293 JESUS of NAZARETH proved the true and only promised Messiah. IN A SERMON Preached at St. MARY's, Oxon, Before the UNIVERSITY, Ο Ν CHRISTMAS-DAY, 1665. JOHN I. xi. He came to his own, and his own recei ved him not. I Cannot think it directly requifite to the Prosecution of these Words (nor will the Time allotted for it permit) to affert and vindicate the foregoing Verfes from the perverfe Interpretations of that false U 3 Pre none. Pretender to Reason, and real Subverter of all Religion, Socinus, who in the Expofition of this Chapter, together with fome part of the 8th (both of them taken from the pofthumous Papers of his Uncle Lelius ) laid the Foundation of that great Babel of Blafphemies, with which he afterwards fo amused and pestered the Chriftian World, and under colour of reforming and refining (for footh) the best of Religions, has employed the utmost of his Skill and Art to bring Men indeed to believe And therefore no fmall Cause of Grief must it needs be to all pious Minds that fuch horrid Opinions should find so ready a Reception and so fatal a Welcome in fo many Parts of the World as they have done; considering both what they tend to, and whom they come from. For they tend only to give us fuch a Chrift and Saviour, as neither the Prophets nor Evangelists know nor fpeak any thing of And as for their Original, if we would trace them up to that, thro' fome of the chief Bran ches of their infamous Pedigree, we must carry them a little backward from hence; firft to the forementioned Fauftus Socinus and his Uncle Lelius, and from them to Gentilis, and then to Servetus, and fo thro' a long Interval to Mahomet and his Sect, and from them to Photinus, and from him to Arius, and from Arius to Paulus Samofatenus, and from him to Ebion and Cerinthus, and from 'them to Simon Magus, and fo in a direct Line to the Devil himself: under whofe Conduct in the feveral Ages of the Church these Wretches fucceffively have been some of the most notorious Oppofers of the Divinity of our Saviour, and would undoubtedly have overthrown the Belief of it in the World, could they by all their Arts of wrefting, corrupting and false interpreting the holy Text, have brought the Scriptures to speak for them; which they could never yet do. And amongst all the Scriptures no one has stood fo directly and immovably in their Way as this first Chapter of St. John's Gofpel, a Chapter carrying in it fo bright and full an Affertion of the Eternal Godhead of the Son, that a Man must put common Senfe and Reason extreamly upon the Rack before he can give any tolerable Expofition of it to the contrary. So that an eminent Dutch Critick (who could find in his Heart (as much as in him lay) to interpret away that noble and pregnant Place of Scripture, John 8. 58. Before Abraham was I am, from being any Proof at all of Chrift's Eternal Pre-existence to his Incarna tion, and so to give up one of the main Forts of the Chriftian Religion to the Socinians) has yet been forced by the over-powering Evidence of this Chapter (notwithstanding all his Shifts, too manifeftly fhewing what he would be at) to exprefs himself upon this Subject more agreeably to the Sense of the Catholick Church, than in many other Places he had done. And well indeed might he, even for Shame itself, do so much, when it is certain that he might have done a great deal more. For fuch a commanding Majesty is there in every Period almost of this Chapter, that it has forced even Heathens and Atheists (Perfons who valued themselves not a little upon their Philofophy) to fubmit to the controlling Truth of the Propofitions here delivered, and inftead of contradicting or difputing, to fall down and Worship. For the Things here uttered were Myfteries kept hid from Ages, and fuch as God had for Four Thousand Years together, by all the wife Arts and Methods of his Providence, been preparing the World for, before it could be fit or ripe to receive them: and therefore a moft worthy Subject they must needs have been for this beloved Apoftle to impart to Mankind, who having fo long lain in the Bg Som fom of Truth itself, received all Things from that Great Original by more intimate and immediate Communications than any of the reft of the Apostles were honoured with. In a word, he was of the Cabinet; and therefore no Wonder if he spake Oracles. In the Text we have these two Parts. First, Chrift's coming into the World, in thofe Words, he came to his own. Secondly, Chrift's Entertainment being come, in those other Words, his own received him not. In the former of which there being an Account given us of one of the greatest and most stupendious Actions that the World was ever yet Witnefs of, there cannot, I fuppofe, be a truer Measure taken of the Nature of it, than by a distinct Confideration of the feveral Circumstances belonging to it, which are these. Firft, The Perfon who came. Secondly, The Condition from which he came. Thirdly, The Perfons to whom he came. And, Fourthly, and laftly, The Time of his com ing. Of all which in their Order. And, 1. Firft |