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
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-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
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
iii. John 2. and consequently professed themselves desirous to learn of him and ready to believe what he taught But I cannot say that they baptized them now into the Name of Jesus or into a belief that he was the Christ as they did after his ascension into Heaven For they were forbid to publish this openly xvi Matth. 20. men were to learn it by degrees under his discipline to which they delivered themselves by being baptized of him Yet this prepared them for the belief that he was their Christ which his Apostles afterward most zealously and strongly asserted by Baptism For when he was exalted at Gods right hand they went according to his Commission and Discipled all Nations baptizing them into his name as well as into the name of the Father That is they engaged them to believe that Jesus was the Christ the Son of God otherways they would not baptize them By this WATER therefore he may be said to come because he hereby made proselytes to himself whom he undertook to teach and instruct after the manner of the Prophets but with an authority which spoke him to be greater than all Prophets and because it was not a baptism like John's with simple water but was presently after accompanied with the Holy Ghost Nay the Baptism it self was a WITNESS to him joyned with what went before because it argued authority and such as was much superiour to that of John though he was greater than any Prophet which could be no other therefore but that of Christ For who beside could baptize the whole Nation and into an higher Institution than his whom they took for the Christ who confessed and asserted and no body appeared to contradict it that he was not that light by whom they must begin to be illuminated by Baptism but Jesus was the true light which coming into the world lighteneth every man John's baptism therefore as S. Basil * Exhort ad Bapt. aptly calls it was only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 introductory to something else more perfect than it self that is to our Saviour's baptism which was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which completed men in a full belief that he was the Christ 3. For lastly the Baptism which the Apostles administred especially after his Resurrection and Exaltation was an entrance of men into a new Religion For they did not baptize them into Moses but into another Name that of the Lord Jesus This was a sign that He who had so many ways been approved of God among them as S. Peter speaks was indeed the Christ For what greater mark could there be of supreme authority than the setting up in such a manner as he did an Institution and Discipline which was not known before and teaching those who received his baptism to observe a new Law without those rites which had been hitherto used Who could repeal the Ordinances of Moses nay abrogate Circumcision which was ancienter than Moses but only He who had the same power with him that gave the Law to Moses and Circumcision to Abraham their Father viz. the Son of God himself Yet this did our Jesus and Baptism was the Rite appointed by him for the admission of Disciples into the profession of this new Religion which took away the old as unprofitable By this they were born again and became his children that is his scholars for the sons or children of the Prophets were their disciples those who learnt of them whom he indued with his principles and called after his name And he plainly declared as you read in his discourse with Nicodemus that no man could have any part in that Kingdom which the Messiah was setting up in the world if he contented himself with the old Religion and were not by baptism born again that is suffered himself to be further informed and proceeded to entertain the Religion which he delivered Thus far Nicodemus was gone already to believe him to be a Master sent of God which was the opinion of others of their Rulers besides himself for he says WE know it Why then did he not own it by receiving his baptism and thereby put himself under the discipline of this Master That being instructed by him till he acknowledged that he was the Christ he might be taught at last by the Spirit when it came down upon the Apostles and so be perfectly born again or informed in the Christian Religion Till this was done he was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Gregory Nazianz * Orat. 16. calls him a lover of Christ by halves To make him an intire Christian he was to receive his Baptism and to own him to have full power and authority from God to make what change he pleased so far as to turn them into new men and to make them over again The Pharisees one would think saw very well that this was the consequence of his gathering so many disciples by baptism that he out-did John the Baptist For to avoid their rage which they had conceived against him upon this account but never expressed against John he left Judea where he was baptizing as you heard before iii. 22. because they had great power there and departed into Galilee again where their authority was less iv 1 2 3. They were afraid of an innovation in the state of things which they had a mind should continue as they were Their Baptism they saw would signifie nothing if he went on thus to make disciples Whom he informed according to his own mind and perswaded to believe on him as their King in whose Sovereign power it was to make all old things pass away and cause all things to become new By this WATER therefore He may be said to COME and it may be called one of his WITNESSES as he baptized that is gave his Apostles authority to baptize men not into Moses but into himself to learn new lessons of him and to leave the old though they had been taught by God himself Who found no fault at all with this baptism but justified it as you shall see many ways to be according to his mind and in pursuance of his will And so much pains may suffice about the examination of the first WITNESS of these three that speak on Earth which is WATER The Holiness of Jesus both in his Doctrine and Life and the Baptism both of John and of Jesus I wish that every one who considers how great and necessary a proof this was of Jesus his being the Son of God would labour to prove himself to be indeed born of him by the same argument of purity and holiness For as we could never have believed Jesus to have been God's Son unless he had come thus by Water no more can any man rationally conclude that he is one of those whom he will own for his children unless he conform to his holy will by washing himself from all filthiness and becoming clean every whit Read over the Sermons and the Life of Christ and
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
