John the Baptist to him 276 c. The place where he gave it very remarkable 288. Jesus his own Baptism a testimony to him several ways 292. to 308. The conclusion we are to draw from hence 308 309 c. A Prayer 312. CHAP. VI. The Testimony of the BLOUD 317. Jesus died to witness this truth that he is God's Son 320. The strength of this Testimony in xiv Considerations 322. The first Ib. The second and third 323. The fourth 324. The fifth 327. The sixth 328. The seventh 331. The eighth 332. The ninth 334. The tenth 339. The eleventh 343. The twelfth 345. The thirteenth which contains a narration of the trial of our Saviour before Pontius Pilate 349. to 363. The fourteenth 363 c. The conclusion in two observations belonging to this matter 366. A Prayer 372. CHAP. VII Concerning the Testimony of the SPIRIT 379. The difference between the SPIRIT and the HOLY GHOST 381. His miraculous works were the first testimony of the Spirit 383. particularly casting out Devils 388. and raising the dead 396. the raising of Lazarus a remarkable testimony to Jesus 402. The reason why the Apostles relate so many of his miracles 410. Our Saviour appeals to them 418. The different ways that God and men take for establishing a Religion 425. The second testimony of the Spirit was by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead 431. First as it was a sign given his Apostles and the People 438. and the greatest sign 442. and such an one as his enemies acknowledge to be satisfactory 448. An explication of that place 1 John 50.51 and of the blasphemy against the holy Ghost 457. to 467. These Witnesses all well known 467. A Prayer 473. CHAP. VIII Concerning the Witness of the Apostles 479. who testified to our Saviour all these three ways by WATER 487. and by BLOUD 497. and by the SPIRIT 503. The difference between them and all pretenders to miraculous works 509. No just exception against the Records we have of their testimony 514 c. No body ever undertook to disprove them 523. A few remarks upon some passages of the N.T. which speak of these witnesses 525. particularly the Two Witnesses xi Rev. 3. 527. The testimony of all the Martyrs 533. A Prayer 535. CHAP. IX The great importance of this Truth that Jesus is the Son of God 542. appears in many considerations 543. We ought therefore to settle it in our hearts 545. and not think such discourses needless 546. The laziness of Christian people 548. We ought to be cautious in our belief and examine before we trust 550. If we examine duly we shall find the Faith of Christians to be perfectly rational 554. No Religion relies on such testimonies 555. That of Mahomet considered in all the foregoing regards 556. to 566. There the Religion of Moses is considered Which had no such witness from the FATHER as ours hath Ib. nor from the WORD 570. nor from the HOLY GHOST 571. nor such a Testimony of WATER 572. nor of BLOUD 574. nor of the SPIRIT 575. A Prayer 580. CHAP. X. Containing other Uses we are to make of the Testimony of these Witnesses 585. The third is we ought to believe them and heartily embrace the Christian Faith 589. no excuse for those that do not 593. This is as certain a way of knowing things as any other 598. These Witnesses greater than any other 602. The Christian way to belief 608. The plain account of our Faith 609. The fourth Use we are to make of this Testimony 613. Obedience the necessary consequence of Faith 614 615 c. All these Witnesses call for it 617 c. The Devils will shame us if we hearken not to them 622. The fifth concerning the power of the Christian Faith to baffle all temptations 629. First the hatred of men 631. Secondly troubles and calamities Ib. 632 c. Thirdly the lust of the flesh lust of the eyes and pride of life 634 c. How inviting the voice of these Witnesses is 639 c. The sixth concerning the power of this Faith to make us do our duty chearfully 645. Christ's Commandments not grievous 646. According to our faith so is our strength 648. The unreasonableness of mens complaints of Christ's yoke 650 651. What fancy will make men do 653. Faith therefore is more powerful 654. We ought now to be Christ's Witnesses by our good lives 655. So the ancient Christians were 656. Whereby we shall convey this Faith to posterity 657. Wickedness the cause of Infidelity 658. A Prayer 659. ERRATA PAge 635. line 15. read signifies that sort p. 636. l. penult r. which is a thirst p. 637. l. 18. r. seeks p. 641. l. 24. r. temptations p. 642. l. 12. r. ever p. 643. l. 10. for desire r. defie p. 645. l. 14. for yet r. yea p. 654. l. 2. for him r. us 1 S. JOHN vâ—â— 7 8. For there are three that bear witness in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one And there are three that bear witness in Earth the Spirit and the Water and the Bloud and these three agree in one PART I. CHAP. I. An Introduction to the Ensuing Discourse shewing the Scope of it IT is not my design in this Discourse to explain and establish the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity which several great Writers have inferred with much appearance of reason from the remarkable difference there is between those words whereby S. John expresses the Unity of the first three witnesses and those whereby he expresses the Unity of the last But to settle the Faith and Hope of Christian Souls in the Lord Jesus which is the true scope of the Apostle in this part of his Epistle though in no Treatise that I have met withal it hath from hence been distinctly and fully represented That this is the drift of the Apostles Discourse and ought to be the intention of mine will be very apparent if we go but back so far as the fourth Verse of this Chapter and from thence take our rise for that Argument which I purpose to pursue To know that we are born of God and so shall be his Heirs is a thing in which above all others we are most highly concern'd That we may have therefore a certain character of one divinely descended S. John lays down this General mark of him whereby he may be known that Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World By this a Christian is to be tried and hereby he discovers himself what he is whether the child of God in name only or in deed and in truth If when he meets with any thing in this world that would seduce or affright him from his duty he not only defies it and sets himself against it but makes it yield to his resolution of stedfast obedience to God's Commandments which every man he says in the foregoing verse that loves God will certainly keep and not think them grievous neither
it is a plain demonstration that he is dear to God and hath his very Spirit in him Now next to this there is nothing more necessary and desirable to be known than how we may obtain this great and matchless victory over every thing in the world that opposes our Christian resolution and so undoubtedly approve our selves heroical persons as they were anciently called that are born from above And here also the Apostle lends us his assistance telling us in the latter end of that fourth Verse that we must atchieve it by Faith And this is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith So couragious so powerful so successful is an hearty lively Faith that you see he calls it by the name of victory it self If we believe stedfastly we shall tread the world under our feet and easily despise all its temptations as those valiant Worthies did whose example another Apostle sets before us in the Eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews A portion of Scripture which he that means to be a conqueror should think he can never read too oft But there is a farther enquiry remaining which every body will be apt to make and that is what this Faith may be which is so victorious and triumphant And therefore the Apostle takes care to satisfie us in this matter also when he tells us Verse 5. it is nothing else but to believe that Jesus is the Son of God To be heartily perswaded he means that that great person who was born of the Virgin Mary and was known by the name of Jesus and overcame the world so gloriously was indeed sent from God unto us and owned by him as the express image of his person so that we may as infallibly depend upon the truth of what he hath said either of himself or concerning us as we can upon any thing of Sense or Reason by which we think our selves bound to guide and determine our resolutions and actions in this life But still after all this there is one thing more that we cannot but desire to be very sure of without which all the rest will stand us in no stead but we shall flag and despair of success viz. That Jesus is indeed the Son of God This if it be not well proved by substantial arguments we can have no solid faith and so no victory and so no son-ship no hope in another world The Apostle therefore that he may serve us in bringing some evident demonstration of this so important a truth tells us in the next words Verse 6. that Jesus did not only say he was God's Son and confidently affirm himself to be the Divine person so long look'd for to come into the world but that he came with very sufficient and unreproveable witnesses of it viz. the WATER the BLOUD and the SPIRIT which made this truth good to all those who considered their testimony If the first of these WATER should not be thought great enough to merit belief yet the BLOUD joyned with it adds great force to its perswasion Or if both these seem too weak yet this last the SPIRIT the Apostle doubts not is so strong to conquer mens minds and make them believe in Jesus that he says The Spirit is truth That is such an undoubted proof that Jesus was what he pretended to be the Son of God that no man can be deceived who relies upon it and no man can refuse if he give heed to it to rely and depend upon such a witness Now this was a thing notorious in those days and needed no proof at all the whole Country of Judaea could witness it that he came by or rather with Water Bloud and the Spirit And therefore the Apostle doth not go about to make this good that there were such Witnesses it being a matter confessed but rather repeats it over again as the strongest proof of his Divine Authority adding moreover there-withal that there were three other Witnesses who by their concurrent testimony would unanimously justifie this Truth For saith he in the words I have chosen to explain There are three that bear record or witness in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one And there are three that bear witness in Earth the Spirit and the Water and the Bloud and these three agree in one As if he had said You cannot reasonably doubt of that which we preach concerning Jesus if you go but to those three witnesses to which I have sent you the Water the Bloud and the Spirit for they all affirm with one mouth that he was the Son of God And as they testifie this to you upon the Earth so there are three other Witnesses also who declare it to you from Heaven to whom I first direct you and then to those three that here on Earth as I have told you bear their record to him There are not a few Copies of the New Testament it must be confessed which leave out the Testimony of these three Witnesses that speak from Heaven not reading the seventh Verse as is noted not only by Socinus and his followers but by Erasmus Grotius Curcellaeus and our Learned Selden whose collections to this purpose far exceed all former observations But yet this last named Great Author hath said so much * L. 2. de Syned cap. 4. num 4. to justifie the Antiquity of our present Reading and to keep the seventh Verse in the place wherein it now stands that I make no question these are the words of S. John concerning the three Heavenly Witnesses the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and accordingly I shall in the first place appeal to their testimony for the confirming of this Truth and for the supporting thereby of our Faith that Jesus is the Son of God And if any body shall say What need is there of this in a Christian Country There are no Infidels sure among us nor are we in danger to turn Pagans Turks or Jews who blaspheme the Lord Jesus I shall not labour to stop their mouths by casting reproaches on others nor complain of the apostasie which some think they have reason to lay to the charge of too many in this present untoward generation But desire them to take their Answer from S. John himself in the thirteenth Verse of this very Chapter Where they will find that he thought it not unnecessary to write these things to them that believe on the name of the Son of God that they might know how happy a thing it was to be a Christian and that they might believe i. e. continue to believe on the name of the Son of God And I may modestly suppose that what he thought good to assert here with so much care and exactness it will not be thought an unprofitable diligence if I study to expound and enlarge for the benefit of believers It will be some satisfaction to me however to have had it in my heart to do some honour to my Saviour
person whom all their inspired men pointed at and foretold should come to be their King For the descriptions they have left of the cruel usage and horrible sufferings of the Messiah or Christ were answered to the life and exactly fulfilled in our Saviour Jesus whose torments rather exceeded than fell short of the tragicalness of all their expressions Thence it is that when He had ended all his sufferings he said xix John 30. IT IS FINISHED and so bowed his head i.e. did reverence to God and gave up the ghost i.e. resigned his Spirit to God in that prayer which S. Luke mentions By which words It is finished He bad them mark that now all things that were written of him in the xxii Psalm liii Isaiah and other places of their holy Books were perfectly fulfilled and received such a punctual completion in him that there remained nothing more to be done but only to die He had done all his Fathers will and finished his whole work in every point and so having no further business here He worshipped God that sent him and departed the world to go to him XII It will also much advantage this discourse to observe the accidents that hapned at our Saviour's death and accompanied his bloud-shedding which have no small force to verifie what he said concerning himself And to omit the death of Judas which prevented our Lord's and declared that he thought Jesus innocent and himself guilty together with several other things which may be better mentioned afterward let us only observe how the Sun contrary to its usual course when the Moon could not interpose it self between its light and them was eclipsed three whole hours as he was in his passion xxiii Luke 44 45. And that in the conclusion of it the veil of the Temple of that Temple wherein the Jews so much confided was rent in twain from the top to the bottom xxvii Matth. 51. The Earth quaked the Rocks rent and the Graves were opened and many bodies of Saints which slept arose and went out of the Graves after his Resurrection and appeared unto many in the holy City ver 52 53. What judgment can any sober man make of so many strange things concurring at this moment When was it ever heard that the Sun blusht as one may say to show its face and look upon him when any malefactor or innocent man either was hang'd upon a gibbet or that the holy place was torn together with that man's body or that the Earth groaned when he expired and the hearts of Rocks trembled when he cried out and the monuments of the dead opened at his death which three days after gave them life All these things were peculiar to the death of Jesus and never met together but only to honour his bloud And so notorious they were that the Centurion and those who under him had the charge at that time to see the execution done were convinced by them and by the words that he spake that he was no Deceiver but in truth the Son of God So S. Matthew there relates ver 54. that when the Centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus saw the Earthquake and those things that were done they feared greatly saying Truly this man was the Son of God Whatsoever the Jews had decreed they saw by the displeasure of the Heavens by the trembling of the Earth by the hand of God upon the Temple which was soon known by the Priests that Jesus had exceeding great wrong done him having spoken nothing but the truth when he confessed to Pilate that he was the Son of God They dreaded to think what would be the consequences of this horrid murder and were sorely afraid that they themselves who had attended upon it should feel some of those tokens of Gods wrath which elsewhere was very visible But S. Mark tells us that the Centurion also observed the words of our Saviour as well as was struck with these miraculous accidents and that they helped to convince him xv 39. And when the Centurion which stood over against him saw that he so cried out and gave up the ghost he said Truly this man was the Son of God That is when he heard him call God FATHER for those were the words as you heard out of S. Luke xxiii 46. which he cried with a loud voice at the giving up of the ghost Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit and when he saw that he stood in this to the very last breath that God was his Father and also beheld such strange testimonies of it both in the Heaven and in the Earth he said without all doubt he ought to have been acknowledged to be no less than he said and not crucified as a malefactor And S. Luke relates it thus that Jesus crying with a loud voice and saying those words before mentioned The Centurion saw what was done that is all spoken of in the precedent verses xxiii Luke 44 45 46. and GLORIFIED God saying Certainly this was a righteous man Which was as if he had said God be praised for showing us the truth or let us do God honour in acknowledging the truth whatever come of it I make no question but this man was innocent and said true when he affirmed he was God's Son though the Jews have got him crucified for this saying and brought us to wait upon his execution That as I have often noted was their quarrel with him That he being a man made himself equal with God x. John 33. v. 18. This was the blasphemy they accused him of that he said They should see the SON OF MAN that is Himself sitting at the right hand of power But the Centurion an honest Gentile acquitted him of this crime and seeing the things that were done and hearing the words he uttered concluded him to be Righteous free from all blame and not at all guilty of that blasphemy for which he was arraigned and suffered but ought to have been believed and acknowledged as the CHRIST the Son of the blessed Thus was that fulfilled which our Saviour had foretold viii John 28. When ye have lift up the Son of Man upon the Cross then shall ye know that I am He that is the CHRIST and that I do nothing of my self assume not this authority of preaching thus without Gods leave but as my Father hath taught me I speak these things that is even this that I am his CHRIST is that which he bid me affirm And he that sent me is with me to justifie what I say and do the Father hath not left me alone no not upon the Cross nor after death as appears even by this Testimony which he forced the Centurion to give him For I do always those things that please him Keep to my office that is both now and when I suffer you to lift me up to the Cross for God declared that he was never better pleased with him than when he laid down his life in this
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
Saviour spake as much and his Bloudy Death sealed it to which the Spirit set its seal also and undeniably witnessed that bloud was sacred which he shed for a testimony upon the Cross All these have done their part all that Witnesses by their office are to do for the making of this good that Jesus is the Son of God That which remains is our task who are bound to consider and seriously ponder and impartially judge and then faithfully improve their sacred Testimony that Jesus may have the glory that is due unto him and we may have that benefit which God by him designs to bestow upon us I. And first of all let us consider a-while the great weight and importance of this Truth that Jesus is Gods Son If the whole frame of Christian Religion did not rely upon it there would not have been such care taken to settle it and lay it deep in our hearts by so much labour and strength of argument It is equally blameable to be laborious about a trifle and to be superficial and slight in things of greatest moment No man of sense will with a great deal of diligence summon together a number of Witnesses to make good that which when it is proved it is indifferent as to any thing that depends upon it whether it be true or false No question there is a considerable interest of ours which is concerned in this truth else the Holy men of God would not have called HEAVEN AND EARTH TO WITNESS and bear their testimony to it The Father the Word the holy-Holy-Ghost would not have concurred with the Water the Bloud and the Spirit to assert and maintain it but that all is little enough to justifie it and that it is a thing of which we cannot but desire the greatest assurance It is 1. the Foundation of all other Truths in the Christian Religion as you may read 1 Cor. iii. 11. xvi Matth. 17 18. It is the Rock on which the Church is built the Ground that supports the whole Fabrick which if it be infirm and rotten all falls to rubbish and confusion And therefore 2. the Devil laboured to undermine this Truth above all others Like a subtile Enemy when the Apostles as wise Master-builders had laid this foundation he imployed false Teachers and counterfeit Apostles as so many Pioneers to work under this and lay their trains to blow it up which he knew was a nearer way to ruine all than to plant his Batteries against the building onely The History of the first times afford too plentiful instances of this For we find there arose many Anti-christs 1 Joh. ii 18. and many false Prophets went out into the World iv 1. And the very spirit of Antichrist as he tells us vers 3. was this to deny that Jesus who came in flesh in a mortal condition and subject to our miseries was Christ. They would not have it thought that any one who suffered so vilely was the great KING that had been so long expected Or if they believed Jesus to be a great Prophet and that he was raised from the dead and rewarded for his labours in Heaven as other Prophets were yet they denied that he was made LORD OF ALL the Head of the Church and of all Principalities and Powers who was to be honoured by all Men even as they honour the Father And therefore 3. the Apostles imployed as great care and earnest indeavour for to strengthen and support this weighty truth as the Enemies of Religion laboured might and main as we say to weaken and overthrow the belief of it This was the thing they every where preached as you read in the History of the Acts of the Apostles And for this very end S. John wrote this Epistle to confirm his Disciples in this Faith against all the subtile opposition of their adversaries as you may collect from many passages beside that which I have expounded And it was the thing aimed at also in his second Epistle where he rejoyces to hear that they walkt in the truth vers 3. and cautions them against those deceivers and Antichrists vers 7. And indeed 4. it was the great note of difference between the true Prophets and the false as you may see 1 Cor. xii 3. and in the place now mentioned in this Epistle iv 1 2. which also 5. makes him command his Disciples that if any one pretending to the Spirit did not acknowledge this they should not use the common civility to him of bidding him God speed ii Epist 10. And if any man apostatiz'd from this faith which is the last thing I shall mention S. Paul pronounces a most dreadful curse upon him and wishes or predicts the Lord would come and speedily execute it 1 Corinth xvi 22. For whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of CHRIST hath not God 2. epist of S. Joh. 9. This being a truth therefore of so great moment as appears by these considerations and by the many Witnesses to which S. John here appeals for the proof of it let us be sure to settle a sense of its concernment to us in our hearts and then to think often of it and study it so thoroughly that we may perceive both the truth and importance of it or else we shall prove our selves despisers of God who do as bad as say that it was a needless pains which he bestowed in giving so many evidences of that for which we have no regard or no list to bring to trial and examination And that truly I doubt is the temper of most Christian People at this day They think all discourses on this subject useless or little worth because they prove that which they believe already Heathens might reap some profit by them but what say they have we to do with them But while such thoughts as these have too long possessed the drowsie Christian world they remain alas in the very dregs of Heathenism with a little smack or taste of Christianity It is a sad thing to consider but so it is that they who cannot endure to think upon what ground their belief stands because they would not put themselves to the trouble of understanding it are of that base temper which is the mother of Idolatry of Mahometism and of all spurious Religions in the World For what is it makes Men worship the Sun Moon and Stars or address their services to dead men nay to a piece of wood or a red cloth or some such paultry thing what makes Mahomet so reverenced by a great part of the World as the Prophet of the Highest but that they have ever been so taught and it is the custome to honour him They examine no further nor enquire for any other reason that is do not observe that there is no other reason for their belief Upon the very same account do many receive Jesus for the Son of God He hath no better footing in their Souls nor stands upon firmer grounds than Mahomet or
our neighbours will we not allow God says the Apostle as much as we yield to them Shall not his word determine and conclude us When he gives evidence of a thing shall we still dispute it with him That besides the undutifulness of it is too great a stubborness We may rather be taught how to behave our selves towards him by the measure men expect from us and we from them Yea God does more deserve credit than any man for as he adds the witness of God is GREATER i. e. is of far more validity and certainty it may more securely be relied on than the witness of any men whatsoever God is not only greater than men but his Witness also or Testimony is greater which must be carefully noted it is of more force and strength to support any conclusion we may more undoubtedly found our faith upon it because it is not liable to any of those exceptions which may prejudice the best testimony of men Two things there are that lessen the testimony of men if we compare it with God's and make it to be of a nature more weak and infirm The one is that though a man be reputed honest and therefore we cannot legally except against his Testimony yet it is possible he may be a deceiver and we cannot look into his heart to know whether he be or no. We may not be able to prove the least deceit by him in what he says or ever has said or done and it is possible he never delivered any thing contrary to truth or did any thing contrary to justice but yet we can never free our mind from this thought since we know not his inward man that there is a possibility also it may be otherwise with him But then secondly suppose him perfectly honest and that it is impossible he should put a cheat upon us yet it will be always possible that he may be cheated himself because all men are fallible and may be mistaken The greatest integrity in the world cannot secure a man but the weakness of his understanding and the subtilty of others may sometimes impose upon him so that though he thinks what he says to be true it may be otherwise in it self than it is in his thoughts Herein therefore the Testimony of God is GREATER than the testimony of men that it is not liable to either of these suspicions it being utterly impossible that he should either be deceived himself or that he should deceive us He can neither lead us into an error which we all acknowledge to be contrary to his Goodness and Truth nor fall into one himself which is as contrary to the perfection of his understanding and his Omnipresent being The testimony of God then being so indubitable that it is above the testimony of any men it ought with all reverence to be received when he declares that Jesus is his Son for if it were but equal to humane testimony it ought not to be refused Now this is the WITNESS OF GOD says the Apostle which he hath testified of his Son That is It being granted to be most rational that we should receive the testimony of God nay give it greater respect than we bear to that of men I assure you that the evidence which we give you concerning Jesus is the very testimony of God and therefore do not slight it It is not we that bear witness to him so much as God We do not desire you to hear merely what we say but what God himself hath said who hath given many assurances of this truth If there were but two of them they might by your own rules very well expect to find entertainment but there are no less than six witnesses every one of them Divine they all speak from God and therefore you cannot deny your assent to what they prove For the first witness is God the Father himself who called Jesus his well-beloved Son And the second is the Word of God upon which account whatsoever he says is God's testimony also The Holy Ghost which is the third that proceeds from the Father and came on purpose to bear witness to his Son As for the fourth Water the Doctrine was of GOD his life was the life of GOD John's Baptism was from Heaven and he is called i. John 6. a man sent from GOD. Then for the Bloud which is the fifth witness it is called GOD's own Bloud xx Acts 28. And it appeared to be his by his gathering it up again after it was shed and taking it into the Heavens where he appears with it in the presence of God for us And the last of these witnesses is expresly called the Spirit of GOD xii Matth. 28. So that it is GOD you see who so many ways bears witness of his Son there is something Divine in every one of these Witnesses in those on Earth as well as in those in Heaven and therefore we cannot without an affront to GOD reject their testimony For then He would have worse measure from us than men have and we should give less respect to six Witnesses of his than to two or three of our neighbours If Jesus came not with clear demonstrations with fulness of proof then deny him any admittance but if God hath so many ways justified him to be his Son if his Life was so excellent his Bloud so holy his Spirit so Divine then we shall never be able to justifie it before any knowing man much less before God if we do not believe him and that heartily and fully in every thing no more doubting of the truth of what he says than we do of those things which our eyes and our ears report to us or of those which are delivered unto us upon the faith of the whole world For which end it should be our endeavour that our Faith may rest upon a sure and strong foundation and be laid on such grounds that it may stand the faster in a time of temptation The ignorant man's Faith indeed may be as strong as his that knows most and what he hath learnt by Education may be so confirmed by Custom that he will never stir from it but is only the effect of Nature which produces the same resolutions in those who are of other Religions The Christian way of obtaining a strong Faith is first to see the Son and then to believe on him to everlasting life as our Saviour himself teaches us vi John 40. To see him is to perceive and discern by evident tokens that he is the Son of God the true way to life upon which sight and plain demonstrations we ought to believe in him and submit unto him as our Lord. That 's the true Christian Faith which flows from knowledge and is founded upon the understanding of what such Witnesses as these say concerning Jesus It relies upon the testimony of the Father of the Word and of the Holy Ghost is wrought by the Spirit and confirmed by Water and Bloud And
