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
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
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
When the LXX Elders were to receive a portion of Moses his Spirit God ordered them to be brought unto the Tabernacle of the Congregation and says he would come down and talk with Moses there and take of the Spirit which was upon him and put it upon them xi Numb 16 17. Accordingly you read ver 24. that as they stood round about the Tabernacle the Lord came down in a cloud ver 25. that is in such a manner as now the Holy Ghost descended at our Lord's Baptism But He came not down upon them who were about the Tabernacle but rather as in the next story xii 5. and at other times stood in the door of the Tabernacle from whence he spake to Moses and took of the Spirit which was on him and gave it to the seventy Elders Whereas here the Holy Ghost came down in a visible glory and pitched upon Jesus himself who was the Tabernacle now where God chose to dwell For this Schekinah as you have heard or Divine majesty not only lighted on him but rested there and remained in him as if God had told him who saw it both descend and abide on him Here will I dwell for ever for therein do I delight This demonstrated him to be more than any ever was not merely a great Prophet but the very Son of God Never was there such a Crown prepared for any mans head but his Never before did the hand of Heaven put such a Diadem of Glory upon any person as this which encircled and as I may say was bound about our Saviour This can be accounted nothing less than the testimony of the HOLY GHOST to him that he was the Holy one of God the anointed from above the King of God's people and the heir of all things Thus S. Peter you know expresses the honour which was now done him when he tells Cornelius and his company x. Acts 38. that God ANOINTED him with the Holy Ghost and with power The HOLY GHOST came down as an holy oil from the Heavenly Sanctuary which being poured on him in such a glorious Majesty gave him authority to be called the Son of God and made him his King So John Baptist acknowledged him you remember as soon as he beheld this strange sight and bare record of it unto others that this person thus anointed was the Son of God i. John 34. He was now invested with a royal power for that 's the meaning of his being ANOINTED and we ought I shall show you to look upon this as a solemn inauguration of him in his Kingdom to which he had now a title given him together with some part of a Kingly Authority And if there be any truth in the Traditions of the Hebrews concerning their own Ceremonies there was something remarkable in it that this ANOINTING him with the holy oil from above was immediately after he came up out of the waters of Jordan For Maimonides and the Doctors in the Talmud tell us that they never anointed a King of the house of David but at the side of a Fountain or of a River of water Which was the reason that David commanded his servants to bring his son Solomon down to GIHON 1 Kings i. 33. and there anoint him King over Israel For this GIHON was a little River as R. Solomon there notes or the head of a River nigh Jerusalem which discharged it self into the brook Kidron and in the Chaldee Paraphrase is called by the newer name of Siloah It was made very famous afterward by that memorable work of Hezekiah 2 Chron. xxxii 30. who to take away the advantage any Enemy might make of it in a siege stopt up the course of its water and brought it by Chanels under-ground into the City of David At this place without the walls of Jerusalem not in the City Zadok and Nathan anointed King Solomon That is one of them poured out the oil and the other anointed his head drawing a circle with the oil upon it For so they all say that Kings were anointed in the form of a Crown to denote the royal dignity Which if it be true and that they made choice of such a place to show as they will have it the perpetuity of their Kingdom because Rivers run alway though the Cities which stand by them decay and may be demolished then it is very observable that our Lord was ANOINTED or Crowned with the Holy Ghost by the River JORDAN rather than in any other place to denote him indeed to be the King of Israel who should sit upon the throne of his Father David as the Angel said for ever and ever But this I mention only by the way The chief thing to be noted is that now he began to reign and entred upon his Kingdom called the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven which John Baptist told them was at hand For this descent of the HOLY GHOST in such a visible majesty did not merely give him a title to the Divine Kingdom which was to be erected by him in the world and assured him that he was God's Christ or ANOINTED that is his King and endued him with such royal qualities as fitted him for that office But it made him a King by conferring several branches of the Regal power on him and by giving him authority to exercise them in the world It is true indeed he did not actually take possession of his Kingdom nor exercise his royal power completely and the time of his inthroning was deferred till he had accomplished the will of God other ways and by the suffering of death was crowned with glory and honour in the Heavens But that he did not act only as a Prophet all his life-time but likewise took upon him the person of a King or acted as a Royal Prophet doing many things which only the royal Authority could do is a most manifest Truth in the Holy story Which cannot be better explained than by the parallel case of his Father David who was the exact type and figure of him He was anointed by Samuel some years before he sate upon the throne of the Lord. But as that Unction was the designation of him to the royal dignity and a pawn or pledge of the possession of it in due time so ever after he atchieved very great things which spoke him to be the person designed by God for his Kingdom as it is called I told you 2 Chron. ix 8. and he also received some portion of it before he enjoyed it all entirely 2 Sam. ii 4.9 v. 3. Just thus did our blessed Saviour after he was ANOINTED with the Holy Ghost give several proofs that he was a King which is the meaning you have heard of the word CHRIST and had received some of the power belonging to that high office For first he cast out Devils and cured all diseases at any time when he pleased only with his powerful word and for nothing Which were Acts of such royal bounty
