the Spirit of Jesus 3. Having these promises saith the Apostle let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of the Flesh and of the Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God 'T is certain that every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure If we are Candidates for eternal life our Souls must be purified from Vice for the pure in heart only shall see God 4. Let us therefore fear lest the promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it The Israelites in the Wilderness came short of the Promises made to them by their sickleness and inconstancy Their goodness was like the early dew as the Prophet speaks and by their cowardice they were afraid of the Children of Anak partly by their unbelief they would not believe Moses nor the faithful Spies And this is easily applicable to our case for there is no way to be saved but to believe the Promises to break through all obstacles to fight the good fight of Faith and to lay hold of eternal life 5. LET us ponder and consider the excellencies of these Promises I shall name but the two Epithets bestow'd upon them in the Text. 1. They are Great 2. They are Precious I say 1. They are Great and that in three regards 1. With regard to their Author the only begotten Son of God whom all the Angels worship and adore He is the brightness of his Fathers glory and the express image of his person and upholds all things by the word of his power This one consideration is enough to overawe the boldest sinner and it is frequently taken notice of to magnifie the Gospel and to recommend to us the Precepts of our Saviour that he was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation c. Shall we contemn the Promises made by the Son of God God sent his Son to give the Jews the last and most undenyable proof of his Love and Wisdom Certainly they will reverence my Son Thus reasons the Author to the Hebrews How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him And again He that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three Witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace Against whom does the incorrigible sinner sport himself against the Son of God and the clearest proofs of his love For herein is love not that we loved him but that he loved us and gave his Son to be a propitiation for our sins 2. THE Promises are Great in their intrinsic value I mean not only the Promise of eternal life but all the other Promises that are of a relative and subordinate Nature the Graces of the Spirit the remission of our sins the peace of our Consciences these are things to be valued above Gold and Silver Wisdom is preferred above the choicest Rubies the Gold of Ophir is not to be compar'd unto her Therefore the Graces of the Spirit are compar'd unto the most costly things I counsel thee to buy of me Gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich and white rayment that thou mayest be cloathed and the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou mayest see 3. The Promises are Great in their tendency and design to recover the World sunk into Corruption to overthrow the Worship of Devils to enlighten the World to take down the Kingdom of Darkness and to advance the Image of God upon the Souls of Men were designs becoming the Goodness and Majesty of the Son of God But of this I shall have occasion to speak under the fourth Particular And therefore I consider the second Epithet bestowed upon the Promises They are not only Great but 2. PRECIOUS And that in regard of their 1. Price 2. Certainty 3. Durableness 1. In regard of their Price S. Peter informs us that we are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from our vain conversation but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without spot or blemish There is no Religion wants its Sacrifice and this is the Mysterious Sacrifice of our Religion the blood that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel that powerful Atonement that so successfully pleads for pity and compassion in the ears of God the Sacrifice under whose intercession we come with boldness to the Throne of Grace the Sacrifice that laid aside all the Mosaick Oblations the Sacrifice that was typified by all the former and was more acceptable unto God than the Cattel upon a thousand bills This is the Sacrifice that the Prophets foretold and the Apostles preach'd and upon which we must lean at the hour of death Nature teacheth us to fly to the strongest refuge when we are reduc'd to the saddest extremities And therefore do we grasp the Merit of his Sacrifice in our last conflicts and agonies for he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world This is the Sacrifice that bears the weight of all their sins who are penitent So reasons the Divine Author to the Hebrews for if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the Flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God THEY that allow him no more than to be a resolute Martyr for the Truth who rob us of the comforts of his Sacrifice and Propitiation take away the great pillar of our hope at the hour of death they would reform us unto a gentile kind of Paganism though there be no error more plainly opposite to the Scriptures than theirs For the Notion of a piacular Sacrifice and the penal substitution of it in the room of the criminal was receiv'd amongst all Nations and the Scripture makes use of the same words that are used by other Authors to express a proper atonement when they speak of the Sacrifice of our blessed Saviour WHEN we consider this it may confirm our hope and withal put us in mind how fearful a thing it is to trample upon the blood of the Son of God for being redeem'd by his blood we are no more our own 2. THE Promises are precious because of their certainty The frame of Nature may sooner be dissolv'd the pillars of the Creation may shake and crumble into their first disorder rather than that his Word should
converse with God and with our own Souls That we who see Motes in our Neighbours eyes may at last pull out the beam out of our own WHEN we read of the strict Diet of the Apostles to which they were tied by the common Law of Christianity and withal remember their ordinary Entertainment from the World a Catalogue whereof we have in 2 Cor. 6. v. 4 5 6 7. In all things approving your selves as the ministers of God in much patience afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in watchings in fastings I say when we call to mind that this was their entertainment one would think there needed no more to keep their flesh within bounds and under the perfect command of Religion And yet we find that the same Apostle last cited did use voluntary chastisements and restraints towards himself that he might be wholly disengaged from all fleshly solicitations 1 Cor. 9.26 27. I therefore so run not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beateth the air but I keep under my body and bring it unto subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast away AND it is most certain the reason why we are not so successful in our resolutions against vice and folly is that we are not so particular in our choice of particular means