good works ii Tit. 14. To the doing of which 6. he hath given us the Spirit for our helper Every Miracle that it wrought to say nothing but what is within the verge of these words bids us consider what a Potent Lord we serve for whom nothing is too hard By a Thousand Wonders by more miraculous works than we could have had time to read should they have been all written did he awake the sleepy World commanding them to arise and go about his work and he would be with them his Power which nothing can withstand should aid and succour them The obedience me thinks which the Winds and the Sea and the Fishes and the Graves and the Devils themselves paid him call upon us and tell us both what we ought to do and what assistance we may expect from the power of his might to make us obedient to his Faith Who can resist the joynt importunity of so many Witnesses who can hear all these tell us that the Son-of-God is come by whom we must be governed and yet be so senselesly obstinate as to say We will not have this man to rule over us O deaf ears O hearts harder than the nether Milstone which will not let such loud voices sink into them such mighty arguments penetrate and mollifie them into compliance with him What can reduce such Souls and bring them under any government who will not be reclaimed by the authority of the Son of God I may call Heaven and Earth to Witness against such obdurate hearts The Father Word and Holy Ghost these are Witnesses in Heaven that testifie it is our duty and interest too to submit our selves unto him The Water Bloud and the Spirit they are Witnesses on Earth which agree together to perswade us to take his easie Yoke upon us Can neither Heaven nor Earth prevail with us Is not God the Father Almighty great enough to lay his commands upon us Is the WORD of God of less credit than the common vogue and opinion of the World with us Cannot the Holy Ghost be believed concerning the place from whence it comes when it says that no unclean thing shall enter in thither Do we think his holy life to be a troublesome folly and despise his bloud and resist his spirit and receive all the grace of God in vain Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth after God had sent many of his Servants who were disregarded He last of all sent his Son into the World saying surely they will reverence my Son but they have rebelled against him I might call for Hell it self to witness against such perverse and disloyal Creatures The Devils will not fail to accuse such men hereafter for they believe and tremble they acknowledge this great Truth that Jesus is the Holy one of God iv Luke 34. which is the very same that Jesus himself said when he tells us the Father hath sanctified him i.e. made him his holy One and sent him into the world x. John 36. And that is more I doubt than a great many irreligious spirits will confess in their works I am sure the most of the Christian world utterly deny it Do you think the Devils who made that confession would have disobeyed him if they might have taken our place and had his Salvation offered to them Would they not have shaken off their chains and taken upon them his yoke had they received such gracious invitations as he hath made to us Let us not be worse than they I beseech you by casting away that hope which was never given them and slighting such tenders of mercy which are peculiarly directed to the children of men But let us rather admire adore and magnifie this amazing love of God who sent his Son so kindly to speak to such wretches as we are And let us show that we are sensible of his love by hearkening to his voice and readily submitting our selves with all dutiful nay joyful affection to his commands See I beseech you again that you refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven Let all his Laws be held most sacred and be devoutly reverenced and observed Know that this is your wisdom and understanding nay remember that it is your life And therefore keep your Souls diligently lest you forget those things which you have heard and lest they depart from your hearts all the days of your life Chuse death rather than the life of the unrighteous fornicators idolaters adulterers thieves covetous drunkards revilers and extortioners who he hath pronounced shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Do you not remember how observant the children of Jonadab the son of Rechab were of their Fathers Commandment and how they could not be tempted no not by a Prophet to contradict it xxxv Jer. 6. What Arguments I pray you had they so reasonable and moving as those which urge us for this injunction Might they not have slipt many ways with better colour than we can do from this obligation Did there want plausible pretences to plead their excuse if they had absolved themselves and not observed it Might they not have said that every Creature of God was good and none to be refused That their stomachs sometimes required a little Wine and that it was reasonable to give them satisfaction That their Father had gone beyond his Authority and taken away the just liberty which God had left them That they were restrained enough by the Divine Laws and that there needed no more of his making O the insensibleness and ingratitude of Christian people that can think of these mens reverence to so severe and hard a command of their Father and be less obedient to their most gracious Lord What a forehead hath that man who dares venture to break any of his Precepts when he hath so many Reasons to believe that he hath laid none upon us but those which are the very mind and will of God and are such a necessary indispensable burden that unless we carry them we cannot be saved There is nothing that can be pretended why we should not strictly tye our selves to his will Not only the love which engaged the Rechabites enforces our obedience but infinitely more reason than there was in their Fathers will and pleasure for we are assured that Jesus is the Son of God He could not but have a perfect understanding of what was fit and convenient for us If there had been any other way more easie to Heaven than this he hath set before us we cannot but think He would have revealed it unto us If there were any license that could be granted us to dispense with our obedience He was not so unkind as to conceal it much less would he have taken it upon his death that none will be allowed For he declared openly in his Sermons that he will not only take
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
study and labour with these the Devil baits his hooks to catch Souls and they who do not bite at one will be nibling at another They that are not tempted by the first to gluttony and drunkenness fornication and such like filthiness feel the second perhaps incline them to covetousness and the sordid love of Money with a thirst and greediness of another kind Or if they can escape and despise these they may notwithstanding be in danger to be carried away with the humor of prodigality and affectation of vain-glory or ambition of Dignities which is attended with emulation envy and other dangerous Vices As the African Beast which some write of is caught with Musick and suffers its feet to be fettered while it listens to the Lessons that are play'd to it So do the generality of Mankind let their Souls be insnared and led into a miserable captivity by the inchanting voice of pleasure riches or glory Whilst they hearken to the bewitching melody which some of these court them withall they are taken in the mighty Hunter's net and become a prey to him that lurks for Souls and seek whom he may devour And it has not been in the power of the wisest Charmers that ever were in the World to open the eares of the most of men and to convey the sense of better things into them All the Philosophy and Learning that was so famous in former Ages could never obtain such numerous chearful and obedient Auditors as the Syren Songs which these three sing in Mens cares have always sound When the World therefore by that wisdome knew not God it pleased God says S. Paul 1 Cor. i. 21. by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe The faith of Christ directs and disposes us to avoid all those dangerous rocks on which they split themselves who listen to those deceitful Songs Now that the Son of God is come He pulls our feet out of the net and by his far more powerful charms so stops our ears to those inchantments that there is no entrance for them any more It seemed a foolish thing indeed to the World to believe that the crucified Jesus was the Son of God but where this simple faith prevailed it did more than all the wisdome of the World was able to effect before For it gave them a new understanding and saved them from perishing by making them account it the greatest pleasure and glory and treasures to follow Jesus and do the will of God as he did The World they saw passeth away and the lust thereof if they do not leave us we must at last leave them but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever So those three Heavenly witnesses the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost assure us whose voice as it is most sweet and melodious so it is most powerful to disinchant us and to preserve those who receive their testimony from all the bewitching temptations of those other three the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life Nay here are two Threes of infinitely greater vertue and efficacy to prevail with us than all that the WORLD'S Trinity can offer to us if we will but open our ears and diligently listen to their voice And how can we choose but listen when the Father of Heaven calls to us so graciously when the Word opens his secrets to us and the holy-Holy-Ghost proclaims such an abundant love of God towards us The Water the Bloud the Spirit they also with one consent conspire with those and all together sing this New Song THE SON OF GOD IS COME the Son of God is come This one note of theirs more ravishes than all the pleasures and satisfactions which the WORLD infatuates its followers withall Heaven and Earth cannot speak any thing more moving in our ears than this which again and again salutes them with new joy For what would you have them say would it please you to hear that Infinite Goodness loves us that the Heavens stand open to us and show us their glory that God is willing to receive us up thither that he will make us Heirs of a Kingdom equal with the Angels to hear their Songs and joyn with that Celestial Quire Behold they are all included in this one sentence THE SON OF GOD IS COME GOD HATH GIVEN US HIS SON This is the sweetest Aire that can touch our eares this we can never be weary to hear this strikes our souls if we understand it so gratefully that we cannot but say let us hear that again And therefore after the Father the Word and the Holy-Ghost have blest our ears with this joyful sound here are three more that take it up and repeat it to us with the strongest assurances that we hear the Voice of God himself And the oftner we listen to them and lend them our attention the more frequently I mean we think upon the reasons we have to believe in Jesus the more deaf shall we grow to all the sinful allurements of this World how inviting soever before they have been For my part I think there is more real satisfaction in the very understanding of this one place of Holy Scripture than in all the delights of worldly men What is there I beseech you consider in all their sensualities comparable to the rational gust of what is contained in that one voice of the Father THIS IS MY WELL BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED What Riches are there to be equalled with this treasure of Divine knowledge that God hath bestowed his own Son upon us What honour like to this to be preferred to be the Friends yea the Sons of God Can you hear any thing so delicious as that voice of the WORD To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life in the midst of the Paradise of God ii Rev. 7. Were there ever any Jewels so precious as the inestimable gifts wherewithall the Holy Ghost hath inriched the Church what Musick is there fit to bear a part with those Hymns and Psalms and spiritual Songs that it inspired the hearts of Christians withall Doth it not even ravish the heart of a pious man to think of them though he do not hear the like in these days What is there in all the broken Cisterns of this World that tastes like the Rivers of living Water that Jesus hath poured out unto us What peace does it speak to us like that which by the Bloud of Jesus is purchased for us Or what power is there in any of this Worlds temptation that can stand before the voice of that SPIRIT which says COME and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely xxii Rev. 17. Certainly in the strength of such a faith so fortified so incouraged by all these Witnesses we may easily tread the WORLD under our feet and make its most mighty temptations crouch to us whereas now for want of this solid faith we
see their Departure is at hand In which regards I doubt not this Treatise will be acceptable to your Grace because it contains a Description and full Assurance of that happy Life which you shortly expect For there is nothing so reviving in our declining Age as to think that the passage out of this Life leads us not to Death but to Immortality and that it will not take away our Happiness from us but give us a purer enjoyment of it Pleasure not mixed with a mortall body but sincere and free from Grief and Sorrow For when we shall be set at liberty and delivered from this Prison we shall come thither where there is no Labour no Sighing nor Old age but a Life of perfect ease and tranquillity that breeds no trouble nor any other evill but is serene and clear in an immovable Rest and Peace Where the happy Inhabitants sweetly contemplate the nature of things and philosophize not for Popularity and the Theatre but for the finding out solid and everlasting Truth I have but translated the words of Plato * in Axiocho p. 370. or of some other Philosopher that hath borrowed his name who was much pleased in such thoughts as these though he made but uncertain guesses at that blessed state which our Lord hath so clearly revealed and so strongly demonstrated that we have reason with never-ceasing joy both in life and death to give him thanks for so great a Grace For as there is nothing beyond this that the heart of man can wish so nothing of such importance to our present Happiness in this World For which cause the Jews have thought fit to expunge those from the number of Israelites who do not believe the Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection of the dead and to resolve that they shall have no part in the World to come though they otherwise live orderly and observe the Precepts of the Law For such men they saw opened a door to all licentiousness and could never doe so much good by any other means as they did hurt by subverting this Belief Which I have endeavoured therefore to establish by such Arguments as they were ignorant of till our Blessed Lord and Saviour appeared who as St. Matthew observes out of the Psalmist uttered things which had been kept secret from the foundation of the World Maimonides himself saith in his last Chapter of his Book concerning Kings that at the coming of Christ things hidden and profound shall be laid open and revealed to all Which is true of nothing more I have shewn then of that which is the greatest desire of all mankind immortall Life Of which though I have not treated according to the dignity of the Subject yet I am confident I have laid a good Foundation to be improved by the labours of those who have more skill and more leisure And it is a very great satisfaction to have done any thing though never so small for the honour of our ever-Blessed Lord and Master whom it is the highest glory in the world to serve in faithfulness and truth For He will not fail to reward such services with an ample recompence being a Prince so great that nothing is beyond his Power and so gracious that his Servants have reason to expect the best effects of his Good will Which may very well content us whatsoever usage we meet withall at present And should mightily excite us as St. Chrysostom often and earnestly exhorts * Homil. 87. in Matth. p. 539. neglecting the suspicions and the reproaches and the praises too of men to study this one thing alone how to be conscious to our selves of no evill which will bring us in the end both here and hereafter the greater glory The God of all Grace bless this Work to the settling and increasing this holy Faith and Resolution in all our hearts whereby we shall also obtain the sweetest foretasts of the Joys of the future State And may your Grace be blest with many of them to support the infirmities of Old age and having finished your days have an easie passage to that better Life and there receive from the Chief Pastour when he shall appear the Crown of glory which fadeth not away Which is the hearty Prayer of My Lord Your GRACE's in all dutifull Observance SY PATRICK TO THE READER I Have no other reason to give for adding one more to that heap of Books which men complain is already grown too great but the hope I have of doing some service to our Lord by making a farther search as I promised in the conclusion of the former Part of this Work into the Testimony of these Divine Witnesses concerning ETERNALL LIFE The Hope of which is the most precious Legacy the Son of God hath left us the Hindge upon which all Religion turns without which it would be the greatest Vanity as Lactantius * Lib. vi c. 9. vii 1. often speaks to obey the commands of Vertue for whose sake we must endure not onely many Labours but ofttimes sore Calamities We were born as he discourses elsewhere * Lib. vii 6. to acknowledge God the Maker of us and of the World whom we therefore acknowledge that we may worship him and therefore worship him that we may receive Immortality for a reward of our labours because his service ingages us in the greatest and therefore Immortality is bestowed on us for a recompenc◠that being made like to the Angels we may serve the Father and Lord of all for ever and be the Eternall Kingdom of God This is the Chief of all things this is the Secret of God this is the Mystery of the World to which they are strangers who following their present pleasures have addicted themselves to terrestriall and frail goods and sunk their Souls born to celestiall enjoyments into delights as deadly as they are muddy and dirty And it is the singular Priviledge of Christians as I have demonstrated to be assured of a Good so great by so many most credible Witnesses whose Testimony none can refuse but they that will be so absurd as to believe none at all The Father the Word the Holy Ghost the Water the Bloud and the Spirit declare so unanimously and so plainly that the Lord Jesus will give Eternall Life to his followers that what the Oratours said in flattery to the Athenians in the time of the Chremonidian War may in truth be said to us if we alter but one word that other things indeed are common to us with the rest of the World Athenzus in Deipnosoph L. vi p. 250. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the way that leads men to heaven is known to Christians alone Who have a manifold grace bestowed on them enjoying not onely a Promise of Eternall Life which the World never had before but that Promise attested by so many Witnesses who tell us also it is in the power of him that died for us to conferr it on us as well
we may be in danger of for Piety's sake Now looking a little farther into this Holy Writer who hath preserved the unquestionable Records concerning these matters I find there is as great a certainty of this Eternal Life by Jesus Christ as there is of his being the Son of God and that the very same Witnesses who so fully declare the one give no less strong Evidence for the proof of the other For THIS says He 1 John v. 11. IS THE RECORD or WITNESSE THAT GOD HATH GIVEN TO VS ETERNAL LIFE AND THIS LIFE IS IN HIS SON Which words being a continuation of the foregoing Discourse carry this sense in them There is great reason you should receive the Witness of God viz. of the Father Word and Holy Ghost and of the Water Bloud and Spirit not onely because it is greater then the Witness of men which you cannot justly reject v. 9. and because if you do reject it you make God a Liar which who can have the heart to do v. 10. but also because the thing which is testified to us by these Witnesses when they say that Jesus is the Son of God is of all other the most desirable viz. that God designs for us no less blessing then Eternal Life which the Lord Jesus hath in his hands to keep for us and to bestow upon us The ensuing Discourse then will necessarily fall into these two Parts First to shew what this Eternal Life is and secondly to prove the Certainty of it from the mouth of all those Witnesses Of the first of which I must treat with the greater brevity because it is not the Design of the Apostle in this place to give us an account what the Eternal Life is which God hath promised but to shew that he hath given us an undoubted right to it and that it is in the power of that Great Lord whose Servants we are by Faith in him to dispose of it THE WITNESSES TO Christianity PART II. CHAP. I. Of ETERNAL LIFE in generall AND now I launch out when I go about to speak of Eternal Life into a wide Sea of which it is but little that our eye can descry or our thoughts fathom and less that I must confine my self unto in this present Discourse There is more contained in these two words ETERNALL LIFE then all the world can discover though we have so good a Compass as the Book of God whereby to steer our course and to guide and assist us in our Inquiry We may venture as far as ever our thoughts will carry us into this depth but we shall still see something beyond all that we can conceive and be enabled by our search to discern more fully that it hath no bottom no bounds nor limits as will appear if you do but attend to this general Description of it out of the Holy Writings In whose style it is most certain it signifieth a full and constant enjoyment of all the happiness that our Being is capable to receive I say Happiness because as DEATH in the Sacred language denotes all manner of Misery affliction and trouble so by LIFE it expresses all kind of Felicity pleasure and contentment And I say full and constant happiness because the word ETERNALL must needs adde something to the other and that is compleatness firmness and solidity As Death if it be not eternall leaves some room for thoughts of happiness so Life if it want that addition doth not exclude all vexation and sadness But then on the contrary both the one and the other if this be annexed are made perfect without any hope of happiness in that Death or any fear of misery in this Life To clear our passage I judge it necessary to spend a few words in making good this Notion of Life and Death by producing some places of Holy Writ where they are so used And first for DEATH the very first time we meet with it in God's Book it is used to express all the Misery that man drew upon himself by his Sin ii Gen. 17. In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die i. e. fall into a most calamitous estate as it is explained iii. Gen. 16 17 18 19. till worn out with labour sorrow and pain he returned to the dust out of which he was taken Thus when the Locusts came upon the land of Egypt and destroyed every green thing Pharaoh intreats Moses x. Exod. 17. to pray to the Lord that he would take away this Death onely Which shews that all the plagues and disasters which fell upon that land went under this general name of DEATH though now it be restrained to the last and greatest of all punishments The like you reade in the second Book of the Kings iv 40. where the sons of the Prophets as they were eating of their pottage cry out Oman of God there is DEATH in the pot something that is very distastfull to the palate and perhaps hurtfull and poisonous to the body which made them they could not eat it In the New Testament also penned by men of the same country we find the very same language St. Paul saying that he was in Deaths often 2 Cor. xi 23. and that he died daily 1 Cor. xv 31. and wishing to be delivered from the body of this Death vii Rom. 24. i. e. of such misery that it made him sigh and groan sorely under the burthen of it And to name no more the Shadow of Death in these Books signifies nothing else but an horrible dangerous place or a dismall forlorn condition into which any miserable person is faln This being the notion then of the word DEATH in the speech of the Hebrews such must be the signification of the word LIFE which is opposite to it whereby they express all Felicity and comfortable enjoyments Thus when David says his enemies were lively or living as it is in the Hebrew text xxxviii Psal 19. he means they were in a flourishing prosperous condition abounding with all worldly goods while he was abandoned to contempt poverty and continual danger And when he says their heart shall live that seek God lxix Psal 32. his meaning is they shall enjoy true peace and contentment So when the people say 2 King xi 12. Let the King live which we render God save the King they wish him a prosperous and happy reign And when David acknowledges God to be the fountain of life xxxvi Psal 9. it is as much as to say an ever-running spring of all felicity from whom flows as the foregoing words are a river of pleasures Hence they are bid to keep to God's Commandments as their life xxxii Deut. 47. And this is said to be the excellency of knowledge that wisedom giveth LIFE to them that have it vii Eccles. 12. because by observing those wise precepts they were put into a most happy condition which could not be had by any other means but would certainly be lost by turning from those holy paths This is a
Peter says that those heavenly Ministers have so great a value for the Gospell that they desire to look into these things wondering that we Gentiles should be made not onely fellow-citizens with the Saints but equall to themselves They rejoyced when they heard the good news that our Lord was come down to men and it seems he hath told us things beyond all their expectation Shall not we then set a due esteem upon them and look into them and consider them who have them so near unto us and are so much concerned in them Then it were better for us if we had no eyes or if we lived in those places where no such things are to be seen for none will be so miserable as they that might have been exceeding happy and chose to remain miserable and that when so few thoughts would have secured their happiness For there is no way to be undone but onely by not believing or not considering the Gospell of God's grace Secure but these two passages and strict piety will necessarily be our imployment and Eternall Life our reward No temptation will be strong enough to make us neglect our work and I am sure faithfull is he who hath promised and will not fail to pay us more then our wages VI. And what now remains but to put those in mind who obediently believe in the Lord Jesus what cause they have to entertain themselves beforehand with great joy in the comfortable expectation of God's mercy in Him to Eternall life Let all his true-hearted Disciples who hear his voice and follow him rejoyce yea let them be glad in him with exceeding joy Let them say O how great is the goodness of God! how rich are those blessings which he hath laid up for them that love him how exceeding great and precious are the promises he hath made them Our calling in Christ Jesus how high is it what is there nobler then his kingdom and glory To which also he hath called us by glory and vertue Heaven and earth concur in the most glorious and powerfull manner to give us assurance that it shall be well exceeding well with all those that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity Why should we suffer our selves then to be dejected at any accident in this world which falls cross to us Shall we take pet when any thing troubles us and let our spirits die within us who have such glorious hopes to live upon and mightily support us Jesus is alive He is alive for evermore And in him is Eternall life for all his followers The Father the Word the Holy Ghost are come to comfort us with this joyfull news The Water the Bloud and the Spirit all say the same and ask us why we are so sad when life and immortality is brought to light by the Gospell It is the desire of the Lord Jesus that we would not mourn as though he still lay in his grave and could doe nothing for us He is certainly risen and gone into the heavens where God hath made him exceeding glad with his countenance And it will adde to his joy if it be capable of increase to see us rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory And therefore let us doe him the honour to glory in his holy Name and let us say alway Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for us 1 Pet. i. 3 4. We ought to say so with joyfull hearts even when death it self approaches which of all other is the most frightfull Enemy of mankind but is made our Friend by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospell 2 Tim. i. 10. Which hath given us as the same Apostle saith such everlasting consolation that it would be a great reproach to it to receive Death timorously which Wise men before our Saviour came concluded might be for any thing they knew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greatest of all goods Our Lord assures us they were right in their conjectures and hath made that certain which Socrates whose words those are left doubtfull Plato Apolog Socr. And therefore we ought not to leave the world as if it were the greatest unhappiness that could befall us It is for him onely to fear death as St. Cyprian speaks * L. de Mortalitate p. 208. who would not go to Christ and he onely hath reason to be unwilling to go to Christ who doth not believe he shall begin to reign with him This is the onely thing as he writes a little after which makes men take death so heavily quia fides deest because Faith is wanting because they do not believe those things are true which He who is Truth it self hath promised But though they give credit to what a grave and laudable person promises they are wavering about that which God saith and receive it with an incredulous mind For if they believed they would entertain that which now seems dreadfull as St. Greg. Nazianzen * Orat. xviii p. 284. says that blessed Martyr did whose Death he doubts whether he should call his departure from this life or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his departure of God or the fulfilling of his desire And thus if we may believe Calcidius the famous Trismegistus died Fr. Archangel Dogm Cabalistica saying to his Son that stood by him My Son hitherto I have lived an exile from my country but now I am going safe thither And therefore when a little while hence I shall be freed from the chain of this body see that you do not bewail me as if I was dead For I am onely returning to that most excellent blessed City whither the Citizens cannot arrive unless they take death in their way There God onely is the Governour in chief who entertains his Citizens with a marvellous sweetness in comparison with which that which we now call Life is rather to be termed Death And what if in our passage to it we should fall into divers temptations or trialls of our sincere affection to the Lord Jesus There is no reason that this should dishearten us and deaden our spirits For it is the singular privilege of a Christian to rejoyce in the Lord alway iv Phil. 4. especially when he suffers for righteousness sake In that case the Apostles thought it an honour that they were counted worthy to be beaten and suffer shame for his Name v. Act. 41. And St. James thought their example was not unimitable by other Christians to whom he saith i. 2. My Brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations And so they did as you reade in the Epistle to the Christian Hebrews of whom the Apostle gives
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
Father The last words of our Saviour were Father into thy hands I commend my spirit xxiii Luke 46. And they stoned Steven calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit vii Acts 59. He died with these and the following devout words in his mouth crying again with a loud voice Lord lay not this sin to their charge In which he expressed as much charity to men as in the other he did faith in Christ And openly declared himself a person of such piety and goodness such admirable candor and sweetness of spirit so utterly void of all rancor and gall when he had the highest provocations from his bitter enemies that as we may be sure he could not be guilty of devising a lye to the deceiving of others so we may reasonably believe that God Almighty would not let such an excellent man be deceived to the ruine of himself and the casting away so precious a life II. But that jealousie and suspicion might have no pretence left nor any man justly call in question the truth of this apparition our Saviour was pleased a second time both to show himself and also to speak very audibly unto another person of great integrity and authority and that was S. Paul Whose testimony concerning this is the more considerable because he was a person of considerable note in the Nation of the Jews both for his descent and for his education and for his zeal in their Religion iii. Phil. 5. He was an Hebrew both by his Fathers side and his Mothers a Scholar of Gamaliel's i. Gal. 14. under whom he made an exceeding great proficiency xxvi Acts 5. and was addicted to the most strict Sect of Religion then among them whereby he became full of flaming zeal for the Law of which he was a rigid observer even according to the expositions they had made of it by the traditions of their Elders These he held so sacred that the name of Jesus was odious to him because he little regarded them And he was transported with so bloudy a rage against his disciples that his intention was to send as many of them as he could meet withall after S. Steven to whose death he was consenting viii Acts 1. xxii 20. that is He approved the fact of those seditious Zealots who were the authors of it or as the words may well be rendred out of the Syriack translation he was as well pleased with the killing of him as any of the company The lenity of his Master was no example for him to follow He learnt no meekness in the School of Gamaliel but suffered himself to be hurried away with the furious spirit of the multitude whom he accompanied in that tumult For he undertook to secure the garments of those who stript themselves to throw the first stone at that blessed Martyr of Christ Jesus Nor did his fury rest here but he gave his voice against other Saints when the sentence of death passed on them xxvi Acts 10. And not content to make havock of the poor Church at Jerusalem he enlarged his cruel projects and stretches his wrath as far as Damascus thither he goes armed with authority from the Senate xxii 5. whose Commissioner he was now as he had been for some time which shows he was a person of no small condition in that Nation For He tells us himself that what he did at Jerusalem was by authority from the chief Priests xxvi 10. who gave him letters also to those at Damascus that they should assist him in the apprehending all the Christians that were there ix 2. xxii 5. He brought the Decree of the Senate along with him which had been made against them and lest any should question whether he was deputed to see that order put in execution he was ready to satisfie them of that by showing his Commission xxvi 12. In short he breathed forth nothing but fire and sword as we speak against the worshippers of the Lord Jesus being exceeding mad against them according to the account S. Luke gives of him viii Acts 3. ix 1. and which he gives of himself xxii 4. xxvi 11. Now who would expect that such a man as this should himself become a Disciple of Jesus much less a preacher of his Religion A man so noted for his violence the other way and whose name was so terrible to Christian people that Ananias was afraid to go and deliver a message to him from our Lord after he was told something of his conversion Was there any hopes that he should ever confess and publish the very same thing for which S. Steven was stoned And yet so powerful were the prayers of that holy Martyr which adds much to the force of his testimony that our Lord answered them ere long by pardoning and converting this enraged Zealot To whom he was graciously pleased to appear as he had done to that Saint more than once as we find recorded in the Sacred story from his own mouth The first time and the most remarkable was when he was upon the rode to Damascus Then our Lord met him not far from that City when he had no such thing in his thoughts but was possessed with quite contrary designs and made him fall down and worship him whose Name he so hated that he would have forced all Christians to blaspheme him Read the ix Acts 3 c. and there you will find him who little regarded what S. Steven said and perhaps took him for a frantick fellow when he told them he saw Jesus glorified surrounded himself with such a glorious light from Heaven as left him no power to resist this truth which he had so bitterly persecuted For in that wonderful brightness there was a person appeared to him with such a dazling lustre that after he had beheld it he lost his eyes and could not see by reason of the glory of that light xxii 11. which was the cause I believe that he askt with no small astonishment Who art thou Lord The Angels appeared sometimes in great glory but never with such a splendour as to hurt the sight much less to take it away and therefore he now concluded that this person was of an higher condition much greater than the Angelical Ministers whose brightness was never known to be so amazing And to give satisfaction to his doubt our Lord the WORD of God told him in plain terms with an audible voice I am Jesus whom thou persecutest And wisht him not to proceed any further in this course which he might easily see would prove destructive to him For to contend with him still who was so glorious what would it be but to wound and ruine himself and by seeking to ease himself of one trouble to run upon a greater just as a beast does that kicks against the pricks which are to quicken it and put it forward This voice he alone heard who was to be instructed by it The company that was with him heard only a confused
