Ann. Dom. A. M. 4037, ther*, we may reasonably infer, that when our Lord came to his apostles, on purpose, &c. or 5442. as it were, to convince them of the reality of his resurrection-body, he did not glide into Vulg. Er. 33, the room like a spirit or phantasm, but, by his sovereign power, opened the door him&c. or 31. self (even as the angel did the prison-gates to release Peter) secretly, and without the perception of any in the company, who might all then be at the upper end of the room perhaps, and employed in some such business as took up their whole attention. For (a) unless we can suppose, that our Saviour designed to invalidate the strength of what he said and did, to convince his apostles of the truth of his resurrection, we cannot believe, that at the same time he would do a thing (known and observed by them) which would in effect evacuate the force of all his proofs *2. It is difficult, however, to imagine the reason, why our Saviour should so far condescend to his apostles, as to shew his hands and his feet, desiring them to handle them, when, not long before, he forbade Mary Magdalene to touch him, because he was not yet ascended; unless we may suppose, that, after his resurrection, he might ascend several times, and that his first ascension was immediately insuant upon it. 66 Now, to make this more obvious, we must remember, that, a little before his passion, our Saviour foretold to his apostles his sudden ascent to his Father, and as sudden descent to them again: (b)" Yet a little while, says he, and ye shall see me, and again, a little while, and ye shall not see me, because I go to my Father;" and that afterwards, upon their surprise, and dispute about the meaning of the expression, (c) " Jesus said unto them, do you enquire among yourselves of what I said, A little while, and ye shall see me, and again, a little while, and ye shall not see me: Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice, and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy, &c." (d) Now, if we compare this prediction with the event, how sad and disconsolate the apostles were upon our Saviour's death, and how refreshed and joyful they were soon after his resurrection, and consider withal, that this sorrow was to last till Christ had been with his Father, and then their joy to commence; we shall be inclined to believe, that what our Lord would be to understood to say, is, that he was to go to his Father immediately after his resurrection, and then very soon to return to his apostles again, even the very same day in the evening. And indeed, considering that Christ was our high priest, it was necessary for him to ascend into heaven as soon as his sufferings were finished. For as the high priest, under the law, was not only to slay the sacrifice, but to carry the blood, that moment, within the sanctuary, and there present it before God, to complete the atonement, and make intercession for the people; so Christ, having shed his blood, and offered his body [This is a great mistake. Heat, or caloric which is believed to be a body, penetrates all things, and light, which is another body, penetrates many sub. stances deemed solid.] (a) Whitby's Annotations on John xx. 19. #2 [It was natural enough for our author to reason in this way from the state of physical science in his time; but our Lord's making his appearance in the room, without taking the trouble to open the door, can now create no difficulty to any man, who reflects on the well known fact, that perhaps no two atoms of the densest body are in absolute contact. But with out entering on that subject, which it would not be easy to explain to some, it is sufficient to observe, that whosoever admits that the same material substance is in one state ice, in another water, and in a third steam, and admits likewise that the Divine nature of Christ had at least as much power over the substance of his own body, to which it was hypostati end, Mark xi. Luke xix. 45. to the end, and the end. on the altar of the cross, was immediately to ascend into the heavenly sanctuary, and From Matth. there obtain for us the remission of our sins, and all the other benefits of his passion. xx. 10. to the But this is not all. In several parts of Scripture our Saviour is invested with a re- 15. to the end, gal as well as sacerdotal character; but now, if, according to the testimony of the same Scripture, he could not exercise any supreme authority until he was exalted to his hea- John xii. 19. to venly kingdom; if he could not (a) give gifts unto men until he was ascended up on high; nor (b) send his Holy Spirit upon his disciples until he was glorified, and had by his intercession (c) obtained that great promise of the Father; if he could not, 1 say, administer the affairs of his mediatorial kingdom before he had conquered death by his resurrection, and had presented himself as a slain sacrifice and propitiation for the sins of the world, before the presence of the Divine Majesty; this makes it evident, that, on the very day of his resurrection, he must have ascended to heaven, because, in the evening of that day, we find him (d) giving a commission and instructions to his apostles; promising them the mission of the Holy Ghost; (e) blessing them in a solemn manner; (f) sending them as his Father had sent him: (g) giving them the power of remitting and retaining sins; and afterwards in Galilee, (h) assuring them, that all power was given him in heaven, as well as earth; and therefore commanding them to go and teach, and baptize all nations, and promising his powerful presence with them, even until the end of the world. Now if these exercises, both of the sacerdotal office and regal power, could not properly belong to our Saviour until his exaltation, then we have reson to suppose, that, in the morning of his resurrection, he privately ascended into heaven, to receive the reward of his humiliation in our flesh; and that the reason for his forbidding Mary to touch him was, that, by her officious embraces and importunity, she might not hinder him from ascending that moment, and (what was the crown of all his labour) carrying our glorified nature, as soon as possibly he could, into that blessed place where God's majestic presence appears, and where thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, angels, and