love and affection to the World c. may be gone that God would arise and that these Enemies may be scatter'd they use means they enquire what they must do to mortify these unruly desires they deny themselves they fast they are angry with these Corruptions yet ever and anon before they are aware they fall and imprudently yield to Temptations of this nature they would feign be Masters of those vertues accomplishments and perfections which did shine so bright in the primitive Saints but cannot as yet arrive to that excellent Temper for this they mourn and are dejected and sorrow seizes upon their hearts and minds yet still blessed are these mourners 5. Such as mourn because their stay in this World is long because they are kept out of Heaven and from the perfect enjoyment of God because they are obliged to continue in this barren Wilderness of the World where they must see their God dishonoured his Name profaned his Creatures abused his Ordinances derided his Providences disregarded his Precepts slighted his Promises undervalued his Threatnings scorned and Charity grow cold and Iniquity abound This draws from them David's complaint Wo is me that I must dwell in Mesech and have my habitation in the Tents of Kedar Ps. CXX 5. Indeed such mourners are but few most Men being desirous to enjoy the World as long as they can yet some there are that have made their Calling and Election sure and long to be gone long to be dissolved and to be with Christ and to be cloath'd upon with their House from Heaven long to join the Quire of Angels long to be freed from this Earthly Tabernacle and all this upon the excellent Principle of the love of God not from impatience under their pain and sickness or frowns of the World or their mean condition here but because the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts and because they are kept from enjoying their desire because the amorous Needle is with-held from clinging to the beloved Magnet they mourn blessed mourning But what You 'll say do no mourners under Temporal losses and crosses come into the Number of these blessed Men I answer yes 1. If the cause for which and in which they suffer losses of their Goods or Friends be great and noble if they sulfer for the Gospel's sake upon the Account of Righteousness and a good Conscience in this case their mourning under their Temporal losses may intitle them to blessedness provided that their mourning be mingled with faith and hope and a holy self-resignation and that they mourn more for the wickedness of the Person who are the instruments of their Persecution than for the want of their Corn and Wine and Oil and the Garlicks and Onions of Egypt 2. If under their Temporal losses they mourn chiefly for their sins which have both caused and deserved these sufferings Sorrow barely for Temporal losses and for being deprived of the satisfactions of the flesh cannot be reconciled to that Spiritual life the Gospel presses something there must be to sweeten that sour Sop as it stands alone it comes under the notion of sorrow of the World and that we are told works death 2 Cor. VII 10. And consequently happiness cannot be the fruit or effect of it The Soul therefore that mourns under such outward Calamities must look off from the Calamity to the cause of it or Sin which hath procured it and that sanctifies the sorrow and makes the mourner blessed Yet to prevent mistakes I must necessarily add these following cautions 1. We are not to think that in order to arrive to this Blessedness a Man or Woman must do nothing but mourn There is a time for every thing and there are other things to be done besides mourning even the particular Duties and Vertues and Self-denials required and commanded in this Chapter so that when it is said here blessed are they that mourn the meaning is blessed are they that do so as they have occasion to reflect either upon the Spiritual Evils which are present or upon the Spiritual Blessings that are absent from them It 's enough that there be a disposition or aptitude to mourn which exerts it self whenever any opportunity offers it self to consider and to think of such Objects as deserve and require our mourning else Spiritual Joy would be no Duty and if our lives were to be fill'd with mourning the Apostle's Exhortation had been useless Phil. IV. 1. Rejoyce in the Lord always i. e. upon all occasions and again I say Rejoyce Neither 2. Must the stress be laid upon the bare mourning as if the mourning and weeping and sadness alone were pleasing to God and groans were the only livery of Heaven but this mourning must be in order to a greater end even to establish our Souls in the love of God to strengthen our graces to corroborate our repentance and aversion from sin and to purifie our outward and inward Man more and more and therefore it is emphatically call'd sorrowing to Repentance 2 Cor. VII 9. Nor 3. Are we to think that a certain degree of mourning is always necessary even mourning expressed in so much weeping and sorrowing as we find in other Christians of our Acquaintance All men's conditions are not alike a Person that hath been profane and lewd hath reason to mourn more than he whose Sins have been of a lesser size not but that it was commendable to weep bitterly even for infirmities but the obligation of mourning is greater certainly upon a rapacious Publican than upon the pious Couple Zacharias and Elizabeth Besides all men's Constitutions are not alike some being of that tender Complexion that the least touch or sense of things makes them weep others of a hardier make who may be astonish'd and concern'd at great things but cannot make that outward shew of mourning that others can It 's enough therefore that the sorrow be rational and that the mind be so affected with the object that causes or deserves mourning as to work in us a willingness to mourn more if we could and an indignation against the Spiritual Evils which are present and an earnest longing and endeavour after the Spiritual Blessings which are absent and we stand in need of Having set down these cautions I proceed to the second Part to acquaint you II. Wherein the Blessedness of such mourners consists 1. This mourning is the Character of Saints Ezek. IX 4. 2 Cor. XII 21. Why what Blessedness is there in this will some say How no Blessedness in being a Saint what 's the reason then that Kings and Princes wish they were so what 's the reason that most wicked Men when they come to die would fain be of that Number Nay what 's the reason that in your Creed you believe a Communion of Saints Is it not in this Creed that you profess the greatest Blessings that were ever bestow'd upon the Children of Men And if the Communion of Saints be one must it
Thoughts upon this Reward and move him to dwell upon it The Bitterness of his Affliction gives that Reward a greater Sweetness and is the same that makes him relish it the more Hence comes this Joy and the nobler the Cause is in and for which he suffers the greater is the Joy But 5. Though all this helps yet the Holy Spirit of God must work with it and work in and upon the Heart and make the Impression of the future Reward so lively that it shall cause Joy and Rejoycing much depends upon the Spirits mingling those Rewards with the Thoughts of the Mind whereby the Affections are affected and rouz'd and elevated into Joy and Rejoycing and such Joy as shall carry the Soul above her Sufferings and make her contentedly want those Accommodations and Conveniencies and Advantages that others do enjoy For this Spirit as it must assure us of our Right to that Reward Rom. VIII 16 17. so it is from that Assurance that this Joy rises which is the Reason why it is emphatically called Joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. XIV 17. And yet after all it must be confessed that good Company doth not a little contribute toward their Joy Which leads me to the Second Proposition viz. It 's comfortable to suffer in good Company so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you That 's the Comfort Christ gives here to Persons suffering and bids them solace themselves with the Company of the antient Prophets And this Proposition also I shall explain in these following Paragraphs 1. Solitariness in Affliction aggravates Affliction which is the Reason that Jeremy makes it an Ingredient of the greatness of Jerusalem's Misery Lam. I. 1. How doth the city sit solitary which was full of people how is she become as a widow that was great among the nations she that was a princess among the provinces how is she become tributary All the Heathen Nations round about swam in Plenty Prosperity crown'd their Labours and Ease and Liberty was their Companion Jerusalem alone sigh'd under her Load and groan'd under her Burthen and wept while her Neighbours rejoyc'd and triumph'd in the Success of their Attempts and Enterprizes Company in Affliction is a kind of Balm which supplies the Spirit and gives some Refreshment to a wounded Soul it takes off from the greatness of the Grief and makes the Burthen lighter Solitariness looks strange