interpretation of them in that speech of his v. Joh. 26. For as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself Here he teaches us to argue that if he be the SON of God as this voice said he was then he is by the same voice declared to have LIFE in himself because the Father hath so whom his SON his onely SON doth perfectly resemble And he teaches us withall that this is a power communicated to him as he is the Christ for he saith the Father hath given him to have life in himself and that as you reade in the next verse because he is the Son of man that is the great person he promised to send of the seed of Abraham Now we reade of no other time when the Father might be said to have given him this power but now when he owned him for his SON and anointed him as you shall hear with the Holy Ghost to preach the glad tidings of immortal life Now God the Father sealed and authorized him to be the person to whom we must repair for the meat that endureth to everlasting life vi Joh. 27. He declared him now to be the bread of God as he calls himself which gives life to the world ver 33. the bread of life ver 35. the living bread ver 51. the manna which came down from heaven and nourishes to eternall life in short to have all things committed to him that whatsoever things the Father doeth these also you may be sure the Son doeth likewise v. Joh. 19. He doeth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the same equality and perfect likeness of power as Greg. Nazianz * Orat. 36. p. 584. D. expounds the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 likewise in this place So that we need no more doubt of his ability then we do of God the Father's to give eternall life to all his followers II. And that he will imploy his power to make us partakers of it which is the other part of the Record concerning this Eternal Life is manifest from the next part of this voice of God the Father which said in thee I am well pleased He expresses here that he takes a singular delight in this person and bears such a dear affection to him that there is nothing he will deny him Now that hereby is denoted also his exceeding great love and good will towards all those that belong to his Son you may be soon satisfied by observing that these are the very words wherein God declares his loving-kindness towards his Church in the days of Christ lxii Isa 4. There the Lord calls her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hephzi-bah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some Greek versions render it my delight is in her That 's the reason he himself gives of her name as it there follows for the LORD delighteth in thee Where the LXX use the very word in which this voice from heaven is recorded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the LORD is well pleased in thee From whence I think it reasonable to conclude that the same thing being said of both God declared his delight in all Christians and the pleasure he will take in bestowing his benefits on them when he declared himself to be well pleased in this his dear Son whom they acknowledge for their Lord and Master He tells us by this voice that he will be reconciled to us and forgetting our ill behaviour towards him will espouse us to himself as it follows in the Prophet in the tenderest love and rejoice to bestow his choisest favours on us And that this is no inference merely wrung from these words or a notion of my own contrivance you may presently agree if you consider that thus John Baptist in all likelihood understood them For seeing Jesus a little after he had baptized him coming towards him he cried out Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world i. Joh. 29. And again the next day after this he pointed two of his Disciples unto Jesus and said in part the very same words Behold the Lamb of God ver 36. Now what is it to be the Lamb of God but to be a Sacrifice of God's own appointment so pleasing and acceptable to him that it obtains all the ends for which it was offered And what is it to take away the sins of the world but by overcoming all the temptations to which Adam yielded and being obedient even to the death to restore us unto a right of entring Paradise again from whence our Sins have excluded us to open the Kingdom of heaven to all believers by removing as I may say the flaming Sword that is taking those obstacles out of the way that debarred us from approaching to the Tree of life This no doubt is the compleat meaning of Carrying away the sins of mankind which are the onely impediments that hinder us from the enjoyment of immortality and therefore being gone we have free leave to return to it Now John the Baptist had no other ground that we can find for this Conclusion but onely this Voice which I proved he heard from the Father concerning the pleasure which he took in his Son Whereby he did as good as affirm that his delight in Jesus who delighted to doe his will was so great that he would restore us into his ancient love for his sake and be perfectly appeased and reconciled to us by his means so that we should be no longer banished from his blessed presence but by the forgiveness of our sins be placed again in that happy state from which we had stood so long exiled II. Now from hence let us pass to take a review of the Second Testimony of the Father to him where we shall find the same thing recorded again that He hath given us eternall life and that this life is in his Son i.e. it is in his power to give it The places are well known where we may meet with it in xvii Matt. and other Evangelists which tell us that Jesus being on an high Mountain with three of his Disciples who were wont to attend him on particular occasions was transfigured before them and a voice came from Heaven which said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him It would be too tedious to speak of this Mountain and his Transfiguration there in such a glorious manner that his Countenance
verily I say unto you he that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life v. Joh. 24. let us take it for as express a declaration from God the Father as if that voice which required them to hear Jesus had said You that are obedient to my Son have everlasting life and are in no danger to perish being translated from the dominion of death to be heirs of life II. And now from the consideration of the words that were spoken let us pass to the manner wherein they were delivered which is so vastly different from that wherein God spake formerly to Moses and the children of Israel from another mountain that I cannot but think it was intended to signifie something of the grace of Eternall Life which Jesus brings to us When he was transfigured and his face shone as the Sun the Evangelist tells us moreover that his raiment became glistering exceeding white as snow and that a bright cloud also overshadowed them out of which the voice before named came saying This is my beloved Son c. Which if it be compared with former divine Manifestations of the same kind we may reasonably look upon as an indication that this Person came to discover 1. something more glorious then Moses had done and 2. something that expresses more abundant love and kindness of God towards men which is nothing else but Eternall Life First I say something more glorious and resplendent or as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. iv 6. the light of the knowledge of the glory of God which we behold in the face of Jesus Christ For the Mount to which Moses went up and where he and the people heard God speak to them was all covered with clouds and thick darkness Thus God himself told him beforehand he would appear xix Exod. 9. And so he did when the day prefixed for it came vers 16 18. Unto that thick darkness Moses drew near xx 21. And the people also stood underneath the mountain beholding it burn with fire into the midst of heaven with darkness clouds and thick darkness iv Deut. 11. xix Exod. 17. All which places the Reader may be pleased to consult together with xxiv Exod. 18. where we find that Moses went into the midst of this cloud and there was covered and quite obscured from their sight A very fit emblem of the obscurity of the knowledge which they then had of God and of his will and of the terrours of the Law which was a ministration of death as the Apostle speaks and so astonished them with the thunders and lightning which came out of the cloud that they fled and stood afar off xx Exod. 18. As on the other side God appearing now to our Saviour in a quite contrary manner on the top of another Mountain where there was no black cloud though it was in the night no smoak or sulphureous vapour much less a thick darkness hiding him from his Disciples sight nothing but a bright and lightsome cloud which overshadowed them and shewed them the glory wherein he shone it was a lively representation of the light which he the Light of the world came to give to them that sate in darkness and in the shadow of death and of the glory and bliss whereof he was the Minister unto which he invited mankind in words of grace and sweetness as he did his Disciples to stay here on the mountain by those chearfull beams wherewith the glory of the Lord surrounded them For this manner of appearing as I said Secondly plainly suggests some greater manifestation of the love and kindness the goodness and bounty of Heaven to mankind then had been made before in that way of revelation to Moses which was so much different from the sweetness and amiableness of this When Moses conversed with God upon mount Sinai he descended thither in Fire as the places before mentioned tell you And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire in the eyes of the children of Israel xxiv Exod. 17. v. Deut. 22 23. But when our Blessed Lord took his Apostles with him to a sight of the Divine Glory there was onely the appearance of a wonderfull bright and chearful light some mild rays from heaven which had nothing of terrour in them but ravished them with joy to find themselves in so glorious a Presence And therefore they were not left at the foot of this high mountain as Moses left the Israelites at the bottom of the other but he brought them up with him xvii Matth. 1. And they were not put into a fright as the Israelites were who removed their station at the sight of the fire on mount Sinai nor did they shriek as their Forefathers did there who cried out saying Why should we die for this great fire will consume us if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more we shall die Speak thou with us and we will hear but let not God speak with us lest we die v. Deuter 25. xx Exod. 19. But they were ravished out of themselves with the glory of this sight which was so inviting to their eyes that they wisht for no other station but desired to remain perpetually fixed there They were so far from running away that they said Let us make here three Tabernacles as if they meant to pitch there the place of their abode and never take their eyes from so beautifull a Light It is observable also that in the dark Mountain where Moses was together with the fire and thunder and lightnings there was the noise of a Trumpet exceeding loud which made not onely all the people tremble but the whole mount quaked greatly xix Exod. 16 18. And God spake likewise to the people with a great voice v. Deut. 22. wherewith both they were so astonished as to wish never to hear it more and Moses himself also so terrible was the sight together with the noise said I exceedingly fear and quake xii Heb. 21. Whereas on the Mountain where our Lord was transfigured there was not one such frightfull flash nor the least dreadfull sound nothing but his own glistering Body the splendour of Moses and Elias the brightness of a heavenly cloud and this one sweet voice which proclaimed nothing but love and grace in their ears This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him St. Matthew indeed tells us that when the Disciples heard they fell on their faces and were sore afraid xvii 6. But this doth not signify that they were seised with any horrour at the dreadfulness of the sound but onely amazed at the suddenness of the voice and the marvellous splendour of the Light And therefore the other Evangelists do not mention any such terrour after the voice which being accompanied with a glory they had never beheld might well amaze them but did not make them tremble The very