of God And there is none can continue in this unworthy slavery but he must lay aside these thoughts also that the WORD was made flesh and the Image of the invisible God hath taken up his abode in our Nature By this he hath called us to the greatest sanctity He remembers us what excellent Creatures we are and how Glorious he is desirous to make us And who is there that need despair of recovering himself by the grace of God though he be sunk never so much below himself now that God is come on purpose to lift him up He hath sent Salvation to us by one that is mighty to save He hath revealed himself so graciously and made such discoveries of his Love and Power and Glory to all mankind that they may confidently hope if they will not cast away all care of themselves to be restored to the image and likeness of God again But this Discourse will come in more seasonably when we have joyned the strength of the other three Witnesses to these and heard them all together some from Heaven others from Earth proclaiming this in our ears Behold the Son of God Jesus is your Lord for he is the Lord of all things And we shall be the more ready for a surrender to him when we see withall how much we are beholden to God Almighty for his marvellous inconceiveable love in calling us so many ways by so many arguments to Repentance Faith Obedience and Everlasting Salvation That which I have now explained deserves to be remembred with the most affectionate acknowledgments and we shall be better disposed to hearken to the rest if we give him hearty thanks for what we understand already and say A PRAYER ADored be thy inestimable love O thou Holy Spirit of Grace and Truth the mighty Power of God who hast given such gifts unto men even to the rebellious also that the LORD God might DWELL among them Blessed be thy Goodness who didst anoint our Lord with that oil of gladness which hath run down to the meannest of his subjects Great and wonderful was that Heavenly Power and Love which appeared in such visible Majesty upon him and filled him with the Holy Ghest so that he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil And much more marvellous was that Almighty Goodness which promoted him to the throne of Glory in the Heavens that he might fill all things Praised be that astonishing Love which first filled the Apostles minds with such Heavenly light and inflamed their wills with such fervent heat that they boldly preached the Gospel to all the world For ever magnified be that diffusive Grace which afterwards spread it self in such variety of gifts wrought by one and the self same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he pleased Let the whole Church be giving continual thanks to thee O Lord for stretching forth thy hand in such signs and wonders to glorifie thy holy child Jesus for giving by the Spirit to some a gift of wisdom to others a gift of healing to others divers kind of tongues to others prophecy and for making some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers that every knee might bow to Jesus and every tongue confess that he is the Lord. I confess him with all my Soul I honour him as my Dearest Lord. I see thy Glory O blessed Jesus by the light of the Holy Ghost which hath shone so oft from Heaven upon us I see the Power thou hast at Gods right hand I see the royal bounty of thy love Now I know that thou knowest all things and believe that thou art the faithful and the true whose words shall never fail O how much ought I and every Christian Soul to rejoyce in the consolations of the Holy Ghost which hath brought us new assurances from Heaven that our Saviour lives and reigns and sits inthroned at the right hand of God in incomparable majesty and glory Inspire all our minds and hearts O thou quickning Spirit inspire them O Lord and Giver of Life with such ardent love and devotion towards him that we may hope to reign with him and then shall we rejoyce before-hand in this hope with joy unspeakable and full of glory Do not wholly absent they self from us O thou Guide and Comforter of our Souls though we have not been so grateful to thee nor followed thy directions and counsels as we ought but still let thy gracious presence fill every part of the Christian Church Though we have not that UNCTION from above which endued them heretofore with the gifts of tongues and prophecy and healing and working of miracles Yet pour down every where much of the spirit of knowledge and love and devotion and purity and fortitude and undaunted resolution and fervent Zeal which may be ever glorifying the great God and our Saviour Christ Jesus O thou who didst open the eyes of the blind and loose the tongue of the dumb enlighten our minds to see more of those wonders which may inflame our love and incourage our hope and open our lips that our mouths may shew forth thy Praise Still let there be hearts full of Faith in the blessed Jesus full of love to all mankind full of ardent desire to see his Kingdom come full of wisdom to open the mysteries of Salvation to instruct men in the truth as it is in Jesus and to convince them mightily and perswade them to be obedient to it That so by the same Heavenly power whereby the Faith of Christ was planted in the world it may be graciously preserved and promoted and we may see it go forward and advance more and more till every Nation now on Earth speak in their own tongues the wonderful works of God Let all the people praise thee O God Let all the people praise thee Kindle in them such devout affections as may offer up continually the sacrifice of praise to thee Let them praise thee with pure minds and upright hearts and unspotted lives and in perfect unity and godly love say every where Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen CHAP. V. Concerning the Witnesses on Earth and first of the WATER HAVING given a brief account of the Testimony of the first Three Witnesses and finding much satisfaction in their perfect agreement we have the greater encouragement to go to the other Three who are also nearer to us than the former and take that evidence which they are willing to afford us for our further confirmation in this belief that Jesus is the Son of God These three you read in the eighth Verse are such as bear witness on EARTH whereby we may be the better acquainted with them and they are the more undeniable and furthest off from all question or exception For should any be so bold as to dispute that there might
be no such voices from Heaven such apparitions of Jesus such a descent of the Holy Ghost as it is possible there may be such conceited fools who think themselves wise by doubting of all things yet that there were such Witnesses as the WATER the BLOUD and the SPIRIT no man can be so obstinate as to deny they were so visible to all sorts of men whatsoever that would but open their eyes to behold them In the sixth verse of which the eighth is but a repetition after the Apostle had said that the only Conqueror is he who believes Jesus to be the Son of God He adds This is he that came by WATER and BLOUD even Jesus Christ not by Water only but by Bloud also and it is the SPIRIT that beareth witness c. Where that phrase HE CAME is to be diligently observed which in the stile of the New Testament writers signifies as much as that He manifested himself to be the Messias or Christ He made it appear that he was sent of God For thus the Messias is described in that question which John Baptists Disciples put to our Saviour xi Matth. 3. Art thou 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that COMETH that is as Grotius well expounds it he that is prophesied of by Jacob our Father under the phrase of COMING xlix Gen. 10. And so He is said to be the light which COMING into the World enlightneth every man i. John 9. And John Baptist tells them He that COMETH after me is preferred before me ver 15. He was preferred to be their King as the multitude cried out saying Hosanna to the Son of David blessed be he that COMETH in the Name of the Lord xxi Matth. 