you have so done your Repentance will be rejected And if others plead their Justice and honesty that they never wronged or defrauded any body but always paid every Man his own the Judge will demand but what Good did you do with all the Wealth that I blessed your honest Diligence with all you have been just it is true but have you been charitable have you supplied the Needs of the Poor fed the Hungry cloath'd the Naked taken Care of the Sick and of the Prisoners c. If not your Justice will prove a lame and defective Vertue unable to support you and make you stand in that dreadful Judgment Now that there will be such an Audit wherein every Man shall be accountable to God for what he hath done in the Body the Resurrection of Christ which we now remember is the great and most convincing Proof As the Apostle teaches us in XVII Acts 30 31. where he saith God commands all Men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Which leads me now to the next general Head propounded in the Beginning V. Fifthly That the Resurrection of Christ is a most evident demonstration of future Rewards in the other World to all that live godly in Christ Jesus For as it verified his whole Gospel of which this is a Part that they that believe in him shall have everlasting life So it is an Instance and Example of the Truth of it that they who do well shall not go unrewarded how ill soever they be used here For our Lord is the first fruits of those that sleep and hath shown by what is done for him what he will certainly do for us And it is to be considered also that he hath power by his Resurrection to perform his own Promise The Gift of Eternal Life is in his own hands For this is the record that God hath given us eternal life and this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 John V. 11 12. That is all the Witnesses to the Truth of Christianity testifie this that God will give us Eternal Life and that it is in his Son's Power to bestow it And therefore he that is a Christian i. e. sincerely and effectually believes on his Son that Man may be confident of Eternal Life VI. Sixthly Which is the most powerful Encouragement to patient continuance in well doing though after all the good we do here we should suffer never so much for Righteousness sake This as well as the former would deserve to be enlarged if I had room for it in this Discourse which is to be confined within the bounds of a Sermon Which though I am unwilling to transgress yet I beg leave to say a few words of this last thing because my Text hath a particular respect to it The Apostle you heard in the beginning had exhorted his Son Timothy to endure hardship as a good Souldier of Jesus Christ and not to flinch from his Duty though he encountred in the discharge of it never so many difficulties Which he knew he would easily overcome if he did but remember Jesus his Lord and Master of the seed of David and how he was raised from the dead according to his Gospel This was sufficient to inspire him with Courage and Resolution if he always kept it in mind For what if he was persecuted What if he was reproached and vilified and turned out of doors c. So was David so was Jesus who was every way of the seed of David Both as he was born of that Family and as he endured the like Persecutions and vile Usage from the Pharisees as David had from Saul But both their Sufferings David's and and his ended at last in a Kingdom and as St. Paul saith elsewhere of our Saviour Though he was crucisied through weakness yet he lives by the power of God 2 Cor. XIII 4. Let us then be of good courage for because he lives we shall live also And where he is there shall his faithful servant be also So he hath told us himself who is the faithful and true witness the first begotten from the dead the Prince of all the Kings of the Earth Who will never suffer those who are faithful to him to lose by his Service but beget them all again after they are dead unto an endless and heavenly Life that they being Children of the Resurrection may reign with him in his celestial Kingdom Ye have heard saith St. James v. II. of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy For all his Affliction concluded in a far more flourishing Condition than he enjoyed before they befel him And if we could believe what is added in some Copies of the LXX to that Book he was also made Partaker of such an Honour as set a special mark of God's Favour upon him and declared how highly he valued his Patience For after the last words of that Book of Job according to the Original So Job died old and full of days some Greek Copies add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is written also that he should rise to life again with those whom the Lord raiseth up The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 again saith Olympiodorus denotes that he should have another Resurrection here besides that which he had from Poverty and Misery to a splendid State of Prosperity and that was when Christ rose from the dead When the graves were opened and many bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after his Resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared unto many XXVII Matth. 