Chrift will firft juftifie the truth and rightco.finefs of God, and will demonftrate himself by dying in our ftead, that death is indeed the wages of fin; and will fhew the world, that God is fo far from envying their felicity, that he will purchase it at the dearest rate, and deliver them freely from the mifery which fin and Sathan had involved them in. Thus Enemies are reconciled by the fufferings of him whom they offended, even by his fufferings in the feth, whofe Godhead could not fuffer; and by his death as Man, who as God was most immortal. As foon as he was rifen, he first appear'd to a Woman, who had been a finner, and fent her as his firft meffenger with words of love and comfort to his difconfolate Difciples, who had but lately finfully forfaken him He giveth them no upbraiding words, but meltingly faith to her, [Go to my brethren, and fay unto them, I afcend unto my Joh. 20. 17. Father, and your Father, to my God and your God.] He after this familiarly converfeth with them, and inftructeth them in the things concerning the Kingdom of God. He maketh an Univerfal Pardon or Act of Oblivion in a Covenant of Grace, for all the world, that will not reject it; and appointeth Meffengers to preach it unto all; and what ever pains or fuffering it coft them, to go through all with patience and faciunt hominem fanDuo, fine pluribus, alacrity, and to stick at nothing for the faving of mens fouls. aum, viz. Cognitio He gave the holy Spirit miraculously to them, to enable them & Amor: hoc eft, to carry on this work; and to leave upon record to the Cognitio Veritatis, & world, the infallible narrative of his Life and Doctrine: His Amor bonitatis. Sed ad cognitionem Dei Gospel is filled up with matter of confolation, with the qui eft Veritas, non promifes of mercy, pardon and falvation, the defcription of pores venire, nifi per the priviledges of holy Souls, juftification, adoption, peace cognitionem tuiip. ne ad amoand joy and finally, He governeth and defendeth his Church, rem Dei qui eft boand pleadeth our caufe, and fecureth our intereft in Heaven, nitas, nifi per ameaccording to the promises of this his word. Thus is the rem proximi tui. Ad Gofpel the very Image of the Wisdom and Goodneß of God. cognitionem tui-ip. And fuch a Doctrin from fuch a Perfon muft needs be fius potes pervenire per frequentem meditationem ad cog Divine. 2. And the Method and Style of it is moft excellent, becaufe nitionem Dei per pumost suitable to its holy ends: not with the excellency of ram contemplatiofrothy wit, which is but to exprefs a wanton fancy, and nem. Edmund. Cantuar. Specul. Ecclef. please the ears of aery perfons, who play with words, when cap. 3. vid. plura. they should close with wisdom and heavenly light: (fuch c. 19. & 6. excellency excellency of fpeech muft receive its eftimate by its ufe and end:) But as the end is moft Divine, fo the light that shineth in the Gospel is Heavenly and Divine: the Method of the Books themselves is various, according to the time and occafions of their writing, (the objections against them are to be answered by themselves anon): But the Method of the whole Doctrin of Chriftianity fet together, is the moft admirable and perfect in the world; beginning with God in Unity of Effence, proceeding to his Trinity of Effential Active Principles, and of Perfons, and fo to his Trinity of Works, Creation, Redemption and Regeneration, and of Relations of God and Man accordingly, and to the second Trinity of Relations, as he is our Owner, Ruler and Chief Good: And hence it brancheth it felf into a multitude of benefits flowing from all thefe Relations of God to Man, and a multitude of anfwerable duties flowing from our Correlations to God, and all in perfect method, twisted and inoculated into each other, making a kind of circulation between Mercies and Duties, as in mans body there is of the arterial and venal bloud and fpirits, till in the iffue, as all Mercy came from God, and Duty fubordinately from man, fo Mercy and Duty do terminate in the Everlafting Pleasure of God ultimately, and man fubordinately, in that mutual love which is here begun, and there is perfected. This method you may fomewhat perceive in the defcription of the Chriftian