are the very same in Sense If we be dead with him that is if we lay down our lives for the Testimony of the Truth as he did we shall also live with him that is we shall in like manner be made Partakers of Immortality as he is If we suffer or endure as he did we shall also reign with him in Glory The other Sentence is Matter of Terrour to those who deny him and his Truth If we deny him he also will deny us to which is subjoyned another Saying much to the same Sense if we believe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we be unfaithful yet he remaineth faithful he cannot deny himself that is he will be as good as his word and make good that Solemn Threatning which he hath denounced against those who shall for fear of Suffering deny him and his Truth The Words being thus explained I shall begin with the First Part of this remarkable Saying If we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reign with him This it seems was a noted Saying among Christians and whether they had it by Tradition of our Saviour or whether it was in familiar use among the Apostles as a very proper and powerful Argument to keep Christians stedfast to their Religion I cannot determine It is certain that Sayings to this Sense are very frequent especially in the Epistles of St. Paul Rom. 6.5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection and Verse 8. Now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him 2 Cor. 4.10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of our Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body and Verse 18. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh and Rom. 8.17 If so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together Phil. 3.10 11. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made comfortable unto his death If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead 1. Pet. 4.12 13. Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as tho' some strange thing happened unto you but rejoyce in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy You see that the Sense of this Saying was in frequent use among the Apostles as a powerful Argument to Encourage Christians to Constancy in their Religion notwithstanding the Dangers and Sufferings which attended it This is a faithful saying If we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reign with him And the Force of this Argument will best appear by taking into consideration these Two things I. What Virtue there is in a firm Belief and Persuasion of a Blessed Immortality in another World to support and bear up Mens Spirits under the greatest Sufferings for Righteousness sake and even to animate them if God shall call them to it to lay down their Lives for their Religion II. How it may be made out to be reasonable for Men to Embrace and Voluntarily to submit to Present and Grievous Sufferings in Hopes of a Future Happiness and Reward concerning which we have not nor perhaps are capable of having the same degree of Certainty and Assurance which we have of the Evils and Sufferings of this present Life I. What Virtue there is in a firm Belief and Persuasion of a blessed Immortality in another World to support and bear up Mens Spirits under the greatest Sufferings for Righteousness sake and even to animate them if God should call them to it to lay down their Lives for their Religion If Men do firmly believe that they shall change this Temporal and Miserable Life for an Endless State of Happiness and Glory and that they shall meet with a Reward of their Sufferings infinitely beyond the proportion of them both in the Weight and Duration of it this must needs turn the Scales on that side on which there is the greatest Weight And there is a sufficient ground for a firm Belief of this For if any thing can certainly be concluded from the Providence of God this may That Good Men shall be happy one time or other And because they are very often great Sufferers in this Life that there is another State remains for them after this Life wherein they shall meet with a full Reward of all their Sufferings for Righteousness sake But besides the Reasonableness of this from the consideration of God's Providence we have now a clear and express Revelation of it life and immortality being brought to light by the Gospel This St. John tells us is the great Promise of the Gospel 1 John 2.25 This is the promise which he hath promised us even eternal life And this Promise our Saviour most expresly makes to those who Suffer for him Mat. 5.10 11 12. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falslly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven Mark 10.29 Verily I say unto you there is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the Gospel's but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time with persecutions that is so far as a State of Persecution would admit and in the world to come eternal life And if such a Perswasion be firmly fixt in our Minds the Faith of another World and the assured Hope of Eternal Life and Happiness must needs have a mighty force and Efficacy upon the Minds of Sober and Considerate Men because there is no proportion between Suffering for a little while and being Unspeakably and Etternally happy So St. Paul tells us he calculated the matter Rom. 8.18 I reckon says he that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us The vast disproportion between the Sufferings of a few Days and the Joys and Glory of Eternity when it is once firmly believed by us will weigh down all the Evils and Calamities of this World and give us Courage and Constancy under them For why should we faint if we believe that our light affliction which is but for a moment will work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory As the same St. Paul assures us 2 Cor. 4.17 If our Minds be but throughly possest with the hopes of a Resurrection to a Better and
other terms than of denying ungodliness and worldly lusts and of living soberly righteously and godly in this present world And besides this Consideration we have the best Testimony in the World of their Unblameable Lives viz. the Testimony of their profest Enemies who did not persecute them for any personal Crimes which they charged particular Persons withal but only for their Religion acknowledging them otherwise to be very innocent and good People Particulary Pliny in his Letter to Trajan the Emperor who had given him in Charge to make particular Enquiry concerning the Christians gives this honourable Report of them That there was no fault to be found in them besides their obstinate refusal to Sacrifice to the Gods that at their Religious Meetings it was an essential part of their Worship to oblige themselves by a solemn Sacrament against Murder and Theft and Adultery and all manner of Wickedness and Vice No Christian Historian could have given a better Character of them than this Heathen Writer does But 3. The Success of the Gospel will appear yet more strange if we consider the Weakness and Meanness of the Instruments that were employed in this great Work A company of plain and illiterate Men most of them destitute of the advantages of Education went forth upon this great Design weak and unarmed unassisted by any worldy interest having no Secular Force and Power on their side to give countenance and authority to them and this not only at their first setting out but they remained under these Disadvantages for three Ages together The first Publishers of the Christian Religion offered Violence to no Man did not go about to compel any by Force to entertain the Doctrine which they Preached and to list themselves of their number they were not attended with Legions of armed Men to dispose Men for the reception of their Doctrine by Plunder and Free-Quarter by Violence and Tortures this Modern Method of Conversion was not then thought of nor did they go about to tempt and allure Men to their Way by the Promises of Temporal Rewards and by the Hopes of Riches and Honours nor did they use any artificial insinuations of Wit and Eloquence to gain upon the Minds of Men and steal their Doctrines into them but delivered themselves with the greatest plainness and simplicity and without any studied Ornaments of Speech or fine Arts of Perswasion declared plainly to them the Doctrine and Miracles the Life and Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ promising Life and Immortality to them that did believe and obey his Doctrine and threatning Eternal Wo and Misery in another World to the despisers of it And yet these contemptible Instruments notwithstanding all these disadvantages did their work effectually and by the Power of God going along with them gained numbers every day to their Religion and in a short space drew the world after them Nor did they only win over the Common People but also several Persons considerable for their Dignity and Eminent for their Learning who afterwards became zealous Assertors of Christianity and were not ashamed to be Instructed in the Saving Knowledge of the Gospel by such mean and unlearned Persons as the Apostles were for they saw something in them more Divine and which carried with it a greater Power and Perswasion than Humane Learning and Eloquence 4. We will consider the mighty Opposition that was raised against the Gospel At its first appearance it could not be otherwise but that it must meet with a great deal of difficulty and opposition from the Lusts and Vices of Men which it did so plainly and so severely declare against and likewise from the Prejudices of Men that had been brought up in a contrary Religion no Prejudice being so strong as that which is founded in Education