" things I have said unto you, that you may not be " scandalized." The last thing he had told them^ be fore his saying this to them, we find in the last verses of the preceding chapter: " When the Paraclet is come, " the Spirit of truth, he shall witness concerning me." He shall show you who I am, and witness it to the world; and then, " Ye also shall bear witness, because *4 ye have been with me from the beginning." He shall call to your mind what I have said and done, that ye may understand it, and know, and bear witness con cerning me. And again here, John xvi. after he had told them they could not bear what he had more to say, he adds, ver. 13, " Howbeit, when the Spirit of truth " is come, he will guide you into all truth; and he will '* show you things to come': he shall glorify me." By the Spirit, when he comes, ye shall be fully instructed concerning me; and though you cannot yet, from what I have said to you, clearly comprehend my kingdom as delivered in the Scriptures. 95 and glory, yet he shall make it known to you wherein it consists: and though I am now in a mean state, and ready to be given up to contempt, torment, and death, so that ye know not what to think of it; yet the Spirit, when he comes, " shall glorify me," and fully satisfy you of rny power and kingdom; and that I sit on the right hand of God, to order all things for the good and increase of it, till I come again at the last day, in the fulness of glory.
Accordingly, the apostles had a full and clear sight and persuasion of this,, after they had received the Holy Ghost; and they preached it every-where boldly and openly, without the least remainder of doubt or uncer tainty. But that, even so late as this, they understood not his death and resurrection, is evident from ver. 17, 18, " Then said some of his disciples among themselves, " What is it that he saith unto us; A little while, and " ye shall not see me; and again, a little while, and ye " shall see me; and because I go to the Father? They " said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little " while? We know not what he saith." Upon which he goes on to discourse to them of his death and resur rection, and of the power they should have of doing mi racles. But all this he declares to them in a mystical and involved way of speaking: as he tells them himself, ver. 25, " These things have I spoken to you in pro- " verbs; " i. e. in general, obscure, ^enigmatical, or figurative terms (all which, as well as allusive apolo gues, the jews called proverbs or parables). Hitherto my declaring of myself to you hath been obscure, and with reserve: and I have not spoken of myself to you in plain and direct words, because ye " could not bear it." A Messiah, and not a King, you could not understand: and a King living in poverty and persecution, and dy ing the death of a slave and malefactor upon a cross; you could not put together. And I had told you in plain words, that I was the Messiah, and given you a direct commission to preach to others, that I professedly owned myself to be the Messiah, you and they would have been ready to have made a commotion, to have set me upon the throne of my father David, and to fight for 96 The Reasonableness of Christianity, me; and that your Messiah, your King, in whom are your hopes of a kingdom, should not be delivered up into the hands of his enemies, to he put to death; and of this Peter will instantly give you a proof. But " the " time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you " in parables; but I shall show unto you plainly of the " Father." My death and resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Ghost, will speedily enlighten you, and then I shall make you know the will and design of my Fa ther; what a kingdom I am to have, and by what means, and to what end, ver. 27. And this the Father himself will show unto you: " For he loveth you, because ye " have loved me, and have believed that I came out " from the Father." Because ye have believed that I am " the Son of God, the Messiah;" that he hath anointed and sent me; though it hath not yet been fully discovered to you, what kind of kingdom it shall be, nor by what means brought about. And then our Saviour, without being asked, explaining to them what he had said, and making them understand better what before they stuck at, and complained secretly among them selves that they understood not; they thereupon declare, ver. 30, " Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, " and needest not that any man should ask thee." It is plain, thou knowest men's thoughts and doubts before they ask. " By this we believe that thou earnest forth " from God. Jesus answered, Do ye now believe?" Notwithstanding that you now believe, that I came from God, and am the Messiah, sent by him: " Behold, the " hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scat- " tered;" and as it is Matth. xxvi. 31, and " shall all " be scandalized in me.53 What it is to be scandalized in him, we may see by what followed hereupon, if that which he says to St. Peter, Mark xiv. did not suffi ciently explain it.
