The Saints' Everlasting Rest

And first, Consider, what an unlikely design in the judgment of man, did Christ send his Apostles upon? To bid a few ignorant Mechanics, Go, Preach, and make him Disciples of all Nations! To send his Followers into all the world, to make men believe him to be the Saviour of the world, and to charge them to expect salvation no other way! Why, almost all the world might say, They had never seen him: And to tell them in Britain, &c. of one crucified among thieves at Jerusalem, and to charge them to take him for their eternal King, this was a design very unlikely to prevail. When they would have taken him by force, and made him a King, then he refused, and hid himself. But when the world thought they had fully conquered him, when they had seen him dead, and laid him in his Sepulchre, then doth he rise and subdue the world. He that would have said, when Christ was on the Cross, or in the Grave [that within so many weeks many thousands of his Murderers should believe him to be their Saviour, or within so many years, so many Countries and Kingdoms should receive him for their Lord, and lay down their Dignities, Possessions, and Lives […] his feet] would have hardly been believed by any that had heard him: and I am confident they would most of them then have acknowledged, that if such a Wonder should come to pass; it […] needs be from the Finger of God alone. That the Kingdoms of the world should become the Kingdoms of Christ, was then a matter exceeding improbable.¹ But you may Object, That first, It is but a small part of the world that believes; And secondly, Christ himself saith, that his Flock is little. I Answer, First, It is a very great part of the world that are Believers at this day, if we consider besides Europe, all the Greek Church, and all the Believers that are dispersed in Egypt, Judea, and most of the Turks Dominions; and the vast Empire of Prester Jehan in Africa. Secondly, Most Countries of the world have Received the Gospel; but they had but their time, they have sinned away the light, and therefore are now given up to darkness. Thirdly, Though the Flock of Christs Elect are small, ⟨p. 223⟩that shall receive the Kingdom, yet the called, that profess to believe his Gospel, are many.

And first, Consider, what an unlikely design in the judgment of man, did Christ send his Apostles upon? To bid a few ignorant Mechanicks, Go, Preach, and make him Disciples of all Nations! To send his Followers into all the world, to make men believe him to be the Saviour of the world, and to charge them to expect salvation no other way! Why, almost all the world might say, They had never seen him: And to tell them in Britain, &c. of one crucified among theeves at Jerusalem, and to charge them to take him for their eternal King, this was a design very unlikely to prevail. When they would have taken him by force, and made him a King, then he refused, and hid himself. But when the world thought they had fully conquered him, when they had seen him dead, and laid him in his Sepulchre, then doth he rise and subdue the world. He that would have said, when Christ was on the Cross, or in the Grave [that within so many weeks many thousands of his Murderers should believe him to be their Saviour, or within so many years, so many Countries and Kingdoms should receive him for their Lord, and lay down their Dignities, Possessions, and Lives his feet] would have hardly been believed by any that had heard him: and I am confident they would most of them then have acknowledged, that if such a Wonder should come to pass; it needs be from the Finger of God alone. That the Kingdoms of the world should become the Kingdoms of Christ, was then a matter exceeding improbable.