and of all Prejudices of Education none so obstinate and hard to be removed as those about Religion yea tho' they be never so absurd and unreasonable Hath a Nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods Men are very hardly brought off from the Religion which they have been brought up in how little Ground and Reason soever there be for it the being trained up in it and having a reverence for it implanted in them in their tender Years supplies all other defects Had Men been free and indifferent in Religion when Christianity first appeared in the World and had they not had their Minds prepossest with other apprehensions of God and Religion and been inured to Rites and Superstitions of a quite different Nature from the Christian Religion or had they at that time been weary of the Superstitions of their Idolatrous Worship and been enquiring after a better way of Religion then indeed the Christian Religion had appeared with great advantage and would in all probability have been entertained with a readiness of Mind proportionable to the Reasonableness of it But this was not the Case When the Doctrine of the Gospel was first Publisht in the World the whole World both Jews and Gentiles were violently prejudiced against it and fixt in their several Religions The Jews indeed in former times had been very prone to relinquish the Worship of the True God and to fall into the Heathen Idolatry But after God had Punisht them severely for that Sin by a long Captivity they continued ever after very strict and firm to the Worship of the True God and never were they more tenacious of their Religion and Law than at that very time when our Saviour appeared in the World And though He was foretold in their Law and most particularly described in the authentick Books of their Religion the Prophets of the Old Testament yet by reason of certain groundless Traditions which they had received from the Interpreters of their Law That their Messias was to be a great Temporal Prince they conceived an invincible Prejudice against our Saviour upon account of the Mean Circumstances in which he appeared and upon this Prejudice they rejected him and put him to death and persecuted his Followers And though their Religion was much nearer to the Christian than any of the Heathen Idolatries yet upon this account of our Saviour's Mean Appearance they were much more averse to the Entertainment of it than the grossest Idolaters among the Nations Not but that their Prejudice also was very great the common People being strongly addicted to the Idolatry and Superstitions of their several Countries and the Wiser and more Learned whom they call'd their Philosophers were so puft up with a conceit of their own Knowledge and Eloquence that they despised the rudeness and simplicity of the Apostles and look'd upon their Doctrine of a Crucified Saviour as ridiculous and the Story of his Resurrection from the dead as absurd and impossible So St. Paul tells us that the Cross of Christ was to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness But besides the Opposition which the Gospel met withal from the Lusts and Prejudices of Men
the Angels are the Overseers of Divine Service And therefore we ought to behave our selves with all Modesty Reverence and Decency in the Worship of God out of regard to the Angels who are there present and observe our Carriage and Behaviour And to this the Apostle plainly hath respect in that place which by Interpreters hath been thought so difficult 1 Corinth 11.10 where he says That for this Cause in the Assemblies of Christians for the Worship of God the Woman ought to have a Vail upon her head in token of subjection to her Husband because of the Angels that is to be decently and modestly Attired in the Church because of the presence of the holy Angels before whom we should compose our selves to the greatest external Gravity and Reverence which the Angels behold and observe but cannot penetrate into the inward Devotion of our Minds which God only can do and therefore with regard to him who sees our Hearts we should more particularly compose our Minds to the greatest Sincerity and Seriousness our Devotion Which I would to God we would all duly consider all the while we are exercised in the Worship of God who chiefly regards our Hearts But we ought likewise to be very careful of our external Behaviour with a particular regard to the Angels who are present there to see and observe the outward Decency and Reverence of our Carriage and Deportment Of which we are very careful in the Presence even of an Earthly Prince when he either speaks to us or we make any Address to him And surely much more ought we to be so when we are in the immediate Presence of God and of his holy Angels every one of whom is a much greater Prince and of greater Power than any of the Princes of this World But how little is this considered I speak to our shame and by how few among us And as Angels are helpful to good Men in working out their Salvation throughout the course of their Lives so at the Hour of Death they stand by them to comfort them and assist them in that needful and dismal time in that last and great Conflict of frail Mortality with Death and the Powers of Darkness to receive their expiring Spirits into their Charge and to conduct them safely into the Mansions of the Blessed And to this purpose also the Jews had a Tradition that the Angels wait upon good Men at their Death to convey their Souls into Paradise Which is very much countenanc'd by our Saviour in the Parable of the rich man and Lazarus Luke 16.22 where it is said that when Lazarus died he was carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom Nay that the Angels have some Charge and Care of the Bodies of good Men after death may not improbably be gathered from that Passage m St. Jude v. 9. where Michael the Archangel is said to have contended with the Devil about the Body of Moses What the ground of this Controversie betwixt them was may be most probably explain'd by a passage Deut. 34.6 where it is said that God took particular care probably by an Angel concerning the burying so Moses in a certain Valley and it is added but no man knoweth of his Sepulchre unto this day The Devil it seems had a fair Prospect of laying a Foundation for Idolatry in the Worship of Moses after his death if he could have gotten the disposal of his Body to have buried it in some known and publick place And no doubt it would hare gratified him not a little to have made him who was so declared an Enemy to Idolatry all his life an occasion of it after his death But this God thought fit to prevent in pity to the People of Israel whom he saw upon all occasion so prone to Idolatry and for that Reason committed it to the Charge of Michael the Archangel to bury his Body secretly and this was the thing which Michael the Archangel contended with the Devil about But before I pass from this I cannot but take notice of one memorable Circumstance in this Contest mentioned likewise by St. Jude in these words yet Michael the Archangel when contending with the Devil he disputed about the Body of Moses durst not bring against him a railing accusation His Duty restrain'd him from it and probably his Descretion too As he durst not offend God in doing a thing so much beneath the Dignity and Perfection of his Nature so he could not but think that the Devil would have been too hard for him at railing a thing to which as the Angels have no disposition so I believe that they have no talent no faculty at it The cool Consideration whereof should make all Men especially those who call themselves Divines and especially in Controversies about Religion ashamed and afraid of this manner of disputing since Michael the Archangel even when he disputed with the Devil durst not bring against him a railing accusation But to proceed This we are sure of that the Angels shall be the great Ministers and Instruments of the Resurrection of our Bodies and the reunion of them to our Souls For so our Blessed Saviour has told us Matt. 24.30 31. That when the Son of man shall come in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory he shall send his Angels to gather the Elect from the four winds from one end of Heaven to the other Thus I have as briefly as I could and so far as the Scripture hath gone before us to give us light in this matter endeavoured to shew the several Ways wherein good Angels do Minister in behalf of t hem who shall be Heirs of Salvation All that now remains is to draw some Inferences from this discourse and so I shall conclude First what hath been said upon this Argument and so abundantly proved from Scripture may serve to establish us in the Belief of this Truth and to awaken us to a due Consideration of it That the Angels are invisible to us and that we are seldom sensible of their Presence and the good Offices they do us is no sufficient Reason against the Truth and Reality of the Thing if by other Arguments we are convinced of it For by the same Reason we may almost as well call in Question the Existance of God and of our own Souls neither of which do fall under the notice of our Senses and yet by other Arguments we are sufficiently convinc'd of them both So in this case the general Consent and Tradition of Mankind concerning the Existence of Angels and their Ministry about us especially being confirmed to us by clear and express Testimony of holy Scripture ought to be abundant Evidence to us when we consider that so general a Consent must have a proportionable Cause which can be no other but a general Tradition grounded at first upon Revelation and derived down to all succeeding Ages from the first Spring and Original of Mankind and since confirmed by manifold Revelations of