like a stinking Weed in a curious Flower-garden and coming in the shape of that which is unusual it surprizes more and consequently afflicts more and that 's the Reason may be why Men bear a common Calamity where many fare alike better than they do a private where they have no Partners in their Sorrows And yet 2. It 's hard to conceive how a Man can be solitary in Affliction except by Solitariness we mean that in the Parish or Street or House or Family we live in there is none that is afflicted as we are Set this aside there can hardly any Affliction be named but some or other in the World have been and are as great or greater Sufferers than we are and in this sense a Man cannot want Company in Affliction But then in this case the Mind must call the Company in and the Understanding represent their Sufferings to the Thoughts and Meditation must make their Afflictions present which being a thing generally neglected by Persons who suffer they are very apt to sink into this Fancy That none are miserable in the World as they are as we see Jerusalem complained Lam. I. 12. Behold and see whether there be such a sorrow as my sorrow is wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his anger And yet 3. It is not suffering in every Company that is comfortable To suffer with Evil-doers is a Grief rather than a Consolation and to be afflicted with Malefactors is made an Ingredient of the Bitterness of our blessed Saviour's cup Mark XV. Nor will Company in Hell be any Ease to the Sufferers but rather increase their Torments none being able to help the other The Comfort arising from suffering in Company is confined to this present World and in this case the Company must be such as a Man hath no reason to be ashamed of and that must be the Company of truly pious Men whether they be present or absent whether they have lived lately or a thousand or two thousand Years agone whether they dwell in the same Town or City or Village we are of or a hundred Miles off for this Company of good Men with whom we suffer are either as good as we are or better than we 1. If they be as good as we our selves are the Reflexion is very natural If this be the Lot and Portion of Persons under the same Circumstances I am under then no strange thing happens to me then God deals with me as he doth with his other Children If I am not better than they why should I expect more favourable Dealings at his hands and yet these Dealings are favourable too If Men as good as my self have look'd upon the Crosses that have befallen them as Marks of God's Favour why should not I look upon mine thro' the same Glass How can it be said that I am as good as they if I make not the same pious Constructions of these Providences if I fall short of these rational Interpretations of God's Dispensations I must needs fall short of their Goodness Or 2. The good Men in whose Company I suffer are better than I and then the Argument of Comfort will be stronger still Have the Heroes of Religion suffered so much and shall I a puny Christian complain Have the great Champions of the Gospel endured as much or more than I and shall a Christian of an ordinary size find fault Have such Men as St. Paul and the Holy Apostle's gone thro' firy Tryals and shall I a Disciple of those great Masters tremble at the Fire Have the Fathers the strong Men in Grace old Disciples been scratch'd and wounded with Briars and Thorns and shall I a Babe look to tread on Carpets Have the Generals the Captains in Christ's Army gone thro' a Sea of Adversity and shall I a common Soldier shrink at the Waves Have such Men as Samuel Elijah and Elisha Men that could in a manner command Heaven by their Prayers been reviled traduced reproach'd and shall I a Shrub take it ill that I am call'd out of my Name This is a very strong Argument of Comfort So that you see that the Comfort arising from suffering with other good Men lies partly in the Ease the Mind receives by their Society and partly in that their Examples give us opportunity to make use of the same Motives to Patience which held them up 1. In the Ease the Mind receives from the suffering Society It gives a sort of Content which all the Physick in the World cannot give especially if the suffering Company be present for then the
The ablest Physicians were consulted and they consulted and advised upon his case and attended him with great diligence and tenderness but without success On Sunday Morning January 31st he was worse than ever he had been insomuch that those about him thought him dying about eleven in the Morning I was then at Westminster-Abbey and was sent for out of the Church to pray with him I found him very sensible I asked him if he were sensible that he was dying he replied that he was I asked him if he were also resigned and willing to die he replied very readily that he was willing to die I asked him if he had considered the words Heb. II. 14 15 and whether or not he found himself delivered from all the slavish fear of death he replied very quick looking up to Heaven that he was delivered from that fear He was in an excellent frame and joyned with the Prayers which the Church appoints on such occasions with great expressions of Devotion Sometime after this I found him delirous and not long after speechless After some few hours Groans he expired viz. at Eight a Clock that Evening being then about the 56th year of his Age His Body was opened and it appeared quickly what was the cause of his Death Both his Ureters were stopped One of them was stopped as a Bottle with a Cork with a Stone that entered the top of the Ureter with a sharp end the upper part of which was thick and much too big to enter any farther The other was stopped also with Stones of much less firmness and consistence than the other His Body was interred on Feb. 4. in the Abbey Church of Westminster with great Solemnity and a vast number of Attendants Several of the Lords the Bishops very many of the most eminent Clergy about the City and an incredible number of other Persons were present on that occasion And it must be said that the Church of Westminster shewed the great kindness they had for him by the great care they took of his very decent and solemn Interment Before I proceed any farther I shall reflect upon his undaunted Courage when Death look'd him in the face 'T is certain that there were a great many considerations that might have disposed him to desire a longer life at that time I well knew his circumstances and those of his Family and how desirable his life was upon many accounts But yet this pious man was not only willing to die but was entirely delivered from the fear of it and did with great cheatfulness and alacrity receive the tidings and sentence of Death St. Hierom tells that Hilarion just when he was expiring spake these words Egredere quid times Egredere anima mea quid dubitas Septuaginta propè annis servisti Christo mortem times i. e. Go out O my Soul why dost thou fear Why dost thou doubt Thou hast served Christ near seventy years and art thou afraid to dye There was it seems some fear and some doubt in Hilarion This Servant of God was by his Grace delivered intirely from all such fear or doubt I say by the Grace of God he was delivered and special Grace it was Very good Persons when they come to die have their doubts and their great fears too It is an easie thing to discourse wisely and Philosophically of the Contempt of Death but they which do so have not the same Presence of Mind when Death looks them in the face We have a famous story to this purpose concerning the Father of Clinias who was wont to despise Death in his Health and was in great dread of it when it drew near to him as Plato relates it It must be confessed that this good Man had taken the right course to be freed from the fear of Death by leading a very painfull and laborious a very usefull and charitable a very devout and pious Life His Life was very painfull and laborious Few men ever took the Pains which he did He was mortified to all worldly Pleasures and sensual Satisfactions and used himself to great Labours and most exemplary Diligence There is nothing renders us more afraid to die than a soft and voluptuous Life Oh Death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth in rest in his possessions Ecclus XLI 1. We have an example of this in Agag He came delicately and was pinguissimus tremens i. e. very fat and trembling and no wonder then that he should comâ—â—â—in of the bitterness of death For so certainly he does however our Interpreters come to render his words Death must be bitter where voluptuousness makes life sweet His Life was also very usefull and very charitable Multitudes they were that received relief and advantage by him And there is a particular promise to such men that God will strengthen them upon the bed of languishing and make their bed in their sickness Psal. XLI 3. Our Saviour wouâ—d have his followers pray that their flight might not be in the Winter or on the Sabbath One of the Fathers accommodates the words to my present purpose Happy is that man that does not