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
the very shadow of some of them did more than all the power of Medicines This was a very great demonstration of his supreme dominion over all Creatures Nothing could be more effectual to induce men to obey him to whom they saw every thing else was subject Without this they could never have moved men to believe that he was the Lord but this gave it sufficient credit For suppose they had stood up in the places of popular concourse and said We come to preach to you in the name of Jesus and require you to submit your selves to him whom God hath made the Lord of all He was born of the seed of David a great King in Israel did many wonders in that Nation though he was hated and rejected by them and delivered to Pontius Pilate by whom he was crucified but God raised him out of his grave and we saw him go to Heaven where he is inthroned in the most glorious Majesty and reigns over all Angels as well as mankind Cast away therefore your ancient Gods who are his subjects Forsake presently all your superstitious Rites and Ceremonies Believe on this person submit to his government and obey his commands Though you get nothing in this world by it but perhaps may lose all you have he will reward you for it in his Pleavenly Kingdom What force do you think there would have been in such a speech to perswade the Nations far distant from Jerusalem to fall down before him as their Sovereign Would they not have smiled and said What do these bablers mean to bring us these strange stories from a foreign land Why should we acknowledge him to be our King whom his own Country-men would not suffer to reign over them Shall we become the subjects of one whom we never saw nor heard of until now and venture the loss of all our liberties and perchance of our lives for one whom they confess to be crucified and dead What likelihood is there that he should rise again from the dead who could not keep himself when he was alive from being put to death Truly saith Eusebius when I consider the mere doctrine they were to preach I cannot see how they could hope to draw the people to their belief But then when I consider how they did prevail every where at Rome at Alexandria at Antioch in all other places I must have recourse to a Divine power which succeeded this Doctrine Jesus plainly declared by putting them upon the attempt that he was confident he had all power to get himself a Kingdom by this preaching And by the issue it appeared that it was no presumption wherewith he was possessed instead of a well grounded confidence They preached as he bad them but it was not with such Rhetorick as is in use among us not with the enticing words of mans wisdom with eloquent expressions enchanting language or mere plausible arguments but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power 1 Cor. ii 4. The HOLY GHOST from Heaven presently appeared wheresoever they preached to justifie their words and to testifie by many miraculous operations that Jesus was no less than they affirmed This evident demonstration perswaded mens minds This was such a power that the people were ready to take them for Gods and imagined that Mercury and Jupiter were come down from Heaven to them and thereupon prepared publick sacrifices to be offered in their honour xiv Acts 13. Natural reason told them that such things could not be done by mortal nature but they must be concluded to be the works of some God though no body told them that they were And therefore this was all they had to do for their own satisfaction to enquire by what power and authority the Apostles did these wonders since they themselves confessed that they were but men And here now they took occasion to let them know that it was Jesus who did these Miracles Him they preached and him they hereby proved to be the Lords ANOINTED who by this power would prevail notwithstanding the fierce opposition that was made against his authority For as you read in a devout address which the whole company of believers made to God the Rulers were gathered together and the Kings of the Earth stood up against the Lord and against his Christ At their first entrance upon this work there were mighty endeavours to overthrow it just as there had been against his holy child Jesus whom he had ANOINTED that is promoted to a greater glory than he had on Earth And therefore they desire God to go along with them and stretch forth his hand to heal and that signs and wonders might be done by the name of his holy child Jesus for the propagating of this Religion which it was not in their own power to advance iv Acts 26 27 30. Now this was a further testimony of the power and glory of Jesus that when a solemn address was made to God and they represented to him their design they were so far from receiving any discountenance from him that he incouraged and promoted this undertaking For the place where they prayed was shaken by a powerful inspiration which came upon them all as it had done upon the Apostles And they were ALL filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with boldness ver 31. III. And this leads me to the last Testimony which the HOLY GHOST gave to him by descending upon other persons as well as upon the Apostles though not in such a visible form as it did on the day of Pentecost The place indeed was SHAKEN where these believers were assembled by the like mighty wind I suppose as filled the house where the Apostles received the Holy Ghost ii Acts 2. But there were no fiery tongues now appeared as there did then Nor do we afterwards read of any such sensible sign of an invisible power coming upon them as this shaking of the place was when the Holy Ghost first descended upon the body of the Church But whensoever the Apostles laid their hands upon any person who believed in Jesus and was baptized presently the Holy Ghost fell down upon them and they spake with tongues and prophesied viii Acts 15 17. xix 6. This laying on of their hands was ever after the only external sign of the Divine power for that 's the meaning of stretching out the hand in the place just before named iv Acts 30. wherewith they should be endued at the request of the Apostles Which was a plain demonstration of the royal Majesty and munificence of Jesus whose Servants and Ministers these were and hereby the HOLY GHOST bare record to him that he was the Son of God So this very Apostle teaches us in the second Chapter of this Epistle where he tells them to whom he writes that he need not be very solicitous to prescribe them Antidotes against those Antichristian doctrines which then began to poison the Church because they had an Unction
from the holy One and knew all things 1 John ii 20. The HOLY GHOST that is was their security from infection which is here called the UNCTION or anointing 1. because by the coming down of this upon our Saviour He was made the CHRIST or anointed of God x. Acts 38. And 2. the Apostles when they received it were made the principal Officers in his Kingdom and endued with such a power to remit sins and unloose men from the punishment of them as he had xx Joh. 22 23. And 3. all others to whom they imparted this gift were openly declared the children of God and if children then heirs heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ viii Rom. 16 17. This UNCTION made them all Kings and Priests unto God and they reigned with him on Earth v. Rev. 10. Enjoyed that is many royal priviledges and liberties at present for which they were bound perpetually to praise him beside the right it gave them to an Heavenly Kingdom where they should sit down with him in his Throne as He was in the Throne of his Father iii. Rev. 21. For the Thrones of the Eastern Princes were wide and large as I told you before where others might sit down by them if they pleased to admit any to that high honour which this King of Kings promises to grant to his faithful followers No wonder then that they who were designed to so great glory were also made partaker of the Earnest of it as this Unction by the Holy Spirit is called 2 Cor. i. 22. After God had filled the Apostles and other Apostolical men with the Holy Ghost who were ready to guide and direct all Christian people while they lived There were great numbers also in the Body of the Church who received so many of its gifts from the HOLY one that is God 2 Cor. i. 21. that it enabled them to discern truth from falshood and discover all those cheats and impostures which some went about to put upon them under the name of Christian Doctrine A very great Doctor the Holy Ghost was when they were anointed with it for thereby they KNEW ALL THINGS that is their whole Religion in which it made them so perfect that those pretenders to new Revelations could teach them nothing which they knew not already For it taught them that Jesus from whom it came was the Son of God and had revealed all God's will plainly and fully to them So S. John tells them in the following verses 21 22. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth but because ye know it and that no lye is of the truth Who is a lyar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ c. That is I do not speak of this because you are ignorant of Christianity but because you are well acquainted with it and thereby able to judge when any body contradicts it and to reject all those as lyars who deny Jesus to be anointed by God the Lord of all I know you are well principled in this truth by the UNCTION which he hath given you from the Father All that I desire is as he adds ver 24. that you would suffer that Truth which you have heard from the beginning to abide in you And indeed it was very unreasonable to start from that which had ever been acknowledged since the Holy Ghost first descended on Jesus himself and which the same UNCTION still testified whensoever the Apostles who preached Jesus did but lay their hands on any bodies head and pray to Jesus that he would bestow it on them They could not be seduced if they did but attend as he says ver 26 27. to this anointing which they had received and which was yet among them There was no need of any other teacher but this to instruct them Which gave such an evident demonstration of the power and glory of the Lord Jesus and was so far from being a lye or deceiving them that if they did but do it as it taught them they must needs abide in him This you see was accounted and that justly an infallible witness to him He could never have sent such an UNCTION nor would the Holy Ghost have ever come in his Name if he had not been the King of Heaven They that received this had an invincible proof of his glory and majesty within themselves They could not doubt of it any more than they could of what they felt Which proved likewise so convincing to others that it made unbelievers fall down on their faces and worship God and report that God was in them of a truth 1 Cor. xiv 25. For by this the Divine Majesty did in a proper sence DWELL among Christian people and walk with them as it did among the ancient Israelites 2 Cor. vi 16. This was a glorious Divine Presence in the Church whereby God and our Saviour made their ABODE with them xiv John 23. and they became the HABITATION of God or his Dwelling place through the Spirit ii Ephes 22. Which so constantly bare witness to him that no man who had this Spirit could possibly deny him but every one that spake by the Holy Ghost acknowledged Jesus to be the LORD 1 Cor. xii 3. And they were no small number who were made partakers of it For S. Peter promises it at the very first descent of it to all that would repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus at which word three thousand Souls were added to them ii Acts 38 41. And afterwards a vast company more as you may read in the first Epistle to the Corinthians Where some were endued with one power of the Holy Ghost some with another Chap. xii but in every thing they were enriched by him so that they came behind in NO GIFT Chap. i. 5 7. Wherein our Lord far excelled Moses who could not give his Spirit unto others much less unto the Gentiles whereas Jesus sent great abundance of his Spirit as you see upon his Disciples and gave even to the Gentiles the like gift as he did unto them xi Acts 17. For as S. Peter was preaching to Cornelius and his friends the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word to the great astonishment of the Jewish Christians who wondred to hear them speak with tongues and magnifie God x. Acts 44 45 46. But they should have considered that now he began to fulfil completely that prophecy of Joel mentioned ii Acts 17. which promised that God would pour out of his Spirit upon ALL flesh Now the inclosures were first broken down and that Divine Presence which had hitherto been confined to one Nation appeared in a most amazing lustre to the rest of the World In so much that in a little time great multitudes of all nations and kindred and people and tongues joyned their hearts and voices with the Heavenly Quire saying Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his GLORY Thus Esaias heard
but continued blinder than the Egyptian Magicians when it did so many wonders would shut their eyes against any other means of conviction which could not be expected it must also be remembred because God himself had no higher evidence to give them than this of his SPIRIT But then you must not understand this speech of our Saviour as if he meant that those persons to whom he spake these words had run themselves at that instant into this unpardonable sin but that if they still proceeded to blaspheme it when the SPIRIT had finished its testimony that is done all those things which still were behind for their conviction then they would fall into it and remain in it irrecoverably For you must remember that under the word SPIRIT is comprehended the power that raised Christ from the dead and presented him to God in the Heavens that he might receive of him the promise of the Holy Ghost which he shed upon the Apostles abundantly as a witness of his Resurrection and glorious Exaltation If after this that Jesus was risen again from the dead ascended into Heaven and showed himself to be there by sending the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles they did not believe but still blasphemed the holy name of Jesus and the SPIRIT of God saying That they were drunk who were filled with the Holy Ghost as here they said Jesus had a Devil then they were uncapable of obtaining remission of sin because there was nothing more to be done for their conversion but they must be abandoned to the hardness and impenitence of their hearts This I am sure must be the meaning because our Lord himself after he had pronounced the Pharisees unpardonable who spake against the SPIRIT whereby he cast out Devils tells them expresly that there was one sign more remaining to convince them which is a demonstration they had not yet sinned incurably nor could not till that sign was past and that was the sign as you heard of the Prophet Jonas ver 39 40. which he grants them again xvi 4. should not be denied them Now every body understands by this His Death and Resurrection with those things that followed upon it the sending of the Holy Ghost to enable his Apostle to go and teach all Nations as Jonas went after he came as we may say out of his grave and preached to the great City Nineveh But then this was still the SPIRIT that was thus continued to them by that our Lord being raised and it working wonders also at his Death which if they continued to resist when it had fully done the whole office of a witness and was all poured forth then they were under the absolute sentence of condemnation In brief To blaspheme the SPIRIT in this comprehensive sence of the Word including the Resurrection and that which followed to prove it was the unpardonable sin and none else And thus our Saviour's meaning is to be expounded if one should speak a word against the Son of man that is Him despising him because of his poor Parentage and calling him the Son of a Carpenter or some such name this though blameable might be pardoned propter corporis vilitatem as S. Hierom speaks because of the meanness of his outward appearance Nay if a man proceeded so far as to call him a glutton a Wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and sinners this also might find pardon because he did not hitherto speak evil of the works proper to a God but only of those belonging to a man And more than this should he call him deceiver or seducer when he heard him teach the people it would not be unpardonable because no man is to be believed merely upon his own word But if when these men saw the mighty works of the SPIRIT justifying his preaching to be Divine they still continued to speak evil of him this was a very dangerous blasphemy because they could not after this call him a seducer or false Teacher but they must reproach the holy SPIRIT as well as him and call that the work of the Devil which was performed by the power of the Spirit of God And if when the HOLY GHOST was come from Heaven upon the Apostles witnessing that he was quickned by the SPIRIT and by the same SPIRIT presented to God in the Heavens they still went on to speak evil of him then there was no hope of remission because they blasphemed the last remedy for their recovery which was the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven to perswade them to repent and believe on his name And that we must take our Saviour in this sence is further apparent from the name of the HOLY GHOST which he uses when he speaks of this unpardonable sin never calling it the blasphemy against the SPIRIT but always the blasphemy against the HOLY GHOST which you know was not as yet given when our Saviour spake these words In the beginning of this discourse xii Matth. 28. he mentions only the SPIRIT But then coming to describe the danger of blaspheming it he doth not say that the blasphemy of the SPIRIT simply that is of those present works of his was unpardonable but that the blasphemy against the HOLY GHOST when it was come should never be forgiven Which must needs be understood as I have already argued concerning the contempt and reproachful usage of those following witnesses the Resurrection Ascension and the preaching of the Apostles endowed with power from on high because though the SPIRIT now wrought among them yet the HOLY GHOST was not come to be his ADVOCATE and plead his cause and therefore could not as yet be blasphemed by them By HOLY GHOST then in our Saviour's language here I suppose is meant all that was left still to be done for his Justification and that it is so wide a word in this place as to include in it the SPIRIT also For he was speaking before of the SPIRIT and therefore when he alters the phrase he doth not leave out the testimony of that but imbraces it within the compass of a larger word which it was necessary to use that he might show when that sin which they had begun in a desperate manner would be so complete that it could never be undone And that was when the HOLY GHOST had consecrated the Apostles to their great office which supposes his Resurrection and filled them with all Divine gifts among which you know was a power xiv John 12. to do greater works than these which our Saviour is here speaking of called the SPIRIT Then if they did not believe there was no remedy but they must perish in their infidelity But till then they to whom our Saviour speaks were not arrived at this hopeless condition because they had hitherto only blasphemed the SPIRIT not the HOLY GHOST which was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified But when it was given and they reproached that as they had done the SPIRIT then they were under irrecoverable condemnation
there being nothing more to be done for the opening their eyes and perswading them that Jesus was the Son of God They had made a fair step to it in our Saviour's life-time by resisting the mighty power of the Spirit but it was possible they might see their error because there was still a more mighty power behind which first raised up and glorified Jesus and then enabled his Apostles to do more wonderful things than he had done when he was on Earth And therefore I observe that afterward the word HOLY GHOST is sometimes used in this large sence for all the Power that was given the Apostles whether of Prophecy and Languages or of healing and casting out Devils which last are sometimes peculiarly called the SPIRIT and so not to be distinguished from the other which it incloses Thus the word HOLY GHOST in ii Hebr. 4. may be referred not only to gifts immediately preceding but to signs wonders and miracles before mentioned And after S. Peter and John had cured a lame man they say the HOLY GHOST was a witness to Jesus v. Acts 31. But though this word be so largely used in some places as SPIRIT also sometimes signifies all the rest ii Acts 4 17. and sometimes all but that which is called power 1 Cor. ii 4. yet commonly you will find the word HOLY GHOST having a peculiar reference to those other gifts of Illumination not of Power iv Acts 8. v. 3. vii 55. x. 44 45. and especially xix 2 6. where you read that S. Paul found certain Disciples at Ephesus who had not so much as heard whether there was any HOLY GHOST who had heard no doubt of the miraculous works both of Christ and his Apostles Now when these and the HOLY GHOST were both joyned together when Jesus had given them the witness of his Bloud and of his Resurrection and the Gospel came not only in POWER but in the HOLY GHOST as S. Paul speaks 1 Thess i. 5. Then they who persist to blaspheme the name of Jesus were in an hopeless condition past all the methods of God to bring them to forgiveness All which I have said as distinctly as I could to explain that which has perplexed so many and to show the strength of this Witness which our Saviour so much relied upon that he knew not a greater to convince them when once it had said all that it intended in his behalf To which let this be added as an argument of the greatness of this testimony that they who apostatized from the Christian Faith are therefore condemned to a sorer punishment than they who forsook Moses not only because they accounted the BLOUD of Jesus an unholy thing and despised that witness but also did despite to the SPIRIT of Grace which by raising him from the dead proved his BLOUD to be the Bloud of the Son of God x. Hebr. 29. This is set down last of all in that place because it filled up the measure of their sin This made them uncapable of the benefit of any sacrifice for sin as it is ver 26. that they so slighted yea vilified and reproached carried themselves contumeliously as the word imports towards the SPIRIT of God which was the greatest Testimony on Earth that our Saviour had and was followed with the HOLY GHOST sent down from Heaven And they must needs be guilty of such disgraceful usage of the SPIRIT yea of the SPIRIT of Grace that Spirit which God had so graciously poured not only upon Jesus but upon the Apostles and perhaps upon themselves if they did deny Jesus and renounce his Religion because this was in effect to tell the world that this was not the Spirit of God but of the Devil and that it did not prove his Resurrection from the dead but whatsoever it said He was a blasphemer when he called himself the Son of God Thus I have done now with this last Witness on Earth the SPIRIT which you see concurs and agrees with all the former in this Truth There is not the smallest difference between them nothing to make us suspect them to be false witnesses for they are all found to speak in our vulgar phrase in the very same story punctually and in terms affirming this that Jesus is the Son of God This he preached who never did any sin neither was guile found in his mouth This John Baptist likewise proclaimed with a loud voice The Bloud of Jesus attested this before all the people this was the very Title over his Cross that he was KING OF THE JEWS and this the SPIRIT said it was the language of every one of his wonderful works and of his Resurrection also and his Inthronization of which the Holy Ghost gave assurance which conspired to testifie this and expresly justified it to all the World And therefore how can we chuse but think this a sure word that he is the Son of God which is established out of the mouth not of two or three but of twice three witnesses of unquestionable credit And these three last treated of challenge from us a very careful consideration and we ought the more duly to weigh what they say because they were on Earth and upon that account nearer to us as I told you more evident at first sight more strongly attested by innumerable witnesses that they might serve for a greater confirmation even of the truth of the rest The Testimony of the FATHER is certain because it was heard by several excellent persons yea once by a multitude of people That of the WORD also is infallible and we cannot with any reason doubt whether there was such evidence because S. Steven S. Paul S. John were persons of unspotted reputation who heard it and also did and suffered the hardest things upon the credit of it That the HOLY GHOST also fell upon him at his Baptism a great Prophet so confidently affirmed that it was prophaneness to deny it But yet excepting the Testimony of the Holy Ghost after his Ascension there were none of those Witnesses in Heaven heard by so many as these three last mentioned who as S. John says bare witness in Earth It was a notorious thing to all the Country which Jesus travelled that he led a most holy life No man could fasten the suspicion of any crime upon him but the cry of the people was like that when he opened a blind mans eyes He hath done all things well vii Mark 37. And yet he lived not a retired life he did not hide himself in corners nor shut up himself in private houses but conversed so freely that they found fault with him though unjustly for being too familiar and keeping company with Publicans and sinners And as for his BLOUD the second Witness on Earth that was shed in the face of the Sun at a great feast when from foreign Countries they were assembled at Jerusalem All the accidents which we say attended his death were things that never have been contradicted
think of removing to a strange country but confidently rely on his knowledge more then our own Let us remember the words of these Witnesses which say He is the Son of God in whom is Eternall Life Let us trust his judgment who thought it more desirable to go away though upon a Cross then to stay here in the greatest pleasure And since all these Witnesses say He is in heaven let us resolve that we will die looking up to him and saying Lord remember it is the will of the Father that we should have Everlasting Life Thou thy self appearedst to St. Stephen and madest him confident thou wilt receive our Spirit The Holy Ghost which is the Spirit of Truth saith thou art glorified and wilt glorifie us with thy self This thou hast preached to us This thy Bloud hath purchased for us This thou didst rise again to prepare against our coming to thee This thy holy Apostles say thou sentest them to publish to the World This thou hast made us believe and wait for and suffer for and long to enjoy O Dearest Lord and most mercifull Saviour who art the true and faithfull Witness though we miserable sinners deserve to be denied yet deny not thy self let not the price of thy precious Bloud be lost let not the Word of the Father of the Holy Ghost thine own Word fail If thou art not alive I am content to perish But if thou art as thou hast perswaded me then I will not cease to call upon thee I will die with these words in my mouth and be confident thou wilt hear me LORD JESUS RECEIVE MY SPIRIT Thus the blessed Martyr St. Stephen expired looking up stedfastly unto Jesus the Authour and Finisher of our Faith who then appeared in glory to him Whose example all the rest of that Noble Army followed triumphing over death in an assured hope of immortall life Which they had not the least doubt of it is manifest from hence that as Clemens Alexandrinus observes * L. vii Stromat p. 756. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the very extremity of their torments they gave thanks to God who they knew would reward their fidelity having in this very way consecrated Jesus to the highest Office of being the Finisher or Crowner of our Faith Therefore their heart was glad and their glory rejoyced And they sang chearfully with the holy Psalmist but with a far greater confidence God shall redeem my Soul from the power of the grave for he shall receive me xlix Psal 15. And O thou Lord Greg. Naz. Orat. x. in Caesarium fratrem p. 176. and Creatour of all things especially of this thy Workmanship O thou God and Father of thy Men O thou Lord of life and death O thou benefactour of Souls and dispenser of all good things O thou who didst form all things and in due time thou best knowest how in the depth of thy wisedom and administration wilt transform us by that Divine Artificer the WORD Receive me also hereafter when thou seest most convenient in the mean time governing me in this flesh as long as it will be profitable And receive me in thy fear prepared not disturbed nor hanging back at the last day and dragg'd by force from hence like the lovers of the World and the Flesh but chearfully and willingly unto that everlasting and blessed Life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And Id. Orat. xlii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 696. O thou WORD of God! thou Light thou Life and Wisedom and Power for I delight in all thy Names O thou Off-spring and Image of that great Mind O intellectuall WORD and visible Man who upholdest all things by the word of thy power May it now please thee to accept of this Book though not the first-fruits yet the last perhaps that I may be able to offer thee both as a gratefull acknowledgment for all thy benefits and an humble supplication that I may have no other troubles beside the necessary sacred ones of my Charge Stop the fury of any disease which may seize on me or thy sentence if I be removed by thee And if thou art pleased to grant me a dissolution according to my desire and I be received into the Heavenly Tabernacles there I hope to offer acceptable Sacrifices to thee at thy holy Altar O FATHER and WORD and HOLY GHOST for to thee belongs all Glory Honour and Dominion for ever and ever Amen THE END Books written by the Reverend Dr. Patrick and Printed for Richard Royston at the Angel in Amen-corner THE Christian Sacrifice a Treatise shewing the Necessity End and Manner of receiving the holy Communion together with suitable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and the Principal Festivals in memory of our Blessed Saviour In Four Parts The Third Edition Corrected The Devout Christian instructed how to Pray and give Thanks to God Or a Book of Devotions for Families and particular persons in most of the concerns of Humane life The 2. Edition in Twelves An Advice to a Friend The 2. Edition in Twelves A Friendly Debate between a Conformist and a Non-conformist in Octavo In two Parts The Witnesses to Christianity or The Certainty of our Faith and Hope In a Discourse upon 1 S. John v. 7 8. In two Parts in Octavo new A Sermon Preached before the King on St. Stephen's day Printed by His Majesty's special command
