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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62642	Sixteen sermons preached on several subjects and occasions by the most reverend John Tillotson ... ; being the second volume, published from the originals, by Ralph Barker ...; Sermons. Selections	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708.	1700 (1700)	Wing T1269; ESTC R18542	169,737	479

the Powers of the World did likewise strongly combine against it Among the Jews the Chief Priests and Rulers did with all their force and malice endeavour to stifle it in the birth and to suppress it in its first rise and several of the Roman Emperors who were then the great Governors of the World engaged all their Authority and their whole Strength for the extirpation of it and raised such a storm of Persecution against it as swept away greater numbers of Mankind than any Famine or Plague or War that ever was in the Roman Empire And yet this Religion bore up against all this Opposition and make its way through all the Resistance that the Lusts and Prejudices of Men armed with the Power and Authority of the whole World could make against it And this brings me to the 5. and last Consideration I mentioned the great discouragement that was given to the Entrance of this Religion There was nothing left to invite and engage Men to it but the Consideration of another World for all the Evils of this World threatned every one that took the Profession of Christianity upon him Whoever was known to be a Christian was liable to Reproach and Ruin to cruel Mockings and Scourgings to Banishment or Imprisonment and Confiscation of Estate but these were slight and tolerable Evils in comparison of others that were commonly inflicted upon them they were condemned to the Mines and to the Lions and all imaginable Cruelties were exercised upon them the most exquisite Torments that could be devised and Death in all its fearful shapes was presented to them to deter Men from embracing this Religion and to tempt them to quit it And yet they persisted in the Profession of their Religion and for the sake of it did not only take joyfully the spoiling of their goods but the most barbarous usage of their Persons and demeaned themselves not only with Patience and Courage but with Exultation and Triumph under those Tortures which no Man can hear or read of without horror And they did not only bear up thus manfully for one brunt but when these violent Persecutions were renewed and repeated upon them Christianity supported it self under all these daunting Discouragements for almost Three hundred Years and held out till the very Malice of their Persecutors was out of breath and their Cruelty had tired it self Nay it did not only support it self under all these Oppositions but grew and prospered and the Blood of Martyrs became the Seed of the Church and Christians sprang up faster than any Persecution could mow them down For Men by Degrees became curious to enquire into the Cause of such Sufferings and the Reason of so much Constancy and Patience under them and upon enquiry were satisfied and became Christians themselves and many times their very Persecutors were ready to Sacrifice their Lives the next Day for that very Cause for which but the Day before they had put others to Death And it cannot here be reasonably Objected that Christians yielded up themselves to all these Sufferings upon the same Account that some brave Spirits among the Heathen laid down their Lives for their Country namely out of a desire of Fame and to perpetuate their Names in After-ages this I say cannot reasonably be said in this Case because these Sufferers were not the great and ambitious Spirits the Flower and Select Part of Mankind but the Common People and many of them of the tenderer Sex and Age who have usually a greater Sense of Pain than of Glory and yet so were they animated by their Religion and Transported beyond themselves as not only to submit but many times to offer themselves to those Sufferings by declaring themselves to be Christians when no Man accused them and when they knew they should die for making that Profession so that it is harder to justifie their forwardness to Suffer than the sincerity of their Sufferings Besides that nothing could be more foolish and unreasonable than for Men to hope to get a Name by Suffering in a Crowd and to be particularly remembred to Posterity when they dyed in such multitudes that no Man knew the Names of the greatest part of the Sufferers You see then how strongly the Gospel prevailed how soon this new Religion over-ran the World how suddenly it subdued the Spirits and changed the Manners of Men and by what mean and despicable Instruments to all humane appearance this great Work was done and how in despite of all Opposition and Discouragements it was carried on Can any one of the false Religions of the World pretend to have been propagated and establisht in such a manner meerly by their own force and the Evidence and Power of Truth upon the Minds of Men and to have born up and sustained themselves so long under such fierce Assaults as Christanity hath done As for the Religion of Mahomet it is famously known to have been planted by force at first and to hav● been maintained in the World by the same violent means So that great Impostor openly declares that he came not to plant his Religion by Miracles but the Sword And as for the Idolatries of the Heathen they came in upon the World by insensible degrees and did not oppose the Corruptions of Men but grew out of them and being suited to the vicious Temper and Disposition of Mankind they easily gained upon their Ignorance and Superstition by Custom and Example They were just such a Corruption of Natural Religion in such times of darkness and ignorance and by such insensible steps as there hath been since of the Christian Religion in some Parts of the World which we all know But no sooner did the Light of the Gospel shine out upon the World but the Idolatry and Superstition of the Heathen fell before it like Dagon before the Ark of God and tho' it had the Power of the World and Countenance of Authority on its side yet it was not able to maintain its ground and no sooner was that Prop taken away which was the only support of it but it presently sunk and vanisht it was not driven out of the World by Violence and Persecution but upon the breaking in of so great a Light it silently withdrew as being ashamed of it self And when afterwards the Emperor Julian endeavoured to retrieve it by his Wit and Authority and used all imaginable Arts and Stratagems to suppress and extinguish Christianity he was able to effect neither for the Christian Religion kept its ground and Paganism after it had made a little Blaze died with him Now to what Cause shall we ascribe this wonderful Success and Prevalency of the Gospel in the World There can but these Two be imagined the Excellency of the Christian Religion and the Power and Presence of the Divine Spirit accompanying it 1. The Excellency of the Christian Religion which both in respect of the goodness of its Precepts and the assurance of its Rewards hath plainly the advantage

