recompence of reward it is false and dangerous It is false because it contradicts the Command and the Example of Christ who for the joy that was set before him despised the Cross Heb 12.2 Thus Moses thus Paul did both eye the Reward themselves and enjoyn it as a duty upon others 2. It is dangerous first because it begets infinite scruples especially in young Converts whose first inducement must either be from their hopes or their Feares and which way soever they begin they have our Saviour sometime using Threats otherwhiles mingling Promises to justifie their being wrought upon by either 2. It makes the greatest and most comfortable part of the Word useless and that is the Promises and if men may live above the Promises it will quickly follow that they may live above the Precepts too and what the end of such Doctrine may be is too apparent I say therefore to the yet Doubting Christian fetch new strength vigour from the Promises for if thy Belief be Reasonable I am sure thy Obedience though it brings suffering is highly so for no momentany pressure 2 Cor. 4.17 how grievous soever can countervaile that full and everlasting weight of happiness which is laid up for Believers and Obeyers of the Gospel And that is a Theme so obvious that I need not insist upon it So much for the first Use Use 2 The second Use is to confirm and strengthen Believers He that standeth 1 Cor. 10.12 saith the Apostle and Faith only is the cause of a Christians standing let him take heed lest he fall And take heed saith he to the believing Hebrews Heb. 3.12 lest there be in any of you an evill heart of unbelief to Apostatize from the living God Nothing doth undo the greatest part of Christians but their Confidence whereby presuming upon their present stock of Faith they lay in no fresh recruits and so fall if not finally for that no elect Person can do yet foully as Peter did whose security betrayed him into that which cost him many bitter Tears This kind of Bread is to be begged and received new every day from Heaven or else we have no certainty that it will continue with us one moment And therefore whatever we do let us take care that our Faith fail not a breach there is like a wound in the head for the most part mortall and if at any time there have been Ruptures and Intercisions made in that Grace repair them presently by quickning and feeding your Faith with new Arguments New if not for Subject and Matter yet for Light and for Discovery Now this often reflecting upon our Saviours Prediction is the best expedient you can provide For that was it which confirmed the Apostles who were of as slow incredulous and uneasie a temper to believe as any of us can be when our Saviour had told the Jews Joh. 2.22 that in three daies he would destroy the Temple and raise it up again meaning the Temple of his Body The Evangelist John observes That when he was raised from the dead his Disciples remembred that he had said this unto them and he adds they believed the Scripture which foretold this of the Messiah and the word which Jesus had said who foretold it of himself where he makes our Saviours foretelling his own Resurrection to be a medium by which the Disciples did strengthen their Faith even after they had seen him risen And when they ran to the Sepulchre in the midst of their Despairs and Fears as now imagining that their Master was utterly gone and all their Faith ungrounded the Angels tell them Remember say they how he spake unto you while he was yet in Galilee saying Luk. 24.8 the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and be raised again the third day And saies the Evangelist they remembred his words i.e. Reflecting upon them which their present sorrow and impatience made them to forget they did a little moderate and appease their sorrow By the example then of those Apostles often mind your selves of our Saviours Predictions and they will be of great advantage and comfort to you in these three Cases 1. In case of Heresies which are already come II. In case of Persecution which may come III. In case of Future Glory which though it be now delayed yet we have a promise that it will come 1. The reflecting upon our Saviours Predictions will be of great use to comfort Believers in respect of the Heresies which already are come I know it is a sad and troublesome thing unto a true Christian to see the Divisions and Contentions of Brethren to have the Peace of the Church disturbed by Schisme and the Unity of Faith divided by Errour but as our Saviour said to his Disciples concerning the Destruction of Jerusalem Luk. 21.9 When you see Wars and Tumults be not troubled for all these things must come to pass So say I when you see Heresie and Errour spreading it self and Parties and sidings under pretence of advancing Truth miscalling Faction by the name of Religion be not amazed for we know who hath told us That there must be Heresies 2 Cor. 11.29 that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those whose Faith is approved or tried may be made manifest As mists and vapours serve to set out the Sun so do Errours in some make the Truth that is owned by others more conspicuous and apparent I know the common cry of Ignorant or self-designing men is Put down Preaching keep the People from reading the Scriptures c. which is all one as if they should say Pull down the Sun that we may prevent the rising of Clouds and Mereors The Scripture is like the Sun and where it shines vigorously the dull Earth i.e. Natural Ignorance in men which conceives and apprehends it not must needs send forth mists and vapours But God forbid that the Children should be deprived of their Bread because the Dogs are ready to snatch it from them and abuse it To Imprison the Scripture in a dark and unknown Language is indeed the ready way to prevent Heresies for what people cannot know they will be sure not to contend about So to extinguish the Sun is the ready way to hinder Clouds but then we shall be encompassed with the Horrour of Eternal Night And to put out the Candle that so all colours may agree in the dark is a device as Politick as the devil himself that invented it whose kingdom cannot subsist unless the World do lull themselves asleep into a dull stupid irremediable Ignorance When the Light of the Scripture is gone I am afraid the Light of the Spirit will go with it And I am sure the Light of Reason leads us to nothing but to Atheism or to worse to sottish and impertinent superstition i.e. it makes us either so cunning as to deceive others or so foolish as to be willing to be deceived our selves