Religion, before laid down. 3. And the style alfo is fuited to the end and matter: not to the pleafing of curious cars, but to the declaring of heavenly myfteries: not to the conceits of Logicians, who have put their understandings into the fetters of their own illdevifed notions, and expect that all men that will be accounted wife, fhould ufe the fame notions which they have thus devised, and about, which they are utterly dif agreed among themselves: But in a Language fuitable both to the fubject, and to the world of perfons to whom this word is fent, who are commonly ignorant, and unlearned, and dull: That being the best Phyfick which is moft fuitable to the Patients temper and difeafe. And though the particular Writers of the Sacred Scriptures have their feveral Styles, yet is there in them all in common a Style which is fpiritual, fpiritual, powerfull and divine; which beareth its teftimony proportionably of that Spirit, which is the common Author in them all: (But of this more among the Difficulties and Objections anon.) But for the difcerning of all this Image of God in the Do&trine of Jefus Chrift, Reafon will allow me to expect thefe neceffary qualifications in him that muft difcern it: 1. That before he come to fupernatural Revelations, he be not unacquainted with those natural Revelations, which are autecedent, and fhould be foreknown (as I have in this book explained them with their evidence): For there is no coming to the highest step of the Ladder, without beginning at the lowe Men ignorant of things knowable, by Natural Reafon, are unprepared for higher things. 2. It is reasonably expected that he be one that is not treacherous and falfe to thofe Natural Truths which he hath received: For how can he be expected to be impartial and faithfull in feeking after more Truth, who is unfaithfull to that which he is convinced of? or that he should receive that Truth which he doth not yet know, who is falfe to that which he already knoweth? Or that he should difcern the evidence of extraordinary Revelation, who oppofeth with enmity the ordimary light or Law of Nature? Or that God fhould vouchfafe his further light and conduct to that Man, who willfully finneth against him, in defpight of all his former teachings? 3. It is requifite that he be one that is not a ftranger to himself, but acquainted with the cafe of his heart and life, and know his fins, and his corrupt inclinations, and that guilt, and diforder, and mifery, in which his need of mercy doth confift: For he is no fit Judge of the Prefcripts of his Physician, who knoweth not his own disease and temperature. But of this more anon. 1.8. III. The third way of the Spirits witness to Jefus Chrift, is Concomitantly, by the miraculous gifts and works of Himfelf, and bis Difciples; which are a cogent Evidence of Gods atteftation to the truth of his Doctrine. 9. 9. By the Miracles of Chrift I mean, 1. His miraculous actions upon others: 2. His miracles in his Death and Refurrection: 3. His predictions. The appearance of the Angel to Zachary, and his dumb- nefs, Luk. 2.46. Luk. 3. 22. nefs, his Prophefie and Elizabeth's, with the Angels appearance to Mary, the Angels appearance and Evangelizing to the Shepherds; the Prophefie of Simeon and of Anna, the Star and the teltimony of the wife Men of the Eaft, the teftimony of John Baptift, that Chrift fhould baptize with the Holy Ghoft, and with Fire, and that he was the Lamb of God that taketh away the fins of the World: Thefe and more fuch I pass by as prefuppofed. At twelve years of age he difputed with the Doctors in the Temple, to their admiration. At his Baptifm the Holy Ghoft came down upon him in the likeness of a Dove, and a voice from Heaven faid, Thou art my beloved Son, in Thee I am well-pleafed. When he was baptized, he fafted forty dayes and nights, and permitted Satan to tempt him extraordinarily, by carrying him Luk. 4. Mat. 4. from place to place, that he might extraordinarily overcome. At qui caufas caufis, When Nathanael came to him, he told him his heart, and partes partibus volu- told him what talk he had with Philip afar off, till he conmus æquare, magis vinced him that he was Omnifcient. At Cana of Galilee at nos valemus oftende a Feaft, he turned their Water into Wine. At Capernaum he re quid in Christo fuerimus fecuti, quam difpoffeffed a Demoniack, Luk. 4.33, 34, &c. He healed in Philofophis quid Simons Mother of a Feaver at a word, Luk. 4. 