52 53. Now by Suidas and others it appears that there was a Tradition which some believed that Job was among those Saints that arose with our Saviour which if it be true was to demonstrate the high Esteem that God hath of humble Patience which moved him to do this Man the Honour of accompanying our Saviour at his Resurrection who had been so memorable for this Vertue For so Suidas his words are He triumphed gloriously after his Agonies he set up his Trophies Not such as those in the Olympicks or other celebrated Games among the Greeks but far more honourable For besides what God restored to him of worldly Blessings before he died this was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the last and greatest Prize which he won to rise to Life again with our Saviour when he overcame Death But howsoever that be we have a more sure word as St. Peter speaks upon which to build our Faith and support our Patience in well doing For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 1 Thess IV. 14. For he will appear the second time as you have hear'd and when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory Faithful is he that called you who also will do it Therefore be faithful unto death and he will give you a crown of life Thus I have shown you there was more to be seen in an empty Sepulchre than when the Corps was in it For if our Lord be risen and be not there aâ— the Angel said then we see he was the Son of God We see him that by suffering death was made a little lower than the Angels crowned with glory and honour We see that God is reconciled unto Sinners and that Death hath lost its Sting We see the Gospel is the Rule according to which we ought to order our Life We see our high anâ— heavenly calling in Christ Jesus And Lastly wâ— see that as glorious Things are laid up in store foâ— those that love and obey him so nothing can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus ouâ— Lord. And therefore my beloved Brethren be ye steadfastâ— unmoveable alway abounding in the work of the Lord for asmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vaiâ— in the Lord 1 Corinth XV. 58. Now the God of Peace that brought again from tâ—â— dead our Lord Jesus that great Sheperd of the Sheep through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant Make you perfect in every good work to do his wiâ—â— working in you that which is well pleasing in his sighâ— through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever aâ—â— ever Amen XIII Hebr. 20 21. FINIS
Houblon Mayor Cur ' Special ' tent ' apud Domum Mansion ' Owen Buckingham Mil ' un ' Vic' die Mercur ' xv die Aprilis in Hebdomada Paschae 1696. Annoque Regis Willielmi tertii Angliae c. octavo THis Court doth desire the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Ely to print his Sermon Preach'd on Monday last at the Parish-Church of St. Brides before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Governours of the several Hospitals of this City GOODFELLOW A SERMON Preach'd before the RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD MAYOR AND Court of Aldermen AT St. BRIDGET's CHURCH On EASTER-MONDAY 1696. By the Right Reverend Father in God SYMON Lord Bishop of ELY LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church Yard 1696. THE BISHOP of ELY's SERMON ON EASTER-MONDAY 1696. A SERMON Preach'd before the LORD MAYOR c. 2 TIM II. 8. Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my Gospel THese words are a solemn Charge of St. Pauls to his Son Timothy whom he had earnestly exhorted in the foregoing part of this Chapter to take care of three things First To continue constant in the Grace which he had received from our Lord i. e. in the Doctrin of Christianity v. 1. Thou therefore my Son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus Secondly To deliver this Doctrin to other faithful persons who might spread and publish it there where he could not preach it himself v. 2. And the things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also And Lastly Not to be moved by any troubles or difficulties that might come in his way to neglect his Duty or be less zealous in it but in his Christian Warfare to endure hardship as a good Souldier of Jesus Christ v. 3. This he illustrates and urges by three most apt Resemblances in the three following verses 4 5 6. Which shew that it was highly reasonable he should be no less diligent in his business than Souldiers and Wrestlers and Husbandmen are in theirs Who do not expect to carry away the Spoil to win the Crown or other Prize to reap the fruits of the Earth unless they fight and strive and that according to the Laws of the Combate and undergo those Labours that belong to their Employment These things he bids him consider and lay to heart v. 7. beseeching God to give him a right understanding in all things Now that he might never fail to do according to these directions he gives him the Charge which I have now read to remember that Jesus Christ of the Seed of David i. e. the true Messiah was raised from the dead according to the Gospel which he had heard him preach This if Timothy preached constantly to himself as well as others the Apostle knew that he would find it more powerful to animate and encourage him in the Christian Service and to make him unwearied and undaunted therein than any other consideration in the world could be So the Words you see do not lead me to prove the Resurrection of Christ from the dead for which I must refer you to the Gospel which he preached where you will find the belief of it grounded upon the most undoubted Testimonies but to shew you what necessity there is to remember this and inculcate it upon your selves and others That Jesus Christ was raised from the dead according to what we read in the Gospel Why should the Apostle may some say command this to be remembred above all other things Was there not as much cause to remember the Cross of Christ to reflect continually upon his Death and Passion his bitter Agonies and bloody Sweat his cruel Torments and all the vile Circumstances of his Sufferings Yes no doubt there was and is great reason to remember both But yet you may note that when the Apostles were to chuse a Person to succeed in the place of the Traitor Judas it was not that he might be a witness of Christs Passion but of his Resurrection Act. 1. 