SERM. of the same glory and happiness, as thence united XVIII. and allied to one another by the strictest bands and most endearing relations; hence it suppleth the stoutest heart, and sweeteneth the fiercest tempers; it inclineth persons of highest state, power, wealth, knowledge, to condescensive humility and meekness toward the meanest; this reason presently occurring to every Christian mind, that no Christian brother is indeed contemptible, can without folly, may without sin be contemned: whence although Jesus's doctrine hath not quite removed wars and contentions out of the world, yea not out of that part thereof which doth acknowledge him, (for that were a thing impossible, without a total alteration of human nature, or rooting out of it those appetites of pride, voluptuousness, self-love, and covetousness, which are the seeds of strife; the effecting which it cannot be supposed that the prophets did intend,) yet hath it done considerably toward it; it hath disposed many persons (many great and considerable in the world) to a very just, innocent, and peaceable conversation; it hath kindled ardent love and compassion toward all mankind in many hearts; it hath produced great fruits of charity and bounty in persons of all sorts; it hath had no small influence upon the common state of things, causing human affairs to be managed with much equity and gentleness, restraining outrageous iniquity and oppression. It was also further particularly foretold, that great princes and potentates should submit to the Messias, seriously avowing his authority over them, yielding veneration to his name, and obedience to his laws; with their power and wealth promoting and encouraging the religion instituted by him, defending and Is. xlix. 7, 16. cherishing his faithful people: All kings, said the SERM. Psalmist of him, shall fall before him; all nations_XVIII. shall do him service; To a servant of rulers, said Ps. lxxii.11. Isaiah also of him, kings shall see and arise, princes 23. lii. 15. also shall do worship: and the same prophet concerning his church; Kings, saith he, shall be thy Is. lx. 3, 10, nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet: The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising;-The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee;―Thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breasts of kings ;—The Is. Ixii. 2. Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory. All this we see plainly to have been accomplished, for that soon the highest of earthly powers did submit and stoop thereto; that many great princes (great and glorious as even the world hath known any; such as Constantine, Theodosius, Charlemagne, and others of like illustrious renown) have willingly entertained Jesus's doctrine, and gladly undergone his yoke; that long successions of emperors and kings through the best frequented and most civilized part of the world have seriously professed themselves the subjects and servants of Jesus; expressing humble adoration of his person, and yielding observance to his laws; maintaining the profession of his religion by their power, supporting the ministers of it by their bounty, cherishing the practice thereof by manifold helps and encouragements; they have seemed ambitious of titles drawn from * Οὐ γὰρ ἀρνησαίμην ἂν, ἐφ ̓ ᾧ μάλιστα χαίρῳ συνθεράπων ὑμέτερος Tepukéval. Const. apud Eus. de Vit. Const. iii. L 3 'Eya SERM. performances of this nature, affecting and glorifying XVIII. to be styled, Most Christian Kings, Catholic Kings, Defenders of the Faith, and Sons of the Church. 18. Ezek. Zech. xiii. 2. It was also to be a particular consequence of what the Messias should do, that by virtue of his performances idolatry (that is, the worship of wicked spirits, or of fictitious deities) should in a conspicuous manner be vanquished, driven away, and destroyed; the worship of the only true God being substituted in its Isa. ii. 17, room: The Lord alone, saith Isaiah concerning his times, shall be exalted in that day, and the xxxvi. 25 idols he shall utterly abolish: and, It shall come to pass, saith Zechariah, in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the name of the idols out of the land, and they shall be no more remembered; and also I will cause the prophets, and the unclean spirits to pass out of the land. Now this we know was soon effected by the doctrine of our Lord, in a most remarkable manner: idolatry, in all places where it came, did flee and vanish before it; the Johu xii.31. Devil's frauds (whereby he so long had abused and Eph. ii. 2. befooled mankind) being detected, and that authorCol. i. 13. ity which he had usurped over the world, being utterly disavowed; all the pack of infernal apostate Matt. xii. spirits being not only rejected and disclaimed, but Luke xi. 21. scorned and detested. Jesus (as the gospel telleth John xii. us, and as experience confirmeth) did combat the 1 John iii. 8. strong one, did baffle and bind him; he disarmed and rifled him; he triumphed over him, and exposed him to shame; he cast him out, and dissolved all his works. At the appearance of Jesus's doctrine, and the sound of his name, his altars were deserted, xvi. 11. 2 Cor. iv. 8. Acts xxvi. 18. 29. Col. ii. 15. 31. xvi. 11. Ἐγὼ ὁ συνθεράπων ὑμέτερος καθ ̓ ὑπερβολὴν εἶναι χαίρων. Const. apud Socr. i. 9. in Epist. ad Eccl. Alexandr. XVIII. his temples fell down, his oracles were struck dumb, SERM. his arts were supplanted, all his worship and kingdom were quite subverted. The sottish adoration of creatures (by the suggestion also 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 sole object of worship. θώσεως. lxvi. 22. μέλλουσα. Ὁ μέλλων αιών. Again, whereas in regard to all these performances the state of things constituted by the Messias Kargos dropis described so different from the former state of Heb. ix. 10. mankind, that it is called the creation of a new world: For behold, saith God in Isaiah concerning Isa. lxv. 17. the Messias's times, I create new heavens and a xliii. 18. 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 Messias's time, the world to come, the future age;) it is oxim plain that Jesus may well be esteemed to have ac- Heb. ii. 5. complished the intent of those expressions; he (as the ἐπανορθωτὴς τοῦ κόσμου, the rectifier and rearer of Heb. vi. 5. the world, as Origen calleth him) having wrought Cels. 3. so huge alterations in the minds, and hearts, and lives of men, in their principles and opinions, in their dispositions and in their practices; having so 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, rescuing them from superstition, impiety, and wickedness, and engaging them into ways of true religion, holiness, and righteousness; so many persons being ap L 4 Orig. in SERM. parently renewed in the spirit of their minds; being XVIII. made new creatures, created according to God in Eph. iv. 23, righteousness and true holiness; so that, as the apostle speaks, old things are passed away, behold 24. 2 Cor. xv. 17. all things are become new; so that what the contumacious Jews in anger and ill-will did call Jesus's Acts xvii.6. instruments, had a true sense; they were of Thy oikov γοροι του Χριστιανισ σιν, &c. Cels. lib. i. μένην ἀναστατώσαντες, they who had turned the world upside down; they did so indeed, but so as to settle it in a better posture. Concerning which good effects of Christian religion the ancient Christians had good reason to glory, Oixar and to say with Origen; The adversaries of Christianism do not discern, how many men's diseases Moixiga- of soul, and how many floods of vices, have been Orig. in restrained; and how many men's savage manners p. 50. Vid. have been tamed by reason of the Christian docChrys. in trine; wherefore being satisfied with the public beneficialness thereof, which by a new method doth free men from many mischiefs, they ought willingly to render thanks thereto, and to yield testimony, if not to the truth of it, yet to its profitableness to mankind. I Cor. i. There remain behind several important considerations appertaining to this purpose, concerning the performances of the Messias, and events about him; his being to suffer grievous things from men, and for men; his performing miraculous works; the yielding various attestations from heaven to his person and doctrine; from the congruity of which particulars to what Jesus did endure and act; and to what God hath done in regard to him, the truth of our conclusion, that Jesus is the very Christ, |