by reflecting on it would perswade himself that his Interest is indeed engaged in it For it affects those very Passions which are wont to betray the Will of man to sin desire and fear and would men consider could not but be more prevalent than all other Objects which move those Passions since the Reward proposed is more desirable the Punishment denounced more to be feared than any other thing whatsoever This was the Argument which our Lord his forerunner John Baptiâ—…t and his Apostles employed to convert the World Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand the time now cometh when he will no longer wink at the Sins of Mankind when he will evidently declare his Resolution to punish impenitent Sinners and even exemplifie it in the terrible Destruction of the impenitent Nation of the Jews as he did shortly after The axe is now laid to the root of the tree and every tree which bringeth not foâ—…th good fruit shall be hewen down and cast into the fire These and such like Denunciations of the wrath of God to unrepenting Sinners drew multitudes of Men to a sense of and sorrow for their Sins not only the more devout Jews but also Soldiers and Publicans who confessing their Sins were then Baptized manifesting by that anciently received Emblem of Purity and Innocence their Resolution of sinning no more Even after a full Conviction formed of their Duty our Lord thought fit to propose this very Argument to his Disciples who had been long trained up in Obedience to him and were now entring upon the most difficult Point of Christianity the patient enduring of Persecution Affliction and even Death it self all which he foretold should befall them in that Mission which he then enjoyn'd them Yet to these Fears he opposeth as the greatest Remedy this Consideration only Fear not them which can kill the Body and after that can do no more but I will tell you whom you shall fear Fear him who can destroy both Body and Soul in Hell All other Motives of Interest all other Objects of fear or hope concern the Body only and terminate there But in the Matters of Religion the Reward to be desired the Punishment to be feared equally concern both Soul and Body the common Happiness or Misery of both which depends upon it The Reward you may slight perhaps as not desiring any greater Satisfaction than what you now enjoy but the Fear you cannot surmount that will still affect you For if you so much value the present ease of the Body the one part of you you cannot but be affrighted at the certain Expectation of the eternal Misery of both Soul and Body If this Consideration hath not that effect upon us which it had upon the Hearers of Christ John Baptist and the Apostles it is because the Expectation of this denounced Destruction far from being certain in us is eluded by vain Perswasions that Destruction may be avoided without Repentance We all believe the truth of the Divine Revelations prescribing Rules of Piety Justice and Temperance commanding Repentance upon neglect or violation of these Rules giving Sentence of dreadful Punishments upon Impenitence We all confess that we have violated those Rules we apply not the Remedy of Repentance and yet we hope to avoid the Punishment For did not Men really flatter themselves with those hopes it is impossible that the mind of Man convinced of the truth of such a future Punishment and conscious of its own Demerits should not immediately apply it self to prevent the Execution of that dreadful Sentence by a timely Repentance These false hopes and perswasions may be referred to a double Head either that of Presumption or that of Inadvertency That men through a fond Opinion of their own worth fancy God will exempt them from the general Sentence and from the necessity of Repentance or at least allow this and another and a third Sin to them or that they proceed in sin securely and with a sort of Stupidity never willingly considering the consequences of Punishment upon Sin and when they are suggested to them still putting them off and continuing to imagine that God will however save them though theyk now not why Both these sort of Prejudices are too common among all Christians and to both I shall oppose some general Considerations shewing it impossible that Goâ—… should not execute the Sentence of Destruction pronounced universally against all impenitent Sinners or in the words of my Text that it cannot be that Men should not repent and yet should not perish The necessity of Destruction consequent upon Unrepentance is drawn chiefly from the Determination of the Divine Will which hath so appointed it And the resolution of God herein is so frequently and fully expressed in Scripture that no doubt can be admitted of it Nay the holy Spirit of God seems to have taken particular care least men should be deceived herein by affixing vehement Asseverations to his Threats of Punishments As in Ezech. XVII 19. Thus saith the Lord God as I live surely my Oath that he hath despised and my Covenant that he hath broken even it will I recompense upon his own head And in the XXII Chapter having denounced to Sinners the extremity of his anger he subjoyns Verse 14. Can thy heart endure or can thy hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it So that those who promise Salvation to themselves without Repentance of past Sins or Reformation of Life must either pretend to new Lights and new Revelalations new terms of Covenant or disbelieve those contained in Scripture which are indeed the only true ones Yet I will not say dis-believe them For far be it from me to judge that of many Christians who do firmly indeed believe all the Revelations of that Sacred Writing and yet continue their hopes of Salvation without employing the means of it Only we must confess that believing them we do not regard them and when we do seriously reflect upon it must acknowledge that such vain hopes are inconsistent with those revealed Truths For I hope none of this Assembly have been deceived with the idle Pretences of inward Lights or unaccountable Revelations of Arbitrary Election for secret Reasons and absolute Reprobation for unknown Causes which Delusions when once entertained would render all Repentance useless We hold fast to the old form of Tradition delivered to the Saints pretend to no Revelations unknown to former Ages to know more of the Will of God than what our Lord or the Apostles have plainly delivered in Scripture We are content to go to Heaven the same way that all Saints have gone before us by the Exercise of Repentance and good Works Nor if there be any truth in those Sacred Writings is there any other way Yet we hear those Holy Scriptures daily read to us wherein we are commanded by Precepts we are allured by Promises we are terrified by Threats