if he could not find him guilty of death according to the Roman Laws yet by their Law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God This was to make a new Process against him and to forsake the former endictment which accused him of Treason against Caesar Now they make him guilty of Treason against Almighty God and seem to lay hold of a Licence which Pilate had given them before xviii John 31. to take him and judge him according to their Law which pronounced the sentence of death upon him But as they add there they had no power remaining among them to execute such a sentence and therefore implore his favour to help them out and to punish capitally this high crime of blasphemy which as things stood they could only condemn And though they might be willing enough to understand his words just now spoken when he said Take ye him and crucifie him to be really meant for an enlargement of his former grant and to give them liberty to execute their own sentence yet it was more than they could do they must be beholden to his power for it They were extremely desirous it appears by the story to have him crucified for his greater disgrace but this was a punishment proper only to the Gentiles and never used among the Jews and therefore that they might neither act against the customs of their Country nor yet let him escape that ignominious punishment they continue to beg of Pilate that he would pronounce the sentence of crucifixion upon him and then command his souldiers to see it executed for saying that he was the Son of God When Pilate therefore heard this xix John 8. that he called himself the Son of God which the Jews took for blasphemy it put him into a greater fear than ever He imagining I suppose according to the opinion of the Gentiles that he might possibly be some Son of Jupiter or Apollo or some other of their Deities And therefore he went back again into the Palace ver 9. and askt our Saviour Whence art thou To which our Saviour replied nothing either because he was unworthy to hear or uncapable to understand so weighty a Truth This put him into some indignation for he asked him again with arrogance enough ver 10. Dost thou not speak to me knowest thou not who I am and that I have power either to crucifie thee or release thee which I please To which he received such an answer ver 11. as satisfied him that whatsoever power he had he should abuse it though not so much as the Jews did theirs if he imployed it to his condemnation For from thenceforth ver 12. he laboured more than before to release him whose innocence modesty constancy and contempt of death were so apparent But being told that if he did it would be in effect to declare himself Caesars enemy as you read in the same verse He had not the courage to befriend our Saviour any longer but resolves at last to sacrifice him to their rage that he might save himself For the very suspicion of a crime he knew had been the ruine of divers persons with Tiberius who would not want informers he imagined of what was now said He thought it better therefore by the condemnation of an innocent person such are the counsels of worldly wisdom to preserve his interest in the Emperor and in the Jews and perchance prevent a popular tumult than hazard the loss of their favour and of the publick peace by preserving one who was poor and mean and for whose death he was not like to be called to any account nor incur any danger But yet so pure and free from all spot was this Lamb of God he would not pronounce the sentence against him till he had first in as publick a manner pronounced him innocent and washed his hands of his bloud For he took water says S. Matthew xxvii 24. and washed his hands before the multitude saying I am innocent of the bloud of this just person see ye to it This very WATER as well as the other I have mentioned was a witness to Jesus that his very Judge thought him guiltless though he had openly confessed himself to be the Son of God If it had been left to his free choice he should have been acquitted even by him that condemned him He had such a regret in his mind at that very time when he brought him forth to pass the sentence upon him that he tries again if he could move those obdurate hearts from their cruel resolution saying xix John 13 14. Behold your King That is say what you will this is your King whom I am going because you will not else be satisfied to condemn Or else this is spoken by way of upbraiding and derision that they should make such a do about so poor a man as this who had no power to do any harm if he had a mind Why should they desire so eagerly and impatiently to be rid of him If he was their King how could they answer it if he were not what hurt could he do But the former seems to be the sence of his words for the Jews turned away their heads and cried out Away with him away with him crucifie him ver 15. As much as to say This is none of our King we have nothing to do with him And therefore they would not have him trouble himself about their affairs any further than only to order him to be crucified Let him not be so much concerned for them or for their King they would look to themselves as he had bidden them and be content to bear all the blame if their King were crucified They did not desire any of the guilt should light upon him No for their part they declare they will perfectly acquit him and take all upon themselves and theirs So all the People answered and said His blood be on us and on our Children xxvii Matth. 25. And yet as if he would vie with them in pertinacious resolution so sensible he was of his innocence he desires them once more to consider of the business and not thus rashly destroy him whom they ought to preserve What says he Shall I crucifie your King xix Joh. 15. To which the chief Priests immediately returned such an answer as stopt his mouth and made him not dare to speak one word more in his behalf And indeed it is a great wonder he had said so much considering his natural disposition which if we may believe Philo * Legation ad Caium was so fierce and cruel that he little regarded any body or cared what crimes he committed Strange that he should be so nice and tender in this point So extremely unwilling to pass sentence on our Saviour a Man that had not one friend appeared for him that nothing could make him do it till they reminded him of his duty to his Master saying We have i. e. acknowledge no King but