9. There is the true explication of the phrase He was sent by a special commission such as never any man had from God the Father he appeared with his authority and acted in his name And as before he appeared in his Majesty he was called He that COMETH so afterwards the Apostle here calls him He that CAME The person that is whom God had promised from the beginning of the world to send into it His SHILO that is his Seed as De Dieu hath excellently expounded that word the Seed of Judah and the Son of God Who in this fulness of time was to receive Commission from God and take upon him the Government of the World Now this person says S. John CAME that is appeared to be sent of God as his Son his only begotten by Water and by Bloud Which is as much as to say that it was manifest he came from God and not of himself by these two Witnesses to which the SPIRIT also adds its testimony as it here follows and the SPIRIT bears witness which is such a certain evidence that they who rely on this together with the former can never be deceived by it because the Spirit is the TRUTH As therefore God SENT him so he CAME and by these three Witnesses proved that he was the Person who God promised should come and was now sent whose testimony let us prepare our selves to hear and examine diligently that the faith of Christ may still be rooted deeper in our hearts And let us hear them if you please in that order wherein they stand in the sixth Verse the place where we first meet with them receiving first the testimony of the WATER then of the BLOUD and then of the SPIRIT Of the WATER And by WATER sure can be meant nothing else but either Purity and innocence or else Baptism which we use as a sign and a means of those We may consider it in both sences and not be in any danger to wander from the scope of the Apostle or do any wrong to the argument in hand but receive most satisfactory evidence from both that Jesus is the Son of God I. First then let us take it in the notion of PURITY which we use the help of Water to procure in bodily defilements And therefore when the Prophet would express the intention of God to purifie his people from moral filthiness he says he will pour clean WATER upon them xxxvi Ezek. 25. and in other places he calls upon them to WASH themselves when he would have them amend their ways and lead new and holy lives And when we speak of the PURITY of Jesus wherewith he CAME that is demonstrated himself to be the Christ we must consider that there is a double Sanctity or holiness for which He was eminent above all other persons which may both be denoted by WATER The one is of his DOCTRINE wherewith Christ is said to cleanse his Church for which he died v. Ephes 26. He gave himself for it that he might sanctifie it having cleansed it with the Washing of WATER by the Word Where the Word the preaching of the Gospel is either the explanation of washing with Water or else denotes that Christian Instruction which succeeds Baptism to which by our being washed with Water in the Name of Christ we are bound to attend as the great instrument of our purification The other is holiness of LIFE and conversation which the same word WATER is used to express in the Epistle to the Hebrews x. 22. where the Apostle exhorts all those who believed there was such a royal High Priest as Jesus set over the family of God to worship him with integrity of heart and sincere affection to him nothing doubting of the truth of his promises and having their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and their bodies washed with pure WATER Now by a short view of the perfect spotlesness of Jesus in both these in regard of his Doctrine and in regard of his Life we shall be able from thence strongly to draw this conclusion that he must needs be the Son of God I. First for the PURITY of his DOCTRINE it is such that it not only teaches no evil at all but teaches all manner of Goodness and severely prohibits every vice There is not the least sin to which the Holy Jesus gives any countenance no he declares the wrath of God from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men whom he fully instructs likewise and encourages in every piece of true piety and vertue So perfectly Holy is his Word that if we did entertain it the power of it would throughly wash us from all uncleanness and not leave the least speck of dirt in our hearts For he intends by that as the Apostle tells the Ephesians in the words following those now named ver 27. to present to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Whatsoever belongs either to our knowledge of God or to our Duty in every respect condition and relation His Doctrine completely comprehends it He hath first of all so clearly revealed to us the ONE GOD Creator of Heaven and Earth that none could do it more expresly or with greater
Caesar Then as it follows in the very next words vers 16. delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified When he heard they still obstinately pretended respect to Caesar and would have him to be concerned in the case he thought it was time to make an end and give sentence that their new King should be crucified For this at last was the crime for which he must suffer vers 19. Pilate wrote a title showing the cause of his death and put it on the Cross And the Writing was JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS Which Pilate knew was false in the sence wherein they meant it a King opposite to Caesar and therefore the words were so contrived that he might still express the opinion he had of him and yet satisfie Caesar too To the very last he would give testimony to the innocence of Jesus as far as he durst and even then proclaimed him their King in several Languages an Omen of the proclaiming it shortly in all Countries to their everlasting reproach when he hung upon an infamous Gibbet And therefore they were not yet satisfied because they saw themselves plainly indited by this Title in the face of the World as the Murderers of their KING Which made them renew their Petitions to Pilate that he would alter the Inscription and not write The King of the Jews but that he said I am King of the Jews vers 21. But now Pilate grew as obstinate as they and gave them this short answer vers 22. What I have written I have written That is content your selves for the first writing shall stand let the World make what they can of it And there is no question but there was a Divine Providence in the business that the cause of his death should be so expressed as that the Jews should be openly condemned and Jesus still cleared by Pilate even after he had not only given sentence against him but ordered it to be put in execution All things concurred to justifie him when his BLOUD was shed Which this very Title declared was upon this account to testifie that he was their KING and told the World withall that in the judgment of him who was his Judge He was no deceiver when he affirmed that he was their KING but the Jews villainous Traytors who had crucified that Person whom they ought to have honoured and obeyed XIV For which the terrible vengeance of God followed them and never left them till they had their own wish His BLOUD was required at their hands and at the hands of their Posterity For they never thrive from that time forward but declined more and more till about Forty Years after their City was besieged by those whom they had importuned to crucify our Saviour multitudes of them were crucified as I told you before in the face of all their Brethren far greater numbers were famisht Jerusalem and the Temple at last destroyed the People of the Nation banished and their Children became Vagabonds even to this day For it was not very long before those very Men who when they said those words We have no King but Caesar in the same breath had for ever renounced their CHRIST and pronounced themselves Rebels if they were not obedient to Caesar took up arms to deliver themselves from their subjection to him whom they really hated though now to serve a turn they courted and flattered They who had rejected their true CHRIST and KING by whom they might have been restored to true liberty were ready upon all occasions to run after those false CHRISTS of whom our Saviour prophesied xxiv Matth. 