apparition of Angels was wont to be so surprising as to dazzle mens eyes and make them bow their faces to the ground xxiv Luk. 5. And therefore such a glorious splendour as this equalling that of the Sun might well make the Apostles fall prostrate upon the earth in great fear or amazement But then our Lord presently came and comforted them by a gracious touch bidding them arise and not be afraid though they saw such a light and heard such a voice as this to which indeed they had not been accustomed but was the most amiable and ought to be the most welcome of any that could salute the eyes and ears of mankind St. Mark it is observable says that before this voice came out of the heavenly glory they were sore afraid ix 6. i. e. were so amazed at such an unwonted sight or as Proclus * Orat. viii in Transfigur Domini calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the strangeness and unexpectedness of the Divine Brightness shining on them that it put them quite beside themselves But that it was a sweet mixture of those devout passions fear and joy is manifest from the foregoing verse with which those words cohere where you reade they were so delighted and ravished with the sight that they thought not of going down from thence any more but were projecting for their perpetuall habitation in that happy place Which Rapture seems to have been a foretaste of the joy which they were to expect when he should ascend to that glorious state which was now represented in his Transfiguration on the Mount Before I conclude this I shall here take notice as I pass to what remains of something that may help to prove our Lord Jesus is the person by whom God always intended to speak his mind to the World For it was at this very time when the Israelites by reason of the terrible sights and thundring noises desired God they might hear his voice no more that he promised to speak to them by such a Prophet as Moses and in a more familiar manner requiring them to hear that person when he came and spake as they themselves desired So you reade xviii Deut. 15 16 17 18. where when they say Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God neither let me see this great fire any more that I die not the Lord said They have well spoken I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and I will put my word in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I have commanded him Which was perfectly fulfilled in our Blessed Saviour whatsoever lesser meaning it might have before who spake the words of God and not of himself but as the Father gave him commandment and was a Prophet like to Moses as in other regards so in this that he was with God upon the Mount heard him speak there to these Israelites his Disciples is commended to them as the person they should hear but in a voice so sweet and in a way so agreeable that they did not wish never to hear it more but rather always to be so happy as to have such friendly converse with Heaven and receive such tokens of God's Fatherly love For as the fire and smoak and darkness together with those terrible noises were testimonies from God to Moses that they who would not hear him but transgressed his Laws should be the objects of his dreadfull displeasure and be destroyed from among their neighbours So this universall light and brightness which smiled on them in the cloud and in his raiment and in his countenance and in his company when these gracious words sounded in their ears were most manifest tokens from heaven of the extraordinary favour of God towards those that obey the Lord Jesus who shall be saved from death and made exceeding happy and glorious The far greater part of the Precepts of the Law being negative as is evident even from the Ten Commandments to say nothing of the computation which the Jews have made of the whole it abounds more with Threatnings and fearfull denunciations of Judgement then it doth with gracious and inviting Promises But most of the Precepts of the Gospell being affirmative obliging us to doe all the good we can and to be abundant in the work of our Lord you reade therefore more frequently of exceeding great and precious Promises to incourage our labour of love then of Threatnings to deterr us from evill doing And consonant to this as that frightfull appearance of old on Mount Sinai was to shew God's anger and fiery indignation against offenders so this comfortable Presence now on Mount Tabor was to represent his loving-kindness and tender mercy to all obedient persons And as the anger of God declared by the fire and smoak was his inflicting Death upon them so his good will declared by this friendly light and clearness in the heavens is his bestowing upon us Life And as by the former Moses was noted by God to be the Minister of death to all transgressours so our Lord was hereby represented as the Minister of Life and Righteousness to all that in him live godly Now that all these Observations are not the product of mere fancy but have some reall truth in them this is none of the least arguments That the Jews themselves * Pirke Eliezer c. xl make it a Question worth the answering why God uttered his voice to Moses out of the midst of the fire and darkness and not rather out of the midst of light Which is a plain acknowledgment of the nobleness and perfection of this way wherein God manifested himself upon the Holy Mount as St. Peter calls it and that it was far more desirable then that wherein he appeared to Moses else they would not have moved this doubt and endeavoured so laboriously to solve it pretending that it was onely to shew in what a dismall condition they were without the Law which was not to be sent till after forty days were past during all which time the Court of the heavenly King was hung with black and not with white Which as it is a frivolous conceit so hath no truth in it For God spake the Ten Words or Commandments out of the fire and smoak before Moses went to stay in the Mount forty days where he onely received the pattern of God's House which he was to make and all belonging to it together with the Two Tables whereon those X Commandments were engraven All the rest of the Laws were spoken to him out of the Tabernacle of the Congregation after he had built it i. Levit. 1. and we do not find then the heavens hung with white to use their phrase as they were now when he spake concerning our Saviour and bad his disciples hear him But I intend not to trouble my self with confuting their idle fancies The use that I make of this Question is That if they would have thought
doctrine of happiness to us which his own people so abhorred we should partake of if God the WORD had not made him infallibly assured of it Nay how could he have preached it so long unless as he there speaks he had obtained help of God who countenanced his preaching and approved this testimony of his concerning his Son Jesus by the mighty power of the Holy Ghost He himself also testified the strong belief he had of the Resurrection and of the Glory that shall be revealed by his labouring so abundantly as he did in the work of the Lord to whom he was desirous to express an extraordinary affection because his grace and love had so abounded towards him He thought he could never in the least requite his kindness and therefore would not gain one farthing not so much as a bit of bread by this preaching But though he might have lived by the Gospel chose rather to work with his own hands to support himself and those that were with him that he might win the more Souls to his Master by making Religion without charge to them A great argument of his zeal to serve his Lord and promote his honour and of his firm belief of immortall life where he desired onely to have his services rewarded Which is excellently expressed by the forenamed Asterius when he says that he refused so small a recompence of his infinite labours as a daily provision for his body which was so often beaten and bruised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that receiving nothing upon Earth he might lay up all in Heaven VI. And therefore you may observe that his service was so acceptable to our Saviour that he gratified him here in this world above our mortall condition and to give him an earnest or pledge of the good things to come and the honour should be done him there he did him the favour to transport him into the Third heaven and another time into Paradise where he saw Visions and heard words too glorious for him to utter or us to understand in this present state 2 Cor. xii 3 4. This was a farther confirmation which the Eternall WORD gave of his power to give Eternall Life and of his intentions to take us up unto himself For he was carried thus above the clouds by the power and favour of Jesus who hereby bare witness to himself how glorious he is and how able to advance his faithfull Disciples to the same height of heavenly felicity For he says it was a man in Christ one who by the happiness of belonging to him had this noble priviledge bestowed on him And he gives this as an instance of the Visions and Revelations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the LORD ver 1. which is the title of Jesus most frequently in the New Testament who is LORD of all x. Act. 36. He snatcht him up into the Heavens He transported him no body knows how to the celestiall habitations And either by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Greg. Naz * Orat. ii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 550. distinguishes them a rapture of mind in the body or the ascension of his mind quite out of the body or the assumption of both for a time into those regions above he let him see strange sights and hear such words as are not to be spoken with our tongues Which was a very full demonstration of the Majesty of our Blessed Saviour and of his ability to translate us to those heavenly places and of his purposes likewise to make us at last so happy Behold here the glory of the Christian Religion whose Authour is so highly exalted that he exalts this Minister of his far above the greatest persons in former times The translation of Elias as the often named Asterius speaks * Ib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. out of this world wherein we are is every-where celebrated as a wonder But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how far he went no Revelation hath explained Perhaps he was not carried very high above the Earth by that power which lifted him up to the place which was destined for his habitation But the translation of St. Paul was far more illustrious and famous the very place being noted to which he was carried and that no inferiour one but almost half way to the highest heavens of all Let the Hebrews hereafter cease to pride themselves in the honour that was done to Moses who alone went up to the top of mount Sinai and was in the midst of the clouds and darkness which appeared there My Paul in stead of a mountain ascended into heaven and in stead of a cloud was carried beyond the air that is above the clouds And very fitly for it became a Man of Christ to outstrip Moses as much as the Old Law was excelled by the Gospell that St. Paul preached which he calls the Mystery hid from ages and generations but now made manifest to the Saints or Christians to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in us the hope of glory i. Col. 26 27. III. And here now let us leave the history of this great Man and pass to the Third Testimony which the WORD gave of this truth to St. John Who as he is the onely person that after the other Evangelists had set down the genealogy of our Lord according to the flesh expounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Proclus * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaks the Eternall subsistence without any beginning of God the WORD and his generation of the Father before all worlds so he hath gathered here together more clearly then any of the rest all the Evidences and grounds of the Christian Faith and also received the most full and pregnant demonstrations of what he hath particularly recorded concerning Eternall life in the Son of God For when our Blessed Lord the WORD made flesh whom he beheld ascending into heaven appeared to him from thence in a most glorious manner you may observe I. That he sufficiently declares his power to doe what he pleases by taking to himself that very Name and Title whereby God the Father Almighty sometimes revealed himself to the Prophets You reade in the xli Isa 4. xliv 6. the Lord the King of Israel and his Redeemer saith I am the first and the last which is the very same with those words i. Rev. 8. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord c. those two being the names of the first and the last letters in the Greek Alphabet as A and Z are the first and last in our Christ-cross-row Now if you look farther into this book of the Revelation you will find that in this very style our Blessed Lord speaks of himself In the very beginning of the Visions there recorded St. John heard one call to him with a loud voice as of a trumpet saying I am Alpha and Omega the first