Authority of his Example and direct us by the clearness of it But this is not all The Apostles having once converted Men to the belief and obedience of Christ thought no Argument more powerful to perswade them to the Practice of all Christian Graces than the Example of their Divine Master This they urge upon all occasions and with this they recommend their Precepts and Counsels Particularly St Peter 1 Pet. II. exhorting all Christians to Patience under Sufferings and a constant Resolution to endure the most grievous Afflictions and even Death it self for the sake of their Religion a Duty which may justly be accounted the greatest and most difficult of Christianity giveth this Reason for it Ver. 21. For even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps By which Reason he manifestly shews that it is the indispensable Duty of Christians to follow the Example of Christ and that thereunto we are chiefly called otherwise he could never have inferred from those words that it was an Obligation incumbent upon all Christians to be patient under Sufferings and Adversities this being but a Consequence of that grand and more general Duty However that we may not doubt of it we are told That he who saith he abideth in Christ ought himself also so to walk even as he walked 1 Joh. II. 6. And in another place If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ he is none of Christ's So that if the command and intention of our Saviour can oblige us if the Sense of our Duty and Exhortation of the Apostles can move us if the desire of Union with Christ and being accounted Members of his Body can perswade us we have on all sides abundant Reason to apply our selves to the serious Imitation of his most holy Example 3. That the Example of the Blessed Jesus was intended for our Direction may be gathered from the manner of his triennial Preaching before his Passion This consisted not so much in revealing the Mysteries of the Gospel and inculcating the knowledge of his Office and the Redemption of Mankind which he designed as in performing illustrious Miracles and shewing in his Person a no less illustrious Pattern of consummate Vertue which after his Resurrection being testified to the World by his Apostles and Disciples the Eye witnesses of his Life and Actions might convince Mankind that he was in all Respects a Divine Person and when once convinced might engage them to the Practice of their Duty and direct them in it by the Lustre of his own Example That this not the clear Revelation of the Mysteries of Faith was the grand Design of his triennial Ministry may be concluded from the gross Ignorance of the Apostles concerning those things not only during that time but even after his Resurrection Insomuch as they asked their Lord being now ready to ascend up into Heaven Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel Acts I. 6. They laid not aside their Prejudices and false Expectations of a temporal Mefsias till the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon them enlightned their Minds and dispelled their Ignorance Now if the compleat instruction of his Disciples had been the chief design of our Saviour while on Earth we cannot without Injury to his infinite Wisdom imagine that he should so far fall short of his aim and not be able to effect his Purpose So that the great Intention of this triennial Office seems to have been no other than to give abundant Proof of his Divine Mission by Miracles and the Completion of the antient Prophesies to finish the great work of our Redemption upon the Cross and exhibit in his own Person and Example of most perfect Holiness that so all these things being after his Ascension testified to the World by his Apostles the former might serve for the Conviction the latter for the direction of Mankind And accordingly it may be observed that â—…he Apostles confulting about choosing one into their number in the room of Judas the Traitor required before all things this Qualification in the Person to be ohosen Acts I. 21. That he should be one of those which had accompanied with them all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among them By which phrase the Jews were wont to design the moral Conversation Life and Conduct of any Man Even the Miraâ—…les of our Saviour tended no less to demonstrate his admirable Vertue than Almighty Power they all carry evident Characters of his Love Beneficence and Charity to Mankind and were employed in curing the Diseases healing the Infirmities and relieving the Necessities of Men that so his Goodness and Power might equally appear in the same Actions And thus it appears that one great end of our Saviours coming into the World was to give an excellent Example to it Lastly the Truth of this is manifest from the Consideration of the manner and quality of our Saviours Conduct which was peculiarly adapted to the nature and condition of Mankind and thereby rendred a fit Object of Imitation to it The Holiness and Vertue of our Saviour which so eminently appeared in the whole Deportment of his Life was easie humane and natural It consisted not in elaborate Austerities and rigid Acts of Mortification aimed at no such extraordinary Flights of apparent Holiness as might amaze rather than instruct Men and by the Greatness of them dâ—…ter them from Imitation His Deportment was grave and composed his Piety plain and unaffected his Devotion sober and rational We may discover far more evident strokes of Austerity and Mortification in the Life of John the Baptist not that the Vertue of our Saviour was less perfect but more humane Such extraordinary Acts of apparent Religion were necessary to John the Baptist to excite the attention of the Jews to his Message and Preaching For since he came not invested with the power of Miracles somewhat was necessary to him to fix the Eyes of the world upon him and create a Belief among the Jews that he was a Divine Prophet To this end it was required That he should come in the Spirit of Elias that is not only possess the same Zeal for the Divine Honour and use the same unwearied Diligence for restoring decayed Religion among the Jews but also practice the same Rigours and Macerations of his Body and procure to himself respect by the same Characters of external Holiness Not that these unusual Austerities had any thing excellent in themselves or were any certain Indications of a more refined Vertue but were absolutely necessary to him for the end before mentioned And therefore our Saviour who wanted no such Recommendation his Divine Mission being abundantly testified by his Miracles and whose Life was to be the standing Rule of Piety and Vertue to all Ages exercised no such wonderful Austerities but gave us a more easie and natural Example which might not surpass the common reach
Intemperance But as Christ truly replyed to them herein also Wisdom was justified of her Children It became not the Wisdom and Holiness of the Son of God to gratifie their false Notions of Temperance and Sobriety by conforming his Practice to them He chose rather to exercise those Vertues in their genuine Purity and thereby not only rectifie the mistakes of Mankind in this Matter but also render his Example convenient to the imitation of all Orders and Ranks of men How far himself was above the Temptations of Pleasure how little he indulged the ease of his Body or sought the satisfaction of his Senses and Passions appears from the whole Conduct of his Life Humility of Mind and a generous Contentment under the severest Adversities are the most genuine Characters of Christianity which teacheth us that a mean esteem of our own Perfections as it is most just in it self so also most acceptable to the Divine Will that Riches and Honours add nothing to our real Happiness that the Reward of our Duty is not to be expected in this Life and that the Afflictions which may accompany the performance of it are not comparable to the glory which shall be revealed Of all the Vertues of the Soul and Precepts of Christianity Mankind is most averse to these The natural Man is unwilling to believe that to depress his outward Dignity is the readiest way to improve his inward worth and will hardly be perswaded that Riches and worldly Honour do not in the least conduce to true Felicity The Heathens had all along adored these