The joyfull convert: represented in a short but elegant sermon preached at the baptizing of a Turke, who renouncing the law of Mahomet, and having given abundant satisfaction for the reasons and soundness of his conversion, was baptized in the French Church May 2. 1658. the Marquis of Montpouillian, and the Lady Adrian de Mayern, being his godfather and godmother. Together with some questions propounded at the same time to the said convert, and some remarkable considerations on them, by John Despagne, minister of the French Church in Westminster.

THE Joyfull Convert : Represented in a Short , but Elegant SERMON , Preached at the baptizing of a TURKE , WHO Renouncing the Law of Mahomet , and having given abundant satisfaction for the reasons and soundness of his Conversion , was Baptized in the French Church May 2. 1658. the Marquis of Montpouill●●n , and the Lady Adrian de Mayern , being his Godfather and Godmother .

Together with some Questions propounded at the same time to the said Convert , and some remarkable Considerations on them ,

By John Despagne , Minister of the French Church in Westminster .

LONDON , Printed by I. Leach . 1658.

Galatians 4.29 .

But as he who was born after the Flesh did persecute him who was born after the Spirit , so it is at this present .

THE Apostle speaketh of Ismael , and of Isaac , the two sons of Abraham ; the one was born according to the course and order of Nature , the other was begotten by the miraculous power of God : but this is not to be the subject of our present discourse .

But to what purpose is it only to understand that Abraham had two sons ? Certainly the Scripture doth not treat only of their persons , their History is of a farr larger extent than at the first sight it doth appear to be . Two remarkable points do here preferr themselves to your observation , First , That which is according to the letter , Secondly , That which the Apostle hath raised from it , in which he formeth a most excellent Allegory , and we our selves are included in it ,

IT is to be observed that all the Nations in the World do naturally inherit the Genius and Disposition of their Parents from whom they proceeded ; And if we shall except those alterations which by the particular providence and ( moreover ) by the grace of God do intervene , every Nation doth partake of the temper and complexion of him who was their first Father , or Patriarch . Esau , and Iacob strugling in the flank of their Mother were already two Nations that made war against one another ; And the generations that descended from those twins lived alwayes afterwards in a reciprocal hostility .

It is known that there are people in Africa who even unto this day do make traffick of their own Children , and do sell them for Slaves , never expecting to see them again ; It is the great Mart they make , and Nations , at a great distance , do resort unto it . We shall find it manifest in the tenth of Genesis both by the names and the description of those places where the sons of Noah did after the Deluge make their first plantations , hat these Barbarians who did sell their Children to be perpetual vassals were descended from Cham , nay even from Canaan of whom it was prophesied , that he should be the Servant of the Servants of his Brothers ; It is wonderfull indeed that this malediction having constantly continued through the Traverse of so many Ages , should so unhappily descend even to our dayes , and to fulfill this malediction that this unnatural people should deprive themselves of that which ought to be most pretious to them , selling their Children , their own bowels , to labour in the bowels of the Earth , and to live in a flavery worse than death .

There are not the least circumstances expressed in the lives of the Fathers of the several Nations of which in some degrees we may not discover a resemblance in their posteritie ; Isaac was younger than Ismael by fourteen years , Iacob the Son of Isaac was a Servant to Laban for the space of fourteen yeers , Joseph the Son of Iacob was the purveyor , and afterwards the nourisher of Aegypt for fourteen years ; From Abraham the Father of Ismael and of Isaac unto the time of David there passed fourteen Generations , David being included in the number of them .

As concerning the race of Ismael it is most apparent that they first did people Arabia ; And this is manifest both by the names of the persons , and of the places expressed in the five and twentieth Chapter of Genesis ; It is ( besides ) remarkable that a great part of the most famous miracles were wrought in that Country , The publication of the Law accompanied with so many wonderful solemnities , the Manna that descended from Heaven , and all the miraculous signs which appeared in the Wildernesse during the sojourning of the Israelites there , for the space of forty years , were all of them in Arabia . Afterwards , miracles were transported into the land of promise ; and in processe of time , even to Babylon , during the Captivity ; yea , after the ascension of Christ , many miracles were wrought in the Countryes of the Gentiles ; of which I shall speak only one word .