and the last i. Rev. 11. and turning about to see who it was that spake to him our Saviour appeared in the form and shape of a King and Priest shining in glory as you reade vers 12 13 c. And thus he concludes his Revelation as he had begun xxii 13 16. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end c. I Jesus have sent my Angel to testify unto you these things in the Churches Which is a demonstrative argument that Eternall Life is in him and that he wants no power to effect any thing he hath promised being equall to the Father Almighty whose Name else he would not have assumed II. And if we examine the sense and meaning of this Name we shall still be farther convinced that he will undoubtedly imploy his power to bestow upon us that Eternall Life which is in him For when the Almighty calls himself the First and the Last he either declares that he is the ETERNALL who gave being to all things and remains after they are all dead and gone or else as Oecolampadius and Calvin understand those words in Isaiah that he is the IMMUTABLE from first to last constant to himself and his promises Which is the gloss of R. Solomon upon the words who refers them to the help and assistence which God would give to the last as well as the first of Abraham's children What he had been to Israel the same he would still be He had at the first taken them to be his people and therefore in the latter days he would still own them and shew his speciall affection to them I see no reason why these two expositions should be thought so inconsistent as to exclude one the other when they may both be very well joyned together And then our Lord intends by the assumption of this Title that St. John and all the Christian Churches should look upon him as the Eternall God able to perpetuate his love and mercy towards them world without end and as alway the same unchangeable Wisedom and Goodness whose mind and will is no more alterable then his power but remains as firmly fixed as God the Father Almighty doth So that look what God the Father now is or hath been or what himself hath ever been to the body of his Church the same He will still continue immutably to our endless happiness If God the Father was and is and will be the Alpha or beginning the same is He likewise All things come from him to his Church of which he is the Founder by him it subsists and continues and he hath such a creative power in him that he can give all blessings even Life everlasting to it For though we die yet he is the Omega who remains still in being after all the world is buried in its ruines and therefore can quicken our dust and ashes and gather them up to himself and make them glorious God the Father raised him from the dead and gave him glory and therefore seeing He hath the same power as appears by these titles He can doe as much for us and give us a glorious resurrection In this God the Father faithfully fulfilled the promises he had made him of glorifying him with himself and therefore we may be confident he will be as true to us and make good all the promises he hath left us for our incouragement in his obedience because he is perfectly such as his Father is And to come a little nearer to that interpretation which Rabbi Solomon gives of the words of the Prophet where this expression is first used our Lord would have us think that as God the Father Almighty having begun to shew mercy and favour to Israel would not fail to go on and continue the same kindness to the end so He being likewise the ALPHA having begun that is to raise himself a Church and to doe great things for it even to die and purchase it with his bloud would undoubtedly be the OMEGA finish that is his own work and bring that of which he had laid the foundation to an happy conclusion never ceasing his kindness till he had perfected his Saints in that Life he had begun to bestow upon them Or as he began in this world to raise men from the dead to bestow upon them other great benefits to make them very precious promises of greater favours and to seal them with his bloud so he would have them rest assured he would continue to the end to doe them good and at the last raise all his faithfull servants from the dead and take them up to live with himself and in the mean time perform every other promise he had made for their present satisfaction and support in this troublesome world As he died for them so he would have them make account he lived for them because he is always the same at last the very same that he was at first And therefore since he lives they might expect to live also III. But he did not leave them merely to draw these inferences themselves from that great Name whereby he now made himself known to St. John but immediately after he had told who he was he more clearly and particularly declares this very thing that he hath Life in himself For you reade that St. John beholding him in such glory with a countenance as bright as the Sun when it shineth in its strength which was a sight too strong for our weak eyes to look upon i. Rev. 16. fell at his feet as one dead He was as much astonished at his presence though he knew Jesus loved him as St. Paul was while he was a persecutour of him Which shews that our Lord appeared now in a most amazing glory too splendid for the capacity of his best Friends to endure long without the danger of ceasing to be men For so far were those words which our Lord spake from giving him life that like to those who heretofore beheld the glory of God he was more astonished at what he saw then comforted with what he heard and thought it is probable he should die presently and give up the ghost But in this trembling fit Jesus was pleased graciously to approach and laying his right hand on him bad him not fear nor let that Majesty of God which he beheld in him cast him into such a great consternation It is true indeed says he vers 17. I am the first and the last as I said before that is am invested with all the power of God bearing his Name and Authority but there is so much comfort in this that it ought rather to have transported thee with joy then struck thee with terrour For as it there follows vers 18. I who call my self Alpha and Omega the first and last am he that liveth and was dead I the very same person who loved thee and the rest of mankind so well as to die for you and never made use of my power to your hurt am
and have reserved something peculiar to be given as a testimony of it over and above what I have done my self And that was their speaking with all tongues on a sudden and their prophesying whereby they were inabled to preach to all Nations as he had done to the Jews alone and work the same wonders among the heathen which he had wrought onely in that Country A marvellous evidence this was of the power and glory of Christ to give eternall life in that being absent he did those things by his Apostles which were not performed whilst he was present with them And therefore 8. upon this account the HOLY GHOST thus given to the Apostles and those that believed by their word is called the earnest of the inheritance in their hearts untill the redemption of the purchased possession 2 Cor. i. 22. i. Eph. 14. It was something given them in hand before his second appearing for full redemption to assure them they should as certainly receive all that was behind as they had already received this pawn and pledge of his mighty love And indeed we have all much reason to think that he will doe very great things for us when he appears in his own person as the Holy Ghost assures us he will iii. Act. 19 20. since he hath done so much good to the world by the Apostles his Deputies who were men like to our selves If his Servants brought such blessings to men then what will the Lord himself bring with him at his coming If his Ministers restored dead men to life again the Master sure will bestow a life as much excelling that which they restored as he excells his Officers In short if the people lookt so earnestly on two poor Fisher-men when they had cured a man lame from his mother's womb iii. Act. 12. much more will the Lord of glory draw the eyes of the world to him by doing astonishing things for his people when he shall come as the Apostle speaks 2 Thess i. 10. to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe He will give such a glory to us as will be much for his own credit and reflect glory on himself He will not so much consult what is fit for us to receive as what is fit for such a Prince as he to give He will cloath us with such honour and glory that it will be an honour to him to have his followers appear in such rich and shining liveries It will set men into admiration to behold the bounty of his royall favour to them and much advance the greatness of this Prince to see such subjects attend him the meanest of which are Kings Nor do we strain our fancies and exalt our hopes above what we can reasonably expect when we look for such high dignities for that we shall be admitted into his heavenly Court and be thus sumptuously apparell'd and magnificently entertained by Angels to wait upon us and carry us to him we are assured by the testimony of the HOLY GHOST which cloathed poor men here with a power greater then the most absolute Monarch on earth ever enjoyed and enabled them to deal greater and richer gifts to men yea to scatter them abroad every day as they past along the streets or did but spred their shadow over them then Kings and Emperours could doe at their Coronation or Conquerours at their most magnificent Triumphs III. And as a farther proof of this we must observe once more that the HOLY GHOST gave its testimony of the Life that is in Jesus and shall be given to us when it fell down upon the common sort of believers as it had done upon the Apostles who were not desirous to keep the miraculous gifts of it to themselves alone but readily communicated them to others It was a great wonder to hear the Apostles speak with tongues and prophesy to see them cure the lame and restore the blind to their sight nay raise the dead to life onely by bidding them live and be well in the Name of Jesus things which no Potentates on Earth as I said before could bestow though they were forward to take to themselves the name of Gods and affected Divine honours But it was a greater wonder to see other illiterate Christians receive the same gifts by the laying on of their hands and invocation of the Name of the Lord Jesus who presently filled them with the HOLY GHOST This was a thing so strange that they could not but look upon it as a token of the most extraordinary Love of God to mankind from whence they might expect as much happiness as the word ETERNALL LIFE I told you imports For 1. nothing ever discovered the capacity of humane Souls so much as this effusion of the HOLY GHOST which shew'd how large and wide they are and how much they