5.24 who by the promises of a false liberty led them into perdition They could never be quiet till they had undone themselves by provoking the only King whom they pretended to reverence to be the Instrument of our Saviour to make them the vilest slaves and the most miserable wretches upon the face of the Earth S. John lived to see the day of Jesus his COMING WITH POWER to execute Judgment upon them and we see their wish still more and more accomplished upon their Children Who as they never yet solemnly indeavoured to wipe off the guilt of his BLOUD from them by acknowledging the crime of their Fore-fathers as the manner of former times was we see in the examples of Nehemiah and Daniel so they continue to taste of the bitter fruits of this execrable Treason against their Soveraign Lord and King CHRIST JESUS By which you may see that his BLOUD both upon the Cross and upon their Heads by the heavy guilt it loaded them withall is very fitly here alledged by S. John as a great WITNESS that He was sent of God as his only Son For Pontius Pilate himself did not wholly escape but some of it lighted also upon his Head Though he was not so guilty our Saviour confessed as they who pursued him out of hatred whereas he having no unkindness for him delivered him to be crucified only out of fear yet he felt the weight of this crime and was oppressed himself as our Saviour had been by false accusations which the Samaritaus brought against him Whereupon he was deprived of the Government of Judaea by Vitellius then President of Syria And having lost the authority which he abused in condemning our Saviour he was required to go to Rome and there answer the crimes that should be objected to him There indeed he found Tiberius dead but he did not live long after him For he fell into so distressed a condition that about the third year of the succeeding Emperor Caius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eusebius his word is * L. 11. Hist Eccl. c. 7. he was constrained either by the grievous afflictions he endured or by the command of Caesar which was an usual thing to become his own Executioner and punish himself with Death for all the crimes he had committed But I shall not pursue either his or their story any further it being time to put an end to this Argument which I shall conclude with these Two observations 1. First That after our Saviour was dead one of the souldiers pierced his side with his spear and forthwith came thereout WATER and BLOUD as this very Apostle hath recorded in the Chapter so often mentioned xix John 34. Now some have from hence imagined that he being the only Evangelist that takes any notice of this and setting a particular remark upon it as a thing that he saw and bears witness of ver 35. it is most likely he hath some respect to that passage in his Gospel and to the Water and Bloud there mentioned when he speaks of the witness of WATER and BLOUD here in this Epistle For the Water and Bloud which flowed out of his side were an argument of the truth of his humanity which some wild Hereticks then denied and testified also that he was truly dead and not merely in appearance But it must be observed that S. John is
persons with any shadow or colour of reason Let us perswade our selves that this is a true History which they have written and then we have no faculty of discoursing if we cannot conclude who our Saviour was He could not possibly have done such things as the blind man well argued when his eyes were opened by him ix John 31 33. if he had been a sinner that is a deceiver and not authorized by God to come in his Name If he had been a mere pretender to this dignity God would not have honoured him on this fashion nor have given countenance to a lye by as great miracles as can be wrought for the proof of any Truth He would not have deprived himself of all means to declare his will to us as he must have done if he had suffered such a vast number of miracles to be wrought by a deceiver for three years together and given the most honest-hearted men no means to discover the cheat We cannot believe him to be wise and to have a care to preserve his own authority and to support his government and not think that he would some way or other have controuled the designes of a person of such high pretences if he had opposed Him and come without his consent as his only begotten Son into the world In brief if all these things be true which are reported then our Saviour was God manifested in our flesh and you know what regard and reverence is due to such a person And that they are true we have not the least reason to doubt being reported by eye witnesses of his majesty and power who were so convinced of his Divine authority that they ventured their fortunes and lives in his service merely to promote his honour And as that whereby they perswaded others to believe in him was the power of the SPIRIT working so many miracles by their hands and the power of the HOLY GHOST in divers other wonderful gifts so it was the same SPIRIT that first convinced them and made them confidently conclude that he was the Son of God For the first time that we find they made a solemn acknowledgment of him was upon the working of a great miracle before S. Peter James and John heard the voice from Heaven when they were with him in the holy Mount He had fed you read xiv Matth. 19 c. five thousand men beside women and children with five Loaves and two Fishes And as soon as he had done straight-way constrained his Disciples to get into a ship and go before him unto the other side ver 22. lest they should joyn with the multitude in the design which he saw they had in hand vi John 15. to take him by force and make him a King When he had dismissed the multitude and spent the rest of the day in prayer he overtook his Disciples in the midst of the Sea in the fourth watch of the night and found them tossed with the waves because the wind was contrary xiv Matth. 24 25. They were afraid at the first sight of him and imagined it had been a Ghost who perhaps they thought had raised that storm But when he spake to them and bad them be of chear and said It is I be not afraid Peter was desirous if it were he that he would call him to him and enable him to walk upon the water with him And so he did as if it had been firm land till his heart began to fail him when he saw the wind boisterous But then our Lord put forth his hand and kept him from sinking and both brought him safe to the ship and made a calm Upon this They that were in the ship that is the rest of the Disciples came and worshipped him saying Of a truth thou art the Son of God ver 33. The sudden ceasing of the wind that is his coming to them upon the water his bearing up Peter and making him walk along with him and that when the surface of the water was not plain but very rough by the crossness of the wind and his feasting also great multitudes with little provision made them conclude without any more ado that he was greater than any man ever was Their minds were overcome by this mighty power of God in him which subdued their understandings perfectly to the faith and so bowed and inclined their hearts that they could not but prostrate themselves at his feet and acknowledge him to be the anointed of God They believed no doubt before that he was a great Prophet and a teacher sent of God as Nicodemus did nay had some beginnings of faith that he was the Messiah i. John 41 45. But it was not till now that they were sure of it and did him honour as of a truth or certainly the Son of God And they were no easie People that believed lightly and foolishly only out of love of novelty or some such vain humour but were convinced and overpowred by the hand of God which was stretched out to work such wonders as these whensoever Jesus pleased III. And therefore he had great reason which is the third and last consideration when any disputed or doubted of his authority to refer them as he doth very often to his miraculous works for a proof of it and he appeals to them as one of his Witnesses according as S. John here calls them when he says the SPIRIT beareth witness So you read in several places of his Gospel where you find that when the Jews incircled him as if they would not let him stir till he told them plainly whether he was the CHRIST or not x. Joh. 24. He answered them I told you and ye believed not the works that I do in my Fathers name they bear WITNESS of me As if he had said I have no more for the present to tell you than I have told you often by my works If you can see nothing in these to convince you that I am the CHRIST all my telling you so in words will be to no purpose but for the present you must remain in unbelief To the same effect he discourses again in the same Chapter vers 37 38. If I do not the works of my Father believe me not though I should say never so oft I am his Son But if I do though ye believe not me believe the WORKS that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him And thus he reasons with S. Philip xiv Joh. 10 11. Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me The words that I speak unto you I speak not of my self But the Father that dwelleth in me he doth the WORKS a clear sign he spake not of himself and that he was most nearly one with the Father Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me or else believe me for the very WORKS sake And so he tells all his Apostles that the Jews were inexcusable upon
to prove the truth of that which the person that wrought them delivered And therefore as their miracles demonstrated the truth of that message which Moses and the Prophets brought from God So our Saviour's evinced the truth of his which was that they were only the Servants but He the Son of God This was as strongly attested by what he did as any thing the Men of God taught in former times was by their works Yea his miracles bare as fair a proportion in their bigness and number to this high and great thing which they were to prove that he was Gods Son as the miracles of Moses and the Prophets bare to those lesser truths which they were brought to establish And here for to put a period to this part of my discourse it will be very useful to observe the different way of proceeding for the establishing and promoting a Religion instituted by men and a Religion whose author is God This I find very well noted to my hand in a learned Writer of the Jewish Nation whom I have already mentioned * Sepher COSRI Part 1. sect 80 c When men says he make Laws and setle a Religion whose original is from their own minds and devised by themselves though they may pretend that it comes from God yet they are not able to make it take place without the power of the Sword or the countenance and assistance of some Prince who by his Authority shall cause it to be received But a Religion that is indeed Divine is planted in a Divine manner When Laws are derived from God he establishes them by his power and might and over-aws men by such wonders as without any humane force procure obedience Thus says he our Religion began When the Children of Israel were in grievous servitude and when the Land promised to their Fathers was in the hand of potent Kings God sent Moses and Aaron armed with no power but that of working miracles changing the ordinary and usual course of Nature and inflicting in a moment grievous plagues upon the Water the Earth the Air the Plants the Beasts and the Bodies of Men throughout all the Land of Egypt whereby the Prince that kept them in bondage was forced to let them go And in their Journey they were conducted by the guidance of a bright Cloud and they passed through the Sea and they were fed with Manna in the Wilderness XL. Years and saw one Miracle after another which convinced them they ought to submit to that Word of the Lord which Moses spake unto them To this purpose that Writer very rationally discourses Now just as He shows that Moses proved his Mission from God so I have briefly related how our Saviour likewise demonstrated that he was the Royal Prophet whom Moses foretold God would send into the World In an Age when they not only groaned under the Roman Yoke but were also superstitiously inthral'd to a number of Rites and Ceremonies devised by their Elders superadded to all the burden of the Law of Moses and moreover grievously oppressed by the Devil as all the rest of the World likewise were far more than they God raised up a mighty Salvation to them out of the house of his servant David Our Lord that is on a sudden appeared as a Redeemer and Deliverer from the bondage in which they lay not with any worldly policy or force but meerly with the Spirit and Power of God 1 Cor. ii 5. who sent an Herald but without the power of Miracles to proclaim his coming And as soon as he had done crying his mouth being stopt by Herod's throwing him into Prison our Lord presently came forth shining most gloriously in the illustrious works that he did every where which were such as that time called for as Moses his miracles were proper to the occasions and necessities of his days And some of them were very like those wrought by Moses and others bear as great a resemblance to them as twins are wont to do to each other who lie together in the same womb He healed more than Moses killed He turned their water into wine as Moses did the water of the River into bloud He walkt upon the very surface of the Sea and called one of his Disciples to accompany him there He fed multitudes with a little quantity of bread as Moses had fed the Israelites in the Wilderness This he did more than once and that in a Desart too showing what he was able to do if there had been the like need that there was in former times Then they should not have asked what sign shewest thou equal to Moses they mean what dost thou work vi John 30. For it was plain enough he could have fed them forty years in that manner as well as once which was the thing they seem to desire when they say in the next words ver 31. Our Fathers did eat Manna in the Desart as it is written He gave them bread from Heaven to eat That is He did not feed them for one day or two as thou hast done but a long time and that from Heaven let us see thee do so that we may leave him and follow thee And if he had not done enough already to work faith in them and they had lived now alway in a Desart as their Fathers did then no doubt he would for that he could was evident else how should he have fed them thus miraculously at all Many other miracles also declared that he had the same power in the Air that he had on the Earth and could as easily have brought bread from Heaven as multiplied the Loaves which had now filled so many of them The very Devils were as subject to him as the meanest creature in the World And He raised the Dead by his powerful word which Moses never did All which is recorded by the Apostles to show what cause they had to believe in Jesus and how his Religion was planted and propagated in the world as the other wonders are recorded by Moses to show with what authority he came and how he setled the Israelites in the belief of his Laws And there is no more cause to question whether Jesus be the Son of God the Lord of the World who came with such a SPIRIT than there was then to doubt whether Moses was his servant and the Lawgiver of that people among whom he did such wonders Nor so much neither for the greater his pretences were the greater reason there was that they should have been discountenanced by such a SPIRIT as was in him if they had not been true It is incredible that God should let the world be abused so long by so many miracles and so great that never was the like without any the least confutation and abused by a lye of so dangerous a nature and so reproachful to his Name and so directly opposite to his Government which this Person if he were an Impostor and said he was his Son
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.
