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World esteemed good great and desirable was with-held from him so that since Providence had thus undeservedly crowned him with a plentiful Revenue he could not unless wraped up in the Womb of Ingratitude have denied a small part of so vast an Income to this importunate Beggar much less have refus'd him that inconsiderable Request of his namely The crumbs which fell from his Table such Offel which his Dogs blowed upon But brutishly forgetting from whence his Riches sprang and greedily fixing his Heart upon them concludes it Prodigality and ill Husbandy to part with any thing though it were but a Rag to cover the Flesh or a morsel to sustain the Hunger or a draught to revive the languishing Spirits of a fainting Soul Such dangerous temptations are Riches if Men are not guarded with Grace and well consider the Design of God in bestowing them Hence our Saviour pronounces That it is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a Needle than for a rich Man to enter into the kingdom of Heaven Not that Riches are Evils in themselves but they become such by an imprudent Management when Men suffer their Hearts to be drawn away by them They are commonly Blessings they were so to Abraham Lot Isaac and Jacob to Job David and Joseph of Arimathea but such was the stupid brutishness of this Miser he contracted such an inordinate love to his Estate that he had quite lost all Humanity and Compassion His only care was to keep what he had drowning his Senses in Gluttony Drunkenness and all kinds of Sensuality never once thinking of a life to come but O sad Catastrophe and dismal change of Things Riches tho' they defend from Hunger Thirst and other exterior contingencies yet they cannot bribe and stave off Death neither insinuate with the Judge Christ Jesus for a favourable Trial nor purchase a Mansion amongst the Saints he dies and awakes in the midst of soorching flames and bituminous smokes scar'd at the gastly Spectrums and hideous Noises he meets with among Devils and damned Fiends Lazarus also dies and is carefully conveyed into Abraham 's bosom a safe Repository and never to Hunger Thirst and want more But this I shall treat of in its proper place The words of the Text are properly divided into two special Parts The First is A brief Narrative of a Rich Man's General Course of Living he cloaths himself with rich gay and costly Raiment and fareth sumptuously every Day The Second Part is A description of the Calamities that attend Poverty Lazarus was full of Sores almost Naked and Famished he begs for a little Sustenance and that of the meanest kind but was most uncharitably denied it Now these two Generals demonstrate to us First of all That Riches are strong incentives to Luxury and Riotousness this Rich Man fared Sumptuously every Day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he Entertained himself every Day with Luxurious Delights Secondly That Riches tempt to Pride Haughtiness and Uncharitableness This Elated Miser thought it beneath his Grandeur either to look upon or commiserate afflicted and languishing Lazarus and therefore chides him by his Menial Servants and sends him away empty as he came Thirdly That Poverty is a despicable State and renders a Man most vile and mean in the Eye of others how much soever good he hath heretofore done with what God had blessed him with These are the three Topicks which will be the Subject of my ensuing Discourse only by the way it may not be improperly inserted That by the Rich Man and Poor Lazarus is figured out to us the different state of good and bad Men in this Life Good Men for the most part are in mean and low Circumstances and of small Account but are rich towards God precious in his sight and have their Portion treasured up with him according to that of St. James chap. 2.5 God has chosen the Poor of this World heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven The Wicked generally flourish the World's affluences tumble in upon them but they have their Portion in this Life hereafter Fire and Brimstone and an horrible Tempest shall be the Portion of their Cup Psal 11.6 But to proceed in order First Riches are strong Incentives to Luxury and Riotousness This Noble-man fared Sumptuously every Day he observed no Intervals for Mortification no time for holy Retirement for a strict Examination of himself for Prayer Repentance and other necessary Duties Nor was he so Morally useful to others as was St. Augustine who divided the Day into special Portions for needful businesses to reconcile disturbed Families and linck together enraged Neighbours in the Bonds of Amity to observe and minister to the Necessities of the Indigent to instruct the Ignorant counsel the less wary and such like No no this wealthy Wretch lived every Day to himself delighting his Palate with luscious Viands and Falernian Liquors loading his Stomach with Morsels without any regard to Moderation had no thoughts of nor any earning bowels after those who wanted and would be glad of the meanest bit at his Table After this Luxurious manner did he spend every Day such strong and irresistible