Non-contemporary text, not transcribed.
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Matthew. 22:42
Saying what think
ye
of Christ
It Looks to me Some like
a daring
presumption, that
I should Stand before you
this Day as a Teacher,
what Can I Say to you,
you that are highly privi
leged of the Lord of hosts,
to whom God has done
great and marvelous things
, You that are Lifted within
Sight of Heaven, as it were,
in Point of Gospel
Blessings,
and you that are refined with
Literature and kinds of Sciences
who am I should that I Stand
Stand before this Great con
gregation this Day, I
[gap: hole][guess: that] am but a Babe in Religion
that begun to
think of it, as it
were but yesterday, imper
fect every way, I Shall but
Betray my Profound Ignorance
in speaking
before you —
, for I have
not the wisdom of the wise nor
Knowledge of the Learned nor
Eloquence of
an
orator — but
I wish
could with Propriety say
to any one Poor Impotent Soul
in this great
Congregation,
as Peter Said to a Poor cripple,
Silver and Gold have I none
but Such as I have give thee
In the
Name of Jesus
Christ of
Nazareth, Rise
up and walk
Indeed Sirs, when I thus
consider
with myself I am ready to wish
myself in the Meanest Corner
of the House of god, if there is
any such Place, to attend
with Silence and proud humi
liation, and should
esteem it
an Inestimable Privilege to Join
with the People of God in
his
Divine Worship
Yet Since, God in his
mysterious,
you almost
miraculous Pro‐
vidence, has taken me from
the Dung Hill, and
from Hea‐
thenish
Darkness and Gross Ido‐
latry, — to this Sacred Desk, in
this very ꞈ before you, and be‐
fore the
Eternal Jehovah, —
if it may be for gods Glory
and Honor, I think I am
ready to Stand before you
all, if it is only as a spec‐
tacle and a Gazing Stock,
But by the Importunity
of Some Friends
I am willing
willing to gratify you all,
and presuming the Candor
[gap: hole][guess: of]
this Assembly,
I will now freely begin
with the
Text, with out any further
Apology, —
And here I have chosen an
inexhaustible Text no doubt you have heard which
represents the very Life and Marrow
of the Christian Religion, the
very Centre of the whole Bible
John V.39
our Text
Contains the greatest
Question
in the Christian Religion —
Life Everlasting is the reward
to them that Answers it right
but Eternal Death to them
that won't Answer it right
But to make a way for
the Text let us consider the
occasion of this Important
Question —
you may Remember, that
S
[gap: hole][guess: e]veral Crafty Questions were
proposed to our Blessed by Differ‐
ent Sorts of People, to entangle
him, but they were taken in their
own Traps and were Confounded, and
while the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus took an opportunity
to propose unto them this one great
and most Important Question, which
was contained in their Religion,
Saying what think ye of Christ
whose son is he, they Said the Son
of David, etc.
Hear we may Plainly see,
what a restless thing Man's mind
is, (how busy were the thoughts
of these Men about Christ,) —
Man's thoughts are always upon
ago, on some object or other, it
is Like a Living Spring
that runs
Continually; and Indeed it is this
that distinguishes him from the
Beasts of the Field; — But all
the objects of thought Christ Shou
[gap: worn_edge][guess: d] be
the only object of Meditation
But man is far Degenerated
that his thoughts are Continu
ally runing other objects, up
on Creature, more than upon the
Creator, — how apt
are men in
our
Day, to inquire after News
and if any remarkable thing is done by
our
Fellow Men, how ready are we
to applaud and Admire such a
one, As in our Day, Christ has
greatly honoured, the
King of Prussia in Rising him, to Humble
his enemies, how is he admired
everywhere, but it is to be
feared
Christ is forgot by ma
[illegible]ny, he should be our admirati
on and give him the Praise
for it is he that has done
all these
these things by his
Servant, indeed Sirs Caesar
ought to have his Due
All that I shall have to
do with
this Text is, to See
what Different opinions there
has been about Christ in all
Ages, Both under the old and
New Testament,
and in doing of which I shall
give you Short account of Christ
According to Scripture
- 1.as he was the Promised
Messiah,
- 2.as he was Actually Con‐ceived and Borne unto the
world
- 3.his public Appearance and Ministration.
- 1.his Miracles
- 2.his Doctrine
- 4.his Death [illegible] Burial and re‐surrection, and Appearance to his Disciples
- 5.his Ascension and Exalta‐tion at the Right Hand of god the
Father
- 6.his Intercession,
- 7.his Second Coming to Judge the world at the last Day
1 first then let us see how was
Christ
represented to the world
under the old Covenant, and what
Treatment he met with in
the
world, we find according to Scrip
tures that was Represented by
various Names Titles and Sha
dows and Figures
he was called the seed of the
woman the seed of Abraham
Isa
[illegible][guess: e]a and Jacob, his Name
was Shilo, Messiahs Emanuel
a Servant the Branch a tried
Stone the Chief Cornerstone
the Lord our Righteousness the
Root and the Rod of Jesse the
Morning Star, the Prophet
Priest and King the wonder
ful Counsellor the mighty god
the Everlasting Father the Prince
of Peace, besides
these he was
represented by various
Figures Sacrifices and Cere‐
monies, and his Servants
the Prophets Did many Signs
and wonders by his opperati
yet most all the world were
against them Except a few,
as the Jews were the Peculi
ar People of
god all the world
was against them, and
there were but few true
godly People ever among the
Jews,
and they were hated
by their own unbe Brethren,
were Slain
Chiefly by their
own Brethren
Secondly when Christ was Born
they Rose up against him
and would have Slew him
as Soon as he was born —
And there were but few that
rejoiced at his Birth, Such
as the Shepherds, and the
[illegible][illegible] and Anna the Prophetess
and wise men from the East
etc.
/Thirdly his public appearance
and ministration, 1 his mira
and secondly his Doctrine
we find his first appearance in
the Temple of God, Sitting in
midst of the Doctors, Both hear
ing and Asking them Questions
and often this we have an
Account of his Miracles
etc. and now was the Time for
man to think of him, but
what did
they think of him?
and his Preaching was now
also
public to every mans
consideration, but what did
they say of him, there was
Indeed different Judgments a
bout him Some etc.
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you do take this woman to be
your
Married Wife, and
do in the Presence of god
and before these
witnesses,
Promise
and Covenant
to be a loving and faithful
Husband unto her, until
God shall separate you
by Death —
you do in like manner
take this Man, to be
your Married Husband,
and do in Presence of god,
and before these
Witnesses
Promise to be loving faithful
and obedient wife unto
him, 'til god Shall separate
you by Death
I do then before god, and
these
witnesses, Declare
you to be Husband and
wife — Therefore what
God has joined together
Let
[gap: hole][guess: no] man but asunder
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