signify the same thing. We shall now consider that place, John i. a little farther. Ver. 41, "Andrew says " to Simon, we have found the Messiah." Philip, on the same occasion, v. 45, says to Nathanael, " we have " found him of whom Moses in the law and the pro-" phets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathanael, who disbelieved this, when, upon Christ's speaking to him, he was convinced of it, declares his assent to it in these words: " Rabbi, thou art the Son " of God, thou art the king of Israel." From which it is evident, that to believe him to be " Him of whom " Moses and the prophets did write," or to be " the " Son of God," or to be " the king of Israel," was in effect the same as to believe him to be the Messiah: and an assent to that, was what our Saviour received for believing. For, upon Nathanael's making a confession in these words, " Thou art the Son of God, thou art the " king of Israel, Jesus answered and said to him, Be-" cause I said to thee I saw thee under the fig-tree, dost " thou BELIEVE? Thou shalt see greater things than " these," ver. 51. I desire any one to read the latter part of the first of John, from ver. 25, with attention, and tell me, whether it be not plain, that this phrase, The Son of God, is an expression used for the Messiah.
To which let him add Martha's declaration of her faith, John xi. 27, in these words: " I believe that thou art " the Messiah, THE SON OF GOD, who should come " into the world;" and that passage of St. John xx. 31, " That ye might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, THE " SON OF GOD; and that, believing, ye might have life." through his name:" and then tell me whether he can doubt that Messiah, the Son of God, were synonymous terms, at that time, amongst the jews.
The prophecy of Daniel, chap. ix. when he is called " Messiah the Prince;" and the mention of his govern ment and kingdom, and the deliverance by him, in Isaiah, Daniel, and other prophecies, understood of the Messiah; were so well known to the jews, and had so raised their hopes of him about this time, which, by their account, was to be the time of his coming, to re- 30 The Reasonableness of Christianity, store the kingdom of Israel; that Herod no sooner heard of the magi's inquiry after " Him that was born king " of the jews," Matt. ii. but he forthwith " demanded " of the chief priests and scribes, where the Messiah " should be born," ver. 4. Not doubting but, if there were any king born to the jews, it was the Messiali: whose coming was now the general expectation, as ap pears, Luke iii. 15, " The people being in expectation, " and all men musing in their hearts, of John, whether " he were the Messiah or not." And when the priests and levites sent to ask him who he was; he, understand ing their meaning, answers, John i. 20, " That he was " not the Messiah; " but he bears witness, that Jesus " is the Son of God," i. e. the Messiah, ver. 34.
This looking for the Messiah, at this time, we see also in Simeon; who is said to be *• waiting for the con-" solation of Israel," Luke ii. 21. And having the child Jesus in his arms, he says he had " seen the sal-" vation of the Lord," ver. 30. And, " Anna coming " at the same instant into the temple, she gave thanks " also unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them " that looked for redemption in Israel," ver. 38. And of Joseph of Arimathea, it is said, Mark xv. 43, That t( he also expected the kingdom of God:" by all which was meant the coming of the Messiah; and Luke xix. 11, it is said, " They thought that the kingdom of God " should immediately appear."
This being premised, let us see what it was that John the Baptist preached, when he first entered upon his ministry. That St. Matthew tells us, chap. iii. 1, 2, " In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the " wilderness of Judea, saying, repent; for the kingdom " of heaven is at hand." This was a declaration of the coming of the Messiah: the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of God, being the same, as is clear out of several places of the evangelists; and both signifying the kingdom of the Messiah. The profession which John the Baptist made, when sent to the jews, John i. 19, was, that " he was not the Messiah;" but that Jesus was. This will appear to any one, who will compare ver* as delivered in the Scriptures. 31 26 — 34, with John iii. 27, 30. The jews being very inquisitive to know, whether John were the Messiah; he positively denies it; but tells them, he was only his fore runner; and that there stood one amongst them, who would follow him, whose shoe-latchet he was not worthy to untie. The next day, seeing Jesus, he says, he was the man; and that his own baptizing in water was only that Jesus might be manifested to the world; and that he knew him not, till he saw the Holy Ghost descend upon him: he that sent him to baptize, having told him, that he on whom he should see the Spirit descend, and rest upon, he it was that should baptize with the Holy Ghost; and that therefore he witnessed, that " this " was the Son of God," ver. 34, i. e. the Messiah; and, chap. iii. 26, &c. they come to John the Baptist, and tell him, that Jesus baptized, and that all men went to him. John answers, He has his authority from heaven; you know I never said, I was the Messiah, but that I was sent before him. He must increase, but I must de crease; for God hath sent him, and he speaks the words of God; and God hath given all things into the hands of his Son, " And he that believes on the Son, hath " eternal life;" the same doctrine, and nothing else but what was preached by the apostles afterwards: as we have seen all through the Acts, v. g. that Jesus was the Messiah. And thus it wras, that John bears witness of our Saviour, as Jesus himself says, John v. 33.