temptations are Riches when Men are without Grace and consider not the wise and holy purpose of God in bestowing them for tho' they are the proper and peculiar Gifts of Heaven and were promised to and bestowed upon our Forefathers as illustrious instances of the Divine favour yet they are not to be prostituted solely to our selves that is to nourish and maintain our Lusts for then they change their nature and prove the manifest ruin of Soul and Body Upon which account it may not be improper to insert this Memorandum That they who are bless'd with Plenty and Store ought to be very importunate with God that he would moderate and rectify their Appetites keep and restrain their Hearts curb and limit their Desires that they may not be so taken up and charmed with their Wealth as to forget the Concernments of their Souls and suffer them to live out a long Eternity with the Damned Crew in the unhappy Residences of Misery Therefore our Saviour ever and anon is giving a special charge to Rich Men that they be very cautious and wary lest they should be Inchanted and betrayed by Superfluities which like the Syrens whom the Poets speak of as it were lie in wait for Men and seduce them by their pleasing and almost irresistible Charms It was an excellent Prayer that of Agurs Prov. 30.8 9. O Lord says he Give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me Lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain Having weighed in an even Ballance both a prosperous and an adverse state and considering what inconveniencies the extream of either condition would bring men into the one tempting them to Luxury Drunkenness and Gluttony the other to Theft Lying
tho' some of his dear Children have scanty Portions here yet they are not less in his favour than they who are blest with his more liberal dispensations Simple Poverty is no Argument of Divine Anger but rather of Love though the unthinking part of the World Conjecture otherwise for the less we are intangled with Earthly goods the more time we have to busie our selves with things which relate to another life the affections will be more free and prompt the mind more fixt and intent upon our Spiritual concernments and all our powers more readily disposed to joyn in holy Duties we shall not be so unwilling to part with the world having so small a part of its goods That which makes this life so desirable is the having a great share of its comforts Hence when Rich Men come to die they generally express a great reluctancy to part with their full Bags honourable Titles stately Palaces and all other their Appurtenances Whereas when poor Men are within a view of death have no need to be sorry that they are bidding a final adieu to this world because they had so little in it nor are their precious minutes wasted in bequeathing Legacies dividing Estates and willing Executors which too often is the unhappy business of wealthy Men when they should be dressing their Souls for the embraces of their Redeemer No no all that they have to do is to renew their love to God to perfect their Repentance and recommend their Spirits into the hands of their faithful Creator But to return since we all descend from one common Parent and since what we enjoy whether little or much is according to his wise disposure of things and since the poor are the special concern of his providence we are highly obliged as we would not be guilty of dishonouring God of reflecting upon that Being from whom we received our Life and Breath and calling his Justice and Wisdom into question to respect those that are fallen into Poverty to love them as our Brethren to do good to them as Objects of our Fathers own recommending To conclude this Point I will speak in the Words of an Eminent Writer Our Lord says he is not ashamed to call the least amongst us his Brother and his Friend and shall we then disdain to yield to such an one the regard and treatment suitable to such a Ouality Shall we not honour any Brother of our Lords Shall we not be civil and kind to any Friend of his How can we pretend to bear any true Respect or Affection to himself It is his express Precept that the greatest among us should in imitation of his most Humble and Charitable self be ready to serve the meanest and that we should in honour prefer one another and in lowliness of mind esteem others better than our selves Rom. 12.10 Phil. 2.3 These are Apostolical Rules extending indifferently to Rich and Poor which are plainly violated by disregarding the Poor But Secondly Our blessed Saviour was pleased to honour the state of Poverty He who was the Son of God the Heir of Heaven and the Worship of the glorious Hierarchy was born in a Stable wrapt in Rags laid in a Manger His birth was attended with all the Instances of meanness When grown to Maturity his glory was yet Eclipsed with Poverty he had not wherewith to lay his head In a word his whole life was a full scene of Poverty and therefore no disgrace to be under ordinary Circumstances since Christ himself condescended to be abased In honour therefore to him who has wrought our Redemption we are obliged to regard the poor whom if we affront or