You do never read in the word of God that any miracle was wrought in the City of Rome . Epaphroditus a famous Servant of God was sick there even to the death , at what time Saint Paul ( whom Epaphroditus served ) was there a prisoner , neverthelesse God was not pleased that he should be recovered by a miracle ; It is strange that so many Cities ( which are nothing in comparison of Rome ) should be enobled by many great miracles , and that the Metropolitan of the Empire which ( if we will believe them ) ought to be the chief of all the Churches in the World , should never have the honour to see one miracle that hath been mentioned by the Spirit of God .

But to return to our subject , the Arabians are descended from Ismael , and the execrable Mahomet is from him derived . The conformity of their language with the Hebrew , The Circumcision which Ismael received and left to his posterity , and divers other impressions of Antiquity , do confirm that by Ismael they are descended from Abraham . This Race ( under the name of Saracens ) is since extended ( as Experience and Histories do testifie ) from Arabia to the end of the west of Africa , whence this Convert is come unto us whom here you do behold .

The persecution of Ismael that fell upon Isaac , in the one and twentieth of Genesis , did proceed from this , that the elder Brother did pretend to the inheritance of his Father . The land of promise was the principal piece of it , as in effect , the posterity of Isaac did afterwards possess it ; neverthelesse ( which is remarkable ) the Race of Ismael in the Turkish Empire have now possessed themselves of that Country , and have held it for many Generations . Vpon which we ought to consider , that the inheritance promised to Isaac and to those descended from him , was properly celestial , of which the land of Canaan was but a type or gage ; Moreover , the Jews who are descended from Isaac have estranged themselves from the free grace of God , and do believe to be justified by their works , as the Ismaelites do believe to be justified by theirs .

THis is that which brings us unto that which the Apostle aims at ; All the men in the World ( the true and orthodox Christian excepted ) do pretend to be justified by their works before God . The Jew expects it , the Gentile affects it , the Mahometan aspires unto it , and Christianity excepted , all Religions do unanimously , and without difference Preach this opinion , an opinion indeed , which is natural , but erronions and abusive since the fall of man .

Behold then two sorts of men in the World , the one is natural according to the flesh , pretending unto justification by works . The other is Spiritual according to the promise of God , knowing that man is justified by Faith in Christ . The first is represented by Ismael , the other is figured by Isaac . The Jew himself who naturally is descended from Isaac , yet neverthelesse doth expect to be justified by works , is an Ismaelite in that regard , as the Apostle speaks , and on the other side the Ismaelite who believeth justification by Faith is become the Son of Isaac .

This dispute is not only betwixt the Christian and those who do adhere to other Religions ; The same difference is betwixt Christian , and Christian . As there were two several parties in the family of Abraham ; so the same difference is betwixt those who do professe one and the same Christ : for the one do pretend to justification by works , and the others do intirely attribute it unto Faith in Christ .

Moreover Ismael persecuted Isaac being but young , and the Mahometans the posterity of Ismael do practise the same at this day ; It is well known how under the name of Tribute they do take away the Children of poor Christians , and do tear them from the brests and the arms of their mothers , causing them to drink of the poyson of Mahomet , and to become the Children of Hell .