not here proving Jesus Christ to be a true man consisting of Body and Soul like ours and that this Body and Soul were so separated that he was really dead but something far greater and more excellent viz. that he was God's Son which the Water and Bloud that came out of his side were no competent argument to prove That Water and Bloud therefore if they have any relation to these Witnesses here mentioned were only emblems and adumbrations of these two grand Proofs of our Saviours being the CHRIST viz. his PURITY and innocence which appeared in his whole preaching and life to which the Water bears a resemblance and his constant confession of the truth even unto the DEATH which was lively represented by that Bloud These two flowed from him with such force that they have overspread the world with his Faith and the knowledge of the glory of the Lord hath covered the Earth even like to the waters which cover the Sea 2. The second Observation is That they who by apostasie from the Faith of Jesus denied him to be the CHRIST after they had acknowledged it are said to tread under foot the Son of God and to count his BLOUD an unholy thing x. Heb. 29. Which expression could not be justified if the Apostles had not lookt upon his Bloud as an unreproveable Witness to him For the meaning is that those men who fell back to their old Religion again and deserted Christianity made nothing of the Testimony which God had given of his Son As for his Resurrection they did not give any credit to that though so strongly attested but TROD UNDER FOOT the Son of God as if he lay still in his grave and as for his Bloud which was shed at his Death they look'd upon that as if it were but COMMON BLOUD so the word UNHOLY may be taken or rather as if it were the bloud of a malefactor which may be properly called impure and unholy Which is the reason that he says they shall be judged worthy of sorer punishment than the contemners of Moses because these men in effect made Jesus who was infinitely greater than He to be a mere Impostor a false Prophet and a Blasphemer who had done things worthy of the vilest death They justified those that murdered him and crucified the Son of God afresh as it is in a parallel place vi Hebr. 6. by disowning him and denying that he was the CHRIST For this was to acknowledge that he was justly put to death for taking upon him that office and that if he were upon Earth again they saw no reason why they should not treat him as the Jews had done This was the sence of every Christians apostasie it renewed the charge of imposture against Jesus and put him as the Apostle there speaks to open shame They did as bad as publickly declare him to be a deceiver and that he deserved to lose his life in that infamous manner wherein he suffered upon the Cross For which cause such vilifiers of Jesus deserved to partake in that judgment and fiery indignation which he says was ready to devour the adversaries ver 27. that is those who actually crucified Christ and now persecuted his servants for they had his BLOUD in the same contempt and made no more of it than of the bloud of one of the Thieves that were crucified with him Now from hence it follows that his BLOUD testified his innocence as I have shown and was look'd upon by others as well as by S. John to be a witness that he was the Son of God Else they could not have been guilty of so great a crime and faln under such an heavy punishment who despised his Bloud and were no more moved by it than if it had been common like the bloud of other men nay relinquished him as if his bloud had been profane like that of the malefactors who suffered with him This was their condemnation that they cast such a vile reflection on that bloud which heretofore they thought so powerful that thereby they were SANCTIFIED that is perswaded to devote themselves to his service as the only means to obtain remission of their sins which they had by his Bloud This is a sign that they look'd upon it once not only as a thing most sacred but also most powerful to make men believe in Jesus And this increased the sin and guilt of dishonouring his Bloud by Apostasie because it was of great authority and force to draw men to the Faith and to preserve them in it which by forsaking the Faith it confirmed they made to be of no efficacy nor consideration at all Moses his Covenant and Law were sealed only by the bloud of Bulls and Goats and yet those men suffered death without mercy as the Apostle here observes who either fell away to other gods or did any thing presumptuously in contempt of his precepts By which we may judge says he what they are like to suffer a much sorer punishment sure who renounce the Christian Religion which was confirmed by a much greater person and by a more noble bloud even by the bloud of the Mediator of this better Covenant Who did more than Moses ever thought of to attest what he delivered and to prove that he came from God and that all his promises should be made good for he sealed them with his own bloud and therefore might justly expect that men should prove more faithful to him and remain firmer in his obedience at least not be so presumptuous as to despise him by reproaching his precious Bloud Now if his Bloud was not an argument to induce men to believe and to continue in the state of Christianity they could not be charged with such disrespect to it when they left this Religion nor be punished for the undervaluing or rather scorning that which was of no force to tye them to the Faith But if they were guilty of great contempt of it and were to suffer sorely extream sorely upon this account that they gave no more reverence to his bloud then we ought to conclude the Apostles thought it of great efficacy to engage their belief and make them constantly adhere to Christ by the witness that it bare to him Which testimony together with the rest those apostates plainly rejecting they became liable to a far heavier condemnation than any formerly could fall into for affronting Christ and all those who were his Witnesses In short they who did not look upon his bloud as Holy must condemn him for a Malefactor But they that did confess the sacredness of it which appears many ways must needs acknowledge him not to have been a Criminal as the Jews pretended but the Son of God as at his death he professed himself A PRAYER I DO again acknowledge thee O blessed Jesus to be the Son of God most High I behold thy Glory shining through the blackest cloud of thy shameful sufferings Then thou appearedst to be the chosen of God
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
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