and methods against particular sins When we beat the air in the language of the Apostle and never aim our strokes at particular sins we hover and are bewilder'd in the midst of many indefinite projects and fancies if we resolutely fight against the body of death we must wound it in some particular limb before the strength of the whole be taken down And therefore I would heartily advise all serious men in their retirements to single out some particular sin to which they find themselves more inclin'd for the object of their special resistance And this method hath this advantage also that not one sin falls without the ruin of many others to which it is nearly related And to close this advice in one word young and robust people that are healthful and vigorous where there is no danger of sickness infirmity or old age should frequently fast and pray that they may be strengthened against temptations that their Spirits being recollected they may with greater security venture abroad in the midst and hurry of secular incumbrances So far have I discours'd against Fleshly Lusts in their restrain'd signification as they proceed from wantonness and lasciviousness But I see no necessity why we may not understand the Fleshly Lusts in this place in their full extent as they signifie all those unruly passions and desires that act the unregenerate part of Mankind and drive them forward upon innumerable Precipices of error folly and mischief all of them reduc'd by S. John to three heads the lusts of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life All those gilded nothings and hurtful Idols that Mankind gaze upon with so much dotage and fondness all of them whether singly considered or in the bulk are contrary to the Nature and Genius of Christianity inconsistent with true peace and tranquility of mind and wholly set against the welfare of our Souls We have a Catalogue of them in the Epistle to the Galatians Chap. 5. v. 19. In which Catalogue the Lusts of the Flesh strictly so called are placed in the front Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies V. 21. Envyings Murthers Drunkenness Revellings and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God THE Apostle then bids us abstain from those Lusts that are so directly opposite in their nature and tendencies to the beauty and just interest of our Souls AND this leads me to the second Particular that I design to speak to and that is the Apostle's first argument against those Fleshly Lusts taken from their opposition to the Soul They are drawn up in battel array against the natural life as well as the mind And that I may make this apparent in a few words 'T is easie to observe that they war against the Soul in its purest and highest excellencies and though they cannot commit a direct rape and violence upon its Spiritual Nature yet do they combine all their force and strength to entice and allure it unto unworthy compliances And this is so much likely to succeed in that we are plac'd in the confines of Heaven and Earth Our Souls hang between the pleasures of the Body and its own Speculations and these objects that our Bodies feel make such impressions upon us by their neighbourhood that it is with great difficulty that the Soul is victorious over their importunity and frequent assaults Now all the prejudice that the Soul can suffer may be reduc'd to these three Heads 1. IT may be sullied in its natural perfections and operations 2. IN its moral endowments and accomplishments 3. IT may be depriv'd of its supernatural rewards and carnal Lusts do war against the Soul in all these regards 1. I SAY they war against it in its natural perfections and excellencies Now the true perfection of the Soul is to be united unto God This is its natural element the contemplation of truth is its true and proper employment and if by the enchantment of our Senses we have forgot our selves yet the accusations of our Consciences the pricking reproofs and regrets of our mind amidst the noise and hurry of external avocations sufficiently inform us that our Souls are violated against their original tendency when they are made to worship the Creature instead of the Creator We were originally design'd to view the Creation but not to rest upon it not to dwell in its embraces but so far to consider it that by those Ladders we might climb unto the Author of our Being HEAR then the reasonings of our own mind How have we enslaved them to those mean and abject drudgeries that are unworthy of their Nature and Original Now those Spirits that are Sisters to Cherubims and Seraphims by complying too much with their Senses are become feeble flat and unweildy for their more genuine and spiritual operations Had we nothing else to do but to make provision for the Flesh and fulfil the Lusts thereof we needed not such Souls as now we are furnished with Souls that can grasp so many truths together and lodge them without confusion or disorder that search into the Secrets of Nature and feel pleasures wherein the Body can have no share Why ought we to have such intellectual furniture if we had nothing else to do but to move above the surface of the ground for some few Months or Years and then lye down in eternal silence in
believe in him Thirdly The Interest that we have in his purchase by our adherence to him and dependence on him He that believes on me though he were dead yet shall he live First THAT our Saviour did raise himself from the dead is certain else our Religion is but a fable and a lying vanity It is S. Paul's own Inference to the Corinthians If Christ be not risen then our faith is in vain and we are yet in our sins And so our Saviour tells the Disciples that Christ must needs suffer and rise from the dead the third day The Spirit of Prophecy did enlighten the Jewish Church and foretold the success glories and triumphs of the Messias He shall drink of the brook in the way therefore shall he lift his head And Isa 53.10 That when he made his Soul an offering for sin he should prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand That because he had poured out his Soul unto death God would divide him a portion with the Great and he should divide the Spoils with the strong All those Predictions have the Resurrection of our Saviour in their bosom and without it they are nothing When he was declared to be the Son of God by the Resurrection from the dead the suspicions concerning his Person were remov'd he appear'd then to be the Christ of God the Lord of all things the Judge of the world And his mean equipage bitter pains and shameful disgraces did but heighten and inflame the Zeal and Devotion of Jew and Gentile How mysterious was the stratagem of his Love to hide the Glories of his Divinity to obscure the brightness of his Majesty by the interposal of human Nature to cloath himself with our flesh that he might die that through death he might overcome him that had the power of death and by his omnipotence raise himself from death and the grave For though he was Crucified through weakness yet he liveth by the power of God He was put to death as a notorious Malefactor exposed to the reproach and contempt of all Nations treated as an Enemy to