is evidently meant in the following Verses of this Chapter From hence Iesus going to Bethabara and thence returning to Bethany upon Lazarus's Death Iohn XI 25-27 Jesus said to Martha I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet he shall live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall not die for ever So I understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answerable to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Septuagint Gen. III. 22. or Iohn VI. 51. which we read right in our English Translation Live for ever But whether this saying of our Saviour here can with truth be translated He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die will be apt to be questioned But to go on Believest thou this She said unto him yea Lord I believe that thou art the Messiah the Son of God which should come into the World This she gives as a full Answer to our Saviour's Demands This being that Faith which whoever had wanted no more to make them Believers We may observe farther in this same story of the raising of Lazarus what Faith it was our Saviour expected by what he says v. 41 42. Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me And I know that thou hearest me always But because of the people who stand by I said it that they may believe that thou hast sent me And what the Consequence of it was we may see v. 45. Then many of the Iews who came to Mary and had seen the things which Iesus did believed on him Which belief was that he was sent from the Father which in other words was that he was the Messiah That this is the meaning in the Evangelists of the Phrase of believing on him we have a demonstration in the following words v. 47 48. Then gathered the Chief Priests and Pharisees a Council and said what do we For this man does many miracles And if we let him alone all men will BELIEVE ON HIM Those who here say all men would BELIEVE ON HIM were the Chief Priests and Pharisees his Enemies who sought his Life and therefore could have no other sense nor thought of this Faith in him which they spake of but only the believing him to be the Messiah And that that was their meaning the adjoyning words shew If we let him alone all the World will believe on him i.e. believe him to be the Messiah And the Romans will come and take away both our Place and Nation Which Reasoning of theirs was thus grounded If we stand still and let the People Believe on him i.e. receive him for the Messiah They will thereby take him and set him up for their King and expect Deliverance by him Which will draw the Roman Arms upon us to the Destruction of us and our Country The Romans could not be thought to be at at all concerned in any other Belief whatsoever that the People might have in him It is therefore plain That Believing on him was by the Writers of the Gospel understood to mean the believing him to be the Messiah The Sanhedrim therefore v. 53 54. from that day forth consulted for to put him to death Iesus therefore walked not yet for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies and so I think it ought here to be translated boldly or open-fac'd among the Iews i.e. of Ierusalem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot well here be translated no more because within a very short time after he appeared openly at the Passover and by his Miracles and Speech declared himself more freely than ever he had done And all the Week before his Passion Taught daily in the Temple Mat. XX. 17. Mark X. 32. Luke XVIII 31 c. The meaning of this place seems therefore to be this That his time being not yet come he durst not yet shew himself openly and confidently before the Scribes and Pharisees and those of the Sanhedrim at Ierusalem who were full of Malice against him and had resolved his Death But went thence unto a Country near the Wilderness into a City called Ephraim and there continued with his Disciples to keep himself out of the way till the Passover which was nigh at hand v. 55. In his return thither he takes the Twelve aside and tells them before hand what should happen to him at Ierusalem whither they were now going And that all things that are written by the Prophets concerning the Son of Man should be accomplished That he should be betrayed to the Chief Priests and Scribes And that they should Condemn him to Death and deliver him to the Gentiles That he should be mocked and spit on and scourged and put to Death and the third day he should rise again But St. Luke tells us Chap. XVIII 34. That the Apostles understood none of these things and this saying was hid from them neither knew they the things which were spoken They believed him to be the Son of God the Messiah sent from the Father But their Notion of the Messiah was the same with the rest of the Jews That he should be a Temporal Prince and Deliverer That which distinguished them from the Unbelieving Jews was That they believed Jesus to be the very Messiah and so received him as their King and Lord accordingly We see Mark X. 35. That even in this their last Journey with him to Ierusalem two of them Iames and Iohn coming to him and falling at his Feet said Grant unto us that we may fit one on thy right hand and the other on thy left hand in thy Glory Or as St. Matthew has it Chap. XX. 21. in thy Kingdom And now the hour being come that the Son of Man should be glorified he without his usual Reserve makes his Publick Entry into Ierusalem Riding on a Young Ass As it is written Fear not Daughter of Sion behold thy King