his Mercies sake in Jesus Christ who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Dominion and Power now and for ever Amen SERMON XVI The Love of God to Men in the Incarnation of Christ Preached in the Chapel of Lambeth-House ON Christmas-Day 1691. 1 JOHN IV. 9. In this was manifested the love of Go towards us because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through him THESE Words contain a clear and evident Demonstration of the Love of God to us In this was manifested the Love of God towards us VOL. II. that is by this it plainly appears that God had a mighty Love for us That he sent his only-begotten Son into the World that we might live through him In which we may consider this Three-fold Evidence of God's Love to Mankind I. That he should be pleased to take our Case into Consideration and to concern himself for our Happiness II. That he should design so great a Benefit to us which is here exprest by Life that we might live through him III. That he was pleased to use such a Means for the obtaining and procuring of this Benefit for us he sent his only-begotten Son into the World that we might live through him Each of these singly is a great Evidence of God's Love to us much more all of them together I. It is a great Evidence of the Love of God to Mankind that he was pleased to take our Case into Consideration Serm. XVI and to concern himself for our Happiness Nothing does more commend an Act of Kindness than if there be great Condescension in it We use to value a small Favour if it be done to us by one that is far above us more than a far greater done to us by a mean and inconsiderable Person This made David to break out into such Admiration when he considered the ordinary Providence of God towards Mankind Lord what is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou shouldst consider him This is a wonderful Condescension indeed for God to be mindful of Man At the best we are but his Creatures and upon that very Account at an infinite Distance from him so that were not he infinitely Good he would not be concerned for us who are so infinitely beneath the Consideration of his Love and Pity Neither are we of the highest Rank of Creatures we are much below the Angels as to the Excellency and Perfection of our Beings so that if God had not had a peculiar Pity and Regard to the Sons of Men he might have placed his Affection and Care upon a much nobler Order of Creatures than we are and so much the more miserable because they fell from a higher Step of Happiness I mean the lost Angels but yet for Reasons best known to his Infinite Wisdom God past by them and was pleased to consider us This the Apostle to the Hebrews takes notice of as an Argument of God's peculiar and extraordinary Love to Mankind that he sent his Son not to take upon him the Nature of Angels but of the Seed of Abraham Now that he who is so far above us and after that we by wilful Transgression had lost our selves had no Obligation to take Care of us but what his own Godness laid upon him that he should concern himself so much for us and be so solicitous for our Recovery this is a great Evidence of his Kindness and Good-will to us and cannot be imagined to proceed from any other Cause II. Another Evidence of God's great Love to us is that he was pleased to design so great a Benefit for us This the Scripture expresseth to us by Life and it is usual in Scripture to express the best and most desirable things by Life because as it is one of the greatest Blessings so it is the Foundation of all other Enjoyments And therefore the Apostle useth but this one word to express to us all the Blessings and Benefits of Christ's coming into the World God sent his only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through him And this Expression is very proper to our Case because Life signifies the reparation of all that which was lost by the Fall of Man For Man by his willful Degeneracy and Apostacy from God is sunk into a State of Sin and Misery both which the Scripture is wont to express by Death In respect of our Sinful State we are Spiritually Dead and in respect of the Punishment and Misery due to us for our Sins we are Judicially Dead Dead in Law for the wages of Sin is Death Now God hath sent his Son into the World that in both these respects we might live through him 1. We were Spiritually Dead Dead in Trespasses and Sins as the Apostle speaks Eph. 2.1 2. You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world Every Wicked Man tho' in a Natural Sense he be Alive yet in a Moral Sense he is Dead So the Apostle speaking of those who live in sinful Lusts and Pleasures says of them that they are dead while they live 1 Tim. 5.6 What Corrupt Humours are to the Body that Sin is to the Soul their Disease and their Death Now God sent his Son to deliver us from this Death by renewing our Nature and mortifying our Lusts by restoring us to the Life of Grace and Holiness and destroying the Body of Sin in us that henceforth we should not serve Sin And that this is a great Argument of the mighty Love of God to us the Apostle tells us Eph. 2.4 5. God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ It is an Argument of the Riches of God's Mercy and of his great Love to us to recover us out of this sad and deplorable Case It is a kindness infinitely greater than to redeem us from the most wretched Slavery or to rescue us from the most dreadful and cruel Temporal Death and yet we should value this as a Favour and Benefit that could never be sufficiently acknowledg'd But God hath sent his Son to deliver us from a worse Bondage and a more dreadful kind of Death so that well might the Apostle ascribe this great Deliverance of Mankind from the slavery of our Lusts and the Death of Sin to the boundless Mercy and Love of God to us God who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith he loved us hath quickned us together with Christ even when we were dead in Sins when our Case was as desperate as could well be imagined then was God pleased to undertake this great Cure and to provide such a Remedy as cannot fail to be effectual for our Recovery if we will but make use of it 2. We
him King and spat upon him and under a pretence of rejoycing for his Birth to crucifie to our selves afresh the Lord of life and glory and to put him to an open shame I will conclude all with the Apostle's Exhortation Rom. 13.12 13 14. Let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the Armour of Light Let us walk decently as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christy and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Now to our most gracious and merciful God the great Friend and Lover of Souls who regarded us in our low and lost Condition and cast an Eye of pity upon us when we were in our Blood and no other Eye pityed us and when we had lost and ruined our selves was pleased in tender compassion to Mankind to send his only begotten Son into the World to seek and save us and by the Purity of his Doctrine and the Pattern of his Life and the Sacrifice of his Death to purchase Eternal Life for us and to direct and lead us in the way to it And to him also the Blessed Saviour and Redeemer of Mankind who came down from Heaven that he might carry us thither and took Human Nature upon him that we thereby might be made Partakers of a Divine Nature and humbled himself to Death even the Death of the Cross that he might exalt us to Glory and Honour and whilst we were bitter Enemies to him gave such a Demonstration of his Love to us as never any Man did to his best Friend Vnto him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb that was slain to God even our Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ the first begotten from the dead and the Prince of the kings of the Earth to him who hath loved us Serm. II. and washed us from our sins in his own Blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and honour dominion and power now and for ever Amen SERMON II. Christ Jesus the only Mediator between God and Men. Preached at St. Peter's Cornhill ON THE Feast of the Annunciation 1691. 1 Tim. II. 5 6. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all THESE Words contain in them these four Propositions three of them express and the fourth of them sufficiently implyed in the Text. I. That there is one God VOL. II. II. That there is one Mediator between God and men Christ Jesus III. That he gave himself a ransom for all IV. That the Mediation or Intercession of Jesus Christ is founded in the Redemption of Mankind For this seems to be the Reason why it is added that he gave himself a ransom for all to signifie to us that because he gave himself a ransom for all therefore he interceeds for all In virtue of that Sacrifice which he offered to God for the Salvation of Men he offers up our Prayers to God and therefore it is acceptable to him that we should pray for all men This seems to be the true connexion of the Apostle's Discourse and the force of his Reasoning about our putting up publick Prayers for all men I have in a former Discourse handled the first of these See a Sermon concerning the Unity of the Divine Nature Printed in the year 1693. I proceed now to the II. That there is one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus One Mediator that is But one for the expression is the very same concerning one God and one Mediator and therefore if the Apostle when he says there is one God certainly means that there is but one God it is equally certain that when he says there is one Mediator between God and men he