God and to true Religion his adversaries insulted over him as one stricken smitten of God But when it appear'd that he was the mighty Favorite of Heaven by his Resurrection from the Dead how did this confute their Reasoning How did it baffle their Accusations How did it upbraid their Ignorance and scatter their vain Surmises and aggravate their incurable Malice Since he must needs be acknowledged to be the Messias in defiance of all spite and contradiction The stone which the builders refus'd became the head-corner-stone of the building Being found in fashion as a man be humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every Tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father Now the human Nature is rais'd above the Angelical in the Person of our Saviour And the hosts of heaven fall down before him that was dead and is alive and dies no more and every creature which is in heaven and in earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea say with a loud voice Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessings The very thought of it delivers us from all our fears as the value and merit from our offences This is the Triumphant Song of the Christian Church the strong Tower we flie to in all our straits and difficulties the immovable Author of our Faith Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us The meditation of it is the strongest inducement to a holy life for he was rais'd to bless us in turning every one of us from our iniquities For as he was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father Even so we also should walk in newness of life And if you be present with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God Do we worship him that is risen from the dead and brake thorow the Iron barrs of death and yet remain captive our selves under the tyranny and bondage of our sins Let it appear by our heavenly Conversation that we are acted by a Spirit superior to the World that we are born of God that he that is in us is stronger than he that is in the world for in this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother Do we believe that our Saviour is victorious over Death and the Grave and yet shall we remain slaves to our Lusts and Passions Let the contrary appear that we are united to him in the closest manner encouraged by his Promises and enliven'd by his Spirit Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise think on these things And this is the most proper method to prove to the World the Resurrection of our Saviour and the divinity of our Religion and this was the Argument that the first Christians made frequently use of to confound their Adversaries For how can we be made partakers of the Divine Nature but by the Divine Power Shall we live a Life more pure and heavenly than the rest of Mankind if we are not inspir'd with a Spirit not only opposite to but above the maxims principles and genius of the World Shall the Scythians Persians and Romans forsake their fierceness lasciviousness and pride and become calm and chast and humble if they have no other rule to direct them than the glimmerings of Nature and weak essays of Philosophy Is it possible that we can overcome the Inclinations of Nature Lust Passion and Revenge but by a Spirit higher than Nature Can evil Habits be so soon removed Or can the Ethiopian change his Skin If we are then changed from what we were to the true use of our Reason and the acknowledgments of the Deity and the practice of all Vertue To what cause can this change be imputed but to the Divine Spirit of Jesus whose powerful intercecession prevails to Redeem us from under the dominion of all Error Darkness and Prejudice Do we then believe in Christ risen from the dead Let us live no more to sin but unto him that died for us and
SERMONS Preached upon Several Occasions Most of them Before the MAGISTRATES and JUDGES in the North-East-Auditory of S. Gile's Church EDINBURGH BY AL. MONRO D.D. Then PRINCIPAL of the COLLEGE of EDINBURGH LONDON Printed for Joseph Hindmarsh at the Golden Ball over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil M DC XCIII Imprimatur May 3. 1693. Guil. Lancaster To my Friends and Acquaintances in the North-East Parish of S. Giles in Edinburgh Much Honoured and Well Beloved IF I had any other design to serve by this Address than what was in my view when I preached the following Sermons I would perhaps recommend them to the favour of some particular Patron but I rather lay hold of this opportunity that I may acknowedge in as publick a manner as is possible for me the many kindnesses that I received amongst you when I was allowed to preach the Gospel in my Native Country I was unanimously and cheerfully nam'd to the Government of the College of Edinburgh without my knowledge or interposal by the Lord Provost and Town Council I retain a grateful sense of it And this is the principal reason why these Discourses do now appear I am not so extravagantly foolish as to think that the present Age needs any of my Composures if they are innocent and well meant though attended with many other imperfections they may promote good thoughts in some who heard them with Piety and Attention They are only calculated for their Meridian Most men have different Tasts for Books as well as for other things and what is sincerely intended may sometimes be read with greater success than more accurate Treatises The World is very vain and changes its Faces and Figures every moment yet true Religion is invariable as the Author of it and therefore we are to steer our course towards Heaven by those great Truths that are uniformly received amongst all Christians and to take heed that we do not separate from the Catholick Church of Christ her antient Rules and Constitutions by which she was preserved in the Primitive Ages For it is certain that God did not suffer the Universal Church to deviate from the Apostolical Discipline when as yet she was furnished with no other Weapons to pull down Idolatry and Superstition than her Unity Prayers and Universal Charity There is nothing more opposite to Piety and Devotion than Pride and Vanity and to despise the Wisdom of all our Predecessors is not only arrogant but impious The multitude and variety of later Sectaries especially in the Isle of Britain have advanced Atheism to a prodigious Impudence and it is impossible to recover the World now sunk in Folly and Irreligion but by the extraordinary Zeal of good Men. The decays of Piety in our days appear openly amongst all Ranks and Orders and this must be imputed in a great part to that Itch after Novelties which hath so fatally overrun these Nations Ambition and Faction hath almost remov'd the distinction between things Sacred and Prophane yet it is certain that the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God and those pretended Reformations that are managed with Noise and Tumult have ordinarily no other effects than Sacrilege and Confusion We are very apt to have other thoughts of God and of our selves when we approach the Gates of Death from those which we have entertained in the days of health and prosperity and if then we have the least sense of the World to come we