A DISCOURSE ABOUT CHRIST AND ANTICHRIST OR A DEMONSTRATION THAT Jesus is the Christ From The Truth of His PREDICTIONS Especially The Coming and the Seduction of ANTICHRIST To which is added A TREATISE about the RESURRECTION BY Edward Bagshaw Stu. of Ch. Ch. in Oxon. LONDON Printed for Simon Miller at the Star in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1661 INSIGNISSIMIS ET Fidaei Christianae Studiosissimis Viris HUMPHREDO WYNCH Equiti Baronetto ET JOHANNI BROWNE Armigero Opellam hanc De JESU RESURRECTIONE Religionis nostrae Fundamenta confirmantem ET Piis uti sperat omnibus non inutilem futuram AUTHOR Sui amoris ac observantiae ergo D. D. C. Q. Edwards Bagshawe The Preface to the Christian and Candid Reader ALthough the Disputes and Controversies in Religion have multiplied themselves into many large and tedious Volumes yet I believe Christian Reader thou wilt easily agree with me that were but one Question rightly stated and throughly believed most other might safely be neglected by us as Useless and Impertinent And the Question is this Whether the Scriptures be the Word of God or to use an Expression which will give no Party offence A full and perfect declaration of Gods Will. Were this but once really assented to who doth not see that all Additionals are either Impious or else at the best but needless and unnecessary Appendixes much like rotten and painted Posts affixed unto a stately Edifice which do not only deface the Beauty of the Building but likewise make the strength of it to be suspected Since Scripture if it indeed it did come from God doth best alone without the least mixture of Humane Inventions to underprop it This therefore is that great thing which in this following Treatise I have undertaken to demonstrate in a Method if my Reading and Observation fail me not which none have attempted before me For whereas there are two waies by which men ordinarily do come to be ascertained of the Truth of Scripture The one by an Inward Experimental Assurance the other by an Argumentative and Rational Evidence The first of these I have altogether waved because though Experience be an Infallible Argument to him that hath it yet it is not a Demonstration that can be improved to the Conviction of another And therefore I have applied my self wholly unto the second way of Proof wherein dealing with men as men and enlarging upon those common and known Principles of Reason that all acknowledge the Unbeliever must find some stronger Arguments than any I have yet met with to justifie himself by or else with me be won over to the Obedience of the Faith of Christ I do not speak this as if I thought it possible for any Endeavour or Art of Man to perswade another to believe but because this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Poize to which the mind is brought by a sober and calm debating the matter on both sides is that way by which the Spirit of God in Inquisitive men doth usually prepare an Entrance for Faith for the strong man must first be cast out and every Objection singled out and disarmed before a stronger than he can enter in And this Christian Reader is the very utmost design of this small Treatise which I had never published but that I thought it my duty to impart unto others that satisfaction which I my self have received If there be any that make another Interpretation and from what I have spoken concerning Antichrist wherein I have used the very Language and so far as I understand it the sense of Scripture will infer that I am either for or against any of the Parties who now contend about their several Forms of Worship They will wrong me very much but themselves more since the misjudging of others is an Uncharitable Presumption which is incompatible with a Christian Temper What my Judgement is concerning Episcopacy and how sutable to right Reason and Scripture that Order is I have already asserted And I think none are greater Enemies to Bishops than those who seek to establish them by pleading a Necessity of Ceremonies which whether they may at all be used is a Question but that they may very sasely be disused is no Question at all It is therefore liberty in small things alone that I have formerly and do yet plead for and that upon this single Argument because I think Christ came to set his Church free from all unnecessary Yokes and therefore it doth not lye in the power of any man to bring them into bondage again And let but any sober disinteressed person convince me once that the Church i.e. where the State is Christian the civil Magistrate hath power to impose in Religious Worship and I shall then so far alter my Judgment as instead of being troubled that we are gone thus far be very sorry that we go no farther in our conformity But till then it is my constant Prayer That if our Rulers will stretch their Power to make some Harmony between the Christian and the Civill State all men may quietly suffer for what they cannot chearfully submit to without making any more noise in the World than what a calm and dispassionate debate of Truth may amount to Had this Course at first been taken we should not have had some cry down Dagon and set up Baal-Berith i. e superstitiously if not worse displace superstition and exercise a greater Tyranny than that which they complained of But I leave this sad Argument and entreat thee Christian Reader to look upon me as one that by the goodness of God can call himself a Christian in the most large and comprehensive Notion of the Word according to our Saviours explication Whoever is not against Christ is for him and where-ever I see the least appearance of sincerity and uprightness though in Persons differing from my self in Judgement I can preserve my own opinion without the least prejudice to that Charity I ow Mankind in general or that endearedness of Affection which is particularly due to all sorts of Zealous though mistaken Christians With this Confession I close my Preface and dismiss thee to the Book it self which I desire may be read as it was writ with a single and unprejudiced mind And if thou findest anything of satisfaction by it give God the glory who hath made use of a very unlikely Instrument to do thee good by But if in any place thou findest my Resoning doth not seem Close and Pertinent let me know my Errour and I shall think my self more obliged to thee for thy serious reproof than for thy partial and unweighed Commendation Farwell EDW. BAGSHAWE Christ Church in Oxon. May 21. 1661. A Demonstration that JESUS is the CHRIST JOH 13.19 Now I tell you of it before it come to pass that when it doth come to pass you may know that I am THese are the words of our Saviour spoken by way of Inference or Use from the Prediction he had made concerning the Treachery