cometh fitting on an Asses Colt But these things says St. Iohn Chap. XII 16. his Disciples understood not at the first But when Iesus was glorified then remembred they that these things were written of him and that they had done these things unto him Though the Apostles believed him to be the Messiah yet there were many Occurrences of his Life which they understood not at the time when they happened to be fore-told of the Messiah which after his Ascension they found exactly to quadrate And all the People crying Hosanna Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the Name of the Lord This was so open a Declaration of his being the Messiah that Luke XIX 39. Some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him Master rebuke thy Disciples But he was so far from stopping them or disowning this their Acknowledgment of his being the Messiah That he said unto them I tell you that if these should hold their peace the stones would immediately cry out And again upon the like occasion of their crying Hosanna to the Son of David in the Temple Mat. XXI 15 16. When
THE REASONABLENESS OF Christianity As delivered in the SCRIPTURES LONDON Printed for Awnsham and Iohn Churchil at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster-Row 1695. THE PREFACE THE little Satisfaction and Consistency is to be found in most of the Systems of Divinity I have met with made me betake my self to the sole Reading of the Scripture to which they all appeal for the understanding the Christian Religion What from thence by an attentive and unbiassed search I have received Reader I here deliver to thee If by this my Labour thou receivest any Light or Confirmation in the Truth joyn with me in Thanks to the Father of Lights for his Condescention to our Vnderstandings If upon a fair and unprejudiced Examination thou findest I have mistaken the Sense and Tenor of the Gospel I beseech thee as a true Christian in the Spirit of the Gospel which is that of Charity and in the words of Sobriety set me right in the Doctrine of Salvation ERRATA Page 35. line 22. read on the. p. 62. l. 26. r. Bethesda p. 63. l. 26. r. little of any thing p. 64. ult r. it was p. 65. l. 6. r. them at Ierusalem Ibid. l. 10 r. ing in that place p. 67. l. 17. r. that remained p. 69. l. 23. r. a king or rather Messiah the King p. 75. l. 6. dele these Ibid. l. 14. r. nor 〈◊〉 p. 112. l. 4. r. Bethesda p. 161. l. 2. r. and of p. 165. l. 20. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 present World p. 194. l. 11. r. availed not Devils p. 217. l. 11. r. In his Sermon in the. p. 263. l. ◠r. before observed p. 264. l. 24. r. custom p. 271. l. 2. r. apophthegms Ibid. l. 24. r. themselves and deduces p. 282. l. 〈◊〉 r. No touch of p. 284. 1. 〈◊〉 confusion p. 287. l. 17. r. life and. p. 295. l. 22. r. the Apostles p. 203. l. 20. r. Treatise p. 304. l. 4. ◠abstract Ibid. l. 14. read them The Reasonableness of Christianity as delivered in the Scriptures T IS obvious to any one who reads the New Testament that the Doctrine of Redemption and consequently of the Gospel is founded upon the Supposition of Adam's Fall To understand therefore what we are restored to by Jesus Christ we must consider what the Scripture shews we lost by Adam This I thought worthy of a diligent and unbiassed search Since I found the two Extreams that Men run into on this Point either on the one hand shook the Foundations of all Religion or on the other made Christianity almost nothing For whilst some Men would have all Adam's Posterity doomed to Eternal Infinite Punishment for the Transgression of Adam whom Millions had never heard of and no one had authorized to transact for him or be his Representative this seemed to others so little consistent with the Justice or Goodness of the Great and Infinite God that they thought there was no Redemption necessary and consequently that there was none rather than admit of it upon a Supposition so derogatory to the Honour and Attributes of that Infinite Being and so made Jesus Christ nothing but the Restorer and Preacher of pure Natural Religion thereby doing violence to the whole tenor of the New Testament And indeed both sides will be suspected to have trespassed this way against the written Word of God by any one who does but take it to be a Collection of Writings designed by God for the Instruction of the illiterate bulk of Mankind in the way to Salvation and therefore generally and in necessary points to be understood in the plain direct meaning of the words and phrases such as they may be supposed to have had in the mouths of the Speakers who used them according to the Language of that Time and Country wherein they lived without such learned artificial and forced senses of them as are sought out and put upon them in most of the Systems of Divinity according to the Notions that each one has been bred up in To one that thus unbiassed reads the Scriptures what Adam fell from is visible was the state of perfect Obedience which is called Justice in the New Testament though the word which in the Original signifies Justice be translated Righteousness And by this Fall he lost Paradise wherein was Tranquility and the Tree of Life i. e. he lost Bliss and Immortality The Penalty annexed to the breach of the Law with the Sentence pronounced by God upon it shew this The Penalty stands thus Gen. II. 17. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die How was this executed He did eat but in the day he did eat he did not actually die but was turned out of Paradise from the Tree of Life and shut out for ever from it lest he should take thereof and live for ever This shews that the state of Paradise was a state of Immortality of Life without end which he lost that very day that he eat His Life began from thence to shorten and wast and to have an end and from thence to his actual Death was but like the time of a Prisoner between the Sentence past and the Execution which was in view and certain Death then enter'd and shewed his Face which before was shut out and not known So St. Paul Rom. V. 12. By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin i. e. a state of Death and Mortality And 1 Cor. XV. 22. In Adam all die i. e. by reason of his Transgression all Men are Mortal and come to die This is so clear in these cited places and so much the current of the New Testament that no body can deny but that the Doctrine of the Gospel is that Death came on all Men by Adam's sin only they differ about the signification of the word Death For some will have it to be a state of Guilt wherein not only he but all his Posterity was so involved that every one descended of him deserved endless torment in Hell-fire I shall say nothing more here how far in the apprehensions of Men this consists with the Justice and Goodness of God having mentioned it above But it seems a strange way of understanding a Law which requires the plainest and directest words that by Death should be meant Eternal Life in Misery Could any one be supposed by a Law that says For Felony you shall die not that he should lose his Life but be kept alive in perpetual exquisite Torments And would any one think himself fairly dealt with that was so used To this they would have it be also a state of necessary sinning and provoking God in every Action that men do A yet harder sense of the word Death than the other God says That in the day that thou eatest of the forbidden Fruit thou shalt die i. e. thou and thy Posterity shall be ever after uncapable of doing any thing but what shall be sinful and provoking to me and shall justly deserve my wrath and
Law are a Law unto themselves Which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts their Consciences also bearing witness and amongst one another their thoughts accusing or excusing By which and other places in the following Chapter 't is plain that under the Law of Works is comprehended also the Law of Nature knowable by Reason as well as the Law given by Moses For says St. Paul Rom. III. 9. 23. we have proved both Iews and Gentiles that they are all under sin For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Which they could not do without a Law Nay whatever God requires any where to be done without making any allowance for Faith that is a part of the Law of Works So the forbidding Adam to eat of the Tree of Knowledge was part of the Law of Works Only we must take notice here That some of God's Positive Commands being for peculiar Ends and suited to particular Circumstances of Times Places and Persons have a limited and only temporary Obligation by vertue of God's positive Injunction such as was that part of Moses's Law which concerned the outward Worship or Political Constitution of the Jews and is called the Ceremonial and Judaical Law in contradistinction to the Moral part of it Which being conformable to the Eternal Law of Right is of Eternal Obligation and therefore remains in force still under the Gospel nor is abrogated by the Law of Faith as St. Paul found some ready to infer Rom. III. 31. Do we then make void the Law through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law Nor can it be otherwise For were there no Law of Works there could be no Law of Faith For there could be no need of Faith which should be counted to men for Righteousness if there were no Law to be the Rule and Measure of Righteousness which men failed in their Obedience to Where there is no Law there is no Sin all are Righteous equally with or without Faith The Rule therefore of Right is the same that ever it was the Obligation to observe it is also the same The difference between the Law of Works and the Law of Faith is only this that the Law of Works makes no allowance for failing on any occasion Those that obey are Righteous those that in any part disobey are unrighteous and must not expect Life the Reward of Righteousness But by the Law of Faith Faith is allowed to supply the defect of full Obedience and so the Believers are admitted to Life and Immortality as if they were Righteous Only here we must take notice that when St. Paul says that the Gospel establishes the Law he means the Moral part of the Law of Moses For that he could not mean the Ceremonial or Political part of it is evident by what I quoted out of him just now where he says The Gentiles that do by nature the things contained in the Law their Consciences bearing witness For the Gentiles neither did nor thought of the Judaical or Ceremonial Institutions of Moses 't was only the Moral part their Consciences were concerned in As for the rest St. Paul tells the Galatians Cap. IV. they are not under that part of the Law which v. 3. he calls Elements of the World and v. 9. weak and beggarly elements And our Saviour himself in his Gospel-Sermon on the Mount tells them Mat. V. 17. That whatever they might think he was not come to dissolve the Law but to make it more full and strict For that that is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is evident from the following part of that Chapter where he gives the Precepts in a stricter sense than they were received in before But they are all Precepts of the Moral Law which he reinforces What should become of the Ritual Law he tells the Woman of Samaria in these words Iohn IV. 21. 