means there is but one Mediator viz. Christ Jesus He is the only Mediator between God and Men. In the handling of this Argument I shall proceed in this Method 1. I shall endeavour to shew That God hath appointed but one Mediator or Advocate or Intercessor in Heaven for us in whose Name and by whose Mediation and Intercession we are to offer up our Prayers and Services to God 2. That this is most agreeable to one main End and Design of the Christian Religion and of our Saviour's coming into the World 3. That it is likewise evident from the Nature and Reason of the thing it self That there is but one Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us to offer up our Prayers to God and that there can be no more And then 4. and Lastly I shall endeavour to shew how contrary to the Doctrine of the Christian Religion concerning one Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome in this matter is in their Invocation of Angels and the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and making use of their Mediation and Intercession with God for Sinners as likewise how contrary it is to the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Christian Church And then I shall answer their several Pretences for this Doctrine and Practice and shew that this Practice is not only needless but useless and unprofitable and not only so but very dangerous and impious First I shall endeavour to shew That God hath appointed but one Mediator or Advocate or Intercessor in Heaven for us in whose Name and by whose Intercession we are to offer up all our Prayers and Services to God Besides that it is expresly said here in the Text there is but one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus and that the Scripture no where mentions any other I say besides this we are constantly directed to offer up our Prayers and Thanksgivings and to perform all Acts of Worship in his Name and no other and with a Promise that the Prayers and Services which we offer in his Name will be graciously answered and accepted John 14.13 14. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son If ye shall ask any thing in my name I will do it And Ch. 16.23 24. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be be full In that day that is when I have left the World and am gone to my Father as he explains it at the 28th verse In that day ye shall ask me nothing but whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you That is You shall not need to address your Prayers to me but to my Father in my Name And ver 26 27. At that day ye shall ask in my name that is from the time
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 havâ— 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
of any Religion that ever yet appeared in the World And this is a great Advantage indeed But by this alone it could never have been able to have broken through all that mighty Opposition and Resistance which was made against it and therefore that it might be able to encounter this with Success 2. God was pleased to accompany the first Preaching of it with a mighty and sensible Presence and Power of his Spirit And this brings me to the Second Part of the Text the Reason of the wonderful Efficacy and Success which the Apostles had in the Preaching of the Gospel the Lord wrought with them and confirmed the Word with signs following Which words express to us that Miraculous Power of the Holy Ghost which accompanied the first Preaching of the Gospel by which I do not intend to exclude the inward Operation of God's Holy Spirit upon the Minds of Men secretly moving and inclining those to whom the Gospel was Preached to embrace and entertain it which the Scripture elsewhere speaks frequently of and may possibly be intended in the first of these Expressions the Lord working with them and the latter may only be meant of the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit with regard to which God is said to confirm the Word with signs following or accompanying it But I rather think they are both intended to express the same thing and that the latter is only added by way of explication of the former to shew more particularly how the Lord wrought with them namely by giving Confirmation to their Doctrine by those miraculous Gifts and Powers of the Spirit which they were endowed withal the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following that is with those Miracles which accompanied the first Preaching of the Gospel For these words do plainly refer to the Promise of the Spirit at the 17th verse and these signs shall follow them that believe which is the Reason why they are here call'd signs following that is Miracles which accompanied the Word that was Preached And that this is the full meaning of this Text will appear by comparing it with one or two more Rom. 15.18 19. where St. Paul speaking of the things which Christ had wrought by him to make the Gentiles obedient to the Gospel he says they were done through mighty signs and wonders by the Power of the Spirit of God which is the same with that which is said here in the Text of the Lord 's working with the Apostles and confirming the Word with signs following So likewise Heb. 2.3 4. the Apostle there tells us that the Gospel which was first spoken by the Lord was confirmed by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost So that the great Confirmation which is said here to be given to the Gospel was by the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit which were poured forth upon the Apostles and Primitive Christians In speaking of which I shall briefly do these Two things I. Give an account of the Nature of these Gifts and of the Vse and End to which they served And then shew in the II. Place how the Gospel was Confirmed by them I. For the Nature of these Gifts and the Vse and End to which they were designed They are those Miraculous Powers which by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the day of Pentecost the Apostles were endowed withall to qualifie them to Publish the Gospel with more speed and success Such was the Gift of speaking divers Languages and the Gift of Interpreting things spoken in divers Languages And these Two Gifts were not necessarily united in the same Person for the Apostle tells us that some had the one and some the others the Gift of Prophecy and foretelling things to come which was always a sign of a Person Divinely Inspired the Miraculous Powers of Healing Diseases of Raising the Dead and of Casting out Devils a Power of inflicting Corporal Diseases and Punishments upon scandalous and obstinate Christians who would not submit to the Apostles Authority and Government which is in Scripture call'd a delivering up to Satan for the destruction or tormenting of the Body that the Soul may be saved nay in some cases this Power extended to the inflicting of Death it self as in the case of Ananias and Saphira Not that all these Miraculous Powers were given to every one of the Apostles or that they could exercise them at all times some were bestowed upon one and some upon another according to God's good pleasure and as was most expedient for the Vse and Benefit of the Church and most subservient to those Ends for which God gave them only we find that all the Apostles had the Gift of Tongues and that the Power of Casting out Devils in the name of Christ was common to every Christian and continued in the Church for a long time after the other Gifts were ceased as Tertul. Arnob. and Min. Felix do testifie even of their own times But II. I shall briefly shew how the Gospel was Confirmed by these Miraculous Gifts Now besides the particular Vses and Ends of those Miraculous Gifts as the Gift of Tongues did evidently serve for the more speedy Planting and Propagating of the Christian Religion in the World and the Power of inflicting Corporeal Punishments in a Miraculous manner upon Scandalous and Disobedient Christians did maintain the Power and Authority of the Apostles and was instead of an ordinary Magistratical Power which Christians were destitute of whilst the Roman Empire continued Heathen I say besides the particular Ends and Vses of all these Miraculous Gifts they did all in general as they were Miracles serve for the Confirmation of the Gospel The Apostles delivered the Doctrine of Christ and were Witnesses of his Resurrection from the dead as the great Miracle whereby his Doctrine was confirmed now there was all the Reason in the World to believe them whom God was pleased to give such a Testimony from Heaven for who could make any doubt of the Truth of Their Testimony concerning the Resurrection of Christ who were enabled to raise others from the dead and by many other wonderful things which they did gave such clear Testimony that God was with them Never had any Religion fewer worldly Advantages to recommend it and so little temporal Countenance and Assistance to carry it on but what it wanted from Men it had from God for he gave witness to it with signs and wonders and divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost God seems on purpose to have stript it of all Secular Advantages that the Christian Religion might be perfectly free from all suspition of Worldly Interest and Design and that it might not owe its Establishment in the World to the Wisdom and Contrivance of Men but to the Arm and Power of God The Inferences I shall at present make from this Discourse shall be these I. To give
