2q 6 The Sufferings of Chrift confider'd, Vo1.II. not only to free them from the Roman Yoke, which they were then under; but to fubdue all Nations to them, and fo bring them under their Dominion and Government. And this did fo generally prevail among them, that even the Difciples of our Saviour were as ftrongly poffefs'd with this Conceit, as any of the rent; infomuch that the Mother of games and John made it her folemn Re- queft to our Saviour, that Her two Sons might fit, one on his Right-hand, and the other on his Left, inhis Kingdom. And tho' he had told his Difciples junk before, that he mull go up to Jerufalem, and fifer many Things of the Scribes and Pharifees, andbe betrayed and put toDeath ; yet the other Conceit of his TemporalDominion and Greatnefs did fo poffefs their Minds, that they could not underfland this Say- ing, and it u nhid front them, that theyperceived it not, as St. Lukè tells us, Luke 9.45 Nay, even after his Death and ReCurre&ion, when he appeared to them, this (till Ruck in their Minds, as appears by that Queftion which they ask'd him imme- diately before his Afcenfion, AE1s 1. 6. When they were come together, they askd of him, Lord, wilt thou at this Time refíore again the Kingdom to Ifrael ? They took it for granted, the McJas would do it one Time or other, and they enquireofhim, whether that were the Time. So that theJews being fo firmly fix'd in this Conceit of the Temporal Reign of the Meffias, nothing could be a greater Stumbling-block to them, than the mean and fuffering Condition, in whichour Saviour appeared. TheMeannefs of his Birth and Life was a great Obje&ion againft him ; but when they faw him put to Death fo ignominioufly, and that he did not then thew his Glory and Power, to fave hirnfelf from that cruel and thameful Death, they could rather believe any Thing than that this was the Meffias foretold, and whom they had fo long ex- pe&ed. They made full account that the Mejas, when-ever he came, would Jive in great Splendor and Glory, and do great Things for the Advantage and Honour of their Nation; the leant they expe&ed from him, was their Deliver- ance from theRoman Yoke, and the Eftablifhingof the Throneof David for ever; or if his Beginning had been obfcure, that he would at laft break forth in great Luftre and Majefty ; or, if they could have fuppofed that the Meffias thould be perfecuted, and condemned, and nailed to the Crofs, yet they doubted not but then God would have given Teftimony tohim by fome Sign fromHeaven, and have refcued him from the Crofs in a miraculous Manner : But feeing nothing of all this, nothing but Poverty and Meannefs, Reproach and Suffering attending him, they concluded, whatever Miracles he pretended to, this could not be the Son of God, the true Meas. On the other Side, the HeathenPhilofophers, who were not poffefs'd with there Conceits about the McJas, they were offended at the Unreafonablenefs and Folly, as they thought, of the Apoftles Do&rine, who went about to per- fwade the World, that a Man who had lately fuffered, and was crucified at jeru- falem, was a great Prophet come into theWorld ; nay the Son of God, in whom all Men ought to believe, and by whom they ought to hope for Life and Salva- tiot}4 As if it were reafonable to think, that God would have expofed the moft Innocent and Virtuous Perfon that ever was, to fo greatReproach and Sufferings, that theSon of God Ihould die, and that Life and Immortality were tobe hoped for from him, who was crucified and put to Death. This they looked upon as a Story fo ill framed, that to all wife and fagacious Men, it deftroyed its own Credit and Belief. For tho' they faid he was rifen again from the Dead, yet be- fore that could be entertained by Menof Philofophical Minds, there were many deep Points to be determined, as concerning the Nature of the Soul, and whe- ther it can fubfift feparately from the Body, and whether a Body once dead can be reftored toLife again, and re-united to the Soul? And as for hisDo&rine, which theApoftles pretended to deliver, it was a plain, and rude Thing, without Art or Eloquence, nothing ofdeep Speculation, or ftritt Demonftration in it : In thort, fo far frombeingworthy ofaTeacher comefromGod, that it was below the Pitch of an ordinary Philofopher. Thefe and fuch like Things, were in all Probability, the Exceptions which the HeathenPhilofophers took at theApoftles Preaching, concerning our Saviour'sDeath, and his Doltrme 5 and they had fome Colour in theta But
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