more than their great Diana and by describing the Happiness of their Gods to consist in the uninterrupted Fruition of sensual Pleasures had introduced an universal Opinion among the vulgar that unhappiness consisted in the want of the same Pleasures Even the Jews God's own People were not free from the same Errour They measured their well being and even the favour of God by their outward Prosperity Being induced thereto by the very nature and conditions of their Covenant which openly contained no more than the Promises of this Life To wean Mankind therefore of this fond Opinion and induce Men to the Reception of a better Covenant it was necessary that our Lord should by his Example as well as Precepts promote a just Contempt of all sublunary Enjoyments and reduce Men to a true Sense of their own unworthiness This he hath abundantly done by giving to us an incomparable Example of Humility Self-denial voluntary Poverty and Contentment in his own Person His Descent from Heaven and taking humane Flesh upon him was in it self a most astonishing Condescension That being in the form of God he thought it no robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men Philip. II. 6 7. That is that being from all Ages no less than God Blessed for evermore the Second Person of the Eternal Trinity and equally partaking of the Divine Nature with his Father he made no pompous Ostentation of that Equality nor affected to preserve his Majesty inviolate and undiminished but condescended to divest himself in appearance of that Divine Character and assume the Nature Conditions and Infirmities of one of his own Creatures and to be made like unto mortal Man See a degree of Humility of which none but the Blessed Jesus was capable which exceeds even our apprehension as well as Imitation which may be admired but never can be attained by us Yet this was not all For as it Follows in the next Verse Being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. He contented not himself to have forsaken the Glories of Heaven and assumed the mean Condition of a Man but to carry his Condescension to the utmost pitch he placed himself in the lowest Rank of Men bore the greatest Affictions incident to Mankind underwent Poverty Nakedness and Contempt and at last submitted to a violent Death even the Ignominious and painful Death of the Cross. If he had thought an external shew of Greatness any ways conducive to promote the great Ends for which he came into the world or had intended to procure to himself those Pleasures which Men so greedily seek after he might have engrossed to himself all the Riches of the world and in Royal Magnificence exceeded even the Carnal Expectations of the Jews Heaven and Earth were intirely at his Devotion and whole Legions of Angels ready to minister to him But he waved all these advantages spent his private years in a Laborious and Mechanick Life and when he entred on his publick Office increased both his Labour and his Poverty He willingly wanted all the Conveniences of Life and even the common benefits of Nature For as himself tells The Foxes bave holes and the Birds of the air have â—…ests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head Thus he gave us a most perfect Pattern of Self-denial generous Contempt of the world and Renunciation of all carnal Pleasures And shall we imagine our selves not in the least concerned in all this Himself hath prevented any such mistakes by telling us That if any one will come after him or be his Disciple He must deny himself and take up his Cross and follow him Matth. XVI 24. And if your Lord and Master have washed your feet ye ought also to wash one anothers feet John XIII 14. And surely most reasonably If the Son of God vouchsafed to undergo all the Calamities incident to Mankind shall we presume to expect an undisturbed course of outward Happiness and murmur at any Afflictions which befall us If he forsook the Glories of Heaven to redeem us shall not we willingly quit all the Vanities of the Earth to obey him If he thought it not incongruous to the Majesty of his Divine Nature to perform such stupendious Acts of Humility shall the greatest of Men think it unsuitable to their Dignity to be humble with their God and gentle with their fellow Creatures Surely if the Divine Precepts cannot engage us to Humility the Divine Example should shame us to it Lastly in Relation to our Duty to other Men his Justice Meekness and Charity which are the great Branches of it were most Exemplary His Justice was so undeniable in paying to every Man fear to whom fear was due honour to whom honour in injuring no Man nor justly offending any one that even Pilate whose Interest it then was that he should be found guilty after a strict Examination and violent Accusation of his numerous and potent Enemies was by the Clearness of his Innocence forced thrice to declare That he could find no fault in him Luk. XXIII 14 22. Confirming also his own Sentence with the concurrent Opinion of Herod a jealous and suspicious Tyrant to whom he had been sent but was fully cleared by him Ver. 15. So far
Thirty first Year of his Age on the 5th of March that sad day whereon that never sufficiently to be lamented Princess our most incomparable QUEEN was interr'd about Three of the Clock in the Morning he with an humble Patience submitted to the stroke of Death cheerfully resigning his departing Soul into the most Holy hands of his gracious Redeemer The loss of so extraordinary a Person in the Flower of his Age and one from whom the learned World had justly conceiv'd such great Expectations of most admirable Performances from his indefatigable Labours for the advantage of it was very much lamented by Learned Men both at home and abroad The Clergy in particular as a Testimony of that value which they had for him did in great Numbers attend at his Funeral Here ought by no means to be past by in silence that singular Honour which was paid to him by the Right Reverend the Bishops Many of which and among the rest the most Reverend Archbishop himself and the Right Reverend Bishop of Litchfield who had both of them visited him in his last Sickness being present at it while another of that venerable Order the Right Reverend the Bishop of Rochester performed the Funeral Office All sorts of Persons were willing to shew their Respect for him in the best manner they were able The Reverend the Dean and Prebendaries of Westminster not only caused the Kings Schollars to attend him to his Grave an uncommon respect and the highest they can shew on such an occasion but did also each for himself remit their Customary Dues for Interment in their Church as the last and most proper Testimony they could then give of the high Esteem in which they held Mr. Wharton and his learned Labours The Quire likewise committing his Body to Rest with Solemn and Devout Anthems compos'd by that most ingenious Artist Mr. Henry Purcel He lyes Buried in the South side of the Cathedral Church of Westminster towards the West end Near whereunto in the Wall is erected a small but decent Monument of White Marble whereon is the following Inscription H. S. E. HENRICUS WHARTON A. M. ECCLESIAE ANGLICANAE PRESBYTER RECTOR ECCLESIAE DE CHARTHAM NECNON VICARIUS ECCLESIAE De MINSTER IN INSULA THANATO IN DIAECESI CANTUARIENSI REVERENDISSIMO AC SANCTISSIMO PRAESULI WILHELMO ARCHIEPISCOPO CANTUARIENSI A SACRIS DOMESTICIS QUI MULTA AD AUGENDAM ET ILLUSTRANDAM REM LITERARIAM MULTA PRO ECCLESIA GHRISTI CONSCRIPSIT PLURA MOLIEBATUR Obiit 30. Non. Mart. A. D. MDCXCIV