Rev. 19.20 So that our Saviour and his Apostles do both grant that Miracles may be done by a false Power and likewise affirm that whoever hath nothing else to alledge for his Religion but meerly Miracles that same is Antichrist For Truth stands not in need of such outward Circumstances to underprop it and according to the Scripture Miracles are not to prove the Doctrine but the Doctrine is to prove the Miracles whether they are from God or not But yet saith our Saviour with those Arts and waies he shall so far prevail as even almost to stagger the belief of the very Elect Many shall follow their destructive Doctrines 2 Pet. 2.2 Rev. 13. saith Peter the World shall wonder after the Beast saith John and he shall deceive the Inhabitants of the earth c. all which places do note an almost Universal seduction And if any ask how it comes to pass that Corruption so contrary to the received Tenets and Maximes of Christianity should be so generally embraced 2 Thes 2 10 11 the Apostle Paul hath given it Because men have not received the love of the Truth that they might be saved therefore shall God send upon them the strong working of deceit 2 Thes 2.9 that they should believe a Lye i.e. Men being unwilling to give themselves up to the guidance of Truth which shines clearly by its own Light both in Scriptures and in their own Understandings therefore shall God suffer them to be so brutish and Sottish as to quit their Reason and to be led up and down by any fond and ridiculous Errour as those Impostors shall guide them I have done with the Prediction of our Saviour concerning Antichrist V. Canenes Concil Trident. and if upon your enquiry you find that there is that Religion in the world which hath espoused and embodied into their Confession of Faith all the Opinions of Antichrist If there be that Church in the world which still pretends to do and for ought I know doth reall Miracles upon which they bottome their Plea to be the true Church if they maintain Persecution Violence and Fraud if they have dispirited and disenvigoured Religion by their worldly Pompe and Gallantry and make thriving in this world a sign that God doth love and favour them all which are Antichristian Tenets and Practices If there be that Person in the world who hath assumed the very stile of Antichrist who hath trampled upon Kings and trode upon the Necks of Emperours who in his Canon Law is called God and like God doth dispense with all both Divine and Humane Laws then first certainly Antichrist is already come and to deny it is to deny as great evidence and notoriety of fact as to deny it is day when the Sun shineth And secondly He which foretold that Antichrist should thus come with all these Circumstances that I have summed up he was undoubtedly a true Prophet the true Messiah for to repeat the Argument in my Text He told us these things before they came to pass and we find that they are come to pass and therefore he is The Use that I shall make of this whole Discourse is 1. To convince the Unresolved 2. To confirm those who are already setled Use 1 The first use shall be to convince the Unresolved I have already spoken something to awaken those that are resolute and peremptory Unbelievers but there are many who may be yet in their enquiring doubting and disputing state who are not unwilling to embrace the Faith of Christ but they find it to be so repugnant to every thing of natural Reason within them and likely to be attended with so much hazard and danger that they are either ashamed or afraid to own it but yet are not fixed in positive denial of it but through uncertainty they are alwaies Anxious and wavering Such as these ought to be tenderly and gently dealt with and two things I shall propose to them which may help to alleviate and to abate their Prejudices 1. That Christian Religion is in no part of it unreasonable for since the Proof of it in general depends upon the clearest Demonstration viz. The fulfilling of Prophesies then the belief of it must needs be rational I know very well that the things contained in the Scriptures viz. The Incarnation of the Son of God three Persons of the Godhead the Immediate Acting of the Holy Spirit upon the heart of Believers and the like are all Mysterious and no waies reconcileable to Humane Apprehension but then we must consider that these things are not proposed to our Understandings to comprehend them but meerly to our Faith to believe them which where there is a firm and demonstrable ground of Beliefe may be done even to many things that we understand not And the great hindrance that hath kept Christian Faith from entring into the minds of men is want of attendance to that distinction for many have both confounded themselves and subverted the Faith of others by pressing upon them a comprehension of what is no waies by us Intelligible And therefore all those Disputes about Predestination Trinity Resurrection Incarnation and the like are for the greatest part of them unprofitable and dangerous because they are not content barely to assert the Truth which is then best done when it is put into the plainest and most unscholastick Language of Scripture but our Arguers do over and above enquire de modo and labour to give reasons for those stupendious and amazing Mysteries which the Apostle Paul cries out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon and for the most part ends the Dispute with a Reproof of the Disputer And therefore such of you as are not yet fixed in your belief set your selves purely upon this Article viz. to enquire whether Jesus be the Christ and never give it over till it hath pleased God fully to confirm you in it And my Reasons for this Advice are these three 1. Because this is the most effectual and ready way to prove unto you the Divine Authority of the Scriptures Those who set upon this work by endeavouring to prove the Scriptures to be the Word of God as they lye in gross and in their diffused Bulk proceeding by Chapter and Verse do undertake a Tedious and Impossible Task for there those ordinary and trivial Objections of mistakes and variations in Copies mistranslations and the like are never to be assoiled but if you draw the several lines in Scripture into their Center and contract them into Christ as you use to do the Sun-beams into a burning-glass then do they cast a quick and vigorous lustre sufficient to enlighten and warm even the most stiffe and rigid Opposer He that would demonstrate the Providence of God would not I suppose begin with the Minutiae mundi the lesser things of the World as Flies and Insects but he would fix as David doth upon the Sun or some noble and conspicuous part whose Use is undeniable and
