YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY EIGHT SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY of OXFORD, In the YEAR 1780, At the LECTURE founded by the late Rev. and Pious JOHN BAMPTON, M. A. - CANON OF SALISBURY. v>TO WHICH IS ADDED, A VINDICATION OF ST, PAUL From the Charge of wifliing himfelf accurfed, A SERMON .." Preached likewise before the University, on Sunday, March 14. 1778. By JAMES BANDINEL, D. D. OF JESUS COLLEGE, AND PUBLIC ORATOR OF THE UNIVERSITY. OXFORD: Printed for D. Prince and J. Cooke, J. and J. Fletcher; J. F, and C. Rivington, and T. Cadell, London, M DCCLXXX. Imprimatur, GEO. HORNE, Mar.6.iyBo. Vice-Can, Ox on. TO THE REVEREND The HEADS of COLLEGES; THESE SERMONS, PREACHED AT THEIR APPOINTMENT, ARE, WITH RESPECT AND AFFECTION, t DEDICATED. ExtraSl from the lafl Will and Tef- tament of the late Rev, JOHN BAMPTON, Canon of Salifbury. " I give and bequeath my Lands and Eftates to the Chancellor* Mailers, and Scholars of the Univerfity of Ox ford for ever, to have and to hold all and lingular the faid Lands or Eftates upon truft, and to the intents and pur- pofes hereinafter mentioned ; that is to fay, I will and appoint, that the Vice- Chancellor of the Univerfity of Oxford for the time being fhall take and re ceive all the rents, iflues, and profits thereof, and (after all taxes, reparations, and neceffary deductions made) that he pay all the remainder to the endow ment of eight Divinity Lecture Ser mons, to be eftatjlimed for ever in the faid Univerfity, and to be performed in the manner following : *« I dired and appoint, that, upon the " firft Tuefday in Eafter Term, a Lec- a " turer " turer be yearly chofen by the Heads of " Colleges only, and by no others, in the " room adjoining to the Printing-Houfe, " between the hours of ten in the morn- " ing and two in the afternoon, to preach " eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, the " year following, at St. Mary's in Ox- " ford, between the commencement of " the laft month in Lent Term, and the " end of the third week in Act Term. " Alfo I direct and appoint, that the " eight Divinity Lecture Sermons fhall be " preached upon either of the following " fubjedts — to confirm and eftablifh the " Chriftian Faith, and to confute all he- " retics and fchifmatics — upon the divine " authority of the Holy Scriptures — upon " the authority of the writings of the " primitive Fathers as to the faith and " practice of the primitive Church — " upon the Divinity of our Lord and Sa- " viour Jefus Chrift — upon the Divinity " of the Holy Ghoft-r-upon the Articles " of the Chriftian Faith, as comprehend- l< ed in the Apoftles' and Nicene Creeds. " Alfo " Alfo I direct, that thirty copies of " the eight Divinity Lecture Sermons " fhall be always printed, within two «* months after they are preached, and " one copy fhall be given to the Chan- " cellor of the Univerfity, and one copy " to the Head of every College, and one «* copy to the Mayor of the City of Ox- *' ford, and one copy to be put into the ** Bodleian Library j and the expence of " printing them fhall be paid out of the " revenue of the Lands or Eftates given " for eftablifhing the Divinity Lecture " Sermons ; and the Preacher fhall not be " paid, nor be entitled to the revenue, '* before they are printed. " Alfo I direct and appoint, that no " perfon fhall be qualified to preach the " Divinity Lecture Sermons, unlefs he " hath taken the Degree of Mafter of " Arts at leaft, in one of the two Uni- " verfities of Oxford or Cambridge ; and *' that the fame perfon fhall never preach " the Divinity Lecture Sermons twice." 'The clear income of Mr. Bam p ton's eftate amounts to about 120 1, per ann. a 2 CON- CONTENTS. SERMON I. Philipp. iv. 8. Whatfoever things are true, ivhatfoever things are honejl, whatfoever things arejuft, what foever things are py,re, whatfoever things are lovely, whatfoever things are of good report ; if there be any virtue, if there be a^y.prafe ; think ori thefe things. Page i SERMON II. Rom. x. 14, 15. How jhall they call on him in whom they have not believed '? and how jhall they be- lieve in him of whom they have not hetmtf And how fhall they hear- withmt* a preacher I and how jha$> they preach, ex cept they frefint ? 35 w CONTENTS. SERMON III. Isaiah lxi. i, 2. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me ; becaufe the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek ; he hath fent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prifon to them that are bound 1 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. 79 SERMON IV. Ephes. i. 3. Blejfed be God and the father of our Lord Jefus Cbrift, who hath blejfed us with all fpiritual blefjings in heavenly places in Cbrijl. 119 CONTENTS. iii SERMON V. i John i. i, 2, 3. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have feen with our eyesi which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life (for the life was manifejied, and we have feen it, and bear witnefs, and Jhew unto you that eternal life which was with the father and was manifejied unto us.) That which we have feen and heard declare we unto you. 157 SERMON VI. 1 Cor. xi. 19. There mujl be alfo herefies among you. 197 SERMON VII. 2 Pet. i. 19. We have alfo a more fure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed. 231 iv CONTENTS. SERMON VIII. Phil. iv. 8. ¦Finally, brethren, whatfoever things are true, whatfoever things are honejt, whatfoever things arejujl, whatfoerer things are pure, whatfoever things are lovely, whatfoever things are of good report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be any prdife, think on thejh things. — — — 267 A Vindication of St. Paul from the charge of wfthing himfelf accurfed : A Sermon preached before the Univerfity of Oxford. Rom. ix. 2, 3. I have great heavinefs and continual forrow in my heart. For I could wijh that myfelfwere accurfodfrom Chrijlfor my brethren. 3 R- S E R M ONI. Philip*, iv. 8. Whatfoever things are true, whatfoever things are honejl, whatjoever things are jujl, whatfoever things are pure, whatfoever things are lovely, whatfoever things are of good report •, if there be any virtue, if there be any praifi ; think. oh thefe things. ?¦ '1 ^< HIS Epiftle does not, like many I others written by our Apoftle, con- fift of cenfure and reproof for cor- rtipt doctrines and vicious practices : it abounds on the contrary with expreffions and teftimonies not only of fervent aftec- tion, but likewife chearful confidence. This honourable diftinction the Philippians certainly had defe,rved on account of their A * zeal 2 SERMON I. zeal for St. Paul and the part they took in his fufferings, adminiftering to his wants and relieving his neceflities : but they had a ftill higher claim to it by their fortitude in various conflicts with the ad- verfaries of Chrift, their conftancy in the faith, and ftedfaftnefs in the defence and maintenance of the gofpel. This he ac knowledges with joy and pride; to his commendations for fo illuftrious an ex- ample of fidelity adding nothing but ten der and powerful exhortations to preferve their character by the fame -firm and refo- lute adherence to the Jrjith, and a generpus ambition of excelling in kthe genuine 1 fruits' of righteoufnefs whifh are by Jefjis Chrijl unto the glory and praife of Gpa\. . The fame teftimpny of affection aiid confidence, the fame acknowledgement ;pf zeal, commendation for fiddity, and ex hortation to a fteady continuance in piety* and virtue is evidently impjied in the pre ference, by which that worthy perfon (to fulfill whofe pious intentions we are this day affembled) has djftjnguifhed thofe, » Phil, i.' ii. whom •S E1M O^ I. $ "Whom he has appointed the difpenfers^f ^bis mamrftcehte for tbe-general improve- tnent of the whole hoU'fehold of God. This fjnrittial relation, which I truft in „ our worfhip however pure, cannot proper^ ly he. called religious; becaufe they want that conftitutive- principle which, render ing man alone capable of religion, renders hjm. likewife inexcufable if he neglects thofe communications, of himfelf which Qod offers..him, andobftinately refufes to- employ his faculties in the fearch of fpiri tual truth, the, nature of God,, his perfec tions, and, eternal ; will, the- only certain., and unerring rule of worfhip. Ignorance- uhder the means of knowledge, whether, carelefs or prefumptuous, fo. far from be ing ap. excufe is an / aggravation of guilt ; it. argues a gracelefs difpofition, abdicates jhe dignity of; human nature, disappoints the purpofe which the Almighty aimed at in our creation, defpifes his honour, and renounces his. authority.' Thus in refpect ; of God • do boith our duty and gratitude oblige us to a free and impartial enquiry into the principles upon » which religion is built ; I fay, free and impartial SER' Rl'O'N 1 7 impartial ; for no enquiry can, ' be fucceffc- ful where the reafonirig faculties are under any , controul from within or without; arid it is that very freedom of thinking which' makes an intellectual agent refpon- fible for' his opinions, ! as freedom; of act ing rhakes a 'moral' one re'fponfible for'' his actions : the true liberty of/1 bo'tlv corififts in hearkening to the dictates of reafon, th a clear unbiafled judgement,' arid in' a power of acting; conformably thereunto,; and this liberty they both part with, whenever they fufFer their will to be di rected by any! other than its natural and proper motive, which is a right Urider- ftandirig : for then ' reafon is dethroned, their paflions govern them even again ft their judgement, aridr they become flaves to falfe appearances, to error, prejudice,, and obflinacy. To fufFer fuch an'abufe of our faculties is not only ingratitude and treafon againft God, but injiijlice to ourjelves, a violence done to our nature," wh'bfe frame and con- ftitution is admirably adapted to the re ception and entertainment of1 truth*. It is A 4 often S S E R M O N I. often by a beautiful and juft metaphor called the food of the mind; becaufe it' nourifhes and invigorates its faculties, and being homogeneous is eafily afiimilated and converted into its very nature and fub- ftance. All other creatures appear to em ploy their powers upon that which tends to the improvement and perfection of their being. Man feels an active flame within his breaft which is conftantly urging him on in the purfuit after knowledge. Can he then juftify to himfelf the perverfion or even the neglect of this the nobleft of all principles? ought it not to be employed about the nobleft object ? and what object can be fo noble as the higheft and moft excellent of all beings, his glorious per fections, the different relations we ftand in to him, and the obligations which arife' from thofe relations upon all intelligent beings ? The variety and fublimity of the truths and their real importance and uni-, verfal concernment to the well-being of man all concur to recommend this ftudy. It is beyond all analogy infinitely fuperior to every pther fcience : the object is God himfelf, the father of light, the fountain of SERMON I. v.g of all knowledge ; and the end of it the glory of God and the happinefs of man. This laft circumftance adds great weight to the motives already mentioned, and greatly enhances not only the propriety but alfo the necejjity of our being folicitous and diligent in our endeavours to fatisfy oiir- felves about the evidence, the grounds, and principles of religion, 4 That there are in the nature of things fuch principles I take for granted ; the no tion of a God is univerfal, and that it wa9 not ftamped upon - man merely to be the fubject of curious and idle fpeculation, is evident from that natural difpofitiOn to worfhip him which is as univerfal as the notion. Hence arofe the conceit of the Jews, that man was created on the eve of the fabbath, that he might begin his being with the worfhip of his creator ; and even the idolatry of the heathen world clearly owed its rife to this original impreflioa * Omnqs tamen efCe vim & naturam divinam arbitraritur. Nee vero id collbcutio hominum aut cenfenfus efficit; non inftitutis opinio eft confirmata, non legibus. Qmhi autem in re confenfio omnium gentium lex naturse putanda eft. G'ter, Tufc. quteji. 1. 