Aetatis suae XXXI THE CONTENTS SERMON I. On Whit-Sunday JOhn XIV 25 26. These things have I spoken unto you being yet present with you But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your Remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you Pag. 1 SERMON II. Philip. II. 5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus p. 51 SERMON III. and IV. 1 Pet. III. 15. Be ready always to give an answer â—…to every Man that asketh you a reason of the hope that 's in you with Meekness and Fear p. 108 144 SERMOM V. Rom. II. 4. Not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance p. 172 SERMON VI. 1 Corinth I. 23. We preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a Stumbling-block and unto the Greeks Foolishness p. 227 SERMON VII Hebr. IX 27. It is appointed unto Men once to die but after this the Judgment p. 261 SERMON VIII 1 Tim. I. 17. Now unto the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only wise God be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen p. 287 SERMON IX Psal. XCV 7 8. To day if ye will hear his Voyce harden not your hearts p. 313 SERMON X. and XI Luk. XIII 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish p. 337 365 SERMON XII Acts X. 34 35. Then Peter opened his mouth and said of a Truth I perceive that God is no respecter of Persons But in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him p. 394 SERMON XIII Coloss. III. 1. If ye then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God p. 417 SERMON XIV John XIV 1. Let not your bearts be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me p. 439 The First SERMON ON WHITSUNDAY Prâ—…ach'd at Lambeth Chapel John XIV 25 26. These things havé I spoken unto you being yet present with you But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you THese words being part of the Gospel for this Day â—…o not only contain the Promise of that infinite and wonderful benefit the completion of which we this Day commeâ—…orate But also declare the nature and intention of it and thereby most fitly not only excite us to a grateful remembrance of the Divine beneficence but also teach us to form true apprehensions and a just veneration of so great a Mystery A Mystery which was promis'd by Christ to his Apostles as the greatest of all Benefits Which might alone supply the otherwise irreparable loss of his Presence and intirely dispel their grief arising from the melancholy apprehensions of his approaching departure A Mystery which was reserved for the ultimate consummation of the Christian Religion and Divine dispensation of the Gospel Which being designed by the Father and Founded by the Son was at last brought to perfection by the Mission and Descent of the Holy Ghost No wonder therefore if the promise of so great a benefit was so mightily insisted on by Christ as a sufficient remedy to his Disciples for all afflictions and the last and greatest Legacy which he could bequeath unto them If the performance of it was so earnestly expected by the Apostles and the remembrance of it with an uninterrupted solemnity Celebrated by the Church in all Ages more especially by the Antient Church in which all Christians used to stand continually in time of Divine Service from Easter to Whitsunday thereby testifying the impatient expectation wherewith they attended the Descent of the Holy Ghost as upon this Day The declaration of this promise made in the words of my Text was occasioned by the great anxiety which the Apostles expressed at the news of our Saviours departure and their wonderful ignorance of the true nature and design of the Christian Religion after so long and so excellent instruction from their Divine Master The former is related in the end of the preceding Chapter which therefore Christ endeavours to remove by a vehement exhortation to a steady Faith in the beginning of this Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me Assuring them that his departure was for no other end than to prepare a place for their reception
wonderful Miracles should be wrought by him And some such extraordinary Actions were required to excite the Jews to a serious consideration of the Quality and Character of the Person who wrought them If the Actions of Christ had been deficient in any one point of Conformity to the precedent Prophesies it had been irrational as well as unlawful for the Jews to have admitted his Revelations altho' confirmed by the greatest Miracles imaginable Since they must have owned thereby the falsity of those Prophesies of the truth of which they were abundantly convinced as being confirm'd to them by an equal Authority of Miracles But not only doth the Reason and Nature of things demonstrate this Truth The Practice and Example of Christ and his Apostles evidently manifest it The first while yet on Earth constantly asserted his Divine Mission and Quality of Messias from the Scriptures of the Old Testament which had Testified of him And his Disciples after his Death carryed on the same Argument He perform'd indeed greater Miracles than any ever had done before him But in Disputing with the Jews he commonly waved that Argument and appealed to the Scripture As well knowing That if they would not hear Moses and the Prophets neither would they be perswaded though one rose from the Dead By which words he plainly infinuates that the greatest of his Miracles his Resurrection was a less valid proof and inferiour to the Testimony of Moses and the Prophets This he often thought alone sufficient to propose as a necessary motive of belief to the Jews And such a motive as could not be rejected without disowning and destroying the Authority of the Old Testament For thus he Disputes in the Vth. of St. John Verses 39 46 47. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which Testifie of me For had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me For he wrote of me But if ye believed not his writings how shall ye believe my words No other Method did he make use of to convince his Disciples walking to Emmaus that all those Calamities which had befallen his Person ought necessarily to be inflicted on the Messias All those Glorious Miracles of which themselves had been witnesses proved unsuccessful and could not secure their Faith from a shameful fluctuation Until Christ beginning at Moses and all the Prophets expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself and opened their understanding that they might understand the Scripture that it was thus written and that it thus behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the Dead the Third Day If the constant Companions of our Saviours Life could be drawn to the true knowledge of him by no other Argument than a full and plain Interpretation of the Prophesies of the Old Testament In vain do we hope that any other Arguments could convince the remaining Jews who were less acquainted with the Holiness of his Life and greatness of his Miracles In the next place we may observe that the Apostles were chosen by Christ and used as the inseparable Companions of his Life Not so much to be instructed in the Mysteries of the Christian Faith or trained up in the necessary qualifications of Preachers who might propagate the Gospel after the departure of their Master As to be Witnesses and Spectactors of his Actions and Conversation which they might afterwards Testifie to the World and thereby convince Mankind that they were intirely conformable to the Antient predictions of the Prophets That the former could not be the end or intention of their