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
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
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
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
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
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