LXXVI. incredulous will never allow any inferences to be SERM. drawn from it: but the plain correspondence of events to the standing records of ancient prophecies (obvious and conspicuous to every one that will consult and compare them) concerning a person to be sent by God, who should have such circumstances, and be so qualified, who should in God's name preach such doctrines and perform such works, is a proof, which alone may assure any man, that such a person doth come from God, and is in what he declareth or doeth approved by him: no counterfeiting can here find place; no evasion can be devised from the force of this proof. This way therefore of discourse our Lord and his apostles (whose business it was by the most proper and effectual methods to subdue the reasons of men to the obedience of faith and entertainment of Christian truth) did especially use; as generally in respect to all things concerning our Lord, so particularly in regard to his passion; declaring it to happen punctually according to what had been foreseen by God, and thence foreshewed by his prophets, rightly understood; He took the twelve, saith St. Luke of Luke xviii. our Lord, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished: for he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on; and they shall scourge him, and put him to death. And again, after his 31, 32, 33. resurrection, he thus reproves his disciples; O fools, Luke xxiv. and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets 25, 26, 46. have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? They SERM. did not then (partly being blinded with prejudice, LXXVI. partly not having used due industry, and perhaps not excelling in natural capacity, however, not yet being sufficiently enlightened by divine grace) apprehend, or discern, that, according to the prophetical instructions, our Lord was so to suffer; but afterLuke xxiv. ward, when he had opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, they did 45. 2, 3. xxvi. 22, 23. see, and specially urge this point: then St. Peter de1 Pet. i. 11.clared, that the Spirit of Christ, which was in the prophets, did testify beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow; then it Acts xvii. was their manner to reason (as is said of St. Paul) out of the scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered: saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come, that Christ should 1 Cor. xv.3. suffer; delivering first of all, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures: this is that which in my text St. Peter doth insist upon, affirming about the passion of Christ, that it not only had been predicted by one, or more, but foreshewed by an universal consent of all the prophets; to illustrate and confirm which assertion of his, is the scope of our present Discourse: to perform which, after having briefly touched the state of the matter in hand, we shall apply ourselves. That the Messias was to come in an humble and homely manner; (without appearance of worldly splendour or grandeur;) that he was to converse among men in a state of external poverty and meanness; that he was to cause offences, and find oppositions in his proceedings; that he was to be repulsed and rejected, to be hated and scorned, to be LXXVI. disgracefully and harshly treated, to be grievously SERM. persecuted and afflicted; yea, that at last he was to be prosecuted, condemned, and executed as a malefactor, is a truth indeed, which the Jews (although they firmly believed and earnestly expected the coming of a Messias) did not, and indeed were hardly capable to entertain. It was a point repugnant to the whole frame of their conceits; yea, inconsistent with the nature and drift of their religion, as they did understand it; for their religion in its surface (deeper than which their gross fancy could not penetrate) did represent earthly wealth, dignity, and prosperity, as things most highly valuable; did propound them as very proper, if not as the sole rewards of piety and obedience; did imply consequently the possession of them to be certain arguments of the divine good-will and regard: they could not therefore but esteem poverty, affliction, and disgrace, as curses from heaven, and plain indications of God's disfavour toward those on whom they fell: they particularly are said to have conceited, that to be rich was a needful qualification for a prophet; (no less needful, than to be of a good complexion, of a good capacity, of a good conversation and life:) Spiritus Dei non requiescit super pauperem, the Spirit of God doth not rest upon a poor man; (that is, no special communications of grace, or of wisdom and goodness, are by God ever afforded to persons of a low and afflicted condition;) being a maxim which they had framed, and which currently passed among them that he therefore, who was designed to be so notable a prophet; who was to have the honour of being so special an instrument of promoting God's service and glory; who therefore should be so highly SERM. favoured by God, that he should appear despicable, LXXVI. and undergo great afflictions, was a notion that 20. could not but seem very absurd; that could not otherwise than be very abominable to them. They had further (in congruity to these prejudices, abetted by that extreme self-love and self-flattery, which were peculiar to that nation) raised in themselves a strong opinion, that the Messias was to come in a great visible state and power; to achieve deeds of mighty prowess and renown; to bring the nations of the world into subjection under him; and so to reign among them in huge majesty and prosperity. When Jesus therefore (however otherwise answerable in his circumstances, qualifications, and performances, to the prophetical characters of the MesMatt. xvi. sias) did first appear such as he did, with some pretences, or intimations rather, that he was the Messias, their stomach presently rose at it; they were exceedingly scandalized at him; they deemed him Matt. xiii. not only a madman (one possessed or distracted) and an impostor, but a blasphemer; for no less than blasphemy they took it to be for so mean and pitiful a wretch (as to their eyes he seemed) to assume unto himself so high a dignity, and so near a relation unto God, as being the Messias did import. We even see the disciples themselves of our Lord so deeply imbued with this national prejudice, that, even after they had avowed him for the Christ, they could scarce with patience hear him foretelling what grievous things should befall him: St. Peter himself, upon that occasion, even just after he seriously had Matt. xvi. confessed him to be the Christ, did, as it is exJohn xvi. pressed, take him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: yea, presently after that 57.xxvi.65. 22. xvii. 2. 12. LXXVI. 21, 25. our Lord most plainly had described his sufferings SERM. to them, they could not forbear dreaming of a kingdom, and of being grandees therein: yea, further, Matt. xx. even after our Lord's passion and resurrection, this fancy still possessed them; for even then they demanded of him, whether he would at that time re- Acts i. 6. store the kingdom unto Israel; meaning such an external visible kingdom. Hence of all things, notifying the Messias, this seemeth to be the only particular, which in general the Jews did not, or would not, see and acknowledge; and this caused them to oversee all other glorious marks, how clearly soever shining in and about the person of Jesus: this cloud hindered them from discerning the excellency of his doctrine, from regarding the sanctity of his life, from being duly affected with the wonderfulness of his works, from minding, or from crediting all the testimonies from heaven ministered unto him; this, as St. Paul telleth us, was the main scandal, which obstructed their 1 Cor. i. 23. embracing the gospel. As it was their ignorance or error in this point, which disposed them to persecute our Lord; (nisi enim ignoratus nihil pati posset, as Tertullian saith; if they had known, they would Tert. in not have crucified the Lord of glory, saith St. Paul ;) 1 Cor. ii. 8. so it was that which maintained their obstinate hatred of his name and memory; although graced with so illustrious testimonies of divine power and providence. We cannot therefore here, as in other particulars concerning our Lord, allege the general consent of God's people in expounding the prophets according to our sense, this being one of those points, in respect to which the prophets themselves did foresee Acts xiii. 27. iii. 17. John xv. 21. Marc. iii. 6. |