can contain and to what degree of excellence they may be improved and raised and that on a sudden by the power of God This gave them a strong tast of what was to come and both made them relish immortall life above all other things and also put them in hope to attain it by the favour of that person who had promoted them to such a sight of it in this vast measure of wisedom and love wherewith they were indued For 2. it could argue nothing less they might very well think then that they who wore such eminent marks of his favour as to have a Crown of life and glory set upon their heads in this world should be raised to far greater honours in the next when they should be more capable of his kindness and nearer to himself And indeed 3. since hereby he dwelt in them and they became the Temples of the Holy Ghost they might be confident he would not suffer so holy a place to be pulled down but in order to the building of it better And since the Holy Ghost also 4. wonderfully inlarged their hearts and made them exceeding desirous as well as instrumentall in conveying such exceeding great benefits to others they could not but look upon it as an undeniable argument of the most bounteous goodness of God who is far more inclinable to doe good then Men can be and more ready to reward our services then we can be to doe our work And considering moreover 5. the promise he had made of ETERNALL LIFE the gift of the Holy Ghost was a marvellous earnest of it and a kind of beginning of it in their Souls What shall an ignorant Sea-man be made a Prophet and speak with all tongues a poor Tent-maker unlock Mysteries and indite spirituall Songs and Hymns a man that yesterday could mend nothing but his Nets now cure a man of a bloudy-flux or mend a lame leg a rude Souldier command Devils and storm his strong holds more easily then a town without walls Lord what light is this might they justly say which shines in our dungeon what power is this wherewith we see frail
Wisedom of God when he had quitted the empty pleasures of the World However fabulous this Story may prove which seems to have been composed in imitation of that Vision of Hercules which many Greek Writers mention you may make it true if you please For behold how the true Wisedom of God our Blessed Lord and Saviour presents himself to you He hath appeared in most admirable beauty and a glorious form to many of his Servants which they have described and left us the picture of In his Gospell he is so lively expressed that we cannot if we look upon him but behold him as the onely-begotten of the Father the brightness of his glory and the character of his person Would it would but please you to listen to the offers he makes you the portion of Life and Glory hereafter together with true peace and contentment here which he will assure to you O that you would but draw a lively image of these things in your mind and represent the King of glory as soliciting your heart to his service Do you not believe that it would be infinitely more obliging then such an apparition as that now named Would it not more easily make you abandon the sinfull pleasures of this world then the other made him forsake the lawfull Would not the beauty of our Saviour and the splendour of his glory in the heavens set before your eyes be more inamouring then any imaginary or reall beauty whatsoever Would not these words of his be more piercing then any other I will give to him that overcomes to inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son Would it not transport our hearts with joy to hear that he will be contracted to us and assure us of such a dowry with himself in the heavens Would it not make all his commands so far from being grievous that we should think them sweet and delicious above all the pleasures wherein sensuall men are drowned He can make no doubt of it that hath not lost his reason and is able to understand what the difference is between such a certain truth as this and a dream and between the commands of our Lord and the obedience which that youth undertook to perform Jesus is certainly in the heavens He sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high He unfeignedly wishes we would be espoused to him He will settle an eternall inheritance upon us and He doth not require us to go into Monasteries and deserts to live like Hermites and Anchorets to immure our selves from all society though if he did we should have no ill bargain of it but onely to retire seriously into our selves and there often meet with him to live soberly righteously and godly while we are in the world to let no company draw us from his precepts nor suffer any creature to rob him of our affection And what a reasonable demand this is you will then see when you heartily believe this ETERNALL LIFE which he hath promised Believe and then you will think there is nothing too much or too hard to be done or suffered for the attaining such a glorious Life with our Saviour Which moved St. Stephen to suffer stoning and St. Paul to be in deaths often and St. John to endure banishment in a most desolate Island and worse things afterward that they might be so happy And let us with honest hearts desirous to be what God would have us beg the assistence of the HOLY GHOST to guide us in this way of understanding which we shall find incomparably the best to settle in our mind a sense of the happiness to come For when the Soul comes to the perfection of the Spirit Macar Hom. xvi xviii wholly purged from all affections and united to the Spirit the Comforter by an unspeakable communion so that by this heavenly mixture it becomes worthy to be a spirit it is all Light all Eye all Spirit all Joy all Rest all Exultation all Love all Goodness and Sweetness It becomes hereby privy to the Counsels of the Heavenly King and knows his Secrets It hath a confidence in the Almighty and enters into his Palace where the Angels and the spirits of the Saints are though it be as yet in this world For though it hath not attained the intire inheritance prepared for it there yet it is secure from the Earnest it hath received as if it were crowned and possessed of the Kingdome Who would not labour then to be so happy not onely hereafter but also here Georg. Nicomed in concept S. Annae there in possession and here in hope What a work is it to ascend up into heaven What laborious steps can lead us to so great an height What are the sweats of this mortall life to those eternall recompences By what pains shall we be worthy of friendship with our Maker How shall we make our selves a proper habitation for him to dwell in For he hath said I and my Father will come and dwell in him that loves me and keeps my Commands This is the end of the Good we have in hope this is the heavenly Kingdom this is the enjoyment of eternall pleasure this is the never-ceasing joy the perpetuall triumph the retribution transcending all our labours nay all understanding There are no labours no not in thought equall to this recompence of reward They all fall so infinitely below it that for mean for inconsiderable pains our transcendently-good Lord will give an enjoyment far surpassing all our thoughts All humane endeavours are of no account though we should wear out a whole life in them compared with the future Blessedness Though we should sustain a perpetuall combate all our days though they should be prolonged to an hundred years or to twice as much or thrice or a thousand times and all this while we should contend in a vertuous course we shall seem to have done nothing when we come to confer it with what we shall receive And therefore let us gladly by such small and poor labours strive to purchase these super-sublime recompences and treasure up these never-consuming riches I call those poor and small which not onely seem so to all but the perpetuall combate of an whole Age the most unwearied pursuit of vertue the most incessant and fervent pains in its service For such are the Goods which our munificent Lord will give in exchange for them such are the superabundant riches of his retributions such is the Hyperbole of his loving-kindness and goodness that for few things he will give infinite for beggery the greatest riches for perishing things Goods that last for ever These let us seek and dedicating our selves wholly to the Lord make haste to the obtaining so inestimable a Good Let us consecrate Soul and body to him and be fastened to his Cross that we may be worthy of his Eternall Kingdom giving glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost for ever and ever
5. is most lively represented there But this is not all that is intended by it for even those * Arias Montanus who in that sense were already mortified and renewed by receiving the Holy Ghost before their baptism as Cornelius and his family proceeded notwithstanding to receive that holy washing and by their submersion took upon them the likeness of the dead and by their emersion appeared as men risen again from the dead If there were no other death to be escaped but that in sin and no other resurrection to be expected but that to newness of life why were they who had attained these baptized as dead men and being already dead to sin why again sustained they the image of death out of which they believed and professed they should come This very action of theirs proves that they lookt for another resurrection after death which is the resurrection of the body And this profession of theirs was so much the more weighty as they were the more learned and instructed being already taught by the Holy Ghost By whose power they were already dead to sin and made alive to God and by whose instruction they professed to believe that as there is another death viz. that of the body so they should overcome it by the mighty power of Christ raising their very bodies from the dead There are severall other interpretations of this place as that of Epiphanius * Haeresi 38. who expounds it of those who received Baptism at the point of death but I shall not trouble the Reader with them because they all conclude the same thing that Baptism was a publick profession of the hope of immortality and a Seal also of the promises of God not onely to that particular person who at any time received it but to the whole Church both to the living and the dead Who as oft as Baptism was repeated had an open assurance given them from God by whose authority it was administred that they should rise again to everlasting life And so I shall dismiss this First Witness on Earth which is the more to be regarded because though it be not so great in it self as those which speak from heaven yet to us it is very considerable and cannot be denied by those who cavill at some of the other For all men acknowledge the Life and Doctrine of our Saviour to be incomparably excellent and John the Baptist stands upon record in Josephus for a person of severe and strict sanctity and the whole Christian Church who were not so childish as to build their hope on a sandy foundation but stood immovable as you shall hear like a house upon a rock when all the world storm'd and made the most furious assaults upon them believed thus from the beginning as appears by their holy profession which they made when they entred into the gates of the Church by Baptism The mighty power of which WATER OF LIFE they have thus celebrated with their praises Greg. Naz. Orat. xl Baptism is the Splendour of the Soul the Change of the life the Answer of the Conscience towards God It is the help of our weakness the putting off the flesh the attainment of the Spirit the Communion of the Word the Reformation of God's workmanship the drowning of Sin the participation of light and the destruction of darkness It is the Chariot which carries us to God our fellow-travelling with Christ the establishment of our faith the perfecting of our minds the key of the Kingdom of heaven the foundation of a second life * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. xi At this the heavens rejoyce this the Angels magnify as of kin to their brightness this is the Image of their blessedness We would willingly praise this if we could say any thing worthy of