study and labour with these the Devil baits his hooks to catch Souls and they who do not bite at one will be nibling at another They that are not tempted by the first to gluttony and drunkenness fornication and such like filthiness feel the second perhaps incline them to covetousness and the sordid love of Money with a thirst and greediness of another kind Or if they can escape and despise these they may notwithstanding be in danger to be carried away with the humor of prodigality and affectation of vain-glory or ambition of Dignities which is attended with emulation envy and other dangerous Vices As the African Beast which some write of is caught with Musick and suffers its feet to be fettered while it listens to the Lessons that are play'd to it So do the generality of Mankind let their Souls be insnared and led into a miserable captivity by the inchanting voice of pleasure riches or glory Whilst they hearken to the bewitching melody which some of these court them withall they are taken in the mighty Hunter's net and become a prey to him that lurks for Souls and seek whom he may devour And it has not been in the power of the wisest Charmers that ever were in the World to open the eares of the most of men and to convey the sense of better things into them All the Philosophy and Learning that was so famous in former Ages could never obtain such numerous chearful and obedient Auditors as the Syren Songs which these three sing in Mens cares have always sound When the World therefore by that wisdome knew not God it pleased God says S. Paul 1 Cor. i. 21. by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe The faith of Christ directs and disposes us to avoid all those dangerous rocks on which they split themselves who listen to those deceitful Songs Now that the Son of God is come He pulls our feet out of the net and by his far more powerful charms so stops our ears to those inchantments that there is no entrance for them any more It seemed a foolish thing indeed to the World to believe that the crucified Jesus was the Son of God but where this simple faith prevailed it did more than all the wisdome of the World was able to effect before For it gave them a new understanding and saved them from perishing by making them account it the greatest pleasure and glory and treasures to follow Jesus and do the will of God as he did The World they saw passeth away and the lust thereof if they do not leave us we must at last leave them but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever So those three Heavenly witnesses the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost assure us whose voice as it is most sweet and melodious so it is most powerful to disinchant us and to preserve those who receive their testimony from all the bewitching temptations of those other three the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life Nay here are two Threes of infinitely greater vertue and efficacy to prevail with us than all that the WORLD'S Trinity can offer to us if we will but open our ears and diligently listen to their voice And how can we choose but listen when the Father of Heaven calls to us so graciously when the Word opens his secrets to us and the Holy-Ghost proclaims such an abundant love of God towards us The Water the Bloud the Spirit they also with one consent conspire with those and all together sing this New Song THE SON OF GOD IS COME the Son of God is come This one note of theirs more ravishes than all the pleasures and satisfactions which the WORLD infatuates its followers withall Heaven and Earth cannot speak any thing more moving in our ears than this which again and again salutes them with new joy For what would you have them say would it please you to hear that Infinite Goodness loves us that the Heavens stand open to us and show us their glory that God is willing to receive us up thither that he will make us Heirs of a Kingdom equal with the Angels to hear their Songs and joyn with that Celestial Quire Behold they are all included in this one sentence THE SON OF GOD IS COME GOD HATH GIVEN US HIS SON This is the sweetest Aire that can touch our eares this we can never be weary to hear this strikes our souls if we understand it so gratefully that we cannot but say let us hear that again And therefore after the Father the Word and the Holy-Ghost have blest our ears with this joyful sound here are three more that take it up and repeat it to us with the strongest assurances that we hear the Voice of God himself And the oftner we listen to them and lend them our attention the more frequently I mean we think upon the reasons we have to believe in Jesus the more deaf shall we grow to all the sinful allurements of this World how inviting soever before they have been For my part I think there is more real satisfaction in the very understanding of this one place of Holy Scripture than in all the delights of worldly men What is there I beseech you consider in all their sensualities comparable to the rational gust of what is contained in that one voice of the Father THIS IS MY WELL BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED What Riches are there to be equalled with this treasure of Divine knowledge that God hath bestowed his own Son upon us What honour like to this to be preferred to be the Friends yea the Sons of God Can you hear any thing so delicious as that voice of the WORD To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life in the midst of the Paradise of God ii Rev. 7. Were there ever any Jewels so precious as the inestimable gifts wherewithall the Holy Ghost hath inriched the Church what Musick is there fit to bear a part with those Hymns and Psalms and spiritual Songs that it inspired the hearts of Christians withall Doth it not even ravish the heart of a pious man to think of them though he do not hear the like in these days What is there in all the broken Cisterns of this World that tastes like the Rivers of living Water that Jesus hath poured out unto us What peace does it speak to us like that which by the Bloud of Jesus is purchased for us Or what power is there in any of this Worlds temptation that can stand before the voice of that SPIRIT which says COME and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely xxii Rev. 17. Certainly in the strength of such a faith so fortified so incouraged by all these Witnesses we may easily tread the WORLD under our feet and make its most mighty temptations crouch to us whereas now for want of this solid faith we