1 . c. 13, however -i$ 8 E R MO N t however perverted, to a conviction how-. ever mifapplied, of this natural duty, They could not totally raze out, but they de faced and disfigured the characters: of God written upon the foul;- they did not deny his being, but wdrfhipped the creature Z.irtftp rov xtiokvIcu. befode or in conjunction' with the creator. This fubjedt has been fo copioufly handled, and the being arid: pro vidence of God fo fully and undeniably proved by many learned and pious men, that I. hold' it altogether needlefs to enter1 into a tedipus. repetition, or attempt a new' arrangement of their arguments. Why fhould I dwel|, especially, before this au dience, on the harmony, prefervation, and fymmetry of the whole univerfe^ the won derful fabrick of our bodies, and the ftill- more wonderful faculties of our fouls, when our imperfections themfelves lead us by an eafyand plain inference to an irrefragable; proof of our dependarice upon a fuperior being ? for as the idea offelf-exiftence ne- ceflarily excludes all imperfections, what ever is imperfect muft have fome higher caufe, which infenfibly leads us to the au- e Rom.i. 25. thor S E R M O N I,; j* thor of all beings, who has no caufe without Jiimfelf. As I have therefore hitherto ar-v gued> fo {hall- 1 continue to argue, without afotmal difcnffion of what J think ought' to be>affumed as an axiom in philofophy; not only becaufe to require a proof of that, of which our very being is a dembnftration, implies fomething not unlike an abfurdity ; but like wife becaufe; revelation, which' is to be the- fubject of thefe difcourfes, ne- cefifarily includes within it the idea of- a God to grant that revelation ; the truth of which being proved, by the fame arguments- will of courfe be proved the exiftence and- djvirrity of its author. As the idea of a God is ineluded-in that of a revelation, fo Will I not fer-uple to af firm that a tdivine- revelation is aHnascefFary- confequence of the exiftenee of- God*- It feems (with reverence be ittfp0feen•)^alto* gether irieonfiftent With either the' wifdom or goodnefs of God to have- made^ moral agents without prefcribing them fome law, to require worfhip and; •fer*vi'C£4 '< without fome declaration or information, however conveyed, of the worfhip and fervices which would iz S E R M O N I. would be accepted ; for thefe the nobleft and moft ufeful parts of knowledge, and confequently the moft necefTary and fit to be learned, as they are ftiled by Plato* f no man (adds the fame philofopher) can teach except he be forji taught of God; If therefore unaflifted reafon is unequal to this tafk (and the authority of fo great a mafter of reafon is furely in this cafe conclufive) it is more than probable that God did not leave our firft parent, in a ftate of darknefs and uncertainty, expofed to all the miferies which fpring from ignorance and error; but originally gave him fome rule of life, difcbvered to him by immediate revelation all the necefTary truths of* what is called natural 'religion. If thefe truths and the duties refulting from them came in pro- cefs of time by whatever accident to be forgotten, the expediency of a fupernatu- ral information recurs ; for as in corporeal, fo likewife in Jpiritual blindnefs, when the faculty of fight is entirely loft, no power 'A»! iS* &v . fhort SERMON I. 13 fliort of omnipotence ^s equal ta the re newal of it : it is a new creation; for from total privation to abfolute reftoration, the diftance is the fame as from non-enti*- ty to exiftence : and, whenever God pleafes ,to interpofe, the fame obedience which was due to the firft, is due likewife to every fubfequent declaration of. his will^ the validity of each being derived from the fame authority. Whoever therefore believes in God, being under a natural ob ligation of conforming to his will, when known, is neceflarily bound to enquire whether he has given any partlcularreye- lation of it, and confequently, when there are pretenfions to it, to examine ferioufly and impartially the evidences upon, which fuch pretenfions are grounded. The. ne- ceffity of fome information more than. hu man we have feen acknowledged by Plato, and many other paffages to the fame pur- pofe might have been adduced out of his writings, as well as thofe of his great Roman interpreter. The account indeed, which the latter gives us of the abfurdity and impiety of both the philofophieal and, religious tenets of his time, renders it highly i4 SERMO-N I. highly probable upon principles of mere reafon that God, whofe inerey is over aW his Works> would interfere in behalf of his creatures, reftore primitive truth, and refcue religion -from fuperftition and ido latry. That the divine interpolation is not contrary to our natural notions, is evident from a common opinion, which -prevailed in all ages and countries, that1 their foun ders and iegiflators* had conferences with, and received inftructions from, fome fu- periprbeingi whofe authority they pleadefl for both their political and religions infti* tutions. Thefe teftimonies unbelievers, thofe 'at leaft who afTume to themfelves the venerable name of philofophers, would do Well' to confider before they difmifs Chriftianity in their ufual difingenuous manner, without examining into its pre tenfions, nay without even giving it a hearing, upon the bare fuppofition that a revelation from God' is at beft incredible if not impoffiHe. Its pretenfions furely entitle* it to more civility and refpecti Without z Without controverfy great is the myftery of godlinejs ; great are the bleffings which it promifes, great ;the knowledge which it profeffcs to teach, the knowledge of God and of ourfelves, the eternal principles of truth, the duties* refultingfrorri thofe prin ciples, and the proper motives and encou ragements to enforce thofe duties.^ It ten ders, to loft mankind, who lay under the breach and yet under the hond of the covenant of works, terms of reconcilia tion, pardon, and peace : God's -law- was broken, «;his.»will:diifobeyed, his. name dis honoured; [and yet he propitiates, he ex*-' piates our iias .againft himfelf, he receives' us into favour again, he grants, us his word to,;direj& and his grace to affift us in the performance of our' duty, which perform ance he promifes to reward with eternal' happinefs,tin a better > world. Doctrines '¦' thefe of no mean and trivial importance, of? no inferior and fubordinate kind ; to which Chriftianity moreover demands our attention for the fake, and under the- au thority, of the everlafting God who didtat- edand his eternal fori who publifhed tfyem.. 8 I Tim. iii. 1 6. Under t6 S E R M O N I. Under fuch fanction no wonder that it afiumes the emphatical name of truth; that it is ftiled by wa'y of eminence h the word of truth, l the truth of God ; that the belief and the knowledge of it are called k the belief and the 1 knowledge of the truth; that they who profefs it are faid m to be of the truth, and they that reject it " not to believe, ° not to obey the truth. Claims of £o high a nature and of fo great importance to man, made fo ferioufly, de- ferve furely to be ferioufly confidered and carefully examined ; left haply, through our wilful neglect and indifference, we] be: found to flight God's gifts, fufpect his goodnefs, call his truth and of courfe all his efTential perfections into queftion; for; whofoever defpifes a law cafts difhonour upon the authority that enjoins it. How juftly Chriflianity appropriates to itfelf the title of truth cannot but appear to every unprejudiced mind that confiders " Ephef. i. 3, &c. ' Rom. iii. 7, &c. " 2 Theffal. ii. 13. 1 1 Tim. ii. 4, &fc. nl 1 John iii. 19. » 2 Thtff. ii. IZ. 0 Rom. ii. 8. it SERMON I. i7 it in oppofition to both the falfhood of paganifm and to the promifes and fliadows of judaifm. With regard to the pagan, re ligion (if an ill-contrived texture of in- confiftent impoftures can be called by fo facred a name) little pains need 'be taken to fhew the vanity and the folly of it, fince even p from among thofe who pro- ^feffed it there are not wanting men, and thofe of fuperior knowledge and under- ftanding, who teftify their diflike and con tempt, of thofe ridiculous and beaftly fables upon which their theology and worfhip depended. They difTembled indeed arid outwardly complied out of policy and fear ; or, if a higher motive may be af- figned for their compliance q, it was by no means (as they themfelves acknowledged) an opinion that it was acceptable to the p Hsc et dicuntur et creduntur ftultilfime, et ptena funt futilitatis fummasque levitatis. Cicer. de nht. Dear. 1. 2. i Quae omnia fapiens fervabit tanquam legibus juffa non , tanquam diis grata. Seneca apud Auguft. de- civit. Dei. 1. 6. 10. Retinetur autem et ad opinionem vnjgi et ad magnas militates reipublica? mos, religio, difciplina, jus augurum, collegii auftoritas. Cicer. de divin. 1.' 2. Asi Ut Murm ^mUlapaj ; tin u Id. Differt. 1. tions SERMON I. 21 tions arid pofTefTed of all perfections what foever in the higheft degree ; it afcribes to him every thing that is great and glorious, good and amiable. The worfhip it en joins is fuitable to the idea of fo excellent and pure a deity : it confifts of an awful fenfe of his majefty and our dependence upon him, love of his perfections, faith in his veracity, gratitude for his benefits, recourfe to his goodnefs, frequent medita tions upon him, communion with him and an inward defire to pleafe him. Thefe things are required to be performed by us with fervency and zeal, with reverence, humility, and fincerity. — w God is a Jpirit, and they that worfhip him muft worjhip him in Jpirit and in truth. With this fuperior excellence of the fpeculative part of our religion the practical entirely agrees. It is not, like the morality taught in the fchools of the heathen, made up of fhreds and patches, modelled according to the different genius and intereft of different ftates and ages, furnifhing in one century perhaps one truth and in another century w John iv. 24. B 3 another 22 SERMON f. another truth : It is one fimple, uniform, and perfect rule of life ; built ripon the moft folid foundation, the authority ^pf God and our obedience to his will ; it is fuited to all times and all places, produc tive of the univerfal good of every human fociety. The laws which it enjoins pro ceed not from mere power and authority, but are evidently acts of wifdom and goodnefs. There is no precept delivered, no' duty recommended, but what is highly rational and ufeful, worthy of God and beneficial to man ; from the obfervance of them will naturally refult peace and tran«* quillity of mind, good will from all men, and the favour and acceptance of God ; who to our fincere though imperfect obe-f dience has been moreover gracioufly pleaf- ed to' annex the glorious promife of joys, fuch * as eye has not foen, ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to con ceive. Thefe doctrines are peculiar to Chriftianity ; philofophy never taught them in her fchools, neither are they to be read in the book of nature ; for, after. * I Cor. ii. 9. SERMON I. 23 all the glorious things which are fpoken of reafon, it never furnifhed mankind with more than a bare furmife of futurity, a feeble hope of that Y moft defrable thing which Seneca obferves their great men pro- mifed, but could not prove : It is revelation alone that can improve conjecture into knowledge, and doubt into certainty. Thus does the gojpel of Chrift in oppo fition to paganifm claim the title of truth on account of the intrinfic excellence and fublimity of its doctrines. It moreover challenges it with refpect to the jewijh re ligion ; it is the body of its fhadows, the fubftance of its figures, the completion of its promifes. And here a new fcene opens, a comprehenfive view of avaft, uniform, and confiftent plan ; which could not be carried on under different difpenfations for fuch a length of time, with the utmoft analogy and harmony, by any thing lefs than the fore-knowledge and providence of God. Every , part of the mofaical y Credebam opinionibus magnorum virorum rem gratif- fimam promittentium magis quam probantium. Senec. Ep. 1 02. See Whitby upon z Tim. i. 10. B 4 oeconomy 24 SERMON I. oeconomy was typical of that more perfect one, which was to be eftablifhed when "the Lord would make a new covenant with ffe houje of Ifrael, when s the figures for the time then prefent, v the jhadows of things to come, were to have their accomplifhment in Chrift, the true ark c in whom dwelleth all the fulnejs of the godhead bodily, as it did fymbolically in the tabernacle " and after wards in the temple; the true mercy-feat d, through which God Jhews himfelf gracious to his people ; the true pafchal lambc, whofe blood protects us from the dejlroying angel; the true piacular victim f, .whom God hath fet forth to be a propitiation for the remijjion of fins ; the true high prieft g, who having obtained an eternal redemption, is not entered into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true, but into heaven it- felf now to appear in the prefence of God for us. Thefe are but few out of the num- berlefs typical analogies which might be produced ; yet fufficient, I truft, to fhew that the foundations of the gofpel were > * Jer. 31. 