A Discourse Upon the Powers of the World to Come, Discourse · Chapter 1
CHAP. I. The Opening of the Text, and the Heads of the Diſcourſe given.
THE Apoſtle had ſaid in the Firſt Verſe, Therefore we ought to give the more (that is, the moſt) Earneſt Heed, that can be given, to the Things which we have Heard, leſt at any Time we let them ſlip; Leſt by any means they ſhould Eſcape, or miſs our Dueſt, and Deepeſt Conſideration: For, ſaith he, if the Word spoken by Angels was ſtedfaſt, and every Diſobedience received a Juſt Recompence of Reward, how much more ſhall we not Eſcape, if we neglect ſo Great Salvation! That is, the Great Salvation revealed in the Gospel, with ſo great Luſtre of Truth, and Power of Miracles.
For This Great Salvation hath a double Evidence and Aſſurance of its Truth.
1. That It began to be spoken by the Lord, who ſo spake, that if he had not come and spoken to Them, They had had no ſin; For He was mighty in Word as well as Deed; He ſpoke as never man ſpake; and It was confirmed by them that Heard Him, even by the Apoſtles, who went forth in the ſame Spirit, and Power of Truth.
2. God bare witneſs to them with Signs and Wonders, and divers Miracles, and Gifts of the Holy Ghoſt, in the greateſt Variety and Manifoldneſs: That is, God gave Them All the Letters Patents, all the Credentials from Heaven that could be deſired; That Our Lord came from God, and that his Apoſtles were ſent by God, and by Chriſt Himſelf, the Lord of All.
And in all Th…s, it is diligently to be obſerved, as having great Influence upon all the After Diſcourſe; That as the Works of Chriſt were Great Evidences of Truth, and Teſtimonies to it; ſo the Words, or Doctrine of Chriſt carry'd their own Evidence: For if this be not obſerved, the Doctrine of Miracles will never be rightly not truly underſtood.
3. Theſe Divers Miracles, Signs and Wonders, were ſubject to the Wiſe, and Holy Couſel of the Will of God, and of the Bleſſed Spirit. So that only where, when, on whom, and by whom This Miraculous Power ſhould be diſpens'd, was, as on many Accounts is after to be obſerv'd; wholly after the Counſel of his own Will.
4. The Apoſtle gives the Reaſon of theſe Miraculous Powers being thus diſpens'd by his own Immediate, Increated Will and Pleaſure; Becauſe they Cloſely Appertain to, and are Connected with the World to come, whereof (ſaith the Apoſtle) we ſpeak; That is, do now, and ought to ſpeak continually, and only, as of that World ſo incomparably Great, that God will neither truſt Holy Angels to have any Adminiſtration of, but as Commiſſioned, as the Apoſtles were at any time by a Power given immediately to them; and not the Power Reſident in, and Connatural to their own Beings, under the General Divine Concourſe, and Command or Permiſſion; For Miraculous Power, truly ſo, God never can Give out of his own Hand; much leſs therefore will he permit Bad Angels to uſe it; and when this World ſhall appear in Glory, they ſhall be ſealed up in their own Abyſs.
That therefore which I propoſe, by the Grace and Aſſiſtance of God, to diſcourſe on ſo great a Point, ſhall conſiſt of ſeveral Heads, whereby our▪ Underſtandings may be Enlightned, and our Hearts Affected with many Truths of Exceeding Moment.
1. I would cloſely enquire into, and endeavour to Explain the Nature of Miracles in general, and what place there is for any ſuch Appearances of God; even peculiarly, and as on purpoſe prepared, or left for them.
2. I would ſearch after the Great Ends and Reaſons why God hath at any Time Appear'd by Miraculous Powers in the World.
3. I ſhall endeavour to make out, That though there are indeed other Great Reaſons and Ends of Miracles, yet there is none ſo Supream and Soveraign, as that they are deſign'd by God to be not only Pawns and Pledges, but Pieces, and Portions, or Parcels of that World to come. And that this will be found to be the moſt Adequate Reaſon, or End of Miracles, upon True and Impartial Enquiry, and ſeparation from prejudice, and pre-poſſeſſion of other more Received Opinions.
4. I ſhall conſider what Times we read of in Scripture, which God hath been pleas'd moſt of all to illuſtrate, and make Remarkable, by Miracles; and what Times have been a Dark Place, as the Apoſtle ſpeaks, (on occaſion moſt agreeable herewith, if not abſolutely the ſame, viz. in regard of the powers of the World to come, not appearing in it;) and on what Accounts, upon a Ballance of one with the other, there have been ſuch Differences, and ſo great a Non▪Appearance of Miracles theſe Twelve Hundred and Sixty Years.
5. I will endeavour to debate, whether Miracles are again to be expected, and ſhall prove, That upon All the Conſiderations that are aſſigned as Reaſons of Miracles, generally (for herein I would ſpeak to Men in their own Senſe,) and which Divines give as Cauſes moving God to ſend out his Miraculous Power; That they are moſt certainly to be again expected; and beyond this, that the bringing in the World to come does much more both Require and Aſſure the Return of Mira…les.
6. I will with great Freedom and Impartiality, on the occaſion of the la…e Miraculous Providential Diſpenſations, ſhew on that Occaſion, how far we may lawfully apply to God with the Expectation of a Miracu…ous Power in any Caſes, wherein all ſecond Cauſes fail, looking on it as a Beginning of Miracles.
7. I will, by way of Recollection upon the whole, ſet out the Admirable Excellency and Grandeur of Divine Power in the Miracles of that Time of Chriſt, in the Days of his Fleſh, which Scripture calls the Fullneſs of Time, and argue, That for the bringing in the O…conomy, or Dispenſation of the Fullneſs of Times, or All Time; that Miraculous Power ſhall return in the ſame, and in ſome Reſpects in Grandeur, more illuſtrious, becauſe more Univerſal, and reaching the Full Effect, or bringing in the very World to come.
8. I will ſubjoyn to the whole Diſcourſe the practical Applications flowing from it. Poſition.
The Poſition I would lay down is this, Miracles are Extraordinary Divine Appearances, and Efficacies of Almighty Power, whereby He Gives Teſtimony to the Truth of the Goſpel, as declaring his Kingdom, and the World to come; the Spiritual Holy State of it, in or by the Spiritual and Holy Preparations, that give the abundant Entrance into it; and that Viſible and Illuſtrious Glory that ſhall Appear; and All this by Miracles of thoſe very Viſible Specifications of that World to come, in ſome part and pieces of it, according to his own Free Will and Pleaſure; foreſhewing the Great Changes that ſhall be, in the whole Creation of God, when that World ſhall ſo come to its entire Sum and Perfection both in Spiritual and Outward Glory.