accompanying Christ through the whole discharge of his Prophetick Office appears plainly from their Ignorance both of the Mysteries of Religion and their own Duty at the time of our Saviours Crucifixion Yet can we not suppose but that Christ obtain'd his chief aim which he proposed to himself in selecting certain Persons for the Companions of his Life This end therefore could indeed be no other than that which I have already assigned of witnessing and publishing to the World the Actions of Christ whose reasonableness and agreement to the predictions of the Mosaick Law was to be judged and determined by every private Man For we no where find that the Apostles from the Authority of their Miracles which were not inferiour to those of Christ himself pretended to set up themselves for infallible Judges or exercise an arbitrary command over the judgments of other Men. They might indeed much more justly have claimed such a priviledge than any ever since their times As being personally infallible and endued with the power of working Miracles Yet they never endeavoured to command the assent of their hearers before they had informed and satisfied their Understandings But proceeded in a more rational method and following the example of their Master chose rather to convince their judgment with Arguments whose attention they had before excited by Miracles These Arguments when directed to the Jews were chiefly taken from the Old Testament Whose Prophecies they demonstrated to have plainly soretold and described the Actions and Sufferings of Christ of which Actions themselves were witnesses Thus we find St. Peter in his Sermon made to the Jews upon this Day to have used no other Method And not so much to have urged the Illustrious Miracle of the gift of Tongues newly conferred on them as the conformity of that and all other Actions of Christ to the Antient Predictions of the Prophets His Sermon in the following Chapter proceeds from the same Foundation And St. Stephen in the VII Chap. St. Paul in the XIII use no other Argument when Disputing against the Jews From a clear Interpretation of the Prophecies in Scripture concerning the Messias Philip convinced the Eunuch who was a Jewish Proselyte of the Divinity of Christ Acts VIII and Acts XVIII Apollos is said to have mightily convinced the Jews and that publickly shewing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ. St. Paul pleading before King Agrippa endeavoured before all things to prove that he stood there to be judged for the hope of the Promise made by God unto the Fathers Acts XXVI 6. And ver 27. appealed to the Prophets and asked Agrippa whether he believed not them insinuating that if he truly believed the Prophets and understood their genuine Sense he could not but embrace the Christian Religion Lastly to say no more his Disputes with the Jews at Rome were employed in expounding and Testifying the Kingdom of God Perswading them concerning Jesus both out of the Law of Moses and out of the Prophets from Morning till Evening Acts XXVIII 23. It appears then That the chief reason of the choice of the Apostles to a familiar conversation with our Saviour before his Ascension was no other than that they might thereby be enabled to Testify and publish to the World his Actions Miracles and Sufferings which being received from them might then by every private Man be examined and compared with the
priviledges of Nature and derogates not in the least from the Rules of Justice but forbids Men to be transported by Passion against their Adversaries and not to seek revenge for revenge sake that is it does not forbid to repair the loss of this Injury or prevent the like Injustice to himself or others for the future but to return the Injury and gratifie his anger in creating a like Inconvenience to his Adversary or maintaining an inward Hatred to him And herein the Spirit of Christianity most eminently discovers it self For to preserve the common Rights of Justice is no extraordinary matter for a revealed Religion to perform This the Dictates of Nature the Sense of our own temporal Interest and the Rules of civil Society may effect But to conquer those violent Passions of Hatred Anger and desire of Revenge to retain a quiet and undisturbed Mind amidst provoking Injuries and Affronts to entertain the insults of an Enemy rather with Pity than Resentment and manifest how little we were affected with them by a constant readiness to forgive them These are the proper Characters and most certain Marks of a Soul filled with the Love of God and plac't above the reach of humane things which hath an intire Command of the inferiour Faculties of the Body and doth in earnest pursue the ends of a Divine Religion These chiefly rendred the Life of Christ admirable and extraordinary and will make us the not unworthy Disciples of so great a Master Lastly the Charity of our Lord was correspondent to all the other perfections of his Mind that is most intense and of the highest degree Indeed this seems to have been the darling Vertue of the Blessed Jesus Which he studiously cultivated above all others to promote which all his designs did in some measure tend and his Example most directly lead All the Actions of his Life were almost so many Demonstrations of his Love to Mankind Even his Miracles which were primarily wrought to testifie his Divine Power bore eminent Characters of this Loving kindness being employed in healing the Diseases and supplying the wants of Men upon account of which the Apostle saith That he went about doing good and even his Enemies were forced to confess Mark VII 37. He hath done all things well he maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak But the highest Testimony of the Charity of our Saviour was his inestimable Love in the Redemption of Mankind his descent from Heaven ignominious Life upon Earth and at last most painful Death upon the Cross to rescue his own Creatures who had rebelled against him from the Power of Satan and the consequences of their own sins Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us 1 John III. 16. And greater love than this hath no man A Love so stupendious that it no less confounds the Apprehension than exceeds the imitation of finite Men. To this the highest Expressions of our Charity are but faint attempts and imperfect shadows A perfect imitation of it is beyond our Capacity and therefore not required but whatsoever is possible to us can be but a mean return to so vast an Obligation St. John therefore makes this easie and natural inference from it Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another 1 John IV. 11. If our Creator loved us his Creatures who had nothing in us worthy his Love but had many ways offended and deserved his extreme Displeasure if he loved us to so wonderful a degree surely we ought to love our Fellow Creatures who have in them no less excellent Perfections than our Selves with all possible affection which however to the utmost of our power is yet infinitely beneath the Love wherewith he loved us Especially since our Saviour chiefly imposed this Condition on us in return of his infinite Kindness and that also in respect to his own Example John XIII 34 35. A new commandment I give unto you That ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another So that in this consisteth the very Life of Christianity without this no man can pretend to be the Disciple of our Lord. By this in the Apostolick times Christians were eminently distinguished from the rest of the world when they devoted