This I have been the more particular in; that it may be seen, that in this last discourse to his disciples (where he opened himself more than he had hitherto done; and where, if any thing more was required to make them believers than what they already believed, we might have expected they should have heard of it) there were as delivered in the Scriptures. 97 no new articles proposed to them, but what they be lieved before, viz. that he was the Messiah, the Son of God, sent from the Father; though of his manner of proceeding, and his sudden leaving of the world, and some few particulars, he made them understand some thing more than they did before. But as to the main design of the gospel, viz. that he had a kingdom, that he should be put to death, and rise again, and ascend into heaven to his Father, and come again in glory to judge the world; this he had told them: and so had acquainted them with the great counsel of God, in send ing him the Messiah, and omitted nothing that was ne cessary to be known or believed in it. And so he tells them himself, John xv. 1,5, " Henceforth I call you " not servants: for the servant knoweth not what his " Lord does: but I have called you friends; for ALL " THINGS that I have heard of my Father, I have made " known unto you; " though perhaps ye do not so fully comprehend them, as you will shortly, when I am risen and ascended.
To conclude all, in his prayer, which shuts up this discourse, he tells the Father, what he had made known to his apostles; the result whereof we have John xvii. 8, " I have given unto them the words which thou gavest " me, and they have received them, and THEY HAVE " BELIEVED THAT THOU DIDST SEND ME." Which is, in effect, that he was the Messiah promised and sent by God. And then he prays for them, and adds, ver. 20, 21, " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them " also who shall believe on me through their word." What that word was, through which others should be lieve in him, we have seen in the preaching of the apo stles, all through the history of the Acts, viz. this one great point, that Jesus was the Messiah. The apostles, he says, ver. 25, " know that thou hast sent me; " i. e. are assured that I am the Messiah. And in ver. 21 and 23, he prays, " That the world may believe" (which, ver. 23, is called knowing) " that thou has sent me." So that what Christ would have believed by his disci ples, we may see by this his last prayer for them, when H 98 The Reasonableness of Christianity, he was leaving the world, as by what he preached whilst he was in it.
And, as a testimony of this, one of his last actions, even when he was upon the cross, was to confirm his doctrine, by giving* salvation to one of the thieves that wras crucified with him, upon his declaration that he believed him to be the Messiah: for so much the words of his request imported, when he said, <: Remember me, " Lord, when thou comest into thy kingdom," Luke xxiii. 42. To which Jesus replied, ver. 43, " Verily, " I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in " paradise." An expression very remarkable: for as Adam, by sin, lost paradise, i. e. a state of happy im mortality; here the believing thief, through his faith in Jesus the Messiah, is promised to be put in paradise, and so re-instated in an happy immortality.
Thus our Saviour ended his life. And what he did after his resurrection, St. Luke tells us, Acts i. 3, That he showed himself to the apostles, " forty days, speak- " ing things concerning the kingdom of God." This was what our Saviour preached in the whole course of his ministry, before his passion: and no other mysteries of faith does he now discover to them after his resurrec tion. All he says, is concerning the kingdom of God; and what it was he said concerning that, we shall see presently out of the other evangelists; having first only taken notice, that when now they asked him, ver. 6, " Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the king- " dom of Israel? He said unto them, ver. 7, It is not " for you to know the times and the seasons, which the " Father hath put in his own power: but ye shall re- *' ceive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon " you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me, unto the " utmost parts of the earth." (iTheir great business was to be witnesses to Jesus, of his life, death, resurrection, and ascension; which, put together, were undeniable proofs of his being the Messiah. This was what they were to preach, and what he said to them, concerning the kingdom of God; as will appear by what is record ed of it in the other evangelists.
as delivered in the Scriptures. 99 When on the day of his resurrection he appeared to the two going to Emmaus, Luke xxiv. they declare, ver. 21, what his disciples faith in him was: " But we " trusted that it had been he that should have redeemed " Israel: " i. e. we believed that he was the Messiah, come to deliver the nation of the jews. Upon this, Jesus tells them they ought to believe him to be the Messiah, notwithstanding what had happened: nay, they ought, by his sufferings and death, to be confirmed in that faith, that he was the Messiah. And ver. 26, 27, " Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he ex- " pounded unto them, in all the scriptures, the things " concerning himself, " how, " that the Messiah ought " to have suffered these things, and to have entered into " his glory." Now he applies the prophecies of the Messiah to himself, which we read not, that he did ever do before his passion. And afterwards appearing to the eleven, Luke xxiv. 36, he said unto them,, ver. 44 — 47, " These are the words, which I spake unto you, while " I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled " which are written in the law of Moses, and in the " prophets, and in the psalms concerning me. Then " opened he their understanding, that they might un- " derstand the scripture, and said unto them: Thus it " is written, and thus it behoved the Messiah to suffer, " and to rise from the dead the third day; and that re- " pentance and remission of sins should be preached in " his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Here we see what it was he had preached to them, though not in so plain open words before his crucifixion; and what it is he now makes them understand; and what it was that was to be preached to all nations, viz. That he was the Messiah that had suffered, and rose from the dead the third day, and fulfilled all things that were written in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah; and that those who believed this, and repented, should receive remission of their sins, through this faith in him. Or, as St. Mark has it, chap. xvi. 15, " Go into all the " world, and preach the gospel to every creature; he " that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but " he that believeth not, shall be damned/' ver, 16.