31. * Heb. viii. 9. b Ce^T ii. 17. c Coloff. ii. 9. * Exod. 20, &c. "Exod. 12. t Rom. iii. 25. s Heb. ix. 12, 24. laid SERMON I. 25 laid in the law. h Every part o'Pthe ritual worfhip bore an emblematical relation to i^p'fpiritual one which, was to fucceed it ; every external difpenfation of Providence to the Jews had a myftical refpect to the everlafting covenant with all nations, and the whole people was figurative of the fpiritual Iftael or the church of the MeJ- jiah, who was fhadowed forth to them under types and ceremonies ; the amazing correfpondency of which with that dif penfation, which they prefigured fo many ages before its appearance, clearly derhon- ftrates them to have been the effect not of chance but of wifdom power and fore- fight, and fully ratifies and. confirms the veracity of God1 whofe promifes in Chrift are yea and amen. %l Here let us paufe awhile to admire how God is pleafed to accommodate the ope rations of his grace to the courfe of nature. Nothing arrives to its full age and maturity but by gentle fucceffive degrees., Even man himfelf, the Lord of the creation, comes h See Berrimax's Sermons at Boyle's Lefiure. ' 2 Cor. i. 20. on 26 S E R M O N I. on flowly to his perfection through the im- becillity of childhood and the defects of youth. Analogous to this order of things he brought us to the day-light of thegof- pel through the dark night of paganifm and the twilight of the law. When he took his church from under the hand of nature, he trained and tutored it in elements fitted for a weak capacity ; elements of a fenfible and material nature, yet fo admirably con trived as to be emblematical of that true fpiritual doctrine, the fplendor of which being too ftrong for its infancy was veiled at firft under the cloud of the mofaical ad- miniftration, but in fulnefs of time brought to light by the gofpel. k It is an objection as old as the time of Celjus (which, however falfe and repeatedly {hewn to be fuch, has yet never failed to be urged with grea^ confidence by all his fucceflbrs in infidqlity) that Chriftianity debars its profefTors from all enquiries about religious truths, and demands of them a full and implicit affent without a previous ¦ Hi i^im^i «»,« zrl&iiozy. Origen. L. I. exami* SERMON I. 27 examination of the ground on which they are to build that aflent. But furely never was objection raifed upon fo flight a foun dation. Chriftianity with a candour pecu liar to itfelf earrieftly folicits a trial at the bar of reafon, invites and exhorts every man, before he embraces its doctrines, fairly and impartially to examine its pretenfions. l Prove all things, fays St. Paul, holdfaft that which is good. When St. John warns us againft believing every fpirit, and bids us ra try the jpirits whether they are of God, does he not plainly recommend the ufe of our own un- derftanding againft a blind implicit belief? Is not the fame advice fairly implied in the commendation given to the Bereans for nfearching the fcriptures and enquiring into the truth of what the apoftles preached ? And does not our Saviour himfelf inculcate the fame doctrine when he appeals to the judgement of his adverfaries, ° Why do ye not even of yourf elves judge what is right f Falfhood indeed and error delight in darknefs; there is fomething in them fo 1 Theff. v. 21. m 1 Ep. iv. 1. n A3sxv\i.n. Lukex.ii. 57. „ _ . difguftful 28 S E R M O N I. difguftful and contemptible that they muft keep' at a diftance, out of fight, if they mean to acquire love or reverence. Hence the myiteries of the heathen were fur- rounded on all fides by a thick impenetra ble veil : they were practiced in the night; none were admitted to them but under a folemn and dreadful oath of fecrecy; who ever difclofed any part of them was exclud ed from all the rights and benefits of civil fociety, he was apprehended as a public ofFender and fuffered death. On the con trary nothing difhonours truth fo much as concealment ; the more it is feen the more awful and lovely it appears ; its tabernaclf is placed in the Jun, it never looks fo glori ous as when it fhines in full meridian fplen- dor. While therefore the founders and dif- penfers of fabulous religions and abfurd worfhip cover them under filence and ob- fcurity, the Gofpel in ftrict conformity to its character profeffedly reveals myfteries ; Chrifi, fo far from enjoining fecrecy to his apoftles,exhorts them to a free profeflion and open publication of his doctrines.; p What » Matt, x. 27. I Jay SERMON L 2$ I fay to you in darknejs, fpeak ye in the light ; i. e. the doctrines which I teach you in parables do ye publicly explain and ex pound. What ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the houfe-tops ; i. e. what I more privately impart to you, do ye courageoufly publifh and proclaim to all the world. This fair and ^candid proceeding ought, one would imagine, to procure at leaft a fa vourable hearing; and how little Chrif tianity declines, nay how truly it affects and courts, the verdictof unbiaffed reafon might juftly be collected (were the more direct proofs we have juft urged wanting) from its making its appearance in the brighteft day of human knowledge. Had it been confcious of its own weaknefs, it would not thus boldly have entered the lifts againft the prejudices of mankind, when the great improvement and increafe of all kinds of literature had excited a noble fpirit of curiofity," which not only prompted men to. enquire. after, but Quali fied them to underftand and examine truth and detect fraud arid impofture. But in this as well as other re fpects q wifdom has ,-r * Matth. xi. 19. been 5o S E R M O N I. been juftified of her children. * When the books written by Numa the father of the Roman religion, and by him ordered to be buried under ground, were accidentally found four hundred years after; his motives for the religious eftablifhment, which he impofed upon the credulity of a rude illite rate nation, appeared to a more enlightened age fo trivial and frivolous, that they were burned by a public decree of the fenate : The impofture of Mahomet as well as the pagan idolatry arofe in times of general cor ruption ignorance, and barbarifm ; but Chriftianity, the fyftem of that worfhip which comes recommended with the cha racter of truth, has conftantly kept pace with knowledge ; it appeared when the fciences were arrived at their higheft per fection, grew by the aids of learning, has decayed and revived with it ; it has con- : ftantly appealed to reafon, and from every' trial upon that teft has as conftantly acquir ed frefh ftrength, credit, and authority. This confidence, as has been obferved, is peculiar to Chriftianity, and perfectly agree- ' Varro apud Auguft. de civil. Dei vii. 24. able SERMON I. 31 able to the character of truth; which, like its fymbol in the material world, chearfully fpreading its rays over the whole univerfe is hid from none but thofe who wilfully fhut their eyes againft it. But, left too great a torrent of light immediately fuc- ceeding thick darknefs might opprefs the intellectual fight, the wifdom and the good- nefs of God previoufly prepared mankind for that gracious difpenfation which he in tended them, and made the knowledge of the law the forerunner of the knowledge of the gojpel even among the gentiles. * The books of the old teftament, in which the new is virtually involved, being (not without the conduct of providence) trans lated fome ages before into Greek the then general language, the treafures of the jewi/h and confequently the chriftian religion were laid open to other nations as well as the. Jews, and gradually difpofed them the more readily to receive that great prophet and faviour of mankind ; who had been fo of ten and fo plainly foretold in prophecies, which they themfelves knew to have been * See univerfal hijiory V. 10. p. 244. written 32 SERMON I. written many centuries before, their com pletion. And now let the infidel (who exclaims agajnft chriftianity as requiring a ground- lefs faith and obtruding itfelf upon men in the dark) fearch the records of antiquity and difcover, if he can, another religion that contains doctrines equally worthy of God, precepts equally conducive to the good Of man ; a religion, that confiding in the merits of its caufe invites men to make ufe of their beft underftanding ; a religion, that appeals to the principles of another religion then in being in all appearance to-, tally different from itfelf; yet when fur- veyed together with it forming a beautiful,, regular, and compleat fyftem, carried on through fucceffive ages and periods with an analogy furprifingly harmonious and uniform : a religion moreover, that, to re- mpve all fufpicion of impofture, commu nicates the knowledge of the law on which it is founded fome hundred years before its appearance, and at laft fully difcovers itfelf at a time when the intellectual improve ments of mankind enable them thoroughly to SERMON 1. 33 to examine and judge of the truth of its pretenfions. Till this is done (and that it cannot be done we may fairly infer from its having never been attempted) we cannot forego the exclufive claim which Chriftianity has to the facred name of truth, and of courfe to our ferious, diligent, and impartial atten tion, even upon thefe prefumptive proofs of its proceeding from God. That it did really proceed from God we have, I truft, good and fufficient evidence ; and this with his.afliftance fhall be the fub- jedt of the following difcourfe. £ si ] == SERMON II. Rom. x. 14, 15. HoW Jhall they call on him in whom they have, not believed f and how Jhall t key be lieve in him of whom they have not heard ¥ And how Jhall they hear without d predeher ? and how jhall they preach* ex cept they be font $ 1.' : ALTHOUGH the arguments pro duced in the preceding difcourfe might to fome appear fully fufficient to juftify the claim which the gofpel makes to the title of truth ; yet as that kind of reafoning, which arifes from the nature and infrinfic excellence of a doctrine, is by C 2 others 36 SERMON II. others looked upon as inconclufive ; I think it not improper (in order to obviate all objections) to enquire into fome at leaft of the external evidence, by which this inter nal one is fupported. And in truth, after all that has been faid in favour of each of thefe methods, they feem to me to ftand mutually in need of each other's afliftance. A revelation oppofite to the principles of nature and the reafon of things is a con-* tradiction in terms ; and therefore no ex ternal evidence whatfoever can eftablifh the divinity of a religion, which carries within it fuch unqueftionable proofs of a different origin ; neither are the interior marks of truth, though. necefTary and in- feparable characters, abfolute and infal lible proofs of an immediate revelation. But when both confpire together ; when to the teftimony, which a religion itfelf bears to its own authority, is added every external one which circumftances require, fupported by fuch proofs as the nature of the thing will admit, nothing but obftina- cy can withold its affent, fcepticifm be* comes folly, incredulity a fin. As SERMON II. 37 As therefore not only the principles and doctrines of the Chriftian divinity, but likewife the external proofs by which they are confirmed, are contained in the books of the old and new tefiament ; I flatter my- felf I cannot better engage your attention, or more faithfully difcharge the truft re- pofed in me, than by firft eftablifhing the truth and authority of the fcriptures ; be caufe upon them the truth and authority of our holy religion ultimately depend : for the authenticity of the hiftory heing acknowledged, and the facts which are therein recorded being granted, the tefti- mony of miracles and prophecies joined to the excellence of the docJrines is a clear and compleat demonftration of our Saviour's divine commifiion ; by them God attefts the whole oeconomy of grace to be an immediate revelation from heaven as cer- tairily as that he cannot lie or give his ap probation to a lie. Before I enter upon particular proofs, I beg leave to remind you that", as the idea 1 See page 1 1 . C 3 of 38 SERMON II. of a God conftantly carries with it the idea of fome fervice or worfhip due to him, fo does it (according to my appre- henfions) necefTarily fuppofe a revelations, a declaration from God of what fervice and worfhip will be acceptable to him. JCnowledge muft in the courfe of things ever precede obedience ; and therefore in every well-regulated ftate the law is air ways promulged before the obfervanee of it is required. The will of God is the only law for our belief and practice; for who is to prefcribe where God is concern ed, except God himfelf ? But b who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counjelkrf How fhall we attain at the knowledge of his will, except from, himfelf and thofe to whom he has' been pleafed to reveal it? From this argument St. Paul in my text infers the neceffity^of his miffion to preach the gofpel among the gentiles : it holds good in all cafes, and is a ftrong prefumption in favour of the, fcriptures ; for fuppofing a revelation ne- defiary, where elfe are we to look for it ? b Runiji xi. $4. Where SERMON II. 39 Where fhall we find* I will not fay a bet' ter but, another declaration of the will, of God except in thofe volumes which we receive as the word of God ? Is, not there fore the conduct of a wilful obftinate infi del nearly fimilar to that of a mariner; who in a dark, tempeftuous night, without either compafs or pilot* fhould perverfely prefer the perils of an unknown fea to the fecurity of the only port that offers itfelf. But from this general argument let us defcend to particulars ,- premifing firft, that there is fuch a connexion and relation between the two teftaments, that the fame proofs iliuftrate and confirm both ; the new teftament is founded on the old, the eld accompUfhed in the new ; the truth of the one being allowed, the truth. of. the other follows of courfe. The firft evidence I fhall produce in favour of the fcriptures is their antiquity. Of this argument the firft apologifts for Chriftianity make frequent ufe againft their pagan adverfaries ; and with great propriety, for amongft them the moft an- , C 4 cient 4a SERM O N II. cient acts were reckoned the moft authen tic. "Apud vos quogue (fays Tertullian) religionis eft infiar fidem de temporibus ajjere-? re. We can (fays d Cicero) fupport this opi nion, 'the immortality of the foul, by the authority of the befi writers, which in all cajes ought to have and has. great weight, but principally by that of all antiquity ; which, the nearer it approached to the origin of things and the divine offspring, the better probably did it'difcern the truth. In this, as in almoft every part of his philofophy, he copies from his grecian mafter the atticiz- ing Mojes, as " Numenius ftiles Plato ; who in his Philebus fpeaking, as many learned interpreters think, of an unity and plura lity in the godhead makes ufe of the fame authority; the ancients, fays he, who were better than us, and dwelt nearer to the c Apol. c. g. * Auctoribus ad iftam fententiam— uti optimis pofTumus — et primum quidem omni antiquitate : quae quo propius aberat ab ortu et divina progenie hoc melius eafortafle quae erant vera cernebat. Tufc. S>ua:fi. i. is. Plato in his Timaus calls the firft men the offspring and the children of the Gods. - e NjfjKuw©' ti a TlvJuycfQiOf (pi>,cm& avTiicpvs }%*$*?, f i ydf I«j TlAKTtn k Murit inim^m; Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. I.