is a mark set before it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lo or behold that we may all attend and listen diligently to this voice for now the word of God came to him as he speaks in another place I told you concerning those who were called Gods under the old Law x. John 35. and in an audible manner authorized him to begin to act as the Christ of God whom He had anointed as you shall hear with the Holy Ghost just at this moment when He declared him his Son by this voice from Heaven Which if you carefully observe it is expressed by the other Evangelists in such a manner that we may understand it was directed to himself as that commission which was sent him from Heaven to give him power to exercise the office of Gods supreme and only Minister in this world in whom alone he was well pleased and in none else but by him For S. Mark says the voice was in these words Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Which plainly tell us that he spake to Jesus and not merely of him that he might be confident He was the person whom God had now sanctified and sent into the world And so S. Luke hath recorded it more fully and expresly Thou art my beloved Son in thee I am well pleased As if he had said Thou art the person to whom I have a favour above all others I have anointed thee above all thy fellows none that have had this name are so dear to me as thou art to whom I commit my authority and invest with my power and intrust with all my mind and will Now because we all suspect private Revelations and think it no sufficient ground to believe one that says God spake to him unless he can bring some other very credible person besides himself to attest that he also heard it or be able otherways to demonstrate it God was pleased therefore not only by other means to verifie this but so to direct S. Matthew's pen that he hath as good as told us that the voice which was directed to Jesus himself telling him he was his Son was uttered likewise in the audience of John Baptist a person famed for his sanctity reverenced by all the Nation of the Jews and acknowledged to be a Prophet Though it was delivered I believe in those words and syllables wherein S. Mark or S. Luke have set it down for as the Heavens were opened unto him iii. Matth. 16. and he saw the Spirit descending so the voice which accompanied it spake in all likelihood unto him yet it being heard also by John who had baptised him and who saw all that went before it as he himself declared it was as if God had said to him This is my beloved Son c. and therefore so S. Matthew relates it The Father Almighty by this voice awakened the attention of the Baptist and bade him as it were mark it that this person to whom he now spake was the Messiah who now entred upon his office being declared the Son of God and should increase and grow as he presently after discerned iii. John 30. till he came to be declared by the Resurrection from the dead the Son of God with power as S. Paul speaks i. Rom. 4. that is with all the power belonging to his office of Lord of all things the great King of Heaven and Earth Till this time he knew no more of the Christ but that he was coming God having ordered him to make way for him and that he should immediately appear and be so much superior to him iii. Matth. 11. that he should not be worthy to be one of his meanest servants His countenance he was not acquainted withall nor could he say this is the person when he met with him as he himself confesses i. John 31. But thus much he was told by him that sent him to Baptize as he there declares ver 33. that on whom he should see the Spirit descend and remain he should conclude that person was the Messiah from whom they might expect the gift of the Holy Ghost which had been so long a stranger to their Nation And accordingly having some intimation of him from the Spirit as soon as Jesus offered himself to receive his Baptism iii. Matth. 14. immediately after he was confirmed in his belief that this was the Christ by the fulfilling of the former sign i. John 32. And thereupon publishes it openly to all in these words ver 34. I saw and bare record i. e. gave my testimony of him that this is the Son of God So God himself taught him to call our Saviour for it should seem by the words of S. Matthew that he had this further ground to believe it and so was furnished with greater ability to testifie it that he heard the voice from Heaven as well as saw the Spirit descend upon him Though the Father spake the words to Jesus yet it was in the presence and hearing of this person who was sent from God to be his witness i. John 6 7. and as if he had said to him This is my beloved Son mind what I say go and testifie that this is He in whom I delight above all others Thou mayest be sure of it for I tell thee so who gave thee all the Authority thou hast And accordingly you read that he went and did his office for which he was sent that is He bare witness of him and cried saying This was he of whom I spake He that cometh after me is preferred before me for he was before me 1. John 15. which he repeats in the same Chapter as his record ver 19. in behalf of our Saviour on two other occasions ver 27. and 30. to let them know that the person of whom he gave this testimony before he was baptised of him was now come and exalted to a far higher dignity than himself being a more mighty person as the rest of the Evangelists speak no less than the Son of God This he means by being preferred before him appointed by the Father of all to an incomparably more excellent office which he entred upon after the preaching and baptism of John who began indeed his Ministry before Jesus but it was not because he was greater but rather because he was less and came to prepare his way who was as he acknowledges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first of the two not only in regard of his Divine Nature but in regard of his sublime office into which he was now put by being pronounced the beloved Son of God by this voice from Heaven Which the Devil himself one would think heard and understood to be such a testimony concerning Jesus as committed the greatest Ministry to him and was a Divine warrant to go in Gods name to the world as Moses after the Angel spake to him out of the bush did to the Jews And therefore when immediately after this our Saviour was led by the
Spirit into the wilderness the Devil would have had him give some proof of his Divine power as Moses did or rather show himself by a greater evidence than Moses gave to be greater than he that he might be satisfied Jesus was no less than the voice declared him the Son of God So you read iv Matth. 3. that the first thing he said to him was If thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made bread As much as to say Thou art now in a starving condition for he had taken no provision with him into the wilderness resolving to depend on that God who had expressed such love to him as to own him for his Son here is a fit opportunity for thee to exercise thy power if thou hast any by bidding these stones turn into loaves which will be a greater wonder than Moses his bringing Manna out of the clouds and show indeed that thou art God's Son To which our Saviour answers as you read in the next Verse out of Moses himself viii Deut. 3. and tells him he might learn from that story of the Manna there was no need he should imploy his power which God had committed to him on this fashion for as the Israelites were maintained in the wilderness after a miraculous manner so might He who would prove himself to be his Son not this way by turning stones into bread but by trusting in God and leaving him to provide for him as he thought good That 's his meaning when he says Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God And so in the following temptations he still held to this that he was sufficiently satisfied he was God's Son and would not demand any farther proof of it but such as he himself would give who at last ver 11. ordered the Angels to go and minister unto him To carry him food it is like and congratulate this his first victory over the enemy of mankind Who was not so dull but he learnt by this and many other things afterward wherein he felt his power that this voice from Heaven was no vain rumour no empty insignificant sound but a true report of the very mind of Almighty God which he himself was forced to proclaim as loudly as any body else For you find him not long after this with a whole Legion of his companions acknowledging Jesus to be the Son of God most high and with humble prostrations worshipping him whom he had the confidence before to perswade to worship himself crying with a loud voice for Gods sake that he would not torment him v. Mark 6 7 8. viii Luke 28. Nay he was sensible one would think of this as soon as ever that temptation was ended For you read that immediately after it Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee iv Luke 14. and there at Capernaum met with a man that had a spirit of an unclean Devil who cried out with a loud voice saying I know thee who thou art the holy one of God ver 34. which is thus interpreted ver 41. The Devils came out of many crying out and saying Thou art Christ the Son of God For they knew that he was Christ But our Saviour would not be beholden to them for their suffrage it was sufficient that God had declared him his Son and that John Baptist attested as much and that the works which he did particularly his dispossessing them of their strongest holds bare witness of him And therefore he imposed silence on them as the Evangelist there tells us both because they might by their loud acclamations to him give the Pharisees occasion to calumniate him who were too forward to say he had confederacy with the Devil and because it was not fit this should be published in so many words no not by his Apostles xvi Matth. 20. till after his Resurrection and his Ascension to the Throne of his glory and the coming of the Holy Ghost which demonstrated he was completely made both Lord and Christ as the Apostles then openly declared ii Acts 36. But till then it seems to have been the work of the Father alone or principally to bear witness of him for John Baptist was his voice crying in the wilderness and the works our Saviour did were those which his Father had given him to finish and the Spirit was the Finger of God which pointed men to him as I may so speak and bid them receive him as his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased And shall we not receive this for the greatest Truth when God himself says it shall we not let him dispose of our Faith is not He the Truth is it possible for him to falsifie or deceive or do we imagine He cannot declare his mind and speak to us as we do one to another He that formed the mouth cannot He speak is his power less than ours can we manifest what we would have and make it understood and cannot He in the same manner make us know his will and pleasure If his express testimony then be of any force here you have it by an audible voice from Heaven And John the Baptist whom the Jews the Enemies of our Saviour durst not but reverence bare record to him thereupon that Jesus is the Son of God Now if any one should say that the certainty of this relies upon the testimony of one single person and that it is possible he might hear amiss though there be no colour for such an objection he being a Prophet and acknowledged so to be by those who did not acknowledge our Saviour yet that this great truth might not depend upon the credit of John Baptist alone though a man well acquainted with the manner of Divine Revelations the FATHER was pleased a second time and in the audience of more witnesses than one to declare again what he had said before that he was his Son II. This was in the Holy Mount as you may read in the xvii Matth. 5. and in the two following Evangelists ix Mark 7. ix Luke 35. where the Father of all was pleased to declare in the same terms as he had done at his Baptism and with an audible voice which astonished those that heard it xvii Matth. 6. That he was his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased to which Declaration he added this command HEAR HIM That is be assured that what he says to you is the Truth and what I speak to the world it shall be by his mouth Now this voice was uttered in the hearing of no less than three persons whom our Saviour had selected from the rest of his company to attend him unto this Mountain where God appeared to bear witness to him Of which three this Disciple S. John was one who therefore might with the greater confidence urge here the Testimony of the Father which he himself heard And unless they to whom he writes this Epistle could
numbred with thy Saints in glory everlasting Amen CHAP. IV. Concerning the Testimony of the HOLY GHOST WE have heard the WORD speak enough in his own behalf and I do not think it needful to hear that Witness any further Let us attend now to the Testimony of the third person in the holy Trinity and hear what the HOLY GHOST saith who we shall find upon due examination agrees perfectly in the same thing and declares that Jesus is the Son of God Witness that glorious appearance of the Divine Spirit upon him when he was baptized and the great gifts and endowments thereof wherewith ever after that he was filled himself and filled others For here we may note three things as we did in the opening of the testimony of the other two Witnesses I. The first is that when the Spirit of God descended upon him immediately after his Baptism and in an illustrious manner remained on him as S. John Baptist testifies it did i. John 32 33. then the Holy Ghost bare witness of him that he was the Son of God In our reflections upon which we are to consider distinctly first how it descended and then that it remained and abode upon him And for the better understanding of both these we must know that when the Jews would express any visible appearance of the Majesty and glory of God they call it the SCHEKINAH that is the Habitation or dwelling because God showed himself thereby to be extraordinarily present and that he did as it were dwell in that place to afford those to whom he so manifested himself his gracious help comfort or instruction This is the name they give even to that Presence of God which was in the most holy place the Glory of the Lord which appeared upon the Cherubims because He dwelt there and took up his rest among them by this token of his presence with them So He himself had spoken xxv Exod. 8. Let them make me a Sanctuary that I may DWELL among them That is the Glory of the Lord which ABODE upon mount Sinai xxiv 16. came and took up its residence there in the Sanctuary From these two places they gave it the name of dwelling or abode And tell us that from the day that this Schekinah as they speak or Divine presence dwelling among them rested on mount Sinai at the giving of the Law it never departed from Israel till the destruction of the house of the first Sanctuary by the King of Babylon after that the Divinity or this glorious token of the Divine presence did not dwell among them They are the words of R. Bechai upon Gen. xlv But that which had been so long absent returned now in a far more glorious manner than ever not to dwell in an house of stone but in the Temple of our Saviours body as he calls ii John 21. For when Jesus was baptized Lo the Heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him iii. Matth. 16. Every word of this verse is very observable For the opening of the Heavens in the prophetical writings as Grotius hath observed upon xix Revel 11. still precedes some great Vision And that which he with John Baptist now saw was the Spirit of God that is such a glorious appearance of the Divine majesty as I before mentioned For the Rabbins often call the Ruach Hakkodesh or the HOLY GHOST by the name of Schekinah or the Divine presence gloriously appearing among them So Elias expresly tells us in his Tisbi * Vocab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and gives this reason for it because it rested or dwelt upon the Prophets and was a great token I may add of God's presence with them Whence it is that where the Hebrew Text as he goes on saith The spirit of Jacob revived xlv Gen. 27. R. Solomon expounds it thus the Schekinah or the HOLY GHOST rested on him which was departed and as it were extinct before because of the grief and sorrow wherein he had been drown'd For the Holy Ghost say they rests not upon the melancholy but only on those who are of a chearful spirit Thus when Hannah said to Eli who fancied she was drunk No my Lord I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit the Talmud expounds it in this manner Thou art not to govern in this case the Schekinah and the Holy Ghost is not upon thee as appears by this that thou hast judged me guilty when I am innocent It is all one then in their Language as I observed also before in the conclusion of the second Chapter to say that the Divine Majesty or that the Holy Ghost is upon any person And therefore I doubt not but there was a glorious appearance of the Majesty of God at our Saviours Baptism some great unusual brightness signifying the Divine presence and the Spirit of God coming to dwell in him It is not indeed mentioned in express words that there was such a Schekinah or Majestical appearance of the Glory of the Lord but it must be understood to be meant by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spirit of God According to the dialect of that Nation who call the Holy Ghost as I said by the name of the Divine Majesty or Presence and so might call that Majesty by the name of the Holy Ghost or spirit of God And Justin Martyr saith expresly in his disputation with the Jew that at our Saviours Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A fire was lighted in Jordan That is as I understand it such a Divine glory appeared as there was among the ancient Israelites which had I told you the resemblance of a very bright fire Which so good a man would not have had the boldness to affirm if it had not been the constant tradition which passed among them or rather the constant sence they put upon this place Just as when the Apostles were baptized with the Holy Ghost a fiery substance gathered it self about their heads in token of a Divine presence among them so when our Lord himself was baptized with water there was the like but far more glorious appearance which spreading it self from his head round about made the River out of which he was newly come look as if it were on a flame as a sign that he should baptize not with water but with the Holy Ghost and with fire And so Grotius hath observed that in the Gospel of the Nazarens there were these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 straight-way a great light shone round about the place which the Syrian Churches also acknowledge in their Liturgy All which make it apparent that Holy men thus understood the descent of the Holy Ghost as I have explained it And indeed S. Luke tells us iii. 22. that it descended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a bodily form or appearance There was some visible matter broke out of the Heavens which being the place of light and glory we can expound to be nothing
else but some very splendid body a bright shining Light formed by the Spirit of God which came down from above just as a Dove with wings spread is observed to do and lighted upon our Saviours head These three last phrases are remarkable For when the Evangelists say it came down they speak in the constant stile of the holy language concerning the appearance of the Majesty of God xix Exod. 11 20. Of whom as Maimonides adds the Scripture speaks in the same manner when it describes his bestowing any gifts or vouchlasing any special token of his favour upon men For we * Mors Novoch Part. 1. Cap. 10. being in a low condition in respect of him who is the most high not in respect of place but of his essence majesty and power whensoever He is pleased to give wisdom to any one or to pour down the gift of prophecy upon him that abode of the spirit of prophecy or the habitation of the majesty and presence of God in any place is called his COMING DOWN and the taking away of prophecy or the recession of the Divine majesty is called his GOING UP For which he cites xi Numb 17. xxxv Gen. 13. In this language the Holy writers of the New Testament here speak who knew very well that the Divine Spirit is every where and doth not move from place to place but say it came down because there was an outward visible appearance of a great glory which indeed descended from above and declared him on whom such a majesty dwelt to be filled with the gifts of wisdom and prophecie and all other powers of the Holy Ghost And in the same manner they express the unexpected communication of Divine gifts to the Gentiles on whom the Holy Ghost fell or came down as they heard the word x. Acts 45. xi 15. That is there was a sensible token of the Divine presence among them though no visible majesty descended for they heard them speak with tongues and magnifie God But here there were both all the gifts of the Holy Ghost bestowed and also such a visible glorious Majesty as there was at the giving of the Law which not only came down but light upon our Saviour as that glory did on the top of mount Sinai xix Exod. 18 20. This was a thing as you shall hear which was never known before that the glory of the Lord should come and rest upon any person It could denote him to be no less than the Holy one of God From whom as from Gods most holy place he would hereafter communicate all his blessings to men And the more fully to express this it is very observable that the glory which now appeared came down as a Dove doth which is the very manner wherein R. Solomon describes the descent of the Divine majesty in former times The Throne of God saith he upon those words i. Gen. 2. The Spirit of God moved c. stood in the air and hovered over the face of the waters by the Spirit of his mouth who is most blessed and by his Word just AS A DOVE stretches her wings over her Nest For it is not certain whether this glorious appearance had the form of a Dove or only descended in the same manner as a Dove doth when it came upon our Saviour and encircled his head But that there was such a glorious Majesty appeared and lighted on him ought not to seem incredible to any man that believes the Holy Books of the Old Testament as Origen * Lib. 1. shows against Celsus who foolishly brings in a Jew speaking against this apparition If he had made an Epicuraean saith He deride this report there had been some congruity in it but it is ridiculous to pin such words upon a Jew who believes things altogether as strange nay far more wonderful To pass by what we read that God said to Adam Noah Abraham and others what doth he think concerning Ezekiel who says that the Heavens were opened and he saw Visions of God i. 1. and ver 28. That this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And the same Isaiah reports concerning himself I saw the Lord sitting upon a Throne c. vi 1. Which of these are more to be credited Ezekiel who says the Heavens were opened c. and Isaiah who writes that he saw the Lord c. or Jesus who says that the Heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him This is enough to stop the mouth of any Jew especially since the power of Jesus as Origen proceeds not only then when he was on earth far excelled theirs but still remains now that he is in Heaven for the conversion and betterment of those who by him believe in God And as for others He tells Celsus that all those who admit Providence confess that God hath sometimes forewarned men in their sleep of things which much concerned their safety And therefore it is no such strange thing if that power which figures the mind in a dream should impress the same or the like form upon it when a man is awake and represent things as sensibly to him as if he saw them with his eyes and heard them with his ears And why that should not be as really seen if God please which is represented to a man in his imagination no body can give any reason As for that which Celsus objects that the Gospel never tells us our Saviour was wont to mention this and appeal to it in his preaching to the people He tells him that he did not mind how unseemly it was for our Saviour to divulge himself what was seen and heard at Jordan who forbad his Disciples to publish that which they beheld and heard on the holy Mount There was a fit time for the open proclaiming of both by others not by himself For the manners of our Saviour were far from that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vain ostentation and much talk of himself which such a man as Celsus might be guilty of He chose by his works rather than by his words to tell them that he was the Christ Which made the Jews say How long dost thou hold us in suspence If thou be the Christ tell us plainly x. John 24. So he did but it was by that which was more convincing than his testimony of himself could then be I told you and ye believed not the works that I do in my Fathers name they bear witness of me ver 25. That one work which he had wrought just before was so miraculous that the like had not been heard of since the world began ix 32. For he had opened the eyes of a man who was born blind as they themselves could not deny for the mans Parents testified that he could never see till now and he affirmed it was Jesus who had given him his sight If they had not been blinder than He this
might have opened their eyes to see who our Saviour was without any further telling For what could He say of himself more than this Miracle spake which others reported not He It told them loudly enough would they have heard that he had the power of God in him one of whose prerogatives it is cxlvi Psal 8. to open the eyes of the blind And John Baptist also had told them plainly that he saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a Dove and it abode upon him i. 32. Here was an unexceptionable witness of the truth of this story which John presently published And they had reason to believe him because he that authorized him to administer that Baptism which they received gave him this for a sign whereby he should know the Christ when he saw him Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God ver 33 34. He could be no less on whom such a Divine Glory not only descended but also remained and took up its abode with him That 's the last thing to be considered and the chiefest of all He had not a mere glance of this visible Majesty which did not make a transient appearance but he saw it remaining on him It staid for some time there as if it intended to make him its habitation and dwelling place And so it did for as He saw the visible Divine majesty or glory remaining on him then so the thing signified by it continued alway and made all see if they would attend that he was the Sanctuary or most holy Place in which God was and had taken up his residence for ever The body of Jesus as I said before is now become the Temple of God not made by man but by God himself in the Virgins womb There God manifested himself perpetually by sensible effects as I shall show you presently declaring Jesus to be his Son in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily After this visible Majesty disappeared the presence of God within him was very apparent For he came away from Jordan saith S. Luke full of the Holy Ghost iv 1. And having been tempted a while in the wilderness he returned from thence in the power of the Spirit into Galilee ver 14. There he taught in his own City and opened the Book at that very place of Isaiah where he said The Spirit of the Lord is upon me which Scripture was that day fulfilled in their ears ver 18 21. And at Cana in that Country he began to work miracles and manifested forth his glory ii John 11. That is showed indeed that the Divine Majesty spoken of before remained in him Of which glory they did not see so little as a flash or two but they beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father i. 14. He cast about every where such rays of glory and majesty as declared him to be no less person than God's only begotten Son and these they beheld and were constant eye-witnesses of to the end of his life For he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil for God was with him x. Acts 38. This was all his business to bestow benefits upon mankind and to relieve those who were otherways helpless but only by a Divine power As was notorious in his frequent dispossession of Devils and opening the eyes of him who was blind from his birth and after that raising Lazarus from the dead in which great work they saw the glory of God xi John 40. Who did not give the Spirit by measure to him that is with such restriction as he himself gave it to his Apostles at the first But the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hands as the Baptist speaks iii. Joh. 34 35. It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell i. Coloss 19. So that none could have any thing of the Spirit but from his hands and he could communicate what he pleased Which is a sign that he was the place where the Divine majesty and the Holy Spirit now dwelt and had taken up its residence among men who must all repair to him if they would receive the Holy Ghost or any blessing from above What greater argument could there be that he was the Son of God than this that he had all things now put into his hands to do what he pleased on Earth and received the Holy Ghost in such a visible Majesty as a pledge that he should shortly have all power in Heaven too at the right hand of God It was fit that this glorious testimony of the Holy Ghost to him should be accompanied with the voice of God which came out of that or the like cloud saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased So we shall have still farther reasons to acknowledge him if we do but make these following Reflections upon what hath been here discoursed One is that here was not so little as the appearance of an Angel to him by whom God declared his will to the Prophets but a far more illustrious manifestation of the Divine Glory which came down upon him and declared him more than a Prophet Maimonides doubts not to say * More Nevoch Part. 3. cap. 45. that all Prophecy was by the mediation of Angels xvi Gen. 9. xxii 15. Moses himself began to be a Prophet by this means iii. Exod. 2. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in the Bush For which cause he thinks God afterward appointed two Cherubims to cover the Ark that the people might be bred up in the belief of Angels And God is said to dwell between them and to ride upon them because all Prophecy was carried by them from God to men But here is something far beyond this way of communication between God and Men. For not an Angel appeared or spake unto him But that Divine Glory which dwelt between the Cherubims descends upon him and makes him its resting place and God himself speaks to him at the same time out of that Glory calling him his Son and bidding all hear him This was a manifest declaration of his high and singular prerogative and a sign that no less than the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him So that he knew as I said before the mind of God not by Visions and Dreams or by mediation of Angels but by a more intimate familiarity with God dwelling and residing in him For you may observe further which is another thing very remarkable that though there had been formerly an appearance of a Schekinah of the Divine presence that is or glory of God when the gifts of the Holy Ghost were imparted to some persons Yet we never read that this Schekinah came down upon any man much less that it remained on him but upon Jesus only
