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XII.

Poffeffion of all that is Good. If they be Sons, our Apoftle rationally concludes, that they fhall be Heirs of God, and Joynt-Heirs, with Chrift, who is the Heir and Lord of all Things.

I HAVE NOW gone thro' the three Particulars which I at firft propos'd to speak to. From what hath been faid upon each of them may be drawn feveral useful Inferences, with which I fhall conclude this Difcourfe.

AND, Firft, the coming of our Lord in the Fulness of Time is a strong Confirmation of the Faith of Chriftians, and renders inexcufable the obftinate Infidelity of the Jews. That there are in the Old Teftament fuch Predictions as I have cited, and that they are genuine, and were not invented neither have been corrupted by Chriftians, the Jews themfelves, from whom we receiv'd them, cannot but acknowledge; and that these Predictions were understood by the antient Jewish Doctors as we understand them, their Writings ftill extant, do abundantly prove. And it is well known

that

that in our Saviour's Time the whole

Nation of the Jews did expect that the Meffiah would fuddenly appear; which plainly fhews that they were of Opinion, that the Time affign'd by the Prophets for His coming was then expiring. Will the Jews blame us either for giving Credit to the Divine Oracles, or for believing in Him to whom they bear Witness ; or for embracing that Interpretation of them which was formerly put upon them by their own moft approved Expofitors, and particularly by that Generation of Men, who were bitter Enemies to Jefus Chrift and perfecuted Him to the Death? Ought not they who affirm with us that not one Tittle of the Law or of the Prophets fhall fail, either to acknowledge our Jefus to be the Meffiah, or to direct us to fome other Meffiah, who appeared within the Time limited by the Law and the Prophets? If the Time appointed for the Meffiah's coming be long fince laps'd, why do they still continue to expect him? And if they themfelves had not for many Years believ'd the Time to be laps'd,

would

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XII.

would they, think we, have expected SERM. him daily for seventeen hundred Years together?

XII.

Secondly, THE Honour which Jefus Chrift hath done to our Nature, by taking it upon him, lays us under a ftrict Obligation not to dishonour it by any kind of Intemperance or Uncleannefs. It can be no fmall Crime to bring a Reproach upon that Nature, which the Son of God hath fo highly dignified, and to debafe it below that of the fourfooted Beafts which perish.

THE fame Confideration may ferve to raise in us a firm Hope of a happy Refurrection. If it be a Mortification to us to call Corruption our Father, and the Worm our Sifter, it is on the other hand a mighty Confolation to us to confider that He who liveth for ever, and hath the Keys of Death and of Hell, is our Brother. Nor can we entertain fo mean an Opinion of human Flesh, as to think it incapable of inheriting Glory and Immortality, when we reflect, that in human Flesh dwelleth the Fulnefs of the

God

God head. Our Bodies it is true are the-leaft valuable Parts of us; they were SERMO form'd at first out of the Duft, and after XII. a fhort Space return to it. Yet ought we not from hence to infer, that our: Lord will not think them worth the Saving, fince it cannot be more beneath Him to redeem a Body from the Grave, than it was to affume one himself, and to be united to it for ever.

THAT the Only-begotten of the Father, who was born before every Creature, by whom and for whom all Things were made, fhould freely for a Time lay afide his unfpeakable Majefty, take part of Flesh and Blood, load Himfelf with the Infirmities and Miseries of our Nature, and fubmit to all the burthenfom and painful Rites of the Ceremonial Law; This indeed was fuch an Act of Humiliation as we can never enough admire, and which we ought ever to have before our Eyes, that from thence we may learn to ftoop to the meaneft Offices, and to undergo the greatest Difficulties and Inconveniencies for the Good of our Bre

thren;

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XII.

thren; That the fame Mind may be in us which was alfo in Chrift Jefus, who being in the Form of God made himself of no Reputation, and took upon him the Form of a Servant, and was made in the Likeness of Men.

As it was a wonderful Condefcenfion in the Son of God to be made of a Woman: fo moft glorious was the Privilege of that thrice happy Woman of whom He was made. No fober Christian can poffibly either speak or think otherwise of Her, than as of a Perfon highly favour'd of God. The Mother of Him whom we adore is without question highly to be honour'd, and all Generations must call her Bleffed. Yet it is to be remembred, that she was no more than a Woman; and we cannot without Idolatry pay to the Woman that Worship which is due only to the Divine Person who was born of her.

WHAT hath been said under the third Head, concerning the great End and Design of Chrift's coming, will fuggeft to us a fatisfactory Answer to an Objec