leaving a Good Name behind them and of Perpetuating the Fame and Glory of their Actions to after Ages Upon this ground chiefly many of the Bravest Spirits among the Heathen were animated to Virtue and with the hazard of their lives to do great and glorious Exploits for their Country And certainly it is an Argument of a great Mind to be moved by this Consideration and a sign of a low and base Spirit to neglect it He that hath no regard to his Fame is lost to all purposes of Virtue and Goodness when a Man is once come to this not to care what others say of him the next step is to have no care what himself does Quod conscientia est apud Deum id fama est apud homines what Conscience is in respect of God that is Fame in respect of Men. Next to a good Conscience a clear Reputation ought to be to every Man the dearest thing in the World Men have generally a great value for Riches and yet the Scripture pronounceth him the happier Man that leaves a Good Name than him that leaves a great Estate behind him Prov. 22.1 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches If then we have any regard to a Good Name the best way to secure it to our selves is by the holy and virtuous Actions of a good Life Do well and thou shalt be well spoken of if not now yet by those who shall come after the surest way to glory and honour and immortality is by a patient continuance in well-doing God hath engaged his promise to us to this purpose 1 Sam. 2.30 Them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed The name of the wicked shall rot says Solomon Prov. 10.7 But God doth usually take a particular care so preserve and vindicate their Memory who are careful to keep his Covenant and remember his Commandments to do them 3dly and lastly When ever we pretend to do honour to the Memory of Good Men let us charge our selves with a strict Imitation of their Holiness and Virtue The greatest honour we can do to God or Good Men is to endeavour to be like them to express their Virtues and represent them to the World in our lives Upon these Days we should propound to our selves as our Patterns all those holy and excellent Persons who have gone before us the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour and all those blessed Saints and Martyrs who were faithful to the death and have received a crown of life and immortality We should represent to our selves the Piety of their Actions and the Patience and Constancy of their Sufferings that we may imitate their Virtues and be followers of them who through faith and patience have inherited the promises and seeing we are compast about with such a cloud of witnesses we should lay aside every weight and run with patience the race which is set before us Let us imagine all those great Examples of Piety and Virtue standing about us in a throng and fixing their Eyes upon us How ought we to demean our selves in such a Presence and under the eye of such Witnesses and how should we be ashamed to do any thing that is unworthy of such excellent Patterns and blush to look upon our own lives when we remember theirs Good God! at what a distance do the greatest part of Christians follow those Examples and while we honour them with our lips how unlike are we to them in our lives Why do we thus reproach our selves with these glorious Patterns Let us either resolve to imitate their Virtues or to make no mention of their Names for while we celebrate the Examples of Saints and Holy Men and yet contradict them in our lives we either mock them or upbraid our selves Now the God of Peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ c. SERMON VIII The Duty of imitating the Primitive Teachers and Patterns of Christianity Preached on All-Saints Day 1684. HEB. XIII 7. The latter Part of the Verse Whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation The whole Verse runs thus Remember them which have the Rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation THE great Scope and Design of this Epistle is to perswade the Jews who were newly converted to Christianity VOL. II. to continue stedfast in the Profession of it notwithstanding all the Sufferings and Persecutions it was attended withall and to encourage them hereto among many other Arguments which the Apostle makes use of he doth several times in this Epistle propound to them the Examples and Patterns of Saints and Holy Men that were gone before them especially those of their own Nation who in their respective Ages had given remarkable Testimony of their Faith in God and constant Adherence to the Truth Ch. 6.11 12. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end that ye be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises And Ch. 11. he gives a Catalogue of the Eminent Heroes and Saints of the Old Testament who by Faith had done such Wonders and given such Testimony of their Patience and Constancy in doing and suffering the Will of God from whence he infers Ch. 12.1 that we ought to take Pattern and Heart from such Examples to persevere in our Christian course Serm. VIII Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of Martyrs or Witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us especially since they had greater Examples than these nearer to them and more fresh in Memory the great Example of our Lord the Founder of our Religion and of the first Teachers of Christianity the Disciples and Apostles of our Lord and Saviour The Example of our Lord himself the Captain and Rewarder of our Faith v. 2. of that 12th Ch. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame v. 3. For consider him who endured such contradiction of sinners a-against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds This indeed is the great Pattern of Christians and in regard of the great Perfection of it surpasseth all other Patterns and seems to make them useless as having in it the Perfection of the Divinity not in its full brightness which would be apt to dazle rather than direct us but allayed and shadowed with the Infirmities of Humane Nature and for that Reason more accommodate and familiar to us than the Divine Perfections abstractedly considered But yet because our Blessed Saviour was God as well as Man and clear of all stain of sin for tho' he was cloathed with
the Infirmities yet he was free from the Corruption of Humane Nature therefore the Examples of meer Men liable to sin as we are may in many respects be more suitable and accomodate to encourage us to the imitation of those Virtues which are attainable by us in this state of Imperfection for which Reason the Apostle hath thought fit likewise to propose to us the highest Examples of that kind the first Teachers of our Religion for of these he seems to speak here in the Text namely those Apostles or Apostolical Men by whom they had been instructed in the Faith of Christ but who were now departed this life it being very probable that the Apostle here speaks of such as were dead when he says Remember them which have the rule over you or those that have been your Guides who have spoken to you the word of God whose Faith follow considering the end of their conversation I say this is very probable because he minds them to remember them which supposeth them to be absent but especially because he minds them to consider the end of their conversation by which surely he means the Blessed State of those Good Men after Death which is elsewhere called the end of our faith even the salvation of our souls 1 Pet. 1.9 So likewise Rom. 6.22 this is said to be the End of a holy Life ye have your fruit unto holiness and the End everlasting life And it very much favours this Interpretation that the Apostle afterwards speaks of the living Guides and Governours of the Church v. 17. Obey them which have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls So that it is highly probable that the Apostle here speaks of such Guides and Governours of the Church as had once been over them but were now departed this Life and therefore he might with more freedom and less envy recommend their Example to them and bid them call to mind their Faith and exemplary Conversation among them and propose it for a Pattern to themselves considering the happy End of it viz. The Blessed State they were now in and the Glorious Reward they were made Partakers of in another Life In the Words thus explained you have I. A Duty enjoyned which is to propose to our selves for our Imitation the Examples of Good Men that have gone before us especially the primitive Patterns of Christianity and the first Teachers of our Religion Remember them which have been your Guides and have spoken to you the Word of God whose Faith follow II. The Motive or Encouragement to it from the Consideration of the Reward of it Considering the End of their Conversation I. The Duty enjoyned which is to propose to our selves for our Imitation the Example of Good Men that have gone before us especially the Primitive Patterns of Christianity and first Teachers of our Religion Remember them that have had the rule over you that have been your Guides and have spoken to you the word of God whose Faith follow In which Words the Apostle bids them call to mind their first Guides and Instructors in Christianity whom they had known and heard and conversed with in this World but who were now rested from their labours and were receiving the Reward of them to remember the Doctrines they heard from them and the Virtues they had seen in them and to embrace the one and imitate the other Thus We cannot remember the Primitive Teachers and Patterns of Christianity the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour became we did not personally know them and converse with them living at the distance of many Ages from their time But we may do that which is equivalent and a kind of Remembrance of them we may commemorate their Faith and the Virtue and Holiness of their Lives