2â— This was the great Business of the Apostleship and the great Work also of the Holy Ghost which presently came down to joyn his Testimony with theirs as you read Act. 5. 32. We are witnesses of these things speaking of Christs Resurrection and so is the Holy Ghost which God hath given to them that obey him That therefore which they were peculiarly sent to testify with the conjunct Testimony of the Holy Ghost was above all things to be heartily believed and faithfully remembred and solemnly commemorated as it is at this Festival upon more days than one which our Ancestors with great reason have appointed for this purpose For this to give a general reason of it was the only thing whereof there was any doubt there being no question at all that our Saviour suffered and was exposed to publick shame All his Enemies saw him hang upon his Cross and were as ready as any other persons in the World to proclaim and publish every where that he was accused condemned and punished as a notorious Malefactor Nay they rejoyced in hope that they were rid of one who if he had still lived was like to draw all men after him They not only confessed but gloried that he was buried and shut up in his Grave where they thought to keep him so fast that he should never stir to trouble them any more But that he suffered unjustly and was wrongfully sentenced and put to death this they denyed and resolutely gainsaid And therefore would by no means grant that he was risen out of his Tomb which they saw plainly would be to reverse the Judgment they had passed upon him and to judg and condemn themselves as Murderers and Crucifiers of the Lord of Life This therefore being the great Controversie it was absolutely necessary that the Apostles should constantly assert and evidently prove the Resurrection of Christ above all other things if they meant to gain any Disciples to the crucified Christ And when they had gained them this was to be kept in mind and carefully preserv'd if they intended to have them abide in him as St. John speaks that is persist in the belief and practice of his Religion As I shall now proceed to shew by laying before you how much depends upon the Resurrection even all the Faith and Hope and Comfort of a Christian For I. First the Resurrection of Christ from the dead was the strongest Proof of the most fundamental Point in our Religion II Secondly It removed the greatest Scandal that lay â—n the way to the belief of that fundamental Poâ—â—t III. Thirdly It gave all Christians full Satisfaction thâ—â— God was abundantly satisfied with what our Saviour Christ had done and suffer'd IV. Fourthly It verified the whole Gospel which relies upon this as the undeniable Evidence of it
Thieves And whose Life was not valued by the wise Men of their Nation so much as the Life of a seditious Murderer The Gentiles also thought this Foolishness a meer sottish Humour of some dull People to addict themselves to the Service of a Man that hung upon a Gibbet and there made a most shameful End And so they might have thought still if it had not been for his Resurrection which took away this Scandal and made it appear that it was no Folly nor Disgrace to honour one whom God had most highly honoured above all other Men. His Glory now shone the brighter because the most base ignoble and infamous Death of all others could not obscure it He appeared now like this Sun which after it hath been a while wrap'd up in a very thick Cloud breaks forth with the greater Splendor This therefore was to be asserted and firmly setled because it advanced him above all other Law-givers whatsoever who still lie in their Tombs if their Ashes have not been long ago scattered into the Air and blown no body knows whether They have a Memory indeed in Story but it is that they are dead and have no Authority now to demand Obedience to their Laws This exalts our Blessed Lord and Saviour above the greatest Kings and Conquerors that ever have been in the World who after all their Atchievements over others were at last utterly defeated by Death and so vanquished as never to recover their Thrones any more Search after the Sepulchres of all the Caesars read their Inscriptions if there be any remaining and that which seems to raise their Names and to make them great in truth depresses them and lays them low since after the loftiest Titles upon their Monuments they confess them to to lie buried underneath Hic jacet terrarum Dominus Here lies the Lord of all the Earth was the highest Stile wherein the goodliest Monuments of Earthly Monarchs could speak But our Saviour's Tomb spake another Language or rather the Angels of God told his Disciples when they came to visit it Surrexit non est hic He