- Vide Suid. in voce N*,<*iiw®-. Gods, SERMON II. 4i Gods, have tranfmitted down this tradition. The force of this reafoning is tacitly ac knowledged, by that univerfal confent, vvith which all mankind feem to confpire in. paying refpect and reverence to antiqui ty. And to this inartificial argument^ re'afon readily fufcribes ; for truth is the eldeft born of heaven, evidently and of neceflity prior to falfhood ; becaufe falf hood is nothing elfe but a corruption of the truth : and therefore f among the cha racters and criteria of heavenly writings antiquity defervedly has its place; for from thence they acquire much. dignity and au thority above all human books and re cords, s. which (as has been fully proved by a learned writer of our own) borrowed all their; chpiceft notions and contempla tions as well; natural and moraLas divine from the facred oracles, in that refpect bearing teftimony to the truth of them ; and, where. they differ, it is but juft to give credit to the elder who drew their doctrines from the fountain-head. * . f Bochart's Phaleg. ' See Gale's Court of the gentiles. I fhall 42 SERMON II. I fhall not pay fo bad a compliment to this audience as to attempt a laboured proof of the antiquity of Mofes : he was in fact prior to moft of the fabulous dei ties ; and having in his youth converfed with men who were cotemporaries with Jofeph, perhaps with Jacob, might have had thofe facts, which he was not an eye witnefs of himfelf, tranfmitted by a regu lar chain of traditions connected but by very few links with the inhabitants of the antediluvian world. The matter of his hiftory, and the manner in which it is re corded, fuit entirely with this1 antiquity. There is no account in any other writer of the creation or the fall of man ; fome- thing indeed like the fall is here and there obfcurely hinted ; but Mofes alone gives us the hiftory and the caufe of it. He alone teaches us the age of the world, the ori gin and difperfion of mankind, the begin ning and fucceffion of kingdoms. This account is embellifhed with no fhew of learning ; it is written with a majfiftic fe- curity, fhort and plain ; as we may well fuppofe the firft memoirs to have been, whilfl SERMON II. 43 whilft religion was wifdom, fimple truth philofophy ; and therefore h Tatian, a man well verfed in all kinds: of human litera ture, ingenuoufly acknowledges that one of the chief reafons of his embracing the chriftian religion was the rational account he there, met with of the creation of all things. Varro- confefFes the firft period of profane hiftory to be entirely unknown, and the fecond fabulous ; thofe therefore among the heathens, who treat- of primi tive antiquity, conceal their ignorance un der the fpecious veil of myftical allego ries ; and fo effectually envelop themfelves within an infinite multitude of incoherent generations^ that it is "impoffible for the moft fagacious inteippeter ' to trace either their hiftory or philofophy. But with Mofes there is nothing unknown or fabu lous ; he is every where clear and confif- tent, particularly fpecifies' every minute eircumftance as well known and frefh' in his memory, and connects all the remark able periods but by a very few links ; which'on account of the long lives of the * Or.at„ contra Qr.eecy c. 46. patriarchs 44 S E R M O N II. patriarchs touch each other, and made it very eafy. for his cotemporaries to have detected him, if in fads fo recent and fo arranged he had been guilty of any falf hood. Even in thofe books which were written after the Hebrew volumes had been tranflated into Greek, and which treat of the Egyptiant ChaIdean,andPha?nician anti quities, you have nothing but a heap of undigefted fables and confufed traditions for fome ages fubfequent to Mofes him felf; and yet the motive of their authors evidently was to prove, in contradiction to Mofes, that the Jews were by no means fu- perior in point of age or origin to their refpective nations ; a plain proof of the refpect which men in general have for an tiquity, ( and how ftrongly they connect it with the idea of dignity and reverence. The argument from antiquity acquires a very confiderable degree of ftrength, when joined to that of a perpetual and uninterrupt ed tradition. To have been in quiet pofFef- fion fo long is no mean prefumptive proof in favour of the pofFefFor. , The authenti city and authority of the old tefiament has been S E R M O N IL 45 been allowed by the Chrifiians for near two thoufand years ; and if we afcend higher we fhall find the Jews univerfally and without any chafm acknowledging it for above fourteen hundred years more. Now two people, entirely differing in other refpects, could not polfibly have entered into a combination ; the appeal therefore, which they both make to Mofes and the prophets, not only prefuppofes but is a con firmation of their unqueftioned veracity. 1 When the defcendants of Jacob left Egypt, the men exclufive of the women and children amounted to above fix hun dred thoujand : they were all witnefFes of the facts recorded in four of the books written by Mofes : Is it credible, is it pof- fible, that fo many perfons could, againft the teftimony of their fenfes, believe the account of numberlefs miracles faid to have been perforrhed, and in confequence of that belief fubmit to a rigorous and painful law, every part of which was im- prefFed with characters of feverity and fer- yitude ? Their ceremonies and folemn fef-r ' Exod. xii. 37. Numb. 1. 46, rivals, 46 SERMON II. tivals, though typically looking forwards to their Jpiritual accomplifhment yet, had a retrofpect to former temporal deliver"* ances ; and having been inftituted in me mory of them, bore a conftant and un- biafled teftimony to the truth of the hifto* rian. Thefe were ftrictly enjoined under heavy penalties ; and k at feveral of them: all the males were obliged to leave their affairs, their homes, and families, and ap pear from every part of the kingdom be fore the Lord at Jerujalem. Would a pen- pie, famous for obftinacy and rebellion, have fubmitted for fo long a time as they did to the bondage of a law, the obferv anee of which was attended with fo much inconvenience, if they had not been thoroughly convinced of the reality of thofe tranfactions which the feftiyals were appointed to commemorate ? From the time of Mojes downwards the hiftory is (if pofiible) ftill carried on with greater precifion and accuracy through the k At the three grand feftivals, the paffower, the feajl of the Amm. Marc. xxii. 10. ' He finds fault with Cyprian for arguipg with Demetrianui out of the fcriptures which he did not believe ; and ob serves that he ought to have produced human teftimonies— thofe of philofophers and hiitoriam — ut Jitis potifftmum refit* taretur auSorihus. And then he adds— Si bortatu nofiro dofii homines ac diferti hucfe conf err e ceeperint—eyuaj Ti%vn «« hlp/a/i ' <»>«;««; otot £ ««£«/ 7ru(ci rSw tjit ©eS asaf, tiui a.7iim- !<» w 7T3ii)irift,tJitt & Tcii }\yism msiiwrts, iil&ic " to'is gj&Qv- " teu'ssj tfQtt S $>i If xii. 23. not SERMON. II* 6$ not only the origin but the ffate of all na tions* even of their own., God mad.ft the greafceft monarchies inftru/raaeitts; not only to evince his juftiee, in the deftruetipn of Ifrasl and captivity of Judak, but likewife the impartiality of the hiftorians who, re-. late thofe events, and the truth of the pro phets who foretold them. The rejseftion of th&Meffiah b.y the Jews, their rejection! by God, are predicted hy all their prophets att , a tioaie when they were, and expSi&edj ever to hey his peculiar people ; , and. the aidnsiflSon of the Gentiles, into tbte coRenanfe up©m tfbeiy exeluiian ' is, delivered ii om ^Msfos the firft down to. *Malac&ithe:hJk of the prophets : thefe ciireumftancea are conftantly united in the prediction), and were actually fo/ in the accomplifhment, with the advent of Chrift : the time of whofe appaaEan.ce upon earth wo,& fe* ftrongly; marked that we are allured not only by the Evangelifts, but by both Pagan and Jewifh hiftorians, that the whole na tion was about that time big with the ex pectation of h»ir» * who Jhoula\,ve4eemt IJratl. ' Defter. xxxvii.. 2\. k Malcic.\. 11. } Luketxfo. 21 '. E This 66 S E R M O N IL This made them rebel againft the. Ro mans ; this made. them (as is obferved by m one of their own nation) ready to follow every impoftor, who took advantage of the times to abufe their hopes and ferve his own ambitious defigns. That the heathen. world were not ftran- gers to this expectation, by whatever means it was raifed in them, whether, by tradition, the books of the Sibylls, their intercourfe with the Jews in confequence of their difperfion, or laftly by the Greek verfion of the facred oracles — by whatever means this expectation was raifed, that it was entertained by the Gentile world is too plain to be called in queftion. To what other caufe can we attribute the ap pearance of fo many candidates - at that time, and at no other, for fovereign- ty, and the ready fubmiflion of the Ro mans who yet held the very name of king in deteftation ? n No lefs than feventeen prodigies are mentioned, by which Auguf* tus was thought to be the perfon pointed m Jof. bift. 6. 5. Suet. Vefp. 4. » Sutton, in Aug. 94. at SERMON II. 67 at by the oracles for univerfal monarchy ; and one in particular, a few months before his birth, at which the fenate was fo much alarmed as to decree that all the children born within that year fhould bedeftroyed. ° The fame was predicted of Tiberius in his infancy by Scribonius an aftrologer, with this remarkable addition " that he " was to reign without the enfigns of " royalty," regnaturum quandoque Jed Jiiie regio infigni; a circumftance fo exactly cor- refponding with Chrift's lowly eftate men tioned by -the prophets, as to leave no doubt of the diviner's having ftolen from them this idea of that extraordinary per- fonage then univerfally looked for, who Was indeed a king, but whofe p kingdom was not of this world. * According to the opinion then prevailing, (for which the old writings of the priefts and an antient tra dition was quoted) this univerfal king was to come from Judea. Hence thofe extra ordinary favours, of which Philo boafts fo much, fhewn to the Jewifh nation by all the' emperors ; hence the jealoufy which 8 Suet. Tib. 14. P John xviii. 36. * Tacit, hift. 1. 1. c. 13. Suet. Vefp. I. E 2 Vejpafian 63 SERMON II. Vefpajian conceived againft his fon Titus- after his conqueft of Judea* left he fhould revolt from him and make himfelf empe ror of the eaft ; ' hence he murthered all that could be found of the lineage of David, that he might be fure of hiving no competitor in the eaft ; and s hence perhaps (for I would not be thought to lay too much ftrefs upon prefumptionS of this kind) Titus himfelf, when the title feemed by thefe means to be rendered fe* cure, had the appellation given him of deliciee hamani generis in allufion to the ' de- J&e of all nations, by which name the king pointed at in the oriental prophecy was characterifed. Thus much for the general expectation of the Gentile world about the time of our Saviour's appearance in the flefh. As for the Jews, the period for his coming was fo clearly and precifely determined by ' Eufeb. hift. eeele/.l. |> c. \z. 3 There are coins ftruck in honour of Auguftus and Galba With this infcription. Saks generis human!. F&idex preifetf Galba to aflume the purple in thefe terms ut humano geiteri affertorem ducemauefe aaemmodaret. « Hag. ii. 7. their SERMON IL 6q their prophets, that it was impoflible for them to miftake it. Accordingly we find them, from that tirne to the final deftruc- tion of their city and government, look ing for him with the utmoft eagernefs and impatience ; and, when that dreadful ca- taftrophe had entirely cut off all thek hopes, the* pitiful evafions they made ufe of (fome pretending that their fins had pre vented his coming at the appointed time, others that he really did come but con cealed himfelf) are a full demonftration againft themfelves, that in Jsfus Chrjft aU the characters of time, as well as others, were really and truly compleated. Of this truth the modern Rabbis are fo fenfible, that they n forbid under the penalty of a curfe the people to examine the chrono logical prophecies, and 'compute from them the coming of the Meffah ; which appeared fo clearly fixed to w Rabbi Nehe- mias, who lived fifty years before Chriftt that he declared the Meffah could not be deferred beyond thofe fifty years. * Cocceius qtueft. et refp.jud. bitanfs; the captivity and difperfion of thofe that furvivsd, circumftanoes all ex- prefsly mentioned in our Saviour's pro phecy of thofe days of vengeance, diftrefs» and wrath, ftiand as exprefsjy recorded in the writings of an [hiftorian of their oWa of undoubted credit and authority. * Ma»h. xxiv. 74. « Luke xxi. 32. f Compare the 24th chapter of "St Matthew, the latter part of the 19th and the 21ft of St. Luke with Jofephus. 