archangels, have their abode. DISSERTATION IV. OF OUR BLESSED SAVIOUR'S DOCTRINE, AND THE EXCELLENCY THE completion of the prophecies relating to the promised Messiah, in the person (a) Eph. iv. 8. (e) Luke xxiv. 50. (b) John vii. 39. (f) John xx. 21. (c) Acts ii. 33. (g) Ibid. ver. 23. (d Mark xvi. 15, &c. &c. or 5442. Ann. Dom. Vulg. Er. 33, &c. or 31. A. M. 4037, to direct us in our duty towards God and man, are such as either tend to the perfection of human nature, or to the peace and happiness of human society. Of those which tend to the perfection of human nature, some enjoin piety towards God, and others require the good government of ourselves with respect to the pleasures of this life; and our business is to shew, that all and every one of these are both conformable to the dictates of right reason in their practice, and declarative of the wisdom of God in their appointment. (a) 1. That we should inwardly reverence and love God, and express that reverence by external worship and adoration, and by our readiness to receive and obey all the revelations of his will; that we should testify our dependance upon him, and our confidence in his goodness, by constant prayers and supplications to him for mercy and help both for ourselves and others; that we should acknowledge our obligations to him for the many favours and benefits which every day, every moment, we receive from him, by continual praises and thanksgivings; and that, on the contrary, we should not entertain any unworthy thoughts of God, nor give that honour and reverence which is due to him to any other; that we should not worship him in any manner that is either unsuitable to the perfections of his nature, or repugnant to his revealed will; that we should carefully avoid the profanation of his name, by customary swearing or cursing; and take great heed that we be not guilty of the neglect or contempt of his worship, or of any other thing that belongs to him: In short, (b) that we should possess our minds with such a due sense of the majesty, and holiness, and justice, and goodness of God, as may make us upon all occasions thoroughly fearful to offend him; of his majesty, lest we affront it by being irreverent; of his holiness, lest we offend it by being carnal; of his justice, lest we provoke it by being presumptuous; and of his goodness, lest we forfeit it by being unthankful. These are the general heads of those duties which every man's reason tells him he owes to God, and yet these are the very things which the Christian religion expressly requires of us; so that, in this part of Christianity, there is nothing but what exactly agrees with the reason of mankind. In respect to the good government of ourselves, amidst the pleasures and enjoyments of this life, St John, when he tells us, that (c)" all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life," distributes the irregular appetites of men into three kinds, voluptuousness, covetousness, and ambition, answerable to the three sorts of tempting objects that are in the world, pleasures, riches, and honours; but when our holy religion requires of us, that (d) "we should not walk after the flesh but after the spirit ;" that we should, in short, (e)" walk decently as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, (f) but being holy in all manner of conversation, (g) abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;" when it gives us this strict caution (h)" to take heed and beware of covetousness, because a man's life, or the happiness of his life, consisteth not in the things which he possesseth ;" and calls upon us so frequently (i)" to be meek and lowly of spirit, and not (k) to mind high things; to (1) let nothing be done through vain glory, but in lowliness of mind to let each esteem other better than themselves;" it is plain, that it lays a prohibition upon all such irregular appetites and passions as are the bane of human ease and happiness, and enjoins such virtues and good dispositions as are not only highly reasonable, suitable to our nature, and every way for our temporal convenience and advantage, but such as dispose us likewise to the practice of piety and religion, by purifying our souls from the dross and filth of sensual delights. 2. In relation to the other sort of precepts, which (as we said) tend to the peace and end, Mark xi. Luke xix. 45. the end. happiness of human society, they are such as enjoin all those virtues that are apt to From Matth. sweeten the spirits, and allay the passions and animosities which sometimes happen a- xx. 10. to the mong men. For when our most holy religion requires us, " to love our neighbour (i. e. 15. to the end,. every man in the world, even our greatest enemies) as ourselves," and in pursuance to the end, and of this general precept," if it be possible, as much as in us lieth, to live peaceably John xii. 19. to with all men; to be kind to one another," ready to gratify and oblige those that we converse with, to be tender hearted and compassionate to those that are in want and misery, and ready, upon all occasions, to supply and relieve them; to symphathise with one another in our joys and sorrows, " to mourn with those that mourn, and to rejoice with them that rejoice; to bear one another's burdens; and to forbear one another in love;" to be easily reconciled to them that have offended us; and to be ready to forgive from our hearts the greatest and most reiterated injuries that can be done us; it discovers itself not only to be the most innocent and harmless, but the most generous and best natured institution that ever was in the world. In like manner, when our holy religion endeavours to secure the private interests of men, as well as the public peace, by confirming and enforcing all the dictates of nature concerning justice and equity; by recommending the great rule of doing to others what we would have them to do to us, as the sum and substance of the law and the prophets; by commanding obedience to human laws, which decide mens rights, and submission to every established government, under pain of damnation; and by forbidding whatever is contrary to these, viz. violence and oppression, fraud and over-reaching, perfidiousness and treachery, breach of trusts, oaths, or promises, undutifulness to