and their credit in this fashion These gods should have had more care of their reputation and authority than to let this single person whom they pretended also to be so mean to prevail thus mightily against them For as Plutarch tells us in those very places where there was in times past 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great glory of the Divinity there was nothing to do in his days but all was vanisht A sign that indeed God was more in our Saviour than he ever had been in any other person or place and that he was no where else and that he would be worshipped only in that way which he taught and prescribed For they saw his GLORY the GLORY as OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN Son i. Joh. 14. who had those marks of a Divine Majesty residing in him that none ever had and from whom we may expect all that the wisdom power and love of God can do for us What should we do then but after such evident proofs that God is in him fall down and with the most humble and joyful reverence worship him who as it there follows is full of grace and truth Because he is full of TRUTH we ought to resign and submit our selves to his government and because he is full of GRACE we should always rejoyce to think that we are under his care and we should put our trust under the shaddow of his wings And that he is so full of both that we may with great satisfaction commit our selves to his guidance confide and rejoyce in him will appear still more evidently by the next Testimony which he received from the HOLY GHOST II. Which was upon the day of Pentecost ten days after he left this world When it gave a more publick testimony to him than it had done at his Baptism that he was the Son of God exalted to sit on the right hand of the Majesty on high For his Apostles being then assembled together in one place on a sudden there came such a mighty inspiration from him who a little before he parted with them breathed on them and said Receive the Holy Ghost that the sound of it was like that of a violent blast of wind when it is a coming Which was anciently a token of a Divine presence approaching iii. Gen. 8. and now was a sign that by the power of this spirit they should carry all before them For it filled all the house where they were sitting as they did all the World e're long by their preaching And immediately a glimpse of that Divine Majesty or Glory appeared on them which came down upon our Saviour at his Baptism and ever after dwelt in him Who now sent the Apostles just as the Father had sent him For a bright flame was seen upon their Heads and they were baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire So S. Luke reports ii Act. 3 4. That there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it SATE upon each of them a sign that this power should abide with them alway and accompany them every where though this visible flame vanished The effect of which was notorious to all even as it was apparent that Jesus was full of the Holy Ghost though none but John Baptist saw it coming down upon him For they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with tongues Of which all Jerusalem as it there follows yea men of all Nations were witnesses who heard them speak in their own tongues the wonderful works of God vers 11. They proclaimed that is to all the People whom the report of this strange news had brought together what wonders God had wrought by Jesus and what he had now done for him having raised him from the dead vers 24. and exalted him by his right hand vers 33. and made him both LORD and CHRIST vers 36. That is He was now they might see if they would not shut their eyes inthroned by God in the Heavens and compleatly invested with that royal power of which he had received some portion before being now made LORD of all things and the KING of God's People Of which we say the Apostles v. 32. are his Witnesses who saw him after he rose again and beheld him ascend into Heaven and so is the Holy Ghost which he sent from thence as they all now saw and heard in divers sensible effects which testified that he was at the right hand of God And here it will be fit to observe three things First That the HOLY GHOST was his WITNESS as the Apostles you see call Him as the coming of it was the fulfilling of what he had predicted and promised a little before his going away from them At the very mention of that word they were very disconsolate and sorrow filled their heart Whereupon he chears them up with this assurance that he would not leave them comfortless like so many fatherless Children but pray the Father and he would give them another Comforter who should abide with them for ever and never go away from them as he was about to do xiv Joh. 16. This he tells them was the spirit of truth vers 17. whom the Father would send in his Name vers 26. where he repeats this over again and tells them what the Holy Ghost would do for them And therefore charges them not to be troubled or afraid but rather rejoyce to hear him say he was going to the Father who was Greater than he and therefore would give him power when he went to him to do more for them than he could do now vers 28. And then he adds the reason why he said all this vers 29. Now I have told you before it come to pass that when it is come to pass you might believe That is be confirmed in the belief of all that I have said and fully perswaded I have not boasted of a power and authority which doth not belong to me They might well be confident of it themselves and bid all the House of Israel know assuredly that God had made the same Jesus whom they crucified both Lord and Christ when they saw this come to pass which he had foretold and promised so often Before his Death xv Joh. 26 27. xvi 7. After his Resurrection xxiv Luke 49. Just before his Ascension i. Act. 4.8 Where he bids them not stir from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father which they had heard of him and which would give them Power to be his Witnesses every where It was an evident argument when they received it of these two Divine Properties in Him Foreknowledge and Omnipotence They had reason to believe there was a Divine Majesty in him when he was with them on Earth and to trust to all he had said either of himself or them or those that should believe on his Name and to look upon Him now as the King of Glory with all power in Heaven and Earth For how could he have
the Angels sing vi 3. when he beheld our Saviours glory and spake of him xii John 39. And the Church of Christ from the beginning hath taken these words from their mouths and made them their own iv Rev. 8. when they actually saw this GLORY OF THE LORD filling the Earth with its most holy Presence For our Lord did not cease to pour out more and more of his Spirit on all flesh even after the Apostles were dead But as Justin Martyr tells the Jew in his time which was above an hundred years after this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Dial. cum Tryph. c. One might have seen among Christians both women and men who had gifts from the Spirit of God And so one might in the days of Origen * Lib. 1. contr Cels who lived as many years after that who to convince Celsus that it was no Fable which was reported of the descent of the Holy Ghost on our Saviour affirms that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. There were still remaining among them some footsteps of that Holy Spirit which was seen in the form of a Dove For they dispossessed Devils performed many cures and foresaw some things according to the will and pleasure of the WORD concerning what was to come Nay it were easie to show that this Heavenly power descended still much lower and did not quite leave the World in these Ages and that it did not work in some obscure corners only but in the most noted places in the World For the same Justin says in his first Apology that there were many healed by the Name of Jesus Christ in the City of Rome whom no other person could heal So that look how many Souls there were full of the Holy Ghost so many lasting Witnesses there were to our Saviour of his power and glory in every place But intending hereafter to treat of all these gifts of the Holy Ghost alone by themselves I shay say no more of them now having sufficiently shown how they were his Testimony to our Saviour It is possible I confess that there may be another thing included in the name of the HOLY GHOST and that is the old Prophets who received gifts from Heaven whereby they sometimes spake of the Messiah So the HOLY GHOST is said in the x. Hebr. 15. to be a witness of the perfection of our Saviours oblation and for a proof of it the testimony of the Prophet Jeremiah is alledged whose words are called the witness of the Holy Ghost From whence I might take occasion to show that all the predictions of the Prophets do so exactly agree to Jesus and are so perfectly fulfilled in him that we must needs grant him if we receive this testimony of the Holy Ghost and take them to have been inspired thereby to be the Son of God the King of Israel who they had long put that Nation in hope should come and reign over them But this would be a work of too great length and my intention is not to swell this Treatise into an huge Volume which makes me only mention this notion that you may consider with your selves as you have occasion what a resemblance there is between Jesus and that person whom the Prophets describe unto us For this will prove a great confirmation of your faith in him there being no doubt in the minds of the bitterest enemies of our Saviour but that those Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost I have done now with these witnesses who speak unto us from Heaven and who are one you see in their testimony as well as in their nature They all agree in this that Jesus is the Son of God There is not the least difference between them no doubtfulness in their testimony no backwardness to give it no obscurity that should make it difficult for us to understand it But with one mouth as we say they unanimously plainly readily and clearly pronounce him to be such a Divine person that if we should not hear him and obey him and depend upon him I know not what we shall be able to say to so many Witnesses who will be ready to appear against us whose testimony without any cause was slighted by us Look how many voices have been heard from Heaven how many witnesses have openly appeared in his behalf so many Divine reasons you are to conceive your self to be provided withall for every word that Jesus hath spoken Which you are therefore to take for infallible and to keep as the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. vi 14. without spot and unrebukeable until his second appearing Listen to those words of grace which come out of his mouth Abandon those sins which he requires you to forsake and betake your selves to the practice of those vertues which he so strictly injoyns For the FATHER the WORD and the HOLY GHOST declare that this is the Will of Heaven And what is there in this world so considerable as to perswade the contrary If he be not the Son of God if he do not prove it by undeniable arguments then do as you list But if he be then you are bound to yield him the humblest subjection and it will be a strange stupidity to dispute the matter with him There can be no colour for your refusal should you deny to be governed by him who comes with such Authority that the fulness of the Godhead as you have heard dwells in him bodily O what an honour hath God Almighty hereby done our nature how highly hath he advanced and dignified it by this strange and unexpected favour which he hath conferred on it in making it his Holy place Consider but what I have now said of the Testimony of the HOLY GHOST to Jesus which was an illustrious token likewise of Gods wonderful love to us Is it nothing that God should be manifested in our flesh that he should DWELL in us and make his abode with us and that we should become the habitation of God through the Spirit Look upon the Temple of old and see how it glittered with Gold how it was adorned with Cherubims and Seraphims which were an emblem of the Angelical attendance in that place but especially how it shined with the Glory of the Lord which appeared upon the mercy-seat And then reflect how precious how dear mankind are to Almighty God into whose Nature this Glory is translated whom he hath beautified with greater excellencies and made more splendid by a more intimate conjunction with it Could any man then after he had considered this profane that Nature which God hath so sanctified and separated to himself Could he find in his heart to prostitute himself to any of those base and filthy actions that are below the dignity of humane nature nakedly considered without such a presence of God in it None can submit sure to the government of any fleshly lust but he must first forget that he is a man created after the Image
reverence to his Majesty Whatsoever Moses hath written against Idolatry S. John here from Jesus in the conclusion of his Epistle hath summed it up in a few words Little children keep your selves from IDOLS In this the Jews could not accuse him nor durst let such a word fall from their mouths that he was a false Prophet because he endeavoured to draw their hearts after other Gods which was the great mark of an Impostor xiii Deut. No he tells them that this is Eternal Life to know the only true God which words are spoken in opposition to all others and Jesus Christ whom he had sent But in this they might have seen that his design was far more noble and glorious than that of Moses who contented himself to preserve that one Nation from the infection of Idolatry whereas our Lord Jesus plainly declared his intention was by his Apostles to turn all Nations from Idols to serve the living and true God There was never any man that appeared so great a lover of God as he was Never any man that undertook to set on foot such a design for the advancement of the universal knowledge of him All the Divine Attributes and Perfections also He hath revealed so perspicuously that there never was such a manifestation made of them to the World as we see in Him From whom we learn how Just how Good how Wise how Faithful and how Powerful the Blessed and only Potentate is who only hath immortality whom no man hath seen or can see And if we would know our Duty either towards God in actions of Piety or towards Men in actions of Righteousness or towards our selves in actions of sobriety we can learn it no where so easily and completely as if we go to him and to those who have delivered it to us with great care and plainness from his mouth As for the Actions of PIETY He teaches us inwardly to Honour God v. Joh. 23. that is to have an high esteem of him as our Lord and as our chiefest Good to Love him also and that with all our heart and all our Soul and all our mind and all our strength xii Mark 30. And to Fear him seeing he can cast both Body and Soul into Hell which makes him again and again bid us be sure to Fear him xii Luke 4 5. To confide likewise and Trust in him the living God 1 Tim. iv 10. To Hope in his mercy 1 Pet. i. 21. And to rejoyce evermore 1 Thess v. 16. And as we are thus to worship him in our Minds so we are taught by his Religion externally to adore him and fall down before him iv Matth. 10. iv Rev. 10. to pray to him both for our selves and others 1 Tim. ii 1 8. and to be incessant in our Prayers or to perform this holy duty very oft xviii Luke 1. 1 Thess v. 17. and to offer up by him the sacrifice of Praise to God continually xiii Heb. 15. And in every thing to give thanks which is the will of God concerning us in Christ Jesus 1 Thess v. 18. and especially to shew the Lords death that is publish it with thanks and praise till he come to judge the World 1 Cor. xi 26. The manner also of addressing our selves to God he hath taught us so fully that nothing can be added to it For he tells us The Father will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth iv John 23. And that we must lift up holy hands 1 Tim. ii 8. And that when we pray we must forgive others xi Mark 25. and ask in Faith xxi Matth. 22. and avoid vain babling and not affect much speaking nor desire to be seen of men and to joyn Fasting and Alms with our Prayers and Devotions to God Matth. vi It is impossible to conceive any thing more Divine than these Instructions To which he adds as rare Precepts for Actions of RIGHTEOUSNESS concerning which he hath given us such an absolutely perfect Rule that it comprehends the measures of CHARITY too No wit of man can think of any thing more holy than that LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THY SELF or that WHATSOEVER YE WOULD THAT MEN SHOULD DO TO YOU DO YE EVEN SO TO THEM This is a rule that reaches all men and compendiously yet completely tells them how they should behave themselves towards each other If a man were a Magistrate or a Parent or stood in any other superiority over his Neighbours he would desire honour and obedience from them that therefore says our Saviour let him give to those who are in Authority If a man be our equal we desire if not his friendship yet his fidelity in word and deed that very thing let us be sure to render him and all others in the same equality with us If we be placed below others we desire the favour the help the relief and counsel of our Betters all these Jesus here teaches us to afford with the same chearfulness that we would expect them in their case to those who are in want of our kind assistance Nay he hath told us in particular what our duty is in these matters by the mouths of his holy Apostles that no man may think to excuse himself by his ignorance and inability to apply a general Rule to every action of his life I shall not name all the places where you may find such words as these that follow but only tell you He would have us so far from doing evil to any man that he requires us owe him nothing but only love And this debt we must be always paying and think our selves debtors to all men not only to treat them civilly and give them good words but to love them in deed and in truth Which Love must teach us as to be meek and gentle towards all men to put away all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking not to circumvent or go beyond our Brother in any matter not to lye to our neighbour nor defame him much less do him any hurt in his body or goods So to relieve his poverty to help forward his joy to comfort him in his sorrow to cover his defects to make a fair interpretation of his actions to let our judgment of him incline to the more favourable side to mind what is lovely or grateful to others and what things are of good report to study things that make for peace to compose and reconcile differences to beg pardon of those whom we have offended and make them satisfaction and if any have offended us readily to forgive their fault to forbear revenge when it is in our power to requite an injury to do good for evil to bless those that curse us to overcome mens hatred with benefits to pray to God for those who use us despitefully and to be long-suffering when it is fit to punish any man for his crime And as for those who are truly pious we are taught to do them good above all other men to
unto them So S. Paul writes to the Thessalonians 1 ii 8. every one of whom he exhorted and comforted and charged as a Father doth his children ver 11. But he never used any flattering words towards them nor spake as pleasing men but God who trieth the hearts nor carried on any design of covetousness or winning of glory to himself nor would be in the least burdensom to them but was gentle among them even as a nurse cherisheth her own children ver 4 5 6 7. Show me the man that ever spoke with such wisdom and judgment as they did and with so much tenderness of heart None but their Master ever preached or wrote with so Divine a Spirit which John the Baptist describes in such words with which I shall content my self as prove the excellence of his Person from the excellence of his Doctrine which he delivered unto men They are in the iii. John 31. where he says He that COMETH from above is above all He that is of the Earth is Earthly and speaketh of the Earth He that COMETH from Heaven is above all That is He who appears from Heaven with such a Divine Authority who delivers the mind of God in so rare a manner that one may see he hath been with God must needs excel all other persons in dignity Moses and the Prophets and me also who am of an Earthly extraction born like other men and can speak only like a man poor and low things in comparison with those which that Heavenly teacher delivers who I must needs again confess is far superiour to me because he is not a mere man but comes from Heaven and so is above all Prophets whatsoever who had more of the Earth than of Heaven in them that is knew none of those secret counsels of God concerning mans everlasting bliss nor could direct us in so short but plain and sure a way to it as he hath done And then it follows ver 32 33. And what he hath seen and heard that he testifieth c. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God That is he speaks such things that a man may easily see he is the only begotten of the Father who is in his bosom and knows his very mind having as certain an understanding of Heavenly things as we have of what we see and hear And therefore whosoever believes him does no more but assent to God whose words he speaks by a particular commission he received from him to act in his Name It is very observable that just after the mention of these Witnesses 1 John v. 10. S. John adds that He who believes not this record which God gives of his Son hath made him a liar as on the other side John the Baptist here says That he who doth receive his testimony i. e. believes solemnly acknowledges God to be true From whence I conclude that what is said in this Epistle hath a relation to that which is writ in the Gospel which I take to be no more than this That the Divineness of Jesus his Doctrine the purity and Heavenly strain of his discourses his preaching as if he had heard and seen the Father and knew the state of things above his speaking the Words of God not as anothers like the Prophets before him but as his own was a great testimony to him that he was sent of God in that quality that he pretended So that they who received him did but rely upon the Truth of God and give up their faith to him who hereby as well as other ways perswaded them that this was his Son 2. But then that which I mainly insist upon is this second consideration That his pure most holy Doctrine and Life was a great argument of his Divinity because this was part of his Doctrine that he was the Son of God For who can think that a person of his vertue who taught men both by word and deed such reverence to God and such justice and charity to men could be guilty of putting such an open affront upon the one and such an abuse upon the other as to challenge this title and propound himself to be received in this quality if he had not a just and undoubted right to it He that came with so much sanctity and holiness in all his other words and all his other actions one cannot but conclude was as holy and free from sin in this as much as in any thing else that he said he was the Christ and perswaded the people to believe he was the Son of the blessed This is certain He affirmed himself to be the Christ the Son of God first to his Disciples And that both before his sufferings xvi Matth. 16 17. ix Mark 41. and also after his resurrection xxiv Luke 46. And then to others also who were as yet none of them as 1. to the woman of Samaria iv John 26. Then 2. to the blind man whose eyes he opened ix John 35 36 37. And lastly he asserted it when he was brought before his Judges as you have heard already and this very matter was brought in question yea when they adjured him by the true God and as he bare any respect to him to tell them the very truth in this thing Now who is there that would not infer from hence that all the rest of his Doctrine being so opposite to all lying and every other vice and his whole life giving such a proof of his perfect vertue that they had nothing to ground a charge upon against him but merely this profession of his own wherein if he had pleased he might have been silent it is not in the least credible that a person of his integrity should after so long speaking truth now at the last be guilty of speaking a lye And 2. a lye of such a dangerous consequence as this by which if it were one he and a world of Souls must be undone Yea 3. that he should tell it so often to so many persons And that 4. before the Magistrates who are Gods in this world And that 5. when they were desirous and very importunate to know the truth Yea 6. before God himself by whose name he was solemnly adjured to speak nothing but the truth How is it possible that such a man as he should be so void of all fear of God as to offend him in so high a manner There are none sure whose unstandings are sound or whose consciences are not crackt who can so much as fancy much less perswade themselves to believe that a person whose innocence was so great that all the false witnesses they could find men who cared not for their own lives could not be masters of his should now in such a serious manner when he was going out of the world put such an horrid cheat upon it and with the loss of his life too upon a shameful gibbet as
resolving it either way to give with their own mouths so great an advantage to him whom they questioned and opposed But by saying nothing they plainly confessed that if they had gone on to dispute with him He would have had the better of them and have made it appear from John Baptists testimony that He had an authority far greater than that which they must have acknowledged in him For though our Saviour thought good for brevity-sake to propound this argument to them by way of question and so let them reason it out within themselves yet it was as forcible they plainly felt as if he had pleaded with them in this manner My Authority which you call in question is every evident I have it from Heaven and not from Men as I prove by this argument If the Baptism of John be from Heaven then from thence I come now you cannot deny if you will speak out that his Baptism is from thence and therefore I make the conclusion that my Authority is Divine The consequence was as clear as the Sun that if John was sent by God then so was Jesus in that quality wherein he appeared because John as you shall see gave this testimony to him which could not be questioned after they had granted him to be a Prophet The only thing that could be denied in this Argument was that John's Baptism was from Heaven or that God authorized him to say and do what he did But this they durst not oppose because then to rid themselves of one Enemy they should bring the whole Nation as we say about their ears who did not take John for a counterfeit but thought that he was a Prophet INDEED xi Mark 32. Nay they themselves never adventured to call John before their Council much less advised how they might put him to death as they did our Saviour But on the contrary many of the Pharisees and the Sadducees came to his Baptism iii. Matth. 7. They were as inclinable to reverence him as the people For God who had spoken heretofore to that Nation so long by Prophets whom they thought themselves bound to believe had plainly manifested him to be one Nay he was not a common Prophet but one of an extraordinary rank The Prophet of the Highest his Father calls him and more than a Prophet in the language of our Saviour as you shall hear presently What should they do then which way should they turn themselves now that they durst not deny the Proposition upon which this consequence evidently depended that Jesus was the Christ Their only resuge was silence For though thereby they acknowledged him too hard for them and suffered his Divine authority to stand supported by this unanswered Argument yet they had rather part so and shamefully break off the disputation which they themselves had begun than let him go away with their express confession and testimony that if the Prophet of the Highest might be believed he was their Christ It was no disadvantage to our Saviour but to their own cause that they answered they could not tell whence John's Baptism was For hereby it appeared He had so much to say for himself that if they would say any thing in this matter and not obstinately hold their peace they must say as He did that He was the Son of God For John Baptist whose Heavenly authority they durst not deny though they would not confess it received all men into this belief when they came to him that there was one COMING after him who should gather Disciples as he did and that he was the Christ This he told them was the very end of his Preaching and Baptizing to prepare the way of the Lord to make them fit and ready to entertain the next Prophet that should appear as greater than him even as the Son of God And therefore when Jesus did openly appear and come to his Baptism and John saw the Spirit descend and remain on him then he told them in plain terms that this was the person whose way he came to prepare and that they must receive him as the Son of God and the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world i. John 29 30 34. And that which he said at this time there is no doubt he declared at all times when the people came to be baptized For thus the Jews describe Jesus when they disputed with some of John's Scholars about his Baptism iii. Joh. 25. HE TO WHOM THOU BAREST WITNESS behold the same baptizeth c. ver 26. Thence he is frequently called one of his WITNESSES and said to come for this end that he might be a WITNESS to him that ALL men through him might believe that is might be perswaded that Jesus was the WORD of God by this testimony of John i. John 6 7 8. And our Saviour afterwards appeals to this Testimony of his and bids the Jews consider it v. John 32 33. For you know says he that he bare WITNESS to me when ye sent to him And I know that the WITNESS which he WITNESSETH of me is true And great reason there was that they should consider it and be convinced by it For John was a burning and a shining light as it there follows ver 35. and they themselves were willing for a season to rejoyce in his light If that fit was over and now they were less delighted in him it was merely because he testified of Jesus There was nothing else to damp their affection for otherways they could not but confess him to be an illustrious person Who shined with the greater splendour because He was miraculously conceived in his Mothers old Age and his Birth was predicted by an Angel and his Father struck dumb because he believed not his Word and this Angel appeared in the very Temple at the Altar of Incense and therefore was not like to be a delusion And his Father was indued with the Spirit of Prophecy and his tongue unloosed when this Child came to be Circumcised Then He spake concerning his quality by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and John appeared to be prophetically endowed from a child God also took care of his education in the Wilderness where he was trained up to a resemblance of Elias so that his life and manners transcended all in that Age and his Spirit and Doctrine was so powerful and convincing that it was hard for them to say who he was the people admiring his sanctity and preaching held him for a Prophet and some of the Priests and Levites having such an esteem of him that it was a question among them whether he was not the CHRIST They were sent you know from Jerusalem to enquire about it i. John 19 20 c. and yet this Person who shined with such a lustre whom Jesus himself calls the greatest that had been born of women of whom he was baptized declares to these persons who came to ask who he was that he was not worthy so much
sets his seal to this Truth calling God his FATHER twice as he hung upon the Cross First when he prayed for his Enemies FATHER forgive them xxiii Luke 36. and then when he prayed for himself FATHER into thy hands I commend my Spirit ver 46. With these words he resigned up his Soul to God And had it not been a seasonable time now to retract what he had said if it had not been a Truth which must be justified to the last gasp How can any one think that a man who preached the Life and Judgment to come and lived as if he believed it would venture to die with a lye in his mouth and that of so high a guilt and which he knew also could not be long undetected here as it would be severely punisht in another place nay which He himself he knew very well would presently confute For he frequently had said as his very enemies understood that he would rise again the third day after he was killed which he must needs think would prove a lye if the other had been so when he told them he was the Son of God God who only can raise the dead but cannot lye would never have justified so blasphemous a lye as this and given it an undeniable authority by fulfilling his word For as his bloudy death plainly proved that he believed himself to be the Son of God and took it for an undoubted truth so his Resurrection was an infallible proof that he was not mistaken but had witnessed that by his death which was as true as he thought it His Death show'd that he was certain of it and his Resurrection makes us certain that he was not deceived These two therefore must be joyned together to make up a complete evidence and so they are as you shall see for the Witness of the SPIRIT contains the Resurrection in it Yet I must add that his BLOUD considered alone did not barely prove that he believed he was Gods Son and thought it the greatest sin to deny it but it proved also that he had great reason for such a belief Reasons so weighty that they over-balanced the natural love of life And therefore this alone may be called one of his Witnesses which not only justified his integrity but declared that he had the greatest assurance and the clearest evidence of that which he asserted being so certain of it that the fear of death could not make him doubt it nor all the torments in the world tempt him to deny it IX And if you consider what manner of person Jesus was you will soon be satisfied also that he was not liable to mistake strong fancies for weighty reasons but was as far from being deceived himself as he was from any intention to deceive others The principal thing indeed which his Bloud testified was that he did not on set purpose go about to put a cheat upon the World or invented his Doctrine himself Yet all things considered it proves likewise that his Doctrine was true and ought to be believed by us For such was the quality of his person and of the rest of his Doctrine that they plainly manifest He was neither led by fancy nor possessed with any Demoniacal illusion when he said he was the Son of God So great was his wisdom and the sharpness of his understanding that any man who hath not lost his own understanding may easily see he could not be apt to be gull'd with the impostures of imagination And so great and discreet was his Piety that it is as visible he was not obnoxious to be deluded any other way When He was but a child He amazed the principal men of the Nation with his questions and answers And afterward in the whole course of his preaching there appeared nothing but what declared a most prudent sober and excellently composed mind Nothing of inequality and unevenness in his temper No rapturous discourses or ecstatical expressions Nothing that savoured of Melancholy which imposes upon some or of Pride and Vanity which abuses others But the greatest gravity and seriousness mixt with admirable sweetness and humility is the plain character of our Saviour Then look over all his Doctrine and where shall we find any that ever spoke so clearly and with so much Majesty of Righteousness Temperance Charity and Piety of all our duty towards God and Man as he did Who had the gift of comprehending much in a few but perspicuous words of illustrating his Doctrine with apt and familiar resemblances of confirming it with powerful arguments and of confuting all the cavils of his adversaries with the strongest reasons None of which things are to be found in any of those who have been abused by their own fancies and passions or by the juglings of evil Spirits as will appear more plainly by considering a little more particularly those two cavils Let it be taken then for granted that there have been some men who meant not to deceive that were notwithstanding so overborn by a strong fancy or haughty imagination as not only to take their own dreams for Divine Revelations but also most vehemently to assert them even with the loss of their liberties estate nay and life it self And suppose withall that there have been some who were so fully possessed with a conceit of nearer communion of God that they took themselves to be Christ himself or Apostles sent by him and that no torments could perswade them to think otherways Yet see what a vast difference there is between such vain pretenders and our blessed Saviour even in the very words that they spake And first I think it is very consirable that you never read of any man so presumptuous as to fancy he was the very Son of God who sits at his right hand and rules over all and hath power to judge the quick and the dead No these vain Enthusiasts have only conceited that they were after I know not what spiritual manner made one with Christ and so united to God that as they phrase it in swoln words of vanity they were Godded with God and Christed with Christ But who discerns not the disparity between this foolish language and the words of soberness which our Saviour spake Which indeed is the most remarkable thing If you consider all the Doctrine of these empty Pretenders there is nothing more ridiculous They have ever affected big words lofty and high-flown phrases and mystical expressions wherewith they love to stuff their Books and their discourses which either have no meaning or if they have it is very poor and despicable when it comes to be stript of the fantastical language wherewith it is cloathed And therefore such men have been so far from amazing any considerate persons that they have rather moved their laughter and scorn while they heard them babble nothing but mystical nonsence with abundance of confident boldness And if they have found any followers they were such as had no depth no solidity of
