Joseph and Moses, as St. Stephen had stated them, to what had lately come to pass in Jerusalem: then would he have reasoned with himself in some such words as these. Jesus of Nazareth offered himself to our nation as the true Messiah and the king of the Jews: yet none of our rulers or priests or pharisees believed on him, but hated him and despised him. What then? Was not the holy patriarch Joseph, with all his innocence and virtue, hated of his brethren, and persecuted for envy? One of the disciples of Jesus betrayed and sold him for a sum of money, and he was delivered to the Romans as a slave and a malefactor: but so did Joseph's brethren sell him, and so did that innocent victim go down into Egypt among heathens as a slave, and was imprisoned as a malefactor under a false accusation. Yet did God bring this same Joseph to honour, and made his family who had despised him bow down before him; as, they say, God has now exalted this same Jesus, and that every knee is to bow to him. Many and mighty were the miracles of Jesus, such as we could not disprove, and such as were proper to shew that he was the expected redeemer: but we who were witnesses of them did not accept of them as such. Thus did our lawgiver Moses come forth to avenge our wrongs upon the Egyptians, supposing that his brethren would understand, from the part he took, that God by his hand would deliver them; but they understood not; they accused him for what he had done, and took part with the Egyptians, as we have taken part with the Romans, our task masters, against Jesus Christ. When Moses undertook to compose the differences of his brethren and restore them to peace, the aggressor flew in his face, and questioned his authority with those saucy words, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? Thus did we insolently demand of Jesus on every occasion, who gave him his authority; instead of submitting to it, and taking advantage of it for our own good. We represented him not as a saviour, such as his works proved him to be, but a destroyer (as they made Moses a murderer) an accomplice of Beelzebub, the prince of the devils and the destroyer of mankind. Thus have we done unto him as our fathers did unto Moses: Yet was Moses sent of God to bring us out of Egypt; and therefore so was Jesus sent to save his people from their sins. When Moses had overthrown the Egyptians and led our Fathers into the wilderness, the people would not obey him, but turned back in their hearts into Egypt, the scene of all their misery: and if we thrust Jesus from us, it must have been owing to the same cause, a vile attachment to this sinful world, which holds us in bondage, and has made us take part against him with our tyrants and oppressors. 66 66 Upon the whole then, our refusal of Jesus Christ " can be no argument against him. Moses was undoubtedly sent to be a ruler and deliverer, and we "all believe it; yet he was refused by the people "whom God sent him to redeem: and though they "had been witnesses of all his mighty works, their "hearts were not converted. So it hath been with "us now; and therefore woe be unto us! we are " verily guilty concerning this our brother; and what " is most to our shame and confusion, our guilt is of "such a form as to turn against ourselves, and prove "the very thing that we have been so forward to deny; namely, that he who was sold like Joseph, "hath like him received favour and dominion; that " he who hath been affronted, and refused, and thrust away by us, as Moses was, is the true lawgiver 66 66 66 "whom we have thus conformed in all things to the example of our prophet; even of that Moses, who said, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up "like unto me; and we have done all that was wanting on our part to make the likeness complete." Thus must they have reasoned, on whom St. Stephen's argument had the proper effect; and thus would the Jews reason at this day, who know the Old Testament and have heard the history of Jesus Christ, if they were not under a judicial infatuation, which God can remove when it is just and fit. We who are not under the like blindness can see how plainly and irresistibly these figures of the Old Testament shew the certainty of those things wherein we have been instructed. When Stephen disputed with the Jews, he took advantage of this evidence, and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit with which he spake. When we hear of the effect of this disputation, and find nothing in his speech but a mere narrative of facts compiled from the scripture, we wonder how the Jews could be so provoked by it, more than by reading the bible according to their daily custom : but when we see how all this is pointed as a testimony to the sufferings and exaltation of Jesus of Nazareth, the wonder ceases; and it is no longer strange, that they whose hearts were not turned to good by it, should be provoked to rage and persecution. This subject will suggest some important reflections, which I must beg of you to take into your serious consideration, and lay them up in your hearts as long as you live. I. From the cases of Joseph and Moses, and more particularly from that of Christ himself, we are to learn, that the qualifications which recommend a person to God, will not make him acceptable or respectable with men, but often the contrary; for amongst men, innocence is envied, godliness is despised, zeal discouraged, and justice hated. Whence it has been established by wise and virtuous men as a maxim founded on experience, that the voice of the multitude is never to be regarded as a test of truth or merit. Fashionable error is a dreadful enemy to the advocates of truth: and there never was an age or country in which error did not get into fashion, and take the direction of men's minds; so that truth has but a poor chance without an overruling Providence to second and enforce it. We have a famous passage to this effect from the greatest moral philosopher of the Greeks, who declared with a kind of prescience, that if a man perfectly just were to come upon earth, he would be impoverished, and scourged, and bound as a criminal, and, when he had suffered all manner of indignities, would be put to the shameful death of suspension or crucifixion *. There is not a more spotless character in the Scripture than that of Joseph: yet his brethren hated him, and their envy had no rest till they had sent him out of their sight as a slave. Moses was a pattern of meekness, and with a struggle of diffidence undertook his commission; a commission, with which he should have been received by a poor oppressed people, like, what he was in fact, a messenger from heaven. But they railed at him, as if he had only made that condition worse which was bad enough before; so had provoked those who were already enraged, and had put a sword into their hands to slay * Several of the fathers have taken notice of this extraordinary passage in Plato; looking upon it as a prediction of the sufferings of the Just one Jesus Christ; and after them it is noted by Grotius de verit. Lib. 4. sect. 12. Casaubon (Merick) has a learned and excellent Criticism upon it, in his Treatise Of Credulity and Incredulity, p. 135, &c. them. Thus the fearful and unbelieving (who are sometimes found amongst the wise ones of this world) are always disposed to discourage and condemn a zeal for the cause of God and the rights of his religion, as indiscreet, unseasonable and dangerous. Whence it follows, that if we are called upon to act in any public character, we must do people good against their will, and take the chance of being ungratefully or even despitefully treated for it. None but the meanspirited, or the ambitious, or the insipid, or the hypocritical, are spoken well of by all men; and popular applause is the grand object of a vain or knavish disposition. Therefore the Christian is wisely admonished, to seek that praise which cometh only from God; which is never bestowed upon false merit, and will never be wanting to the true. 2. From the example of the Jews, who were only irritated by St. Stephen's arguments, when they ought to have been converted; we see what a dreadful thing it is to have our reasons for hating and rejecting the truth. It is of infinite consequence that we should enquire what that meaneth-they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. What can be plainer than truth? And what is more amiable? And if it saves us, what in all the world is half so valuable? Yet that saving truth is the only truth men cannot of themselves understand: and if they do not understand it, what fearful commotions are raised by it. It is a powerful drug, which will either embitter and inflame the mind*, or restore it to reason. The bigotted Jew, the ancient heathen, the modern infidel, the man of levity and pleasure, are all upon a level, all equally adverse to the Christian plan of salvation; all Stultos facit insanos. TER. |