1. 6, 7. Upon SERM O N II. n Upon the whole then — Religion being (as the logicians fpeak) the copula rclatianis between God and man muft of courfe be as antient as that relation. No other writings whatever befides the holy fcrip tures attempt any account of the primitive religion of the world. In them we have through the fpecial providence of God mi-* raculoufty preforved the feveral declarations of his will which he was pleafed to make to our forefathers from the beginning; every difpenfatton, however different in ap pearance, is found to be in truth and fubftance the fame-; all through a variety of circum- ftances are by a wonderful concatenation made fubfervient to the fame end, center and terminate in him who was prefigured by their rites and ceremonies, of whom all the patriarchs were types, all the priefts. and prophets reprefentations. The truth of the facts recorded is proved beyond the poflibility of a doubt by feveral internal marks, and externally by the length of time in which their authenticity has been allow ed, by ^a confiant uninterrupted tradition confirmed by the acknowledgement of our adverfaries 74 SERMON II. adverfaries themfelves. The doctrines by their excellency bear ample teftimony to themfelves. They have moreover received the fanction of a direct and folemn attefia- tion from heaven " by the mediation of " figns and works fupernatural beyqnd the " power of any creature to effect or coun- " terfeit." Thefe works were confeffedh/ performed by the blefFed Jefus, and in his name and by his appointment by thofe alfo whom he eommiffioned to carry on the great fcheme of falvation begun by himfelf. The divinity of thefe miracles themfelves are in a peculiar manner con firmed by their having been foretold: in him whom we acknowledge this together with all the other prophetical marks and characters by which the Meffah was to be known exactly concur. He was to be E born at Bethlehem, * of the tribe of Judab? of the l royal houfe of David; circumftances' ascertained by the providence of God, B Micah v. 2. Matth. ii. 7. h This is clearly fignified by the patriarch Jacob. Gentf. > xlix. 7. Heb. vii. 14. 1 Ifa. xi. 1, 10; Jer, xxiii. 5, &c. — Hence our Saviour is in the Revelations, v, 5. called the lion of the tribe of Jw dab, the root of David. who SERMON II. , 75 who made the enrolment of the empire by a pagan fubfervient to the fulfilling and notoriety of his prophecies. He was to be k born of a virgin, and though of royal lineage yet of * a poor family; of external meannefs and obfcurity ; m the latter of thefe circumftances his adverfaries always urged againft him; the former his evangelifts and all other difciples, perfons of unimpeached integrity, conftantly avowed ; and haa the truth thereof not been notorious, the in- quifitive malice of the Scribes and Pha- rifees would foon have detected and gladly publifhed the falfhood. " He was to come, according to the patriarch Jacob, while the tribe of Judah and thofe who adhered to it remained one body politic governed by their own laws ; according to the pro phets ° Haggai and p Malachi while the fecond temple flood ; according to the prediction of a Daniel fhortly before the k Ija. vii. 14. Matth. i. 23. 1 If a. xlix. 7. liii. 3. m Is not this the carpenter, the fan of Mary, the brother of James &c ?— And they were offended at him. Mark vi. 3.—^ Matth. xiii. 55, &c. " Genef. xlix. 8. ° Hagg. ii. 6, 7, 8. P Mai. iii. 1 . ' Dan. ix. 24, 26. deftruction y6 SERMON II. deftruction of the city and fandtuary, within a determined period of time, which, however computed, falls within the compafs of the age wherein he lived and the deftrudtipn of Jerufalenu To pre pare the Jews for this period God had been pleafed to wean them by degrees from the law of Mofes : he built them in deed a temple after the captivity ; but withdrew the ark of his prefence and the urim and thummim from among them, and accepted of offerings made by ftrange fire ; thus abrogating one ceremony after the other as the time approached wherein Chrift was to cancel all the ordinances. When he appeared upon earth he con* firmed what the prophet had foretold con cerning the abomination of defolation, the demolition of this fecond temple, their woeful tragedy, captivity and difperflon. It accordingly came to pafs, and then their peculiarity vifibly ceafed; their polity both civil and ecclefiaftical was totally deftroy- ed ; and they have ever fince remained miferahle exiles, without the diftindtion of tribes or genealogies, r without, prince, ' ¦Song of the three children, v. 14. prophet SERMON II. f7 pfiophet or leader, without burnt-offering, fa- crifice, oblation, incenfo, or place to JaCrifiee before God. That polity, during the con tinuance of which Shitoh was to come;, is now diffblved r the temple, which the de fine of all nations was to fill with his glory,' is laid even with the ground ; the period, in which the Meffah was to make an atonement for fin, is expired ; and the whole nation of the Jews a ftanding monument of the * defolation which was to come at the end thereof. If therefore the Meffah foretold by the prophets be not already come, he can never come ; the place, the time; and all other circum- ftances affigned to him, are now no more. But the i Mefjiah foretold by the prophets is come, and therefore is ' the vifion and prophecy foaled up ; all the predictions of* foregoing ages concerning him are accom- plifhed, and therefore neither the place, nor the time, nor any other circumftance affigned to him is or can be any more. 0 Wherefore holy brethren partakers of the * Dan. ix, 26. l Dan. ix. 24. * Heb. iii. 1 . heavenly 78 SERMON II. heavenly calling let us not v rebel againft the light, x let us take, heed lefi there be in any of us an evil heart of unbelief; for y how jhall we ejcape, if we neglect Jo great Jalvationg which at the firft began to be Jpoken by the Lord, and has been confirmed unto us by them that heard him ; God alfo bearing them wit- nefs both with figns and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghofi f w Job xxiir. 13. . *. Heb. iii. iz. > Heb. ii. 3, 4. [ 79 ] S E R M O N III. Isaiah Ixi. i, 2. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me ; becaufe the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath font me to bind tip the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prifon to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. a /"Tr1 HERE have not been wanting JL men of piety and abilities who have endeavoured to overthrow the evangelical "See Mr. Lowth's excellent preface to his learned Commentaries on the prophets. ..... ' fenfe 80 SERMON III. fenfe of the prophecies of the old tefta- ment, confining them merely to what is improperly catled their primary meaning, and appropriating them wholly to the per fons of whom or to whom they were proximately fpoken, and their accompliih- ment to or near the times in which they were delivered. It may indeed be doubted whether the prophets themfelves fully underftood the chief and ultimate defignj of I what they fpake when they were moved by the Holy Ghoft y but it is snattet of Sdftpnifhm^t that any intelligent and unprejudiced rea der of the fcriptures) cm Gall into qrueftjon the typical meaning of the, priapfeeQies, which thofe authentic tecocds «flu«e him were fulfilled in the ptomifed Mefimh. c The fpace of time from Ifaiah to Malachi was fiirely too riarrow a boundary" b a P#. ii. ai. ... ' Ifaiah' & firft vifion was in the year that king Uzziah died. c. vi. i . Malachi was cotemporary, if not the fame, with Ezra : the fpace between them can therefore but very little, if at all, exceed three hundred years, to SERMO N "III. Si" to confine the'plenitude of divine revela tion ; the captivity of- the Jews and their return from thence, though i under the di rection of Providence, were certainly of themfelves events too inconfi,derable to merit all the pomp and folemnity- with which the ;vifions are introduced and the actors in that glorious fcene, even Cheru bim and Seraphim and the God oi IJrael himfelf. Such fpecial interpofitions could not have temporary occurrences only for their objects, but through them extended their view to d what jhould come to pqfs at the laft, and Jhewed wha^t Jhould. come to pafs for ever. The exultation and triumph of the prophetical promifes were particularly defigned to raife in the minds of the Jews an expectation of far greater bleflings than their deliverance from the Babylonijh cap tivity, and return to Judea. Thefe were only preludes to their deliverance from the dominion of fin, and title to the heavenly Canaan ; bleflings, which fuch among them as believed have obtained, and we through the tender mercy of our God this. d Eccluf. xlviii. 24, 25. F day 82 SERMON III. day enjoy. And accordingly we read throughout the infpired writings that the Apoftles looked upon c the teftimony ofjejus to be the Jpirit of prophecy ; always confirm ing, when they difputed with the Jews, the doctrines of the new by the writings of the old tefiament. But we have ftill greater authority than theirs, even that of our bleffed Saviour ; who in his expofition of the prophecy, which I have chofen for my text, has applied it to himfelf faying after he had read it — f This day is fulfilled h %*<$ hOjt*i tv Tsis acriv vfiuv this vefy jcripture which you have juft now heard. The prophet Ifaiah from whom the words are taken, having in the foregoing chapters defcribed under feveral Jymbols and allegories the fate of the church from the beginning to the end of time; at laft introduces the Meffah manifefting himfelf to the Jewifh nation, and explaining his own office together with the benefits and privileges of the oeconomy of grace in fa-' miliar phrajes by an eafy allufion to a e Revel, xix. 10. f Luke iv. 21. folernn SERMON; III. 83 felemn feftival, defigned tp put them in mind of a temporal and prefigure ajpiritual deliverance. This was the e Jubilee cele brated with the greateft tokens of joy by God's jgwn exprefs appointment ; every particular circumftance of which was ana logous tp feme part of the gofpel difpen- fation, and the whole a lively adumbration of the h mercy promijed to our forefathers through the redemption that is in Chrift Jefus. God in the beginning created man up right, and beftowed upon him many Angu lar marks of efpecial regard an4 favour, dignifying him with the prerogative of dominion over the reft of the creation, and placing him in a delightful garden which he honoured with his own imme diate prefence, condefcending to have fre quent intercourfe with man. The tree of life was planted in the midft ; the fruit of which was appointed by a natural orfa-r cramental virtue to preferve and prolong his life in this ftate of blifs and glory. e Levit. 