Temple because it was his Presence that should fill that house with glory and it was in that place that the Messias who is called the Peace is promised to be given and in this place will I give Peace saith the Lord of Hosts And this is likewise most expresly foretold by the Prophet Malachi chap. 3.1 Behold I will send my Messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye look for shall suddenly come into his temple even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts And accordingly Jesus our Blessed Saviour came during the second Temple he was presented there by his Parents and owned by Simeon for the Messias he Disputed there and Taught frequently there and by his Presence filled that house with glory For that the Son of God Taught publickly there was a greater Honour to it than all the Silver and Gold of Solomon's Temple And not long after his death according to his express Prediction this second Temple was destroyed to the Ground so that not one stone of it was left upon another And when some Hundred of Years after it was attempted to be Rebuilt Three several times the last whereof was by Julian the Apostate in opposition to Christianity and to our Saviour's Prediction Fire came out of the Foundation and destroyed the Workmen so that they desisted in great Terror and durst never attempt it afterwards And this not only the Christian Writers of that Age in great numbers do testifie but Ammianus Marcellinus a Heathen Historian who lived in that time does also give us a very particular Account of this memorable matter So that if by the Expectation of the Nations be here meant the Messias as I have plainly shewn then he is long since come and was no other than Jesus our Blessed Saviour who according to this Prophecy was to fill the second Temple with glory which hath now been demolish'd above One thousand six hundred Years ago and the Rebuilding whereof hath been so often and so remarkably hinder'd from Heaven The Consideration of all which were sufficient to convince the Jews of their vain Expectation of a Messias yet to come were they not so obstinately rooted and fixed in their Infidelity There remains now the IV. And Last Circumstance of this Prophecy viz. That the coming of the Messias was to be the last Dispensation of God for the Salvation of Men and consequently was to be perpetual and unchangeable Yet once more and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land And I will shake all nations and the Expectation of all nations shall come Yet once more from which Words the Apostle to the Hebrews argues the Perpetuity of the Gospel and that it was the Dispensation which should never be changed Heb. 12.27 And this word Yet once more signifies the removing of those things which are shaken as of things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain And then it follows Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved c. It was usual with the Jews to describe the times of the Gospel by the Kingdom of the Messias and accordingly the Apostle here calls the Dispensation of the Gospel a kingdom which cannot he moved In opposition to the Law which was an imperfect and alterable Dispensation For this is plainly the scope of the Apostle's reasoning namely to convince the Jews that they were now under a more gracious and perfect Dispensation than that of the Law ver 18. Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched and that burned with fire meaning Mount Sinai which was a sensible literal Mountain a mountain that might be touched in opposition to the mystical and spiritual Mount Sion by which the Dispensation of the Gospel is described Which by the way prevents the Objection of its being called the Mountain that might be touch'd when it was forbidden to be touch'd upon pain of Death Ye are not come to the Mount that might be touched that is I am not now speaking of a literal and sensible Mountain such as was Mount Sinai from whence the Law was given but of that Spiritual and Heavenly Dispensation of the Gospel which was typified by Mount Sion and by Jerusalem but ye are come to mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant And then he cautions them to take heed how they reject him that came from Heaven to make this last Revelation of God to the World which because of the clearness and perfection of it should never need to receive any change ver 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth viz. Moses who delivered the Law from Mount Sinai much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven whose voice then shook the earth alluding to the Earthquake at the giving of the Law but now he hath promised saying Yet once more I shake not the earth only but also heaven that is the whole World in order to the coming of the Messias and the planting of the Gospel in the World and then he argues from the Words once more that the former Dispensation should be removed to make way for that which should perpetually remain And indeed there is no need of any farther Revelation after this nor of any change of that Religion which was brought from Heaven by the Son of God because of the Perfection of it and its fitness to Reform the World and to recover Mankind out of their lapsed and degenerate Condition and to bring them to Happiness both by the Purity of its Doctrine and the Power of its Arguments to work upon the Minds of Men by the clear discovery of the mighty Rewards and Punishments of another World And now the proper Inference from all this Discourse is the very same with that which the Apostle makes from the Consideration of the Perfection and Excellency of this Revelation which God had made to the World by his Son See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for how shall we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven And at the 28th Verse of that Chapter Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear that is Let us Live as becomes those to whom God hath made so clear and perfect a Revelation of his Will We have all the Advantages of the Divine Revelation which the World ever had and the last and most perfect that the World ever shall have We have not only Moses and the Prophets but that Doctrine which the Son of God came down from Heaven on purpose to declare to the World God hath vouchsafed to us that clear and compleat Revelation of