and what we hear and read of them we may propose for Patterns to our selves and copy them out in our Lives and Actions And this is our Duty and the same in substance with theirs who had the happiness to know and converse with those excellent Persons to hear them Preach and to see the Rules and Precepts of that Holy Doctrine which they Taught exemplified in their Lives In the handling of this Argument I shall do these Three things First Shew why amongst all the Examples of Good Men we should more especially propose to our Imitation the Primitive Teachers and Patterns of our Religion Secondly Wherein we should Imitate them The Apostle expresseth it in one Word in their Faith whose Faith follow Thirdly The Encouragement to this from the Consideration of the happy State they are in and the glorious Reward they are made Partakers of Considering the End of their Conversation First I shall endeavour to shew why among all the Examples of Good Men we should more especially propose to our Imitation the Primitive Teachers and Patterns of our Religion I mean the holy Apostles of our Lord and Saviour whose Faith we should endeavour to follow and to Imitate the holiness and virtue of their Conversation For These certainly come nearest to that most Perfect and Excellent Pattern of all Goodness our Blessed Saviour and are the fairest Transcripts of that unblemisht Original Hence it is that St. Paul so frequently exhorts Christians to Imitate his Example and the Examples of the other Apostles it being reasonable to presume that They came nearest to the Pattern of our Lord. 1 Cor. 11.1 Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ Phil. 3.17 Brethren be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an Ensample For our Conversation is in Heaven And this is reasonable that the first in every kind should be the Rule and Pattern of the rest and of all that follow after because it is likely to be most perfect In process of Time the best Institutions are apt to decline and by insensible degrees to swerve and depart from the Perfection of their first state and therefore it is a good Rule to preserve things from corruption and degeneracy often to look back to the first Institution and by that to correct those Imperfections and Errors which will almost unavoidably creep in with Time If we would preserve that Purity of Faith and Manners which our Religion requires we should have frequent recourse to the Primitive Teachers and Patterns of Christianity and endeavour to bring our Belief and Lives to as near a Conformity with theirs as is possible Who so likely to deliver the Faith and Doctrine of Christ pure and uncorrupted as the Primitive Teachers of it who received it from our Lord himself and were by an extraordinary assistance of the Holy Spirit secured from Error and Mistake in the delivery of it And who so likely to bring their Lives and Conversations to an exact Conformity with this holy Doctrine as they who were so throughly Instructed in it by the best Master and shewn the Practice of it in the most perfect Example
necessary if we expect the Crown of Life and hope for the same happy End which they had for none but they that continue to the end shall be saved 4. We should imitate them in the efficacy and fruitfulness of their Faith in the Practice and Virtues of a good Life Whose faith follow considering the end of their Conversation that is their Perseverance in a holy Course to the end And these must never be separated a sound Faith and a good Life Without this our Faith is barren and dead as St. James tells us ch 2. v. 17. Our Knowledge and Belief of the Christian Doctrine must manifest it self in a good Conversation Who is a wise man says the same St. James ch 3. v. 13. Who is a wise man and endowed with knowledge amongst you Let him shew-out of a good conversation his works This is a faithful saying saith St. Paul to Titus ch 3. v. 8. and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they who have believed in God be careful to maintain good works And herein the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour were eminent Examples They lived as they Taught and Practised the Doctrine which they Preached So St. Paul strictly chargeth Timothy 1 Tim. 4.12 Be thou an example of the Believers in word in conversation in charity in faith in purity And our Saviour tells us that hereby chiefly false Prophets and Teachers might be known from the true Apostles of Christ Matth. 7.20 By their fruits ye shall know them And indeed we do not follow the faith of those Excellent Persons if we do not abound in all the fruits of righteousness which by Jesus Christ are to the praise and glory of God I come now to the Third and Last Thing I Proposed viz. the Encouragement to this from the Consideration of the happy state of those Persons who are proposed to us for Patterns and the glorious Reward which they are made Partakers of in another World Considering the end of their Conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their egress or departure out of this Life into a Blessed and Glorious State where they have received the Crown and Reward of their Faith and Patience and Pious Conversation in this World or else which comes much to one considering the conclusion of their Lives with what Patience and Comfort they left the World and with what joyful Assurance of the happy Condition they were going to and were to continue in for ever And this is a great encouragement to Constancy and Perseverance in Faith and Holiness to see with what Chearfulness and Comfort good Men die and with what a firm and steady Perswasion of the Happiness they are entring upon For who would not be glad to leave the World in that Calmness and Serenity of Mind and comfortable Assurance of a Blessed Eternity Bad Men wish this and are ready to say with Balaam Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his But if we would have the Comfort of such a Death we must live such Lives and imitate the Faith and good Conversation of those whom we desire to resemble in the manner of their Death and to go into the same Happy State that they are in after Death If we do not make their Lives our Pattern we must not expect to be conformable to to them in the happy Manner of their Death When we hear of the Death of an eminent good Man we do not doubt but he is happy and are confident that he will meet with the Reward of his Piety and Goodness in another World If we believe this of him let us endeavour to be like him that we may attain the same Happiness which we believe him to be possest of and as the Apostle exhorts ch 6.12 Let us not be slothful but followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Let us shew the same Diligence that they did that we may have the same full Assurance of Hope unto the End which they had The Inference from this Discourse which I have made upon this Argument is to shew what Use we ought to make of these excellent Examples which are set before us of the first Founders and Teachers of our Religion and what is the proper Honour and Respect which we ought to pay to their Memory Not Invocation and Adoration but a zealous Imitation of their Faith and good Conversation The greatest Honour we can do them the most acceptable to God the most grateful to them and the most beneficial to our selves is to endeavour to be like them Not to make any Images and Likeness of them to fall down before them and worship them but to Form the Image of their Faith and Virtues upon our Hearts and Lives Not to Pray to them but to Praise God for such bright and glorious Examples and to endeavour with all our Might to imitate their Faith and Patience and Piety and Humility and Meekness and Charity and all those other Virtues which were so resplendent in them And this is to remember the Founders of our Religion as we ought to follow their Faith and to consider the end of their Conversation Had the Christian Religion required or intended any such thing as of latter Times hath been practised in the World it had been as easy for the Apostle to have said Remember them that have been your Guids and have spoken to you the Word of God to erect Images to them and to worship them with due Veneration and to pray to them and make use of their Intercession But no such thing is said or the least Intimation given of it either in this Text or any other in the whole Bible but very much to the contrary Their Example indeed is frequently recommended to us for our Imitation and Encouragement and for this Reason the Providence of God hath taken particular Care that the Memory of the Apostles and so many primitive Christians and Martyrs should be transmitted to Posterity that Christians in all succeeding Ages might propound these Patterns to themselves and have perpetually before their Eyes the Piety and Virtue of their Lives and their patient and constant Sufferings for the Truth that when God shall please to call us to the like Tryal we may not be wearied and faint in our Minds but being compassed about with such a Cloud of Witnesses having so many Examples in our Eye of those who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises and do now as it were look down from their happy State upon us here below who are combating with manifold Temptations to see how we behave and acquit our selves in our Christian Course we may take encouragement to our selves from such Examples and such Spectators to run with Patience the Race which is set before us I know indeed that other Use than this hath been and is at this Day made of the Memory of the Saints and Martyrs of former Ages very dishonourable to God and
