man force against the nations, which held them in subjection, and extend the Jewish empire over the globe. In this sense it was, that they required a sign*. Other signs of his mission our Saviour had shewn without number: but still they demanded to see a sign from heavent. Every miracle is a sign from heaven, had they considered rightly. But the sign, on which their hearts were set, was that in the book of Daniel: when the Son of Man should come with the clouds of heaven, and be brought near to the ancient of days ; and have given to him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should serve him. Our Saviour observed their mistake, and told them, that the sign, which they desired, should indeed be given, but not to that generation: that the principal evidence to be afforded them, was the sign of the Prophet Jonas §: the resurrection of Jesus the third day from the grave, as Jonas rose from the depth of the sea. To following ages farther signs were to be vouchsafed in their order: the dominion, which they expected to see established at once, was designed to take place by degrees, over the souls and consciences of men, not their bodies and fortunes merely and in this noblest sense, the kingdoms of this world were to become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ ||. But at length the time will come for a yet more awful display of his regal power, in the last judgment: and then shall they, And a sign of this sort they expected, even when the Temple was burnt by the Romans. For that very day a false Prophet assured the people, ως ο Θεος επι το ιερον αναβηναι κελευει, δεξόμενους τα σε MEID THE OWENplas. Joseph. B. I. l. 6. c. 5. §. 2. Ed. Haverc. In a few lines after, he stiles this, προσμένειν την απο του Θεου βοηθειαν. + Matth. xvi. 1. Dan. vii. 13, 14. Mark viii. 11. Luke xi. 16. who were so prematurely impatient for a sign from heaven, see, before they wish it, the sign of the Son of Man coming in the clouds, with power and great glory*. But such representations were likely to have little effect on such minds. One, who should at that time restore again the kingdom to Israel, was what the whole people wanted. And when they not only beheld the meanness of our Saviour's appearance, and heard the meekness of his doctrine, but saw how carefully he avoided the opportunities of obtaining an earthly kingdom, the leading part of the nation immediately denied him. But when he was arraigned and condemned, and suffered the death of a slave; then the faith, even of his Apostles, almost died with him. We trusted, say two of his disciples, as if now all hope was at an end, we trusted, that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. It is true, they recovered themselves: but the greater part of the Jews did not: and a crucified Redeemer continues a stumbling-block to them; or, in the words of Simeon, a sign spoken against, set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel§: indeed for the utter fall of that church and nation, till the season foretold shall come, for which Providence hath left room, by the wonderful preservation of this one and only people distinct from all others for so many ages, when by looking on him whom they have pierced, and mourning, they shall rise again, and be as life from the dead¶. As for the Greeks, or Gentiles, they did not object to the Gospel, that the authority of it wanted the proof of signs from heaven; but that the preaching *Matth. xxiv. 30. § Luke ii, 34. + Acts i. 6. Zach. xii. 10. John xix. 37. + Luke xxiv. 21. q Rom. xi. 15. of it wanted the recommendation of what they called wisdom. Neither the manner of the Apostles teaching was adorned with that plausible oratory, of which they were so fond; which soothed the ears, and entertained the imagination; which could make a bad cause victorious, and a good one suspected: nor yet was the matter of their discourse made up of curious speculations, abstruse points in philosophy debated with acuteness, theories, built upon slender foundations to great heights, then attacked with subtle objections, and defended with more subtle refinements. These were the delights of the learned Greeks: who, as St. Paul and indeed their own writers observe particularly of the Athenians, spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing Immediately therefore when he had begun to preach in that city, they apply to him with great eagerness: May we know, what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, ist? But when they found no such gratification of their fancy as they expected; but a grave reproof of their favourite superstitions, a serious call to repentance, a solemn denunciation of a future recompence; and the foundation of these disagreeable doctrines laid in a mere fact, which was contrary to all their schemes and systems, that God would judge the world in righteousness by that man, whom he had ordained, whereof he had given assurance to all men, in that he had raised him from the dead: some, we read, mocked; and of those, who said more civilly, that they would hear him again of that matter, we have no cause to believe, that many.did. Nor would the principal Romans afford to our holy faith more attention. For when St. Paul was arguing before Agrippa, being a Jew, from the Prophets, that Christ ↑ Acts xvii. 31, 32. Acts xvii. 21. + Verse 19. was to suffer and rise again; Festus, the governor, instantly interrupted him: Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad*. This was the treatment which men, wise in their own conceitst, and bigotted to their own opinions, gave the Gospel of Christ. Its doctrines had nothing amusing to minds full of trifling curiosity: its precepts had many things disgusting to human sensuality and pride its proofs were inconsistent with their prevailing notions. So it was rejected without examination by persons, whom the irony of Job suits perfectly well: no doubt, but ye are the people: and wisdom shall die with you. It ought to surprise no one, that this sort of men, who have always been too common in the world, and never more than now, should scorn Christianity: while they continue such as they are, they cannot embrace it. But, God be thanked, there have ever been some of more equitable dispositions: and to these it hath constantly appeared in that light, which the text expresses, III. But unto them, which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. They, who suffer the voice of reason and revelation to call upon them, and would attend to the call, quickly discovered, under the meanness of Christ's appearance, divine power; and under the plainness of his doctrine, divine wisdom. The Jews had no cause to expect military exploits, miraculous victories, and outward splendour in their Messiah. Their own Prophets had foretold, that he was to come to them lowly and meek §; to be despised and rejected of men, to pour out his soul unto death Acts xxvi. 23, 24. + Rom. xii. 16. Job xii. 2. an offering for sin, and make intercession for the transgressors*. Of other sorts of miracles they had many more, performed by him and his disciples, than by Moses and the Prophets. If his death, for want of knowing the Scriptures, appeared an objection; his rising again, and ascension into heaven, was a full proof of his authority. If he brought them no deliverance from their temporal enemies; yet he freed them from infinitely more formidable ones, from sin and guilt and the wrath of God: and instead of a shortlived tyranny over the nations of the earth, he obtained for them an eternal triumph over death and hell; and made them kings and priests unto God, to reign with him for ever and ever †. Thus was he, in much the most important sense, the power of God unto salvation : and his real greatness exceeded all that they looked for, unspeakably more, than his visible appearance fell beneath it. As to the defect of that wisdom, which the Greeks required in the Gospel: it had not indeed the wisdom of this world, or of the vain disputers of this world §, who professing themselves to be wise became fools || : but, void as it appears of argumentation and ornament, every single truth, that can lead men to virtue and happiness, is taught in it much more fully and convincingly, than in all the preceding institutions either of philosophy or religion. The being, attributes and providence of God, the Apostles proved, were clearly seen, being understood by the things that were made ¶: the nature and obligation of piety and morals, the forgiveness of sins upon repentance, the inward assistance of divine grace, the future happiness of the good, and punishment of the † Rom. i. 16. Rom. i. 20. Is. liii. Rev. i. 6. v. 10. xx. 6. xxii. 5. |