flesh armed what might which thou hast given to grass and hay As well may a butterfly think of mounting up to heaven or a flower attempt to pluck up a cedat as we poor wretches conceive a thought of effecting such wonderfull things This sure signifies that men are very dear to God or else he would not thus dwell among them It may well make us believe there is nothing so great nothing so glorious promised by Jesus but he will work it for us having already transformed us into such noble creatures As Manoah's wife said to him xiii Judg. 23. If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands neither would he have shewed us such things as these so might they in this case say and with greater advantage then she If the Lord would let us still remain under the power of death he would not have given such gifts into our hands for that is more then to receive the poor oblations we make to him nor would he have revealed such secrets to us He would not have sent us the spirit of wisedom and knowledge nor raised us to the degree of prophecy nor put new tongues into our mouths to declare his wonderfull works nor made all diseases submit to our word All which gifts with divers others they had reason to look upon as the earnest of the Spirit and the Seal of the Holy Ghost whereby they had an assurance given them as I hope to shew elsewhere of the everlasting inheritance which Jesus hath promised in the heavens For they demonstrated that He who had power thus to alter and advance mean men and to make them Stuporem mundi the wonder and amazement of the world could also give that Life which he had promised by that very power which they felt already working in them And they also made it evident 6. that he would bestow it For there is no more reason that he should thus bestow the Holy Ghost at present then that he should hereafter give us Eternall Life His faithfull promise is the security for both our hopes are built upon that sure foundation If there be any difference between the ground there is for one more then the other the advantage lies on the side of the hope of Eternall Life Which there is more reason now that he should give us then there was for giving the Holy Ghost even because he hath already done so much for his Church and there is more reason we should expect it because as I said before we have seen a remarkable instance of his fidelity in pouring out such rivers of living water when he sent the Spirit which he promised And here it comes to my mind in xi Isa that another Wonder which Abarbinell says the Messiah shall work at his coming is a Miracle like that of dividing the Red sea when Israel came out of Egypt Which he endeavours to prove from xi Isa 15. The Lord shall utterly destroy or dry up the tongue of the Egyptian Sea c. that is says he of Nile the great River of Egypt This our Lord hath done more excellently then they imagine For it was nothing near so great a wonder that Israel should be baptized into Moses in the Sea as it was that the people who followed Jesus should be baptized into him with the Holy Ghost poured down upon them from heaven The passing through the Sea and the Cloud to boot was not such a certain argument that Moses would bring them out of the great affliction wherein they had been plung'd and lead them to Canaan their rest and inheritance as these rivers of living water the gifts of the Holy Ghost and the admirable effects thereof filling the world with the Glory of the Lord were an undeniable proof to those who were under its conduct that Jesus was the person who would lead them to a better rest in a more heavenly Country which flows with far sweeter delights then milk and hony This did as it were dip their souls into this belief and made them sensible that Jesus is the Authour of Eternall Salvation far more then the Sea it self could baptize their forefathers into Moses i.e. persuade them that he was the Prophet of God who would deliver them and bring them to the peaceable enjoyments they desired And therefore I observe after the Jews who quarrelled at St. Peter's preaching to the Gentiles were satisfied that the Holy Ghost was faln upon them even as upon themselves they had no more to say but this then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life xi Act. 18. This they lookt upon as the beginning of God's favour and loving-kindness to them which would conclude in nothing less then the ETERNALL LIFE of which we are discoursing And so this very Apostle St. John after he had put the Disciples in mind of the UNCTION they had received and exhorted them to continue in that Doctrine which it taught Chap. ii of this Epistle 20 24. immediately adds that this is the promise which he hath promised us even Eternall Life ver 25. Which was as much as to say that the Vnction by the HOLY GHOST had so perfectly instructed them in the certainty of this great happiness that it was sufficient to move them to abide in the Doctrine of Jesus none being able to teach them better or to put them in hope of any thing greater then this ETERNALL LIFE which he promised and by the HOLY GHOST assured It is true indeed which some are forward to object that we in these days see not such evidences as those Believers had the Holy Ghost not inhabiting thus in every one of our Souls as it did in theirs Nor is there the like reason it should we being ingaged in no such hard services as theirs which stood in need to be incouraged with the strongest hopes of a glorious reward They were in deaths often as St. Paul speaks and therefore were in danger to faint without a most lively gust of immortall Life The whole World was their enemy and with the greatest rage oppos'd their preaching which required a clearer sight of the World to come and a more sensible descent of invisible powers for their assistence and support From whence we also derive no small benefit because the more sensible demonstration they had of it the firmer grounds of hope are laid for us whose faith relies upon their testimony and the power of the HOLY GHOST in them This is sufficient to hearten us in our duty that our Lord hath given to those whose testimony we have the greatest reason to believe such visible and palpable evidences of his being alive and of his intentions to quicken his servants to Life everlasting with himself Let us but heartily apply ourselves upon these grounds to live by the faith of the Son of God and we shall find the same Spirit that wrought in them operating in us