that their works shall be rewarded but that they shall go along with them and that they are blessed upon this Account and this implies that they shall receive a sure Reward For as the Apostle Reasons God is not unrighteous to forget our Work and Labour of Love Verily there is a Reward for the righteous as sure as there is a God that judgeth in the Earth But how Great and Glorious that shall be I am not in any measure able to declare to you It may suffice that the Scripture hath assured us in general that God is the Rewarder of Good Men and that he will make them Happy not according to what can now enter into our narrow Thoughts but according to the exceeding greatness of his Power and Goodness If we are to receive our Reward from God we need not doubt but it will be very large and such as is every way worthy of him to bestow For he is a great King and of great Goodness and we may safely refer our selves to him in confidence that he will consider us not according to the Meanness of our Service but according to the Vastness of his Treasures and the Infinite Bounty of his Mind If he hath promised to make us Happy tho' he have not particularly declared to us wherein this Happiness shall consist yet we may trust him that made us to find out ways to make us happy and may believe that he who made us without our Knowledge or desire is able to make us Happy beyond them both Only for the greater Encouragement of our Holiness and Obedience tho' he hath promised to Reward every Good Man far beyond the Proportion of any Good he hath or can do yet he hath declared that these Rewards shall be proportionably greater or less according to the degree of every Man's Piety and Virtue So our Saviour tell us that they who are persecuted for righteousness sake great shall be their reward in heaven Matt. 5.12 That there will be a difference between the Reward of a righteous Man and a Prophet that is of one who is more publickly and eminently useful for the Salvation of others And among those who are Teachers of others they that are more industrious and consequently more likely to be successful in this Work shall have a more Glorious Reward as we are told by the Angel Dan. 12.3 And they that be Wise or as it is in the Margin rendred they that be Teachers shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever So likewise we find in the Parable of the Talents that he that improv'd his Talent to Ten was made Ruler over Ten Cities And St. Paul 2 Cor. 9.6 speaking of the Degrees of Mens Charity and Liberality towards the Poor says expresly He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly but he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully which by Proportion of Reason may be extended to the Exercise of all other Graces and Virtues 1 Cor. 15.41 42. The Apostle there represents the different Degrees of Glory which Good Men shall be invested with at the Resurrection by the different Glory and Splendor of the Heavenly Luminaries There is one glory of the Sun another of the Moon and another glory of the Stars for one Star differeth from another Star in glory So also is the Resurrection of the dead So that the more any Man suffers for God and the more Patiently he Suffers the more Holily and Virtuously the more Charitably and Usefully he lives in this World the more good Works will accompany him into the next and the Greater and more Glorious Reward he may hope to receive there which as the Apostle Reasons in the Conclusion of that Chapter concerning the Doctrine of the Resurrection ought to be a mighty Encouragement to every one of us not only to be stedfast and unmoveable that is fix'd and resolute in the Profession and Practice of our Religion but abounding likewise in the work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our labour is not in vain in the Lord. Every Degree of Diligence and Industry in the Work and Service of God will most certainly one day turn to a happy Account Having therefore such Promises dearly Beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God The more perfectly holy we are here on Earth the more perfectly happy we shall be in Heaven and continue so to all Eternity I have now done with the Two Reasons which are here given in the Text of the Happiness that Good Men such as die in the Lord shall be made Partatakers of in another Life because they rest from their labours and their works accompany them they are freed from all the Evils which they suffer'd and shall receive the Reward of all the Good they have done in this Life I should now have proceeded to make some Inferences from this Discourse But those I will reserve for another Discourse on this Subject All that I shall add at present as the Application of what I have already said is That this should stir us up to a careful and zealous Imitation of those Blessed Persons described in the Text who are dead in the Lord and are at rest from their Labours and whose works do accompany them Let us Imitate them in their Faith and Patience in their Piety and Good Works and in their Constancy to God and his Truth which was dearer to them than their Lives Thus their Virtues and Sufferings are described in the Visions of this Book Chap. 13.10 Here is the Patience and the Faith of the Saints and Chap. 14.12 Here is the Patience of the Saints Here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus and Chap. 12.11 And they overcame by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their Testimony and they loved not their Lives unto the Death In this Way and by these Steps all the Saints and Martyrs of all Ages have ascended up to Heaven and attained to that Blessed State which they are now Possessed of after all the Evils which they Suffered in this World They are now at rest from their labours and all the good Works which they have done are gon along with them and they are now and shall for ever be receiving the Comfort and Reward of them And if we tread in their Steps by a zealous Imitation of the Piety and Holiness of their Lives and of the Constancy and Patience of their Sufferings we shall one Day be Translated into their Blessed Society and made Partakers with them of the same Glorious Reward If we have our Fruit unto Holiness our end shall be everlasting life If we be faithful unto death we shall receive a Crown of Life Let us then as the Apostle to the Hebrews exhorts Chap. 6.11 12. Every one of us shew the same Diligence to the full assurance
Text against Purgatory Sufficient for what Not to prove Purgatory as they generally pretend from this Text but to save it harmless from it as if we had pretended that this Text makes against it But there are others that make against it with a Witness Not only the perpetual Silence of Scripture about it when there are so many far occasions of speaking of it as in the Parable of the rich man and Lazarus where the future State is so particularly described and yet no mention made nor the least intimation given of this Third State But besides the Silence of Scripture about it there are several Passages utterly inconsistent with it as namely St. Paul's Discourse in the beginning of the Fifth Chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians where he plainly declares the Assurance he had that all sincere Christians so soon as they quit the Body do pass into Happiness For we know says he that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens The plain meaning of which is that so soon as we quit the One we shall pass into the Other And this Consideration he tells us made Christians weary of this World and willing to die Ver. 2. For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven and Ver. 4. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened But had Christians believed that the greatest part of them when they left the Body were to go into Purgatory to be terribly Tormented there they would not have been in such haste to die but would have protracted the time as long as they could and have contentedly born the burden of this earthly Tabernacle rather than to quit it for a Condition a Thousand times more intolerable But St. Paul expresly says that Christians knew the contrary and that as soon as ever they went out of the Body they should be happy and with the Lord and that this gave them courage against the Fears of Death Ver. 6. Therefore we are always confident 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bono igitur animo sumus Therefore we are always of good courage knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord and Ver. 8. we are of good courage I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. The plain Sense of which is that Christians were willing rather to die than to live because they knew that so soon as they left the Body and departed this Life they should be present with the Lord. But now if the Doctrine of Purgatory be true this whole Reasoning of St. Paul proceeds upon a gross Mistake and therefore I am certain it is not true And so does the voice from Heaven here in the Text Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord that they may rest from their labours For there is no Reason to restrain this general expression that die in the Lord only to the Martyrs for tho' they are certainly included and prehaps Primarily intended in it yet this Phrase comprehends all those who die in the faith of Christ and is most frequently so used in the New Testament But let this suffice to have been spoken of this matter especially since Bishop Fisher and several of their own Learned Writers do so frankly acknowledge that their Doctrine of Purgatory hath no sufficient Ground in Scripture Other Reasons I grant they have for it which make them very loth to quit it it is