25. h Luke i. 72. Rom. iii. 24, F 2 But 84 SERMON III. But he was difobedient to the divine command, and eat of the only fruit which God had forbidden him, having exprefsly faid, i in the day that thou eatefi thereof thou jhalt Jurely die* k In the penalty of death annexed to difobedience was virtually implied the promife of life upon obedi ence ; but the conditions of^the covenant being broken, all title to the reward was forfeited ; the punifhment denounced muft be inflicted, or the honour of the law and the authority of the lawgiver trampled upon. The covenant had been by the goodnefs of God accommodated in every' refpect to the nature of man ; his reafon and underftanding, his appetites and paf-; fions, were interefted in his obedience : the- injunction of a pofitive command was founded on that duty, which reafon could not but' tell him he owed to his creator and bene- fadtor ; the promife had an efpecial regard to the defire of happinefs interwoven in his very frame ; and the threatning to the ' Gen. ii. 17. k This is proved at large by our excellent bifliop Bull in his learned difcourfe concerning the firft covenant and the ftate of man before the fall. prevailing SERMON III. 85 preyailing affection of fear, which ftarts at every object deftructive of his being. If after fo fignal and ungrateful an abufe of God's kindnefs man had gone totally unpunifhed, what idea could he have formed to himfelf of God's veracity, pu rity, and abhorrence of iniquity ? Would not an . abfolute and unconditional pardon. of, this firft, and therefore moft heinous fin as being the caufe and origin of all fubfequent ones — would it not have oc- cafioned fecurity under guilt, and made man fay in his heart, ' Tujh the Lord does notjee, neither does God regard it ? Would it not have deftroyed the neceffity of reli gion and holinefs, and fruitrated the fo- lemnity of divine laws and divine com mands ? for if pardon is arbitrary, punifh ment muft likewife be arbitrary; and every thing of courfe refblved into the defpotic power of God, which necefFarily fuperfedes if not totally annihilates his truth, juftice, mercy, and other effential attributes. Man was amply provided for a continuance in his original rectitude, 1 Pf. xciv. 7. F 3 furnifhed 86 SERMON III. furnifhed with powers fufficient to per form the moft fpiritual obedience ; he could therefore plead no excufe, neither could God confiftently wjth his righteouf- hefs and veracity difpenfe with fo direct a violation of his pofitive command, but Was obliged to vindicate the facrednefs of his laws by putting into execution the punifhment denounced againft the tranf- greflion. To apprehend rightly the nature, and confequently form a true judgement, of this punifhment we muft confider it in three diftindt points of view ; for the death denounced in the fentence is threefold.-^- Firft, A fpiritual death, a deprivation of that purity and holinefs derived from the divine image imprinted on the foul of man.— Secpndly, A temporal death, a fub- jedlion to the miferies of a corrupt ahd depraved nature, to labour and pain, in firmities and difeafes, . and at laft a fepara-' tion of the foul from the body,— -Thirdly, An eternal death, a future ftate of endlefs mifery in the feparation of the foul from GocJ. AU thefe kinds of death were in cluded SERMON III, 87 eluded in the penalty annexed to the vio lation of the covenant of works. But m God had not forgotten to be gracious ; A in the midfi of wrath he remembered mercy : of the three parts of which the punifhment confifted the firft only was immediately felt. And this perhaps may not fo pro perly be faid to have been a punifhment inflicted as the natural effect of a natural caufe, not fo much a judicial as znecej/ary confequence of man's difobedience. There is no ° communion between light and darkttefs, neither could holinefs dwell in what was iinful and corrupt. Man having once parted with his innocence, his thoughts, defires, and affections, his whole frame and constitution, became difordered and vitiated; and this degeneracy and depravi* ty was, by the natural law of propagation, unavoidably tranfmitted by him to his unhappy ppfterity. This I apprehend to be the true meaning of what is called ori ginal fin, the abfence of original righteouf- nefs ; that darknefs in the underftanding ¦ Pf. lxxvii. 9. n Habak. iii. 2. • 2 Cor. vi. 1 4. F 4 and 88 SERMON III. and obliquity in the will, which fucceeded that original light and rectitude by which Adam, if he had continued in his obedi ence, would have been enabled to have led a Jpiritual Ufe here on earth ; but, having fuffered himfelf to be defpoiled of them by the wiles of the tempter, both he and thofe, who with their being de rived the infection from him, became fpiritually dead, p dead in trejpajfes and fins. This fad effect Of their difobedience our firft parents, I fay, immediately and very feverely felt : * they knew that they were naked; they perceived the foul degradation of their nature and 'hid themfelves from tht prefence of the Lord God. Confcioufnefs of their guilt brought upon them the dread of God's juft anger and refentment, and anticipated all the horrors and tor ments of punifhment even before fentence was pronounced. The other parts of the penalty though God did not, could not, abfolutely dif- t Ephef ii. I. 1 Gene/, iii. 7. r Genef iii. 8. penfe SERM O N III. 89 penfe with; yet he did not directly or rigoroufly exact them ; he granted the of fenders a long reprieve from temporal death, and even before he paffed fentence conveyed to them by the promife of a re deemer the comfortable hopes of their being totally delivered from eternal death, and recovering the title to life which they had forfeited by their difobedience. That Adam underftood the promife in this fenfe is, I think, plain from his changing the name of his wife, and henceforth calling her Eve ; clearly alluding to the promifed * feed of the woman by whom all mankind (npw under fentence of death) were to be reftored to life. And that Eve's hopes likewife were erect is evident from her fond and fanguirie expectation of this great deliverer in her firft-born. ' / have gotten, fays fhe, a man from the Lord; or as " fome learned men (who think that in the original the particle fltt denotes, as it * Genef. iii. 20. ' Genef. iv. I. " Among others Ifidorus Clarius, who adds, Nam et caba- liftica tradiiio meminit promiffionis de MeJJiah primis parentibus ifaHte. See Berriman's fourth fermon at Boyle's leftures and the authorities he quotes. often oo SERMON III. often does, the accufative cafe) render the words by appofition, i" have gotten the Man-God. Together with moral, phyfical evil alfo was introduced into the, world ; whether by a natural connexion between them arif- ing from the original conftitution of things, or by a fpecial interpofition of providence at this period, lies within the bofom of the Almighty ; but that the earth did ac tually fympathize with man, and that the promife of deliverance from corruption was expected to extend to the material world, the prophecy of Lamech at the birth of Noah, the typical reftorer of mankind, is a diredt and pofitive proof. He gave him the name of Noah which fignifies comfort faying, w this fame fhall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands becaufe of the ground which the Lord hath curfed. God whofe every dif- penfation is founded on mercy, and has always a refpedt to that amazing inftance of it the redemption of man through w Genef, v, 29. Chrift, SERMON III. 9i Chrift, was pleafed to keep this aflurance alive by, various methods, by promifes de*- claratory and emblematical ; never leaving his fallen creatures without ' hope, nor his gracious intentions without witnefs. *That h'e continued to favour them with feveral, if not manifeftations of his prefence, at leaft revelations of his will has been con cluded from fome hints given by Mofes in his fhort hiftory of mankind before the flood. Of this point the prophecy of La ntech juft mentioned feems to me clearly decifive. It is however worthy of obfer- vation that he makes mention only of the curfe, which the Lord had pronounced and inflicted on the ground ; whereas Adam's prophetical impofition of the name of Eve upon his wife has plainly a refpedt only to the reftoratiph of mankind to life by the promifed feed. It feems therefore not unreafonable to fuppofe that there had been a fubfequent revelation, in which God, made known his gracious purpofe of re lieving man's temporal mifery, by an abatement of that fterility, malignity, and * See Shuckford's connexion, 1. 1. general 92 SERMON III. general depravation which had on the fall infected the whole inanimate creation. Adam poflibly might not feel this part of the curfe in its full rigour; that it was encreafed upon the murder of Abel is more than probable; for the y Lord faid unto Cain, When thou tillefi the ground it Jhall not henceforth yield unto thee her firength ; which words furely imply that it had hitherto in fome degree yielded her ftrehgth, in a degree fuperior to that in which it fhould do it for the future. As men increafed in wickednefs we may, from the analogy eftablifhed between moral and phyfical evil, venture to fuppofe that the curfe increafed in proportion, till at laft impiety having attained its utmoft height it was fully compleated by the total de- ftrudtion of the earth. When Noah took pofFeflion of the new world his father's prophecy began to take place. — z The Lord faid in his heart, I will v Genef. iv. 12. For this obfervation and, others adopted. in this difcourfe I am indebted to Dr. Wortbington's Effay on Redemption. 1 Genef. viii. 21. not S E R M Q N:i III. 93 not again curfe the ground any more for man's fake. — While the earth remaineth, Jeed time and harvefi, and cold and heat, and fummer and winter, and day and night , Jhqll not ceafe, plainly intimating that "the temperature of the air and the variety of feafons, which by their irregularity were inftruments of correction in the antediluvian world, fhould for the future by their regularity and conftant fucceflion be inftruments of mercy, and; the means of removing that curfe of which the flood had been the effect and confequence. Noah being_ typical of our Saviour and the deluge of baptifm the bleflings, con-, tained in the covenant made with him in confequence of the flood? are likewife. typical of the bleflings promifed by the, evangelical covenant in confequence of, our fpiritual regeneration by the waters of. baptifm. But the type is always inferior to the antitype; the bleflings; covenanted * See Bifhop SherJoek's fourth difcourfe on prophecy, andiis fecond differtation annexed to the difcourfes. 4 - . ' . . *H. i. with . 94 S E R M O N III. with Noah were merely temporal, and even that in a lower degree ; by them indeed the feverity of the curfe was great ly foftened, but by no means totally re moved : yet did this relief adminifter great comfort upon his entrance into the new world ; it was a pledge of and a pre* lude to the reftitution of nature to its original ftate, in the fame manner as Enoch was to his "forefathers an earneft.of their deliverance from that far greater penalty of the curfe, fubjedtioh unto death. Thus did God by different revelations at different periods preferve man from defpair, and provide for his prefent com fort by giving him frequent aflurances that he fhould in time be raifed from that deplorable degradation into which he was funk, and reftored to his primitive righte- oufnefs and of courfe to his primitive happinefs. For there is, as we have be* fore obferved, a correfpondence between moral and phyfical evil ; the world; hav ing been made for man, felt together with man the effects of God's difpleafure ; it fell, SERMON III. 95 fell, and by confequential reafoning will rife with man ; it has been made an in- ftrument of mifery to fin, and Will by the blefling of God be made an inftru- ment of felicity to righteoufnefs ; when according to the eftablifhed rules of its fubferviency to moral caufes it fhall here after together with man recover its former excellence and perfection : b Thou jhalt judge the folk righteoufiy and govern the nations upon earth : then Jhall theJ earth bring forth lher increaje, and God even our own God Jhall give us his bleffngi. The removal of the curfe is with great probability fuppofed to have commenced immediately" after the deluge, aqd con tinued ever fince by flow degrees in pro portion to' man's advancement in virtue and piety. And hence rprefume may in fome meafure be conceived one reafon why God, in his dealings with our fore fathers, made temporal rewards and punifh- ments the only fandtions of his laws. The whole fcheme of redemption was too ex- * Pf. lxvii. 4> 6. tenfive 96 SERMON III. tenfive and fublime to be comprehended by men, whofe intelledtual as well as moral faculties had not yet recovered the fhock they had received by the fall ; the myfteries therefore of a fpiritual deliver ance (though by far the moft excellent part, nay, properly fpeaking the whole of the promife becaufe natural bleflings are the genuine effedts and necefTary confer quence pf fpiritual ones) the myfteries, I fay, pf z fpiritual deliverance, not being accommodated to the infirmities of an infant capacity, were not fully revealed;. but fuggefted only by general hints, re- prefented by perfonal types, and fhadowed under , ceremonial figures : whereas the removal of temporal evils, the fad effedts of which they could not but perceive and feel, being more likely to operate upon them was exprefsly made the c bafis c If ye walk in my ftatutes and keep my commandments and do them, then I imill give, you rain in due fepfon, and the land Jhall yield her increafe, &c. &c. Levit. xxvi. '3, 4. &c. — On the contrary, ' difobedience was threatened with temporal punilhments. — But if ye villi not hearken unto me, and the. highifl ingratitude be pafled over in filence; that knowledge of God, of his works, and of his laws, which a Chriftian of a mo derate capacity and refledtion: has in a degree greatly fuperior to the deepelt philofopher oi paganifm, are a happy pre lude and pledge of thofe more enlighten ed SERMON III. ue ed days, when w thS earth fijall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters Cover the foa ; x for they /hall know me from the leaft of them unto the gr eatefi of them, faith the Lord. Who does not feel a confcious dignity and avlaudable ambition of proceeding 1 from firength to firength, *from glory to glory, at the very idea of that high ex cellence with which the nature he par takes of will be ennobled? If however any fhould, upon the reflection of his own perfonal inferiority, find humiliat ing and mortifying thoughts arife ; let him compare his condition with that of thofe who lived in former ages ; of thofe Who are not yet enlightened by * the fun of rigbteoufnefs, who even now bfit in darknej's and in the jhadow of death, and he will find abundant matter of con- folation, joy, and triumph : let him re- * If. xi. 9. * Jer. xxxi. 34. 