H g~ 100 The Reasonableness of Christianity, What the " gospel," or " good news," was, we have showed already, viz. The happy tidings of the Messiah being come. Ver. 20, And " they went forth and preached " every -where, the Lord working with them, and con- " firming the word with signs following." What the " word " was which they preached, and the Lord con firmed with miracles, we have seen already, out of the history of their Acts. I have already given an account of their preaching every-where, as it is recorded in the Acts, except some few places, where the kingdom of " the Messiah " is mentioned under the name of " the " kingdom of God; " which I forbore to set down, till I had made it plain out of the evangelists, that that was no other but the kingdom of the Messiah.
It may be seasonable therefore, now, to add to those sermons we have formerly seen of St. Paul, (wherein he preached no other article of faith, but that Jesus was " the Messiah," the King, who being risen from the dead, now reigneth, and shall more publicly manifest his kingdom, in judging the world at the last day,) what farther is left upon record of his preaching. Acts xix. 8, at Ephesus, " Paul went into the synagogues, and " spake boldly for the space of three months; disputing " and persuading, concerning the kingdom of God." And, Acts xx. 25, at Miletus he thus takes leave of the elders of Ephesus: "And now, behold, I know that ye " all, among whom I have gone preaching the king- " dom of God, shall see my face no more." What this preaching the kingdom of God was, he tells you, ver. 20, 21, " I have kept nothing back from you, 66 which was profitable unto you; but have showed you, " and have taught you publickly, and from house to " house; testifying both to the jews, and to the Greeks, " repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord " Jesus Christ." And so again, Acts xxviii. 23, 24, " When they [the jews at Rome] had appointed him 16 [Paul] a day, there came many to him into his lodg- " ing; to whom he expounded and testified the king- " dom of God; persuading them concerning Jesus, " both out of the law of Moses, and out of the pro- " phets, from morning to evening. And some believed as delivered in the Scriptures. 101 " the things which were spoken, and some believed not." And the history of the Acts is concluded with this ac count of St. Paul's preaching: " And Paul dwelt two " whole years in his own hired house, and received all " that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of " God, and teaching those things which concern the " Lord Jesus the Messiah." We may therefore here apply the same conclusion to the history of our Saviour, writ by the evangelists, and to the history of the apos tles, writ in the Acts, which St. John does to his own gospel, chap. xx. 30, 31, " Many other signs did Jesus " before his disciples; " and in many other places the apostles preached the same doctrine, " which are not " written" in these books; " but these are written that " you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son " of God; and that believing you may have life in his name."
name."
What St. John thought necessary and sufficient to be believed, for the attaining eternal life, he here tells us. And this not in the first dawning of the gospel; when, perhaps, some will be apt to think less was required to be believed, than after the doctrine of faith, and mys tery of salvation, was more fully explained, in the epistles writ by the apostles, for it is to be remembered, that St. John says this, not as soon as Christ was ascended; for these words, with the rest of St. John's gospel, were not written till many years after not only the other gospels, and St. Luke's history of the Acts, but in all appearance, after all the epistles writ by the other apostles. So that above threescore years after our Saviour's passion (for so long after, both Epiphanius and St. Jerom assure us this gospel was written) St. John knew nothing else required to be believed, for the at- f taining of life, but that " Jesus is the Messiah, the Son " of God."
To this, it is likely, it will be objected by some, that to believe only that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, is but an historical, and not a justifying, or saving faith.
To which I answer, That I allow to the makers of systems and their followers to invent and use what dis tinctions they please, and to call things by what names 102 The Reasonableness of Christianity, they think fit. But I cannot allow to them, or to any man, an authority to make a religion for me, or to alter that which God hath revealed. And if they please to call the believing that which our Saviour and his apos tles preached, and proposed alone to be believed, an historical faith; they have their liberty. But they must have a care, how they deny it to be a justifying or saving faith, when our Saviour and his apostles have declared it so to be; and taught no other which men should re ceive, and whereby they should be made believers unto eternal life: unless they can so far make bold with our Saviour, for the sake of their beloved systems,, as to say, that he forgot what he came into the world for; and that he and his apostles did not instruct people right in the way and mysteries of salvation. For that this is the sole doctrine pressed and required to be believed in the whole tenour of our Saviour's and his apostles preaching, we have showed through the whole history of the evangelists and the Acts. And I challenge them to show that there was any other doctrine, upon their assent to which, or disbelief of it, men were pronounced believers or unbelievers; and accordingly received into the church of Christ, as members of his body; as far as mere believing, could make them so: or else kept out of it. This was the only gospel-article of faith which was preached to them. And if nothing else was preached every-where, the apostle's argument will hold against any other articles of faith to be believed under the gos pel, Rom. x. 14, " How shall they believe that whereof " they have not heard? " For to preach any other doc trines necessary to be believed, we do not find that any body was sent.