cannot but distinguish true Zeal to advance the Power of Godliness from the insidious arts of grasping Earthly Dominion the first is pure calm and humble merciful and compassionate the other being from the Earth is agreeable to that Spirit that prevails in the World OUR Saviour founded the Church a distinct Society from the World and therefore armed it with Spiritual Laws and Censures that she might be preserved by those Divine Helps though all Earthly Powers should endeavour to crush her and experience witnesses that she hath been more Victorious over Lewdness and Infidelity by her Patience and Sufferings than by all her Secular Intrigues and Political Methods When she stands upon the immoveable Pillars of her first foundation her outward Splendor may be eclipsed but her inward strength is made more firm and lasting by the Counterbatteries that are raised against her Peace and Prosperity Truth is not ashamed and therefore it is Weakness and Pusillanimity to deny it in the face of Danger and Persecution especially when the most Sacred Foundations are daringly invaded and trampled upon and though Ecclesiastical Politie be thought now a-days as mutable as are the inclinations of the people yet they who consider things more maturely must see that the antient Faith cannot be preserved amongst men but in its Original Vehicles of Primitive Order and Constitution and when the Apostolical Government of the Church is overthrown a multitude of Errors and Delusions creep into the World that destroy the inward Power of Godliness as well as the outward Beauty of Publick Worship I AM heartily sorry that our Country should be the Theatre of so many Complaints and Disorders and that the immediate Servants of the Sanctuary both Bishops and Presbyters should be run down with Clamour and Violence for no other reason that I know but because they are separated from the World to the peculiar Services of the Living God notwithstanding of all this we ought to possess our Souls in Patience and to believe that not a hair of our head falls to the ground without our heavenly Father And this one Truth may compose our Spirits against all Storms and Disasters and teach us to resign our selves without struggling to the disposal of Heaven When we are sincerely humbled for our Sins both National and Personal he will visit us again in the multitude of his tender Mercies and therefore it is more our duty to look unto him that smites us than complain of our Oppressors It may be that they themselves who have been most active in our Calamities are somewhat sensible of their Cruelty and if not we heartily pray that God would bring into the way of Truth all such as have erred and are deceived The present Desolations of our Church may be palliated with many little Excuses but all the Rhetorical Colours imaginable can never hide the Consequences of so monstrous a Change WHEN we are surrounded with Difficulties on the right and left hand we must make our requests known unto God by Prayer for he is a present help in time of trouble We may meet with Crosses from the smallest things and occurrences and perhaps our Afflictions are frequently multiplied that we may be taught to run unto God who can either mitigate or remove them or by them exercise our Patience and Magnanimity God knows all things but he seems to take notice more particularly of such things as we feel and recommend to his Infinite Goodness and Compassion so willing He is to have us depend on Him
thee We may say of this Conflict with the World as the Royal Psalmist said of his frequent Combats with his enemies 't is he that teacheth my fingers to fight and without doubt the Divine Wisdom is apparent in our Conquest over the World else how could poor Creatures all made up of error darkness and precipitance venture on Tentations of all sorts without his special Conduct and Presence How quietly doth the Psalmist rejoice in the Meditation of his fatherly Care and Assistance He maketh me to lye down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the quiet waters he restoreth my Soul he guideth me in the paths of righteousness for his names sake thy rod and thy staff they comfort me 'T is through God alone we shall do valiantly The weapons of our warfare are mighty through him he not only treads Satan under our feet but the World also which is the Devils great Confederate against the Saints 2. WE are assured of the Victory through the Triumph and Victory and Jesus Christ He hath bidden us himself be of good cheer for he hath overcome the World He is the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah he marcheth upon the Head of his Disciples with displayed Banners against the Legions of Darkness the World Hell and the Grave are hauled at the Wheels of his triumphant Chariot Therefore the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews bids us consider the cloud of witnesses but most of all Jesus Christ himself the Author and Finisher of our Faith When we are like to faint when our fears grow thick and dark then consider the Captain of our Salvation who hath already broke the force of our enemies and is set down on the right hand of the Throne of God and there employes his Power in Heaven and Earth for the conduct safety and success of his followers Let us believe with the Apostle S. Paul that we shall be able to do all things through Christ that strengthens us 3. WE are assured of the Victory by the Strength and Energy of the Divine Nature So we are told in the Text that that which is born of God overcometh the World and in Chap. 4. He that is in us is stronger than he that is in the World If we were to grapple with the World by equal strength we could not promise to our selves the Victory but we are partakers of the Divine Nature we are carried above our selves God is in us in a truer and higher sense than the Poet meant it THE Divine Nature is full of Life and Power it grows unto perfection unto the stature of a perfect Man in Christ Jesus until it lodge us at last in the bosom of God 'T is a Coal from the Altar that inflames the Soul and consumes the Body of Death to nothing What is not the Christian Religion able to do in conjunction with Omnipotence THIS is it that wrought such incredible Changes in the World and if others have been so successful and victorious in their Conflicts with the World why ought we to despair Had not the Luminaries of the Church the same flesh to mortifie the same passions to overcome the same World to contend with and if they overcame the World why may not we be victorious also BUT let us improve this Meditation for our practice If we are thus assured of the Victory if we do not wilfully desert our Stations then let us not be discouraged with the Terrors of the World nor with those imaginary difficulties by which Men frequently fright themselves from their duty But in the midst of our fears and objections let us strengthen our selves in God and debate the matter with our own Consciences in the Language of the Psalmist Why art thou cast down O my Soul hope in God remember and call to mind the Victory that Men of like Passions have attained why do you thus sit down hanging your head as if the World were