23. The hour cometh when you shall neither in this Mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father But the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him Thus then as to the Law in short The Civil and Ritual part of the Law delivered by Moses obliges not Christians though to the Jews it were a part of the Law of Works it being a part of the Law of Nature that man ought to obey every Positive Law of God whenever he shall please to make any such addition to the Law of his Nature But the Moral part of Moses's Law or the Moral Law which is every where the same the Eternal Rule of Right obliges Christians and all men every where and is to all men the standing Law of Works But Christian Believers have the Priviledge to be under the Law of Faith too which is that Law whereby God Justifies a man for Believing though by his Works he be not Just or Righteous i. e. though he came short of Perfect Obedience to the Law of Works God alone does or can Justifie or make Just those who by their Works are not so Which he doth by counting their Faith for Righteousness i. e. for a compleat performance of the Law Rom. IV. 3. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness v. 5. To him that believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness v. 6. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works i. e. without a full measure of Works which is exact Obedience v. 7. Saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered v. 8. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin This Faith for which God justified Abraham what was it It was the believing God when he engaged his Promise in the Covenant he made with him This will be plain to any one who considers these places together Gen. XV. 6. He believed in the Lord or believed the Lord. For that the Hebrew Phrase believing in signifies no more but believing is plain from St. Paul's citation of this place Rom. IV. 3. where he repeats it thus Abraham believed God which he thus explains v. 18-22 who against hope believed in hope that he might become the Father of many Nations According to that which was spoken so shall thy seed be And being not weak in faith he considered not his own body now dead when he was about an hundred years old nor yet the deadness of Sarah's womb He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God And being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was also able to perform And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness By which it is clear that the Faith which God counted to Abraham for Righteousness was nothing but a firm belief of what God declared to him and a steadfast relying on him for the accomplishment of what he had promised Now this says
Contrivance of an Ambitious or Dangerous man designing against the Government The way of expressing what he meant being in the Prophetick stile which is seldom so plain as to be understood till accomplished 'T is plain that his Disciples themselves comprehended not what Kingdom he here spoke of from their Question to him after his Resurrection Wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel Having finished these Discourses he takes Order for the Passover and eats it with his Disciples And at Supper tells them that one of them should betray him And adds Iohn XIII 19. I tell it you now before it come that when it is come to pass you may know that I am He does not say out the Messiah Iudas should not have that to say against him if he would Though that be the sense in which he uses this Expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am more than once And that this is the meaning of it is clear from Mark XII 6. Luke XXI 8. In both which Evangelists the words are For many shall come in my Name saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am The meaning whereof we shall find explained in the parallel place of St. Matthew Chap. XXIV 5. For many shall come in my Name saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the Messiah Here in this place of Iohn XIII Jesus fore-tells what should happen to him viz. That he should be betrayed by Iudas adding this Prediction to the many other Particulars of his Death and Suffering which he had at other times foretold to them And here he tells them the reason of these his Predictions viz. That afterwards they might be a confirmation to their Faith And what was it that he would have them believe and be confirmed in the belief of Nothing but this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he was the Messiah The same reason he gives Iohn XIII 28. You have heard how I said unto you I go away and come again unto you And now I have told you before it come to pass that when it is come to pass ye might believe When Iudas had left them and was gone out he talks a little freer to them of his Glory and his Kingdom than ever he had done before For now he speaks plainly of himself and his Kingdom Iohn XIII 31. Therefore when he Judas was gone out Iesus said Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is also glorified in him And if God be glorified in him God shall also glorifie him in himself and shall straitway glorifie him And Luke XXII 29. And I will appoint unto you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me