of Judas for as we find v. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The devil having already put or cast it into the heart of Judas to betray him our Saviour warns his Disciples of it even while they sate at Supper with him and first he tells them in general Terms that they were not all clean v. 10. to which the Evangelist adds by way of Comment for he knew who should betray him therefore he said ye are not all clean v. 11 and then more particularly our Saviour explaines what this Uncleanness was and wherein it did consist that it was not a Ceremonial but a Moral Uncleanness not a Filthiness of the Flesh but an Impurity of the Spirit for saith he He that eateth bread with me hath lift up his heel against me v. 18. i.e. shall betray me as in express words is declared v. 21. This Crime which had been strangely horrid if a professed Enemy had done it appeared to the Disciples much more incredible in that it should be attemped by one of them who knew him to be the Son of God who had confessed preached and done Miracles in his Name and now in token of perfect Amity and Friendship were all sate at an Holy Banquet together and therefore that any of their Number should consent to nay promote so great a Villany seemed a thing almost Impossible And therefore we find the Apostles did dispute and enquire among themselves and were so much surprized with wonder that they even questioned the Truth of their Masters Prediction Our Saviour knowing their Thoughts and being willing to appease and settle their Inquietudes in this Verse he seems to grant that such a thing was scarce imaginable that one so related to Christ should yet harbour such bloudy designs against him But yet saith he as strange and as incredible as it seems it will certainly come to pass and therefore I acquaint you with it before hand that when it doth come to pass you may know that I am These words I am are capable of a twofold Interpretation 1. I am God 2. I am the true Messiah First These words I am may signifie I am God so when Moses enquired after the Name of God this short Answer is returned unto him Exod. 3.14 tell the people to whom you go that I am hath sent thee And therefore in the Song which David sung for the Triumphant entry of the Arke this Name is recorded Extoll ye the Lord by his Name Jah i.e. I am which implies and contains in it all the parts of successive Beeing Apoc. 1. and therefore it is rendred by God himself He that is that was and that is to come i.e. that hath one Fixed Entire Immutable Beeing Now what God by Moses doth barely assert by Isay he doth challenge and demonstrate to be his due by those two Incommunicable Properties of the Deity viz. his Power and his Preseience Isa 41.23 And therefore when he dispures his Right with the Heathen Idolls Shew saith he the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are Gods And in other places he tells his people that such and such Judgements which he had threatned should come upon them And then saith he ye shall know that I am the Lord. So our Saviour here being to take his leave of his Disciples and foreseeing how shrewdly their Faith would be shaken seems to tell them You have indeed confessed me to be the Son of God and therein One with God the Father this if you judge of me by my outward appearance or by the vile and cruell usage I shall shortly undergo must needs appear to be a strange and irreconcileable contradiction And therefore I leave you this Prediction that when you see it fulfilled ye may believe that I am God indeed And thus I am is to be understood in those words of our Saviour where he doth expresly assert his Divinity Joh. 8.38 Before Abraham was I am i.e. According to my Divine Nature by which I am from Everlasting Of which Nature it is that our Saviour speaks to Nicodemus None hath ascended up into heaven Joh. 3.13 but he that came down from heaven even the Son of man who is in heaven i.e. who is now there as God though as man he be circumscribed and limited to a place on Earth Secondly These words I am may be rendred I am the Christ or the true Messiah the Saviour of the World whose coming was so long ago foretold and prophesied of This will appear by comparing two places of Scripture together Acts 13.25 with Joh. 3.23 In Act. 13.25 the Apostle Paul repeating the words of John Baptist saith As John fulfilled his Course he said whom think ye that I am I am not which the Evangelist John relating c. 3.28 makes up the sence thus Ye your selves bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ. Thus I am is to be understood in those words of our Saviour to the Jews If you do not beleeve that I am Joh. 8.24 you shall dye in your sins i.e. If you do not believe that I am that Messiah who is to dye for the sins of the World you shall dye in your sins and take the guilt of them upon your selves And thus I take the words in this place From the words thus explained arise two Observations Doct. 1. That our Saviour is the true Messiah Doct. 2. That the way for us to be infallibly assured that our Saviour is the true Messiah is impartially to weigh the truth of his Predictions Doctrine 1 The first Observation is That our Saviour is the true Messiah and this will be of easie dispatch because it is the first known Article of our Faith I shall only briefly explain it That which in Hebrew is called Messiah in Greek Christ in English signifies Anointed And implies the solemn designation of our Saviour by God unto that great Work of Redeeming Mankind For as in the Old Law all that were called out unto any eminent Employment either in Church or State Exod. 30.23 c. had an Oyl of a peculiar composition poured out upon them which was a sign of their Inauguration and Installment from God into their Office Thus Saul and David were anointed to be Kings Aaron and his Successors were anointed to be Priests Elisha and some others were anointed to be Prophets Psal 105.15 whence is that of the Psalmist Touch not mine Anointed and do my Prophets no harm where the latter part of the Verse doth explain the former so our Saviour who was in a spiritual sense to discharge all these Offices was Anointed i.e. filled with the Spirit of God the gifts and graces of which were Typified by the Clearness and Fragrancy of Legal Oyl Ver. 7. whence that in Psal 45.7 He hath anointed thee with the Oyl of gladness above thy Fellows is by all the Jewish as well as Christian Expositors understood of the plentiful effusion