all their Possessions to the Offices of Charity and had all things common An excess of Charity which however no longer Practicable than while the number of Disciples continued to be small and was therefore laid aside when the Church became numerous as being neither necessary nor convenient nor even possible yet clearly shews what was the primitive Genius of Christianity how exactly they followed the Footsteps of their Blessed Master and with what fervour of Charity they were indued A fervour which expired not with the disuse of that Apostolick Custom of sharing their Possessions in common but continued to exert it self for some Ages after in all possible Demonstrations of a real Charity Insomuch that the Heathens used to cry out in admiration See how these Galileans love one another If then we be unwilling to be accused of having disobeyed the great Commandment of our Saviour forsaken his Example and intirely lost the genuine Spirit of Christianity we must retreive that admirable Charity which was by him so mightily enjoyned practiced and bequeathed to his Disciples Thus I have considered the Example of our Lord in some of the greater lines and strokes of it and shewn it to have been in all respects the most excellent which could possibly be proposed to Mankind It remains that I urge the imitation of it in some few words First then the imitation of this Divine Example is the Duty of every Christian considered in the Notion of a Disciple which includes not only an Obligation of yielding an intire Obedience to the commands of Christ but also of following his Example as near as possible and that in the first place To assent to and obey the Divine Precepts is properly the Notion of a Believer but of a Disciple to imitate the Actions and Conduct of his Master And therefore the Patriarchs and Jews might well be called Believers in God but not the Disciples of God Precepts only were given to them the Divine Example was not proposed as a Rule unto them The Apostles of our Lord are also by way of eminence called his Disciples Because they were the constant Witnesses and Attendants of his Life who did partake of the same manner of living and were supposed to be his Companions as well in moral as natural Actions Although this Title is not so far appropriated to them as to be denied to us if we take the same care to follow the Example of our Lord and Master as they did We may follow it though at a distance we may pursue it though we cannot attain to it And that
Happiness to enjoy that advantage in a most eminent manner to have the Scriptures translated most exactly into our own Language to read them securely and hear them weekly explained to us Let us manifest that we are not insensible of so great a Benefit by a right use of it least we fall into the Condemnation of those who abuse the Divine Mercy and that Candlestick of which we are not worthy be removed from us It remains that we briefly apply what hath been said And first If our Religion be so excellent and rational attended with such Evidence and Conviction it is our Duty to maintain a firm and constant Profession of it at all times or in the words of my Text To be ready always to give an account of it not to dissemble it for fear or interest much less betray it by a denial of it The great ends of Religion are to secure the Honour of God and advance the Happiness of Mankind By such shameful Cowardize both these ends are defeated the Honour of God is wounded and the hopes of Happiness intirely destroyed Hereby Men renounce all dependence upon God disown him to be their Lord and Master and bid defiance to him Nor may we flatter our selves that this execrable Crime of Apostacy consists only in denying all Christianity and wholly renouncing our Saviour to yield up the least truth which we are convinced to be Divine to assent to the least Errour which we believe to be false to forsake a Communion which we know to be pure and lawful to embrace one which we are perswaded is corrupt and erroneous is no less truly the sin of Apostacy and will undoubtedly meet with the same Punishment The Nature of the sin is the same in both Cases that we willfully recede from the Truth and affront the Divine Majesty by preferring a Lye to his revealed Will. The maintenance of Truth and directing our Conduct by the Dictates of it is the Dignity of Man and perfection of his Soul To betray the most inconsiderable Truth to any temporal Considerations is a plain Confession that we have inverted the order of Nature and subjected our more noble part the Soul to the Lusts and Passions of the Body an Indignity unworthy a rational Being which prostitutes the Honour of his Nature Ranks him among brute Beasts and from being the head of all visible Creatures degrades him into the condition of a Slave to dust and ashes But when Eternity and an Interest infinitely greater than any which can be promoted on Earth by such Apostacy lays at stake when immortality and everlasting Happiness are destroyed by it nay when the utmost Displeasure of an Almighty God and the direful effects of it eternal Torments are the consequences of it to preferr a few trifling Pleasures of this World disclaim all hopes of Happiness in another Life and incurr the Divine Vengeance is a height of Folly which all the Affairs and Examples of this Life cannot equal an Impiety which neither the Art of Men or Devils can exceed When the Interest of Truth is concerned the Honour of God engaged to lay down our Lives in Testimony of the one and Vindication of the other to forego all the Conveniences of this Life to despise all worldly Considerations and with a generous Contempt overlook all the Sollicitations and Threats of men this the Dignity of our Nature requires of us this our Duty to God obliges us to this the Expectation of a future state leads us to For surely we are no longer deserve the Name or Character of men than while we continue rational We deny all Relation to God when we sacrifice his Commands to our Interests and disclaim all Title to a future state when we yield up the Conditions of it for the sake of a present advantage Yet how many Examples of such Apostacy hath the Church deplored in all Ages And I wish our Age afforded none of those who have betrayed the Profession of their Faith I will not say to the fear of Death for so great a Terrour all Spirits cannot overcome And we of this Nation thanks be to God do not suffer but to the fear of Poverty or perhaps to the hopes of continuing or advancing their Preferment in the world A most amazing wickedness that Men should Sell their God at so low a price and exchange their Religion for such mean Considerations Resign to me the hopes of Heaven and I will give you a possession in the Earth give me up your Soul and I will enrich your Body deny your Creator and I will give you Honour among your Fellow-Creatures A Proposal which even a Heathen Philosopher would entertain with Scorn and every sober Christian with a pious Horrour These are the Flatteries of the world and with these the Prince of the world attempted our Saviour All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me But our Saviour immediately rejected such base Proposals with a generous Disdain and with a get thee behind me Satan manifested with how great Indignation he had received them thereby giving us an Example how we ought to behave our selves upon such occasions and not to admit even the thoughts of such a Crime For surely in the cause of God even to deliberate with our selves whether we shall betray it