that ye may eat and drink with me at my Table in my Kingdom Though he has every where all along through his Ministry preached the Gospel of the Kingdom and nothing else but that and Repentance and the Duties of a good Life Yet it has been always the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven And I do not remember that any where till now he uses any such expression as My Kingdom But here now he speaks in the first Person I will appoint you a Kingdom And in my Kingdom And this we see is only to the Eleven now Iudas was gone from them With these Eleven whom he was now just leaving he has a long Discourse to comfort them for their loss of him And to prepare them for the Persecution of the World And to exhort them to keep his Commandments and to love one another And here one may expect all the Articles of Faith should be laid down plainly if any thing else were required of them to believe but what he had taught them and they believed already viz. That he was the Messiah John XIV 1. Ye believe in God believe also in me v. 29. I have told you before it come to pass that when it is come to pass ye may believe It is believing on him without any thing else Iohn XVI 31. Iesus answered them Do you now believe This was in Answer to their professing v 30. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things and needest not that any man should ask thee By this we believe that thou comest forth from God John XVII 20. Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word All that is spoke of Believing in this his last Sermon to them is only Believing on him or believing that He came from God Which was no other than believing him to be the Messiah Indeed Iohn XIV 9. Our Saviour tells Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father And adds v. 10. Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me The words that I speak unto you I speak not of my self But the Father that dwelleth in me he doth the works Which being in Answer to Philip's words v. 9. Shew us the Father seem to import thus much No man hath seen God at any time he is known only by his Works And that he is my Father and I the Son of God i. e. the Messiah you may know by the Works I have done Which it is impossible I could do of my self but by the Union I have with God my Father For that by being in God and God in him he signifies such an Union with God that God operates in and by him appears not only by the words above-cited out of v. 10. which can scarce otherwise be made coherent sense but also from the same Phrase used again by our Saviour presently after v. 20. At that day viz. after his Resurrection when they should see him again ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you i. e. By the works I shall enable you to do through a Power I have received from the Father Which whoever sees me do must acknowledge the Father to be in me And whoever sees you do must acknowledge me to be in you And therefore he says v. 12. Verily verily I say unto you He that believeth on me the works that I do shall he also do because I go unto my Father Though I go away yet I shall be in you who believe in me And ye shall be enabled to do Miracles also for the carrying on of my Kingdom as I have done That it may be manifested to others that you are sent by me as I have evidenced to you that I am sent by the Father And hence it is that he says in the immediately preceding v. 11. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me If not believe me for the sake of the works themselves Let the Works that I have done convince you that I am sent by the Father That he is with me and that I do nothing but by his Will and by vertue of the Union I have with him And that consequently I am the Messiah who am anointed sanctified and separate by the Father to
contrary Life And so they are joyned together Acts III. 19. Repent and turn about Or as we render it be converted And Acts XXVI Repent and turn to God And sometimes turning about is put alone to signifie Repentance Mat. XIII 15. Luke XXII 32. Which in other words is well expressed by Newness of Life For it being certain that he who is really sorry for his sins and abhors them will turn from them and forsake them Either of these Acts which have so Natural a connexion one with the other may be and is often put for both together Repentance is an hearty sorrow for our past misdeeds and a sincere Resolution and Endeavour to the utmost of our power to conform all our Actions to the Law of God So that Repentance does not consist in one single Act of sorrow though that being the first and leading Act gives denomination to the whole But in doing works meet for Repentance in a sincere Obedience to the Law of Christ the remainder of our Lives This was called for by Iohn the Baptist the Preacher of Repentance Mat. III. 8. Bring forth fruits meet for Repentance And by St. Paul here Acts XXVI 20. Repent and turn to God and do works meet for Repentance There are works to follow belonging to Repentance as well as sorrow for what is past These two Faith and Repentance i. e. believing Jesus to be the Messiah and a good Life are the indispensible Conditions of the New Covenant The Reasonableness or rather Necessity of which as the only Conditions required in the Covenant of Grace to be performed by all those who would obtain Eternal Life that we may the better comprehend we must a little look back to what was said in the beginning Adam being the Son of God and so St. Luke calls him Chap. III. 