it Let us never cease however to give him thanks who is the Authour of such a gift Greg. Nyssen L. de Baptismo Christi returning him the small tribute of a chearfull voice for such great things as he hath bestowed on us For thou truly O Lord art the pure and perpetuall fountain of Goodness who wast justly offended at us but hast in much love had mercy on us who hatedst us but art reconciled to us who pronouncedst a curse upon us but hast given us thy blessing who didst expell us from Paradise but hast called us back again unto it Thou hast taken away the fig-leaf covering of our nakedness and cloathed us with a most precious garment Thou hast opened the prison-doors and dismissed those that stood condemned Thou hast sprinkled us with pure water and cleansed us from all our filthiness Adam if thou callest him will be no longer ashamed he will not hide himself nor run away from thee The flaming sword doth not now incircle Paradise making it inaccessible to those that approach it but all things are turned into joy to us who were heirs of sin and death Paradise and Heaven it self is now open to mankind The Creation both here and above consents to be friends after a long enmity Men and Angels are piously agreed in the same Theology For all which Blessings let us unanimously sing that Hymn of joy which the inspired mouth in ancient times loudly prophesied I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my Soul shall be joyfull in my God For he hath cloathed me with the garments of Salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness he hath decked me with ornaments as a bridegroom and as a bride adorned me with jewels lxi Isa 10. This adorner of the Bride is Christ who is and who was before and who will be blessed both now and for ever Amen CHAP. X. Concerning the Testimony of the BLOVD the Second Witness on Earth THE next Witness which comes in order to be examined is the BLOUD by which I told you we are to understand the Crucifixion and Death of the Lord Jesus with all the attendants of it This is a Witness which the greatest enemies of Christianity cannot but confess was heard to speak in his behalf The stubborn Jews who will be loth to grant that a voice from heaven declared him the Son of God cannot deny that their forefathers imbrued their hands in his bloud For in the Babylonian Talmud * Vid. Horae Hebr. in Matt. p. 3â—9 Tzemach David ad an 3761. it is delivered as a tradition among them that they hanged Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the evening of the Passeover and that a Crier went before him forty days saying He is to be carried forth to be stoned for conjuring and drawing Israel to Apostasy If any one can speak any thing for him to prove him innocent let him appear It is an hard matter to have any truth from these fabulous people without the mixture of a tale together with it When they cannot gainsay what we believe that their Nation were the great Instruments of his death they endeavour to find false reasons
and his wonders his mighty power and stretched-out arm all the grea◠acts of the Lord as they are called xi Deut. 7. which Chapter be pleased to reade unto that verse which were eminent tokens that GOD had taken the◠to be a peculiar or speciall people to himself as he frequently speaks and was able to fulfill his word to their Forefathers of giving them the Land wherein they were then strangers for their inheritance Just such as this is our case whom He hath called by his Son to an inheritance incorruptible and that fadeth not away reserved i◠heaven for us To obtain an eternall Redemption for us and deliver us out of the hands of all our enemies his own most precious BLOUD was shed as of a Lamb without spot or blemish Whereby also as you have heard he testified to the World that he was no Deceiver but came to them from God with the words of Eternall Life Many things concurred to make this BLOUD a witness of his Truth and of his power to fulfill his own promises And yet notwithstanding this was the very thing that offended many and kept them from following him They could not endure so much as to hear him speak of giving them his flesh to eat and his bloud to drink though he told them thereby he would give life to the World And therefore to strengthen this Testimony of his BLOUD and to convince them evidently that he was the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the World and gives life to it there was another Witness which attended it both before his BLOUD was shed and likewise afterward which was the SPIRIT That is as I shewed in the former Treatise on this subject the power he had to work wonders and the miraculous power which raised him from the dead and presented him to God in the heavens This was abundantly sufficient to prevent any offence they might take at Christ crucified and to settle in their hearts an unmovable belief that he was their mighty Redeemer who would bring them to the eternall Rest which he had promised For this is the last and greatest argument which St. John here produces ver 6. He came no◠onely by WATER but by BLOVD also and it is the SPIRIT that beareth witness for the SPIRIT is the Truth Or as Arias Montanus translates it the SPIRIT is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Witness that undoubted testimony on which we may certainly rely For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that SPIRIT which I speak of is truth an◠infallible Witness which cannot deceive you that Jesus is the Son of God And so it is likewise that Eternall Life is in him and that we shall enjoy it by his means for this RECORD of God is given to make us as sure of the one as we are of the other Let us briefly therefore consider first what his Miracles say to this and then secondly what force there is in his Resurrection and Exaltation to prove it I. And at our entrance upon the first of these let us before we go any farther weigh those words of this Apostle St. John in his Gospell xx 30 31. where he tells us that he wrote the signs which Jesus did suppose after his Resurrection in the presence of his disciples for this very purpose that they might believe that he was the Christ the Son of God and that believing they might have LIFE through his Name They were wrought by Him and recorded by his Disciples for these two ends that the World might be convinced He was the great Lord of all and that they might by faithfull subjecttion to him look for Eternall Life from his omnipotent love It was the design of all his wonderfull works throughout his whole life to which the Apostle may have respect as well as to those after his Resurrection to perswade men to believe that he would make his followers so happy For by these he manifested forth his glory as I observed before of the beginning of his Miracles in Cana of Galilee ii Joh. 11. and declared to the world he could work as great a change upon our mortall bodies as he did then upon the Water making them as much nobler then they are now as the Water excelled it self when it was become Wine They were mighty instances of his Power and of his Goodness too they made him appear to be the King of Israel who was to deliver and bring Salvation to them though much greater then they expected That our Lord did work Miracles is a truth which they that crucified him can no more deny then that he died The wisest of them could never find any colour to affirm that the Gospel-story was but a fabulous Legend which related Wonders that were never done For if they had been able to say this Maimonides the very best of them would not have been put to such distress as to let fall these words which we reade in his Treatise of Kings Cap. xi Do not imagine that the King Messiah shall have any need to work wonders or alter the course of Nature or restore the dead to life again with such like things that fools talk of Had he not known as well that these things could not be denied which are related of Jesus as he did that their force to prove any thing being granted they would be an unanswerable testimony to him he would never have thus slighted as he doth in many other Books things of this nature which brought the greatest reputation to Moses among their ancestours and were the cause why they believed on him though he attempted no such wonder as the raising dead men to life again Our Saviour he was not ignorant very often appealed to his works as the testimony of God to him and thought it sufficient to tell John's disciples when they came to inquire who he was that he opened blind mens eyes cleansed lepers and raised up the dead by which they might answer their own question And therefore something was to be said by this Jew to disparage these upon which he saw the credit of our Saviour in great part relied Now had it not been the readiest way to deny that there were such Miracles wrought Nothing but the notoriousness of the facts made him wave that course which drove him upon this wretched shift of denying utterly that Miracles are credible witnesses to him that works them By this means he thought to rob our Saviour of the glory they brought him and was so blind as not to see that at the same time he took away from his own Master the greatest support he had of his Authority And therefore herein he is deserted by his own Country-men particularly by Abarbinel who as I observed before makes the power of working Miracles one of the principall gifts of the Messiah In which our Lord it is apparent to his very enemies was so eminent that one cannot imagine why he did not believe on him unless with the
in heaven binding whom it would and loosing there according to the power given him As a lion let loose among a company of foxes so did he fall upon the societies of Daemons and Philosophers and like a thunderbolt struck through all the armies of the Devill who was so afraid of him that he trembled at his shadow and ran away if he did but hear his voice He delivered the incestuous Corinthian to him being far distant from the place and again he snatcht him out of his hands being perfectly acquainted with his devices And in like manner he taught others by the same severity not to blaspheme But let us not content our selves merely to admire him let us not onely be astonisht at him let us imitate and follow him What though we cannot doe such miracles as the Apostles did and there is no hunger and other miseries to be endured the times being peaceable and quiet God be blessed yet there is their piety and the holiness of their life to be transcribed which was no less admirable And this is the noblest conflict this is the syllogism which cannot be contradicted this by our Works Should we discourse never so excellently but live no better then others we gain nothing For unbelievers do not mind what we say but what we doe saying Do thou first of all follow thine own words and then perswade others For if thou tellest us of millions of good things in the other world but art so intent upon the things of this as if there were no other we believe thy works rather then thy words For when we see thee greedy to snatch other mens goods bitterly bewailing thy friends deceased and in many other things offending how shall we believe thee that there is a Resurrection Thus unbelievers are hindred from being Christians And therefore having seen how glorious our Saviour is Id. Homil. xii in Johan being instructed in his Religion and made partakers of so great a gift let us lead a life agreeable to our principles that so we may injoy those good things which Christ hath promised For He therefore appeared not onely that his Disciples might behold his glory in this world as they say they did i. Joh. 14. but also in the world to come For I will saith he that where I am they may be and see my glory And if he appeared so illustriously here what shall we say of his glory there O happy thrice happy they more happy then can be expressed who shall be thought worthy of that glory Which if we should be so unhappy as not to see better had it been for us if we never had been born To what purpose do we live and breath what are we if we miss of that Light if we may not be permitted then to see our