when he leaves this World lead an unfruitfull life nor yet an idle one The Winter is the barren time of the year and the Sabbath was a time not of Labour but of Rest. His Life was also very devout and pious of which more afterward I mention only in this place his very devout and frequent receiving the Holy Communion which is a great Preparative to a comfortable Death I will repeat the Doctor 's own Words which many years ago fell from him to his hearers at the Savoy and which were verified in him many years after A worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper says he is the best preparative for death No man can die uncomfortably that makes it his business as often as he comes to this Table to receive worthily Death cannot hurt him c. for by his worthy receiving he hath laid up a good foundation for the time to come c. I shall now more particularly give the Character of this excellent Person and the kindness I had for him shall not prevail with me to exceed in his commendation First I shall begin with his Religion and Piety towards God of which he was a very conspicuous Example His Religion had its full power and force upon him it transform'd him into the image and likeness of God It hath always been esteemed safe advice imitare eum quem colimus i. e. to imitate him whom we worship On this account some of the Heathens excused their vices because their Poets and men of the Stage represented their Gods as having practised the same things He worshipped the true and living God the holy and mercifull the God of truth and righteousness and not only the greatest and most powerfull but the best of Beings He was a follower of God and his Divine Image was fairly
of the mourning makes the difference you have mourn'd for such a sin but how Is the sin gone is it vanish'd is it dead is it mortified is it likely to die upon this mourning do you act like Men that are resolv'd to subdue and master it I grant some sins are not so easily vanquish'd as others are The secret sins of the Soul such as pride passion vanity of mind love of the World backwardness to self-denial irresoluteness impatience peevishness c. and such are not easily taken notice of without a diligent search are not so soon beaten down as gross outward sins such as drunkenness keeping ill company swearing cursing fornication extortion c. yet let the conquest be more facile or more difficult if you mourn for such a sin some good effect will appear Doth your mourning put you in a striving or wrestling condition do you swim against the stream do you cut the hair as soon as it grows again do you give the sin no quarter when you see it appear again do you allow the dangerous Guest no harbour do you hugg it embrace it caress it no more If your mourning produces not such effects as these it 's nought and they are counterfeit Tears you shed If your mourning does not make you groan and long to be rid of your sins if it doth not make you watchfull against Temptations if it doth not make you cry out with the Apostle Who shall deliver me from the body of this death If you smile upon these Children of Hell again after you have mourned if you grow careless and admit them into your Bosom again you betray the falshood and hypocrisie of your sorrow and God will answer you as he did the Jews Zech. VII 5. When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month did you at all fast unto me even unto me If your mourning be right it will make you hunger and breath after God God's favour will be better than life to you you will look upon sin as the greatest evil you will be griev'd for the sins of others and for the effects of other Men's sins under which good Men groan you will run to Heaven with Prayers and Confessions in your Mouths if you have wronged any Man you will make him restitution or satisfaction It will moderate your sorrow for losses Temporal prevent needless sorrows in a word it will work an Universal Reformation II. Carnal mirth is not such a happiness as some imagine Paul in his Chains is happier than Dives in his Purple Mourners are far happier Men in Christ's Account and Peter in a Prison is in a better State than Herod on a Throne By carnal Mirth I do not mean a natural Joy or Complectional which is a modest well-composed rejoycing in the Blessings God bestows upon us and our Neighbours this is both lawfull and a Duty but by carnal Mirth I mean sinfull Mirth such as rejoycing in iniquity laughing at our Neighbour's infirmities being glad at the misfortunes of our fellow Christians making a mock of offending God taking pleasure in the follies and extravagancies of others being merry with ill company breaking Jests upon Religion and being pleased and tickled with any thing that favours of wantonness lightness frothiness of mind abusing of our Neighbours Voluptuousness or unlawfull Sports and Recreations or Luxury c. Such merry Men the World counts happy strange Happiness which God frowns upon and is abomination in his purer Eyes such Mirth makes a David weep and what good Man can forbear mourning that beholds Men making sport with Fire-brands The mourners at this are infinitely happier than such Players and though he can rejoyce in little but Trifles may for a while pass for a blessed Man among Fools and Sots and Persons as very Beasts as himself yet Men whose Senses are exercised to distinguish betwixt Good and Evil must ever look upon him as a very miserable Man for his Joys are false deluding Joys which will end in sorrow and such sorrow as will grieve all the Veins of his Heart To such Joy a Man may truly say as Solomon did Thou art mad or rather as Christ Luke VI. 25. Woe to you that laugh now for you shall mourn and weep as if he had said Woe to you for you have your reward you desired a merry Life and you have it but when that is done you must give God leave to fulfil his Threatnings to be as good as his word and to bring that black and dismal Cloud upon you which fell upon and crusht the jolly Man in the Gospel that cloathed himself in Purple and far'd deliciously every Day Son remember that in thy life time thou receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Luke XVI 25. III. But these are not the Men that I am at present concern'd to speak to They are the mourners I am to comfort and therefore step forth ye mourners of Sion you that either mourn for your own sins or for the sins of the Nation or for the sins of your wicked Neighbours and Relatives or mourn for the absence of God's joyfull Communications or mourn under your Corruptions and Temptations because you cannot yet totally subdue them or mourn because your Graces are not stronger or because you must sojourn so long in this Valley of Tears Fear not ye of little Faith for ye shall be comforted The Son of God assures you of it Believe not a lying Devil that would break your Confidence and dissuade you from laying hold on this gracious Promise It must stand it must come to pass Comfort is promised you and Comfort shall be your Portion Search your Hearts consult your Experience and see what God hath done for you already Look back and reflect what Comforts you have felt formerly what Joys in the midst of Tears what refreshments in your Sorrows what Gales of Peace what Characters of God's Goodness what Marks of his Favour These are Item's that a more plentifull Harvest is to follow Verily verily I say unto you that you shall weep and lament but the World shall rejoyce and you shall be sorrowfull but your sorrow shall be turned into joy saith Christ John XVI 20 And he adds immediately this Comparison A Woman when she is in Travail hath sorrow because her hour is come but assoon as she is deliver'd of the Child she remembers no more the anguish for the joy that a man is born into the World This admirably expresses both the Nature of your sorrow for sin and the Nature of your Joy which will be the Consequence of it A Woman in Travail hath pain so your mourning for sin or for the absence of Spiritual blessings causes throes and pangs and anguish but your sorrow is usefull and profitable As a Woman in Travail brings forth a Man-child that 's the effect or result of her sorrow so your mourning produces the Fruits of