I know that thou fearest God says the Angel since thou hast not with-held thy Son thine only Son from me This is a demonstration that God loved us at a stupendous rate when he would send his only-begotten Son into the World for us Before this God had tryed several Ways with Mankind and employed several Messengers to us sometimes he sent his Angels and many times his Servants the Prophets But in these last Days he hath sent his Son He had many more Servants to have employed upon this Message but he had but one Son and rather than Mankind should be ruined and lost he would send him Such was the Love of God towards us that rather than our Recovery should not be effected he would employ in this Work the greatest and dearest Person to him both in Heaven and Earth his only begotten Son in this was the Love of God manifested that he sent his only-begotten Son that we might live through him 2. Let us consider how much this Clorious and Excellent Person was abased in order to the effecting and accomplishing of this Design which is here exprest by sending him into the World and this comprehends his Incarnation with all the mean and abasing Circumstances of it This the Apostle declares fully to us Phil. 2.6 7. tho' he was in the Form of God that is truly and really God yet he made himself of no Reputation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he empty'd himself was contented to be strangely lessen'd and diminish'd and took upon him the Form of a Servant or Slave and was made in the likeness of Men that is did really assume Humane Nature Here was an Abasement indeed for God to become Man for the only-begotten Son of God to take upon him the Form of a Servant and to become obedient to Death even the Death of the Cross which was the Death of Slaves and famous Malefactors Here was Love indeed that God was willing that his own dear Son should be thus obscured and diminished and become so mean and so miserable for our sakes that he should not only stoop to be made Man and to dwell among us but that he should likewise submit to the Infirmities of our Nature and to be made in all things like unto us Sin only excepted that he should be contented to bear so many Affronts and Indignities from perverse and unthankful Men and to endure such Contradiction of Sinners against himself that he who was the Brightness of his Father's Glory should be despised and rejected of Men a Man of sorrows und acquainted with griefs and rather than we should perish should put himself into our Place and be contented to suffer and die for us and that God should be willing that all this should be done to his only Son to save Sinners What greater Testimony could he give of his Love to us 3. Let us consider farther to whom he was sent which is also implyed in these Words he sent his Son into the World into a wicked World that was altogether unworthy of him and to an Ungrateful World that did most unworthily use him First Into a Wicked World that was altogether unworthy of him that had deserved no such Kindness at his Hands For what were we that God should send such a Person amongst us that he should make his Son stoop so low as to dwell in our Nature and to become one of us We were Rebels and Enemies Enemies to God by evil Works up in Arms against Heaven and at open Defiance with God our Maker When the World was in this Posture of Enmity and Hostility against God then he sent his Son to Treat with us and to offer us Peace What can more commend the Love of God than this that he should shew such Kindness to us when we were Sinners and Enemies Herein God hath commended his Love towards us says the Apostle Rom. 5.8 in that whilst we were yet Sinners Christ died for us Secondly Into an Ungrateful World that did most unworthily use him that gave no becoming Entertainment to him the Foxes had Holes and the Birds of the Air had Nests but the Son of Man had not where to lay his Head that heaped all manner of Contumelies and Indignities upon him that Persecuted him all his Life and at last put him to a most painful and shameful Death in a word that was so far from receiving him as the Son of God that they did not treat him with common Humanity and like one of the Sons of men 4. He did all this voluntarily and freely God sent his Son into the World mero motu of his own meer Grace and Goodness moved by nothing but his own Bowels and the Consideration of our Misery not overpowered by any Force for what could offer Violence to him to whom all Power belongs not constrain'd by any Necessity for he had been Happy tho' we had remained for ever Miserable he might have chosen other Objects of his Love and Pity and have left us involved in that Misery which we had wilfully brought upon our selves Nor was he prevail'd upon by any Application from us or importunity of ours to do this for us Had we been left to have contrived the way of our Recovery this which God hath done for us could never have entred into the Heart of Man to have imagin'd much less to have defir'd it at his Hands If the way of our Salvation had been put into the Hands of our own Counsel and Choice how could we have been so impudent as to have begg'd of God that his only Son might descend from Heaven and become Man be poor despised and miserable for our sakes God may stoop as low as he pleaseth being secure of his own Majesty and Greatness but it had been a Boldness in us not far from Blasphemy to have desired of him to condescend to such a a submission Nor Lastly was he pre-oblig'd by any Kindness or Benefit from us so far from that that we had given him all possible Provocation to the contrary and had Reason to expect the Effect of his heaviest Displeasure And yet though he was the pars laesa the party that had been disoblig'd and injured tho' we were first in the Offence and Provocation he was pleased to make the first Overtures of Peace and Reconciliation and tho' it was wholly our Concernment and not his yet he was pleased to condescend so far to our Perverseness and Obstinacy as to send his Son to us and to beseech us to be reconciled Now herein says the Apostle immediately after the Text herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our Sins Herein is the Love of God manifested that the kindness began on his part and not on ours that being neither obliged nor desired by us he did freely and of his own accord send his only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through him What