publikely proclaime that Jesus was not the Messiah but that he was justly put to death and this is it which makes Infidelity a sin of so deep a dye in that it doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Undervalue and disesteem the blood of the Covenant Heb. 10.29 and conceives that it was shed by Christ not for the Remission of our sins but for the Expiation of his own He then that dares not say that Jesus was justly put to death let him forthwith believe that he was the Christ i.e. the Eternal Son of God for for the defence and in the maintenance of that Assertion he died And so much for the Second Prediction The third and last Prediction of our Saviour Predict 3. which I shall insist upon is concerning the coming and seduction of Antichrist The words of the Prediction are Then if any say unto you Mat. 24 23 24. loe here is Christ or loe there believe them not For there shall arise False Christs and False Prophets and shall shew great Signs and Wonders insomuch as they shall deceive if it were possible the very Elect. In which Prediction there are these things considerable 1. The Title which our Saviour gives to Antichrist he speaks of him in the plural Number False Christs and False Prophets implying that there should not be one single Person but a Corbination and Conspiracy of Deceivers And though the Apostle Paul 2 Thes 2.3 speaking of Antichrist calls him The Man of sin and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that lawless one And John calls him by a single name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Antichrist yet I suppose that can be no more understood of one man than the word Satan of one Devil for in those words of our Saviour Mar. 3.23 How can Satan cast out Satan And If Satan rise up against himself and be divided he cannot stand Satan signifies the whole Commonwealth if I may so call it or Regiment of evill spirits under some one Chief Luk. 11.15 called in Scripture Beelzebub Or as the Apostle Paul in those words For even as the Body is one and hath many members 1 Cor. 12 12. but all those members of that one body though they be many make up but one body even so is Christ where the Apostle called the whole Church as it contains both Head and Members by the name of Christ So is Antichrist a collective body of many False Christs and False Prophets united under some one head for the better managing and carrying on their designs order being so necessary that as our Saviour observes Hell it self which is otherwise a place of Confusion cannot for the present subsist without it But there is a twofold Order an Order by force and constraint and that is the Order of Hell and of Antichrist and there is an Order by Consent and that is the Order of Heaven and of Christ 2. The second thing observable in this Prophecy is the way wherein Antichrist should discover himself viz. by being a False Prophet so v. 11. Many false Prophets shall arise and shall deceive many So that a False Christ and a False Prophet is the same thing the latter word being explicatory of the former And this name of False Prophet is ascribed to Antichrist by the Apostle John both in his Epistle 1 Joh. 4.1 2. Apoc. 19.20 2 Pet. 2.1 and Revelation It signifies in English a False Teacher and so Peter expresly mentions There were saith he False Prophets among the People so there shall be false Teachers among you who shall privily bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them In which words the Apostle cannot mean that they should deny the Person of our Saviour for then we could not have had any sufficient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to distinguish Antichrist by since the whole Jewish Nation and almost all the Gentiles both then did and still do they deny him but as among the Jews those who were False Prophets pretended highly to honour God but yet taught lies in his Name and secretly withdrew men from his service So should these False Christs and False Prophets cry up Christ in words for saith our Saviour Mat. 24.5 they shall come in my Name and he tells us that at the last day some shall plead for themselves Have we not prophesied in thy Name Mat. 7.22 But yet both in their Doctrine and Practice they should directly oppose him and set up a Religion which should have nothing in it of Christian but the Name To find out what kind of Doctrine it would be that Antichrist should preach and what kind of Practice he should follow the best way will be to look in Scripture what it was that our Saviour and his Apostles did most inveigh against for those very things Antichrist would set up and defend 1. In Doctrine you will find these three Opinions principally condemne◠First Justification by works which the Apostle Paul spends almost two Epistles in confuring The sum of what he saies is contained in this Position We know saith he Gal. 2.16 that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but only by the Faith of Jesus Christ and we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the works of the Law for by the works of the Law no Flesh can be justified And whereas many captious men were apt to asperse this Doctrine as if it did open a way to looseness of life the Apostle proves by his own example Rom. 6.1 2. that if rightly understood it had a quite contrary effect since nothing can more effectually kill sin than to behold it as killing Christ from thence he concludes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I abolish Ver. 21. or disanul not the Grace of Gode for if Righteousness be by the Law i. e. can be attained by the observance of the Law then did Christ die in vain for what men might have got without any satisfaction made in their behalf that Christ needed not have died to purchase And therefore he urges again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye are brought to nought from Christ Gal. 5.4 i.e. Christ is become vain to you if you are justified by the Law ye are fallen from Grace i.e. Ye do declare ye have no need of Grace or free Pardon because you appeal to the sentence of that Law from the rigour of which nothing but Christs Death could free you So that Justification by Works as evacuating the Death of Christ and rendring mens Salvation as hazardous and uncertain nay Impossible as before our Saviours coming is a Doctrine persectly Antichristian Secondly The second Doctrine recorded to us for Antichristian is the Mediation of Angels this it seems under the colour that it was too bold and presumptuous a thing for frail Man to address himself immediatly unto God some false Teachers at Colosse did advise them first to pray