Those who are but half Christians do make nothing of justification , by dividing it betwixt the Law and Faith ; Terms altogether incompatible ; and these are the most violent Persecutors . It is ordinary , that the Jesse the difference is betwixt one Religion and another , the greater is the aversion and the animosity of that man who is found to adhere unto the errour ; The neerer the proximity , the greater the separation , and the hatred of Spirit . The Samaritan was the greatest Enemy of the Iew , And at this day we are more hated by the Papist than by the Mahometan , and more by the Mahometan than by the Heathen ; In this last age , have not the most grievous persecutions which we have suffered , proceeded from those who do call themselves Christians ? How much innocent blood have they spilled ? Is there amongst them any seat of Iustice , any Field , City , or River , which hath not drunk of their bloud ? How many places are there at this day , through which we cannot passe , but through the bloud and ashes of those poor Souls whom the barbarousnesse of those false Christians have newly and violently forced out of the world ? Are we not accounted as abhominable sacrifices , and worthy of the extremest punishments ? but it is for thy cause , O God , that we are delivered unto Death , and that the borrours which thy Enemies do vomit forth against thee , do fall upon our heads . The day will come in which that cruel Babylon shall see her own Children dashed against the stones .

But shall we say that the whole posterity of Ismael shall be excluded from salvation ? When the holy Spirit did conferr the guift of tongues on the several Nations who were then at Ierusalem , the History doth make mention of the Arabians , although the last of all , the Parthians , Medes , Elamites , and inhabitants of Mesopotamia , Cappadocia , Judaea , Pontus , Asia , Phrigya , Pamphylia , Aegypt , Lybia , the Romans , Cretians , and Arabians ; And the first Country to which Saint Paul after his conversion in Damascus did carry the Gospell , wa● Arabia , Gal. 1.17 .

The smallnesse of the number of those who are converted , doth not hinder the Angels in Heaven from rejoycing . If God should at this present create a new star , but one star only , would it not ravish us all with admiration ? How much more is a Soul considerable which God hath taken out of the bottom of Hell to place it in the Kingdom of Heaven ? A long time it is since God hath called whole Nations , and hath opened wide unto them the great gates of Heaven . There is not any more , either Iew or Grecian in this respect , but his wrath shall shew it self from Heaven on those who shall refuse to come unto him : At the comming of his Son , all the Generations of the Earth shall lament before him . O , ye Nations , Tribes , and Languages , prevent the day of his wrath ; O that all people would prostrate themselves at his feet ; That memory might be made of Palestine , and Ethiopia amongst those that know him ; That every knee might bend before him , and that every tongue might confesse , that Jesus Christ is the Lord , to the glory of God the Father .

After the Sermon , and the usual Prayer , the Proselyte ( whom we had before instructed ) did present himself , and these following Questions were propounded to him , on the greatest part of whose Answers thereunto , we have made some Considerations .

Question .

THe change of Religion ought not to be undertaken without some great knowledge of the cause . Wherefore do you forsake the Law of Mahomet in which you have been bred ?

Answer .

It doth not acknowledge the Redemption . It denyeth that Jesus Christ is dead ; As for Mahomet he dyed not for others .

Consideration . He cannot therefore be called a Redeemer . Now the Doctrine of Redemption is the Soul of Religion . There is no Religion there , where the Redemption is denyed , or not understood ; The Mahometans denying Christ to be dead do say , that in that they do him more Honour , than we Christians who do affirm that he hath suffered death , yea an ignominious death .

But in denying him to be dead they take from him the glory of those great Miracles which at his Death he wrought , as the darkning of the Sun , the opening of the Rocks and Sepulchers , the Earthquake , and the tearing of the veyl of Temple ; They take from him also the glory of his Resurrection which presupposeth his death , his Resurrection being the greatest miracle that ever he wrought having had the power to lay down his life and afterwards to reassume it , Finally they take from him the glory of our Redemption , and from us the benefit of it . These wretches are ignorant that the sufferings of Christ have been the way unto his Glory , for because he did abase himself to the death of the Crosse , God hath highly advanced him , and given him a Name above all Names .

Question .

Who hath told them that Jesus Christ never dyed ?

Answer .

It is the Doctrine of Mahomet , and of all those who have written according to the Alcoran .