Amen CHAP. IX Concerning the Witnesses on Earth and first of the WATER YOU have seen already how many there are that solicit our affections and perswade us to believe in the Lord Jesus and heartily consent to him in whatsoever he requires So many that how we should deny him after He himself hath appeared so often with the promises of Eternall Life and the Father also and the Holy Ghost have commended him to us as the Prince of Peace and the Lord of Glory it is harder to give any reason then it is to prove that he is the Son of God and that in him is ETERNALL LIFE For as if these Witnesses were not sufficient or that we may be born down by numerous Testimonies there are Three more who are our Neighbours as I may say with whom we are well acquainted and whose witness none could ever deny that speak the very same thing and affirm it as strongly as the other that God hath given us Eternall Life and that it is in his Son Jesus Let us call them in too and hear what they say in the same order wherein we examined them before in the former business first taking the Testimony of the WATER then of the BLOUD and then of the SPIRIT Of the WATER BY Water I have shewn we are to understand either that Purity whereof it is the Instrument which was most eminent both in Christ's Doctrine and Life or else Baptism both John's and his own by which he appeared to be the Sâ—n of God Let us have so much patience as to hear all these once more and consider what they say to the point in hand I. And as for the Purity and Holiness of his Doctrine there is much in it to perswade us that he hath Life in himself and will bestow it upon his Followers Certain it is that 1. it naturally lifts up the Mind towards heaven and disposes those that entertain it to look for Eternall Life for which it is but a preparation For it teaches us to abstract our hearts from this Flesh wherewith we are cloathed and from this World wherein we live as not worthy of all those thoughts and that care which we are apt to bestow upon them The very intent and purpose of it we cannot but see is to wean our minds from earthly injoyments and to take off our affections from the pleasures of sense to make riches and the praise of men seem little things and to give us contentment with our portion of present goods though never so small in short â—o render us something like to God himself whilst we are at this distance from him What can any man make of this but that it is a preparation for another life an Institution which designs to form men and make them fit for an higher World Do but take a review of that Compendium which I have drawn of this Doctrine in my former Book and you will be satisfied that it is nothing else but a contrivance to make us heavenly and intends to guide us to such a Life as is a prevention of Heaven a beginning of the celestial state whereby we shall live in part as men of another World and not of this Which future World 2. it is manifest his heavenly Doctrine supposes or else it would be so far from that Wisedom which was eminent in him that it would be the greatest absurdity that can be imagined For it teaches us if his service require it to deny our selves even in the most innocent and lawfull injoyments of this life to forsake father and mother and houses and lands for his Name 's sake yea to lay down our very lives rather then forsake his Doctrine and violate his commands These are express Lessons which his Sermons teach his Disciples but are things so sublime so much above the reach of flesh and bloud that it would be the vainest thing in the world to propose them to mens observance without the hope of something in another life to reward such hard services He would have had no followers on these terms had he not made it as plain and evident as the rest of his Doctrine that He would be the Authour of Eternall Salvation to them that would obey him Men were not so fond of troubles and torments and death as to expose themselves to the danger of them if they had not seen the greatest reason to believe that their Master would recompense their present Sufferings with a future happiness so incomparably greater that it would be the highest folly to avoid them None can suppose the Authour of such a Religion to be so weak as not to understand that men would never embrace this profession unless at the same time that he called them to this high pitch of piety he called them also as the Apostle speaks to his kingdom and glory And therefore without all doubt our Lord took care to preach this as the principall thing and to give good assurance of a blessed state to come because without this it had been the most ungrounded and foolish undertaking that ever man went about to perswade the world to be so mortified to quit all present possessions and to part with their lives for his sake He must have been the most unreasonable of all other men in preaching such Doctrine and supposed the World void of all reason if he expected to have it believed had he not been certain himself and been able by evident proofs to perswade others that all those who hearkened to him should be no losers but exceeding great gainers by quitting all things upon his account If he had not held this truth in his hands as clear as the Sun that they who would follow him should be immortally happy he might have stretcht them out long enough before he had drawn so much as one follower after him The Trees would as soon have followed him as Men who would never have stirr'd a foot in such a narrow path unless he had shewn them plainly that it led to Everlasting Life Let us consider and illustrate this a little Would not he expose himself to laughter and scorn that should earnestly perswade his neighbours to go and labour hard in his fields all day by which they should get just nothing for their pains at night Would it not seem a piece of strange mockery and contempt of us and as strange a folly in him that should invite us to enter into his service which he confessed would make us sweat and ingage us in many toilsome imployments and when we inquired what wages he gave should be able to assure us never a farthing that lay in his power or will to bestow upon us Would they not be equally ridiculous he that should make and they that should embrace such a proposall Might not such a trifler expect rather to be kickt then to be followed by the multitude Should we not hear them expressing their indignation in such speeches as these What Do you take