invincible WHY do we suffer our selves so tamely to be carried down the Stream Let us bear up against it and remember that we have to do with a broken and conquered Enemy and if we do not shamefully yield God will stand by us at our right hand and make Vs more than Conquerors through Jesus Christ It is unbecoming the Goodness of God to leave us when we are engaged with such formidable Enemies If he be for Vs who can be against Vs Here we are but Pilgrims and Strangers and since we have renounced the World so solemnly why do we look back upon it with so much fondness and delight why are we diffident of the Victory For the Captain of our Salvation looks on and suffers us to be surrounded with Tentations that he may make proof of our Courage Constancy Fidelity Loyalty and Patience God looks on the Conflicts of his people with delight and by their tryals and hard encounters he fortifies their Souls for Immortality which is the prize IT was the glimmering of this Meditation made so many of the antient Philosophers think that a Man without suffering was without reputation for honour by the esteem and vote of all Mankind belongs to them that have suffered and striven resolutely in the midst of all disasters against Vice and its insinuations To this purpose Seneca in his Book de Providentia says That a Man bearing up resolutely against disadvantages and disasters was a spectacle worthy Jupiter himself to look on SINCE then we are furnished with better Principles and a clearer Light let us under the Conduct of our High Priest face all Tentations and keep our consciences void of offence towards God and towards Men for the things that are terrible to Mans eyes are but Scare-Crows and Apparitions to the eyes of Faith AND this leads me to the third and last Particular that is The Mean by which this Victory is obtained the Apostle saith Faith is our Victory THE Figure is obvious enough this is the Mean and Weapon by which we trample under foot the World and all its glittering vanities and soar above it We are by our Laws Citizens of another Kingdom we are neither intangled with its snares nor blinded with its foolish hopes nor govern'd by its pernicious Maxims nor dazled with its false lights while we keep our eyes open to the light of Faith and the Glories that our Jesus hath manifested to us in the Gospel then we grow too big for this World and the sight of that Inheritance enlarges our Souls and the Earth becomes contemptible in our eyes BUT that I may make this the more clear I shall endeavour to give light unto it by the Nature and Excellency of Faith it self which when we have considered this Conquest will appear to be the most necessary result of Faith AND 1. Consider that by Faith we are furnished with new Principles we have a Spirit giv'n us stronger than the World opposite to it far above it this is frequently asserted by S. John
when shall I come and appear before God 2. To make the Sacrifice Acceptable it must needs be offered unto God without retractation with a chearful liberal Soul And this no doubt was the Essential difference between the Sacrifice of Cain and Abel Abel gave his Sacrifice with a bountiful benign Soul Cain gave his with a penurious unwilling Miâ—d And therefore the Author to the Hebrews tells us that Abel offering unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more plentiful Sacrifice he gave it with a Soul as vast aâ— the whole Universe he came to the Altar with a heart fir'd with Love to the divine Honour But Cain drew a black Picture of God in his own Mind aâ—d therefore he came with affections as â—ark as the Vaults of Hell a mean and knavish Soul who measur'd the Almigâ—ty by no other Standard than that of hiâ— own angry and troubled Mind God is the God of Love nay he is Love it self Let all our Sacrifices thereore be enflam'd with true Love this nakes the Incense burn on the Altar with a sweet smelling savour this unites â—s to that blessed Company above whosâ— very Life is made up of chearfulness hâ—rmony and alacrity of Spirit 3. â—f the Sacrifice be Acceptable it must â—e offered of such things as the Law allowed to be sacrific'd Hence that known distinction of things clean and unclean What we sacrifice unto God under the New Testament must be something within the Circle of his Commandment It is a wild fancy and Enthusiastick madness for men to think that for the glory of God we nay turn sanguinary Rebels and barbarous Murderers as if the glory of God could be advanc'd by violating his Laws and renversing the boundaries between Good and Evil. True Religion grows upon the Foundation of Reason and is so congenial to our Nature that the one cannot act regularly without the other Do not we think that the Almighty is infinitely Wise and powerful to act for his Church Why do these unreasonable Men officiously interpose by their unhallowed Sacrifices and strange Fire They pretend to serve God zeaously when they let loose those Passions the suppressing whereof is the most acceptable Sacrifice NOW I have sufficiently demonstrated what was intended by the â—ncient Sacrifices and what the Christia Sacrifices ought to be And that is no other than this which is recommended in the Text. The first Christians were derided because of the simplicity of their Religion and their Apologists unanimously declar'd that God respected no Man for any external Excellencies or Advantages it was the pure and holy Soul that he delighted in He stands not in need of Blood Smoak Perfumes or Incense the best Sacrifice is to offer up a Mind truly devoted to his fear and this is certainly our most reasonable service And this leads me to enquire IN the third and last Place into the Motive whereby he enforces his Exhortation and that is It is your reasonable Service It is the Rational Worship opposite to the foolish Pageantry of the Pagan Ceremonies and the cumbersom Yoke of the Jewish Law It is that rational Adoration of God that is founded upon the Eternal Rules of immutable Reason and not oâ— variable Constitutions This Sacrifice then may be call'd in the strictest sense the Rational Worship I. BECAUSE our Reason was given us for this very end that we might converse with God This is the End that God had in his view in our first Creation Let us make man in our Image There is nothing capable of conversing with God but that which hath some resemblances of himself Society is for Delight and therefore we cannot converse but with such as are like our selves In our first Creation God made us after his own Image that he might converse with us 2. THIS is Reason in its highest Elevation It cannot be rais'd higher than thus to sacrifice it self to God For here we converse with the most perfect Object and in the noblest manner and with the purest Delight True Reason is a Beam of the Divinity a Ray of that first Light that enlivens all things and the nearer it draws to the Center the more it is itself If Truth and Light and clear Perception be the Life of the Soul then no doubt the nearer we draw unto the Original Truth the more we are our selves the more we act according to Reason and the Primitive Excellency of our Souls THIS is the true Life of the Soul the nearer approaches