Consideration . It is observeable that Mahomet lived not untill above six hundred yeers after the comming of Christ ; All the Histories that have been written before his time , do without the least difference affirm that Jesus Christ was put to death . The Roman Histories written by the Heathen , and who are neutrals in this difference do attest that Jesus Christ ( of whom the Christians do receive their Name ) was crucified by Pilate . The monuments of the Iews do make mention of that death . The Apostles who were with him have published it over all the World ; with what brow dares Mahomet ( who lived many ages after him ) go about to give the lie to so many unreproveable and Eye witnesses , who all with one voyce do pronounce the truth of his death ? Is he more to be believed than those who lived in the same age with him , or than the Iews that did procure his death , or than the Romans that did ordain it , or than the Apostles who did behold it , and after his Resurrection did feel the wounds of that body which had been crucified ?

It is remarkeable that Mahomet boasteth that he hath received his Doctrine from the Angel Gabriel , now this is that Angel who Dan . 9.26 . did foretel that Christ should be put to death , and moreover did expresse the very time , which was then accomplished when our Saviour dyed : Iudge now if he who makes the Angel Gabriel a lyar hath been instructed by him .

Question .

What saith Mahomet concerning the person of Jesus Christ ?

Answer .

That he was born of a Virgin , and that in Soul and body he is ascended into Heaven .

Consideration . These truths ought to open the eyes of those who have been seduced by Mahomet . He confesseth that the comming of Christ was miraculous seeing he was born of a Virgin , also that his departing out of the World was glorious seeing he ascended bodily into Heaven , but Mahomet himself was born as other men , and is not ascended into Heaven . His ashes , if any of them yet remain , are still in his Sepulchre , to which those of that blind Religion do yearly run in pilgrimage .

Question .

What doth he say farther concernine Jesus ?

Answer .

That he hath wrought great miracles .

Consideration . In the Alcoran , the first Azoara of the first book , Mahomet confesseth that Iesus was the searcher of hearts , that he hath cured the sick of diseases that were incurable , yea that he hath raysed from the dead . But hath Mahomet himself ever wrought the least miracle ? He confesseth also that Iesus Christ did conferr on his Disciples the miraculons gifts of the Holy Ghost , as that o● tongues , of curing the diseased , and others ; but Mahomet himself was farr enough off from a power so divine .

Question ,

But what saith he concerning the Doctrine of Christ ?

Answer .

That he was a great prophet .

Consideration . In the fifth Azoara Mahomet speaketh in these words , God hath given the Gospel to Iesus Christ , as being the way , the light , and the salvation of Men , And those who will not submit themselves unto him shall be damned .

We may demand ; Why do not then the Mahometans imbrace the Gospel ? There is a great sophistry of the Devil in it ; Mahomet acknowledgeth nothing for the Gospel , but that onely which he hath inserted into his Alcoran , and rejecteth all the rest of the New Testament as counterfeit . If this great impostor durst be so bold , he would profes● himself to be as antient as the Apostles , who conversed with Jesus Christ , and did see the things of which they wrote . Doth Mahomet , who never saw them , know them better than they ? All the New Testament which we have was in the world a long time before the days of Mahomet : the New Testament hath been besides confirmed by an infinite member of Miracles , and by divine and humane Testimonies ; and must we leave them to believe Mahomet , who hath curtalled and falsified the Gospel ?

Question .

You have said , That we stand in need of a Redeemer ; why is it that he must suffer death for us ?

Answer .

To satisfie the justice of God .

Consideration . The justice of God was pleased , that the sin of man should be expiated by man ; but to accomplish it , there must be a man without sin . This point is of a vast extent , It shall suffice us for the present to have touched on it in few words .

Question

Having acknowledged that eternal Salvation is not to be found but in the Christian Religion , and the Christians being divided into many Religions , why did not you addresse your self to the Church of Rome ?

Answer

By reason of the Images to which they kneel , and because they do adore a piece of bread , saying that it is God himself .

Consideration . The Mahometans have good reason to abhorr Idols . They reproach the Christians with them , as also with the worshipping of the Virgin Mary , and other Saints . This Scandal which is so general , is the cause why not only the Mahometans but the Iews also do detest Christianity . O how many Souls hath this Doctrine hindred from comming to Christ ? Satan hath found also another way from disswading not only them , but the Pagans also from being Christians ; for they would enjoyn them to believe that what they do behold to be but a little piece of bread , is the living and the eternal God . Even common sense rejecteth this abomination .