even when thou wast scorned and rejected of men Great was the splendour of thy Majesty under the mockery of a Crown of Thorns and under the reproach of the Cross it self And great was thy Love O thou Lover of Souls who wouldst shed thy own most precious Bloud to work and confirm thy Faith in our hearts that believing on thee we might have life through thy Name O how expensive was thy Love which never thought it had done enough till thou hadst assured our hearts by giving thy self for us How infinitely are we indebted to thee who hast so dearly purchased our eternal joy with thy most bitter sorrows I ought to have the greater regard to all that thou hast said either concerning thy self or concerning the obedience I owe thee or the happiness thou hast promised me because thou hast sealed all in so sacred a manner and chosen to die that thou mightest bear witness to thy Truth For this end thou camest into the world and hast honoured thy self with the Name of the True and faithful witness the beginning of the Creation of God who hast shown us the path of life by thy bloudy and most ignominious death O that none of us who are called by thy Name may ever prove so base and unworthy so ungrateful and disrespectful to thee so insensible or forgetful of thine amazing goodness as to forsake that course which thou thy self hast begun and into which thou hast led us by thine own example Let none of us prove unlike thee who art the beginner and the finisher of our Faith Let us never degenerate from the Original from whence we come nor dishonour the very Author of what we are by actions unworthy of his children But be pleased graciously both to excite and assist our pious endeavours to follow thee and to witness a good confession as thou hast done at least in our lives and conversation That they may testifie to all how much we reverence thee by our observance of thy commands and justifie the truth of thy Word that thy yoke is easie and thy burden light by our chearful free and ready observance of them And if thou wilt have us to witness a good confession also by our bloud or by parting with any thing that is as dear unto us for thy names sake O that we may then imitate thee the true and faithful witness by continuing faithful to thee unto death Let no Soul of us ever faint in our mind much less draw back for fear of any thing that may befall us But still go on and couragiously meet whatsoever opposes us in our way to Heaven Help us to stand fast in the Faith to quit our selves like men and to be strong as becomes thy faithful servants and souldiers who have vowed to be true to thee unto our lives end O Blessed Jesus who can think that he does or endures too much for thee Who can complain of thy service or repine at the sufferings it may require When he thinks of thy labour and pains to secure our hope in God of an eternal redemption from all miseries and troubles and from all sin the cause of them by shedding thy own most holy bloud We are unworthy to bear the Name of thy servants if we should be so ungrateful to thy memory as not to celebrate that love with perpetual praises and thanksgivings And how fearfully shall we reproach our selves if we continue to commemorate it and yet grudge to deny any thing for thy sake or behave our selves as if we would renew thy sufferings by our continued sins Far be it from any of us to think any thing so dear to us as Truth and Righteousness that holy Truth which thou hast delivered to us O that we may read with such an affection the whole history of thy love and all the Laws thou hast left to govern us and the gracious grants thou hast made us as if we saw them written in thy most precious bloud By which thou hast testified the greatness and sincerity of thy love and assured us of the truth of thy Word and consecrated thy self also to be a merciful and faithful High Priest who canst have compassion on us and ever succour and relieve us when we are tempted as thou wast And may we be so sensibly affected herewith as to depend on thy intercession with the stronger Faith and with greater care and diligence tread in those steps which thou hast in such a manner markt out to us and persist in them so stedfastly that none of the terrors of this world may make us step aside and turn from thy Commandments Give us grace O Blessed Lord in the worst condition to express that resolution that undaunted resolution that constancy that confidence in God that zeal for his honour and glory that charity towards our enemies that humble resignation and that patient meekness which appeared in thee under thy greatest sufferings Arm us with the very same mind and spirit which we see in thy self That we who believe in a Saviour who abased and humbled himself so low who was so content to be poor and little regarded to bear all the slanders and scorn as well as the cruel torments which the malice of men could inflict upon him may not be proud and insolent covetous and ambitious impatient of pain or a little disparagement but constantly endeavouring to conform our selves to thy glorious pattern which we have before us may rejoyce in that faithful saying That if we be dead with thee we shall also live with thee if we suffer we shall also reign with thee Amen Now unto the faithful Witness the first-begotten from the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Bloud and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen CHAP. VII Concerning the Third Witness upon Earth the SPIRIT THere is one Witness more that remains still to be examined whose testimony was notorious and very well known for it was upon the Earth viz. that of the SPIRIT In the sixth verse S. John brings it in after the other two I have now treated of though in the eighth Verse it be set before them And there he adds this illustrious character of it which is not given to the two former it is the SPIRIT that beareth witness because the SPIRIT is the TRUTH Which is not to be understood as if the other two were not Witnesses for they are called so expresly in this eighth Verse or as if they were not truth for I have abundantly proved that they are But this mark is set upon the SPIRIT to denote it to be the most eminent Witness of the Three The witness or that Witness that which excels the other two in clearness and notoriousness that which was alwayes accounted most powerful to prove a truth that against which nothing
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
xvii Rev. 5 6. that the mother of harlots that one City Babylon was even drunk with the BLOUD of the Saints and with the BLOUD of the MARTYRS of Jesus A Sea of BLOUD flowed from their veins to cover the Earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord for whose cause they suffered themselves to be slain as so many innocent sheep that make no resistance This gave them the name of MARTYRS in English WITNESSES because they were beheaded for the WITNESS of Jesus and for the Word of God xx Rev. 4. that is they constantly affirmed him to be the LORD and chose rather to die and seal it with their BLOUD than not preach this Truth for which S. John also was now an Exile in a desolate place 1 Rev. 9. What was it think you that made them thus hot and eager to be the most miserable of all mankind to despoil themselves of all the comforts of life and to endure perpetually the pains of death From what cause was it that their bloud thus boiled in their veins and they were so zealously forward to have it let out It could be nothing but only this that they loved Jesus ardently and were extremely desirous if he thâ—ught it best to die in his service knowing that he would hear the cry of their bloud and reward them abundantly for all their sufferings S John beheld the Souls of those who were slain for the Word of â—od and the TESTIMONY which they held under the Alâ—ar vi Rev. 9. which signifies that they were sacrifices to God when they witnessed thus unto Jesus For by Souls in the language of the old Scriptures is often meant the Bloud i. e. the life which here was represented at the fooâ— of the Altar where the bloud of the acrifice used to be poured out They died in an holy cause they were very well assured and should be an offering well pleasing and of a sweet savour unto God else they would never have thus willingly offered their throats to the sacrificing knife of their bloudy persecutors No when it came to that they would have confest the truth sure if they had not preached it before A few of their sufferings would have taught them more wit than to lose their heads for the testimony of Jesus if they had not been verily perswaded they were in the right and ought to be his WITNESSES even with their bloud The scoffs of the Heathen would have been very reasonable if they had not dealt sincerely and been certain their Testimony was the Truth Who were wont to say as we read in Minutius Nec resurgitis miseri nec interim vivitis Miserable wretches you do but fancy you shall rise again and in the mean time you do not live You are hungry and pale and enjoy none of the pleasures of life and have no hope of being better you are dead To which he replies after a long demonstration of the evidence they had of what they believed Ita beati resurgimus futuri contemplatione jam vivimus So you see we shall rise again to blessedness and we live now in the blissful contemplation of it Yea they not only lived but they rejoyced and more than that they gloried in tribulations Which they could not have done had not their integrity been as great as this confidence and their sincere intentions upheld and supported their boldness Which was the greater you may be sure because as they bare witness to Jesus so God bare WITNESS to them as you read expresly ii Heb. 4. both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his will whereby he testified to them that they were honest men and did not cunningly follow devised fables when they made known to men the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were as the professed eye-witnesses of his Majesty Which is the next thing to be considered III. Hitherto I have only proved that they had all things necessary to make them credible witnesses being void of guile and such as could not be reasonably supposed to be mere inventors of what they preached Men who both knew what they said and did not speak contrary to their knowledge Nay men of eminent knowledge sanctity and zeal which made them more than common witnesses But still they were only humane Witnesses not divine nor could all this put it quite out of doubt and give a full assurance that what they said was true but only that they thought it to be true and were not likely to be deceived And therefore that they and those who heard their testimony might be sure and have infallible proofs as S. Lukes words are that they were not deceived and that the faith which relied upon their testimony might be Divine there followed the Witness of the SPIRIT which accompanied them as it had done our Saviour together with the Witness of the HOLY GHOST which he had promised to send them that they might be his Witnesses in all the world This was an undoubted evidence that they were men sent of God upon this message to preach Jesus and testifie that he was the Lord of all This made the faith of those who heard and believed them to be more than an humane perswasion because it relied not only on the word of men but upon the testimony of the Spirit of God It might have been a very strong faith without this because the men who reported it were persons of great vertue void of all fraud or worldly design but it could not have been Divine had not this Witness come and joyned its testimony with theirs For they would but have received the testimony of very pious and good men it was no more till the testimony of God himself came in such signs wonders miracles and various gifts as you have heard already and as you read of in many other places They went forth saith S. Mark speaking of all the Apostles and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word which they preached with signs following xvi 20. All places were filled with wonder as they were with the HOLY GHOST At Jerusalem for instance S. Steven as well as the Apostles full of faith and power did great wonders and miracles among the people vi Acts 8. In Samaria S. Philip preached Christ and the people with one accord gave heed to the things which he spake hearing and seeing the miracles which he did for unclean Spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many that were possessed with them and many taken with palsies and that were lame were healed viii 6 7. And at Thessalonica S. Paul tells them that his Gospel came not in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance And at Iconium both he and Barnabas stai'd a long time speaking boldly in the Lord who gave testimony unto the Word of his grace and granted signs and wonders to be done
by their hands xiv 3. And in the same manner at Corinth Colosse Philippi and all other places the Divine power wrought in them mightily i. Colos 29. upon which account they call themselves with great reason Witnesses OF GOD 1 Cor. xv 14 15. If Christ be not risen our preaching is vain yea and we are found false witnesses of God which had been a most horrible thing because we have testified OF GOD that he raised up Christ They testified every where what God had done by Jesus and for him particularly that he had raised him from the dead Now that they did not take upon them to be Gods Witnesses when they had received no authority from him nor were guilty of belying God as the phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports the Spirit that wrought in them evidently proved by the gifts of Languages of Prophecy of Wisdom and Knowledge of Miracles and healing all manner of Diseases Which made the Angel say when S. John was going to worship him by no means see thou do it not I am but thy fellow servant one of thy Brethren that bears witness to Jesus as thou dost For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy xix Rev. 10. that is those gifts which the Apostles were endued withal showed whose ministers they were and that being the servants of the most High God as well as the Angels they owed no such respect to them as S. John was about to give and by those Divine gifts they gave a testimony to Jesus and proved he was the Son of God wherein they were equal to the Angels who could no more than testifie to him and be his ministers to report the glory wherein he was Upon which errand not only this but many other Angels appeared to S. John who together with the rest of the Apostles bare record of the Word of God as I have noted before and of the testimony of Jesus and of all things that he saw i. Rev. 3. And herein they were labourers together with God 1 Cor. iii. 9. who testified the same and wrought as effectually in S. Peter among the Jews as he was mighty in S. Paul towards the Gentiles ii Gal. 8. For God wrought special miracles by his hands xix Acts 11. and made the Gentiles obedient by word and deed through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the SPIRIT of God xv Rom. 18 19. So that the Faith of that Age it is plain did not stand in the wisdom of men as S. Paul speaks 1 Cor. ii 5. but in the power of God They that believed saw evidently that God was with the Apostles nay they felt many of them the power of God in themselves as you have heard before when the Apostles communicated this vertue to others which they had received from Jesus Christ Which was such a Testimony to him as no counterfeit or false witness could ever imitate For it hath been a constant observation that they who by Magick astonished the People by wonderful feats not only did them for their own gain and reputation rather than for any benefit to the World but also kept this secret to themselves and would not communicate their power to others That would have spoiled their trade and made them less admired or at least less rich than they designed But our Lord on the contrary had promised his Disciples that what he did when he was in the world they should do also after he was gone Nay more than that he tells them Greater things shall ye do And which is still more he promises that not only they but others also should do those works if they believed on him xiv Joh. 11 12. Believe me for the very works sake Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do because I go to my Father Now thus it came to pass as our Saviour foretold Not only the Apostles but others also who believed through their word received the Holy Ghost For as S. Peter confidently invited his Crucifiers to come and repent of what they had done and be baptized every one of them in his Name and they should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost ii Act. 38. So it proved that they who gladly received his word were baptized ver 41. and were all filled with the Holy Ghost iv 31. This was the thing that amazed that famous Sorcerer Simon Magus whom the Samaritans admired as the great power of God till S. Philip came thither and perswaded even him by the miracles and signs which he did to believe in Jesus as a greater power of God than himself But when the Apostles also came and by laying on of their hands the Holy Ghost was given to several persons He plainly saw that he was no body and would have given any Money for such a power as he had not the least shadow of viii Act. 10 11 c. But all that I shall say of this matter shall be out of one of the ancient defenders of the Christian cause who thought he might challenge all the world to show him any thing like that which our Saviour did or give an account how it might be done if he was not the Son of God most high It is Arnobius I mean who in his first Book against the Gentiles having delivered in a Catalogue of our Saviour's miracles and shown they could not be the effect of Magick at last concludes with this great demonstration the substance of which I shall briefly relate All these wonders which I have summed up though not as the greatness of them required Jesus not only performed himself but which is a greater miracle gave many others power to do them in his Name For he fore-seeing there would be indeavours to detract from the glory of his famous actions that he might leave no suspicion in the minds of those that heard of him as if he were a Sorcerer chose out of that vast multitude of People that followed him with no small admiration certain Fishermen poor Labourers and other Country People who going through all Nations might without any tricks false colours or invoking the assistance of Spirits work all those miracles over again which they said he had wrought himself As He commanded Devils to come out with a word of his mouth in the same manner did they lay their commands upon them and they obeyed As He did but put forth his hand and touch a Leper or bid him be clean and his flesh was restored like a little Childs in the same manner did they smooth the skins of such loathsome persons and restore them to the welcome society of their friends and neighbours It would be too tedious to number all things particularly that they did and which is more I may add gave power to other Christians to do in their Master's Name They stopt the progress of cruel eating Cancers they closed up
questioned For if we do not allow this way of conveying down a testimony to future times we can know nothing of what was done before us And by denying all credit to these writings we shall only teach posterity how little credit is due to any of ours Nay we shall shake all mens titles to their estates and Kings will not be able to keep their Crowns fast upon their heads Nothing will be certain but it may be questioned whether all the Records in the Tower and the publick Acts of former Kings and Parliaments be not mere Forgeries Besides no body in those days ever went about to disprove what these Witnesses of Christ preached and have writ Neither Jew nor Gentile undertook to show that these things were only devised for his credit There were too great Testimonies from Heaven still remaining in the Church for several Ages to confute such a slander And therefore all that the Devil himself could think of to shake mens belief was to set up some wonder-workers of his own to confront Jesus and as it were to vie miracles with him and his Disciples But all were so soon scattered like mists before the Sun that they appeared to be but thin shadows in comparison with the living SPIRIT of God that was in the Church which baffled and overcame them all Insomuch that Origen assures the Heathen and they never went about to confute him that there were not above thirty of Simon Magus his followers then to be found in the world though he had made diligent enquiry after them by travel into all parts They were all vanished though he made a great noise for a time whilest the followers of Jesus multiplied and increased even by their persecutions Nor could Apollonius afterward gain any Proselytes that continued but his fame soon died together with himself Whereas the authority of Jesus bare up it self against all the opposition of the Roman Empire and not only was supported but advanced and prevailed more and more their barbarous cruelties only making it grow the faster For herein as Lactantius observes the faith and constancy of Christians was bravely displayed Men thought they did not without cause abhor the Heathenish superstition when they saw them rather die than do that which others doing lived and enjoyed the greatest worldly prosperity It made them enquire what that good was which they defended even unto death which was dearer than all the pleasures and glory of this world The people heard them in the midst of torments glory in Christ Jesus And whilest they enquired who he was the truth of the Gospel was divulged and spread abroad among them Their sufferings brought many to see their Martyrdom and there they saw that which moved their enquiry and by their enquiry they were satisfied and learnt to believe in Jesus as those Martyrs did But it is time to put an end to this Chapter which I shall conclude with a few remarks upon some places of the holy Books relating to the testimony of the Apostles or those that followed them The first is in the 2 Cor. vi 4 5 6 c. where you read how the Apostles approved themselves as the ministers of God in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in watchings in fastings by pureness by knowledge by long-suffering by kindness by the Holy Ghost by love unfeigned by the word of truth c. In which words if they be well considered you will find every one of these three WITNESSES which S. John says gave testimony to our Saviour on Earth so that he might be said to come in the ministry of the Apostles by Water and Bloud and the Spirit They expressed the Holiness of his life by their pureness by their long-suffering by their kindness by love unfeigned by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left that is they were every way appointed and armed with integrity against all calumnies there was none that could touch their reputation and say that these men had any worldly design And as they witnessed to him thus in their holy lives so they did in their holy doctrine by knowledge and by the word of truth preaching the Gospel sincerely as those that studied not to please men but God who trieth the hearts And they were made conformable also to his death and thereby continued the witness of the BLOUD in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in imprisonments and all the rest of the hardships here mentioned which I need not transcribe again And lastly He forgets not to remember them of the Witness of the SPIRIT which they brought along with them For he says they approved themselves as ministers of God by the Holy Ghost and by the power of God That is beside all the other Divine gifts wherewith they appeared they confirmed their doctrine by many miraculous works which could not be done but by the power of God Thus they became not only his witnesses as our Saviour said they should xxiv Luke 48. but they witnessed to him after the very same manner that he had taught in his example by Water by Bloud and by the Spirit And therefore when he exhorts Timothy to preach the Gospel and to be strong in the grace of Jesus Christ and to commit the charge of preaching also to other faithful persons He enforces his perswasion by this argument that the things he was to deliver were only such as he had heard of him among or by MANY WITNESSES 2 Tim. ii 2. He learnt them by so many good evidences which S. Paul had given him that he need not fear to speak them to any man much less doubt to commend them to other faithful preachers upon the same account that he had received them that they might be able to instruct posterity Such one would think from what hath been said were those TWO WITNESSES mentioned in xi Rev. 3. men of an Apostolical spirit whom Jesus raised up after his prime Witnesses had left the world to justifie still by all manner of arguments that great Truth which they had preached and sealed with their Bloud and God had sealed by the testimony of the Spirit The next words indeed seem to import that the whole body of Christians whom they instructed joyned with them in this testimony But still these great ministers of Jesus Christ the guides and leaders of those Christians whosoever they were and in what times soever they lived I meddle not with such difficulties were his most eminent Witnesses Who preached the Gospel with such power that it excited against them the fury of unbelievers who could not endure that such Witnesses should speak for Jesus For they testified to him these three ways here mentioned which is all that I alledge this place for not taking upon me to interpose in the controversies there are about the explanation of this Vision by Water Bloud and the Spirit First by Water if
when the Israelites bade him prove it But our Lord needed not to call for any Witness John the Baptist a great Prophet as they themselves allowed was ready of himself for it was his office to declare openly that he saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a Dove and abiding on him He saw and bare record that this is the Son of God as the Voice from Heaven in his audience also pronounced him Which a great many People if need were could afterward certifie who concluded that an Angel spake to him as you have heard from S. John's testimony .xii. 29. 2. Now if you proceed further and ask for some Witness of Moses his authority like to that of the WORD the second Witness to our Saviour who can hear any thing of it Do we ever read a word of Moses his appearing in such a Glory as our Lord Jesus did to his first Martyr S. Steven and to S. Paul and to his beloved Disciple Nay where are the Witnesses that say he was so much as transfigured when he was upon the Mount or doth he himself ever affirm it When was his Rayment made as white as Snow or where as I shall examine more hereafter was the bright cloud covering the Mount which was all cloathed with darkness we read indeed that when he came down his face shone but not in so bright and glorious a manner as our Saviour's did when he went up into the Holy Mount and especially after he ascended into Heaven Then S. Steven as I have said saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing at his right hand an honour never given to any Angel in Heaven And the Apostle of the Gentiles saw him again in a light greater than that of the Sun at Noon-day And to S. John he appeared as the KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS in such a Majesty as he was not able to bear but made him fall at his feet as dead He that weighs such things as these will see that all the glory of Moses to use S. Paul's words 2 Cor. iii. 10. was no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth 3. Then if you look for the Testimony of the HOLY-GHOST I have already noted that it never came down upon him as it did upon the Founder of our Religion Much less did he send it upon some select Men after he was dead who should do as great wonders as himself And still much less did he bestow it upon all the People as our Lord did for a while upon all Believers There is not the smallest foot-step of any such Honour or Power that he had For He did not communicate a portion of his Spirit to the LXX Elders who were chosen to be his Assistants but the Lord said to him I will come down and take of the Spirit which is upon thee and put it upon them xi Num. 17. which words do not signifie it is true that he had less but only that they had more of the Spirit than before yet He did not so much as lay his hands upon them that they might receive it but God took of the Spirit which was on him and gave it to the LXX Elders even to those two who were not there present at the Tabernacle but remained still in the camp ver 25 26. 4. If you go therefore next to the Testimony of WATER how transparent is the Purity of our Saviours Doctrine above that of Moses Whose Laws though they contained nothing dishonest yet burdened the people to prevent a greater mischief of their running into Idolatry with a number of precepts which in themselves had no goodness at all to commend them Nay the Letter of the very moral Law laid restraints only upon the outward man so that they who were subject to it little regarded the purifying of their spirits from those irregular passions and naughty affections which our Lord expresly prohibits There were many things also indulged in those days which our Lord doth not allow Whose design was not only to purge the heart and make the spirit of men much better by all his precepts but to advance them to the noblest degree of purity and goodness Where do you read in the Books of Moses such precepts of meekness of mortifying fleshly lusts of kindness to all and tender compassion of trust in God of contentedness with the present and hope of his mercy in another world as are frequent and obvious in the Gospel of Christ Nay in what place of the Law do you find so much as one command or exhortation to Pray much less to Pray without ceasing and to Pray not for riches and victory over enemies and long life but for the Divine Grace and favour for the Holy Spirit for remission of sins and for Eternal Life And now I mention that word I cannot but desire you to consider how low and poor the Promises of Moses were compared with those of our Saviour who hath brought in a better Hope Of which they could see so little so dim was the light in the Law of Moses that a whole Sect of men who believed in him and received his Law cast away all hope of obtaining good things in another life and denied the Resurrection of the Dead And we must add to all this that Moses was but the Light of that one Nation whereas our Lord says more than once I am the Light of the WORLD viii John 12. ix 5. Moses washed the Bodies of the Jews but now the hearts of the unclean Gentiles are purified by Faith xv Acts 9. And if you enquire further into the purity of Moses his life you will find it was not without flaws and blemishes for he spake unadvisedly with his lips and could not bring the people to their rest But our Lord was perfectly free from all spot the Lamb of God without blemish who never spake the least word amiss no not in the midst of such torments as Moses never endured 5. For if you pass on to consider what sufferings and BLOUD testifie Alas what is the Bloud of Bulls and of Goats to the precious Bloud of Jesus Did Moses seal that Covenant of which he was the Minister or did he sprinkle the Book of the Covenant with his own bloud Did he purge away the sins of the people by himself as our Saviour we read did 1. Hebr. 3. or sanctifie them by the offering of his own body once for all as it is x. Hebr. 10 Did he die to bear Witness to the Truth or witness such a good confession before Pharaoh as Jesus before Pontius Pilate Was it ever heard that by the enduring of a shameful and cruel death he declared to all the certainty of his Prophecy Upon what Altar was he offered And for what cause did he become a sacrifice This was peculiar to Jesus to suffer such things as no man ever did and for this very cause because he said He was the Son of God 6.