38, 39. He vos. Ac nos quidem healed multitudes of torments, difeafes, and madness, Mat. in illo fecuti hæc 4.24. Luk. 4. 40, 41. He cleanfeth a Leaper by a word, fumus: Opera illa Math. 8.2, 3. Luk 5. 12. fo alfo he doth by a Paralitick, fumus: Opera illa magnifica potentiffi mafq; virtutes, quas Math. 9. Luk. 5. He telleth the Samaritane woman all that variis edidit, exhi- fhe had done, Job. 4 At Capernaum he healed a Noble-mans buitq; miraculis, qui Son by a word, Joh. 4. At Jerufalem he cured an impotent bus quivis poffet ad Man that had waited five and thirty years: A touch of his tatis adduci, & judi- Garment cureth a Woman difeafed with an Iffue of blood care fideliter, non twelve years, Math. 9. 20. He cured two blinde men with effe quæ fierent homi- a touch, and a word, Math. 9. 28, 29. He difpoffeffed anonis fed Divine alicu- ther Demoniack, Mat. 9. 32. He raifeth Jairus daughter jus & incognitæ poteftatis. Vos in Phi- at a word, (who was dead, or fecined fo,) Mat. 9. 23, 24, lofophis virtutes fe. He difpoffeffed another Demoniack, blinde and dumb, Mar. cuti quas eftis? ut 12. He healeth the Servant of a Centurion ready to dye, by a magis vos illis, quam neceffitatem creduli nos Chrifto oportuerit credere? Quifquam ne illorum aliquando verbo uno potuit, aut unius imperii juffione non dicam maris infanias aut tempeftatum furores' prohibere, compefcere, non cæcis reftituere lumina, non ad vitam revocare defur &os, non annofas diffovere paffiones fed quod leviffimum eft furenculum, fcabiem, aut inhærentem fpinulam callo una interdi&tione fanare? Perfonarum contentio non eft eloquentie viribus, fed geftorum operum virtute pendenda, Arnob. adv. Gent. l. 2. word, word, Luk, 7. He raifeth the Son of a Widow from death that was carried out in a Biere to be buried, Luk. 7. With five Barley Loaves and two fmall Fifhes, he feedeth five thoufand, and twelve baskets full of the fragments did remain, Mat. 14. Job. 6. He walketh upon the waters of the Sea, Mat. 14. He caufeth Peter to do the like, Mat. 14. All the difeafed of the Countrey were perfectly healed by touching the hem of his garment, Mat. 14. 36. He again healed multitudes, lame, dumb, blinde, maimed, &c. Math. 15. He again fed four thousand with seven Loaves, and a few little Fifhes, and feven baskets full were left, Math. 15. He reftoreth a man born blinde to his fight, Job. 9. In the fight of three of his Difciples he is transfigured into a Glory which they could not behold, and Mofes and Elias talked with him, and a voice out of the Cloud faid, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased, bear ye him, Mat. 17. Luk. 9. He healed the Lunatick, Mat. 17. Multitudes are healed by him, Mat. 19.2. Two blinde men are healed, Mat. 20. He healed a Crooked woman, Luk. 13. 11. He withereth up a fruitless Tree at a word, Mark 11. He restoreth a blinde man nigh to Jericho, Luk. 18. 35. He reftoreth Lazarus from death to life, that was four dayes dead and buryed, Job. 11. He foretelleth Judas, that he would betray him: And he frequently and plainly foretold his own sufferings, death and refurrection. And he exprefly foretold the deftruction of Jerufalem and of the Temple, and the great calamity of that place, even before that generation past away, Mat. 24, &c. He prophefied his death the night before in the inftitution of his Supper. When he dyed, the Sun was darkened, and the Earth trembled, and the Vail of the Temple rent, and the dead bodies of many arofe, and appeared: fo that the Captain that kept guard, faid, Truly this was the Son of God, Mat. 27. When he was crucified and buried, though his Grave-ftone was fealed, and a guard of Souldiers fet to watch it, Angels appeared, and rolled away the Stone, and fpake to thofe that enquired after him: And he rose and revived, and staid forty dayes on Earth with his Difciples: He appeared to them by the way; He came oft among them on the First day of the week, at their Meetings, when the doors were shut: He called Thomas to fee the prints of Nn 2 the |