Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

SERMON

VII.

Obfervations upon the Apostle Paul's description of the Man of Sin.

2 THESSAL. ii. 3-13. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away firft, and that Man of Sin be revealed, the fon of perdition; who oppofeth and exalteth himself above all, that is called God, or is worShipped: So that he, as God, fitteth in the temple of God, fbewing himself, that he is God. Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told you thefe things? And now ye know what with-holdeth, that he might be revealed in his time. For the myftery of iniquity doth already work,

only

only be, who now letteth, will lett, until he be taken out of the way. And then fhall that wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord fhall confume by the Spirit of his mouth, and deftroy by the brightness of his coming: even him, whofe coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and figns, and lying wonders; and with all deceivablenefs of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be faved. And for this caufe God fhall fend them. Strong delufions, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteoufnefs.

I

T hath, in fome past discourses, been SERM. feveral times taken notice of, as a VII. ftrong presumption of the truth and

divine authority of our holy religion, that in the writings of the New Teftament we

[blocks in formation]

SERM. meet with many things, which seem to be VII. quite above human invention, and efpeci

ally above any thing, that could be reafonably expected from the difciples of our Lord, who had not the advantages of a liberal education, and were ftrangers to literature. The Apoftle Paul was, indeed, in this refpect, very different from the other apostles he was liberally educated, of which we fee the plain traces of his writings; and he appeareth to have been a man of genius and eloquence, and reafoneth with great exactnefs. Our adverfaries, therefore, may poffibly plead, that we are not to wonder at it, if, in his writings, we meet with much of invention, and with ftrains fuperior to what we find in the writings of perfons of low education, and illiterate. But the paffage I have now read to you is of fuch a nature, as to render it extremely difficult to refolve it into any power of human invention; and for this reason I offer it to your confideration in the prefent difcourfe, as a prefumptive argu ment of the truth of Christianity.

Here a very extraordinary character is brought before the reader; a person defcribed as fitting in the temple of God, whe

[ocr errors]

who was to be very confpicuous in the SERM. world, poffeffed of great power; and his VII. features, which are moft hateful, particularly delineated; a perfon, who was to continue in this ftate, till the Lord fhould: confume bim by the fpirit of his mouth, and defroy him by the brightness of his coming. The reader will immediately afk, What can this mean? Whence had this author the idea of fuch an extraordinary character, which is not like any thing, that ever had appeared in the world; which the history of mankind, before the times in which the Apoftle wrote, not only doth not parallel, but maketh mention of no power, which beareth the leaft refemblance of it. Let' us attend particularly to this character, and confider, how it could be fuggested to the author's mind.

This amazing perfon, the apoftle calls the man of fin, and fon of perdition; phrafes," which immediately raife, in the reader's mind, averfion and abhorrence, as of the very worst character; and the ufing fuchterms fheweth, that the author laboureth to reprefent it as fuch. A man of fin, a perfon, whofe wickednefs was fo great, fo much above that of others, as to beS2

come

SERM.come his peculiar diftinction; a perfon VII. utterly abandoned to evil. And the fon of perdition. This denomination our Bleffed Lord gave to Judas, who betrayed him, and who, in doing fo, all circumstances confidered, appeareth to have contracted the greatest guilt, and he fubjected his name to the greatest infamy. It is here given to the Man of Sin, who was to be a destroyer of multitudes of mankind; and was himself doomed to deftruction.

[ocr errors]

This perfon is faid to oppose and exalt himself above all, which is called God, or is worshipped; above all powers and magiftrates upon earth. These are in fcripture called gods, as they are cloathed with dominion and authority over others, in which they bear a faint refemblance of that power, that ruleth over all. I faid, fpeaking of judges and magiftrates, that you are gods, and all of you children of the most high; › but we fhall die like men, and fall as one of the princes. To thofe gods on earth, the Man of Sin opposeth himself; and not only refufeth all fubmiffion to them, but exalteth himself above them; and above all that is worshipped, the very highest orders and ranks of mankind. This

fheweth;

« AnteriorContinuar »