is risen he is not here Why seek ye the living among the Dead XVI Mark 6. XXIV Luk. 5. He is Caelorum Dominus the Lord of the Heavens as well as of the Earth whether you shall see him ascend and there he shall live for evermore This great Lord never ceases to reign He hath no Successor in his Kingdom But as God himself sitteth King for ever and ever Which when the Nations of the World heard and it was substantially prov'd how could they chuse but say notwithstanding the Scandal of the Cross as they do in the Book of the Revelation Who would not fear thee O LORD thou King of Saints who would not glorifie thy Nome for thou only art Holy or Sacred Thy Throne O God as it is else where is for ever and ever the Scepter of thy Kingdom is a right Scepter Thou lovest Righteousness and hatest Iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oyle of gladness above thy Fellows that is raised him above all the Kings that ever were Thus with respect to Christ himself we ought to commemorate his Resurrection with the greatest Joy as I might show if it were not time to proceed to the other Particulars because it was in Order to his own Advancement to the Throne of Glory as the Reward of his ignominious Sufferings III. Thirdly As his Resurrection did him more Honour than his Death had done him Disgrace so it proved likewise that by his Death he had given to God all the Satisfaction that he desired And therefore is most necessary to be firmly believed and stedfastly preserved in our Memories that we who do confess him may all rest assured that by his Blood which he shed upon the Cross for us he hath made a compleat Propitiation for the Sins of all the World He himself said before he died VI. Joh. 51. that he would give his Flesh for the Life of the World that is offer up his own Body unto God a voluntary Sacrifice to preserve us from eternal Death For he laid down his Life of himself as he professed X. Joh. 18. and without his Consent no Man had power to take it away And he truly laid it down as the Blood of the New Testament for the Remission of Sins as he likewise himself speaks just before his Death XXVI Mat. 28. Now if his Blood had not been an acceptable Sacrifice unto God upon this Account for which it was offered or if there had remained any thing more to be done which God required or expected from him for the Expiation of our Sins which was the End he tells us of his Sacrifice God would not have raised him out of his Grave For that was not only to acquit him of all the pretended Crimes for which the Jews unjustly condemned him But to free him also from the Iniquity of us â—â—l which the Lord as the Prophet speaks LIII Isa â— laid upon him and to declare Publickly to alâ—â—â—e World that he had received full Satisfactiâ—n for them and demanded no more Nay by his Resurrection God not only testified that his Blood was most Precious in his Sight and had obtained what he intended but also enabled him to go with it himself into the Heavens there to perpetuate this Sacrifice to the End of the World and by Virtue of it make Intercession for us For we are to look upon his rising again after he was slain to be in order to his doing just as the High-Priest under the Law did who taking the Blood which had been shed at the Altar on the great Day of Atonement carried it into the most Holy Place where the Glory of the LORD resided and there presented it unto him From whence if he came forth alive it was a final Declaration that God was well pleas'd with the Sacrifice and was at Peace with his People In like manner did our Blessed Lord and Saviour who is both our great High-Priest and also our expiatory Sacrifice after his Blood had been shed upon the Cross gather it up again at his Resurrection and go with it into the highest Heavens there to appear with it in the Presence of God for us And from thence hath already begun to bless us by sending the Holy Ghost to us as an undoubted Testimony that his Blood hath made the Atonement which he designed Whereof we shall be more assured at the consummation of all things when we shall see him come in Person out of the most Holy Place at the last Day and appear alive the second time without Sin unto Salvation IX Heb. ult But for the present it is Evident by his Resurrection and his sending the Holy Ghost which Tertullian well calls his Vis vicaria or his Power which supplies his Place till he come again that he hath fully expiated our Sins so as to obtain an Eternal Redemption for us and
reply True if we were no more bound to Moses his Law than a Wife is bound to her Husband when he is dead your Argument would be good But how doth it appear that the Law of Moses is dead as it supposes For if it be not dead we are still tyed to it by your own Confession Unto this the Apostle goes on to give satisfaction in the following Words v. 4. Wherefore my Brethren i. e. if you allow my Principle then thus I demonstrate your Obligation to the Law ceases ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that ye should bring foâ—th fruit unto God In which Words he asserts that by the Death of Christ for that he means by his Body there was an end put to their Law From all Obligation to which they were as much released as a Wife is from her Husband when he is gone out of this World that 's the meaning of ye are become dead to the Law by the body of Christ for the whole Law of Moses depended upon their Sacrifices