This also was the declaration given of him at his baptism, by a voice from heaven: " This is my be-" loved Son in whom I am well pleased." Matt. iii. 17. Which was a declaration of him to be the Messiah, the Son of God being (as we have showed) understood to signify the Messiah. To which we may add the first mention of him after his conception, in the words of the angel to Joseph, Matt. i. 21. " Thou shalt call " his name Jesus," or Saviour; " for he shall save " his people from their sins." It was a received doc trine in the Jewish nation, that at the coming of the Messiah, all their sins should be forgiven them. These words, therefore, of the angel, we may look upon as a declaration, that Jesus was the Messiah; whereof these 32 The Reasonableness of Christianity, words, " his people," are a farther mark: which sup pose him to have a people, and consequently to be a king.
After his baptism, Jesus himself enters upon his mi nistry. But, before we examine what it was he pro posed to be believed, we must observe, that there is a threefold declaration of the Messiah.
1. By miracles. The spirit of prophecy had now for many ages forsaken the jews; and, though their com monwealth were not quite dissolved, but that they lived under their own laws, yet they were under a foreign dominion, subject to the Romans. In this state their account of the time being up, they were in expectation of the Messiah, and of deliverance by him in a kingdom he was to set up, according to their ancient prophecies of him: which gave them hopes of an extraordinary man yet to come from God, who, with an extraordinary and divine power, and miracles, should evidence his mission, and work their deliverance. And, of any such extraordinary person, who should have the power of doing miracles, they had no other expectation, but only of their Messiah. One great prophet and worker of miracles, and only one more, they expected; who was to be the Messiah. And therefore we see the people jus tified their believing in him, i. e. their believing him to be the Messiah, because of the miracles he did; John vii. 41. " And many of the people believed in him, " and said, When the Messiah cometh, will he do more " miracles, than this man hath done? " And when the jews, at the feast of dedication, John x. 24, 25, com ing about him, said unto him, " How long dost thou " make us doubt? If thou be the Messiah, tell us " plainly; Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye " believed not; the works that I do in my Father's " name bear witness of me." And, John v. 36, he says, " I have a greater witness than that of John; for " the works, which the Father hath given me to do, " the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that " the Father hath sent me/' Where, by the way, we may observe,, that his being " sent by the Father," is but another way of expressing the Messiah; which is as delivered in the Scriptures. 33 evident from this place here, John v. compared with that of John x. last quoted. For there he says, that his works bear witness of him: And what was that witness? viz. That he was " the Messiah." Here again he says, that his works bear witness of him: And what is that witness? viz. " That the Father sent him." By which we are taught, that to be sent by the Father, and to be the Messiah, was the same thing, in his way of declar ing himself. And accordingly we find, John iv. 53, and xi. 45, and elsewhere, many hearkened and assented to his testimony, and believed on him, seeing the things that he did.
2. Another way of declaring the coming of the Mes* siah, was by phrases and circumlocutions, that did sig nify or intimate his coming; though not in direct words pointing out the person. The most usual of these were, "The kingdom of God, and of heaven;" because it was that which was often spoken of the Messiah, in the Old Testament, in very plain words: and a king dom was that which the jews most looked after and wished for. In that known place, Isa. ix. " The GO-" VERNMENT shall be upon his shoulders; he shall be " called the PRINCE of peace: of the increase of his " GOVERNMENT and peace there shall be no end; upon " the THRONE of David, and upon his KINGDOM, to " order it, and to establish it with judgment, and with " justice, from henceforth even for ever." Micah v. 2, " But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be lit-" tie among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee " shall he come forth unto me, that is to be the RULER " in Israel." And Daniel, besides that he calls him " Messiah the PRINCE," chap. ix. 25, in the account of his vision " of the Son of man," chap. vii. 13, 14, says, " There was given him dominion, glory, and a " KINGDOM, that all people, nations, and languages " should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting do-" minion, which shall not pass away; and his KING-" DOM that which shall not be destroyed." So that the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of heaven, were common phrases amongst the jews, to signify the times of the Messiah, Luke xiv. 15, " One of the jews that p 34 The Reasonableness of Christianity, " sat at meat with him, said unto him, Blessed is he " that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." Chap, xvii. 20, The pharisees demanded, " when the king-" dom of God should come?" And St. John Baptist " came, saying, Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is " at hand; " a phrase he would not have used in preach ing, had it not been understood.