that it makes to matter in all its Appetites the nearer it is to Death it self and therefore our present state when we wrestle with the Tentations that assault us from the lower World is but a state of Misery Anxiety and Darkness if we compare it with that state of pure and unmixt Light where our Souls are made free from these unwieldy Tabernacles Now they are confin'd in their operations to some few and dull Senses but when we are got above this little Globe of Earth we may reasonably presume that our Souls will then display new Powers and Faculties upon new Objects which could not be exerc'd in its state of Union to this corruptible Body and will feel themselves more at liberty and uncon-fin'd and loos'd from that manner of Operation that their Kindred to an earthly Body did oblige them to nay the Philosophy of Plato gave noble Ideas of the state of Separation but our Blessed Saviour alone hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel 'T is He that hath revealed by the Father unto us and taught us to approach him with that rational and manly Worship that became the true Sons of God and the Heirs of eternal Life The more therefore that we are purified from Sensuality and the nearer we draw to the Life of the Blessed Jesus and the accurate Rules of his Gospel the more dispos'd and the more ripe we are for the felicities of the World to come and the Life of the Spirits of just men made perfect 3. THIS Religious Reason is the Characteristick difference of our Nature So that Man is better defin'd by Religion than by Reason without Religion The inferiour Creatures have some dark Vestiges of Reason Sagacity and Conduct but no shadow of Religion then may not we venture to say that Reason separately considered without Religion will not make up the Essential difference of our Nature The Philosophick Orator informs us that there is no Nation so savage and unpolished but that they had their Religious Solemnities their Gods and their Sacrifices And tho Cesar tells us of some of the old Germans that they had neither Priests nor Sacrifices yet they worshipped the Moon and the Fire Thus Religion seems to be the hereditary Ingredient of our Nature we must shake off what is most intimate to our Souls unless we employ our Reason in the Worship of God 4. THIS is a Reasonable Service because there
though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wooll 'T is in the vertue of this blood that we approach the Throne without fear and diffidence the God of Pity and Compassion cannot shut his ears against those prayers that are made under the mediation of Jesus Christ the hands of Justice are bound up when his bloody Sweat and Agony his Passion Death and Burial are commemorated How fixt and immoveable is this foundation of our Faith that we have such an High-Priest at the right hand of the Father who by one Oblation of himself through the Eternal Spirit sat down victorious on his Throne Powers Dominions and Principalities being put under him Though the Doctrine of the Cross be the Scorn of Jews and Gentiles yet let us say with S. Paul God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ And this is still so much the surer when we consider the Nature of that Attonement that our Saviour made This Sacrifice was propitiatory and piacular for he suffered not only for our good but in our room and they who would make him to act no more in all this than the part of a resolute Martyr destroy one of the prime foundations of our Religion and of our hope in the hour of death and at the day of Judgment Fourthly WHEN we fix our thoughts on the death of Jesus we ought to practise those Graces that then appear'd most eminently in him his Contempt of the World his Love to his Enemies his Patience and Resignation Can we dwell on the thoughts of his love towards Mankind and not be inflam'd with the highest Zeal to serve him How can we forget the glorious adventures of his Love who dyed for us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword V. 38. For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Power Praise and Dominion World without end Amen A SERMON ON 1. COR. ii V. 3 4 5. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling And my speech and my preaching was not with inticing words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God IN the First Chapter S. Paul had in his view the allaying the differences that had arisen amongst the Corinthians concerning their Teachers whom they should follow He puts them in mind how he had preached the Gospel amongst them and by what Arguments they had been perswaded to embrace it i. e. not with the wisdom of words And again not with enticing words of mans wisdom HE thought it not proper to advance his doctrine and design amongst them by the accurate and artificial reasonings of the wise men of the Gentiles but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power THE elegant Orations and Philosophical Discourses of the Learned Gentiles by which they were wont to put off their opinions to the people withal he did not judge proofs proper for and suitable to the nature of his Doctrine It being wholly Divine it required divine demonstration something above the reach of human speculation something yet untraced by their most accurate Disquisitions So the supernatural gifts bestowed on the followers of Christ by which they were made to interpret the sacred Oracles and ancient Prophecies concerning the Messias and accommodate those Prophecies to the most particular circumstances of his Kingdom By which they were enabled to discern Spirits and dispossess Devils such and such miraculours appearances together with the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles both upon the dead and the living were proofs of divinity in their own Nature far beyond the subtile reasonings of Orators and Philosophers more suitable to the design in hand more undeniable and authentick and therefore a proof much more solid and clear than if they had recommended the Doctrine of Christianity with all the eloquence and ostentation of words THIS method propos'd in the first Chapter He owns and vindicates in this from all the objections and carnal imputations that the admirers of Philosophy on the one hand and heretical Seducers on the other might lay to his charge He did not declare unto them the Testimony of God with the excellency of speech or wisdom It was not his design to read unto them Lectures of Plato's Philosophy but to recommend Christ and him Crucified to preach the humble doctrine of the Cross the plain and necessary Articles of Christianity the very first and indispensible principles of our Faith not the more abstruse mysteries of which as yet possibly they were not capable but those early lessons that we must know as soon as we become Disciples of that Heavenly Institution THIS Doctrine recommended at such a time and by such men so far above the genius of all the prevailing sects of Philosophers and appearing with so much modesty and humility had certainly been run down in triumph by the Patrons of Paganism and Infidelity if it had not been supported by another kind of proof and demonstration than that which was taught in