which all having respect to the Sacrifice of Christ his Body being offered up put a Conclusion to them which could have no effect if they continued them and demonstrated they had no Obligation to observe that Law But were left free now to subject themselves to a new Law which he calls being married to another and they might easily know whose Law that was even his who is raised from the dead They were really absolved from the Mosaical Religion by the Death of Christ's Body as much as a Wife is from her Husband when he is extinct But that which fully convinced them of it and moved them to embrace a New Religion was the Resurrection of that Body of Christ from the dead They could not have believed their Freedom and so none would have forsaken their old Discipline and betaken themselves to Christ if his Resurrection had not followed his Death which solidly proved the Efficacy of it to abolish the Law of Moses For this being established none could see any good Reason to adhere still to their former Rites and Ceremonies there being such a powerful Proof of the Authority of Christ to take them all away and settle a better way of living in their room which the Apostle calls bringing forth fruit unto God And as this was an Argument to perswade the Jews to forsake their Rites though appointed by God so it effectually prevailed with the Gentiles to renounce their idolatrous Worship as we read 1 Thess 1. 9 10. Ye know what manner of entrance we had unto you and how ye turned from Idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead c. We have all great reason so to do and to be exact and faithful in his Service looking upon our selves as most strictly tyed to the Observance of those Laws which are confirmed to be the Will of God by such a Demonstration as the Resurrection of him that gave them from the dead This evidently shews which is the other thing I mentioned II. That they are utterly inexcusable who break loose from the Laws of Christianity which hath excused us from all other Obligations For that very reason we are the more strictly bound to obey the Gospel because we are thereby absolved from the Law of Moses The Resurrection of Christ doth not more effectually prove for instance that the Sacrifices which he ordained and such like Rites are all abolish'd than it proves the indispensable Obligation that is upon us to offer unto God continually the Sacrifices which Christianity prescribes Which are principally these First The Sacrifice of a broken and contrite Heart truly grieved for our Sins past and sincerely resolved to do better for the time to come That is unfeigned Repentance which was ever necessary before that Law was given Secondly The Sacrifice of our own Body XII Rom. 1. That is of our selves to God which we must devote to him in Purity and Holiness Temperance and Soberness Meekness and Humility and such like Vertues which are infinitely more acceptable than all the Beasts in the World Thirdly The Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving to God XIII Heb. 15. who hath made us Partakers of his Grace in Christ which shews us the way to be more happy than we could possibly invent had we the whole World at will Fourthly The Sacrifice of all our Animosities and angry Resentments which must be intirely given up to God for this Reason Because Christ our Passover or Paschal Lamb is offered for us Therefore let us keep the feast not with the old leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth 1 Corinth V. 7 8. which was part of the Anthem yesterday For it is vain to pretend to love God if we hate one another The Praises we bestow upon him will signifie nothing if we jarr and quarrel among our selves This will spoil all the Melody of our Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs wherein at this Festival we laud his Holy Name Lastly The Sacrifice of Alms seems to be the chief of all which the Apostle would no more have us to forget than the Resurrection of Christ from the dead XIII Heb. 16. But to do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased He had been proving in the foregoing part of the Epistle that Christ being risen from the dead was not only gone into the Heavens but there made an high Priest at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the Heavens VIII 1. whereby he can by vertue of his Sacrifice once offered do that for us which the Priests of old could not by all the Sacrifices which they offered daily Bring us i. e. into that high and holy place by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh which he offered for us From whence he infers that as all Christians should hold fast their Profession with a true Heart and pure Conscience constantly induring with such a stedfast Faith as was in the ancient Worthies whatsoever God pleases Having Christ especially in their eye the author and finisher of our faith c. So he at last in the Conclusion of all presses the great Duty of Charity v. 1. of this XIIIth Chapter Let brotherly love continue Which he illustrates by some instances in the two following verses and then after some other instructions renews his Exhortation in these famous Words I have now mentioned But to do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased And let me press the same Duty upon you before I proceed any further as both the Feast which we keep and the Place where we are assembled and the Occasion of our meeting