VI. Spirit of Love and univerfal Charity. SER M. And accordingly they fet themselves, upon all occafions, to revile his Doctrine and calumniate his perfon. In which matter, it was no great difficulty for them to meet with Succefs; because the prejudiced Vulgar, who could very hardly distinguish between the Traditions of their Elders and the Commands of God, must needs be prone to look upon our Lord as an Enemy to the One, because he preached against the Other. But the Miracles, which our Saviour worked, were harder to withstand: For the people could not eafily be perfwaded, that God would give a Deceiver Power to perform as mighty Works, as those by which the Law of Moses had itself been at first established. Here therefore the malice of the Pharifees, was to exert itself in a more extraordinary manner. And when they could not deny the miraculous Facts themfelves, they pretended that the Power which worked them was the Power of Satan: Ver. 24th of this chapter, They faid, he doth not caft out Devils, but by Beelzebub VI. SER M. Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils. And whenfoever he taught, without working some immediate Miracle; then they prefently called upon him again, to show them a Sign: Ver. 38, Then certain of the Scribes and Pharifees anfwered, saying, Mafter, we would fee a Sign from thee. Thus against wilful perverfeness there is No remedy. If he fpake to them with fo much reafon and goodness, as never man Spake; ftill his Doctrine wanted to be confirmed by a Miracle. And if he confirmed what he taught, by undeniable Miracles; then the Power which worked them, was the Power of Satan. For This reafon, to the Pharifees, who called upon him to show them a Sign, he gave this fevere Reply in the words of the Text; An evil and adulterous generation feeketh after a Sign, and there shall no Sign be given to it, but the Sign of the Prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whales belly, fo shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth. The declaration here made by our Lord, is of the VI. fame nature with That in the Prophet S ER M. Ifaiah, ch. vii. 13. Hear ye now, O houfe of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary Men, but will ye weary my God alfo? Therefore the Lord himself fhall give you a Sign; Behold, a Virgin fhall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his Name Immanuel. The Jews in Ifaiah's time, like the Pharifees in our Saviour's, after all the mighty works that God had done for them, ftill continued impenitent: And as often as they were called upon to repent, they prefumptuously demanded more Signs. In way of Reproof for this Perverseness of theirs, and as a standing Declaration of God's having done, on His part, what was fit for Him to do; the Divine Wisdom, both in the days of Ifaiah, and in the days of Chrift, refers such perfons to the fettled and univerfal Evidence of Revelation; viz.the miraculous Fulfilling of the Antient Prophecies concerning the promised Meffias. The Sign referred to by Ifaiah, is the Birth of Chrift; Behold, a Virgin fhall conceive. That referred to by our Saviour in the Text, is VOL. V. I his VI. SER M. his Refurrection; The Son of man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. that THERE is in thefe words one Difficulty; how our Lord is here faid to have been three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth, when in the Hiftory of all the Gofpels it appears, having been buried the first day in the evening, and rifing again the third day in the morning, he confequently remained in the Sepulchre but two whole nights, and one whole day. Now in order to understand this rightly, 'tis to be observed that the Jews in Their language, as We also frequently do in Ours, by the word (day) mean the Space of twenty four hours. And in all languages Nothing is more common, than for the Name of the Whole to be made ufe of to exprefs a Part. Whatever therefore is begun on the first day, and finished on the third, may in ufual and vulgar Speech (which is always the language the Scripture speaks in) be rightly faid to be three days in doing. But This may perhaps feem a matter of maller importance; Though, indeed, it can can never be without its Ufe, to fhow the SER m. confiftency of such Texts of Scripture, as VI. at first fight may appear not to agree together. Another Inquiry therefore, naturally arifing upon these words, is, for what reafon our Saviour continued in the Sepulchre just such a determinate time before his Resurrection. Now, befides that This was neceffary for the fulfilling of the Prophecies that went before concerning him, (which is the reafon alleged in the Text;) 'twas moreover neceffary in the nature of the thing itself, that he should continue fo long a time in the grave, to show that he was really dead; and he was to continue there no longer, that (as the Scripture expreffes it) the Holy One might not fee corruption. THE words of the Text being thus explained; the matter of instruction therein contained, may be reduced to the following Heads. ift, THAT the Doctrine of religion is VOL. V. I 2 and |