reproach or despise he tells us we do the like to him And so much for this last Particular which was to shew how much we are obliged to respect those who are poor I shall now proceed to draw some useful inferences from the whole and then conclude First If Poverty be a state thus sanctified it is no small sin to cast calumnious reslections upon it though the truth of it is nothing more common Daily experiences shews us how that poor Men are a common reproach the ridicule of the Vulgar the very Objects of the People In them small faults are discovered but over-looked and past by in those who make some figure in the world But certainly our Religion obliges us to be of another temper to be Humble Gentle and Condescending even to the meanest of the Brethren and propounds the Holy Jesus as our Pattern and Example to whom we cannot pretend respect and affection while we despise those whom while he was in the world he loved and generally conversed with and left a Commandment behind him that we should for his sake do likewise The most Puissant Princes the most Eminent and Wealthy but for one poor Beggar had been irrecoverably undone and lost for ever To Poverty it is we owe all our hopes of Heaven and Happiness shall we therefore be so disingenious to asperse and ridicule it Thou proud and lofty Wretch where hadst thou been if thy Saviour Christ had not become Poor Thou hadst now been roaring among Devils and Damned Fiends When thou seest an indigent Man the lively Portraicture of the Holy Jesus how canst thou pass by him and not call to mind the great things which have been done for thee by him who was in the form of a Servant and made himself of no Reputation Quum pauperem Vidisti Christum Vidisti When thou meetest with a poor Man imagine thou seest thy Saviour and regard him if not for his own sake yet for his whom thou art infinitely obliged to It is an unhappy thing that Men should be sunk into so vast a declension of Manners as to deride and scoff at Poverty to which they owe their Redemption and Salvation That same forlorn wretch thou tramplest upon has as much Right to the Kingdom of Heaven as thou for him Christ endured Pain and suffered Death and did all a Saviour could do to Intitle him to Glory and Happiness Where then is the distinction What is it that thou valuest thy self upon Wherein is he thy Inferior Because he has not a great Estate Behold Riches approve not Men unto God he values no Mans person for his Greatness but for his Goodness In the final Disquisition Men shall be rewarded according to their Actions not according to their State and Grandeur upon which consideration a poor Lazarus will find as much acceptance in the day of Judgment as a rich Dives nay more the one has received his good things in this Life the other evil things and therefore the one shall be comforted and the other tormented not because of his Wealth but because he did no good with it Since God therefore is no respecter of Persons let us also learn to make a less distinction between our selves to love and respect our meanest Brethren and to do to them all the good we can Again Secondly Let us
learn to humble our selves with the consideration of our own deserts Observe we our petulant Follies obstinate Perverseness and treacherous Infidelities Nay our daily wilful Miscarriages the many Affronts we offer to the Majesty of Heaven our unmindfulness of his good Providences our unthankfulness for his Benefits our neglect of holy Duties our backwardness in praying to and acknowledging our dependance upon him Were we but pregnant with such considerations as these we should not be so much puffed up nor value our selves upon Riches remembring they are the Emanations of Divine Goodness not the just Retributions of our Merits Should the quantum meruit be the Question how much the best of us deserve it may be answered Nothing but Hell and an eternal Separation from God and the sorest Punishments he can inflict a morsel of Bread a draught of Water even the least Blessing we enjoy is far beyond our Demerits Let not therefore Riches elate and swell but humble us like loaded Trees bend the lower In fine let the Christian Religion have its perfect influence upon us that the same Mind that was in Christ be also in us following his Humility his Meekness his Contempt of this World and Worldly things his Heavenly mindedness and all other his imitable Vertues that at length we may live with him be like him partake of his Glory and never be separated from him more Amen SERMON III. Luke XIV Ver. 22. And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom THE former Part of this Parable has entertain'd us with the miserable and afflicted Life of Lazarus depainting it in all the Instances of Pity he was cloathed with Rags tormented with painful Sores and rack'd and griped with Hunger Such a comfortless Condition enough to make one weary of Life and wish for a sudden Exit and the more when Succour is deny'd From this poor wretch all outward comforts were with-held not so much as the crumbs allowed him which fell from the Rich Man's Table It encourages and bears a Man up under languishing circumstances when