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
Commandments which to a man that has spoil'd his Soul by following divers lusts are so far from being easie that he thinks them insupportable and impossible to be complied withall but when he has recovered himself by the faith of Christ and hath received the supply of these new and Heavenly principles they become to the very same man not only tolerable but sweet and delightful This faith would not be pleased to be excused from this burden it would take it ill not to draw in the same Yoke with Jesus it naturally makes us of his Spirit who said I delight to do thy will O God For what is it that we believe Is it not that Jesus is the Son of God his well-beloved Son And shall we complain of that work which was the business and the delight of God's best beloved when he was in the world It would be too grievous an accusation of God to think that after he had filled the Earth with joy and gladness for the coming of his Son He should instantly quench it all and turn it into heaviness by a number of such severe and intolerable Commandments as no man can look upon and not be melancholy And what are the grounds of our belief Are they not all that Heaven and Earth can afford us Are we not as sure as God can make us Phy for shame then what a reproach is it that any man should sigh and groan look four and sad as if he had all the burden of Heaven and Earth to carry when he has rather the aid and assistance of both to support and strengthen him under an easie load Certain it is that according to our knowledge and understanding so will be our Faith and according to our faith so will be our strength Now how can there be greater evidence and strength of Reason to induce us to believe than these six Witnesses have given us They fully satisfie our understandings they make it completely rational to acknowledge Jesus to be the Son of God And therefore why should not this Faith thus begot and standing on such sure foundations give us a very great strength courage chearfulness and spirit making difficult things become easie harsh things become sweet and the most tedious stay in this world comfortable by presenting us and that so strongly with the power and glory of the Lord Jesus This Faith you see rests upon these six Columns upon these two rows of Pillars as I may so speak on the one side stands the testimony of the FATHER the WORD and the HOLY GHOST on the other side the testimony of the WATER the BLOUD and the SPIRIT and therefore nothing will be too great a burden to lay upon it it will support any weight and never let us groan much less break under its load All things are EAST as well as POSSIBLE to him that believeth It is the observation of Seneca I remember that nothing is so hard but the mind of man can master it and make it familiar by constant thoughts and pains about it There are no motions so natural but some by labour have restrained them and made the forbearance of them easie and none again so unnatural but by the like daily practice and attention they have brought themselves to the delightful use of them As some have kept long and tedious fasts others perpetual silence and have lived out of the company of all mankind which are examples of the former kind And we see instances of the latter in those who learn to walk and dance upon ropes to work with their feet and to dive into the excessive depths of the Sea And can the mind of man alone when it buckles it self to the business be able to perform such difficult things with ease and satisfaction and yet remain utterly unable to take any contentment in obedience to Christ's Precepts though it be exalted by faith and a faith so strong as these six Witnesses if we attend will work in us May things to which nature is not inclined be accomplished at last and become habitual and we think God too severe to expect from us those duties which are most agreeable to our natures as all the actions of vertue are And shall a weaker power master those hard and unnatural tasks and a power stronger than all others sink under the burden of the most reasonable and in themselves most natural Commandments It cannot but put a considering person into a little indignation to hear men complain of the uneasiness of Christ's yoke when they lay more troublesome and unmerciful burdens upon themselves without any murmuring How can one see men without some impatience contend with swift horses and endeavour to out-run them and yet cry out of the tediousness of the race of God's Commandments Shall any man perswade us that it is not so easie to learn the way of God's testimonies as it is to work with his feet or go upon his hands Shall they make us believe it is so hard a business to bend their wills to God's when we see their bodies made as supple as wax that they may wreath them about at pleasure Can it be half so troublesome to lay a bridle on our tongues as it is never to speak at all O man where is thy Reason what is become of thy Soul that thou groanest in the service of God and canst make a sport of far more grievous things Thy own mind might teach thee better if thou wouldst but hearken to its instructions and therefore what may not God expect from the Faith I am speaking of which is a far more powerful Principle and hath made Men stop the mouths of Lions quench the violence of Fire indure torture and not accept deliverance when it was much weaker than our faith need now be I will ingage that if a man do but use himself frequently to ponder these words of S. John and perswade himself fully upon the testimony of these Witnesses that Jesus is the Son of God He will account it a small business to deny his own will as Jesus did He will never complain that he must refrain from any thing in obedience to him and whatsoever he requires him to do he will esteem it an excessive pleasure For there can remain no doubt in his mind that if he be the Son of God he hath power to help us that he wil ever be assistant to us and bless us because by this faith he dwelleth in us and we in him I have read of one of a Noble Family delicately educated and of a tender health who had a great mind to enter upon a Religious course of life as they speak in the Roman Church but was afrighted out of those thoughts by the apparent difficulty of the exercises wherein he was to be imployed for their ill diet retirement poverty watchings and such like hardships he imagined could not be endured Till one day reading those words of the Psalmist which like a flash of
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
and his wonders his mighty power and stretched-out arm all the grea◠acts of the Lord as they are called xi Deut. 7. which Chapter be pleased to reade unto that verse which were eminent tokens that GOD had taken the◠to be a peculiar or speciall people to himself as he frequently speaks and was able to fulfill his word to their Forefathers of giving them the Land wherein they were then strangers for their inheritance Just such as this is our case whom He hath called by his Son to an inheritance incorruptible and that fadeth not away reserved i◠heaven for us To obtain an eternall Redemption for us and deliver us out of the hands of all our enemies his own most precious BLOUD was shed as of a Lamb without spot or blemish Whereby also as you have heard he testified to the World that he was no Deceiver but came to them from God with the words of Eternall Life Many things concurred to make this BLOUD a witness of his Truth and of his power to fulfill his own promises And yet notwithstanding this was the very thing that offended many and kept them from following him They could not endure so much as to hear him speak of giving them his flesh to eat and his bloud to drink though he told them thereby he would give life to the World And therefore to strengthen this Testimony of his BLOUD and to convince them evidently that he was the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the World and gives life to it there was another Witness which attended it both before his BLOUD was shed and likewise afterward which was the SPIRIT That is as I shewed in the former Treatise on this subject the power he had to work wonders and the miraculous power which raised him from the dead and presented him to God in the heavens This was abundantly sufficient to prevent any offence they might take at Christ crucified and to settle in their hearts an unmovable belief that he was their mighty Redeemer who would bring them to the eternall Rest which he had promised For this is the last and greatest argument which St. John here produces ver 6. He came no◠onely by WATER but by BLOVD also and it is the SPIRIT that beareth witness for the SPIRIT is the Truth Or as Arias Montanus translates it the SPIRIT is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Witness that undoubted testimony on which we may certainly rely For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that SPIRIT which I speak of is truth an◠infallible Witness which cannot deceive you that Jesus is the Son of God And so it is likewise that Eternall Life is in him and that we shall enjoy it by his means for this RECORD of God is given to make us as sure of the one as we are of the other Let us briefly therefore consider first what his Miracles say to this and then secondly what force there is in his Resurrection and Exaltation to prove it I. And at our entrance upon the first of these let us before we go any farther weigh those words of this Apostle St. John in his Gospell xx 30 31. where he tells us that he wrote the signs which Jesus did suppose after his Resurrection in the presence of his disciples for this very purpose that they might believe that he was the Christ the Son of God and that believing they