or no is a degree of Apostacy in that Case deliberasse est descivisse and the thought of foolishness is sin To put the question to our own Souls is to trifle with the Divine Majesty to dishonour our Religion and degrade our Nature But to decide it in Favour of our Lufts and the petty Temptations of the world is to fill up the measure of our iniquity and in the most reproachful Sense turn the grace of God into wantonness I speak of those who are convinced of the truth of any Religion or Communion at the same time that they forsake it As sor those who may pretend Reasons of Conscience and Conviction of Judgment for their departure from our Church let them seriously consider whether this be not indeed a Pretence and whether they can really answer it to God and their own Consciences Let them examine themselves whether they were not byassed in their Judgments and powerfully prejudiced in Favour of that Communion to which they have revolted by the Temptation of secular interest and advantage in this Case let them know that God will not be mocked and that to force our Understandings is no less Criminal than to force our Consciences God hath proposed sufficient direction to us in the Holy Scripture and will by no means pardon us if we willfully shut our eyes against the Truth We need not go any farther than the words of my Text for this direction The Apostle commands all Christians to be ready to give an answer of the reason of the faith that is in them If then any Society of men discourageth and overthrows the use of reason in private Christians
God in the day when I chose Israel and lifted up my hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob and made my self known unto them in the land of Egypt when I lifted up my hand unto them saying I am the Lord your God In the day that I lifted up my hand unto them to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them flowing with milk and honey which is the glory of all lands Then I said unto them Cast ye away every man the abomination of his eyes and defile not your selves with the Idols of Egypt I am the Lord your God To say no more this appears evidently from the name of JEHOVAH under which God was constantly worshipped from the giving of the Law till the coming of Christ. For this name imported no more than the Immutability of the Divine Nature and Constancy in effecting his Promise the Completion of which should necessarily as often return into their Minds as that most Holy Name was taken into their mouths And therefore at that moment in which the Promises were compleated God made himself known unto the Jews by this name Jehovah saying unto Moses Exod. VI. 3. And I appeared unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Jacob by the name of El Shaddai or God Almighty but by my name Jehovah was not I known unto them As if he should say I was known indeed unto your Forefathers by my Attributes of Greatness and Omnipotence whereby they were intirely satisfied that I was able in due time to conferr upon them all those Benefits which I had promised to them but my Attributes of Veracity and Immutability were not sensibly made known to them by the Completion of those Promises These now you see performed and consequently are convinced that I am a God true to my Promise and invariable to my Resolutions By this Name or under this Notion will I be henceforward worshipped by you The exceeding Care which God took to perpetuate the Memory of these Benefits among the Jews does manifest it to have been the best means of preserving Religion and the true Worship of himself among them To this all the Rites and Ceremonies of the Law in some mea sure tended but especially the grand Festival of the Passover was instituted for no other Purpose than to continue the remembrance of their Deliverance out of Egypt Annual repetitions of the History of those Benefits were enjoyned and Parents commanded to teach them to their Children on the severest Penalties The greatest part of the Book of Deuteronomy which was in more frequent use among the Jews than any other Book of the Old Testament is employed in repeating the Favours of God and urging the Duty of gratitude arising from them And as if the whole Duty of that People consisted in retaining the Memory of those Favours Moses in one place seems to require nothing else of them Who after he had described the Excellency of that Law and Religion which God had revealed to them subjoyns Only take heed to thy self and keep thy soul diligently least thou forget the things that thine eyes have seen and least they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life but teach them thy sons and thy sons sons Deut. IV. 9. He was sufficiently assured That if this grateful remembrance were preserved among them it would draw along with it an universal Obedience to the whole Law And therefore as our Savioâ—…r summed up the whole Duty of Man in the Love o God and our Neighbour so he comprized all in a thankful remembrance of the Divine Benefits Afterwards when the deplorable Idolatry of the Jews for which God caused them to be led into Captivity had almost effaced the Memory of their miraculous Deliverance out of Egypt and by a new Prodigy of Mercy God had brought them out of Captivity and replaced them in their ancient Possessions he tells them he would not any longer be worshipped by them as the Author of that almost forgotten Benefit of their Deliverance out of Egypt the Memory of which was grown faint among them but as the Author of the late Restitution the remembrance of which was yet fresh in their Minds and might therefore be supposed to produce a greater Sense of gratitude in them For thus he bespeaks them Jerem. XVI 14 15. Therefore behold the days come saith the Lord that it shall no more be said the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt But the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the North and from all the lands whither he had driven them and I will bring them again into their Land that I gave unto their fathers The same words he repeats in the XXIII 7th and 8th Verses So studiously did God indeavour to oblige the Jews to pursue their own Happiness in the true Worship of him by heaping new Benefits upon them and inculcating the Memory of them in all solemn Acts of Worship Under the Gospel also God continues to be worshipt as the Author of some signal Benefits as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we obtained Redemption from our sins and Deliverance out of the spiritual Egypt the bondage of Sin and the Devil In every Act of our Christian Worship the Memory of this Benefit is presented to us while we are taught to direct our Prayers to him and to worship him in the Notion of the Father which cannot be without recalling to mind his infinite Mercy manifested in our Redemption which was designed by him and effected by his only begotten Son All the Sacraments and external Worship of the Christian Religion tend no less to preserve the Memory of this Benefit than did the Rites of the Jewish Law to Commemorate their Deliverance out of Egypt particularly the Holy Eucharist which was intended for the constant and most solemn Act of the Christian Worship was instituted to this very Purpose to preserve a lively Memory of that great and final Act of our Redemption to represent to us the Death of our Saviour and continue the Memory of those stripesby which we were healed and of that blood by which we were cleansed If by the degeneracy of latter Ages it hath in great measure failed to produce that Effect for which it was at first intended that is to be ascribed to that deplorable disuse of the Celebration of it which crept into latter Ages and is continued in our times That universal decay of Religion and Piety which we all acknowledge and lament cannot with so much Reason be attributed to any other cause as to this the Memory of our Saviours Passion and with that of our Redemption sensibly decayed in the minds of Men when that venerable Mystery began to be discontinued which was instituted on purpose to continue for ever a lively Representation of it in the Church Men perhaps may retain an Historical remembrance of