he is caress'd with pity and gets some relief tho' but the fragments of a Meal But such was the unfortunate Fate of poor Lazarus that notwithstanding his importunate cries ghastly looks shatter'd cloaths and ulcerated flesh none gave unto nor condol'd with him hungry and thirsty his Soul fainted in him no Friends nor wherewithal to support him in this his distressed condition But tho' he was thus inhumanely dealt with we read not that he reflected upon Providence or charg'd God foolishly but humbly submitted himself to him who disposeth all things patiently waiting for a happy change either a sufficient competency while he lived or a translation out of this World into a better My Text therefore presents us with a sudden but happy alteration of Lazarus's condition It came to pass that the Beggar died An end of all his wants sorrows and conflicts God has ever a gracious regard to the lamentable groans and afflicted state of his poor Servants and tho' he sometimes seem long ere he answers their request and expectation yet in a time besitting his most excellent Wisdom he graciously crowns them with their hearts desire Lazarus not only died but was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosom His Soul not his Body probably that was exposed to ravenous Beasts or Fowls or else to innumerable Vermine in the Grave if any were so charitably dispos'd to bury it tho' reason enough there is to believe the contrary For while he lived he could not get sustenance his hunger nakedness and sores no body regarded much less his dead Body to give it a decent Interment But no matter his Soul was return'd to him that gave it and his Body too tho' never so much mangled and dispers'd into never so many Atoms shall be compacted together made vivid and formable at the command of the great Creator Now the Text contains two Parts The First is A Description of the Death of Lazarus And it came to pass that the Beggar died The Second Gives an account of the condition and state of his Soul And was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosom From whence these two great Points are proved First That the Soul is capable of an Existence separated from the Body Let that fond conjecture then of those be condemn'd who imagine that the Soul together with the Body declineth in the Earth Secondly That the Souls of the Faithful when they depart from their Bodies immediately pass into a fixed state of Blessedness But that which I shall at this time treat on will be the Death of Lazarus and in descanting upon this I shall First of all Consider what were the immediate Causes of his Death Secondly What kind of treatment he met with while languishing And then Lastly What became of his Body after Death First then I am to consider what were the immediate Causes of Lazarus ' s Death And here if we reflect upon his circumstances while living we may soon conjecture For First He wanted the Staff of Life namely Bread He desired to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the Rich Man's Table but was uncharitably refus'd them Hunger is a sharp Thorn it dries up the Blood it decays those rarer Ornaments of Nature Beauty and a sanguine Complexion it preys upon the Spirits and makes them faint and droop In a word Hunger destroys the Marrow weakens the Bones and puts the whole frame of Nature into a grand disorder And here the griping pains the gnawings this poor wretch endur'd the lamentable sighs and groans he fetch'd the doleful complaints he made what a gbastly countenance be had reduc'd to such a degree of weakness that he could not stand for he lay at the Rich Man's Gates Such a condition as this doubtless makes Life burthensom and Death more eligible We observe by constant Experience that some who are of cholerick and furious Dispositions vent themselves in wishes for a speedy Exit when some less dangerous accidents befal them how much more therefore intolerable is it to live and if I may so say stand and see ones self die as properly speaking they do who suffer Hunger and have not intermissions of a reasonable satiety This was the ill fortune of poor Lazarus he was reduced to that extremity that he would have been glad of the crumbs the portiuncula the least and worst fragments which dropp'd under the Rich Man's Table It is to be presum'd that there are scarce any or at least very few who are in such extremity but doubtless this was one cause which hasten'd Lazarus's Death namely Hunger For since nourishment upholdeth Nature reviving the Blood recruiting the Spirits feeding the Bones and Marrow whereby Life is prolonged the want of this must soon decay and overthrow the whole frame of Nature Poor Lazarus So hungry and no body to feed thee Not one Morsel from a plentiful Table If the Master