Question .

We know that there is but one God , M●homet most falsely doth impose upon us that there are three Gods . The three whom we do name in Baptism , viz. The Father , the Son , and the Holy Ghost , are they three Gods ?

Answer .

No , they are onely but one God , and neverthelesse they are distinguished .

Consideration . This is an incomprehensible mystery , but there are similitudes which do somewayes represent it unto us . In our Soul , the Vnderstanding , the Memory , and the Will , are distinct things , and yet it is but one Soul ; In the Sun , his light , his heat , and his motion are different , and yet it is but one Sun.

Mahomet is so stupid , that he cannot apprehend that God hath a Son ; This carnal man will acknowledge no other Generation but what is Carnal , yet neverthelesse our soul doth both conceive , and produce .

The Spirit hath its conceptions , and when it reflecteth on it self , it doth in some sort conceive its self ; God who is a Spirit hath conceived and begotten in himself his proper and perfect Image , and by consequence , infinite and eternal , In that respect he is the Father , and that Image or likenesse of himself begotten by him is his Son . And these two have produced a third who is the Holy Ghost , but all these three are but one and the same God .

Question .

Seeing you here present your self to be baptized , tell me , shall that water wash your Soul which by and by shall be powred on your body ?

Answer .

No , that which doth cleanse us from our sins is the blood of Jesus Christ .

Consideration . The Mahometans do believe that in washing their bodies all their Sins are wiped off , and that 〈◇〉 water carryeth away with it all the enormi of their transgressions , for which cause they ●o wash themselves very often , nay , very often in one day ; An opinion impious and ridiculous .

Question .

What do you believe concerning Baptism ?

Answer .

It is a sign of the purging of the Soul in the Bloud of Jesus Christ .

Consideration . It is truely a sacred sign instituted of God , effectual to those who have the principle of Faith .

Question .

Do you believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith contained in the Creed which we have heard you to pronounce ?

Answer .

Yes .

Qestion .

Do you renounce Mahomet and his Doctrine ?

Answer .

Yes .

Question .

Do you promise to live holily , and religiously according to the word of God ?

Answer .

Yes .

After this Examination of the Convert , this following Prayer was made .

O Eternal God , how wonderful art thou in thy works ! Thou hast been found by those who have not sought thee ; Thy grace hath prevented their thoughts . It is neither from him that willeth , nor from him that runneth , but from thy mercy alone that Salvation doth proceed . It is neither from the West , nor from the East , but from thy wonderful dispensation ; when it pleaseth thee , thou stretchest forth thy arm from the height of Heavens to the bottom of the Abysm , to pluck out those who were already on the brink of Hell ; O God who hast commanded that light should shine in the midst of darknesse , inlighten the flames of thy truth amongst those who do lie in the valley of the shade of Death , that the most barbarous people may see the wayes & traces of thy Christ ; that the pavilions of Ismael , and of Midian may be shaken , that the sheep which are not yet in thy fold may henceforth be brought into it .

Behold here a Soul which prostrates it self at thy feet to be washed in the bloud of thy holy Son Iesus , in the blood of that sprinkling which speaketh for Sinners ; be pleased to pardon this poor Sinner that is here present ; pardon the faults committed by him in the time of his ignorance ; cause thou the Scales to fast from his eyes . Create in him a new heart , that being a new Creature he may walk in righteousnesse and holinesse . Cause thou that the Baptism which according to thy ordinance we do conferr upon him be effectual to his salvation , that it may redound to the glory of thy great name , to the joy of thy Angels , and and to the comfort of those who love thy Anointed who is blessed for evermore .

Immediately after this Prayer , the Convert being on his knees was baptized , presented by Monsieur Armand of Caumont Marquis of Montpouillan , and the Lady Adrian de Mayern who were his Godfather and Godmother , from whom he received the name of Armand Adrian .

FINIS .