Perhaps it will farther be urged, that this is not a " saving faith; " because such a faith as this the devils may have, and it was plain they had; for they believed and declared " Jesus to be the Messiah." And St. James, eh. ii. 19, tells us, " The devils believe and tremble; " and yet they shall not be saved. To which I answer, 1. That they could not be saved by any faith, to whom it was not proposed as a means of salvation, nor ever pro mised to be counted for righteousness. This was an act as delivered in the Scriptures* 103 of grace shown only to mankind. ^God dealt so favour ably with the posterity of Adam, that if they would believe Jesus to be the Messiah, the promised Ring and Saviour, and perform what other conditions were re quired of them by the covenant of grace; God would justify them, because of this belief. He would account this faith to them for righteousness, and look on it as making up the defects of their obedience; which being thus supplied, by what was taken instead of it, they were looked on as just or righteous; and so inherited eternal life. But this favour shown to mankind, was never offered to the fallen angels. They had no such proposals made to them: and therefore, whatever of this kind was proposed to men, it availed not devils, what ever they performed of it. This covenant of grace was never offered to them.
2. I answer; that though the devils believed, yet they could not be saved by the covenant of grace; be cause they performed not the other condition required in it, altogether as necessary to be performed as this of believing: and that is repentance. Repentance is as absolute a condition of the covenant of grace as faith; and as necessary to be performed as that. John the Baptist, who was to prepare the way for the Messiah, " Preached the baptism of repentance for the remission " of sins," Mark i. 4.
As John began his preaching with " Repent; for " the kingdom of heaven is at hand," Mat. iii. &; so did our Saviour begin his, Matt. iv. 17, " From that " time began Jesus to preach, and to say, Repent; for " the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Or, as St. Mark has it in that parallel place, Mark i. 14, 15, " Now, " after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into ** Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, " and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of " God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." This was not only the beginning of his preaching, but the sum of all that he did preach; viz. That men should repent, and believe the good tidings which he brought them; that " the time was fulfilled " for the coming of the Messiah. And this was what his apostles 104 The Reasonableness of Christianity.
preached, when he sent them out, Mark vi. 12, " And " they, going out, preached that men should repent." Believing Jesus to be the Messiah, and repenting, were so necessary and fundamental parts of the covenant of grace, that one of them alone is often put for both. For here St. Mark mentions nothing but their preaching repentance: as St. Luke, in the parallel place, chap. ix. 6, mentions nothing but their evangelizing, or preach ing the good news of the kingdom of the Messiah: and St. Paul often, in his epistles, puts faith for the whole duty of a Christian. But yet the tenour of the gospel is what Christ declares, Luke xii. 3, 5, " Unless ye re- " pent, ye shall all likewise perish." And in the pa rable of the rich man in hell, delivered by our Saviour, Luke xvi. repentance alone is the means proposed, of avoiding that place of torment, ver. 30, 31. And what the tenour of the doctrine which should be preached to the world should be, he tells his apostles, after his re surrection, Luke xxiv. 27, viz. " That repentance and " remission of sins " should be preached " in his name," who was the Messiah. And accordingly, believing Jesus to be the Messiah, and repenting, was what the apostles preached. So Peter began, Acts ii. 38, " Repent, and " be baptized." These two things were required for the remission of sins, viz. entering themselves in the kingdom of God; and owning and professing them selves the subjects of Jesus, whom they believed to be the Messiah, and received for their Lord and King; for that was to be " baptized in his name:" baptism being an initiating ceremony, known to the jews, whereby those, who leaving heathenism, and professing a sub mission to the law of Moses, were received into the commonwealth of Israel. And so it was made use of by our Saviour, to be that solemn visible act, whereby those who believed him to be the Messiah, received him as their king, and professed obedience to him, were admitted as subjects into his kingdom: which, in the gospel, is called " the kingdom of God; " and in the Acts and epistles, often by another name, viz. the « Church."