abused undervalued dishonoured called ill Names when things are said and done which are against your interest opinion judgement and when you are crost by your Neighbours in your designs then to be meek then to be silent then to say nothing or to answer with Moderation and Discretion then to return nothing that may favour of revenge in word or deed that 's Meekness that 's the Tryal that 's the Vertue we speak of then to curb your Passions then to refrain then to hush and quiet your unruly Affections not out of Policy but out of Love to God and Charity of your Neighbour that 's great that 's to prepare for inheriting the land where Angels live Some are such cunning Artists that they can conceal their Passion when it is their interest not to shew it but whenever they have a fair opportunity to shew their Spleen they will not fail to let the Offender know that they have not forgot the injury offer'd them But this is Hypocrisie not Meekness Malice and Artifice not Calmness in a word a perfect Cheat. It 's a sense of God a sense of our duty a sense of the necessity of it a sense of the love of Christ a sense of the weight and importance of the Precepts of the Gospel that must plant this Meekness in our Souls and this is it that must check and over-awe our unruly Appetites Sinister ends and designs spoil all vertue whatsoever It 's not suppressing a Sin but destroying it not hiding it from men for the present but laying the Axe to the root of the Tree that makes men Favourites of Heaven Besides this Meekness must be universal exercis'd not only when Persons great and powerfull whom we fear or from whom we expect some advantages give the Provocation but when our Equals or Inferiours or Persons whom we have some command over say and do things which are apt to stir up Passions within us How far we may lawfully be angry with such Persons I have shewn in the beginning of this Discourse but for the most part in the affairs of meum and tuum in things where our Honour Profit Ease and Pleasure and Interest are touch'd that 's the Theatre on which this Meekness must be shewn II. Since such a Blessedness attends this admirable Vertue no less than inheriting the Regions of Eternal Bliss need I give you any other Arguments to make you enamour'd with it when the present and the future favour of that God in whose Power it is to make us happy or miserable for ever is promis'd and entail'd upon this qualification What strange Hearts must you have if such Motives cannot prevail with you to resolve upon the serious Study and Practice of it But I am naturally fretfull a. small thing discomposes me and I cannot help it How sinner Naturally fretfull Hath grace then done thee no Service Hath the Gospel done no good upon thee Art thou yet in a State of Nature and art not thou afraid What in the Flesh yet and a stranger to the Spirit of Christ and unconcern'd at the solemn Protestations of God that they that are in the Flesh cannot please God and that he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his Is that thy excuse which ought to be thy sorrow or shall that serve as an Apology which deserves thy deep Repentance Ay But I have such provocations given me that Flesh and Blood is not able to endure them the meekest Man alive could not forbear being in a passion if he had to deal with such Men as I have Ah Christian Christian did I say thou art none till thou studiest Meekness yet I know thou art proud of that Name and be it so Christian how willing art thou to believe that none is truly meek because thou art not How willing to believe that none hath such provocations as thou hast and that none is able to bear them because thou art loath to endure them Doubt not vain Man there have been and are thousands in the World that with an admirable calmness of mind have born and do bear far more than ever thou hadst occasion to bear What Doest thou think thy God commands thee impossibilities Dost thou take him to be so hard a Master that he bids thee remove Mountains and gives thee no strength to touch them with one of thy Fingers There are means which being conscientiously used will curb thy raging Passions and turn thy Wrath and Anger into the Meekness of a Lamb and they are these following 1. Next to fervent and importunate Prayer which must ever be used in all Attainments of Vertue great Consideration must be used Consideration I mean of the Dignity and Excellency of this Vertue and the Deformity and unseemliness of its opposite Anger and Wrath and inordinate Passion What harmony what sweetness what excellent Musick doth this Meekness cause in the Soul what disorder what confusion doth anger stir up in that noble part How amiable is the one how detestable the other Behold an angry Man what a disfigured Creature is he The Picture is loathsome and the Shape abominable 2. When you find the passion of anger stirring in you be silent say nothing do nothing till that inward heat be over and then speak and do what Reason and Religion and Conscience shall dictate It was very good advice of Athenodorus to Augustus the Emperour whenever he was angry with a Man to repeat the four and twenty Letters of the Alphabet before he proceeded to the Execution of the sentence for he thought by that time his thoughts would be cooler and he would judge better 3. Think of the many peremptory Commands that press this Meekness upon you Eph. IV. 2. Col. III. 12. Matth. XI 28 29. 1 Pet. II. 21 22. 1 Pet. III. 4. Surely these Commands were not given in vain and did you reflect what the Name Christian imports not to go to Church not to profess the Gospel not to call your selves Protestants but to live up to the Commands of Christ Jesus your Lord and your God and how he protests that he will own none for his Disciple or Follower that is unwilling to do what he Commands Such serious reflections would work upon you make you venture all to arrive to this grace the rather because while you live in neglect of this Vertue you live in sin and to live in sin is a state of Enmity against God and is this the Coat of God's Children 4. The Example of Christ hath moved and perswaded others to this Vertue and can it not move you Behold that Lamb of God who endured greater reproaches injuries calumnies yet like a Sheep before his Shearers he was dumb It 's true he calls the Pharisees sometimes Fools and blind Guides and Serpents and a Generation of Vipers but these are only just Descriptions of the Nature of those Beasts not the results of a disorderly Passion In affronts offered to his Person how calm how gentle was
added to you Matth. VI. 33. It 's this must have your Hunger and Thirst The desires after necessary Comforts of this life must have the other's leavings Nay you will never hunger and thirst after Righteousness as ye should till you mind the World less and moderate and qualifie your greediness after it for your strong desires after the satisfactions of this World will infallibly drown your earnest Desires after Righteousness whatever opinion you may have of your skill to keep the balance even To be strongly carried toward them both is a thing as hard to conceive and as hard to do as to reconcile contradictions There is such an opposition betwixt Heaven and Earth that a Man may as soon serve and please two contrary Masters as be fond of both at the same time Therefore whoever they be of you that are very sharp set upon the Wealth and Honour and greatness of the World your Appetite after Righteousness must be flat and dull and thus it will be to your dying Day except your desires after the Pomp and Vanities of this World be kept under and brought into subjection III. Those who truly hunger and thirst after Righteousness and I must boldly say for my Text warrants me to do so you shall be filled Blessed are ye that c. How you shall be filled I have shewed already and I doubt not but such hungry and thirsty Souls do find by blessed Experience that this very Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness is pleasing that God doth certainly give his Holy Spirit to them that seriously ask it and gives more grace to them that earnestly seek it and greater strength against Temptations to them that importunately beg it and greater support to those that will not be satisfied without it and greater light to them that supplicate for it as they would do for their lives May be some of you find that their Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness is not so strong so lively as formerly it was if so the causes of this decay must be search'd into and if suffering your affections to run out after the World too much hath been the cause of it they must be checkt in their Career and reduced into the right way again if a vanity or secret Lust hath beguiled your Minds that must be dismiss'd without Mercy if want of thinking hath caused it a fresh view must be taken of the Excellency Beauty and glorious Consequences of this Righteousness if melancholy or some other bodily Distemper hath occasion'd it God must be considered as a Father who will not turn a Child that 's weak and sickly out of Doors However in the first Conversion this Hunger and Thirst after Goodness is ever more vehement and brisk than afterward when the surprize of Grace and Mercy is over and the blazing Flame turns into a more gentle Fire but this must not fright you If your present Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness hath the same Effects which the former desire had i. e. if it makes your obedience grow if it both confirms and enlarges your respect to the Commands of your Lord and Master let not the abatement of the former Flame discourage you Look up to that God who hath said Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Search what Graces what Perfections what spiritual Ornaments you want and quicken your Hunger and Thirst after them and rest confident that God will satisfie the longing Soul and fill the thirsty Soul with goodness But whatever fulness you may want here doubt not but Heaven will complete it Your Souls will there be filled and your Cup will run over there you will be filled with the Rivers of God's pleasure fill'd with Eternal light fill'd with the truest Wisdom fill'd with Universal knowledge the Glory of the Lord will fill the heavenly Tabernacle and you in the midst of it In the Tabernacle of old his Glory that filled it appeared in a Cloud in the Heavenly Sanctuary it will appear in the sweetest Light and Splendour Job complain'd that his misery had filled his Face with wrinkles poor Man but these you need not fear in that place where he that is altogether lovely will present you to his Father blameless without spot or wrinkle or any such thing Here your faces are sometimes filled with shame upon the account of your falls and slips there they will be fill'd with Joy and Gladness There you need not fear that God as rich Men do the poor sometimes on Earth will dismiss you with a Complement Depart in peace be ye filled be ye warmed but you will be filled with all the fulness of God it must needs be so for in his presence there is fulness of joy and pleasure at his Right-hand for ever more SERMON VII St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 7. Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtain mercy A Mmianus Marcellinus a grave Heathen Writer taking notice of the differences among Christians in matters of Religion and the hatred one Sect bore to another and the Tumults that were caused at the Election of Bishops and the Blood that was spilt upon that account hath a very unlucky Expression concerning it There are saith he no wild Beasts so cruel or so barbarous one to another as some of these Christian Sects are to those that differ from them in opinion a very sad Character this and Pudeat haec de nobis c. It is a shame that Heathens and Infidels should have occasion given them to speak so reproachfully of this Noble Religion But surely this cannot be the fault of Religion but of the proud and cholerick Men who profess it or have the management of it Christ their Master never taught them to do so His Precepts run in another strain they savour of another Genius No command of cruelty or animosity is to be found in all the Gospel so far from a Command that the very appearances of it are forbidden Mercy and Charity is the Soul the Breath of those lively Oracles Mercy is the Language of that Book and to Mercy runs the Promise of the Text Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy For the understanding of which words I shall I. Give you a true description of the mercifull II. Explain to you the reason of the truth implied here that those who are not mercifull cannot be blessed No mercifulness no happiness III. Shew how the mercifull shall obtain mercy I. To give you a true description of the mercifull we must search into the nature of Mercy and in doing so we shall find this vertue to be of a vast extent insomuch that there is none so mean in the world that can justly plead impossibility of practising it upon the account of his circumstances in the world all being capable all able one way or other to exercise it And 1. One principal ingredient of this mercifull temper is a compassionate heart or an inward pity and compunction at the sight or hearing of the
death with Shells some were burnt with their Entrails torn out some broyl'd upon Grid-irons some roasted alive against the Fire some Women had their Breasts some Men their Legs and Thighs sear'd with hot Irons some were tost to death upon Bulls-horns some hang'd by the Neck and Heels some were burnt in a Furnace some fry'd in an Iron Chair some had their Bones broken with Batts some were beaten with Cudgels some had sharp points thrust in under their Nails some were put in Vessels of boyling Oyl some dragg'd through the Streets and Kennels some had their Tongues cut out some had their Eyes bor'd out some were sawn asunder some flead alive some torn in pieces with wild Horses some kill'd with Famine some suffer'd to perish in Frost and Snow Where was God where was the Lord Jesus all the while will some say why he was there he was with them in all their Torments gave them Courage to endure all this Strength to bear up under all their Miseries Here the Power of God appear'd more than it would have done in their greatest Prosperity This made the World to gaze and stare and think they must be more than Men that suffer'd with so much Patience This gave Reputation to Religion By this means the Name of the Lord Jesus came to be glorified This converted Heathens wrought upon Infidels pull'd down Idolatry chased the Devil from his Throne This made Men come in to Christ in multitudes This made them forsake the Devil and the World this made them part with their Sins and Lusts and lay force upon the Kingdom of Heaven And thus the World was overcome and Scepters and Crowns were made to stoop to the Cross of Christ and it 's hard to say whether more were converted by Miracles or by these patient and heroick Sufferings of Christians their Sufferings forc'd people into a belief of a future Reward and the Torments they endur'd made God amiable that thousands did embrace him And yet III. As in other things so even in matter of Persecution great mistakes may be committed and therefore in judging of Persecution we must ever attend and look to the cause for which men are said to be persecuted This caution is very necessary that we may not wrongfully accuse men whose office it is to punish Offenders nor flatter our selves with the satisfaction of a good work when we have done nothing less Persecuting for righteousness sake is a very great sin a sin that cries for Vengeance which is the reason why God even in this present life hath poured out his Wrath upon persons guilty of this crime Nero was thrown down from the Imperial Throne proscrib'd by the Senate as an Enemy of mankind and at last forc'd to kill himself Domitian was slain in his Chamber not without the consent of his Wife and all his Images and Statues thrown down by order of the Senate Decius was kill'd in Battle and depriv'd of the common Honour of Burial Valerianus was taken by the Persians and put in a Cage and at last flead and his Skin hung up for a Trophy in one of the Persian Temples Aurelianus in the very beginning of his Persecution dies miserably and wallows in his own blood Galerius a prodigious and unusual Sickness seizes him a sore rising in the nether part of his Belly which bred such a swarm of Worms as made him stink above Ground Maxentius was vanquish'd by Constantine the Great and his body thrown into the River Tiber not to mention any more Instances of this nature And I wish that this trade of persecuting had been confined to Heathens but here it stay'd not After that the World turn'd Christian it was not long before one Party began to persecute another The Arrians were the first that began it and the Church of Rome soon learn'd this art beginning with the Novatians but practised it afterwards with greater cruelty upon the Waldenses and Albigenses and all those whom she is please to style Hereticks The Greek Church when she had Power and Princes that favour'd her Interest hath run too often upon the same Rock And I know this very Church we are Members of hath been often charged by our dissenting Brethren with a persecuting Spirit I shall not now enquire into the truth or falshood of this charge being willing to forget what is past even the shadow of it the rather because the Point will require examining various circumstances which either heighten or very much qualify the pretended sin but whatever Errors Rudenesses or Insolencies have been committed by officers of Justice in executing the Law upon Dissenters which must not be presently charg'd upon the Doctrine and Temper of the Church Blessed be God there is at this time in our Church a general Inclination to Tenderness Compassion and Mildness to the moderate sort of those who differ from the Sentiments of the Church and to hearken to a reasonable Accommodation of Matters to the satisfaction of those who look upon themselves as Sufferers That which I chiefly aim at in this Discourse is that we must not rashly charge every thing that looks like Punishment with the odious name of Persecution for Righteousness sake neither in the persons that inflict Punishment nor in those that suffer it And indeed a person that suffers or is like to suffer for an Opinion or Practice of his own had need consider well before he suffers what he is going to suffer for and whether the thing he is ready to suffer for is worth it To suffer for any Catholick Doctrine receiv'd in all Ages by all Churches or for a known Article of Faith or for a thing expresly commanded or forbid by the Gospel is great and noble and Christian-like but to suffer for an Invention of our own or for things which have no solid Foundation in Scripture hath nothing of Glory or Christian Magnanimity in it nor will God give us any thanks for it and in this case a Christian had a thousand times better endeavour to rectify his Judgment especially when no substantial Doctrine or Duty is prejudiced by it and comply with the Will and Desire of the Magistrate than suffer for a thing for which he hath no good Authority from the word of God I might apply this to some particular differences but I forbear and though I do believe that many who have suffer'd for such things which are not plainly deliver'd in Scripture may have found very great comfort in their Sufferings yet whether that comfort was a sign that they were persecuted for Righteousness sake I very much question However if such persons do suffer wrongfully they shall lose nothing by their sufferings for God is not unrighteous to forget our Work and labour of love and the time will come when God will bring forth our Righteousness as the Light and our Judgment as the Noon-day The truth is Men's understandings being of various capacities and sizes and apt to be by ass'd by various