1 Pf. Ixxxiv. 7. z 2 Cor. iii. 18. Mdl. iv. 2. b Luke i. 79. H 2 collect 116 SERMON III. collect that as e God adapts, his revela-* tions to the capacities of mankind in general, fo likewife does he his demands. to the abilities of individuals ; that, if he has not granted him perfection, he/ will not exact perfection ; that, provided his intention is upright and his obedi ence fincere, his great creator will through the powerful merits and interceffion of his redeemer overlook his defedts, par don his failings, and by the preventing, ftrengthening, and fandtifying grace of his holy fpirit enable him to perform an acceptable duty. If he does not in this world converfe with thofe only * which are written in the lamb's book of life ; if he feels anxiety, pain, ficknefs and other harbingers of hi& approach ing diffolution, let him remember that to a true Chriftian death is a paflage unto life, 'unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerufalem, and to an innu* c Zuftptlgx Tea; iiKudaii CrfiWpega veuhufigtln o Jsij. The'o- dor. bar. fab. 1. v. c. 1 1 . 4 Rev. xxi. 27. e Heb. xii. 22, 23, 24. merable SERMON III. 117 merable company of angels, to the general ajfembly and church of the firft born which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the Jpirits of jufi men made perfect, and to Jefus the mediator of the new covenant. t "9 ] S E R JVLO N IV. E P H E s. i. fed be God and the father of our Lord Jejus Chrifi, who -- hath blejfed us with all Jpiritual bleffngs in heavenly places in Chrift. A Seeming or real obfcurity in the ori ginal has given occafion to feveral different interpretations of the latter part of this paffage.' The words, in the explaining of which learned men dif- agree, are iv rois 'ex-apa/iog Xpi lejad(;U.sr.to, th>c true^ na^aing of &.. par^ll«|e cxjpr^ff&ft ift the. eighteenth \ verfe/ of this chapter— the eyesi of yom underjbirtding be- ' *% %$qht$md that ye may: hww\ whatis ;<:rtr.">"n . . " the S E R M O N IV. 121 the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance h rels kylots not in the faints, as our verfion has it, but in the holy places , i. e. how glorious an inheritance is purchafed for us in heaven. But to return — There are who make the words in Chrift to be emphatical and ex- prefliv.e of that gatherings together (as it is called in verfe the tenth) compacting and uniting together all people, Jew$ * and Gentiles in - Mm, in one church of which he is the head. ' a Others again think that the dative x^« is put inftead of the geni tive XfurcJ by an ellipfis of the participle own, making the- words rots virwyamn x^itu equivalent to t»» t7rovpttvtei$ "veis aim Xpi^a heavenly things of Chrift or belonging' unto Chrifi. Ail thefe Interpretations contain fbnnd truth, but do not feem to me to exprefs the Apoftles meaning. The paflage indeed I take to be elliptical ; but I think that the ellipfis fhould be fupplied not with * Raphelius feems to- adopt this opinion, and "brings- au thorities for it ; but I do not think that any of his ex amples are fully to the point. i. ; - tvtrt 122 8ERM.ON IV. win but ov\t. Blejfed be God and the: father, of our Lordjejus Chrifi, who hath blejfed us with all fpiritual bleffngs through Chrifi ai -riis ivsppa>victs ovk after, or, in confequence. of his afoenfion into heaven- Whilft he was: on .earth the holy Jpirit (as we are; told by, h§t. John) was not yet, becaufe J ejus was- not yet glorified. But when, upon his af- cenfi^n and feflion at the right hand of God, he .took the full and complete exer- cifprof the offices confequent upon his mediatorial kingdom, he then by his mi- niftry and interceffion obtained whatever' was necefTary for the comfort, inftruction»i and fupport of his church. e Being exalt- > ed to the right hand of God (fays St. Peter on the day of Pentecofi) and having receiv ed of the father the promife of the \ Holy > Ghofi, he hath Jhed forth this which you now- foe and hear. This had been predict ed by the royal prophet. Acfliou. haft, aj- cende^on high; thou hafi. led captivity, cap* tivf; thou haft received gifts for, men. And- this prophecy our Apoftle in thi$; very Jopn vii. 39. c Ails ii. 33. A Pf. lxviii. 18. epiftie S E R M O N ¦ IV. 123 epiftle applies to the gracious difpenfation of the holy fpirit after our Lord's trium phant afcenfion, which it is obfervable that he mentions as of neceffity preceding the grant of fpiritual gifts,— ^ he afcended up far above all heavens, thai he might fill all things. Thefe bleffed effedts of Chrifi' s glorifica tion are by our Apoftle in one place called ' the firft. fruits of the Jpirit, in another 8 the earnefi of the Jpirit, and in this chap ter more" emphatically ftill h the earnefi of our inheritance. Now thefe terms firft Jruits and earnefi plainly intimate that the^ divine communications and comforts of the fpirit, with which fincere Chriftians are favoured; in this world; are in their nature firmlar; i however inferior in degree, to ¦thofe that fhall hereafter conftitute '¦ our happinefs in; heaven. As there is a two fold , redemption, fo is there likewife a : 1 twofold beatitude : the firft redemption, 1 confifting of abfolution from the guilt and ' Mphef. iv. 10. f Rom. viii. 23. e 2 Cor, i. 2z. * V. 14. condem- J24 SERMON. IV. condemnation of paft fins, we enjoy in this life ; the fecond, being an advance- msent to a ftate of incorruption and ina,*: mortality, we expect through; faith and: hope. The fandtification of our minds** being in the heft of us here, on earth Only. initial and incomplete, is attended with only an initial and incomplete happinefs ; yet are they both a preparation for, a ten dency unto, t a prelude and foretafte of their completion v\and perfection. They are, fays St* Paul, an Kearneft of. our in heritance until the\ purchafed'ppJfeffon,'i. e. until the fecond redemption, when we fhall be put in pofleflion of the inheritance pur- chafed for us. .Twice did Qbd by a voice from heaven teftify that our hlejffcd Saviour: was his be loved fon ; at his * bapttfnt arid x transfigti+< rationy an unanfwerable arganaent againft the Socinians who prefume to aflert that he was firft made the fon of God by his re- furrection. But the reafon of my making .htf.'x. 14. " k Matth. iii. 17. Mark i. 11. 1 Matth. xvii. 5. Mariix, 7. Luke ix. 35. the SERM a^ IV, i2$ the obfervation at prefent is, becaufe the occafion of this twofold fupernatural de claration of the dignity of our redeemer, feems to me to have a refpect to the dis tinction I have, after others, made of a twofold redemption ; the firft occafion wa* his Aaptifmt when he was inaugurated into his prophetical office, and began to preach' the firft redemption, remiffon offms ;¦ the fecond occafion ©f this divine teftimony, was Hs transfiguration, when he was pleafed to give three' of his difeiples V glhnipfe and pledge of that fptendbr, with' which mour vj/e bodies fhaH be inverted* when they wqfiapioned like unto his glorf^ ous body: i. e. at the fecond redemption, when we fhall be releafed not only from the guik but from the- punifhment of fin ; for fin- fhall be left bwied m the grave1;' and the foul- being purged and perfected ' fhaifc ho joined to the body fpiritualrzed and fitted for a celeftial ftate; and point* together enjoy eternal life. :o;'X With thefe fpiritual hleffings* the com- m- Phil. iii. %¦%, pletion iz6 SERMO N IV. pletion of all bleflings, has God more par ticularly bleffed us in confequence of Chrift* afoenfion into heaven* It is the exemplary aflimilative caufe of purs. As, he died and rofe again for us, that n we, by dying unto fin, might be planted together in the likenejs of his death, and by henceforth living unto God, in the likenejs of his rejurrection ; fo was he glorified that ° we alfo might be glo rified together, On the day of his afcen« fion he took poffeflion of heaven for us p that where ke is we might be alfo. . %He is entered as our fore-runner, as the reprefen- tative of his church and people : for as the natural fo likewife the myfiical body is partaker of all the honours of its head i, his advancement is the advancement of us all, his afcenfion the furety of ours; and therefore St. Paul to denote in the ftrong- eft manner their infeparable connexion triumphantly joins them together, and fpeaks of our exaltation as a thing already accomplifhed in confequence and virtue of i * Rom. vi. 5. ° Rom. viii. 17. p John xiv. $'. 3 Heb. VI. 20. «3-|» n xifftXJ, c*« k) t. vapfgi' chhii jtirit hdyttai i x.i(pK>.n *j is n>n&. Chryf, in Eph. >.. 3. the SERMON IV. 127 the exaltation oi Chrifi ; ' he hath quicken ed us together with Chrifi, and hath raifed us up together and made us fit together in heavenly places through Chrift Jefus. To render the true and full underftand- ing xof this doctrine more eafy and fami liar, it may not be amifs to take a fhort view of that inftitution which was typical and figurative of it ; and which our great Apoftle in his fublime epiftle to the He brews conftantly appeals to as explanatory of this great myftery : and this I fhall do the more willingly, becaufe it will at the fame time illuftrate and confirm that main article of the Chriftian faith, that 'great fource and original of all Chriftian privi leges — the vicarious punifhment of Chrift and the piacular virtue of his blood. We are told by St. Peter that ' the pro phets — enquired and Jearched diligently what or what manner of time the Jpirit of Chrift which was in them didfignify. By the pro-) phets here are in an enlarged and compre- ' Epbif. ii. 5, 6. * 1 Pet. i. 10, 1 1, henfive 128 SERMON IV. henfive fenfe meant all the faithful from the beginning of the world, to whom the blefling of the Meffah was promifed or revealed ; all the patriarchs who • having, feen the promifes afar off' were perfuaded of them and embraced them; all the true Ifraelites who may without impropriety be laid to have believed in Chrift even before! his coming : And this I verily believe to be our Apoftle's meaning when he tells the: Epheftans that the Jews were " 7rputton+ wTis h Tf X{ii?v ;, which words, taken ac cording to this their plain and origin^ import, ftrongly mark a diftindtion made between the Jewfr and the Geratilea; which diftindtion is entirely loft, in oust and other verfions — ** w that '. we jhould kt to the praifo of his glory"-*-" we (Jems} 1 Heb. xi. 13, u npet>i;ri£«» dici poiTunt, et qui prius quam alii fperant, et qui fpem de aliqua re' prascipjuiif. PHorem fentenriam defendit Beza tanquam fola.mveram, alteram prorfus rejj« , ciens quae < Ambrofii eft, ftatuentis Apoftolos in judaifmo quo- que verfantes tamen fpem habuinV in Cbriflv\ venturo, uiV pbte quem ex prophetarum oraculis expeftarint. Diftingpit, fenim Paulas Judaos a Gentilibus'hoc difcrimine, quod 'ilia' in Chrift 0 etiam venturo fpfim pofiierint, hi vero ante evan- gelium fuerint fine Chrifto, ut infra 2. 12. dicit ; «»« e» "4 xatfS okhm x*>p( Xg^s-5. Rapbel. in loc. w Ephefi i. 1 2. who . SERMON IV. 129 " who hoped in Chrift. before his coming ;" in whom " ye (Gentiles) alfo, h oped after «' that ye heard the word of truth, the " gofpel of falvation." The Jews did hope in Chrifi before his coming. * For the hope of Ifrael, fays St. Paul fpeaking to them, / am bound with this chain : And to yAgrippa, (a prince expert in all cuftoms and que /lions which were among the Jews) now Ifiand and am judged for the hope of the promife made of God unto our fathers ; unto which promife our twelve tribes infiantly Jerving God day and night hope to come. God, having from the beginning of time conceived in his eternal mind the idea of the redemption, gave fallen man continual notices of it, reprefenting it under different figures and emblems ; be yond which and through which the be lievers of old, according to the meafur.e of revelation granted them, looked, for wards to their fubftance, and firmly rely ing on the veracity of God z obtained a x At7s xxviii. zo. r Ails xxvi. 3. 