SERM. fathers, and queens thy nurfing mothers; they shall bow XVIII. down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up If.lx. 3, 10. the duft of thy feet: The Gentiles fhall come to thy light, 16. and kings to the brightness of thy rifing;—The fons of firangers fhall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minifier unto thee; - Thou shalt fuck the milk of the If. Ixii. 2. Gentiles, and fhalt fuck the breafts of kings;-The Gentiles fhall fee thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory. All this we fee plainly to have been accomplished, for that foon the highest of earthly powers did submit and stoop thereto; that many great princes (great and glorious as even the world hath known any; fuch as Conftantine, Theodofius, Charlemagne, and others of like illuftrious renown) have willingly entertained Jefus's doctrine, and gladly undergone his yoke; that long fucceffions of emperors and kings through the best frequented and most civilized part of the world have seriously profeffed themselves the fubjects and fervants of Jefus; expreffing humble adoration of his person, and yielding obfervance to his laws; maintaining the profeffion of his religion by their power, fupporting the minifters of it by their bounty, cherishing the practice thereof by manifold helps and encouragements; a they have feemed ambitious of titles drawn from performances of this nature, affecting and glorying to be ftyled, Moft Chriftian Kings, Catholic Kings, Defenders of the Faith, and Sons of the Church. It was alfo to be a particular consequence of what the Meffias fhould do, that by virtue of his performances idolatry (that is, the worship of wicked fpirits, or of fictitious deities) fhould in a confpicuous manner be vanquifhed, driven away, and destroyed; the worship of the only true God being fubftituted in its room: The Lord alone, faith Ifaiah concerning his times, fhall be exalted in xxxvi. 25. that day, and the idols he shall utterly abolish: and, It fhall come to pass, faith Zechariah, in that day, faith the Ifa. ii. 17, 18. Ezek. Zech. xiii. 2. * Οὐ γὰρ ἀρνησαίμην ἂν, ἐφ ̓ ᾧ μάλισα χαίρω συνθεράπων ὑμέτερος πεφυκέναι. Conft. apud Euf. de Vit. Conft. iii. Ἐγὼ ὁ συνθεράπων ὑμέτερος καθ' ὑπερβολὴν εἶναι χαίρων. Conftant. apud xvi. 11. Col. i. 13. 18. Luke xi 21. Lord of hofts, I will cut off the name of the idols out of the SERM. land, and they shall be no more remembered; and alfo I XVIII. will caufe the Prophets, and the unclean fpirits to pass out of the land. Now this we know was foon effected by the doctrine of our Lord, in a moft remarkable manner: idolatry, in all places where it came, did flee and vanish before it; the Devil's frauds (whereby he fo long had abused and befooled mankind) being detected, and that John xii.31. authority, which he had ufurped over the world, being Eph. ii. 2. utterly difavowed; all the pack of infernal apoftate fpirits 2 Cor. iv. 8. being not only rejected and difclaimed, but fcorned and Acts xxvi. detefted. Jefus (as the Gospel telleth us, and as expe- Matt. xii. rience confirmeth) did combat the ftrong one, did baffle 29. and bind him; he difarmed and rifled him; he triumphed Col. ii. 15. over him, and expofed him to fhame; he caft him out, John xii. and diffolved all his works. At the appearance of Jefus's 1 John iii. 8. doctrine, and the found of his name, his altars were deferted, his temples fell down, his oracles were struck dumb, his arts were fupplanted, all his worship and kingdom were quite fubverted. The fottish adoration of creatures (by the fuggestion alfo of Satan, and by man's vain fancy advanced to a participation of divine honour) was also presently banished, and thrown away; the only true God (the Maker and Lord of all things) being thenceforth acknowledged and adored as the only fountain of good, and the fole object of worship. 31. xvi. 11. lxvi. 22. Again, whereas in regard to all thefe performances the state of things conftituted by the Meffias is defcribed fo Kargos dingdifferent from the former ftate of mankind, that it is called. Heb. ix. 10. the creation of a new world: For behold, faith God in Ifa. lxv. 17. Ifaiah concerning the Meffias's times, I create new hea- xliii. 18. vens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind, (whence the Jews commonly before our Lord's time were used to call the Meffias's time, the world to come, the future age;) it is plain that oxi Jefus may well be efteemed to have accomplished the in- . tent of thofe expreffions; he (as the ἐπανορθωτὴς τοῦ κόσμε, Ὁ μίλλων the rectifier and rearer of the world, as Origen calleth Heb. vi. 5. him) having wrought fo huge alterations in the minds, Orig. in Heb. ii. 5. αἰών. Celf. 3. 