seriously ponder'd the Promises of the Gospel and who pretend they can believe nothing but what is agreeable to their reason to such I say this Argument must needs be of very great Weight provided that they seriously think of it for let a thing be never so rational if it be not minded or ponder'd it will do no good and neither Moses nor the Prophets nor a Man's rising from the Dead will make any impression upon them Whether a Man can comprehend the Immortality of his Soul or the Nature of its subsistence and operations after Death or not still if he believes a God this is a very natural and rational inference that this God will not let Men who give themselves up to his Conduct and make his Will the rule of their life and death go unrewarded and having no reward considerable here there must be one hereafter and then there is a Heaven and an everlasting Kingdom and an immense Felicity which deserves striving and wrestling and working and watchfulness and circumspection and self-denial and industry and a diligent care not to be barren or unfruitfull in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as dismal and rugged as the Way seems to be that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven Let me add VI. That it is a glorious thing to be persecuted for righteousness sake glorious with respect to the Company glorious with respect to the Honour which attends it glorious with respect to God's Account and Esteem of it glorious with respect to the present advantages which arise from it and glorious with respect to the reward to come The Company such a persecuted Christian suffers in is no less than the Company of the Son of God who was made perfect by suffering the Company of the Holy Apostles the Pillars and Foundations of our Religion the Company of so many admirable Men Saints and Martyrs who have wash'd their Robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb and whose Names and Memories are dear to us at this Day To suffer in such Company must needs be a very great Honour It 's true the generality of us can be very well content without this Honour and we count our selves very prudent for being so but surely there were wise Men before us who understood themselves and Religion better and were not so corrupted with ease and luxury and love of the World as we are now and they thought it a very great Honour to be Martyrs and sufferers for Righteousness sake We are grown more effeminate more luxurious more soft in our way of living and that makes us have so low an Esteem for those noble Sufferings It 's glorious with respect to the Account and Esteem God hath for such Sufferers These are the Champions of the Almighty the Hero's in his Army the Worthies of God and the Men that have lost an Eye a Hand an Arm a Leg or Life it self for his Name of these the Sanhedrin of Heaven is made up and they are the Elders of that City which hath Foundations for in Heaven rewards and preferments go not according to seniority or rank or quality or breeding but according to the degrees of suffering and self-denial It is glorious with respect to the present advantages arising from it This cancels and blots out all sin wipes away all offences and makes the Blood of Jesus most effectual and beneficial to the Soul This persecution for righteousness sake is the great deletory of guilt the great purgative of all uncleanness this opinion the primitive Church had of these sufferings especially when they were accompanied with the loss of life in God's Cause and this was it that made so many thousands desirous to die for the Name of the Lord Jesus It 's glorious with respect to the reward to come a reward which we are forced to express by little emblems and similitudes taken from things here on Earth but it surpasses all Rhetorick and Eloquence to express it Happy sufferers Their Wounds will be turned into Trophies their Scars into Sun-beams their wallowing in Blood into being rapt up into the third Heaven their Prison into a Banquetting-House the Banner whereof is Love their Dungeon into a Palace made without Hands their Stripes into Marks of Honour their Buffetings into Ensigns of Victory their Tears into Laughter their Mourning into Dancing their Poverty into Riches which perish not their Sack-cloath and Ashes and all their Mourning-dresses into triumphal Chariots and Acclamations and Joys and Hosannahs and Hallelujahs Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven SERMON XI St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 11. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil-against you falsly for my sake THE preceding Verse which I have already considered treated of Persecution in general this I have read to you of a particular or peculiar Persecution in which the Tongue is chiefly instrumental and Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you is as much as Blessed are you when men shall so persecute you as to revile you and speak all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Persecution is not only a Sin of the Hand or Actions there is a smiting with the Tongue as well as with the Hand Jer. XVIII 18. and Ishmael who was a Scoffer is said to persecute him that was born of the Spirit i. e. Isaac Gal. IV. 29. I need not tell you what it is to Revile for there are few of you but are very sensible of it without a Monitor or Interpreter when it falls to your share to be reviled however it is either to load a Person with reproachful Names or to object Crimes to him great and base odious and abominable and if this be done without a just Cause falsly and for the Name of Christ because Men will not sin against Christ it seems by the Rule of the Text that it turns to very good Account to those who lie under the Pressure or sharp Arrows of such evil and slanderous Tongues for Blessed are you when men shall revile you c. To entertain you with something useful and edifying I shall enquire I. What Instances there are of Men who have reviled and do revile and speak all manner of Evil of Persons who sincerely and conscientiously believe in Christ. II. What it is that moves them to be so base as to revile and to speak evil of such Conscientious Persons III. How that which is a Sin to one can be a Blessing to another Reviling innocent Persons being a great Sin how that can make those blessed who are reviled 1. What Instances there are of Persons who are guilty of the Crime in the Text. When a Sin looks black a charitable Man hopes that few or none are guilty of it So here reviling Men and speaking all manner of evil of Persons who conscientiously believe and obey their God and Saviour seems
the Reproach of Christ and esteeming it greater Riches than the Treasures of the World without recriminating this is it that makes him blessed the rather because this is to be a Disciple of Christ Jesus 1 Pet. II. 21 22. 