does it sneak into nothing when we look up unto Jesus and remember that He was the Son of God and yet endured it as he tells his Apostles xv John 18. and thought himself never the less glorious It cannot be help'd but we must be scorned sometime or other if we will follow him unless we could perswade all men to bear us company But this is our comfort and encouragement that this is the way to glory and that now we are conformed to our Saviour who by the shame of the Cross hath got himself immortal honour and that the Father at present approves us the Word delights in us the Spirit of God and of Glory rests upon us all these Heavenly Witnesses esteem and love us and are pleased to see us behave our selves worthily as Jesus did 2. And if from hence we pass through many tribulations and encounter such troubles and hardships as we are all desirous to avoid they will not be able to affright or daunt him who hath this faith thus planted in his heart For greater is He that is in us than he that is in the WORLD Did not the ancient Worthies and great Warriers against the WORLD wade through very great difficulties in the strength of a Faith which was much weaker than this of ours How did all those brave men whom you read of Hebr. xi obtain a good report but through faith when it had not received this promise ver 39. Surely we that understand more than they did we who know the Son of God is come not only by WATER but by BLOUD and who know that Eternal life is in him and have received the Holy Ghost and are made partakers of such glorious Revelations in the Gospel of his grace and who know the certainty of those things wherein we are instructed we I say cannot but take the courage in the power of such a Faith to behave our selves valiantly and with Christian resolution in such like straits and dangers as made their fidelity so remarkable Read what S. Peter says to encourage us 1 iii. 14 15. But if you suffer for righteousness sake happy are ye and be not afraid of their terror neither be troubled But sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you As if he should have said It may seem a strange folly to suffer so much as you do and you may begin to be startled at the troubles which befall you but bear a reverend regard towards God who hath called you to this state of Christianity do but stand in awe of his Authority who hath bid you hear that is obey Jesus whatsoever it cost you and do but tell every Man what reason you have for what you do and suffer and what hope you have in him upon this account And then they will either cease to trouble you or you will cease to be troubled for what they make you suffer Now what are the reasons of our Christian hope and patience but these which we are here treating of If we alledge these to our selves or to others it will soon appear that we are no fools in exposing our selves to any dangers for righteousness sake The Father hath bidden us be true to it so hath the Word and so hath the Holy Ghost every one of the other three also call upon us to be couragious for it is a worthy cause wherein we are ingaged and we shall not lose our reward Here are reasons enough and they are stronger than all their adversaries The World hath nothing to oppose so weighty as these Witnesses every one of which I might show you if it would not prove too tedious lay an obligation on us not to be moved from our stedfastness but to take up our Cross and to follow Jesus And I the rather pass by these because I think they are generally of less force than the other part of the WORLD which uses to assault Mankind more dangerously 3. I mean the alluring and inticing enjoyments here below which we are too prone to comply withall They are of an inveigling and insinuating nature and may get admittance by their soft violence when the other cannot prevail by more rough opposition We are apt to fortifie our selves against evil things and are many times angry they should attempt to over-master us but to the good things of the WORLD we lye naked and open and there is a treacherous party within that is willing they should enter nay ready to open the doors to them And they are of three sorts as the forenamed place in this Epistle tells us the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life ii 16. All that the WORLD contains in it for the captivating of an earthly Mans affections and satisfying his desires is comprehended under one of these three Names For the understanding of which you must know that the Hebrews have a manner of speech which expresses the Object by the Act and the clearest interpretation of these words is grounded on that use of theirs So that by LUST we are to understand all those things that gratifie some appetite of pleasure wealth or greatness and by FLESH which is not here as it is sometimes a general word it is most agreeable to understand the lower and duller senses which lye most in the flesh and are affected with things that have some grosness in them And then the whole phrase LUST OF THE FLESH that sort of things which give content to the touch the taste and smell such as are meat and drink and perfumes and other voluptuous enjoyments which I need not name but are sometimes particularly called FLESH And then by the LUST OF THE EYES we are to understand such things as belong to the higher and more renned sense of seeing viz. Gold and Silver precious Stones and Jewels Lordships and large possessions noble Houses and rich Furniture beautiful Pictures and fair Gardens fine clothes and costly attire all that is comprehended under the name of Riches which as Solomon observes yields only this satisfaction to the owner that he beholdeth them with his eye There is little in these things but what is all lodged in this sense and therefore they are called the lust of the eye because it loves to look upon them and when that is done they can do more for him Only they may prefer a man to that which he calls the PRIDE OF LIFE which signifies all those things that flatter and please the inward sense our fancy or imagination Such as are great offices and places of Dignity noble Titles all the Honour and Glory of the World together with the esteem at least the applause and commendation of men which is wont to follow them One or more of these three sorts of things every man naturally hunts after and his desires prick him forward in its pursuit For these are mens
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
him Whosoever he be therefore that is insensible of all other charms let him hearken to this and see what pleasure can doe to make him in love with this Life of our Lord. Pleasure I say which all mankind most passionately desires be it never so weak and imperfect the Light of all good things which should we suppose separated from humane life it would be nothing but darkness and horrour And if thou knowest not yet what spirituall delight means let thy fleshly pleasures tell thee something of this happiness If thou art not so sottish as never to have a thought of any thing beyond the satisfaction of thy fleshly lusts think how much more noble a Spirit and the pleasures of it are then a Body and all its delights And then raise up thy mind a little higher to consider that if pleasure have now such power over thee here are the greatest to invite thee Pleasures that as much exceed those of the spirit as they do those of the flesh Pleasures at God's right hand the very joy of the most High the Father of spirits the pleasures of God himself O come come if thoâ— lovest thy self and thy own perfect satisfaction come I say whosoever thou art that eagerly followest after pleasure to the contemplation of these joys which are so sublimely sweet And be content to part with all other if that be the onely means to be possessed of these What if thou shouldst suffer by devoting thy self to pursue these in many outward accommodations nay if thou shouldst lose this Life to attain that which is Eternall It will be no dear purchace but bring thee in an increase of more then an hundred-thousand-fold Whatsoever thou expendest here for the Lord Jesus He hath given thee his Bond for it that it shall be repayed with good measure heaped up pressed down thrust together and running over into thy bosome vi Luk. 38. An overflowing joy it will be but it runs over into our own breasts None of it will be spilt beside our selves but it will trickle down with a delicious sweetness into our own hearts Which should stir up our most thirsty desires methinks to be made partakers of it If we fore-taste the least drop of it in such Meditations as these it should fill our hearts with sharp longings after more and dispose us to say with the devout Father I named at the conclusion of the foregoing particular Far be it from me O Lord August Lib. x. Confes cap. xxii for be it from the heart of thy servant to think my self happy whatsoever joy I have in this world There is a Joy which is not the portion of the wicked but of those who serve thee freely whose joy thou thy self art And that is the truly-happy life to rejoyce to thee because of thee for thee This is it and there is no other O how far distant is this present life from that Here is Falshood Orat. contra Judaeos Pagan Arrian cap. xxi there is Truth Here is Disturbance there is sure Possession Here is the worst Bitterness there eternall Love Here dangerous Pride there secure Joy and triumph Here we fear lest he that is a Friend should on a sudden turn an Enemy there a Friend is always constant because no Enemy can be admitted thither Here whatsoever Good we have we are afraid to lose it there whatsoever we receive shall be preserved by him who takes care that neither we pass away from it nor it from us Here is Death there is Life Here all things that God hath created there God himself in stead of all and in all things But what humane tongue can extoll that which no sense of mortalls can comprehend We will go thither that we may comprehend it We will go and see there that which eye hath not seen and hear there that which ear hath not heard and understand there what the heart of man cannot now conceive and seeing hearing and understanding we shall exult with unspeakable joy And what Joy is that where no Fear will be Whaâ— kind of Joy will it be when thou shalt see thy self a companion of Angels a partaker of the Kingdom of Heaven in Royall state with the King of all desiring nothing in passession of all things rich without covetousness administring without money judging without Successour reigning without fear of Barbarians living an eternall Life without Death CHAP. III. A farther Explication of the Happiness of this LIFE IV. WE must stay as I have said before for the resolution of such Questions till we enter into that Joy And for the present be glad to know that our Souls being thus happily disposed shining with the Divine Light satisfied with the Divine Love and rejoycing in both must needs issue forth in the most chearfull and delightsome Praises of God who hath preferred us to such a blissfull state For this we all find is one of the naturall effects of Joy here in this Life As it transports and raises the Soul above it self as it makes us eager to possess if it were possible more of that Good which gives such delight and as it makes us for the present forget all other things all the cares and troubles of this life and indeed so much betters and improves our Soul that of all other things we are not willing to forgo it So it never fails likewise to employ the tongue in praising and commending that Good to which it owes it self How barren soever the Mind be or what slowness soever there be in our Tongues joy and pleasure make us fruitfull in Thoughts and quicken our Speech to declare the content we take in the company of that which is the cause of it Nay the Voice becomes bigger and louder by its means and it never utters it self but with earnest notes of its high satisfaction And therefore it is impossible for the ravisht Soul when it is come to the delightfull Vision of God to refrain from joyning with the Heavenly Quire to give Glory to God in the highest that is after the most excellent manner and with the most exalted affections As the Understanding by reflecting upon the blessedness of the whole Man will excite an extraordinary Joy in the heart as I have just now discoursed so by reflecting upon the fountain from whence that happiness flows and earnestly observing the Originall of its enjoyments it cannot but excite in it self admiration and wondering thoughts and presently employ them to invent the noblest hymns and songs of praise whereby to magnifie and laud this glorious Goodness of God And this will make still greater additions to the Joy before spoken of which must necessarily be intermixed with these most affectionate Thanksgivings as every one can witness who hath tried this heavenly employment which the Psalmist in his experience found so good so pleasant and so comely cxlvii 1. Were all the mercies of but one day placed now in a clear view before your eyes or
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
flesh armed what might which thou hast given to grass and hay As well may a butterfly think of mounting up to heaven or a flower attempt to pluck up a cedat as we poor wretches conceive a thought of effecting such wonderfull things This sure signifies that men are very dear to God or else he would not thus dwell among them It may well make us believe there is nothing so great nothing so glorious promised by Jesus but he will work it for us having already transformed us into such noble creatures As Manoah's wife said to him xiii Judg. 23. If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands neither would he have shewed us such things as these so might they in this case say and with greater advantage then she If the Lord would let us still remain under the power of death he would not have given such gifts into our hands for that is more then to receive the poor oblations we make to him nor would he have revealed such secrets to us He would not have sent us the spirit of wisedom and knowledge nor raised us to the degree of prophecy nor put new tongues into our mouths to declare his wonderfull works nor made all diseases submit to our word All which gifts with divers others they had reason to look upon as the earnest of the Spirit and the Seal of the Holy Ghost whereby they had an assurance given them as I hope to shew elsewhere of the everlasting inheritance which Jesus hath promised in the heavens For they demonstrated that He who had power thus to alter and advance mean men and to make them Stuporem mundi the wonder and amazement of the world could also give that Life which he had promised by that very power which they felt already working in them And they also made it evident 6. that he would bestow it For there is no more reason that he should thus bestow the Holy Ghost at present then that he should hereafter give us Eternall Life His faithfull promise is the security for both our hopes are built upon that sure foundation If there be any difference between the ground there is for one more then the other the advantage lies on the side of the hope of Eternall Life Which there is more reason now that he should give us then there was for giving the Holy Ghost even because he hath already done so much for his Church and there is more reason we should expect it because as I said before we have seen a remarkable instance of his fidelity in pouring out such rivers of living water when he sent the Spirit which he promised And here it comes to my mind in xi Isa that another Wonder which Abarbinell says the Messiah shall work at his coming is a Miracle like that of dividing the Red sea when Israel came out of Egypt Which he endeavours to prove from xi Isa 15. The Lord shall utterly destroy or dry up the tongue of the Egyptian Sea c. that is says he of Nile the great River of Egypt This our Lord hath done more excellently then they imagine For it was nothing near so great a wonder that Israel should be baptized into Moses in the Sea as it was that the people who followed Jesus should be baptized into him with the Holy Ghost poured down upon them from heaven The passing through the Sea and the Cloud to boot was not such a certain argument that Moses would bring them out of the great affliction wherein they had been plung'd and lead them to Canaan their rest and inheritance as these rivers of living water the gifts of the Holy Ghost and the admirable effects thereof filling the world with the Glory of the Lord were an undeniable proof to those who were under its conduct that Jesus was the person who would lead them to a better rest in a more heavenly Country which flows with far sweeter delights then milk and hony This did as it were dip their souls into this belief and made them sensible that Jesus is the Authour of Eternall Salvation far more then the Sea it self could baptize their forefathers into Moses i.e. persuade them that he was the Prophet of God who would deliver them and bring them to the peaceable enjoyments they desired And therefore I observe after the Jews who quarrelled at St. Peter's preaching to the Gentiles were satisfied that the Holy Ghost was faln upon them even as upon themselves they had no more to say but this then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life xi Act. 18. This they lookt upon as the beginning of God's favour and loving-kindness to them which would conclude in nothing less then the ETERNALL LIFE of which we are discoursing And so this very Apostle St. John after he had put the Disciples in mind of the UNCTION they had received and exhorted them to continue in that Doctrine which it taught Chap. ii of this Epistle 20 24. immediately adds that this is the promise which he hath promised us even Eternall Life ver 25. Which was as much as to say that the Vnction by the HOLY GHOST had so perfectly instructed them in the certainty of this great happiness that it was sufficient to move them to abide in the Doctrine of Jesus none being able to teach them better or to put them in hope of any thing greater then this ETERNALL LIFE which he promised and by the HOLY GHOST assured It is true indeed which some are forward to object that we in these days see not such evidences as those Believers had the Holy Ghost not inhabiting thus in every one of our Souls as it did in theirs Nor is there the like reason it should we being ingaged in no such hard services as theirs which stood in need to be incouraged with the strongest hopes of a glorious reward They were in deaths often as St. Paul speaks and therefore were in danger to faint without a most lively gust of immortall Life The whole World was their enemy and with the greatest rage oppos'd their preaching which required a clearer sight of the World to come and a more sensible descent of invisible powers for their assistence and support From whence we also derive no small benefit because the more sensible demonstration they had of it the firmer grounds of hope are laid for us whose faith relies upon their testimony and the power of the HOLY GHOST in them This is sufficient to hearten us in our duty that our Lord hath given to those whose testimony we have the greatest reason to believe such visible and palpable evidences of his being alive and of his intentions to quicken his servants to Life everlasting with himself Let us but heartily apply ourselves upon these grounds to live by the faith of the Son of God and we shall find the same Spirit that wrought in them operating in us
also to confirm our Faith and Hope and make us rejoyce in hope of the glory of God And so much may suffice to have been said of the Witness of the HOLY GHOST which perfectly agrees with the other two of the FATHER and of the SON who are all one you see still in their Testimony as well as in their Nature So I express'd my self in the Conclusion of my former Discourse about these Three Witnesses * Chap. iv pag. 235. supposing these words though few would have sufficiently testified my right belief in the Holy Trinity and that none would have imagined I waved the farther explication of that passage THESE THREE ARE ONE because I entertained a sense of it differing from that of the Catholick Church I was not conscious to my self of any such Heresy and therefore had no reason to be solicitous to prevent this accusation by diverting from the subject I had in hand unto another Argument But some I have heard have been so unkind to say no more let them examine their hearts from what grounds as to whisper such suspicions And therefore I judge it necessary to take occasion here to declare that I believe these three to be one in the same sense that all Catholick Writers have done who have treated of the ever-blessed Trinity And St. Augustine assures me * L. 1. de Trin. c. 4. that every one who meddled with this argument before him intended to teach this according to the Scriptures That the Father Son and Holy Ghost enjoy the divine Vnity of one and the same Substance in an inseparable Equality Haec mea fides est quia haec est Catholica fides as he concludes that Chapter This is my Faith because it is the Catholick Faith We have but one God because there is but one Godhead and they that are of him have relation to One though we believe them to be Three For this is not more God and that less nor is this before and that behind nor are they separated in will or divided in power nor are any of those things to be found there which belong to divided Beings but to speak all in a few words there is One undivided Godhead in severall Persons as in three Suns cohering together there is one commixture of Light They are the words of St. Greg. Nazianzen Orat. xxxvii p. 601. whom these Whisperers sure if they have read him take for a Catholick Writer in his Discourse concerning the HOLY GHOST To which I will adde what St. Aug. again writes in his Book of Faith to Petrus Diaconus Chap. i. If there should be one Person of the Father Son and Holy Ghost as there is one Substance there would be nothing that could be truly called a Trinity And again if as the Father Son and Holy Ghost are distinct from each other in the propriety of Person they were also severed by diversity of Nature there would indeed be a true Trinity but this Trinity would not be One God But because it is the Trinity in one true God it is true not onely that there is one God but also that there is a Trinity therefore that true God is in Persons Three but in one Nature One. Thus our Blessed Saviour Cateches xi St. Cyrill of Hierusalem observes doth not say I am the Father but I am in the Father And again he doth not say I and the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 am one but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are one That we may neither exclude the Son from the Godhead nor confound him with the Father One as to the dignity of the Divinity because God begat God One as to their Kingdom for the Father doth not rule over some and the Son over others as Absalom who opposed his Father but over whom the Father reigns over those reigns the Son One because there is no difference nor any distance between them for the Father doth not will one thing and the Son another One because the Son doth not make one thing and the Father another but there is one Workmanship of all the Father making all things by the Son I suppose this excellent Man will pass for orthodox among our Censurers though he mention many other regards wherein the Father and the Son I may adde the Holy Ghost are one besides that of their Divinity And therefore I may justly wonder why any should find fault with me if they be so well skill'd in Christian Writers as no doubt they would be thought for saying these three are one in their Testimony as well as in their Nature I took it for a Catholick Exposition else I would have rejected it And if this was its onely fault that it was too short I hope they will rest satisfied now that I have made it longer Unless they be in the number of those whom a late Pamphlet speaks of who judge their Brethren as if they had a faculty to see into their hearts and resolve not to be satisfied with any words they can speak though in all appearance they have no other design in the world but onely according to the best of their understanding sincerely to serve God and his Church As for those who would have a farther search made into this Mystery I leave it to themselves if they please thus to imploy their time after they have considered what the most Catholick Writers have thought of such inquiries We ought to acknowledge saith St. Gregory Nazianzen * Orat. xxvi p. 445. One God the Father of himself and unbegotten and One Son begotten of the Father and One Spirit having its Substance of God of the same nature the same dignity the same glory and the same honour in all things the same but onely that he is not unbegotten as the Father nor begotten as the Son These things are to be known these things are to be confessed within these things we must fix leaving that long babbling and profane novelty of words to those who have nothing else to doe And the forenamed St. Cyrill passes the same sentence on those who curiously pried into this Secret in his days He that begot says he onely knows him that is begotten and he that was begotten of him knows him that begat him Believe then that God hath a Son but how do not enquire for if thou dost thou shalt not find Tell me first who he is that begat and then I will tell thee who the begotten is But if thou canst not know the nature of him that begat do not curiously ask after the manner of the Son 's being begotten ☜ It is sufficient to piety to know that God hath onely one Son one naturally begotten who did not begin to be when he was born in Bethlehem but was before all worlds The Holy Ghost hath in the Scripture revealed no more he hath not told us any thing of the generation of the Son out of the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why then dost thou
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
no Impostour For though you may fansy a man tickled with so much vain-glory that he will not stick to embrace death when he cannot evade it rather then unsay what he hath published though he know it to be false yet this is all that can with any colour be supposed No such person can be conceived willing to seek death to offer himself to it to go to the very place where he knows it waits for him when he may as well avoid it and designedly put himself into those hands which it is apparent are resolved to kill him No though fame be his design yet the preservation of his life without all doubt is his greater concernment and if he can he will enjoy both his fame together with his life But if any body will be so extravagant as to fansy that He might intend to get fame even by running himself into this danger let him observe farther 2. what our Saviour met withall in his passage to his death which would have stopt such vain forwardness For there was something so dreadfull appeared to him in the way to his Passion that when it approached he fell into an Agony A great horrour seized on him which declared how much Nature was against his proceeding Whose strong and violent inclinations would have prevailed against a fancy and vain humour if he had not known that he was ingaged in a good Cause and did not deceive the World Such terrible apprehensions as then presented themselves would have made him take the opportunity of the night and consult for his safety if he had been a Deceiver and not very well assured that this was the way to everlasting Life And then if you consider again 3. that he was not hastily hurried to the gibbet but had a long time to weigh what he was about to suffer it will seem incredible that he should not repent of his obstinacy if he had been conscious to himself of any falshood For though in a sudden heat of mad zeal a man may be supposed so foolish as to maintain an untruth with the hazzard of his life yet the sight of long-continued torments set a great while before his eyes would make him in all likelihood confess the truth But 4. that which quite overthrows this idle supposition is that the kind of his death was such as could procure him nothing less then glory and fame there being nothing more infamous and reproachful then to die like a vile slave upon a Cross This he could not but foresee would expose him to the scorn of all the World did not something else gain him more credit then this could do disgrace And so it proved afterward notwithstanding all the Miracles he had wrought his Crucifixion was the laughter of the Gentiles and a stumbling-block to the Jews From whence we may conclude that if we will but allow him to be a man of common sense he would not have taken this way of all other to procure fame No course he could have thought of to propagate his Doctrine would have been more mad then this if it were not taken as in all reason it ought to be for a token of his sincerity and truth in what he preached which would be published he knew to his immortall honour and glory in all the world But dying such a death as he did there could be no hope it must be farther considered 5. that his Doctrine should be so much as published by his followers much less received by others unless he were both sure himself that it was the truth and that he could make the truth of it appear to them And then what would have become of all the glory for which it is supposed he might be tempted to part with his life All that he could doe to secure his Disciples that he preached nothing but the truth and to incourage them also to preach Christ crucified which was a most odious and dangerous undertaking was to tell them that He would rise again the third day and appear alive to them Now it is as manifest as the Sun that if he knew himself to be an Impostour he could have no hope that God would raise him up again and it is as manifest on the other side that if he did not rise again there was no hope that his Apostles would preach him because he had proved himself a liar and if he was not preached by them there could be no hope of glory and fame and consequently he would never have died in expectation of that which if he did but abuse the World he knew could not possibly attend upon his Name For it is visible it must either have been buried in silence or else remembred with reproach He himself having blasted it by failing in the performance of his word But I have said enough of this and therefore shall consider onely one thing more 6. what it was that comforted our Saviour and supported his spirit upon the Cross Was it the hopes he had to be cried up by his followers and magnified every-where when he was dead and gone for a man of an invincible spirit No He comforted himself with the thoughts of his own integrity He humbly addressed himself in prayer to God He relieved himself with the thoughts that he was his Father to whom therefore he commends his spirit and breathed out his Soul in a pious confidence that He would receive it and glorify him in the heavens For a little before he suffered he lift up his eyes thither as St. John testifies and said Father the hour is come glorify thy Son that thy Son may glorify thee c. I have glorified thee on earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to doe And now O Father glorify thou me with thy own self with the glory I had with thee before the World was xvii Joh. 1 4 5. And when the moment of his departure was come and he was just expiring on the Cross He cried out with a loud voice that all might hear him Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit And having thus said he gave up the ghost He that shall impute all this also to vain-glory we may rather conclude takes a pride in cavilling and contradicting and hath lost all sense of the Nature of man which finds no inclinations in it to be thus audacious For how can he repose any hope in God who at that very instant when he expresses it is committing the greatest open affront unto him imaginable Our Blessed Saviour was ever a devout worshipper of him and in all his ways acknowledged him and therefore since he did thus seriously betake himself to him in his sorest distress it is apparent he was perswaded of his own sincerity and truth which God the searcher of all hearts knew to whom therefore he appeals and was confident he should live with him for ever and be able to give Eternall Life to others III. But what need is there to insist any
could not contain themselves when they saw what testimonies heaven gave of his innocence and vertue but did him publick honour even at the very place of execution Though he suffered as the highest and vilest offender in the world yet the honest-hearted spectatours were not onely inwardly troubled in their breasts at the sight but beat or knockt them also and shewed thereby that they were not afraid to own him as a most Excellent person whose death they ought to accompany with the bitterest lamentations And so much may suffice concerning the Testimony of his BLOUD which no man can hear speak a word but he must needs think that which got him such honour among the people in the midst of his shame and the reproach of the Cross obtained a far greater glory for him with God in the heavens who best knew how to value his obedience O wonderfull Passion Proclus Homil. xi the Expiation of the World O Death the cause of Immortality and the origin of Life O descent into Hell the bridge by which those who were dead passed into Heaven O Noon which hath revoked the Afternoon-sentence against us in Paradise O Cross the cure of the fatall Tree O Nails which wounded Death and joyn'd the world to the knowledge of God! Great was the victory which He that was incarnate for us obtained on the day of his passion He grappled with death when he was dead Hell and the grave this day ignorantly swallowed a deadly morsell To day death received him dead who always lives To day the chains were loosed which the Serpent made in Paradise The Thief this day made a breach on Paradise which had been guarded by the flaming sword some thousands of years This day our Lord broke the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder Which of the great Men that ancient times boast of are comparable to him All the just fell under the power of death and none could conquer it Abraham Isaac and Jacob are all turn'd to dust and ashes The memory of Joseph in whom the Jews glory lay in his dry bones which they carried out of Egypt with them Moses is extolled by them to the skies but there is not so much as his tomb to be found Such as these and so many death devoured and swallowed them all down But at last it swallowed one and against its will vomited up the whole World Who now triumph over it and cry with a loud voice O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. His Passion is our impassibility S. Athanasius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 598. His Death is our immortality His tears our joy His buriall our resurrection His Baptism our purification His stripes our healing His chastisement our peace His reproach our glory How much are we indebted to him who from first to last consulted our happiness For he descended Id. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. p. 1002. that he might make way for our ascent He was born that he might make us friends with the Vnbegotten He took on him our infirmities that we might be raised in power and say with St. Paul I can doe all things through Christ which strengthneth me He took on him a corruptible body that this corruption might put on incorruption He put on mortality that it might be changed into immortall In fine He was made Man and died that we who die as men might be deified and death might no longer reign over us O blessed and life-giving Cross of our Saviour which triumphed over death and destroyed him that had the power of it which is the Devil O divine Word and true Wisedom of the Father thou hast overcome the Devill when he thought he had been a conquerour * August de Trinitate L. 13. c. 15. Caet ex Athanasio p. 1022. O Lover of men and gracious Lord thou hast both redeemed us that were captives and freed us by thy own death who were servants of sin O Son of God the true Peace-maker thou hast both given us the adoption of Sons and reconciled us to thy Father having destroyed the enmity by thy flesh O rich Saviour and true King who becamest poor that we by thy poverty might be made rich and hast given to us the Kingdom of heaven O Creatour and former of all things the Word of the Father for thou hast created us again we are thy workmanship created unto good works O Light indeed the brightness of the Father for thou hast inlightned us that were in darkness and hast brought us that were blind to see the light O Likeness and reall Image of the Father for thou hast formed us who were lost and again restored the image of God in us O God the Word and Life indeed for thou hast quickned us who were dead and renewed us that were corrupted and cloathed us with immortality O thou Power indeed the arm the right hand of the Father for thou hast both loosed the bands of death and broken the prison-doors in pieces God forbid that we should glory Ib. pag. 1028. save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ To this let us adhere let us walk worthy of this And thus living and believing we shall know also his assumption into the heavens and his session on the right hand of the Majesty on high We shall behold the subjection of Angels to him and his coming again with glory Which Angels have foretold which Saints sing of in their hymns and which when we all see we shall rejoyce and be exceeding glad in Christ Jesus By whom be glory and dominion to the Father world without end Amen CHAP. XI Concerning the Testimony of the SPIRIT the Third Witness on Earth THough the Children of Israel were so strangely delivered out of their bondage being saved by the Bloud of the Paschal Lamb from the destroying Angel and then freed from Pharaoh who thought it 's like that his bloud must next of all pay for the keeping them in Egypt yet still they questioned whether they should come into the good Land or no and were at a sad plunge when they came to the Red Sea imagining that they themselves should be there destroyed and become the next Sacrifice to Pharaoh's cruelty To confirm them therefore in their belief of God's kind intentions towards them and perswade them thoroughly that Moses had not brought them out of Egypt to kill them but to save them He gave him power to doe great wonders at that place and in the rest of their journey which added to the Miracles in Egypt were a strong conviction that God was among them and was conducting them by the hands of his Servant to their long-desired Rest This was the last Argument and the most constant whereby he demonstrated the truth and reality of his promises of bringing them to the land of Canaan They saw his signs