38. had this part also of the Likeness and Image of his Father viz. That he was Immortal But Adam transgressing the Command given him by his Heavenly Father incurred the Penalty forfeited that state of Immortality and became Mortal After this Adam begot Children But they were in his own likeness after his own image Mortal like their Father God nevertheless out of his Infinite Mercy willing to bestow Eternal Life on Mortal Men sends Jesus Christ into the World Who being conceived in the Womb of a Virgin that had not known Man by the immediate Power of God was properly the Son of God According to what the Angel declared to his Mother Luke I. 30-35 The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall over shadow thee Therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called THE SON OF GOD. So that being the Son of God he was like his Father Immortal As he tells us Iohn V. 26. As the Father hath life in himself so hath be given to the Son to have life in himself And that Immortality is a part of that Image wherein these who were the immediate Sons of God so as to have no other Father were made like their Father appears probable not only from the places in Genesis concerning Adam above taken notice of but seems to me also to be intimated in some Expressions concerning Iesus the Son of God In the New Testament Col. I. 15. He is called the Image of the invivisible God Invisible seems put in to obviate any gross Imagination that he as Images use to do represented God in any corporeal or visible Resemblance And there is farther subjoyned to lead us into the meaning of it The First-born of every Creature Which is farther explained v. 18. Where he is termed The First-born from the dead Thereby making out and shewing himself to be the Image of the Invisible God That Death hath no power over him But being the Son of God and not having forfeited that Son-ship by any Trangression was the Heir of Eternal Life As Adam should have been had he continued in his filial Duty In the same sense the Apostle seems to use the word Image in other places viz. Rom. VIII 29. Whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the first-born among many Brethren This Image to which they were conformed seems to be Immortality and Eternal Life For 't is remarkable that in both these places St. Paul speaks of the Resurrection And that Christ was The First-born among many Brethren He being by Birth the Son of God and the others only by Adoption as we see in this same Chapter v. 15-17 Ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The Spirit it self bearing witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God And if Children then Heirs And Ioynt-Heirs with Christ If so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together And hence we see that our Saviour vouchsafes to call those who at the Day of Judgment are through him entring into Eternal Life his Brethren Mat. XXV 40. In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my Brethren And may we not in this find a reason why God so frequently in the New Testament and so seldom if at all in the Old is mentioned under the single Title of THE FATHER And therefore our Saviour says Mat. XI No man knoweth the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him God has now a Son again in the World the First-born of many Brethren who all now by the Spirit of Adoption can say Abba Father And we by Adoption being for his sake made his Brethren and the Sons of God come to share in that Inheritance which was his Natural Right he being by Birth the Son of God Which Inheritance is Eternal Life And again v. 23. We groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Body Whereby is plainly meant the change of these frail Mortal Bodies into the Spiritual Immortal Bodies at the Resurrection When this Mortal shall have put on Immortality 1 Cor. XV. 54. Which in that Chapter v. 42-44 he farther expresses thus So also is the Resurrection of the dead It is sown in Corruption it is raised in Incorruption It is sown in dishonour it is raised in Glory It is sown in Weakness it is raised in Power It is sown a Natural Body it is raised a Spiritual Body c. To which he subjoyns v. 49. As we have born the Image of the Earthy i. e. As we have been Mortal like Earthy Adam our Father from whom we are descended when he was turned out of Paradise We shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly Into whose Sonship and Inheritance being adopted we shall at the Resurrection receive that Adoption we expect Even the Redemption of our Bodies And after his Image which is the Image of the Father become Immortal Hear what he says himself Luke XX. 35 36. They who shall be