There are other expressions that signified the Mes siah, and his coming, which we shall take notice of, as they come in our way.
3. By plain and direct words, declaring the doctrine of the Messiah, speaking out that Jesus was he; as we see the apostles did, when they went about preaching the gospel, after our Saviour's resurrection. This was the open clear way, and that which one would think the Messiah himself, when he came, should have taken; especially, if it were of that moment, that upon men's believing him to be the Messiah depended the forgive ness of their sins. And yet we see, that our Saviour did not: but on the contrary, for the most part, made no other discovery of himself, at least in Judea, and at the beginning of his ministry, but in the two former ways, which were more obscure; not declaring himself to be the Messiah, any otherwise than as it might be gathered from the miracles he did, and the conformity of his life and actions with the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning him: and from some general dis courses of the kingdom of the Messiah being come, un der the name of the " kingdom of God, and of hea-" ven." Nay, so far was he from publicly owning himself to be the Messiah, that he forbid the doing of it: Mark viii. 27-— 30. " He asked his disciples, " Whom do men say that I am? And they answered} " John the Baptist; but some say Elias; and others, " one of the prophets." (So that it is evident, that even those, who believed him an extraordinary person, knew not yet who he was, or that he gave himself out for the Messiah; though this was in the third year of his mi nistry, and not a year before his death.) " And he saith " unto them, But whom say ye that 1 am? And Peter u answered and said unto him, Thou art the Messiah.
as delivered in the Scriptures. 35 " And he charged them, that they should tell no man " of him." Luke iv. 41. " And devils came out of " many, crying, Thou art the Messiah, the Son of " God: and he, rebuking them, suffered them not to " speak, that they knew him to be the Messiah." Mark iii. 11, 12. " Unclean spirits, when they saw '•" him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou " art the Son of God: and he straitly charged them, " that they should not make him known/' Here again we may observe, from the comparing of the two texts, that " Thou art the Son of God," or, " Thou art the " Messiah," were indifferently used for the same thing. But to return to the matter in hand.
This concealment of himself will seem strange, in one who was come to bring light into the world, and was to suffer death for the testimony of the truth. This reservedness will be thought to look, as if he had a mind to conceal himself, and not to be known to the world for the Messiah, nor to be believed on as such.
But we shall be of another mind, and conclude this pro ceeding of his according to divine wisdom, and suited to a fuller manifestation and evidence of his being the Messiah; when we consider that he was to fill out the time foretold of his ministry; and after a life illustrious in miracles and good works, attended with humility, meekness, patience., and sufferings, and every way con formable to the prophecies of him; should be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and with all quiet and submission be brought to the cross, though there were no guilt, nor fault found in him. This could not have been, if, as soon as he appeared in public, and began to preach, he had presently professed himself to have been the Messiah; the king that owned that kingdom, he pub lished to be at hand. For the sanhedrim would then have laid hold on it, to have got him into their power, and thereby have taken away his life; at least they would have disturbed his ministry, and hindered the work he was about. That this made him cautious, and avoid, as much as he could, the occasions of provoking them and falling into their hands, is plain from John vii. 1. " After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; " 36 The Reasonableness of Christianity, out of the way of the chief priests and rulers; " for " he would not walk in Jewry, because the jews sought " to kill him." Thus, making good what he foretold them at Jerusalem, when, at the first passover after his beginning to preach the gospel, upon his curing the man at the pool of Bethesda, they sought to kill him, John v. 16, " Ye have not," says he, ver. 38, " his " word abiding amongst you; for whom he hath sent, " him ye believe not/' This was spoken more particu larly to the jews of Jerusalem, who were the forward men, zealous to take away his life: and it imports, that, because of their unbelief and opposition to him, the word of God, i. e. the preaching of the kingdom of the Messiah, which is often called " the word of God," did not stay amongst them, he could not stay amongst them, preach and explain to them the kingdom of the Messiah.
That the word of God, here, signifies " the word of " God," that should make Jesus known to them to be the Messiah, is evident from the context: and this meaning of this place is made good by the event. For, after this, we hear no more of Jesus at Jerusalem, till the pentecost come twelvemonth; though it is not to be doubted, but that he was there the next passover, and other feasts between; but privately. And now at Jerusalem, at the feast of pentecost, near fifteen months after, he says little of any thing, and not a word of the kingdom of heaven being come, or at hand; nor did he any miracle there. And returning to Jerusalem at the feast of tabernacles, it is plain, that from this time 'till then, which was a year and a half, he had not taught them at Jerusalem.