4. That which makes them blessed is the Cause for which they are reviled and therefore it is said for my sake In our worldly Concerns to be unjustly traduced hath something of Blessedness in it because we have the Testimony of our Conscience that we have done what is lawful and right much more when we are evil spoken of falsly for Christ's sake because we adhere close to the Gospel of Christ because we obey our Master's Will and because we will not dishonour him by doing things which he hath forbid This makes the Blessedness great as the Person is for whom we suffer So that tho' as I said before these Revilings may occasion their Blessedness yet the Particulars I have mention'd are properly the ministerial Causes that make them blessed and consequently it 's no Absurdity to say That a thing which is a Sin to one is a Blessing to another no more than we count it a Solecism to say that what is one Man's Meat is another Man's Poison Inferences I. Without my telling you you may gather from the Premises That every Man who is reviled is not therefore blessed A Man's Life and Actions may be so bad that he deserves to be evil spoken of but that 's no reviling but speaking the Truth I grant a Man may speak Truth of another with an ill Intent which may make it Sin to him but if he have a Call to it and his Intent be good speaking of another what he is really guilty of can be no reviling to be sure no unjust reviling Christ spoke very ill things of the Scribes and Pharisees but their insolent Behaviour both justified and required such Corrosives We are not to flatter Men in their Sins nor to applaud their evil Actions we must not call an Adulterer chaste nor a Cholerick Person meek nor a Person given to Tipling and Drinking sober nor must he be stiled a good Man who walks directly contrary to the Rules of the Gospel Therefore Christian if thou wouldst not be ill spoken of do that which is true and just and good and honest and lovely and of a good Report and Who will harm you if you be Followers of that which is good saith S. Peter 1 Pet. III. 13. If thy Lewdness or dishonest Actions open Peoples Mouths against thee thy Misfortune is of thine own making God denounces a dreadful Woe against those that call evil good and good evil that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Isa. V. 20. And tho' Charity believes the best yet it believes with Discretion it doth not neither indeed is it bound to believe blindly that Black is White or that Stones are Bread Blessed be God we are not come to that extravagant Belief which Bellarmine asserts to be necessary that if the Pope should so far err as to make Vertue Vice and Vice Vertue the whole Church would be bound to obey him This is Bedlam Talk and we see what Absurdities the Reward of Purple can lead Men into Our Reason was not given us for fashion sake but we are to prove that which is good and to try the Spirits whether they be of God Our Religion bids us walk circumspectly and to take care that we be not evil spoken of is our Duty not only by avoiding Sins scandalous and which make us to be pointed at but by shunning even things which tho' they seem to have no great harm in them yet may give Offence to weaker Brethren There is a great Wisdom to be used in things indifferent and we must deny our selves in speaking and doing things in Postures and Gestures and Dresses which may be a stumbling-block in the way of our Fellow-Christians and may either make them remiss in their Duty or stop them in their Progress in Goodness or tempt them to Apostacy To this purpose is the Exhortation 1 Cor. X. 32. Give no offence neither to the Jews nor to the Greeks nor to the Churches of God even as I please all men in all things not seeking mine own profit but the profit of many that they may be saved II. As those who are reviled and ill spoken of for a conscientious Believing and Obeying Christ Jesus as these are certainly blessed Men so those who unjustly revile such Persons must needs be in a cursed State Not to meddle at this time with those profane Persons who profess themselves Members of our Church and revile others that will not swear and drink with them or run with them into excess of riot it is a lamentable thing to see some Masters of Families how angry they are with their Servants Apprentices nay sometimes Children too for being devout and serious and cautious of offending God and wronging their Consciences and what reproachful Titles they heap upon them calling them Fools Sots Melancholy Precise Fanaticks Hypocrites and what not nay are angry sometimes even with the Ministers of the Gospel by whose Perswasion they have turned to God! Mad-men these that are angry with the Blessings God sends them strange inconsiderate Creatures Are you angry with the means of your Preservation A religious Servant in a wicked Family helps to preserve that Family from being ruin'd and destroy'd at least keeps off some greater Evils that did hang over their Heads God blessed the Egyptians house for Joseph's sake Gen. XXXIX 5. A religious Servant or Apprentice or Child I mean one that is truly so faithful to God and Man that makes Conscience of discharging the Duty of his Calling and Relation as well as his Duty to God not one that pretends to Religion and neglects his Master's Business but one that hath an equal Respect to the Duties of the first and second Table such a Person is a greater Treasure in a loose Family than his Superiors think for It is for such a Mans sake that God blesses them and withdraws his Wrath and Anger from them or reprieves them who are otherwise ripe for Vengeance And that your Profit and Trade doth not decay it is for such excellent Persons sakes whom God loves and for their Piety God exercises Patience toward you And are you angry with us too who exhort them to be good oblige them to make Restitution when they have wrong'd you and admonish them to be faithful and to please you well in all things when by our Entreaties and Counsel we have driven the evil Spirit out of them are you sorry that we have not let him continue in the House where he had taken up his Residence Cursed Children who are displeas'd with the good Angels God sends into their Houses and who are their Guardians too that defend them from imminent Danger Instead of reviling your Servants or Inferiors for standing in awe of God more than of Men
you should encourage them and instead of giving them ill Language for being desirous to visit the House of God and to come to the Holy Sacrament at convenient Seasons you should rejoyce that God hath blessed you with such Mercies and sent you such Protectors of your Fortunes and adore the Divine Goodness who hath vouchsafed such shining and burning Lights to your Houses But this is the Nature of Vice and Corruption It hates the Light and those that walk in the Light It cannot be easie while it sees such Examples who are a perpetual Reproach to their Lives and Conversations Men wicked and debauch'd do not think themselves secure while their Domesticks chuse the better part and by so doing tell them that they are in the High-way to Damnation such Mens Condemnation will not be only just but greater than other Mens because they refuse not only him that speaks to them from Heaven but even those who by their Deeds speak to them here on Earth and make the Goodness they see in sober Men the Cause of their Anger which is intended as a Motive to their Remorse and Repentance But III. Let no Man's Heart fail him because he is reproach'd reviled or evil spoken of for the Name of Christ it is a blessed thing to be reproach'd for Righteousness sake to be reviled for being serious to be despised for doing the Will of God Hath not this been the Case of the best Servants of God When I wept and chasten'd my soul with fasting that was to my reproach I made sackcloth also my garment and I became a Proverb to them they that sit in the gate speak against me and I was the song of the drunkards saith the excellent David Psal. LXIX 10 11 12. John came neither eating nor drinking and they say he hath a Devil The son of man came eating and drinking and they say Behold a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and Sinners saith our Saviour Mat. XI 18 19. But Wisdom is justified of her children What you lose in the Opinion of wicked Men you gain in the Esteem of those who walk in the way of the Lord. It is a mercy to you that you have something to lose for Christ and an Honour to them that you do lose something for the Name of Christ and tho' you lose not an Arm a Leg a Hand an Eye or Life for his sake yet I say it is a very great Honour that you lose your good Name in his Cause and yet you do not lose it neither but you rather raise and make it greater for your Names are written in Heaven Whatever any Man loses for Christ he shall receive an hundredfold in Peace Content and Satisfaction here and in the world to come life everlasting Only Let patience have its perfect work Being reproached and cursed do you bless being abused do you pray for those which despitefully use you being defamed do you entreat and being made Spectacles to Angels and to Men do you rejoyce in the God of your Salvation The time will come when those very Men which revile you now for your Obedience to the Gospel will praise and admire you If God converts them here they will certainly do so and they cannot forbear but if they resist the Arguments of God and will not turn the Misery and the Torments that will fall upon them in the other World will extort and force this Admiration from them Let Men call you all to naught it is enough that God respects you and hath promis'd not to leave them nor to forsake them Do but wait for the Day for the glorious Day of the Manifestation of the Children of God and you will see the Scene of Affairs changed and a greater Revolution of things than ever happen'd since the Creation of the World Those that call you Fools now will magnify your Wisdom then those who count your Life Madness now will confess it was the most rational Course those that laugh at you now will weep when they behold how much they were mistaken and those who now make a Mock of your Devotion will own then that you acted upon very noble Principles Let no Reproaches fright you from fighting the good Fight These are the Temptations you must overcome Against these Enemies you are to fight that 's your Work your Task and the Race you are to run in and Blessed is the man that endureth Temptations for when he is tried he shall receive a Crown of Righteousness which God hath promis'd to them that love him Amen SERMON XII St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 12. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your Reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you THE future Rewards which God hath promised to them that love him are things we have often occasion to speak of partly because the Holy Ghost is our Guide partly we can never say too much of it and partly because it is a thing which so nearly concerns us that it requires our daily Thoughts and Contemplations But as familiar as the Subject is it is always useful Christ having in all the preceding Beatitudes still shewn wherein the Blessedness of those vertuous Men whom he commends doth consist he doth the like in this for having in the foregoing Verses pronounc'd those Persons blessed who are reviled and evil spoken of for Righteousness sake or for the Name of Christ he declares in this the Nature of their Blessedness Rejoyce saith he and be exceeding glad for great is your Reward in Heaven And to encourage to a more chearful bearing of these unjust Reproaches he sets before them the Example of the Prophets of old For so persecuted they saith he the Prophets that were before you as if he had said so they used them so they dealt with them so they calumniated them This was the Custom of the World many hundred a thousand two thousand three thousand Years agone to speak all manner of evil of those excellent Men so they call'd Moses a pragmatical Man and Samuel an old Dotard and Elijah a Troubler of Israel and an Enemy to the Commonwealth and Elisha Bald pate and Micaiah an impertinent Fellow and Amos a Man ungentile and clownish and so they dealt with Isaiah whom after many Revilings they saw'd asunder and so they used Jeremias whom after a thousand Reproaches they stoned to Death So persecuted they the Prophets that were before you And this will give me occasion to observe to you I. That the great Rewards of Heaven are just matter of Joy and Gladness to pious Sufferers Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your Reward in Heaven II. It 's comfortable to suffer in good Company For so persecuted they the Prophets of old 1. The great Rewards of Heaven are just matter of Joy and Gladness to pious Sufferers If it were not so Christ would never have encouraged those who are unjustly reviled for his Names sake to rejoyce
and be exceeding glad for this Reason because great is their Reward in Heaven At once to prove and paraphrase upon this Subject 1. The Question is not Whether the Rewards of Heaven are matter of Joy and Gladness to those who are already actually possess'd of them who have left this World and exchanged this Life for a better and as they have heard see in the City of our God and see no more darkly as through a glass but face to face There is no Dispute among Christians but that these Rewards are Joy and Gladness to such What! Can they forbear rejoycing that lie at the Fountain drink of the River of God which is full of Water even Water of Life Can they be sorrowful that have the Bridegroom always present with them and are out of all Danger to be deprived of his Company Can they be sad that are united to the bright increated Sun which irradiates the vast Territories of Heaven and are perpetually warmed into Strength and Vigor to praise and adore the Author and Life and Glory of their Being The Question is not concerning these but such as are on this side Heaven in this Land of the Living in this Valley of Misery and are afflicted reviled persecuted abused as if they were forsaken not only of Men but of Heaven too Whether the Rewards of Heaven things invisible and unseen out of their reach and sight and for which they have nothing to shew but a few Lines in a Book call'd the Bible whether such things as these can be just Cause of Joy and Gladness and to Persons who are despicable and miserable and perhaps made the off-scouring of all things This is the Point I am to prove and therefore 2. That these Rewards of Heaven as much out of sight as they are have been and are matter of Joy and Gladness to wise rational and inquisitive Persons is evident from what Experience tells us and when I was upon the Tenth Verse of this Chapter I gave you very considerable Instances of it nor is this Age so barren of Goodness but that several excellent Christians do rejoyce and are exceeding glad at these Rewards and are able to say with the Apostle and the Believers of old We rejoyce in the hope of the Glory of God Rom. V. 2. So that the matter of fact is certain All the Difficulty lies here Whether these Rewards so much talk'd of are Ground sufficient and solid enough to build such Joy and Gladness upon for Men may delude themselves with Fancies as we see People in Bedlam do But even this will soon be made out for if a Man have sufficient ground to believe that there are such Rewards in Heaven and that the Book call'd the Bible contains the Promises and Oracles of the Living God and that God hath certainly promis'd such Rewards and Rewards so great so wonderful as that Book speaks of to Persons duly qualified then such a Man hath sufficient reason to rejoyce in the Hope and Expectation of it And that what the Bible saith of these Rewards is the express Word and Promise of God is evident from hence because the several Writers of that Book and particularly the Assertors of these Rewards whose Prevarication and Aberration from the Truth could never be proved do peremptorily affirm it And that they affirm nothing but the Truth the Miracles they wrought before whole Multitudes in Confirmation of what they say and the Truth of which hath been convey'd and handed down from Age to Age and sealed with a thousand and a thousand Deaths do sufficiently demonstrate And as true Miracles can be nothing but the Effects of an Omnipotent Power so it is absurd to think that God would lend or vouchsafe his Omnipotent Power to confirm a Lye And we may as well question the Publick Acts and Edicts in such a King's Reign who lived two or three hundred years ago attested by publick Authority as the Records of these Miracles for the former we have only the Testimony of a single Nation for the other the Testimony of the whole Christian World even that of Enemies not to mention that the natural Dictates of Reason and the Light of Nature speaks though more darkly to the same purpose So that there is no room left for any rational Doubt that there are such Rewards which may certainly be had and consequently they are just matter of Gladness and Rejoycing And yet 3. We see that these Rewards do not cause this Joy in all the generality rejoycing more in Temporal and External than Spiritual and Eternal Blessings nor indeed do we find this Joy in all Persons who are in Distress for the Sorrow they lie under and their secret Fondness of these outward Enjoyments we see drown their Joy or Rejoycing in these Rewards Tho' I know Heaven at such times is often talk'd of yet it 's evident it moves not the Discourse may be amuses the Party or for the present makes him attentive but being over like a Stone forced up into the Air when that Force is withdrawn it sinks to its Mother Earth again We must suppose therefore that he who can rejoyce in this Reward I mean truly rejoyce must be a Person duly qualified and that which qualifies a Man for it is a lively Belief of it a lively Representation of it to the Mind and Understanding a firm Perswasion of the Certainty and of our Right and Title to it a very high Esteem of it and an actual preferring it before the Satisfactions of this present World and accordingly we find that those who have been thus qualified have rejoyced in these Rewards with joy unspeakable and full of glory as we see 1 Pet. I. 8. But 4. Besides this there are two Qualifications more which very much promote this Joy or help towards it and that 's 1. A blameless Life 2. Suffering in the midst of that blameless Life 1. A blameless Life A Man that lives in Sin or minds little but the World or allows himself in any thing that 's manifestly contrary to the Gospel cannot possibly rejoyce in these Rewards as well may a Beggar rejoyce in such a Nobleman's Estate who is a meer Stranger to him as a Person who is loth to submit to Christ's Yoke rejoyce in the hopes of these Rewards which do not at all belong to him Purity of Life hath the Promise of this Reward and therefore the pure Liver only is the Person that can justly rejoyce in it especially 2. If he suffers notwithstanding his blameless Life for in this case the Rewards of Heaven he takes a View of assure him that the time will shortly come when all this Troubles shall vanish away like Smoak at the glorious Presence of God that it will not be long before he shall be out of the reach of all slanderous and malicious Tongues and that the greater his Sufferings are the greater will his Glory and Triumph and Satisfaction be His Sufferings fix his