might have LIFE through his Name They were wrought by Him and recorded by his Disciples for these two ends that the World might be convinced He was the great Lord of all and that they might by faithfull subjecttion to him look for Eternall Life from his omnipotent love It was the design of all his wonderfull works throughout his whole life to which the Apostle may have respect as well as to those after his Resurrection to perswade men to believe that he would make his followers so happy For by these he manifested forth his glory as I observed before of the beginning of his Miracles in Cana of Galilee ii Joh. 11. and declared to the world he could work as great a change upon our mortall bodies as he did then upon the Water making them as much nobler then they are now as the Water excelled it self when it was become Wine They were mighty instances of his Power and of his Goodness too they made him appear to be the King of Israel who was to deliver and bring Salvation to them though much greater then they expected That our Lord did work Miracles is a truth which they that crucified him can no more deny then that he died The wisest of them could never find any colour to affirm that the Gospel-story was but a fabulous Legend which related Wonders that were never done For if they had been able to say this Maimonides the very best of them would not have been put to such distress as to let fall these words which we reade in his Treatise of Kings Cap. xi Do not imagine that the King Messiah shall have any need to work wonders or alter the course of Nature or restore the dead to life again with such like things that fools talk of Had he not known as well that these things could not be denied which are related of Jesus as he did that their force to prove any thing being granted they would be an unanswerable testimony to him he would never have thus slighted as he doth in many other Books things of this nature which brought the greatest reputation to Moses among their ancestours and were the cause why they believed on him though he attempted no such wonder as the raising dead men to life again Our Saviour he was not ignorant very often appealed to his works as the testimony of God to him and thought it sufficient to tell John's disciples when they came to inquire who he was that he opened blind mens eyes cleansed lepers and raised up the dead by which they might answer their own question And therefore something was to be said by this Jew to disparage these upon which he saw the credit of our Saviour in great part relied Now had it not been the readiest way to deny that there were such Miracles wrought Nothing but the notoriousness of the facts made him wave that course which drove him upon this wretched shift of denying utterly that Miracles are credible witnesses to him that works them By this means he thought to rob our Saviour of the glory they brought him and was so blind as not to see that at the same time he took away from his own Master the greatest support he had of his Authority And therefore herein he is deserted by his own Country-men particularly by Abarbinel who as I observed before makes the power of working Miracles one of the principall gifts of the Messiah In which our Lord it is apparent to his very enemies was so eminent that one cannot imagine why he did not believe on him unless with the
many Ages the sweet society of some good Friends in pure love and innocent conversation But hark He tells us we shall live with him and see his Glory and be with his Son Jesus and reign together with him in his heavenly Kingdom and be equall to the Angels and enter into the joy of our Lord and continue with him for ever What manner of love is this that we should be called the Sons of God and being like him behold him as he is Where is our love whither is it run after what is it wandred if it be not here ready to acknowledge this kindness in making us such great such exceeding great and precious promises Ah me that we should have lost our selves so much as not to find our affections forward to meet such a love as this with the highest transport of joy When our hearts so abound with love that we have enough for every thing in the world when there is not a pretty bird or a dog but we have some to spare for it have we none at all for our Lord God for LOVE it self for that Love which hath so loved us Ah blessed Jesus that thou shouldst be pleased to doe so much for those whose hearts thou knewest to be so cold that they would scarce be warmed with the brightest beams of thine inconceivable love How shall we excuse our selves to thee that our Souls are still so frozen after thou the Sun of righteousness hast shone so long so powerfully upon us Let us consider are we fed with a mere fancy do we live onely in a pleasing dream or are we left in doubt of the truth of these things and hang in such suspence that we know not what to think of them No such matter neither He hath compleated his kindness by giving us a Certainty and full assurance of those things which are revealed to us in his Gospell Here are WITNESSES of the highest quality to attest the truth of his Love by whom we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true c. This is the true God and Eternall Life And as if one or two were not sufficient here are six Witnesses come to tell us how he loves us Heaven and Earth conspire to draw our hearts to be love of him who hath not onely given us exceeding great Promises but exceeding great Certainty that they are all true and faithfull He knew very well they would seem incredible being as much beyond all our thoughts as they are beyond our deserts And therefore he took care to give us such evidences of their truth as should not merely work in us belief but a full assurance of faith By Himself by his Word by the Holy Ghost by the Water the Bloud and the Spirit we are so many ways rooted and grounded in this perswasion that we cannot but see we are doubly beholden to his infinite bounty first for such exceeding great and precious promises and then for as wonderfully great confirmation of them to our unspeakable and endless comfort And are we not yet apprehensive of his love Doth it not yet feelingly touch our hearts but leave us indifferent whether we will love him or not Ah fools that we are who must be sent to school to those brute creatures mentioned before to teach us better nature and better manners How do our very dogs as I have said elsewhere follow us and fawn upon us for a crust of bread how close do they keep to us how ready are they to defend us and our houses and all belonging to us Even when we are dead some of them have been known not to forsake their Masters for any other And what is all this service for but such things as we have no use of or make no account of our selves O blessed God! who can endure to stay so long as to hear this applied to himself before he learn to love thee I see whither this lesson tends I behold already how shamefull it is to dispose of my heart away from thee Thou hast given us thine own dear Son What a gift how great a boon Thou hast promised us eternall life How invaluable a possession Thou hast given us good hopes and strong consolation What an excessive kindness Shall we not devote our selves to thee shall we not forsake all and follow thee whithersoever thou wilt lead us We cannot refuse we must resolve to surrender our hearts intirely to thee We should be worse then Dogs should we not with all our minds and soul and strength love that transcendent goodness which by the most miraculous demonstrations hath perswaded us that we shall live eternally with himself and enjoy the everlasting fruits of his infinite love This is the most comfortable news that could possibly arrive from heaven Should we have had our own wishes nothing greater nothing so great could have entred into our hearts desire This sweetens the bitterness of all afflictions and this heightens all our joys when we hope the one shall shortly but the other shall never end Plutarch deservedly blamed Epicurus of great incogitancy who making all happiness consist in Pleasure denied the state of the future life which it is the greatest pleasure to hope for and expect Nothing casts such a damp upon all a man's enjoyments here as the cold thoughts of an endless death seizing on his heart He cannot but sigh to think that shortly there must be a finall period put to all his delights As on the contrary this gives life and spirit to them if he can think they shall be improved and perpetuated for ever And therefore how much do we owe to the love of God who hath given us assurance even of the Resurrection of our body to an immortall life and told us it shall be so far from being lost by going to the grave that like Seed it shall rise again quite another thing then it was when cast into the ground no longer weak contemptible corruptible and mortall but powerfull spirituall glorious incorruptible and immortall and consequently capable of purer more spritely and more lasting pleasures then now it injoys O how much more comfortable is this opinion then that of the Epicurean as Tertullian excellently speaks * De Testimonio animae c. iv which vindicates thee from destruction How much more seemly then the Pythagorean which doth not send thee into beasts How much more full then the Platonicall which restores even thy body as a new dowry to thee O tast and see how gracious the Lord is Bonum Deum novimus solum optimum à Christo ejus addiscimus * Id. De Resurrectione carnis cap. ix We knew God was good before but so most excellently good we learn onely from his Christ who bidding us next him to love our Neighbour doth that himself which he expects from us He loves even our body which is so many ways of kin to him II.