the Athenian Schools Therefore the Corinthians ought not to be much stumbled at the petulancy and ignorance of false teachers who despis'd what they did not understand and measur'd wisdom by a standard of their own The Gospel was recommended amongst them by such proofs as were agreeable to its Nature that their belief might not depend upon any thing that was human and artificial but on the most solid and immoveable foundations the Wisdom and Power of God clearly display'd in vindication of the Gospel This is shortly the scope of the words that I have read The success and efficacy of what he preach'd did not at all depend on the order and composure of his periods tho one might observe Eloquence and Majesty in his Expressions if they were not too much addicted to what they valued amongst the Grecian Orators yet did he not at all affect that which the wise men of Greece most gloried in he design'd that it might be very clear That the success of his Doctrine should depend on supernatural proofs or the light and majesty and conviction that attends the power of miracles LET us view those words more closely and examine their phrase and dependance and see how clear a proof they contain of the excellency of Christian Religion And in them we have three particulars I. HIS uneasie
that they were wrought by the power of Magick we need no other answer than that of our Saviour himself who told them that the Devil was not such a fool as to employ his power against himself since it was undeniably manifest that no discipline did so visibly and irreconcileably oppose all Magical Arts and Charms as did the Religion of Jesus So a great number of them that had followed those curious Arts brought their costly Books to the Apostles and burnt them And when they endeavour'd to alledge that equal Miracles have been done by others amongst the Pagans 'T is so idle a story that they are far form believing it who first invented it The story of Vespasian's restoring a blind man to his sight did proceed from the artifice of Egyptian flattery and is reported by his own Historians with so much diffidence and reserve that it is scarce worth the naming As for the prodigious seats of Apollonius Tianeus we can look upon them as no other than fictitious and Romantick Fooleries vouched by no competent Authority Whereas the Miracles done by our Saviour and his Apostles were not only of a different Nature from those little Tricks of Magick but were wrought amongst great crowds of People to the view of the World and acknowledg'd by the most bitter and implacable of his Enemies And this Power he had not only in himself but bestowed it on his Apostles Besides the full discovery of those Objections depends on so much History that they cannot be contracted within such narrow bounds as I am confind'd to THE Result of all is this Such as despise the Gospel do it upon the most unreasonable grounds For whereas they alledge that our Ministry was not attended with Wisdom and Proofs borrowed from Philosophy they betray their Ignorance For the Doctrine that we propagate and assert being of its own Nature wholly Divine and beyond the reach of all human enquiries it must needs have its Proofs and Demonstrations from Heaven Without this it could not prevail and when it is attended with this it is impossible that it can miss of its effect So we come not with the enticing words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power Now we find that those Miracles were necessary at the first establishment of Christianity to point out the Person of the Messias to baffle the Devil and to satisfie the expectations of all Men and that thus rationally we can give an account of the speedy and universal propagation of the Christian Religion Thirdly WE consider the design and scope of this Oeconomy That their Faith might be built on the surest Foundations i. e. on the Power of God And here I might reckon up the motives of Credibility that obliged us to assent to the Christian Religion if they can be numbered But I chuse to improve what is said in one Word of Application Blessed be God who hath so fully provided for our Illumination and Confirmation that we might rest in his Word and Testimony with full assurance of mind For the Apostles did not follow cunningly devised fables when they made known unto us the Power and Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Let us give up our selves to it without wavering and hesitation of Spirit resolutely maintaining it even unto Death And above all endeavouring to adorn it by a Holy Conversation adding to our faith vertue to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance c. Let us esteem and love it for its genuine Grandure and Majesty even when it is not attended with the Ornaments of human Art For how shall we escape if we neglect so great a Salvation that was first confirm'd by Miracles and Wonders LET us not desire that supernatural Truths be recommended to us chiefly and only by human Art So weak are we that we relish not Heavenly things unless they smell of the Earth When we hear the Word of God the corruption of our Nature leads us to notice more the air accent and gesture of the Preacher than the great Truths that he recommends and all these be they never so plain innocent and unexceptionable they have their fate and censure not from our unbyassed reason but from that part of us that is carnal I am not of the opinion that the Mysteries of the Gospel are to be handled confusedly and negligently in a slovenly dress such garments become not the Majesty of that Religion whose Ministers we are The Oracles of God deserve that we should Meditate in them night and day But we are so to study them that we preach not our selves but Christ Jesus the Lord and our selves your Servants for Christs sake that we may not think that the success of our Labours depends on the skill and contrivance of our Composures but on God that giveth the Increase To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be Glory and Dominion for ever Amen A SERMON Preached at the ABBEY of Holy-Rood-House MAY 1686. ON MATT. V. V. 20. For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven MY design from these words of our Saviour is to hint shortly at the Scope and Drift of Christian Religion and then to state the comparison between it and the Pharisaical Religion And in the next place to direct you in the Practice of true and sincere Godliness WHEN our Saviour appeared the Church was sadly over-run with the grossest Immoralities and the most absurd Superstitions and Delusions The Law of God which was in it self pure and just and holy was perverted by their Commentaries and made to truckle under such designs as were hateful to God and subversive of all true Morality Their plausible glosses and corrupt maxims destroy'd the natural force of Religion and withal they deceiv'd the poor People into an Opinion that they themselves were the peculiar favourites of God even then when our Saviour told them that the publicans and the sinners should enter into the kingdom of heaven before them WHEN we read the Sermon on the Mount we find that it was our Saviour's great design to plant and establish amongst his Disciples a manly rational and heroick temper of mind a higher kind of Philosophy than the Pharisees understood or the Pagans pretended to The rule of Life that he gave us was so accurate and so suitable to our Nature in its first and original constitution that nothing can equal it for purity and holiness The wisest sayings and the best thoughts of Jews and Pagans scattered here and there in all their books are very far outdone in one Page of the New Testament He removes our errors prejudices and mistakes concerning God our selves and the rewards of another Life He opens our eyes to see thorow the little tricks hypocritical designs and superstitious follies of the Pharisees And by the most cogent proofs he forces us to acknowledge that there is no