24. XVIII. SERM. and hearts, and lives of men, in their principles and opinions, in their difpofitions and in their practices; having fo changed the face of affairs, and reformed the course of things in the world; bringing men out of lamentable darkness and error into clear light and knowledge, refcuing them from fuperftition, impiety, and wickedness, and engaging them into ways of true religion, holiness, and Eph. iv. 23, righteousness; so many persons being apparently renewed 2 Cor. xv. in the Spirit of their minds; being made new creatures, created according to God in righteoufnefs and true holiness; so that, as the Apostle speaks, old things are passed away, behold all things are become new; fo that what the contumacious Jews in anger and ill-will did call Jefus's Acts xvii. 6. instruments, had a true fenfe; they were oi tǹv oixeμévy ȧvasaτwσavτes, they who had turned the world upfide down; they did fo indeed, but fo as to fettle it in a better posture. 17. YOCH TY Χρισιανισμό Concerning which good effects of Chriftian religion the ancient Christians had good reafon to glory, and to fay oid - with Origen; The adverfaries of Chriftianifm do not difXavi cern, how many men's difeafes of foul, and how many floods x of vices, have been reftrained; and how many men's favage &c. Orig. in Celf. lib. i. manners have been tamed by reafon of the Chriftian docVid. Chryf. trine; wherefore being fatisfied with the public beneficialin 1 Cor. i. nefs thereof, which by a new method doth free men from p. 50. many mischiefs, they ought willingly to render thanks thereto, and to yield teftimony, if not to the truth of it, yet to its profitableness to mankind. There remain behind feveral important confiderations appertaining to this purpose, concerning the performances of the Meffias, and events about him; his being to suffer grievous things from men, and for men; his performing miraculous works; the yielding various atteftations from heaven to his perfon and doctrine; from the congruity of which particulars to what Jefus did endure and act; and to what God hath done in regard to him, the truth of our conclufion, that Jefus is the very Chrift, will be manifeft: but time now forbiddeth the prosecution of those matters; and I must therefore referve it to other occafion. Now, To him that is able to keep us from *falling, and to SERM. prefent us blameless before the presence of his glory with XVIII, exceeding joy, To the only wife God our Saviour, be glory * offending. and majesty, dominion and power, both now, and for ever. Jude 24, Unto the King eternal, immortal, invifible, the only wife + of ages. God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. Bleffing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him Rev. v. 13. that fitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. 25. 1 Tim. i. 17. Salvation be unto our God which fitteth upon the throne, vii. 10. and unto the Lamb. Amen; Bleffing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanks- vii. 12. giving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. Worthy is the Lamb that was flain to receive power, and v. 12. riches, and wisdom, and firength, and honour, and glory, and bleffing. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our fins in i. 5, 6. his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. And in Jefus Chrift, &c. SERMON XIX. THAT JESUS IS THE TRUE MESSIAS. ACTS ix. 22. - Proving that Jefus is the Chrift. SERM. WHAT is the true notion of the name or title Christ, XIX. we (in difcourfing formerly upon this text) did explain. That one perfon, to whom that notion fignally doth agree, was by God's efpecial determination to come into the world, we did alfo in the next place, from prophetical inftruction (backed with the common tradition and current opinion of God's people) declare. We farther in the fequel did propound to fhew, that Jesus (whom we acknowledge) was that very perfon; the Meffias predicted by the prophets, and expected by the Jews. This we have already (in the foregoing difcourfes, proved from feveral circumftances of his birth and coming among men; from his perfonal qualifications, and from divers illustrious performances managed by him, in correspondency to what the prophets foretold concerning the Meffias. The fame we now proceed to confirm from other very confiderable Acts iii. 18. particulars foretold by them, and fuiting to him; and first Luke xviii. from thofe things, which the Meffias was to undergo and fuffer. 31. That the Meffias was to come in a humble and homely manner, (without appearances of worldly fplendour or |