the World the desire of the Flesh i. e. Pleasure the desire of the Eyes i. e. Riches and the pride of Life Ver. 18. i. e. outward State and Magnificence they are not of God but of the World To which he immediately subjoyns Little children it is the last hour and as you have heard that Antichrist shall come so now there are many Antichrists Plainly intimating that there were some who by immersing themselves in the Delights and Excesses of the World did abundantly discover their Antichristian temper And accordingly in the Revelation Apoc. 12. that Woman which figured the true Church as so on as ever she had brought forth i. e. received and embraced the Faith of Christ she is said to flee into the Wilderness where she was to abide for a long time in a disconsolate and afflicted condition where it is observable that the time viz. of 1260. daies which is allotted unto the womans abode in the Wilderness is the very same time in which the Witnesses were to Prophecy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being arrayed with sackcloath Apoc. 11.3 to shew their indigent and needy state as likewise the Temple or true worshippers of God was so long to be trampled under food which likewise is the time limited for Antichrists Reign and Persecution Thus the true Church like Christ her Head finds no peace on Earth but is fain to seek shelter in a Wilderness But that woman which is the Embleme of the False Church Rev. 17 3. is represented to sit in goodly Array upon a scarlet-coloured Beast And the woman was cloathed with Purple and Scarlet and adorned with Gold and precious Stones and Pearls i. e. Tricked up and set out with the utmost circumstances of outward Glory and Magnificence by which she doth allure and entice her Followers making her Religion as pompous Theatricall and specious as may be that so it might be taking But we have not so learned Christ who was himself poor and his Doctrine strict and severe so that to take off from the end of Religion which is to withdraw men from Earth that they may mind Heaven and to change the Spirit and Purity of Worship into the splendour and pompe of Service this is not of Christ therefore it is Antichristian Thirdly The third and last thing in the practice of Ancichrist by which he may be descried is Persecution of all that dissent from him though never so holy or Religious otherwise which is an infallible Note of Antichrist as being directly contrary to the Meekness Mercy and Moderation of our Saviour For when the Disciples desired that they might call down for Fire from Heaven to punish those Barbarous and Inhumane Samaritans who would not so much as allow him a lodging in one of their Villages Luk. 9.55 Our Saviour sharply reproves them Ye know not saith he of what spirit you are i. e. the Christian spirit is not a bloody a self-avenging but a tender a compassionate spirit For the Son of man came not to destroy mens lives but to save them And again Ib. v. 50. when some of his Disciples told him that they found some doing miracles in his name but they forbade them because say they they followed not us Forbid them not saith our Saviour for he that is not against us is for us Thus the Apostle Paul Let every man saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 14. be fully assured in his own mind i. e. of the Necessity and Lawfulness of that which he doth 16. And judge not one another but judg this rather that none do put a stumbling block or a cause of offence before his Brother And again 2 Cor. 1.24 We saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do not Lord it over your Faith or Consciencious Perswasion in things indifferent but if any be otherwise-minded God will reveal this to him Phil. 3.15 with many hundreds of Scriptures more to the same purpose which shew that nothing doth more savour of the spirit of Christianity than Mutual Forbearance and Toleration And that nothing is more repugnant to it then Harshness Rigour and Imperious Exaction But Antichrist quite contrary is all made up of cruelty and unmercifulness The false Prophets Mat. 7. saith our Saviour which come in my Name they wear sheeps-cloathing but inwardly they are ravening Wolves i.e. They seem mild and gentle but indeed are Furious and bloud-thirsty men and therefore in the Revelation Antichrist is compared unto a Beast which hath horns like a Lambe i. e. in outward appearance seems to act for Christ but speaks like a Dragon Rev. 13.16 17. i.e. in his Decrees and Impositions is Outragious and Bloudy Insomuch that he causeth all great and small rich and poor free and bond to receive a mark in their Foreheads or in their hands That no man might buy or sell save he that had that mark i. e. They were either to joyn with him in his publike Worship and by some outward Testimony manifest their Conformity or else they should not buy nor sell i.e. not so much as exercise any civill Commerce or Society with men Nor is that all that he will exclude such from the benefits of Life But saith the Text R. v. 18.13 if men will not worship the beast and that Image which he hath set up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he causes that they be slain which is the utmost expression of Inhumanity and therefore among the Merchandize of the False Church here are reckoned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the souls or lives of men either bestained and poysoned with their Inventions or destroyed by their Butchery So infinitely different is Antichrist from Christ Christ would not have the least of those offended that believe on him Antichrist doth nothing else but offend them And so much for the second thing in our Saviours Prediction viz. The way how Antichrist or the False Prophet is to be destroyed in the decyphering of which I have purely followed that Method Rev. 19 10. which the Spirit of Prophesie which is called the Testimony of Jesus in Scripture hath chalked out to me without mingling the least of my own Inventions and uncharitable Presumptions with it 3. The third thing observable in our Saviours Prediction is the Time when Antichrist should arise which is implied in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then i. about the Time that Jerusalem was destroyed which that it was a very proper time for Antichrist to arise in will appear from these two Reasons 1. Because then the Apostles and others who planted Christianity and were infallibly inspired by God were all dead and therefore when these Suns were Set it is no wonder if Darkness and Night did speedily overspread the World This is plainly intimated by our Saviour where he tells his Disciples that before Jerusalem was destroyed They shall saith he Mat. 24.9.11 deliver you up unto Tribulation and they shall kill you whereupon