Lord and Master If those who enjoy not the light of the Sun lead a life more bitter then death how miserable will their condition be who are deprived of that light This loss will be punishment sufficient though this is not all they must expect For being banished from this Light they shall not onely be cast into outer darkness but there burn perpetually and miserably consume and gnash their teeth and suffer a thousand other miseries Let us awake therefore let us look about us let us use our utmost endeavours that we may enjoy the happiness Christ designs for us and be far remote from the river of fire which runs with great noise before the dreadful tribunall Into that if we fall there is no redemption And therefore let us purify our life let us make it bright and shining so that we may have boldness of access to the blessed sight of our Lord and obtain the promised good things through the grace and loving-kindness of Christ Jesus by whom and with whom to the Father and the Holy Ghost be glory world without end Amen CHAP. XIII The Vse we are to make of this RECORD I. AND in the very entrance of so pious a design to improve the great grace which Heaven hath bestowed on us it becomes us to stand amazed at the transcendent love of God our Saviour who not contenting himself to have thoughts and intentions of good towards such wretched Sinners hath been pleased to make us a gracious promise that he will bless us and to acquaint us by no less Messenger then his own Eternall Son appearing from heaven in our flesh with the secret purposes of his heart to give us the greatest Blessedness There is nothing so astonishing as this whether we consider the incomparable excellency of the Good he designs us or the favour he hath done us in revealing it to us or the glory of that person by whom he reveals it or the certainty we have that this is a true report that God hath given to us Eternall Life and this Life is in his Son O most joyfull news shall we poor mortalls live for ever and live there where Jesus is May such as we presume to expect such glory honour and immortality as he hath brought to light by his Gospell O wonderfull love which might have concealed its kindness and yet eternally obliged us It had been enough if we had got to heaven without knowing before-hand we should be so happy Why should such offenders injoy the comfort of hoping for so great a Happiness while we are here in these earthly prisons Might we not have been well contented to creep upon our hands and knees to so high a glory Had we not been fairly used if with our heads hanging down and not daring so much as to lift up our eyes to that holy place we had travelled through this world and at last found our selves beyond all expectation at rest with Jesus But O the love of God which hath bid us hold up our heads and look above and behold our Lord in his glory and hope well yea be confident that he hath seated us together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus We are indebted to him beyond all thoughts for promising us so freely out of his exceeding great love and giving us so evident a right to such glory and honour as our own unworthiness and guilt forbad us to promise our selves or to have the least expectance of And what is it that he hath so freely promised To look into that high and holy place where he is at some distance to behold his glory to have an Angel come sometimes to visit us and bring us some message from him in some of the suburbs of heaven And a great favour too I assure you A very singular kindness it ought to be esteemed if we vile wretches may be permitted to be so happy as but to come near the gates of the celestiall palace Well would it be for us to come but within the sound of those melodious hymns which the heavenly host continually sing or to live but in some of the most remote corners of that heavenly countrey and there enjoy for
then all the glorious host of heaven are such things as they had no imagination of who expected the coming of Christ Much less did they think of being so promoted by him in his heavenly Kingdome that they should at last arrive at the same glory and this clod of earth should be lifted up to the dwellings of Angels and there be fashioned like unto the glorious body of Christ himself These are things as St. Austin you heard said before which are proper to the revelation of the Gospell wherein we reade this unheard-of love so plainly that every child may understand it But without this revelation even they that have got the words sink into the dullest and most gross apprehensions of the future State The Mahometans use these very words to express the felicity they expect in their Paradise saying God hath prepared for his servants such things as eye hath not seen nor the ear heard nor have come up into the heart of man * D. Pocock not ad Gregor Abul Pharaj p. 292. But they mean onely as they themselves explain it virgins with fairer and larger eyes then ever they beheld in this world and such like things which I am ashamed to name beyond which these blockish vicious Arabians were not able to lift their minds They are the words of Maimonides upon this occasion who talks more rationally I shew'd in the beginning of this Treatise then many of his Brethren in whom we find conceptions of the state of the other life little less sensuall then these of Mahomet Blessed be God therefore should we say who hath revealed these unseen unheard-of inconceivable things to his Apostles by his Spirit and made us understand what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints We can never thank him enough who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his leve By whom we understand that flesh and bloud cannot inherit the kingdom of God but we shall be changed and made spirituall and heavenly after the image of him who is the Lord from heaven III. And we are bound to the love of God above all other men in another regard also because he hath given us such Records such Witnesses of this Eternall life far greater then ever the World had seen or heard of before When men saw Abel that first-fruit of righteousness as Theodoret calls him hastily pluckt by the hand of violence before it was ripe and his murtherous Brother Cain survive and take root and build cities there was great danger that men should be tempted to think it was in vain to serve God faithfully there being as yet no hope of the Resurrection to 〈◊〉 mars Souls And therefore God was 〈◊〉 for this reason as * 〈…〉 Theodoret thinâ—â— to manslate Enocâ— a man whose play â—â—â—dingly pleased him to the othere world de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might comfort the hearts of thâ—se who resolutely opposed vice and coâ—â—â—nded for vertue in a wicked Age. And this was apt to revive in all mâ—â—s minds a belief of his Providence and perswade them that piety never went unrewarded but that he who thus honoured Enoch had taken care to recompense righteous Abel Such was the grace of God to men before the law And afterward when the Israelites were greatly degenerate and faln into Idolatry Elias their Prophet was carried in a chariot of fire by a whirlwind into heaven These things were mighty incouragements to good men and were apt to confirm all in the belief of a future life But who is there whose name stands upon record to testify that he saw Enoch snatcht from this mortall life and taken up to God And of Elias his transportation what witness is there more then one till our Saviour's time when three of his Apostles beheld him and Moses too which was more then they knew of appear in glory Whereas we have no â—â—ss then Six Witnesses three in Heaven and three on Earth who many ways testify to us that Jesus is gone into heaven and which is more is on the right hand of God Angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him 1 Pet. iii. 22. All his Apostles likewise saw him ascend thither and he hath appeared to more then one of them since his supereminent exaltation What a vast difference hath his goodness made between us and former times They beheld something of the life to come in Enoch justorum translationem praemonstrans as Irenaeus * Lib. v. cap. 5. speaks who foreshewed the translation of the just but we see it clearly in the Son of God who hath promised to take us up to himself They saw a few beams of this glory in the face of Moses which shone on them when he came down from the Mount but we in the face of Jesus Christ who all the time he was among men shone in such illustrious works that they beheld his glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father and after he ascended to heaven appeared severall times from thence in a light above the brightness of the Sun at mid-day What a vast difference is there between our times and theirs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For faith then was in Shadows as St. Greg. Naz * Orat. xx p. 366. speaks of Enoch's translation and they had not the things themselves clearly revealed to them as we have by the grace of the Gospell which when it appeared was so bright and full of glory that it scattered nay consumed as the other Gregory * Gregor Nyssen Hom. v. in Cantic p. 642. speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all that duskish umbratick representation in types and figures and inlightned all places with the beams of that true light of life and immortality And more then this there is not the least evidence no syllable of any record which testifies that any of these persons had life in themselves to give to their friends or so much as help them forward to Eternall Life No nor do they say that others who fear God shall have the same felicity to which they were carried though their very going thither put pious men in hope of being happy with them in heaven Whereas we have abundant testimonie in so many words that Jesus hath life in himself and is the Resurrection and the Life that we shall live by him and with him that none shall perish who believe on him nor any be able to pluck them out of his hands that He himself will raise them up at the last day and give unto them eternall life v. Joh. 26. vi 57. x. 28. xi 25. vi 40 44 54. Then indeed in those old times was the Infancy of the World and being little Children though they were heirs yet they differed not much from Servants They knew not what their Father intended for them nor understood the inheritance to which they
