4a-I1-1. CLXXXIII. of the Chrifian g 7 greater f tisfa&ion can any one be imagined to have concerning any P:riop,^that he is tent from God, than the Apoftles had, and the reft of thofe who caivérs'd with our Saviour, and faw theMiracles that were wrought by him, and on his be- half .? Suppofe we had lived in our Saviour's time, and had converft with him, what greater Evidence could we have defrred of his Divine Authority, thin; to have teen with our Eyes fo many ftrange things done by him, exceeding any na- tural power that we know of, and things fo beneficial to Mankind ; and all the( wrought fo frequently, and fo openly ? To have teen this Perfon put to Death, and at that militant the whole Frame of Nature difordered and put out of its courfe ? Tohave teen this Perfon,, after he had lain three days in the Grave, railed ro Life again ; and to have the greateft affurance of this that our Senfes can give us of any thing ? by frequent and familiar Converfation ; by Difcourung with him 5 by Eating and Drinking with him ; by touching and handling of his Body ? and afterwards to have teen this fame Perlon vifibly taken up into Hea- ven 5 and according as he had promifed before he left the World, to have found cur felves afterward endowed with a Miraculous Power of fpcaking all on the fudden ali forts of Languages 5 of healing Difeafes of foretelling things to come) of rafting out Devils ; of railing the Dead ? Had we Peen all this with our Eyes, and experienced this ftrange Power in our felves ; could there have remained any doubt in us, but that this Perfon was tent from God, and fpccially commiflioned from Heaven, to declare the mind of God to the World ? If after all this, any Man will fay, that fo many Perfons as were Eyewitnefles of thofe things, might be deceived in a plain lènfrble matter; I would defile that Man to prove to me that he is waking, or toEvidence tome by better Arguments, any thing elfe that he thinks himfelf moft certain of. IV. The Fourth Evidence which thofe who lived in our Saviour's time had of his Divine Authority, was the Spirit of Prophecy proved to be in him, and made good by theaccomplifhment of his own Predi &ions. This altowas a clear Tefti- mony that 'he was from God 5 for God challengeth this as peculiar to the Deity, to forerei future Contingents. Ifa. 41. z3. Skew the things that are to come here- after, that we may know that ye are Gods. The Oracles of the Heathen did give out fome dark and doubtful Conjc&ures about future things : but a clear and certain Predi&ion of things was always look'd upon as an Argument, that the Perlon that could do it, was infpired from God ; and therefore the Spirit of Pro- phecy which was in our Saviour, and by him conferr'd upon the Apoftles after- ward, bath always been juftly look'd upon as a good Teftìmony that he was from God. So the Angel tells St. John, Rev. 19. to. That the teflimony of Jefus is the Spirit of Prophecy. Now the Predr&ions of our Saviour were many 5 and thole very plain, and pun&ual, and particular 5 and fuch as all or molt of them had their accomplifh- ment in that Age. That we may take a more diftin& view of them, I flail re- duce them to theft Five Heads. r. Thole that foretold his Death, and the Circumftances of ir. a. His Refurre&ion, and the particular Circumftances of that. 3. The Defcent of the HolyGhoft upon the Apoftles, with the Circumftances belonging to that. 4. The Deftruerion of Hierufalem before the end of that Age, with the Signs foregoing ir, and the concomitant Circúmftances of that. S. Thofe that foretold the fate of the Gofpel in the World, the oppofition it fhould meet with, and yet the admirable fuccefs it fhould have, notwithftanding that oppofition. 1. Thofe that foretel his Death, and the Circumftances of it. This he did very particularly, and at fcveral rimes. Matth. 16. to. he told his Difciples, That he snuff go unto Jerufalem, and therefuller many things of the Elders, and chief P,ieftr, and Scribes, and be killed. Mark 10.33, 34. And Matth. to. 18, 19. He foretels more particularly the manner of their proceedings againft him, that the chief Priejts and Scribes íhould condemn him to Death 5 but that they fhould not put him to A a a a 2 Death,
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