a very Profitable Doctrine and therefore they have taken care to have it more abundantly confirm'd by Apparitions of Souls from the dead than any other Doctrine whatsoever In short how little soever they can say for it it is in vain to go about to persuade them to part with it Demetrius the Silver Smith argued as well as he could for his Goddess Diana from the universal consent of the World in the Worship of her the great Goddess Diana whom all Asia and the World Worshipeth But his trusty Argument to his Workmen was Sirs ye know that by this Craft we have our Wealth and this our Craft is in danger to be set at nought II. Here is a mighty encouragement to Piety and Virtue to consider that all the good we do in this World will accompany us into the other Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord for their works accompany them When we come to die we can call nothing our own but the Good Works which by the Grace of God we have been enabled to do in this Life These will stick by us and bear us company into the other World when we shall be stript of all other things and forc'd to part from them whether we will or no. Our Riches and our Honours our Sensual Pleasures and Delights will all take their leave of us when we leave this World nay many times they do not accompany us so far as the Grave but leave us very unkindly and unseasonably when we have the greatest need and use of them There is one way indeed whereby we may secure our Riches and make sure Friends to our selves of them by laying them out in Charity By this means we may send them before us and consign them over to another World to make way for our reception there So our Lord assures us Luke 12.33 that by giving Alms we provide our selves bags which wax not old a treasure in the Heavens which faileth not and Luke 16.9 that by this way we may make to our selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when we fail they may recieve us into everlasting habitations The Mammon of unrighteousness What is that It is what the Scripture elsewhere calls deceitful riches because in other ways in which Men commonly lay them out they turn to no certain account but one way or other do deceive and frustrate our Expectation but by disposing of them in Charity to the relief of the Poor and Persecuted we make sure Friends of them and consign the Effects of them to our certain Benefit and Advantage in another World And as Charity so likewise all other Graces and Virtues are that good part which cannot be taken away from us All the good Actions that we do in this Life will go with us to the Grave and bear us company into the other World and will stand by us when we come to appear before our Judge and through the Merits of our Blessed Saviour will procure for us at the Hands of a Gracious and Merciful God a most Ample and Eternal Reward And what an encouragement is this to Holiness and Virtue to consider that it will be all our own another day and turn to our unspeakable advantage at our great Account To be assured that whoever serves God faithfully lays up so much Treasure for himself which he may take along with him into the other
were likewise judicially Dead Dead in Law being Condemned by the just Sentence of it So soon as ever we sinned Eternal Death was by the Sentence of God's Law become our due Portion and Reward and this being our Case God in tender Commiseration and Pity to Mankind was pleased to send his Son into the World to inter pose between the Justice of God and the Demerits of Men and by reversing the Sentence that was gone out against us and procuring a Pardon for us to rescue us from the Misery of Eternal Death and not only so but upon the condition of Faith and Repentance of Obedience and a Holy Life to bestow Eternal Life upon us and by this means to restore us to a better Condition than that from which we were fallen and to advance us to a Happiness greater than that of Innocency And was not this great Love to design and provide so great a Benefit and Blessing for us to send his Son Jesus to bless us in turning away every one of us from our Iniquities Our Blessed Saviour who came from the bosom of his Father and knew his tender Affection and Compassion to Mankind speaks of this as a most wonderful and unparallell'd expression of his Love to us John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son God so loved the world so greatly so strangely so beyond our biggest hopes nay so contrary to all reasonable expectation as to send his only-begotten Son to seek and to save the sinful Sons of Men. If it had only in general been declared to us that God was about to send his Son into the World upon some great design and been left to us to conjecture what his Errand and Business should be how would this have alarmed the guilty Consciences of sinful Men and fill'd them with infinite Jealousies and Suspicion with fearful expectations of Wrath and fiery Indignation to consume them For considering the great Wickedness and Degeneracy of Mankind what could we have thought but that surely God was sending his Son upon a design of vengeance to Chastise a Sinful World to Vindicate the Honour of his despised Laws and to revenge the multiplyed Affronts which had been offered to the highest Majesty of Heaven by his Pitiful and Ungrateful Creatures Our own Guilt would have been very apt to have fill'd us with such Imaginations as these that in all likelihood the Son of God was coming to Judgment to call the Wicked World to an Account to proceed against his Father's Rebels to pass Sentence upon them and to Execute the Vengeance which they had deserved This we might justly have dreaded and indeed considering our Case how ill we have deserved at God's Hands and how highly we have provoked him what other weighty Matter could we hope for But the Goodness of God hath strangely out-done our Hopes and deceived our Expectation so it follows in the next Words God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world intimating that this we might justly have imagin'd and feared but upon a quite contrary Design that through him the world might be saved What a surprize of Kindness is here that instead of sending his Son to condemn us he should send him into the world to save us to rescue us from the Jaws of Death and of Hell from that Eternal and Intolerable Misery which we had incurred and deserved And if he had proceeded no farther this had been wonderful Mercy and Kindness But his Love stopt not here it was not contented to spare us and free us from Misery but was restless till it had found out a way to bring us to Happiness for God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son not only that whosoever believes in him might not perish but might have everlasting life This is the Second Evidence of God's great Love to us the greatness of the Blessing and Benefit which he had designed and provided for us that we might live through him not only be delivered from Spiritual and Eternal Death but be made partakers of Eternal Life III. The last Evidence of God's great Love to us which I mentioned was this that God was pleased to use such a Means for the obtaining and procuring of this great Blessing and Benefit he sent his only-begotten Son into the World that we might live through him And this will appear to be great Love indeed if we consider these Four things 1. The Person whom he was pleased to employ upon this Design he sent his only-begotten Son 2. How much he abased him in Order to the effecting and accomplishing of this Design implyed in these words he sent him into the World 3. If we consider to whom he was sent to the World And 4. That he did all this voluntarily and freely out of his meer Pity and Goodness not constrain'd hereto by any Necessity not prevail'd upon by any Application or Importunity of ours nor oblig'd by any Benefit or Kindness from us 1. Let us consider the Person whom God was pleased to employ in this Design he sent his only-begotten Son no less Person than his own Son and no less dear to him than his only-begotten Son 1. No less Person than his own Son and the Dignity of the Person that was employed in our behalf doth strangely heighten and set off the Kindness What an Endearment is it of the Mercy of our Redemption that God was pleased to employ upon this Design no meaner Person than his own Son his begotten Son so he is called in the Text his Son in so peculiar a Manner as no Creature is or can be the Creatures below Man are call'd the Works of God but never his Children the Angels are in Scripture call'd the Sons of God and Adam likewise is call'd the Son of God because God made him after his own Image and Likeness in Holiness and Righteousness and in his Dominion and Sovereignty over the Creatures below him But this Title of begotten Son of God was never given to any of the Creatures Man or Angel for unto which of the Angels said he at any time thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee as the Apostle Reasons Heb. 1.5 He must be a great Person indeed to whom this Title belongs of the begotten Son of God and it must be a mighty Love indeed which moved God to employ so great a Person on the behalf of so pitiful and wretched Creatures as we are It had been a mighty Condescension for God to treat with us at all but that no less Person than his own Son should be the Embassadour is an astonishing Regard of Heaven to poor sinful Dust and Ashes 2 This Person was as dear to God as he was great he was his only-begotten Son It had been a great Instance of Abraham's Love and Obedience to God to have sacrificed a Son at his Command but this Circumstance makes it much greater that it was his only Son hereby