the victory by mere railing at his enemy but as the Apostle speaks 2 Tim. ii 3 c. endures hardness and entangles not himself with the affairs of this life And it is the labouring husbandman as it there follows who partakes of the fruits All things in the world as Solomon saith are full of labour And do we think that our Souls onely are exempted and may be saved by doing nothing that Vertue will grow there without our care or that an eternall harvest of joy will spring up to us without labouring to doe vertuously It is a great shame to say it but such are the hopes of foolish men who are perfectly like the Israelites of whom God says x. Hos 11. Ephraim is an heifer that is taught to plow but loveth onely to tread out the corn That is as D. Kimchi glosses they were taught the Law and instructed to doe good but minded nothing else but merely to enjoy the promises in a fat and fruitfull Land which God had given them Let such remember for a story sometimes sticks longer in their minds then the greatest reason what a Wise man among the Jews said to a Friend of his whom he met exceeding sad and dejected about some affairs which went cross to his designs What 's the matter said he that thou goest so heavily doth any thing of this world trouble thee Yes said the other And what hast thou got said the Wise man again by all thy care solicitude and vexation Alas replied his Friend thou seest by my troubled countenance how little I have got Then said the Wise man consider if of this World which thou hast followed with such diligence thou hast got so little what art thou like to get of the other World which thou mindest not at all A very good Meditation for those who after all their labour and thoughtfulness are like to leave no great matters to their posterity and for those whose greatest cunning and industry is not able to bring about their ends And it may lead us to another profitable Meditation how unequall we are in our dealing while we lay out so many thoughts and so much labour upon things we are not sure to obtain and so few and so little upon those which as sure as God is true shall be the portion of them that diligently seek them The Souldier is not sure to win the victory after all the hardship he has endured And the frost may nip and the bitter winds blast the laborious Husbandman's fairest hopes There is no design save onely that we have for Heaven but after our best diligence may miscarry What madness then is it thus to misplace our endeavours by imploying them so seriously about those things which frequently avoid us and fly from us in the mean time neglecting those of infinite more value which earnestly court us and are desirous to bestow themselves upon us But there is no need of so many words to awaken our thoughts to judge aright in these matters And yet this is all we have to doe for our Salvation when we believe the Gospell to think often what we believe and expect to receive from the bounty of Heaven II. Which if every one did it might spare me the labour of asking again whether we think in our conscience it is any great matter God demands of us when he bids us if we will obtain eternall life obey his will revealed to us by Christ Jesus Review the Christian Doctrine a brief account of which I gave in the former Book Chap. v. and when you have seen all that you are to doe or to deny and suffer for righteousness sake consider to what it will amount If we take it comparatively and cast it into the scales against immortall Life and the weight of Glory it will presently seem so little light and inconsiderable that we shall not think it worth the speaking of But let us wave that advantage and onely consider every thing in it self absolutely 1. What great matter is it that we find God expects we should doe for him Had he bid us govern the World and rule the Nations of the earth he had set us a difficult task indeed But when he requires us onely to govern our selves to set in order our affections and to subdue our unruly passions which give us no small trouble and expose us to great danger what a reasonable demand is this and upon what easie terms does he offer Eternall life We might have complained if he had but required every one of us to be rich and to get great estates much more if he had expected we should be Philosophers and be able to give an account of the secrets of Nature and resolve all the questions we meet withall about the air and the water and the rest of the Elements But when he onely bids us be content with our portion and stay for what his wisedom will dispense to us and make a sober use of it and be so wise as to acknowledge him in all things and to discern good from evill and live vertuously in the enjoyment of him and of our selves and give a reasonable account of all our actions one may well wonder what men would have God to say if they call this a very heavy burthen But what if he should command us with Abraham to offer up an onely Son or to feed all our life upon bread and water or with the Anchorets dig our graves in the wilderness and have no other tools but our nails to doe it should we not think it very hard though we cannot say as we may of the former that it is impossible And yet comparatively speaking Heaven would be a great bargain after all this What a purchace then is it when he calls for no Sacrifice but that of our own bodies which we are to present him holy chast and pure with true devotion and humility of spirit together with the sacrifice of praise continually giving thanks unto him for all his benefits and not forgetting to doe good and to communicate which are all reasonable services and sacrifices with which God is well pleased xii Rom. 1. xiii Heb. 15 16. At what lower rate can Eternall life be set then this that we will not be unreasonable When will we be pleased if it will not satisfie us to know that God will give us Eternall life provided we will live soberly and be gratefull to him who is the giver of all good things and doe to others as we would that they should doe to us Is God beholden to us when we accept of these terms of Salvation They that imagine this too great a mortification and that they doe some mighty matter when they take this course to go to heaven must mortifie that conceit or it is not likely they will come thither 2. But let us proceed to consider what it is we must deny and suffer to attain this Felicity and see to what the reckoning will come If