his father's house were many Mansions xiv 1 2. that is there was room for all comers though never such multitudes The discourse indeed of our Saviour there shews that this is but a fancy yet if we consider the haste men make in any other advantageous offers and how they will strive to prevent and circumvent one another to gain any preferment here in this world they might well think that men would come in as great crowds to heaven as we have seen them sometime come to Church and would all run as men do in a race contending earnestly who should carry away the crown For bonorum quorundam sicut malorum est intolerabilis magnitudo the greatness of some goods as well as of some evills is so excessive and intolerable as Tertullian if I forget not somewhere speaks that it weighs down all that can be cast into the scale against it and suffers not our wills as you have heard to deliberate about it Whence is it then that we see so little care and concern about that far more exceeding eternall weight of glory that good which is so vast that in this state we cannot bear the very thoughts of it In stead of that forwardness which might have been expected there is a strange backwardness so much as to think of these things A prodigious numness and stupidity hath seized on the hearts of Christian people who seem to have no life at all in them To what shall we impute it seeing the Sun of righteousness hath shone so brightly and strongly on them with these chearfull beams of Eternall Life which he hath brought to light through his Gospell Is there any thing here that can pretend to vie with the Eternall Life he hath revealed I will not stay for an Answer the disparity is so great between this and all other goods What is it then which makes men so indifferent Is there little or no hope that God will bestow such great and glorious things upon such vile wretches as we are No he hath promised and prepared them as you have heard and he cannot be worse then his word nor lose all his own preparations What is it then that stifles their endeavours after this immortall bliss Will he not give it but upon very hard terms and such rigorous conditions as are enough to freez the warmest resolutions when we think of them Not this neither For he hath prepared these good things for those that love him And what is there more easie what more pleasant and chearfull then love especially of the first and chiefest Good which will certainly make all our duty as easie and delightfull as it self is Or will you say that we cannot love him it is an impossible Condition For shame consider that the very offer of such glorious things is enough to make us love him intirely if we did believe them Were we perswaded that he will bestow upon good men such happiness with himself so great so long it would inflame our hearts with the most ardent passion towards his service Therefore I have already named the true cause of all mens coldness and sloth After all our search we shall find it nothing else but this They do not believe They are not perswaded of the certainty of the rewards in the other World or have not fixed this belief in their Minds for if they had it would not easily slip out again They are moved strongly by what they see with their eyes and feel with their hands and taste with their tongues but faith hath little or no place or power in their hearts This is proved to be too true by the lives of men which are so base and unworthy as if they did not hope for the happiness of a fly in the other World Therefore every one of our business must be to awaken that faith in our Souls which we profess that Divine principle which is of such force as to overcome the World For it is manifestly true which the Apostle writes that without faith it is impossible to please God We shall never doe any thing worthy of him unless we believe that God is and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him As on the contrary it is no less manifest that if we do believe we shall not onely please him but we shall please our selves in doing so and find it most delightfull to be religious It will marvellously inliven us and infuse as it were a new spirit and soul into us so that we shall differ as much from our selves as the corn doth when it is sown in the ground and when it shoots up again in all its verdure and beauty It will make us adorn our selves I mean with all the fruits of righteousness and beget in us such a spirituall life as will fructify and increase in all good works And here consider first That the things themselves propounded to our belief are such as we cannot but desire it should be true that God intends to bestow them on us Who is there that would not willingly live for ever that doth not think Immortality the greatest prerogative of humane Nature provided we may live always in joy and pleasure in uninterrupted contentments and never-fading delights Though they should be less then our Lord hath promised there is no heart but above all things wishes to be so happy To see onely the beautifull orders of the heavenly hosts the glorious Company of the Apostles the goodly Society of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs the venerable Quire of Pastors the whole multitude of holy men and women who celebrate a perpetuall feast of joy to live in happy friendship with them to love them and to be beloved of them to bear a part in their eternall Song of praise and thanks to God how desirable is it above any thing that we can fansy in this world No man hath so little love to himself as not to wish he might be numbred among those Saints in glory everlasting It 's impossible we should not be pleased with the thoughts of having a consortship in such an incomparable happiness were we but perswaded that it is not a dream but a reall truth There needs nothing more to bring it into all mens favour but onely to be satisfied that there is such an Happiness And that 's the other thing I would propound to your thoughts That as we naturally desire such an Happiness so if we consider the evident demonstations we have of it in the Gospell this and a great deal more appears to be the undoubted inheritance of all good Souls who shall see God and be with our Lord and behold his glory Which wonderfully recommends the Christian Religion to us wherein we are gratified in our most important desires and have those things made sure and certain to us which we would all fain have for our portion For what is the generall intent of the Gospell but to discover to mankind immortall life
hath so contemned it as to prefer a little of this World before it be used as favourably in hell as if he had never heard of it What doth our Saviour mean then when he saith It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment then for those places where the Gospell of God's grace was preached This very thing will make the fire more devouring to think for what poor pleasures or gains they set at nought so stupendious a grace and that withall they have lost those things for which they lost Heaven When they see how inconsiderable all their past delights were it will make the madness seem greater and the more distract and torment their inraged Minds to think how dear they now pay for them The miserable Soul will then continually pour upon it self the hottest and most scalding thoughts of its own gross stupidity and senseless negligence It will flame with anger and burning wrath against it self for the frantick choice which it hath made And rolling it self in the fire of its own fretfull and impatient displeasure will take such a furious revenge upon it self as to become its own dreadfull executioner In this misery it will lie frying for ever sibique perpetuum pabulum subministrabit and afford to it self perpetuall fewell to keep alive the boiling rage and fierce displeasure it hath conceived against it self The stings thereof will be sharper and more frequently returning then any pain which we are now sensible of can represent The flashes of Lightning are not so searching and they will be as quick as the thoughts of a Spirit And what the hideous and dolefull groans of a Spirit are we cannot tell especially that lies under the load of this thought that it might have been as happy as now it is miserable You may take a review of what was said in the beginning concerning ETERNALL LIFE and by that make some judgment of the Misery of those who are so unhappy as to lose it They will be deprived of all that Bliss which the Souls and bodies of the just shall injoy and not be able to avoid the sorest pains which even from thence will necessarily arise For the greater you can suppose their knowledge of God to be in the other World which is the Life of pious Souls so muâ—â— the greater will their sorrow and heaviness be to think that they have lost the favour of the Creatour of the World the Fountain of all Good And when they behold the glory wherein the just appear with our Blessed Lord this will be a new grief to them and most miserably afflict their hearts whensoever they think what praise is given to those holy men whom they despised in what glory they shine and unto what dignity they are preferred and on the other side consider their own shame and reproach and how vilely they lie under a perpetuall curse pronounced against them before Angels and men by the Lord of all And it will increase the torment to consider that they are the cause of all this misery which they have drawn upon themselves Their negligence will come to mind which gave no heed to the Divine illuminations Their contumacy also which resisted the Divine motions Their horrid wickedness into which they ran against the cries even of their own consciences And these considerations they will not be able to avoid nor put off the thoughts of the greatness of their misery But they will stick close to them and perpetually sting them so that all their Knowledge which is so comfortable to others will breed in them the most exquisite grief and sorrow This our Saviour means by outer darkness into which they shall be cast From whence we may guess in what conditions their Wills and their Affections must needs be in which there will be no love of God at all nothing that we can conceive but envy at the glory of the blessed hatred of themselves as the cause of all this mischief vexation of heart to see how great it is and desperation of seeing it grow less But I shall pursue it no farther because it would take up too much room in this discourse which already begins to grow too big I shall onely adde that none knows what flames the breath of the Lord will kindle The power of his anger is inconceivable especially when incensed by the slighting of his love And therefore what can we say of the dolours which the fire that never goes out and the worm that never dies when they meet together will cause both in the Souls and bodies of such contemptuous sinners Who will begin then to wish they had never been acquainted with the glad tidings of Salvation that so they might have lain in some more private corner of the miserable World in a bed of softer and more gentle flames and without that open disgrace to which they will be exposed What an ease would they think it if they might but have the favour to houl among the poor Indians and shriek no louder then other wicked Pagans and have no worse Devills to lash them then the leud Mahometans who never had a thought of any thing higher then a fleshly Paradise And yet the Pagans themselves thought their condition would be bad enough if they lived impiously and that it was impossible to escape a just punishment in another world As appears among a number of other records from that discourse I mentioned of Gobryas who saith the first place men come into when they depart this life is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Field of truth So called because there Judges sit to examine how every one hath passed his life and there is no way to evade their sentence by subterfuges or lies as his words are but they will dispose of all men with exact justice according as they deserve What they had some dark fancy of is now plainly and clearly revealed unto us who are instructed that God 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 xvii Act. 31. And therefore we ought to be afraid of treasuring up unto our selves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God Who will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory honour and immortality eternall life But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath Tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of man that doeth evill of the Jew we may say Christian first and also of the Gentile ii Romans 5 6 7 8 9. VI. Consider then I beseech you once more which is all the questions I shall ask what you are now resolved to doe Will you put it to the venture whether you be immortally happy or no Is it