For, 1. it is said, John vii. 2, 15, That, he teach ing in the temple at the feast of tabernacles, " the jews " marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, " having never learned? " A sign they had not been used to his preaching: for, if they had, they would not now have marvelled, 2. Ver. 19, He says thus to them: " Did not Moses " give you the law, and yet none of you keep the law? " Why go ye about to kill me? One work," or miraas delivered in the Scriptures. 37 cle, " I did here amongst you, and ye all marvel. " Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision, and ye " on the sabbath-day circumcise a man: if a man on " the sabbath-day receive circumcision, that the law of " Moses should not be broken, are ye angry with me, " because I have made a man every way whole on the " sabbath-day? " Which is a direct defence of what h'j did at Jerusalem, a year and a half before the work h^ here speaks of. We find he had not preached to them there, from that time to this; but had made good what he had told them, ver. 38, " Ye have not the word of " God remaining among you, because whom he hath " sent ye believe not." Whereby, I think, he signifies his not staying, and being frequent amongst them at Jerusalem, preaching the gospel of the kingdom; be cause their great unbelief, opposition, and malice to him, would not permit it.
This was manifestly so in fact: for the first miracle he did at Jerusalem, which was at the second passover after his baptism, brought him in danger of his life. Hereupon we find he forbore preaching again there, 'till the feast of tabernacles, immediately preceding his last passover: so that 'till the half a year before his pas sion, he did but one miracle, and preached but once publicly at Jerusalem. These trials he made there; but found their unbelief such, that if he had staid and persisted to preach the good tidings of the kingdom, and to show himself by miracles among them, he could not have had time and freedom to do those works which his Father had given him to finish, as he says, ver. 36, of this fifth of St. John.
When, upon the curing of the withered hand on the sabbath-day, " The pharisees took counsel with the " herodians, how they might destroy him, Jesus with-" drew himself, with his disciples, to the sea: and a " great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from " Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and " from beyond Jordan, and they about Tyre and Sidon, " a great multitude; when they had heard what great " things he did, came unto him, and he healed them all, " and CHAttGEDTHEM,THATTHEYStfOUJJ)NOTMAKE 38 The Reasonableness of Christianity, " HIM KNOWN: that it might he fulfilled which was " spoken by the prophet Isaiah, saying1, Behold, my " servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom " my soul is well pleased: 1 will put my spirit upon " him, and he shall show judgment to the gentiles. " He shall not strive, nor cry, neither shall any man " hear his voice in the streets." Matt. xii. Mark iii.
And, John xi. 47, upon the news of our Saviour's raising Lazarus from the dead, " The chief priests and " pharisees convened the sanhedrim, and said, What " do we? For this man does many miracles." Ver. 53, " Then from that day forth they took counsel together " for to put him to death." Ver. 54, " Jesus therefore " walked no more openly amongst the jews." His miracles had now so much declared him to be the Mes siah, that the jews could no longer bear him, nor he trust himself amongst them; " But went thence unto a " country near to the wilderness, into a city called " Ephraim; and there continued with his disciples." This was but a little before his last passover, as appears by the following words, ver. 55. " And the jews pass-" over was nigh at hand/' and he could not, now his miracles had made him so well known, have been se cure, the little time that remained, 'till his hour was fully come, if he had not, with his wonted and neces sary caution, withdrawn; " And walked no more " openly amongst the jews," 'till his time (at the next passover) was fully come; and then again he appeared amongst them openly.
Nor would the Romans have suffered him, if he had gone about preaching, that he was the king whom the jews expected. Such an accusation would have been forwardly brought against him by the jews, if they could have heard it out of his own mouth; and that had been his public doctrine to his followers, which was openly preached by the apostles after his death, when he appeared no more. And of this they were accused, Acts xvii. 5—9. " But the jews, which believed not, " moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fel-" lows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and " set all the city in an uproar, and assaulted the house as delivered in the Scriptures. 39 " of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. " And when they found them [Paul and Silas] not, " they drew Jason, and certain brethren, unto the " rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned " the world upside down, are corne hither also; whom " Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the " decrees of Caesar, saying, That there is another king, " one Jesus. And they troubled the people, and the " rulers of the city, when they heard these things: and " when they had taken security of Jason and the other, " they let them go."
