212 Book IV. JLrotung unto jjcfu.s. Chap.5 .Sect.t. Heb. '· 3· 2 C· t . ~· :.o. J Tirn. 4· 15. ;;---:------=- tth from Heaven. And befides, he bath his Minill:ers here oneanh, and they are dally prraching over thefe Sermons of Chrill, agatn, and again; they preach fuch rhinos as were Jirft fpok§n by the Lord himfclf, they befeech, and pray thee in Chrij/J ftcad. 0 then meditate on thefe thingJ, and gwe thy fcif wholly to them, th~t thy profiting may nppearr; all. 7· Confider the mira,cles of Chrill: in purfuance of the Doctrine delivered in ltis blelfed Sermons. Heres a world of matter to run over; fuch miracles were done by Chrill: as never man did before. Mo(tJ indeed fmote the Rock, and the waters ou0 1 ed ~ut, but he coul~ not turn Water into Wine; Elijha raifed a Child that was de~d, to l!fe, but J efus ratfed one who had been dead four dayes, yea who was buried and cor– :·upted: Elia.· and Samuel, and all the Prophets, and the fucceffion of the high Prie!ls 111 both the Temples, put all tog~ther, never dtd fo many, and fo great miracles as Je– fus dtd: he turned water tlltO wtne j he healed the Noble-mans fon even at the point of death; he. cured the Leprous by Ius touch ; he made the lame man to walk. and the crooked limbs to become {height ; he made habitual difeafes, ~nd i;weterare: of eigh– teen years contmuance ( and once of thmy etght years) to dtfaP.pear or hts [peaking, even ls darknefs at the brtghmefs of the Sun; he fed thouflnds of people with two fmall filhes, and five loaves; he call: out Devils, and commanded them whitherfoever he pleafed; he rc!lored light to the blind ; in a word he did fuch miracles as no man elfe John 9·2l· ever did; and the poor blind man proved it by inllance of himfelf. It was never heard that any mlln opened the eyes of one that wao born blind. 0 my foul confider of thefe mi– racles, and believe that Doefrine which was ratified with Arguments from above! how lhouldl! thou but afTent to all thofe myll:erious. truths whichwere fo l!rongly confirmed ·by an Alm•ghty hand?-- What r doll: thou think a meditation needlefs in this re– fpect ? art thou fully fatisfied of the truth of Scriptures r It is well; I hope thou art· and yet who knows how foon thou mayll: be put to it by an enemy, or a ll:rong tempta: rion? One can tell usin print, Same are no•v tallzing of a to/leration of all Religions; and fome deftre that the JewJ may have a free commerce amongft tu : it is good therefore to be well armed at this point; and the bel1: Argument to prove the verity of the Gofpel, next to the inward tellimony of the Spirit, is this demanftration, or common place of the miraclesof Chrill:. tu!« f. 'l· 8. Cohfider Chri!ls ordination of his Apoll:les. He chofc twelve, whom he JMmed ~ia«h. ,g., ~. Apojlles: And what was the office of thefe Apoll:les, but to Go andteach all Nations! The Gofpel was firll: preached in Jewry, but afterwards the found of it came unto us. Mich: 4· '· Out of Zion Jha/1 go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jmifalem. Gild,., affirms plainly, That Brittain received the Gofpel in the time of Tiberius, under whom Chrift fuffered : a>Jd that Jofeph of Arimathea, afm the difperfton of the {ewJ, WM Jcne of Philip the Apoftle from France to Brittain, and here remained in this Landall hi; N;cepl,. l. ,, time. Niccphorllf adds, That Simon Zelotes did fpread the Gofpcl of Chtijl to the Weft '· 40. Ocean; and brought the fl''"' into the ljleJ of Brittain. Howfoever it was brought hi– ther, of this we are fure; that Chrill: was firll: difcovered to his Apo!lles, and from tl1e Apoll:les was difcovered to our fore-Fathers, and from them unto us, and fr_om us y;ill be the difcevery to others to the end of the world. 0 the goodnefs of God m Chnl1:! Luke •H7· What.? That repentAnce and remif!ion of fins Jhouldbe preached in hi. Name, beginning at Jerufalem, anti afterwards among all Nations? Of wltat ~ear concernment, 0 my foul is this to thee? What art thou but a !inner of the Genules? Underll:and that term! When the Apoll:le would exprefs the greatall !inners that the world had~ he calls them ea·. ,,,, Sinners of the GentilcJ; Why? the Gentiles knew not Go~, the Genules were unac– quaimed with Chrill, the Gentiles walked in nothing but lm ; 0 then what a love " th 15 , that God fhould ever have thought of good will towards thee?. furely tlus 1s one of 1 Tim. 3· 16. the greflt myfterieJ ofgorlline(J, God manifefted in the jlef!J, J"ftijied rn the Spmt, fcm of Angel 5 , preechcd umotheGentileJ: What? thatfinner.s, and the worll:of finners,frw?ld · be made the fubjects of the utmotl: d1fcovery of Chrtfl, and of the Gofpel of Chrt!l? this a my!lery imleed had Chri!l fent his Apoll:les to proclaim the riches of fits Grace to forue Jews only, o;· to fame unfponed fouls among ~he G~ntiles (if any fuch were) whofc beans might prefemly have fallen down before tt, thts had been fomethtn~ futa– ble. but, that linnets of the Gentiles, that children of wrath Owuld be the fubJect of this'great delign. () the my!lery! q. d. Go my ApoftleJ into all the Nations of :h• wifrld; and amongft them all, go into Brim.in into that comer of theworldEngland, ·and there open the myfiery of Chrift , there preach life, anti rcconnltattotl, and redempt~:d
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