superiors, sedition and rebellion against magistracy and authority; and if there be any thing else that is apt to disturb the peace of the world, and to alienate the affections of men from one another, such as sourness of disposition, and rudeness of behaviour, censoriousness, and sinister interpretation of things; in short, all cross and distasteful humours, and whatever else may render conversation uneasy and unsociable: When the laws of Christianity, I say, forbid these vices and evil dispositions, and upon every occasion command the contrary virtues, (a)" Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, requiring us to think of these things;" we cannot but allow, that nothing can be devised more proper and effectual to advance the nature of man to its highest perfection, to procure the tranquillity of mens minds, to establish the peace and happiness of the world, and (if they were duly practised) to make it, as it were, an heaven upon earth, than the precepts which we find recorded in the Gospel: and (what is no small commendation of them) there is nothing in all these precepts but what, if we were to consult our own interest and happiness, we should think ourselves obliged to do, even though it were never enjoined us; nothing, in short, but what is easy to be understood, and as easy to be practised by every honest and well-meaning mind. Some indeed have represented even the moral part of the Christian religion as an "heavy burden, and grievous to be borne," difficult to be kept, and yet dangerous to be broken; that it requires us to govern and keep under our passions, to contradict our strongest inclinations, and many times to deny ourselves even lawful enjoyments; that it enjoins us to forgive and " love our enemies, to bless them that curse us, to do good to them that hate and persecute us; [nay, that it commands us "not to resist evil; but to him who shall smite us on the right cheek, to turn the other also: if any man will sue us at the law, and take away our coats, to let him have our cloaks also; and with him who shall compel us to go with him one mile, to go two; (b)] and (what is more) that it commands us to part with all the advantages of this world, and even to lay down Ann. Dom. A. M. 4037. life itself in the cause of God, and the discharge of a good conscience. Hard sayings &c. or 5112. these, in some mens opinion, and such as our nature, in its state of degeneracy, is not Vulg. Er. 33, able to perform : but this is for want of duly considering the obligation and tendency of such duties. &c. or 31. Some of the wisest heathens, even by the strength of reason, were able to discover the general corruption of human nature; but then they were ignorant both of the rise and progress of it; whereas by the Christian revelation we are sufficiently instructed in both. Here we find the baleful venom of our first ancestors trangression entailed on their posterity (a); here the perpetual strugglings of flesh and spirit, and that violence of passions and desires, that so often carries us into excesses, which our sober and better sense cannot but disapprove; and here that general bent to evil, and backwardness to good, which every one (but such as are obdurate and insensible) is forced both to feel and lament; and therefore, since the Gospel does not only shew us our disease, but the malignity and true original of it, there is good reason why it should be allowed to press upon us the great duties of mortification and self-denial, as the best means within the compass of human power to cure us of it. (b) The heathen sages, in the passage of their Hercules fighting with Antæus, seem to insinuate, that the only way to gain the mastery over our passions, is never to cease contending with them. Whilst Hercules grasped his adversary, and held him up in his arms, he could manage and master him with ease, but no sooner did he let Antæus touch the earth, but he got strength again, and was able to renew the combat. Antæus's touching the earth is morally no other than an earthly affection permitted to unite with its element, i. e. suffered to have its fill; at which time it gets strength, and grows masterly, and becomes less manageable than it was before: Whereas, to grapple with our desires, to hold them off from the reach of their quarry, and to restrain them, even from the lawful measures of enjoyment, is the only way, both to bring them into subjection and to confirm our government over them. The truth is, every time that we indulge our appetites beyond what is convenient, we give away so much power out of our own hands; we strengthen the enemy for the next attack, and disable ourselves still more for resisting it: And thefore, as the Christian state is deservedly called a warfare, i. e. the necessary and continual engagement of our rational desires against our sensual, in order to bring them under and keep them in obedience; and as in this warfare there must be no league, no truce, no laying down of arms, because the enemy is perfidious, and will never keep the peace; so are we never out of danger but while we are actually fighting. (c) The more we gratify our appetites the more craving they will be, and the more impatient of denial; for every lust is a kind of hydropic distemper, and in this case too, the more we drink the more we shall thirst. If we give way to our passions, we do but gratify ourselves for the present, in order to our future disquiet; but if we resist and conquer them, we lay the foundation of perpetual peace and tranquillity in our minds: So that, in the whole, by retrenching our desires, especially when they prove exorbitant, we do not rob ourselves of any true pleasure, but only prevent the pain and trouble of farther dissatisfaction. (d) The ancient moralists, though they sometimes decry an insensibility of just provocations, as a mark of an abject and little soul; yet upon no occasion are they so profuse in their praises, as where they speak of persons touched with a sense of injuries and indignities, and yet able, with a generous contempt, to overlook and shew themselves above them; for the passing by and forgetting such things, the being very hardly incensed, and very (a) [See the Appendix to the Dissertation on Original Sin, vol. i.] Boyle's Lectures. (b) Young's Ser (d) Stanhope's Sermons at |