Though the magistrates of the world had no great re gard to the talk of a king who had suffered death, and appeared no longer any where; yet, if our Saviour had openly declared this of himself in his life time, with a train of disciples and followers every where owning and crying him up for their king; the Roman governors of Judea could not have forborne to have taken notice of it, and have made use of their force against him. This the jews were not mistaken in; and therefore made use of it as the strongest accusation, and likeliest to pre vail with Pilate against him, for the taking away his life; it being treason, and an unpardonable offence, which could not escape death from a Roman deputy, without the forfeiture of his own life. Thus then they accuse him to Pilate, Luke xxiii. 2. " We found this " fellow perverting the nation, forbidding to give tri-" bute to Caesar, saying, that he himself is a king;" or rather " the Messiah, the King."
Our Saviour, indeed, now that his time was come, (and he in custody, and forsaken of all the world, and so out of all danger of raising any sedition or dis turbance,) owns himself to Pilate to be a king; after first having told Pilate, John xviii. 36, " That his " kingdom was not of this world;" and, for a king dom in another world, Pilate knew that his master at Rome concerned not himself. But had there been any the least appearance of truth in the allegations of the jews, that he had perverted the nation, forbidding to pay tribute to Caesar, or drawing the people after him, as their king; Pilate would not so readily have pro 40 The Reasonableness of Christianity, nounced him innocent. But we see what he said to his accusers, Luke xxiii. 13, 14. " Pilate, when he had " called together the chief priests and the rulers of the " people, said unto them, You have brought this man " unto me as one that perverteth the people; and " behold, I, having examined him before you, have " found no fault in this man, touching those things " whereof you accuse him: no, nor yet Herod, for I " sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death " is done by him." And therefore, finding a man of that mean condition, and innocent life, (no mover of seditions, or disturber of the public peace) without a friend or a follower, he would have dismissed him, as a king of no consequence; as an innocent man, falsely and maliciously accused by the jews.
How necessary this caution was in our Saviour, to say or do nothing that might justly offend, or render him suspected to the Roman governor; and how glad the jews would have been to have had any such thing against him, we may see, Luke xx. 20. The chief priests and the scribes " watched him, and sent forth " spies, who should feign themselves just men, that " might take hold of his words, that so they might " deliver him unto the power and authority of the « governor." And the very thing wherein they hoped to- entrap him in this place, was paying tribute to Caesar; which they afterwards falsely accused him of. And what would they have done, if he had before them professed himself to have been the Messiah, their King and deliverer?
And here we may observe the wonderful providence of God, who had so ordered the state of the jews, at the time when his son was to come into the world, that though neither their civil constitution nor religious wor ship were dissolved, yet the power of life and death was taken from them; whereby he had an opportunity to publish " the kingdom of the Messiah; " that is, his own royalty, under the name of" the kingdom of God, and of " heaven;" which the jews well enough understood, and would certainly have put him to death for, had the power been in their own hands. But this being no matas delivered in the Scriptures t 41 ter of accusation to the Romans, hindered him not from* speaking of the " kingdom of heaven," as he did, some times in reference to his appearing in the world, and being believed on by particular persons; sometimes in reference to the power should be given him by the Fa ther at his resurrection; and sometimes in reference to his coming to judge the world at the last day, in the full glory and completion of his kingdom. These were ways of declaring himself, which the jews could lay no hold on, to bring him in danger with Pontius Pilate, and get him seized and put to death.
Another reason there was, that hindered him as much as the former, from professing himself, in express words, to be the Messiah; and that was, that the whole nation of the jews, expecting at this time their Messiah, and deliverance, by him, from the subjection they were in to a foreign yoke, the body of the people would cer tainly, upon his declaring himself to be the Messiah, their king, have rose up in rebellion, and set him at the head of them. And indeed, the miracles that he did, so much disposed them to think him to be the Messfoh, that, though shrouded under the obscurity of a mean condition, and a very private simple life; though he passed for a Galilean (his birth at Bethle hem being then concealed), and assumed not to himself any power or authority, or so much as the name of the Messiah; yet he could hardly avoid being set up by a tumult, and proclaimed their king. So John tells us, chap. vi. 14, 15, " Then those men, when they had " seen the miracles that Jesus did, said, This is of a " truth that prophet that should come into the world. " When therefore Jesus perceived that they would " come to take him by force to make him king, he "departed again into a mountain, himself alone."
This was upon his feeding of five thousand with five barley loaves and two fishes. So hard was it for him, doing those miracles which were necessary to testify his mission, and which often drew great multitudes af ter him, Matt. iv. 25, to keep the heady and hasty multitude from such disorder, as would have involved him in it; and have disturbed the course, and cut short