especially if repeated over and over again in different places and expressions will be past Doubt and Controversie I shall pass by all that is said by St. Iohn Baptist or any other before our Saviour's entry upon his Ministry and Publick Promulgation of the Laws of his Kingdom He began his Preaching with a Command to Repent As St. Matt. tells us IV. 17. From that time Iesus began to preach saying Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand And Luke V. 32. he tells the Scribes and Pharisees I came not to call the righteous Those who were truly so needed no help they had a right to the Tree of Life but sinners to Repentance In this Sermon as he calls it in the Mount Luke VI. and Matt. V c. He commands they should be exemplary in Good Works Let your light so shine amongst men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven Matt. V. 15. And that they might know what he came for and what he expected of them he tells them v. 17-20 Think not that I am come to dissolve or loosen the Law or the Prophets I am not come to dissolve or loosen but to make it full or compleat By giving it you in its true and strict-sense Here we see he confirms and at once reinforces all the Moral Precepts in the Old Testament For verily I say to you Till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be done Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach men so he shall be called the least i. e. as it is interpreted Shall not be at all in the Kingdom of Heaven V. 21. I say unto you That except your Righteousness i. e. your Performance of the Eternal Law of right shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And then he goes on to make good what he said v. 17. viz. That he was come to compleat the Law viz. By giving its full and clear sense free from the corrupt and loosning glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees v. 22-26 He tells them That not only Murder but causeless Anger and so much as words of Contempt were forbidden He Commands them to be reconciled and kind towards their Adversaires And that upon Pain of Condemnation In the following part of his Sermon which is to be read Luke VI. and more at large Matt. V VI VII He not only forbids actual Uncleanness but all irregular desires upon pain of Hell-fire Causless Divorces Swearing in Conversation as well as Forswearing in Judgment Revenge Retaliation Ostentation of Charity of Devotion and of Fasting Repetitions in Prayer Covetousness Worldly Care Censoriousness And on the other side Commands Loving our Enemies Doing good to those that Hate us Blessing those that Curse us Praying for those that despightfully use us Patience and Meekness under Injuries Forgiveness Liberality Compassion And closes all his particular injunctions with this general Golden Rule Matt. VII 12. All things whatsoever ye would have that Men should do to you do ye even so to them For this is the Law and the Prophets And to shew how much he is in earnest and expects Obedience to these Laws He tells them Luke VI. 35. That if they obey Great shall be their REWARD they shall be called The Sons of the Highest And to all this in the Conclusion he adds this Solemn Sanction Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things that I say 'T is in vain for you to take me for the Messiah your King unless you obey me Not every one who calls me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven or be Sons of God But he that does the Will of my Father which is in Heaven To such Disobedient Subjects though they have Prophesied and done Miracles in my Name I shall say at the day of Judgment Depart from me ye workers of Iniquity I know you not When Matt. XII he was told That his Mother and Brethren sought to speak with him v. 49. Stretching out his hands to his Disciples he said Be hold my Mother and my Brethren For whosoever shall do the Will of my Father who is in Heaven he is my Brother and Sister and Mother They could not be Children of the Adoption and fellow Heirs with him of Eternal Life who did not do the Will of his Heavenly Father Matt. XV. and Mark VI. The Pharisees finding fault that his Disciples eat with unclean hands he makes this Declaration to his Apostles Do ye not perceive that whatsoever from without entreth into a man cannot defile him because it enters not into his Heart but his Belly That which cometh out of the Man that defileth the Man For from within out of the Heart of Men proceed evil Thoughts Adulteries Fornicati-Murders Thefts false Witnesses Covetousness Wickedness Deceit Laciviousness an evil Eye Blasphemy Pride Foolishness All these ill things come from within and defile a Man He commands Self-denial and the exposing our selves to Suffering and Danger rather than to deny or disown him And this upon pain of loosing our Souls which are of more worth than all the World This we may read Matt. XVI 24-27 and the parallel places Matt. VIII and Luke IX The Apostles disputing amongst them who should be greatest in the Kingdom of the Messiah Matt. XVIII 1. He thus determines the Controversy Mark IX 35. If any one will be first let him be last of all and Servant of all And setting a Child before them adds Matt. XVIII 3. Verily I say unto you Vnless ye turn and become as Children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. XVIII 15. If thy Brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone If he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy Brother But if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three Witnesses every word may be established And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it to the Church But if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen and Publican V. 21. Peter said Lord how often shall my Brother sin against me and I forgive him Till seven times Iesus said unto him I say not unto thee till seven times but until seventy times seven And then ends the Parable of the Servant who being himself forgiven was rigorous to his Fellow-Servant with these words v. 34. And his Lord was worth and delivered him to the Tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you if you from your hearts forgive not every one his Brother their Trespasses Luke X25 To the Lawyer asking him What shall I do to inherit Eternal Life He said What is written in the Law How readest thou