saying Come and see and his loud voice which they heard saying Lazarus come forth xi Joh. 34 43. By their sight when they beheld him whom they knew very well to be dead obeying his word By their smell when they perceived the ill sent as they rolled away the stone By their touch when they loosed his hands and his feet as our Lord bad them and let him go By all these they were so well satisfied that there was no room left for their infidelity nor much for the Pharisees who knew neither how to confute this Testimony nor how to avoid the consequence of it They began now to despair of prevailing against him any other way then by taking away his life which their malice made them design against the clearest light Though that also proved as you shall see presently but a farther confirmation of the truth they sought to obscure by his rising again from the dead And they could have found in their hearts to have killed Lazarus too because as long as he lived he would proclaim this Miracle to the honour of Jesus who hereby gave such an illustrious testimony that he was the Authour of Eternall Life that just when he was going to raise up Lazarus he inculcates this Doctrine as the fittest season to impress it upon them xi Joh. 25 26. I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die Martha it seems believed this before upon a perswasion that he was the Christ the Son of God that should come into the world ver 27. But when she saw Lazarus come out of his grave then sure she believed it more strongly both because it was a farther argument that he was the Christ and likewise included in it that very thing which he propounded to her belief viz. that He was the Life and would give life unto those who were dead if they believed on him I shall conclude this part of the SPIRIT 's Testimony with those words of our Lord himself viii Joh. 50. where he protests that he sought not his own glory that is assumed not to himself this great power to be the Life of the world but God the Father sought it i. e. perswaded the world of it by the illustrious Miracles which he wrought whereby the Father honoured him as he says ver 54. and passed such a judgment on him that we may all conclude as he doth ver 51. Verily verily if a man keep his words he shall not see death II. Of which we shall be the more confident if we adde now the other Witness of the SPIRIT to him which was in raising him from the dead and giving him Glory at God's right hand This was a greater Wonder then all that preceded sufficient to satisfie those who still remained doubtfull For if any body as St. Greg. Nyssen discourses in the Book before mentioned should use those words of our Lord in another case and apply them to this business saying Physician cure thy self it is but meet that he who did such wonders on other mens bodies to prove a Resurrection should give an example of it in his own We have seen one nigh to death another newly dead a young man ready to be laid in his grave and Lazarus already rotten all these by his word recalled to life Let us see one live again who was wounded and had his heart pierced and his bloud shed one who we are sure was dead Come then and look upon Jesus himself whose hands and feet were pierced into whose side a spear was thrust Come and look upon him who bled to death And if this man was raised from the dead nay more then that ascended into heaven as abundance of credible witnesses testifie what doubt is there left that by him God will give us a blessed Resurrection unto immortall Life if we be obedient to him They that saw the one viz. his Resurrection and Ascension could not but stedfastly believe the other and have told us that he was raised and glorified on purpose that our faith and hope might be in God 1 Pet. 1.21 This was the great design and end of first opening his grave and then opening the heavens to him that our confidence in God might revive again and we might hope by his favour to have the honour of being made the sons of God by being the children of the Resurrection That our Blessed Saviour was really dead as the History testifies his greatest Enemies always confessed and still acknowledge He hung a long time upon the Cross there he bled and at last his side was wounded with a spear in the vitall parts All the spectatours were satisfied that he had given up the ghost and the Souldiers when they came to break his legs as the manner was found the work already so effectually done that there was no need of it He was wrapt in Cerecloaths laid in a grave and given up by all his Friends for a lost man But that after all this he was as really alive again as he had been before is testified by divers sufficient Witnesses and among the rest by one of his principall Enemies who was throughly convinced of it The Apostles saw him very often they spake with him they felt and handled him one of them put his finger into the very print of the nails and thrust his hand into his wounded side They eat and drank with him they received Commissions from him and after he had shewn himself alive to them by many infallible proofs being seen of them forty days he ascended up to heaven in their sight and from thence according to his promise they received the Holy Ghost i. e. in his Name did all sorts of Miracles raising even dead men to life again And after all he appeared from heaven to St. Paul a man that set himself vehemently against him and breathed nothing but threatnings and slaughters against his Disciples whom he turned quite to be on his side perswading him so fully that he was indeed risen from the dead that he became as you have heard a most zealous preacher of it with the continuall hazzard of his life This is a more credible History then any other as it were easie to shew if it were my present business and we may better doubt of all Records then of those wherein the memory of these things is preserved They were holy devout and self-denying persons who report these things upon their own knowledge And they are reported not by one or two but by many of them who met with nothing in the world to tempt them to tell a lie but with a great many things to deterr them from publishing so odious a Truth And therefore if we will not doubt of every thing we do not see we cannot refuse to believe that Jesus did indeed rise again after he was dead and buried and ascended into heaven Which being
brethren He never called them so before till he was after a new manner declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead And now to own them for his Brethren was as much as to say that they should be made the Sons of God by their resurrection and be coheirs with him To prove which new Brotherhood the Apostle to the Hebrews brings that place of the Psalmist now mentioned ii Heb. 11 12. He is not ashamed to call them Brethren saying I will declare thy name unto my brethren Whence he is called the first-born among many brethren viii Rom. 29. Whom he bids them that first saw him alive again inform that he ascended to his God and to their God and to his Father and their Father to shew them that they might safely repose such a confidence in God as he had done and hope to be raised by him from the dead as he was and receive a portion with him in the heavenly inheritance 6. This Relation which he owns to us gives us the greatest confidence to look upon him as our HOPE as St. Paul speaks 1 Tim. i. 1. the HOPE of Glory 1 Col. 27. For it is certain that when any person is advanced to a throne his bloud is thereby inriched all his family I mean are raised and dignified his children especially put into the quality of royall persons though never so mean before nay made capable of succeeding him in his state and greatness Now our Lord hath a family as well as other persons all those who believe on him being acknowledged by him not onely to be his brethren but his children who living by his faith are really descended from him and therefore by his resurrection are also begotten again unto a lively hope of an incorruptible inheritance 1 Pet. i. 3 4. Whence the same Divine Writer who observes how he calls them Brethren immediately shews how he owns a nearer relation to them saying Behold I and the children which God hath given me ii Heb. 13. who in him are all advanced to the highest honour His glory makes them illustrious for if children saith St. Paul then heirs heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ viii Rom. 17. Who is not to be considered merely as a single person but as the Lord and Head of a Body or Corporation of men who are so one with him that the raising him to so great a glory as he inherits is the raising and ennobling them A sure pledge that is that the same shall be done for the Members which was for the Head who will not be without them but make them partakers of the same benefit which is bestowed on him He is like the first-fruits as St. Paul discourses in his Chapter of the Resurrection 1 Cor. xv 20 c. a second Adam the head and beginning of a new Creation by whom all shall as surely be made alive as in the first Adam all died 7. Why should we doubt of it since he was carried to heaven as they that received the Holy Ghost testified to appear before God with his bloud for us ix Heb. 23 24. This is a very great argument that we have Eternall Life and that it is in him for this Sacrifice of himself being accepted by God the Eternall SPIRIT which offered him to God presenting him before him without spot or blemish must needs take away sin and remove all hindrances to our admission into the very same place where he is as that Epistle proves at large By this offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified and we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 liberty and freedom without any lett or impediment to enter into the Holiest by the bloud of Jesus x. Heb. 14 19. Who is such an High-priest over the family of God as is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens viii 1. and being consecrated for evermore is become the Authour of eternall Salvation unto all them that obey him v. 9. vii 28. 8. To whom therefore we ought to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith that he will not fail to imploy his power to make us happy with himself Which you may consider once more he most earnestly prayed for when he was on earth it being one of his last requests to his Father that those whom he had given him might be with him where he is that they might behold the glory which he hath given him xvii Joh. 24. And therefore having obtained such a power over all as hath been described by his precious bloud which he was then going to offer we may rest assured he will not let us be without that of which he was so desirous before he left the World now that he is in heaven with full power to fulfill his own desires For it is unreasonable to suppose that a Friend who carnestly beseeches another to grant us a favour will not most readily doe it himself when he becomes as able to bestow it as he of whom before he askt it But the fear of swelling this Treatise into over-great a bulk makes me pass over these things with the bare mention of them and omit many other I shall put an end therefore to this last Testimony of the SPIRIT with those remarkable words of St. Peter in his second Epistle ver 3 4. of the first Chapter Where he saith as we translate him that the Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and vertue whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises c. The meaning of which in a larger form of words is plainly this Account that grace and peace which I have wisht you in abundance ver 2. from God and our Saviour no small blessing For God hath in a most excellent omnipotent manner bestowed on us all things that are necessary for our future happiness and felicity and for our present conduct in piety which is the onely way to that Eternall life And if you ask me how he hath given us these things in so resplendent god-like a manner I 'le tell you it is through the knowledge of him that hath called us that is through Jesus Christ the true Word of God who hath called us to piety and happiness And if you enquire again how you shall know that what he saith is true and that he calls us not merely from himself but from God who directs us by him in the right way of godliness which will bring us to everlasting Life I 'll resolve you in that also for he hath called us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by so it is in the margin glory and vertue How we come to render it to glory and vertue I know not for it makes the sense obscure whereas otherwise it is perspicuous and clear and as if the Apostle had said The Glory and Vertue which accompanied
called The LORD is there was exceeding great no less then eighteen thousand measures round xlviii Ezek. 35. this Answer is returned that the difficulty is small For some behold the very light of God others onely see it obliquely and have no more but a certain obscure duskish image of it There are but few of the former saith the Glosse there who have the Light in its power but of the other who have a weaker ray obliquely and at a distance there are very great numbers Which agrees with those words of our Saviour In my Father's house are many Mansions as they are expounded by the two St. Gregories Nazianzen and Nyssen and others who by a Mansion understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Nazianz. Orat. 33. c. the rest and the glory which is laid up there for the blessed but suppose some to be in a higher others in a lower condition proportionable to the vertuous dispositions they carried out of the world with them Which being very different they believed some to see less and others to be like Gorgonia the Sister of St. Greg. Nazianzen whom in the conclusion of his Eleventh Oration he supposes to be in the clear light of the glorious Trinity 4. But it would take up too much room in this Treatise if I should enter into that discourse and therefore I proceed to consider that though they made this difference according as we see in a City to follow the former comparison some are accounted the chief others the more inferiour streets and houses and some are nearer unto others more remote from the royal palace yet they did not imagine those mansions to be dark nor those that were in them to have their eyes shut up with sleep but all to enjoy the light of life They lead as another Jewish Writer * Vid. Jo. de Voysin de Jubilaeo L. i. cap. 16. speaks a most sweet life in that light which is the figure and resemblance of the supreme light to which they shall be admitted at the last Thus Moses and Elias appeared in great splendour at our Saviour's transfiguration on the Holy Mount where they talkt and discoursed with him about his departure that he was to accomplish at Jerusalem Which shews they not onely continued in being but had sense and motion and lived in much happiness and bliss Which we are not to take for a singular privilege indulged to them for the Apostles you may observe again lookt upon our Saviour as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exemplar or pattern to which God had determined they should all be conformed viii Rom. 29. And their conformity to him here in this world being so exact that they passed the very same way to bliss that he did through most cruell sufferings they could not doubt but upon their departure the conformity would still hold as exactly That as He when he died immediately went to Paradise where he promised the good Thief should be before his Resurrection so they should enter into the same blessed place immediately upon their death and live there in a joyfull expectation of him to come and change even this vile body that it may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conformed to his glorious body iii. Phil. 21. And this is the sense also you may observe once more of the Voice from heaven which commanded St. John to write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. xiv Rev. 13. With which the Spirit immediately joyned its testimony saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea i. e. it is certainly true believe what the voice says from henceforth or now at this present I promise them a blessed rest from their labours and their works shall follow with them that is they shall be refreshed with a sweet remembrance of what they have done and suffered for Christ Jesus It is uncertain indeed whether the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be to be referred to the former words Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord or to those that follow Yea saith the Spirit But either way our Church understands it in the same sense as appears by the Funerall office Where referring it to the former sentence the words are thus recited I heard a voice from heaven saying Write From henceforth or Now at this present time blessed are the dead c. They are not onely in expectance of future blessedness but in possession of an happy state already and find inconceivable satisfaction in venturing their very lives for Christ's sake who for this very end as St. Paul observes laid down his life for us that whether we wake or whether we sleep we should live together with him 1 Thess v. 10. There are those who from this word Sleep by which the state of the dead is frequently called in these books there being nothing liker Death then Sleep would inferr the perpetuall motion and operation of the Soul before the Resurrection For it is very busy and active even when all the Senses are lockt up by sleep and hath at that time received very high illuminations from God which is a sign that if the body were quite dead it would not be without them Aristotle I find in Sextus Empiricus * L. viii adv Mathemat p. 312. observes thus much that in Sleep when the Soul is by her self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 resuming her own nature she prophesies and foretells things to come and declares saith he hereby what she shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when by death she shall be separated from all bodily things By which consideration St. Austin tells us that Gennadius a famous Physician in his time and very religious and charitable was wonderfully inlightned when he was in doubt whether there was any life after death God saith he * Epist 100. ad Euodium would by no means desert a mind so well disposed but there appeared one night to him in his sleep a very handsome young man who bid him follow whether he should lead him Which he thought he did till he came to a Citie where on the right side he was saluted with the sweetest voices that ever he heard which the young man upon his inquiry what this meant told him were the hymns of the Blessed and of the Saints What he saw on the left side he did not well remember but awaking he lookt upon this as a dream and thought no farther of it Till some time after the same young man appeared again to him another night and askt if he knew him To which he answering Yes very well he askt him where he had seen him And Gennadius presently related how by his conduct he was once led to hear the hymns and see the sight before mentioned Here the young man askt him whether he saw and heard what he related in his sleep or waking In my sleep said Gennadius True said the other and now thou seest me in thy sleep dost thou not To which he consenting his instructer proceeded to ask
and a glory Let us deceive the grave and make that peculiar which is common By death let us make a purchace of life Let none of us faint in our undertaking nor be desirous to live here any longer Let us make the Tyrant despair of moving others by seeing our constancy Let him appoint our sufferings we will put an end to them Let us make it appear that as we are Brethren by birth so we are in all things else not excepting death Such was the resolution saith he of these men who did not serve pleasure nor suffered themselves to be governed by their passions but purified their bodies and their spirits and in this manner were translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to that life which is incapable of any passion and free from all the troubles and miseries to which here we are exposed It would be too long to relate the speech of the Mother who likewise gave an illustrious testimony of her faith in God and hath left a rare example to all posterity of constancy and patience under the greatest sufferings The Apostle himself hath perpetuated their Memory in his Epistle to the Hebrews and made it sacred to all generations Where it will stand to our great confusion if we should not learn of those who had so great a Faith under so dark a revelation What would not these persons have done saith the forenamed Father if they had lived in our times who were so courageous before the sufferings of Christ and the glory I may adde that followed after If without example they behaved themselves so undauntedly what rare Souls would they have been with one especially with the example of Christ Jesus Such we ought to strive to be not onely as they were but as we conceive they would have been under our Master Strengthened I mean as St. Paul speaks with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light i. Col. 11 12. And so we shall if the same spirit of faith be in us that was in them For it tells us how Jesus went this way to heaven and that if we overcome we shall shine with him in his glory and sit down with him in his throne and inherit all things There need no more be said to encourage even those Christians who have been most delicately bred or that are of the tenderer Sex to wade through the greatest difficulties Let them but look up unto Jesus and He will inflame them with such ardent love that they will be glad to follow him to his Cross if they must go that way to come where He is This moved Dorotheus and divers other Courtiers who as Eusebius * L. viii Eccles Histor c. 6. reports were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Emperour's Bedchamber and in such high favour that they were no less beloved then if they had been the Emperour 's own children to prefer the reproaches and pains of piety and the new-devised deaths they were to suffer for its sake before all the glory and delights wherein they lived And St. Peter we are told by Clemens Alexandrinus * L. vii Stromat p. 756. seeing his own Wife led to death rejoyced at the grace to which she was called thinking now she was upon her return home And chearfully exhorting her to proceed to the execution he called her by her name saying onely these few words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 REMEMBER THE LORD That was sufficient he knew to make her constant and courageous It being a faithfull saying an undoubted principle of Christianity on which we may ever safely build For if we be dead with him we shall also live with him if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him 2 Tim. ii 11 12. And it was no less stedfastly believed that they who suffered with him should also reign with him in a greater glory then others as we heard before from St. Paul who saith their afflictions would work for them a most ponderous crown of glory Nay they gave the like encouragement to all those who did any eminent service to our Blessed Lord. They that laboured hard for instance in the Word and Doctrine St. Paul saith were worthy of double honour or reward in this World 1 Tim. v. 17. Which few receiving but quite contrary they were least esteemed as he himself found by experience who took the most pains there was the greater reason to hope to find it in another life when the chief Shepherd appearing they were sure to receive an excellent crown of glory 1 Pet. v. 4. To every Saint our Lord promises a crown of glory as those crowns were wont to be called that they used in times of greatest joy the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 added to it which is never used in any other place of Scripture and is that whereby some of the crowns given to persons of desert in other Nations are called denotes I think something extraordinary in the glory of those good Shepherds who fed the flock of God according to the directions the Apostle had been giving them The Martyrs we are sure expected it who building on this foundation that they who suffer with him shall reign with him gave God thanks when they received the sentence of death and went to the execution singing and expired with hymns in their mouths and exhorted others in the midst of their torments to the like chearfull constancy Of all which I could produce instances out of the Ecclesiasticall story but I shall onely set down that of Liberatus and his Monks Who defending the Christian Faith against the Heresy of Arius when they were condemned to be thrown bound into a ship full of faggots and there to be burnt in the midst of the Sea sang aloud this hymn Victor Uticensis L. iv Vandal Persec Glory be to God in the highest Behold now is the acceptable time Behold now is the day of Salvation in which we suffer punishment for the faith of our God And why should not this faith much more easily comfort us against the death of our dearest Friends when we can reasonably hope they depart from us to go into the eternall Happiness of a better World Their gain is so great which they have made by the exchange that we ought not so heavily as we are wont to take our own loss This Photius represents very handsomely to his Brother Tarasius after he had said a great many other things to stop the tears that he shed immoderately for a daughter who was dead Suppose saith he Epist ccxxxii p. 352. thy Daughter should appear to thee and taking thee by the hand should kiss it with a chearfull and smiling countenance saying My Father why dost thou afflict thy self in this manner why dost thou bemoan me as if I was gone to an evill condition My lot is faln
Israel And if we carefully enquite into it we shall find it to have been as clear a Witness that it is in his power and in his purpose to give Eternall Life to all his faithfull subjects I. For first the very end of its appearing was to invest him with the highest office and dignity which from this time he took upon him and exercised whereas before he had lived as a private person So you reade x. Act. 38. that he was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power Which being a ceremony whereby Kings are created we are to understand that by the coming down of the HOLY GHOST he was appointed our Lord and Sovereign one part of whose office is to bestow rewards on those that doe him good and faithfull service Now his Kingdom not being of this World as he professed and as was apparent by his life and death and yet he constantly asserting that he was a King and exercising severall acts of Royall Authority as I have formerly proved we must conclude that by this Vnction he was designed to be a King in the heavens where he disposes of all places and preferments and will promote all his loyall subjects to the greatest honours and dignities There is no reason to doubt of it for the Glory of the Lord which at his Baptism descended on him so as it had never done on any man was the Seal or if you will the Crown of God upon him which markt him to be the Lord of Glory from whom we may expect the blessing of Eternall Life The very opening also of the Heavens at the descent of the HOLY GHOST upon him signified as much as St. Chrysostom thinks and was a plain declaration of the exceeding great favour of God towards us Who now open'd to us as he speaks * Homil. xii in Matthaeum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those gates above and sent the Spirit from thence to call us to our celestiall Country and not simply to call us but with the greatest prerogative for he hath not made us Angels and Archangels but making us the Sons of God and his beloved Sons so he draws us to that heavenly portion II. Which we may with the greater confidence expect because the HOLY GHOST as I observed heretofore not onely came down upon him but rested or took up its abode in him It did not onely overshadow him as the Glory of the Lord did the blessed Virgin but descending on him settled it self in him as its habitation insomuch that every day one might see the Glory of the Lord shining in him Thus John Baptist who was a carefull observer of it relates in i. Joh. 32 33. where he twice takes notice of the abiding and the resting of the HOLY GHOST with him In which Isaac Abarbinel himself in xi Isa a known enemy to Jesus confesses the excellency of Christ's prophecy consists This being one of the Ten privileges which the Messiah he saith shall be indued withall that the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him xi Isa 2. So it did upon our Saviour as an undoubted Prophet testified in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily and therefore He must needs have Life in himself and out of his fulness as St. John speaks we may expect to receive grace for grace For he that bad John baptize you may farther consider told him that this person who had the HOLY GHOST not onely descending on him but residing in him was He that should baptize men with the Holy Ghost Be a King that is in the heavens and have all power committed to him as he would demonstrate by sending the Holy Ghost upon others as now it came upon him And till that time came it was as visible as the Light wherein the HOLY GHOST appeared that it did inhabit in him by the constant sensible effects of his Divine power every-where St. Luke as I observed in the First Part remembers how he returned immediately from Jordan where he was baptized full of the Holy Ghost iv Luk. 1. As was manifest not onely from a number of miraculous operations but from the no-less wonderfull wisedom whereby he spake and opened the ancient Oracles of God For to this end also he was anointed and herein he exercised the authority of a King as the very first place of the Propheticall Books which he expounded clearly tells us iv Luk. 18 19. Where you may note that the great business for which he was anointed by the Spirit was to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. The time of grace that is wherein the good will and pleasure of God was shewn to the world which consists principally in giving remission of sins and eternall Life This he came to proclaim and publish with the power of the HOLY GHOST having all those divine gifts mentioned in xi Isaiah to qualify him for this high office four of which belong to the Mind and was well represented by that luminous body which came down upon him at his Baptism and one to the Will and another to the power of action viz. Wisedome Vnderstanding Counsel Might Knowledge and the Fear of the Lord. He was able on all occasions to speak most divinely to teach as one that had authority to evade all the secret plots which his adversaries had upon him to search into their very hearts and desires to shew the straight way to that bliss which he preached to foil all the power of the Enemy and to raise even the dead to life again Which were evident demonstrations that the Spirit of the Lord rested on him and made him the greatest Prophet that ever was not onely the Preacher but the Giver of ETERNALL LIFE III. For as by this power of the Holy Ghost it was manifest he had Life in himself so God's intention to give this Life to us was apparent from the manner of its descent which is said to have been like a Dove The phrase indeed is dubious and may signify onely that this glorious Body which came down from heaven was in its descent or falling like the coming down of a Dove with its wings spred abroad Yet since St. Luke saith that it came in a bodily shape and the Church though the words do not necessarily inforce it hath thus understood it we may most probably conclude the word Like hath relation not onely to the coming down but to the Dove it self telling us that the form or figure of this celestiall glory which now appeared carried the resemblance of that creature Now to think that this form was assumed without any design at all would be very contrary to common reason which leads us rather to conceive that God would shew at the very first entrance of our Saviour upon his office by this known emblem of meekness and love what great favour and kindness he intended to shew to mankind and with what a tender spirit of gentleness and sweetness our Lord should exercise the Ministry
committed to him towards the poor and the broken in heart and the miserable captives to whom he preached the acceptable year of the Lord. Or else as St. Chrysostome's words are He remembers us hereby of the old history For the whole World being once shipwreck'd and humane kind being in great danger to be totally lost this Creature appeared with an Olive-branch in her mouth and brought them glad tidings that the tempest was over and that there was now an universal calm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All which things were a type and figure of what was to come For now when the affairs of mankind were in a worse condition and they were all in danger of a soarer punishment the unspeakable grace of God in our Saviour steps in for our rescue And therefore a Dove appeared again not bringing an Olive-branch but shewing us our Deliverer from all evill and administring unto us good hopes For it doth not bring merely one man and his family out of danger but appeared to lead all the world to heaven and in stead of an Olive-branch brought the adoption of Sons to all mankind And where the dignity of this adoption is there is the destruction of all evill things and the gift of all things that are good To the same purpose speaks Theophylact who contracts his sense in fewer words As the Dove brought to Noah the news that the waters of the floud were gone so now the HOLY GHOST brought the joyfull news of the doing away of Sin There was an Olive-branch and here was the mercy of God And thus John Baptist understood it who having seen this sight cried out Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world that is Death the punishment of Sin and consequently restores us to immortall life i. Joh. 29 30 c. This he thought declared God to be reconciled and lookt upon it as a token that the heavens had laid aside their displeasure and would be at peace with the sinfull sons of men The windows you know of heaven were opened in the old World but dark and pitchy clouds were all that appeared which poured down nothing but a floud of rain upon mankind Whereas now quite contrary when the heavens were opened again there was no dismall sight presented it self but onely a pure light and glorious brightness shone from the face of God And the HOLY GHOST in the form of a Dove appeared not like that of Noah after the deluge had swept all mankind very few excepted from the face of the earth but to give notice to the World that God would not take such vengeance upon men for their wickedness but be graciously reconciled to them by saving them from death and giving them the blessing of Eternall Life One might well gather as much from this sight especially when there was such an Olive-branch of peace if I may so call it in the mouth of this Dove as that voice from heaven which came along with it saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased One of these illustrates and explains the other and both of them tell us that the heavens now look upon us with a serene countenance and that we are no longer shut out of them but God is so well satisfied that he will admit us into those celestiall habitations II. This was farther declared afterward when the Apostles according to his promise were on the day of Pentecost baptized with the Holy Ghost whereby they were sent by him as he was by the Father Then the Heavens poured down such a large showr of the Divine grace as presently overflowed the World with a comfortable sense of ETERNALL LIFE This was one great end of the coming of the HOLY GHOST which then witnessed to our Saviour and openly shew'd him to the World as the Prince of life iii. Act. 15. For 1. it was a plain demonstration that He whom the Jews had murthered was alive from the dead and had not lost his power which was so eminent in him all the while he was on earth to doe good and bestow benefits upon mankind And 2. the greatness of the benefit shews that he was greater in power then ever having ennobled all his Servants and raised men of the lowest condition to the highest dignities by bestowing on them the gift of the HOLY GHOST It was his gift as he fore-told in his life-time when he said I will send the Comforter from the Father xv Joh. 26. and He shall receive of mine and shew it unto you xvi Joh. 14 15. And therefore the Holy Ghost declared his greatness and power over all as St. Peter discourses in the very first Sermon he preached after our Saviour's resurrection on the day of Pentecost ii Act. 33. Where he tells the Jews that what they saw and heard and were amazed at was shed forth and poured on them by Jesus who had now received the promise of the Holy Ghost And therefore says he ver 36. let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that Jesus whom ye crucified both Lord and Christ Which is as much as to say You ought to look upon this as an undoubted argument that he is Lord of all things the Christ or King whom God the Father hath appointed because he hath sent such royall gifts to his servants as none but the Lord of the world could possibly bestow And by the way we may take notice that the better sort of the Jews themselves expect the Messiah should bring such grace to men For Abarbinel in the place fore-mentioned acknowledging Miraculous works to be a note whereby the Messiah shall be known reckons this for one of them the effusion of the Spirit of God spoken of by the Prophet Joel Our Lord therefore sending this down in a plentifull manner on the day of Pentecost thereby manifested if they would have seen it that he had the mark of their King upon him and indeed could doe that which they all confess is the Work of God alone who onely can pour out the gifts which the Prophet there promises There is no reason to question the power of such a King as this to doe what he pleases even to prefer his subjects to his heavenly Kingdom They may be raised when he thinks good to reign with him above as now they began to doe upon the earth It depends upon his will alone to exalt them to that very place from whence this mighty power of the Holy Ghost came down upon them But that we may be satisfied the HOLY GHOST was an express Witness of his being the Prince of life a King that hath Life in himself a Prince and a Saviour as it is v. Act. 31. who can deliver men from the oppression of all their Enemies the greatest of which is Death you may consider 3. that the miraculous change which was wrought on a sudden in the minds of very ignorant men is an evident argument what he