in Contriving Man's Redemption. '251 de~.~~~ ~~~~C~~~~;~t~; t~n,~~o?e0tiv~~fty~et~~:e~,~~l~e~ ~~t'1ie~rwR:c::Ja~J~e~:~. ven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghojl, and theft three are One, I }.oh. 1. 5· The 1./V"\.J . Father terrified by a Voice as loud as Thunder at his Baptifm and Transfiguration, Mat• .;. 1 7· Thou art IJI} beloved Son, i11 whom I tWJ weU ple.ifed. The Son by his gloriOllS apparition to P a11l, Afr. 9· 4· when he {\ruck him to the Earth with thefe Words, Why per· femtefl thou mel The Light wasfo radiant, the Voice fo thong, the lmpreffion it made fo deep and fenGble, that he knew it came from God. And he manife£\ed himfelf to St. Jolm with that Brightnefs, Rev. 1. 17. ThatheftU at his Feet as dead, till in compailion he reviv'd him, and faid, I tUJJ he that liveth a11d wttJ dead, and behold I am alive for evermore. And the Holy Spirit by his miraculous defcent in the !bape of a Dove upon him, and in fi ery Tongues upon the ApoJ11es, gave a vilible Te{\imony that Jejia Chrijl was fentfrom God to fave the World. I wi ll particularly confider one e'ffefr of the Di· vine Power, the R.efurrefrion of Chri{\, this being the mo{\ important Article of the Gofpel, and the Demon(lration of all the rerr. For 'tis not conceiveable that ~od would by his Almighty Power have rais'd him from the Grave to a glorious Life, (and it is impoilible he !bould be otherwife) if he had taken the Name of the Son of God in vain, and arrogate to himfelf Divine Honour, and only pretended that he was fent from Him' ~~;~~~et~~·~;S~r h1s~~ff;:::'a;~~i1e~~~~e.f;~tffo?t,t, ~~:,~~:~·a~~;~r:i~~ia~~~;~h! quality of God's Son which he alway~ attributed to himfelf. Now if Infidelity objefr, that we who live in the prefent Age have no fenlible T<f\imony that Chri{\ is rifen, and what alfurance is there, that the Apofi:les who reponed it were not Deceivers or deceived? In anfwer to this, I will briefly !bew how valuable the Teftimony of the Apo{\Jes is, and worthy of all Acceptation; and that 'twas equally impoffible they !bould be deceived, or intend to deceive. His Death is atte1\ed by his Enemies. Tacitas a Pagan relates that hefuffered under PonthtJ Pilate. And the Jews to this day are fo unhappy as to boa{\ of their being the caufe; of his Crucifixion, and call him by a fllame that is the mark of his Puni!bment. But his R.eCurrefrion they peremptorily deny. Now the Apof\les being fent to convert the Worlil, were to lay this down as the Foundation of their Preaching, that Je(us Chril\ was raifed from the dead, th~t •ll might yield Faith ~nd Obedience to Him. This was their fpecial Charge, as Sr. Peter declar.es, At1. 1. 20, 21. 111h,erefore of thefe Men w!Jich have companied t'Pitb us all the time that the Lord Jefos went in and 0111 among us, beghmiug from the Baptifm of John, unto the fame DaJ tbat he wai ta/zen up from us, mHfl be om ordained to be a Wit~te{s of his Reforre/Jion. They were to te1\ify concerning his Dofrrine and Life, his Miracles and Sufferings, but principally his R.efurreC\ion. ForthisreafonSt. PaHI, who was extraordinarily admitted into their Order, had a miraculous Sight of Chri{\ from Heaven (laftof aUhewasfeenofme, •·Cor. 15. 8.) tote1\ify it to the World. Now for our full Con vil.\ion, 'tis necdfary to confider the quality of the Witne!fes, and the nature of their Te{\imony. '. The Wirne!fes were (uch of whom there cannot be the learrreafonabk Sufpicion (c).(,; 1,,._/lim~ In Civil Caufes of the greareft moment, the Teftimony of rhe Honourable and theRich are nii! liignira,,· accounted valu:lble, becallfe they are not eafil y corrupted : One of a low degree may from fid:J,:ro;;~. bafeneCs of Spirit, through.Cowardifeand Fear be tempte.d to deny the Truth; one in a f;;;,,,, Of. poo( condition l)lay be(o dazled with the \.u{\reof Gol·d, when he confiders rhe Price of Perjury, as to be induced tp a!ferta Fal!buod.. But who is more incorruptible, the Noble that from a fenfe of l{onout abhor a Lie, or thofe who by their Divine Birth anJ Qualities did fo dete1\ it , that they would nQt tell a Lie for the Glory of God? Who is more worthy of Credit, the R.ich who.Ce R.iches (om~times excites their Delires after more, or thofe who by a generous DiCdai·n de(pifed all things? Befides, Perfons of known lntegrit}\ whom the different Images of Hopes and Fears cannot probably encline to evil, are admitt.ed to decide the weighrie{\ Caufes: Now the Apo{\les were (o innocent, fnber, hone{\ and unblameable in the whole tenour oftheir·Coover(atious, that their mo{\ tmlignant Adverfaries could never fa{\en an Accufation upon them. Indeed if their carnal lntere{\s bad ~e~ B~~ci~~v'~ci~~l7~;;'~fi~!rh~h~n;~ni[0~~t0;~~;:~ ~~j;~i~~~r:Jf~~f\ t~,~~ira~;~i:C~~ could be in it. For as all the Afrions of R.e~(onable Men proceed· from R.e<fon fa lid or apparent, fo particularly [mpo{\ure and Fifrion are never without fame Motive and Defign : For being contrar}{ to Nature, there mufl: intervena a foreign Confiderat ion for their contrivance. Now the uoiverfal. Moohtes to in veno Fables are Honour, .R.iches, or Pleafure. But none of there could pollibl y move the .dpaftle,r to feign the Refurrection of Chri{\. Not to infi{\ on the Meannefs of their Extrafrion and Education, wlio had only L I feen
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