immediately he adds And many false Prophets shall arise and shall deceive many As when the Banks and Bounds are broken down the River presently doth overflow the Valleys so when the Apostles were gone who were to stand in the Breach and to resist the Torrent Corruption and Will-worship did like a deluge over-run the World as Hegesippus Eusebius and other Ecclesiastical Writers do both mention and sadly complain of 2. Because I take the Spirit of Antichrist as I find it discovered in Scripture to consist in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. An ambitious affectation of Soveraignty or Dominion or in a word A Love of Primacy This the Apostle censures in Diotrephes that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. He loved to be first or chief and took upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. the sole power to excommunicate Now while Jerusalem was standing in its glory no Church could vye with that for superiority as being undoubtedly the Mother Church from whence all the rest did proceed But as soon as ever the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. the Jewish state was removed then the biggest City laid claim to be the best Church and never rested till it had fixed in it self a spiritual as before it had done a temporal and earthly Dominion I know very well that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. He which withholdeth or bindeth i.e. Keepeth Antichrist from appearing is commonly understood of the Civill Empire of Rome Apol. c. 32. ad Scap. c. 2. Pâ—aeâ—cr adv Haeâ—c 27. so Tertullian in his Apology and other of the Ancients but for the former Reasons I think it is rather to be meant of the Jewish State as likewise because the Apostle in the same place saith that the Mystery of Iniquity was then working and John saies 2 Joh. 2. c 4. that Antichrist was then come whereas there was no considerable change in the Empire of Rome for some hundreds of years after But Jerusalem was destroyed within few years after the Apostle Pauls Dearn and he seems to intimate that he saw some evident Sympromes of and Preparations o it even in his own name in those words of his 1 Thes 2. The wrath i. e. threatned by our Saviour is come upon them to the uttermost But John did survive the ruine of that City whereupon he â—â—ies that Antichrist was then come the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by the Apostle Paul being in his time removed Having thus fixed the Rise of Antichrist upon the destruction of Jerusalem we must take notice that there is a threefold Epoche or account of time from whence we may date the ruine of that City The first was in the time of Vespatian about forty years after our Saviour and then Antichrist was working being then in his seeds and beginnings The second was under Adrian about 150 years after our Saviour and then Antichrist was come to some consistence and maturity for to pass by the False and Unsound Doctrines and corrupt Practices of that Age as their enveighing against the Marriages especially the second marriages of Ministers their Use of the Cross and counting it a kind of Charm their voluntary Fasting and Penance and placing some kind of holiness in the unmarried state as may be seen at large in Tertullian Cyprian and others But to pass by these about Adrians time it was Euseb l. 4. c. 24. that Victor the Bishop of Rome did take upon him to excommunicate all the Eastern Bishops that did not solemnize Easter at the same time with him by which Irregular and Presumptuous Decree he did not only take that for granted which I think is very questionable viz. the keeping of Easter I mean upon a Religious account but likewise he assumed a power which did not belong to him and sufficiently shews that that Church was then aiming at Empire and Rule rather than Religion The third and last date of Jerusalems Ruine was in Julian's time when the Temple was torne up by an Earthquake and that Prophecy of our Saviour literally fulfilled that there should not be left there one stone upon another And about this time it would be endless to recount the infinite abuses and errours which were not only crept into but had credit and countenance in the Church The Doctrine of Merit and Justification by Works the Worship of Angels the forbidding of Marriage and Abstaining from Meats being publikely owned and this last so rigorously pressed that Socrates a learned and moderate Historian observes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socr. l. 5. c. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They count saith he Fornication and all uncleanness an indifferent and dispensable fault but about their Feast and Fast daies they contend as for their lives he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quite perverting the Commands of God and giving Laws unto themselves At the same time likewise were appeals made unto Rome Socr. l. 2. c. 8. c. 17. to Julius the Bishop there as the Judge of Civil Controversies and a Decree either made or tacitly assented to that no Act of a Council should be valid at which the Bishop of Rome was not present which shews that Antichrist i.e. that proud aspiring overweening Spirit was well grown and arrived almost to its full stature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith my Author i.e. Socr. l. 7.11 now of a long time had the Bishoprick of Rome advanced it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beyond the Sacerdotal unto a Tyrannical Power and therefore would not permit those who were of the same Orthodox Faith with them to meet and assemble quietly in their Jurisdiction And this was written by Socrates before the stile of Universal Bishop was yet thought of which within a hundred years after was challenged and then was the Mystery of Iniquity compleat and perfect 4. The fourth and last thing in our Saviours Prediction is the way how Antichrist should rise together with the Progress he should make They shall shew saith our Saviour great signs and wonders to deceive if it were possible even the Elect. And this note either of pretending to or really effecting of Miracles is mentioned both by the Apostle Paul and John in his Revelation 2 Thes 2 9. Paul saith of him that his working is according to Satan in all power and signs and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not lying wonders in this sense as if their Miracles were all forged and false but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wonders done in defence and maintenance of a lye i. e. His Doctrine should be so false that it should have nothing to uphold it but meerly the Reputation of Miracles whether true or false So the Apostle John saith that the Beast who had horns like a Lambe Rev. 13.13 doth great miracles so that he makes even fire to descend from Heaven what he there cals a Beast in another place he calls the false Prophet who does signs and wonders
deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection Besides these places which do imply this Doctrine there are some that do expresly mention it As that of Job Job 19. Ver. 25. whose words however controverted by many Learned men yet out of the Original are exactly thus For I know that my Redeemer i.e. promised Messiah unto whom this Term of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is most ordinarily applied as Isa 59.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. the Redeemer shall come to Sion and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob which no Interpreter but must needs understand of the promised Saviour liveth and at last he shall arise or stand i.e. as Judge over the Dust i.e. either upon Earth as our English Translation hath it or over all men Ver. 26. though now for the present they lye in the dust And after my skin when they i.e. the worms or the diseases he was then afflicted with have pierced through this i.e. body of mine yet out of my flesh shall I see Jehovah whom I shall see for my self and my eyes shall behold Ver. 27. and not a stranger which doth so clearly manifest his belief of the Resurrection that as the words cannot possibly be made sense without it so the Greek Translation by using the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies To raise up again to life in that sense I speak of doth plainly favour it This likewise was the Faith of David where he saies Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy one to see Corruption Psal 16.11 Act. 3. For though as to the Rising on the third day i. e. before the natural Humours were resolved and Corrupted it was literally fulfilled by our Saviour and so applied to him both by Peter and Paul Act. 13. yet it is plain that he who spake those words did likewise believe a Resurrection of his own Person therefore he saies My flesh shall rest in hope But most plain is that of Daniel who Dan 12.2 speaking of Michael i.e. Messiah the Prince and we know it was the Charge against our Saviour that he made himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. Messiah the Prince saies that in his time Many i. e. the multitude of them that sleep in the dust shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt which is so clear a Prophecy of the Future Resurrection and in so express Terms that our Saviour in his Declaration of it seems to allude to these very words of Daniel and to have had them in his eye only what Daniel calls everlasting contempt our Saviour explains by calling it the Resurrection of Condemnation And those saith he Joh. 5.29 who do good shall go forth to the Resurrection of life but those who do evil to the Resurrection of Condemnation So that from hence it evidently appears that we Christians in this particular do own no more than what other holy men among the Jews did before us and our Apostle did very well understand what he said when in the words foregoing my Text he tells them that he was then judged for the Promise i. e. of Future life and happiness not to be attained but after the Resurrection made by God unto the Fathers whereupon he proceeds to make that query Why should it be judged incredible that God should raise the dead And so much for the first Observation Doct. 2 The second Observation is this That the Doctrine of the Resurrection though plainly revealed in Scripture seems to natural men very incredible Act. 17.18 so it appeared to the Learned Philosophers at Athens who called Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prater or Trifler for preaching it And they did so little understand what the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meant that they took it to be the name of some Daemon for thus some said of Paul That he was a publisher of strange Daemons because he preached unto them Jesus and the Resurrection which last word should have been left untranslated for they took 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Paul spake so much of to be the name of some New Goddess So likewise in this Chapter when Paul makes a Relation of his Conversion which yet was very miraculous Festus heard him patiently but when once he began to mention how Christ was raised from the dead Act. 26.23 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Festus could hold no longer but cryed out with a great deal of impatience Paul thou art mad too much learning hath quite unhinged thy braine and overturned thee into madness 2 Cor. 15. Hence the Apostle in that Chapter where he doth most elegantly dispute it brings in an heathen asking this question Ver. 35. But some man will say How are the dead raised up Which is not an How of enquiry into the manner and Method of the Resurrection in what order it shall be accomplished but an How of doubting concerning the whole thing Joh. 3.9 Like Nicodemus's How How can these things be And therefore in the Primitive Persecutions the enemies of Gods People never shewed more witty cruelty in any thing than in devising waies how to elude the Resurrection and that not only by mangling torturing and burning their bodies but by scattering their Ashes in the Rivers â—nseb l. 5. c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith mine Author 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. As if they had been able to conquer God and deprive the Saints of their Resurrection Neither was this only the perswasion of the Heathen world but we see oftentimes in Scripture those who owned higher Principles yet manifesting their doubts and despaires of this c. 7.9 Thus Job notwithstanding his so excellent confession in a fit of impatience cries out As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away c. 14.7 so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more And again There is hope saith he of a tree if it be cut down that it will sprout again and that the tender branch thereof will not cease But if a man dye shall he live again Ver. 14. By which words he seems to conclude that by death at least the Body is utterly lost So Ezekiel when God to try his faith asked him this question c. 37.3 Son of man can these bones live That holy man durst not affirm it but uses an answer which shews that he was altogether uncertain and at a loss about it O Lord God saith he thou knowest i.e. I am not able to resolve thee that dry bones should live belongs as much to a Divine knowledge to comprehend as to a Divine Power to effect it Thus in the New Testament the Apostles though they knew their Master to be the Son of God and the Messiah which was a great master-piece of Faith yet they did not at all understand the Resurrection Mar. 9. for when our Saviour after his Transfiguration did charge them that they should not tell any