imagine that Pomp and Grandeur Riches and Majesty did more become the Messias than Humility and Affliction Poverty and Contempt being things in their own Nature indifferent and of no Esteem any otherwise than in respect to their conducement to some better end Which in the Messias was the Instruction of the world and the Reconciliation of it by his Death to his offended Father To the latter Contempt Affliction and Suffering were absolutely necessary And to the former highly convenient For since our Lord was not only to reform the Errours of Mankind by his infallible Doctrine and attone for the Sins of it by his Passion but also to deliver to us a most compleat Pattern of Vertue and Holiness in his own Person it was highly expedient that he should suffer all the Calamities incident to humane Nature that so he might teach Men by his own Example patiently to endure Affliction undergo Poverty with Contentment and not be affrighted by the terrour of Death from the performance of their Duty No perswasion was necessary to induce Men to admit Riches Pleasures and Prosperity but to suffer all the Miseries of this World with a generous and unrepining Mind nothing less than the Example of God incarnate could perswade them The manner wherein God chose to reveal the Gospel might perhaps seem strange to the Jews as being different from that wherein the Law was revealed on Mount Sina but far from appearing incredible ought rather to have seemed more congruous to the Nature of God certainly more agreeable to the Nature of the things revealed which being Matters of the highest Bounty and Clemency to Mankind required not to be revealed in such a terrible manner as the Law which was employed rather in denouncing the Judgments than the Mercies of God but in a manner which by the sweetness of it might declare the Clemency and Loving kindness of its Author It can be no other than a bruitish Stupidity not to be raised to the knowledge of God any otherwise than by the Effects of his Power and Justice as if Acts of Mercy did not equally declare his Nature and lay a far greater Obligation of Obedience upon us Or if Acts of Power must be employed as indeed they are highly necessary in the second place they were far more numerous and wonderful in the Revelation of the Gospel than of the Law not so amazing but more Divine not so terrible but more illustrious The Jews indeed were wont to require a Sign as the last Proof of the Christian Faith which since it is apparent that Miracles were frequently wrought by the Apostles in Confirmation of the Faith can be understood of no other than either that great and final Miracle which they vainly expected from the Messias the Restitution of their Nation to its temporal Happiness or performing a Miracle as often as every single Person should desire it for establishing the Truth of Christianity Or else relying more upon Miracles than the Testimony of the ancient Prophecies concerning Christ and never urging their Authority to the Jews without some concomitant Miracle In whethersoever of these Sâ—…nses the Jews were wont obstinately to require a Sign of the Apostles nothing could be more unreasonable or impertinent For would it not be unworthy the Majesty of God to violate the ordinary Course of Nature to gratifie either a false Opinion or a fond Desire The Restitution of Liberty was never promised from the Mâ—…ssias to the Jews and therefore was in vain expected from him The Prophecies were sufficiently clear and needed not the concurrent Testimony of constant Miracles and to gratifie the idle Curiosity of every petulant Humour by working Miracles as often as should be required would be such a trifling Extravagance as would more effectually destroy the Authority of such a Lawgiver than all his Miracles would confirm it Or if a constant uniform Miracle attending the Publication of Christianity would satisfie such Men as surely it ought to do they may discover one in that very Circumstance which they use to inforce their Objection namely that it was Successfully propagated in the World by ignorant and illiterate Persons who could neither impose upon Mankind by the Crafty Artifice of Rhetorick or Insinuation nor delude them by the Authority of their Names a Circumstance which unanswerably argueth a Divine Power and Assistance to have attended the first Preachers of the Gospel and affected the Minds of their Auditors And then what greater Argument can we desire of the Wisdom of God in contriving and using this Method than those illustrious Advantages which it administred to the designed End the Conversion of the World and the Glory of God For not only might the wonderful Success of it in all parts even of the learned World wrought by such weak and contemptible means convince all sober Persons of somewhat more than humane directing the Conduct of it but also this method admirably conduced to secure the Honour of God and destroy the Pride and Ambition of Men who if they had been qualified for such an Office by acquired Learning would have been apt to have ascribed their knowledge of Divine Matters to their own Sagacity not the Gift of God and intitled all the Glory of Success to their own Prudence not the Divine Power and further might have induced Men to have attributed the Success of Christianity to the Sophistry and Insinuation of its Teachers not the Power of that Truth which accompanied it and the Providence of that God who founded it Thus we have answered the Prejudices of the Jews and by shewing the Wisdom of God in employing unlearned Persons defeated a like Objection of the Heathen Philosophers But then what the Jews admitted that Supernatural Revelations were both convenient and necessary to the Salvation of Mankind theseMen deny trusting to the supposed Excellency of their own Learning and imagining themselves able by the sole light of Reason to attain the highest Perfection of spiritual Knowledge herein putting themselves into a worse Condition than those whom they treat with so much Scorn Idiots and Barbarians For these are sensible of the failures of their own Understanding and therefore willingly admit a Remedy whereas those disowning all Disease neglect the Cure of it Surely no great Reason is required to confute these Men. For is it unworthy the Mercy of God to assist the Soul of Man by supernatural Revelations even although it might although not without great Difficulty attain to the knowledge of all things necessary This none will say Or is it unbefitting the Goodness of God to provide for the Instruction of unlearned Persons by Revelation although most learned Men may not want it This cannot be doubted Or if a Revelation must be made could it be done in any more prudent and rational manner than was Christianity This none will affirm So then the extraordinary Revelation of Divine Truths is consistent with the Majesty of God and Reason of Man and the necessity