and let it into the dwelling of God as soon as he should put off his mortality There he beheld Jesus standing whereas he is commonly represented as sitting at God's right hand that he might know He was ready to meet his Spirit and entertain it into his heavenly mansions as well as that He was coming to destroy his persecutors and put an end to their power and nation And he saw also the Glory of God as the Crown he should win by his Martyrdom which had as sensible an effect upon his heart for the confirming of his faith and constancy as if he had heard the Almighty call to him and say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be not faint-hearted O Stephen nor suffer any degenerous thoughts to enter into thy breast Though there is no man to stand by thee no Friend on earth to assist thee in this distressed season yet I with my beloved Son behold what is a doing A happy Rest and repose is ready for thee The gates of Paradise stand wide open to thee Have patience a while and leaving this temporary life make hast to that which is eternall Still thou seest God is in humane Nature a thing beyond all worldly thoughts Thou hast been taught by the Apostles that the Father hath a genuine beloved Son behold I shew him to thee as much as thou canst bear And he stands at my right hand that by the very site of the place thou mayst know the dignity he hath It was a scandall heretofore to many that God should be on the Earth cloathed with flesh But behold him now with me on high in a celestiall supercelestiall condition still having the form of man to confirm thee in the belief of the gracious dispensation which is now compleated Be not disturbed be not dejected though for his sake thou beest stoned Beholding the Dispenser of Rewards do not fear the combate Forsake thy body and despising it as an earthly Prison as a ruinous house as a potter's vessel easily broken come run hither being set at liberty to the portion and inheritance here reserved for thee For the crown of brave atchievements is ready and expects thee Step over from the earth to heaven and take it Leave thy body to the bloudy murtherers as a morsel to dogs Leave the mad inraged multitude and come to the quire of Angels In these words Asterius expresses the sense of this heavenly Vision Encomium in Protomart wherein God shewed himself to this valiant man that he might not be struck with any fear by the greatness of the danger For this cause he did not send an Angel to assist him as to the Apostles in prison nor any ministring power and fellow-servant as he speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but he presented himself that being the first-fruits of the Martyrs he might leave a noble example to all that followed And indeed what could more incourage them then to hear so holy a man departing the world with these words in his mouth I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God This was a notable Testimony which the heavenly WORD gave that he was possessed of ETERNALL LIFE whereby he animated this blessed Martyr from what he saw Him enjoy to doe as He had done Which could have no force in it to persuade him unless his meaning had been that he should no sooner leave the World but ascend up thither where he was And so St. Stephen understood it for as they were stoning him the greatest punishment the Jews could inflict he called upon our Saviour saying Lord Jesus receive my Spirit vii Act. 59. He doubted not of audience when he beheld him who is sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high i. Heb. 3. in another posture Proclus Orat. xvii not sitting but standing there What was the business to use the words of another ancient Bishop that made him rise thus out of his Father's throne He saw this noble Combatant in his Agony and rose up to crown his victory And it was as if he had said Fear not Stephen there is none shall beguile thee of thy reward I am risen out of my throne to reach thee my right hand Beholding me who was crucified grapple with the danger that presents it self to thee I am he whom thou sawest hanging on a tree by virtue of that crucifixion I will reward thee I preside in these Combats and deal the Crowns to Conquerours Fear not therefore those that go about to stone thee they do but rear thee a ladder against their wills to heaven Do not fear them the stones will be but as so many steps to that blessed place where thou seest me It is not for thee to fear the stones who art built on me the chief Corner-stone and therefore canst not fare worse then I do who am in glory for ever and ever With such thoughts as these this good Man laid down his life which is as great an argument as any of this nature can be that Jesus both can and will give Eternall Life to his followers For else a person so full of Wisedom that they were not able to dispute with him vi Act. 10. would not have ventured his life and endured the worst of deaths having nothing to comfort him in his agony but onely the hope he had from Jesus that he would receive his Spirit This was it that gave him such boldness and full assurance of faith With these words in his mouth he would have died but that he pitied those who did not see as much as he did Which made him expire in prayer for his persecutours wishing them no worse then that they might not be hindred by this sin from believing in Jesus and going thither where he hoped presently to be received So the same Asterius rightly understands those words LORD lay not this sin to their charge He doth not wish them absolute impunity which had been openly to oppose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divine Ordinance and constitution and to correct the judgment and decree of the most Just who hath appointed a deserved punishment to murtherers but he begs of God that notwithstanding this crime he would give them true compunction and bring them to repentance It being as if he had said Do not let them die in their uncircumcision Draw them by repentance to the acknowledgment of thee Kindle the flame of the Spirit in their hearts By the means of my bloud let them be converted that being washed in the laver of thy grace and in thy bloud they may be delivered from their iniquities A most pious conclusion of this bloudy Tragedy one of the principal Actours in which was presently after so miraculously touched from heaven that it was visible our Lord had heard the devout prayer of his Martyr in this particular and therefore had not denied his other request but received his Spirit also unto himself II. For if any thing could be clearer
then this to demonstrate the truth I am endeavouring to prove the great love of our most Blessed Lord would not deny it Who appear'd again as I shew'd in the former Treatise to a very learned person of great note and great sanctity among the Jews and as great an enemy to him being consenting as he himself confesses xxii Act. 20. unto his death when the bloud of his Martyr Stephen was shed St. Paul I mean who travelling towards Damascus in a burning rage and fury and with a sharp commission against Christians and therefore in no fit disposition to receive a truth or to fall into a fancy directly opposite to his present temper and interest was suddenly surprized with a great light from heaven and beheld that Jesus whom he no more thought to be so glorious then he did the Thieves that were crucified with him presenting himself and distinctly speaking to him in such a splendid manner that he fell down to the ground and could not see for the glory of that light vers 7 11. Whosoever will carefully observe what he was and how far as I said from any such thoughts and how desperately he had been lately ingaged against St. Stephen and now was prosecuting other of Christ's Disciples will easily conclude that he had now a reall sight of the Majesty of the Lord Jesus at whose feet he fell whom otherwise no man should have despised and blasphemed more then He. Now if the Vision be considered you will find that it contains in it this Truth that Jesus is possessed of Eternall Life to give unto us as well as that he is the Son of God For I. He beheld him appearing in such a brightness as that before mentioned far exceeding the splendour of the Sun at noon-day according as he himself tells the story xxvi Act. 13. Which plainly declared him to be the King of Glory cloathed with the Majesty of God and possessed of an heavenly Kingdom and therefore able to give ETERNALL LIFE to his servants which is one of the things that St. John here saith God hath testified to us How should he come by such a robe of light and how should he appear thus first to St. Stephen and now to St. Paul and how should he present himself thus near to him and perfectly astonish his bold spirit if he had not power to doe what he pleased And therefore St. Paul is told by our Lord at this very time when he saw him in such Majesty that he should be a witness of what he had seen Which had been to no purpose unless this Apparition had something remarkable in it to prove that he was what he pretended to be in his life-time the Son of God most High whom according to his word which he passed by a voice from heaven he had glorified and given him power over all flesh II. And accordingly you find that the thing St. Paul witnessed was that Jesus was over all God blessed for ever ix Rom. 5. and had sent him to preach the Resurrection and everlasting life xiii Act. 46. xvii 18. These doctrines our Lord himself had taught him when appearing and speaking to him in such a glorious light he said I am Jesus As much as to say I am he whom you buffeted Afterius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. whom you scourged whom you dragged about first to Caiaphas then to Pilate whom you called continually the Carpenter's son whom you number among the dead laughing aloud at those that preach the Resurrection It is I that speak and therefore believe that which my servant Stephen saw though when he told you so you would not believe it Thus he learnt saith Asterius by experience that Christ was alive and was neither corrupted by death nor stoln away secretly by his Disciples but risen from the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and reigned over the whole world This he preached with as great a zeal as before he persecuted He was such an Auxiliary as before he had been an enemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both strong and resolute III. For you may observe that he did not merely rationally conclude from the glory wherein Jesus was that all he had said was true and that he was able to give Everlasting Life but he heard him also say expresly at this time when he appeared to him that he would bestow this celestial Inheritance upon us even us Gentiles who were shangers to the promises foreiners and aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel having no such hope There was nothing against which the Pharisaicall spirit was more imbittered then this that other Nations should share with them and be equall to them in the blessings of the Messiah The Religion wherein St. Paul had been bred was concerned in no principle more then this that the rest of the world were all unclean and never to be united to them unless they would be circumcised and observe the Law of Moses And therefore had he not been pressed with undeniable evidence he would never have consented to this truth which was so much against the grain of that spirit which possessed him and which he but once mentioning to his Country-men they were ready to tear him in pieces xxii Act. 21 22. And yet he reports this for a certain Truth from the mouth of Jesus himself who bad him as he relates this glorious Vision to Agrippa a Prince well skilled in the Law go unto the Gentiles to open their eyes as He had done his to turn them from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and INHERITANCE among them that are sanctified by faith in him xxvi Act. 17 18. And accordingly he went and preached every-where in obedience to this heavenly Vision the comfortable doctrine of the Resurrection and Eternall Life to us Gentiles as well as others witnessing both to small and great that as the Prophets had foretold Christ ought to suffer and should be the first that should rise from the dead and shew LIGHT unto the people of Israel that is and to the Gentiles vers 22 23. By Light in the holy language is meant the gladsome discovery of God's good will and pleasure For as by Darkness it expresses ignorance sorrow and heaviness so by its opposite knowledge joy and chearfulness And the Light which we have by Christ's sufferings and rising from the dead can be nothing else but the blessed hope of immortality This St. John tells us is the light of mankind i. 4. In him was LIFE and the life was the LIGHT of men that is their singular comfort and satisfaction which makes their life not to be irksome to them and with this Light St. Paul endeavoured to fill the world that they might all know how much they were indebted to Jesus who brought Life and immortality to light by his Gospell And can it enter into any man's thoughts that he would have set himself to preach this