that Holy men doubted not to call this Baptism a S. Cyprian epist ad Donatum ad Magnum the Water of Salvation the Water of Life and the immortall Nativity b Optatus L. v. Nay St. Augustine informs us that the Punick Christians called Baptism by no other name then SALVATION which he thought so proper that he ascribes it to an ancient and Apostolicall tradition c L. i. de Peccatorum merituis c. c. 24. And Paschasius calls it LIFE in his Book of the Body and bloud of our Lord where he says of those who died shortly after Baptism that post perceptam vitam after they were made partakers of life they in nothing declined from the way And for this they had the Authority of our Saviour who said after he was risen from the dead xvi Mark 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and shewed St. John xxii Rev. 1 2. a pure river of WATER OF LIFE clear as crystall running through the midst of the street * So Andraeas Caesar joyns the beginning of ver 2. to ver 1. of the new Jerusalem from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Which is a plain description of the place of Baptism appointed by God and our Saviour in the midst of Christian assemblies called Streets because they are the place of concourse for the purifying of the world and restoring us to Paradise again And he calls his Baptism WATER OF LIFE because it runs thither and there we begin to live * S. Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. de Spiritu S. c. x. and are admitted to the friendship of God and put in assured hope that the Life which then begins shall be continued to Eternall life It is usuall with the ancient Writers of Christianity to speak of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instauration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a transformation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a transfiguration of mens Souls in Baptism by which says St. Basil the Soul so glisters that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * in Psal xxix God forms it to himself to be as it were his Throne And so St. Cyprian testifies of himself in his Epistle to Donatus that though he was perplexed in so many errours as made him think he could never be rid of them and so led away by those vices which stuck close to him that despairing to doe better he began to favour them as things proper to him yet when he had received Baptism a light from above came streaming into him a celestiall breath repaired him into a new man and after a wonderfull manner he was confirmed in those things which seemed dubious and saw those things clearly which before were obscure and found a power to doe that which he judged not onely difficult but impossible Now this change which they felt in their thoughts desires and passions as soon as they were baptized was a powerfull argument to perswade them that they should as really rise from the dead and live eternally as they were now quickned when they lay dead in trespasses and sins to the life of God and true piety Which was the reason that they chose Easter rather then any other time as the most proper season for the receiving the grace of Baptism So the same St. Basil tells us that every day every hour every moment is a time for Baptism but there is none so fit as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exhortat ad Baptismum the more proper and peculiar season for it which is Easter-day For the day is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a memoriall of the Resurrection and Baptism is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a power granted us to rise again So that on the day of the Resurrection we should receive the grace of the Resurrection And therefore the Church calls on those whom she hath conceived and travelled withall a good while that now she may bring them forth This belief they were desirous by all means to impress upon mens minds and would have them look upon Baptism as the seal of a second life * Greg. Naz. Carm. iamb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In which they could not be deceived finding such a beginning of it already as testified the mighty power of God working in them And therefore St. Paul with great reason alledges Baptism as a publick witness to the faith of the Church about the Resurrection of the dead and the Life of the world to come 1. Cor. xv 29. Else what shall they doe which are baptized for the dead if the dead rise not at all why are they then baptized for the dead The Resurrection of the dead was so much the hope of Christians and Baptism gave such strength to their hope that when any person newly instructed in the Christian faith died before he could receive Baptism some of his Friends it is reported from Irenaeus received it after his departure in his Name To what purpose doe they this says the Apostle if he have respect to this custom why do they thus trouble themselves if they look for nothing after death This shews that even those who were mistaken in other things as in this about baptizing for their deceased Friends thought the dead were not lost but that there was hope of their future happiness else they would not still have continued to assist them and taken all the care they could that they might not be prejudiced for want of Baptism which in their stead they received They would not have been so senseless as to concern themselves to doe any thing for those who were gone from this world if they had not believed another and lookt upon them as capable there of Eternall Life Into the belief and expectation of which all Christians whatsoever were baptized which perhaps is all that the Apostle means by this Question Why are they baptized for the dead Which Rigaltius * In Tertul de Resurrect carnis c. 48. thus interprets Why are they baptized ut mortui resurgant that after death they may rise again why are they askt at the Font whether they believe the resurrection of the dead So that for the dead is for themselves in hope of what shall follow after death viz. a blessed Resurrection Which is the interpretation of St. Chrysostome as I have observed elsewhere * Aqua Genitalis who also bids us take notice how that which they expressed in words when they professed to believe this great Article of the Christian Faith was also represented as in an Image by the very act of Baptism In which the going into the water and the coming out was a sign of their descending to the state of the dead and of their ascending from thence to life again There is no man that is baptized but by the very rite and manner of it professes to die at least to sin and to rise again to newness of life This Death and Resurrection as the Apostle teaches vi Rom. 3 4
