22.

XII.

mediately they rebuked him, saying, Be it S ER M. far from thee, Lord; This fhall not be unto thee. And when he had actually Matt. xvi. fuffered, they faid with a defponding heart, We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Ifrael, Luke xxiv. 21. And even after they were fatisfied of the Truth of his Refurrection, yet still their antient Prejudices put them upon seeking after the fame Sign or Token as before; Lord, wilt thou at this time reftore again the Kingdom to Ifrael, Acts i. 6. So that, confidering how great a Stumbling-block This Circumstance was to the whole Nation of the Jews, 'twas with very good reafon that our Lord pronounces, Matt. xi. 6. Blessed is be whofoever fhall not be offended in me. As to the Gentiles; They, as I now obferved, being used to judge of Doctrines by the Eloquence, and Oratory, and Artfulness in Difputing, of those who taught and maintained them; 'tis no. wonder that the Plainnefs and Simplicity of the Gospel, which took no care to pleafe and entertain them with artificial compositions,

nor

SER M. nor to try their Parts and gratify their XII. Vanity with nice and subtle Disputations,

but aimed wholly at reforming their Manners, and withdrawing them from idolatrous imaginations to the Service of the One Living and True God, in Holiness, Righteousness and Charity; 'tis no wonder, I fay, that this Plainnefs and Simplicity of Doctrine was offenfive to Them, as it is Now, to All forts of men who place religion in Forms and Ceremonies, and in certain Systems of Opinions of which they understand little; Nor ought it at all to feem ftrange, that the Epicureans and the Stoicks, Acts xvii. 18. should encounter St Paul with That contemptuous question, What will this Babler Jay? This therefore is the Second Obfervation contained in the Text; that Perfons of fuch different Tempers, and that made use of fuch different ways of judging, as the Jews and Gentiles did, were yet both of them under very Great Prejudices against the Doctrine of the Gofpel: We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a Stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks Foolishness.

XII

3dly, THE Third and Laft Obferva- SER M. tion contained in the Text, is; that notwithstanding these pretended Objections, yet, in Truth and Reality, fetting afide Prejudices and corrupt Notions, the Doctrine of Chrift was accompanied with the highest and most complete evidence, according to Both the fore-mentioned Methods of judging: It was attended with the fulleft Demonftrations of Divine Power, in the Miracles God worked by him; And it had all real Marks of Wisdom, in its perfect agreeableness to the Dictates of True and Impartial Reafon : But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Chrift the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God. As to the Jews; (who, in judging of the Truth of any Doctrine, always infifted principally upon Proofs or Tokens of the Teacher's Authority, upon Signs or Evidences of his being fent from God;) To the Jews, I fay, The numerous particular and diftinct Prophecies which were fulfilled in the Perfon of our Saviour, and in Him Only; befides all fuch as were typical, and had any Am

biguity

SERM. biguity in them: And the Miracles which XII, he worked during the Course of his Mi

nistry, nothing inferiour nor lefs confpicuous than those by which Mofes of old proved the Truth of his Commiffion ; These were abundant Evidence, in their Own way; Evidence, to Them who required a Sign; than which no greater Sign could poffibly be given, of the immediate interpofition of the Power of God. For whereas our Lord's coming in a mean Eftate, was fo great a Stumblingblock to them; and the principal Sign they expected, was his fetting up a temporal Kingdom with Great Power and Glory: This, in Truth and Reality, would have been but a small manifestation of the Power of God, in comparison of that which has and will be shown forth by the spiritual Kingdom he has established. For how poorly would the great Promises of God made to Abraham, and the Patriarchs, and to good men in all Ages; how poorly, and in how low a sense, would those Promifes have been fulfilled to Them, barely by giving their Pofterity,

Many

Many Ages after Their Decease, a tempo- SER M. rary Kingdom; in comparison of That XII. glorious accomplishment of them in Chrift's Spiritual Kingdom, wherein Abraham, Ifaac and Jacob, and all the faithful Servants of God who have lived in all Ages, fhall themselves literally and perfonally inherit the Promises. Upon which account, the Apostle to the Hebrews elegantly obferves, Heb. xi. 16. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called Their God; For he hath prepared for Them, (not for their Pofterity only, when they themselves were to be no more; but) for Them bath he prepared a City. On the Other hand, as to the Gentiles, who affected to depend entirely on Reafon and Arguments; the Gospel, though it defpifed the Vanity of Oratory, and chose not to recommend itself in the Set Forms of artificial and perplexing Difputation; (for which cause it seemed Foolishness to conceited Philofophers;) yet in point of True Reafon, Wisdom and Goodness, it approved itself to be a Doctrine in All Refpects Excellent, and truly worthy of God: Chrift,