to them which made the holy Patriarchs command their Children to transport their bodies from one place to another that their ashes might sleep with their Ancestors How boldly did the first Christians venture their Lives to procure the bodies of the Martyrs which the cruelty of their Persecutors left unburied And S. Cyprian tells us how dangerous it is to omit it and that we should expose our selves to all hazards rather than leave it undone Neither did the Piety of the ancient Christians confine it self to those of their own Religion but frequently did bury the Pagans deserted by their Relations and they thought it not enough to inshrine the remains of their fellow Christians in Tombs and Sepulchres but also prepared their Bodies for their Funeral with the richest odours spices and perfumes the best drugs and ointments they thought but too mean to express their tender regard to their deceased Friends So Tertullian in his Apology tells us that the most curious Spiceries the Sabeans could afford were employed this way When Mary Magdalen poured Ointment on our Saviour's Head he approved it as done to anoint his body to the burial And the good women mentioned by S. Luke prepared their ointments and sweet odours to embalm his body All this was done because they looked upon the body as the expectant of a joyful Resurrection And hence we commit it unto the earth in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection For when they have varyed all forms and figures they are again built up immortal and more delicate habitations for our Spirits 3. LET the thoughts of the Resurrection comfort us concerning our departed Friends and Relations It s S. Paul's own inference But I would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them that are asleep that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope Vers 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first wherefore comfort one another with these sayings 4. LET the thoughts of the Resurrection comfort us in our present troubles O happy day when we are brought again into the light after so many nights of darkness and solitude when our bodies appear with their brighter robes when flesh and blood are Spiritualised and invigorated with the warmth of the Sun of Righteousness and our heavy Earth is calcined and purified for its true Imployment that it may serve the Soul in its swiftest thoughts and vye with the Seraphims of Light and Zeal in their attendance on their Creator Now the Earthly Tabernacle drags and pulls down the Soul to low and despicable Enjoyments then the Body is made strong and refined to comply with the highest Capacities and Inclinations of the Mind We shall mount aloft from the Earth into the Air we shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and as the stars for ever and ever when we are got loose from the Prisons of Darkness and the Fetters of Corruption are broken off When we see the Glories and Empires of this little Globe below us and we our selves beyond danger and temptation far above its frowns and flatteries HOW strongly do we then feel our selves united to our true and immovable Happiness and assimilated to the Blessed Temper and Imployment of the Hosts of Heaven and the Spirits of just men made perfect When instead of this load of clay the uneasie weight that holds our Spirits in Captivity we shall then be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven when mortality shall be swallowed up of life The very thoughts of this Elevation and Purity to think that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is might fill our Souls with the strongest Ardors and Impatience to be with Christ to be above the Clouds and the vicissitudes of this unquiet World WE cannot express the glory of the Body after the Resurrection better than in the language of the Scripture There is one glory of the Sun another of the Moon and another of the stars so also is the resurrection of the dead it is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption it is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory it is sown in weakness it is raised in power it is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body And thus we are told by the same Apostle to the Philippians That he shall change our vile bodies that they may be fashioned like unto his glorious body by the power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself What a mighty support is it for us at the approach of death to reason our selves out of our fear and diffidence to get above the terrour and the thought of our dissolution and strengthen our selves in view of the Glory that is to come Let us say in the words of the Psalmist Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my Countenance and my God The Meditation of this joyful Day puts us beyond all Calamities sets our feet upon a Rock and makes us look down with Magnanimity on all the changes of this lower World for when our Eyes are fix'd upon those purer Pleasures what can disturb the peace and tranquillity of our Spirits For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet our inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory The prospect of that state and felicity makes us forget this foolish World and trample on all its glories with a generous disdain and contempt when we remember that we are heirs of God and coheirs with Christ of that inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away 5. But fifthly THE belief of the Resurrection arms us more immediately against the terrours of Death Thus St. Paul discourses in the fifteenth Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians and 54. verse So when this corruptible hath put on incorruption and this mortal hath put on immortality then shall be brought to pass this saying that 's written Death is swallowed up of victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The King of terrours is rifled his Forces are broken we have an Antidote against his Poison Let him come in his blackest dress in his most dismal Robes of darkness and fear Let him appear with all the Solemnities of terrour and sadness yet the Christian in the midst of all this meets him with undaunted Courage He is like mount Zion which cannot be moved he sees beyond those Clouds he defies all those frowns he strengthens himself in the death of Jesus and his Resurrection from the dead and the belief of both makes us more than Conquerours This is