5. is most lively represented there But this is not all that is intended by it for even those * Arias Montanus who in that sense were already mortified and renewed by receiving the Holy Ghost before their baptism as Cornelius and his family proceeded notwithstanding to receive that holy washing and by their submersion took upon them the likeness of the dead and by their emersion appeared as men risen again from the dead If there were no other death to be escaped but that in sin and no other resurrection to be expected but that to newness of life why were they who had attained these baptized as dead men and being already dead to sin why again sustained they the image of death out of which they believed and professed they should come This very action of theirs proves that they lookt for another resurrection after death which is the resurrection of the body And this profession of theirs was so much the more weighty as they were the more learned and instructed being already taught by the Holy Ghost By whose power they were already dead to sin and made alive to God and by whose instruction they professed to believe that as there is another death viz. that of the body so they should overcome it by the mighty power of Christ raising their very bodies from the dead There are severall other interpretations of this place as that of Epiphanius * Haeresi 38. who expounds it of those who received Baptism at the point of death but I shall not trouble the Reader with them because they all conclude the same thing that Baptism was a publick profession of the hope of immortality and a Seal also of the promises of God not onely to that particular person who at any time received it but to the whole Church both to the living and the dead Who as oft as Baptism was repeated had an open assurance given them from God by whose authority it was administred that they should rise again to everlasting life And so I shall dismiss this First Witness on Earth which is the more to be regarded because though it be not so great in it self as those which speak from heaven yet to us it is very considerable and cannot be denied by those who cavill at some of the other For all men acknowledge the Life and Doctrine of our Saviour to be incomparably excellent and John the Baptist stands upon record in Josephus for a person of severe and strict sanctity and the whole Christian Church who were not so childish as to build their hope on a sandy foundation but stood immovable as you shall hear like a house upon a rock when all the world storm'd and made the most furious assaults upon them believed thus from the beginning as appears by their holy profession which they made when they entred into the gates of the Church by Baptism The mighty power of which WATER OF LIFE they have thus celebrated with their praises Greg. Naz. Orat. xl Baptism is the Splendour of the Soul the Change of the life the Answer of the Conscience towards God It is the help of our weakness the putting off the flesh the attainment of the Spirit the Communion of the Word the Reformation of God's workmanship the drowning of Sin the participation of light and the destruction of darkness It is the Chariot which carries us to God our fellow-travelling with Christ the establishment of our faith the perfecting of our minds the key of the Kingdom of heaven the foundation of a second life * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. xi At this the heavens rejoyce this the Angels magnify as of kin to their brightness this is the Image of their blessedness We would willingly praise this if we could say any thing worthy of it Let us never cease however to give him thanks who is the Authour of such a gift Greg. Nyssen L. de Baptismo Christi returning him the small tribute of a chearfull voice for such great things as he hath bestowed on us For thou truly O Lord art the pure and perpetuall fountain of Goodness who wast justly offended at us but hast in much love had mercy on us who hatedst us but art reconciled to us who pronouncedst a curse upon us but hast given us thy blessing who didst expell us from Paradise but hast called us back again unto it Thou hast taken away the fig-leaf covering of our nakedness and cloathed us with a most precious garment Thou hast opened the prison-doors and dismissed those that stood condemned Thou hast sprinkled us with pure water and cleansed us from all our filthiness Adam if thou callest him will be no longer ashamed he will not hide himself nor run away from thee The flaming sword doth not now incircle Paradise making it inaccessible to those that approach it but all things are turned into joy to us who were heirs of sin and death Paradise and Heaven it self is now open to mankind The Creation both here and above consents to be friends after a long enmity Men and Angels are piously agreed in the same Theology For all which Blessings let us unanimously sing that Hymn of joy which the inspired mouth in ancient times loudly prophesied I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my Soul shall be joyfull in my God For he hath cloathed me with the garments of Salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness he hath decked me with ornaments as a bridegroom and as a bride adorned me with jewels lxi Isa 10. This adorner of the Bride is Christ who is and who was before and who will be blessed both now and for ever Amen CHAP. X. Concerning the Testimony of the BLOVD the Second Witness on Earth THE next Witness which comes in order to be examined is the BLOUD by which I told you we are to understand the Crucifixion and Death of the Lord Jesus with all the attendants of it This is a Witness which the greatest enemies of Christianity cannot but confess was heard to speak in his behalf The stubborn Jews who will be loth to grant that a voice from heaven declared him the Son of God cannot deny that their forefathers imbrued their hands in his bloud For in the Babylonian Talmud * Vid. Horae Hebr. in Matt. p. 3â—9 Tzemach David ad an 3761. it is delivered as a tradition among them that they hanged Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the evening of the Passeover and that a Crier went before him forty days saying He is to be carried forth to be stoned for conjuring and drawing Israel to Apostasy If any one can speak any thing for him to prove him innocent let him appear It is an hard matter to have any truth from these fabulous people without the mixture of a tale together with it When they cannot gainsay what we believe that their Nation were the great Instruments of his death they endeavour to find false reasons
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