6, 7. z Heb. xi. 39. good 130 SERMON IV. good report through faith though they receiv ed not the promife. If they therefore, in thofe days of uncertainty, diredted their minds through the obfcurity of prefent fliadows towards the light to come ; furely a Chriftian, on whom that light fhines in full glory, muft find a lingular pleafure in throwing back his eye upon thofe models and portraitures of his falvation ; the exact likewefs of which in every minute circum* ftance muft convince him that they were fetched out by the hand of God himfelf; that -both the fhadow and fubftance, the type and antitype, proceeded from him who is " Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the firft and the laft. The firft emblematical notice given of a future redemption, was undoubtedly'by the irrftitution of facrifices ; b' which me thod of Worfhip, whatever is afferted by a Revel, xxii. 13. b See among others Shuckford. V. 1. One would thinfc, fays bifhop Patrick on Genef. iv. 3. that Plato had fome no tion of this, when he forbids his lawgiver (in his Epimmis) to make 'any alteration hi the rites of fecrificiflg, becaufe tii Jvr#ri» litiinuf ty S-niTit t t»i»t«/» «fei it is not fofjtblefor out mortal nature to know any thing about fuch matters. men SERMON IV. 1 3ii men ftrangely averfe to any interpofition of the deity, has .furely no foundation in nature, and therefore muft have beep fug- gefted by divine revelation. It is pro bable, from the ufe we find .made of them upon God's future treating with .mankind, that he was at their firft inftitution pleafed to enter into -a coyenant with man, of which a Sacrifice was the feal and ratifica tion. That there were conditions, which are a necefTary part of a covenant, requir- edrpf man ; and that one principal condi tion was faith can admit of no doubt; .for St. Payl, fpeaking pf the firft faqrifice unon record, exprefsjy fays, that c by faith Abel .offered a more excellent Jacrifice than Cain. Now what is faith but a firm re liance on the promifes of God ? and what ]) ad God promjfed but a rea'eetner,? Thus jlierefbre were facrifjces not onb/ typical reprefentarions of the facrifice of the pro- rnifed redeemer, whofe blood was to be the feal of anew covenant; but mprepver God's .acceptance of t|iem was a facra- mental fign and s pledge pf his-recofjcilia- c Iffb.,xi. ,4. I 2 tion 132 SERMON IV. tion to man through faith in him, the anticipating and retroactive virtue of whofe blood would extend the benefits of falvation through all ages. d If thou doeft well, fays God to Cain, i. e. .if thou of- fereft thy facrifice from a true principle, jhalt thou not be accepted ? And if thou doeft not well, fin lieth at the door, i. e. thy fa crifice fhall not make atonement for thy fin. This practice of fubftituting an inno^- cent animal in the room of the offender, was religioufly tranfmitted by Noah after the flood to all his defcendents, and ob ferved univerfally by all nations, however they differed in other religious rites. But its divine origin and typical defign being together with the other parts of patri archal worfhip forgotten, God was pleafed to feparate a peculiar people for the pre fervation of true religion and faith in the promifed faviour. With them he made a new covenant ratifying it with the ufual feal of facrifice, which he again exprefsly * Genef. iv. 7. enjoined SERMON IV. 133 enjoined with fuch additional circum- ftances and ceremonies, e as plainly denot ed its expiatory quality and typical rela tion to that grand atonement, of which it was intended to keep up a me morial. I might here run a parallel, which would be found to correfpond with the minuteft exactnefs, between all the parti culars attending the legal facrifices and that of our bleffed Saviour : but, as thofe offered on the great day of atonement had a more efpecial regard to it, I fhall content myfelf with confidering a few of the ceremonies then ufed ; which I hope will fufficiently explain and fully confirm the doctrines I have juft now advanced. f Aaron, (ia.ys God; himfelf) Jhall lay both his hands upon the live goat, and confefs over him all the iniquities of the children of Ifrael and all their tranfgreffons in all their fins, putting them upon the head of the goat. e Se& Outram de Sacriftciis, 1. i. c. 18. and Berriman's Sermons at Boyle's LecJures. f Levit. xvi. 21. I 3 This £54 S E R M. O N IV. This form of impofition of hands and cbnfeffioh of fins was lifed in all facrifices, atid is very eXpreffive of transferring the fins confeffed Upon the victim, and deWtMg*' it to bear the punifhment of them. Upon1 "all other occafions the victim thus loaded with guilt was brought to the altar, and flain inflread hi the offender : but on this more folermi occafion twO goats made: up biit one fin-offering : one of them #as; offered iri facrifice; the other was fent away alive; by the firft was reprefented dur Sdi'fc/tjfr'sS beihg £ delivered to deithfor dar tiffinehs, by the fecond his beihg raifed- dgaMj%rour jtijlijka'iibm tiil that (Jay only did the high-priefr, and ffone but hifhV enter into the holy of holies burning incenfe ; and, having dip ped hig fingers in the blood df the feveral victims offered, he fprinkled it towards the mercy feat, and pronburtced a folemh bleffing ori the people uttering oh that ocfcSfion and no1 Other tlfe pleculM arid in communicable name of God. We may » Rom. iv. 25. here SERMON IV. 135 here firft obferve, that it was not till after the expiation of himfelf, as well as of the priefts and people, that the high-prieft, prefumed to enter into the moft holy place : for there is an infeparable connec tion between holinefs and glory; to fet which in the ftrongeft light Chrift himfelf, our great high-prieft (though he had evens during his flay upon earth an abfolute in herent holinefs, yet as he had taken our fins upon himfelf, even he) could not, loaded as he was though with imputed impurities, enter into the true holy off holies, till he had made that full ahd perfect fatisfaction for them, which as our furety he had undertaken to make, to the juftice of God : but a compleat atonement being made, and *fin put away by the fof crifice of himfelf he entered, not into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itfelf now to ap pear in the prefence of God for us. The incenfe offered, and the blood fprinkled, were undoubtedly lymbpls pjf " Heb. ix. 26. Ghrift's 136 SERMON IV. Chrifi's prefenting himfelf with his blood in the heavens, exhibiting in the prefence of God the merits of his fufferings, and together with them s offering up (as the Angel of the covenant is reprefented to do in the Revelations) the prayers of the faints, rendering them acceptable to God through his own efficacious mediation and inter ceffion. • After the legal high-prieft had gone through all thefe fymbolical ceremonies, he pronounced the folemn blefiing. — k Jehovah blefs thee and keep thee. Je hovah make his face tojhine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. Jehovah lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee' peace. Whatever my fiery may be contained in ' Revel, viii. 3. k Numb. vi. 24, 25, 26. Maxime [ivr»&'»bif e^ ,r"'a nominis Jehoisie repetition Prima pericopa percommode re- fertur ad Patrem, de quo Paulus fcribit. Ephef. i. 3. Deus et Pater — qui Benedixit nobis omni fpiriiuali benediSione in Chrifto, et cui Chriftus ipfe dicit. Job. xvii. 11. Serva eos per nomentuum. Altera pericopa ad Christum pertinet qui eft Lux mundi. Job. viii. 12. Ultima pericopa, cum notet applicationem gratia?, et communicationem pads' ac gaudii, commode applicatur spiritui sancto per quern regnum Dei nobis eftjuftitia et pax et gaudium. Rom. xiv. 17. Witfius de Sacerdotio Aaronis et Chrifti, the SERMON IV. i37 the ufe, upon that particular day, and- the trinal repetition of this facred name, as was fufpected by the Jews themfelves ; this however is very evident, that the atone ment was not compleated, nor the people eptitled to the bleflings to be conferred in confequence of it, till the blood of the victim was prefented before the mercy feat. And herein is fhadowed forth by a very appofite emblem the full and ulti mate accomplifhment of the reconciliation obtained by the great expiatory facrifice for the fins of the whole world. 1 The Tabernacle, fay the JeWs, is a book of wifdom to i'nfiruct men in the things above. The adytum, or holy of holies, fays u Jofephus, which was inacceffble to the priefis, reprefonted heaven where God dwelt. And this interpretation is undoubt edly right. For, as the Apoftle argues, % the way into the holiefi of all was not yet made manifefi while as the firfi tabernacle was yet fianding : but our high-priefi having xBuxt. hift. arc. m Jof. ant. 1. iii. c. vi. 4. * Heb. x. 20. confecrated *38 S E R M O N IV. confer at ed a new way for us the veil is rent; and heaven rendered acceflible to all be lievers. ° His facrifice of himfelf was in deed offered in this earthly tabernacle; but his facerdotal office was not fully dif- charged, till he had, by the prefentation of his blood, teftified that the atonement was actually made and p the holy place re conciled. Then were the * everlafting doers oi heaven Opened* and together with the king of glory did every faithful believer even then virtually enter. Rut while we thus contend that heaven was rendered acceflible at our Lord's af- cenfion, let us not forget to afcribe this blefling in point of efficient caufality to hit 0 Pontifex Judseorum et pontifex nofter Jefus Chriftus $ fangiiis nircdrum ef vitulorum (eorum utique qui diebus ixpiationis ma&abantur.) et fanguis Chrifti; intimum ady tum, et ccel um fupremum ; ac denique pontificis in ady- fum illud iflgfeffus per vi&imaruih earum fanguinem, et ingreffus Chrifti ill caelum ipfuffl fui ipfius fanguii™. vi ; ut res aduml rantes et ad um brat as inter ie mutud conferuntur. Ouirau. 1. \. c 18. P Lse-iiit. xvi. 20. ' Pf. xxiV. 7. "On cm tt/Lfan ctfiry x$ kA%cuivi «s r «i>p«s>«, tuhlownn el ci tois 6Vga*o~is TX^/S'itrf; 13sr» ? 0j5 agwms i»ol|«/ t«s wix The death of our bleffed Saviour, jtajken abftradtedly from every other corifiderflj- tion, does not feem to have any thing in it peculiar or extraordinary : many holy men had before him, many holy men have ,fince, fuffered as cruel and bloody a dea-ife. If there was therefore no myftery in his death and paflion, why are they fo celer tbrated and magnified in the holy fcrip tures ? If there was no Angular and fpeci- fic virtue in jhis blood, why is there fuch anempbafis laid upon it jthroughout the whole word of God ? Surely there muft »"i - c I Cor. i. 13. d I Cor. iii. 5'. 11. ,<* have SERMON IV. , 143 have been fomefhing peculiar in the e na ture and defign of his fufferings, which diftinguifhed them from all other fuffer ings ; fome fecret quality in his blood, to occafion fuch peculiar notice, fuch parti cular marks and characters to accompany conftantly the mention and* defcriptian of it. Why did our Saviour himfelf with fo much folemnity inftitute and recommend the facrament, as a memorial of his body broken and blood fhed ? Why are there promifes of fuch extraordinary bleflings annexed to the worthy participation of the Jacramental, if there was no extraordinary virtue, no important myftery in the real "flefh and blood, whereof the one was broken the other fhed upon the crofs ? The fcriptures explain this rnyflery ; there we are taught that his fufferings were vicarious, his blood piacular ; l he 'wajhed us from ourjins in his own blood, %:he . e Very expreffive is that ejaculation in the _i>r«rl liturgies C*l& t «y»0;w» m>v 7m^>i/*uTav iKmezt ipae, X&i& '. By t-hy un known fufferings, O Chrift have mercy upon us. f Revel, i. 5. e Ibid. v. 9. redeemed 144 S E R M O N IV. redeemed us to God by his blood: h he was wounded for our tranjgrefjioni ; he was bruif- ed for our iniquities ; the chafiifement of our peace was upon him, and with hisfiripes are we healed; all we likejheep had gone aft ray, and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniqui ties of us all. Of thefe iniquities his death , was piacular ; for them he underwent the accumulated wrath, and fatisfied the infi nite juftice of God. Hence he is faid 1 his own felf to have born our fins in his own body on the tree, k to have given himfelf for our fins, 1 to have died for our fins. And, to make us more eafily apprehend this myftery, he is compared to the propitiatory Jacrifice's under the law, which were al ways underftood m to make atonement for the fins of him who offered them. Now this virtue of theirs reafon and the nature of things muft teach us could only be fymbolical : for, as St. Paul juftly argues, * it is not poffble that the blood of bulls and h If. Xiii. ;. ' i Pet. ii. 24. k Galat.i. 4. ' 1 Cor. xv. 3. m Le-vit. i. 4. ¦ Heb. x. 4. Even our learned Spencer himfelf, who is fo ftrenuous an advocate for the human inftitution of facri- . lices, is forced to acknowledge that human* menti, natura dimina SERMON IV. 145 of goats could take away fins. If this is true, and it is moft evidently fo, how could reafon prompt man to make ufe of a method for the expiation of his fins, which that very reafon muft affure him was of itfelf inadequate to the effect ? But the effect itfelf was likewife fymbolical. The .deliverance they effected was. only' from temporal death ; and the privileges they obtained were merely ceremonial, the right of joining in the public worfhip and approaching the fandtuary. But, a? they had a refpedt to the facrifice of Chrift their antitype and fubftance, they from that re lation acquired a degree of fuperior excel r lence : the legal purity, the admiffion to di'vinie fcientid