the Authors of but yet poor Mens Souls are as precious in the sight of God as rich Mens The World distinguishes Men by their Rank and Quality but God by their Goodness and how mean soever his Servants may be in this Life yet they shall be hereafter Kings and Priests and reign with God for ever It matters not then O Christian tho' thou art poor and despicable thou art not to live here always the time is coming when all things will be set to rights when thou shalt have amends made thee for thy scanty Portion and those Indignities offer'd thee for thy Poverty then every Man shall be rewarded according to his Works A Nebuchadnezzar a Nimrod a Belteshazzar a lofty Felix and an ambitious Herod and other Grandees of the World shall be no more respected than thou For God is no respecter of persons It is no matter whether thy Body be honourably buried or no if thy Soul be but vertuous and found in the ways of holiness then both shall be gloriously re-united and live together in Paradise for ever Poor Lazarus lived miserably died so and his Body probably thrown into some Pit or other but yet his Soul was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosom And thus much for the death of Lazarus I now proceed to make some special Use of what has been said and then conclude And here First From hence we may learn that it is very often the lot of God's dear Children to suffer Affliction in this Life Not that he delights in the Miseries of his People but because he would fit them for himself draw their Affections from things here below let them see the vanity and emptiness of all Worldly satisfactions and put their confidence in him as a sure Refuge in time of trouble Such are the wise and holy ends of God towards his faithful Servants Job a just Man and one that feared God and eschewed evil was wofully punished his Children suddenly slain his Plenty turned into Scarcity his Body afflicted with Swellings and Carbuncles his Friends became his Enemies his Wife in the midst of sufferings tempting him who would but conclude that this was a Judgment upon him for some great sin or other And yet is it left upon Record that this change of things was only to try him who yet retaining his Integrity was blest with much more than ever he had S. James 1.2 says Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations As if he had express'd himself thus Be not disheartned and cast down if Calamities besiege you provided they be not of your own seeking but by God's Providence for he has no other end upon you but to make you yet better and to fit you more exactly for his heavenly Kingdom And St. Paul 12. Heb. 6. makes affliction a special mark of God's love Whom he loves he rebukes and chastens every Son whom he receives Then Christian bear up under thy sufferings Hast thou but a scanty Portion hardly enough to keep thee alive Be content Heaven will be thine and tho' it may seem long ere thou be in possession of it yet it will infinitely make thee amends when thou comest there Art thou friendless Dost thou suffer Reproach Calumnies Do Men despise thee Does the World deny thee Peace Hast thou none that will take thy part Sink not under this calamity for God is thy Friend he hears thy Sighs and Groans records thy Prayers and bottles up thy Tears and will abundantly recompence thee when thou comest into his Kingdom Put thy trust in him keep covenant with Christ and get an interest in him and fear not what Man can do unto thee It was this which encouraged the Martyrs under their Sufferings and made them even rejoice in the midst of their bitter conflicts they made their Calling and Election sure all was well between God and their Spirits and therefore fainted not at the thought of being sent to him tho' by the most violent and cruel death It is recorded of Ignatius that when he was condemned by that imperious Tyrant Trajan to be torn apieces by wild Beasts he replied I am not afraid to go out of the World this way nor at the suddenness of my departure for I care not how soon nor by what means I hasten to my dear Redeemer whom I love more than Life for that I can freely part with all for his sake who did so much for me he did groan and sigh sweat bleed and die for me and therefore I can never forget him Secondly From the death of Lazarus we learn to be pitiful and compassionate towards those that are Poor Lazarus died with hunger Had his Necessities been supplied he might have lived longer but wanting Nourishment he died What a sad Consideration is it to send the hungry and thirsty away empty when Men have to spare This argues an ungrateful Mind towards God and an insensibility of our own Demerits If God Almighty should deal with us proportionably to our deserts Hell would become our Lot but he deals not with us after our Sins nor rewards us according to our Iniquities he overlooks our manifold Weaknesses passes by our many wilful Miscarriages forgives the Affronts we offer to his Divine Majesty and crowns us with his Goodness his providential Hand is always heaping Blessings upon us his Mercy triumphs over Judgment Now the meer Consideration of this methinks is enough to make Men of flexible condescending Humours of compassionate charitable Dispositions and oblige them to be as forward to give as the Poor is to ask them that is according to their Abilities What a lamentable thing is it when a poor Man almost famished his Face wan his Countenance ghastly his Spirits fainting and his Tongue cleaving to the roof of his Mouth and begs for God's sake for Christ Jesus sake to satisfie his craving Stomach and thirsly Soul or else he must perish to send him away empty as he came Suppose this pining Wretch should drop and die at thy Door upon a denial tho' this be not Murder in the sense of ours yet it is in the judgment of God's Laws and his Blood thou must answer for and O woful Account in the Day of Inquisition Christ who is the ordained Judge has threatned to revenge the Indignities of his poor Servants in Matth. 25. Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels for I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink I was naked and ye cloathed me not I was a stranger and ye took me not in I was sick and in prison and ye visited me not Then will the uncharitable answer and say Lord when saw we thee an hungred or a thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister unto thee Then shall he answer them In as much as ye did it not unto one of the least of these my poer servants ye did
good Thus while Abraham was sitting at the Tent-door in the Plains of Mamre he beheld three Men which were three Angels who came to inform him that a Son should shortly be born unto him Gen. 18.10 Likewise while Lot was sitting in the Gate of Sodom two Angels salute him and deliver their Message saying Hasten thou and thine out of this City for the Lord has commissioned us to destroy it because of the wickedness of the people that dwell therein Gen. 19.12 13. Again when Balaam the Prophet was journying upon an ill Errand an Angel from the Lord interrupted him cautioning him to do according as God had commanded him Numb 22. v. 35. Those Visions of Daniel were from an Angel and being at a loss about their significancy and meaning Gabriel the Arch-Angel was dispatched to inform his understanding and to give him light into those dark and abstruse Mysteries Dan. 8.16 and 9.22 23. And in the Gospel we read of an Angel who caressed Zecharias with the happy news of a Son who should be the Harbinger and Fore-runner of the Messias That an Angel addressed the Blessed Virgin Mary acquainting her that she was appointed by God to conceive and bear that Messias And that Angels surpriz'd the drowsie Shepherds in the Field by night with the news of the Birth of the Child Jesus That an Angel appeared three times to Joseph First to encourage him to take and own Mary his Espoused Wife then to hasten him with the young Child and Mother into Egypt from the approaching fury and savageness of Herod and then lastly to return again when the Persecution was abated When the forgetful Disciples came to seek their Crucified Saviour in the Sepulchre the Angels reminded them that he was risen from the dead according as he had told them when he was yet alive I might insert many more Instances of this kind that the Angels are God's Ambassadors upon an occasion sent to reveal his will for our instruction and good But concerning the Doctrinal Ministry of Angels we are not now to expect such extraordinary Revelations because God hath appointed other Emissaries for the declaration of his mind to the World He hath sent his Son cloathed with our Nature who has given us a Specimen of his Will and in his absence substituted his Apostles to propagate the Gospel enabling them to continue a Succession of Ministers to handle and preach the Word for the saving of Souls as St. Paul speaks Eph 4. v. 11 12 13. He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ till we all come into the unity of the Faith and knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect Man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ These Visible Ministers we are now to hearken to in the room of Angels to receive and embrace their Doctrine as the means whereby we may be saved To these Ambassadors the Angels themselves direct men under the Gospel An Angel calls Philip towards the South on purpose to meet the Eunuch that he might preach Jesus to him Acts 8.26 When Cornelius had ended his Devotion an Angel caresses him with this Salutation Thy prayers are come up for a memorial before God but bids him send to Joppa for one Simon Peter an eminent Minister who would instruct him particularly what he ought to do Acts 10.4 5 6. So bufie are these Heavenly Spirits in promoting the knowledge of those blessed Mysteries which themselves look into with wonder and amazement But Secondly It is a part of the Angels Employment to be our Guardians to fence us from eminent Evils to shelter us from Dangers and to direct us in ways of Peril and Uncertainty Thus the Royal Psalmist encourages God's faithful Servants to persevere in Holiness by telling them That the Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him Psal 34.7 And there shall no evil befal thee for he shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways they shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone Psal 91.10 11 12. Doubtless these Celestial Spirits do us many good Offices they contrive our safety and advance our happiness and promote our welfare tho' we are not privy to their transactions As before I mentioned our Saviour was preserved from the furious rage and implacable malice of Herod by an Angel's warning of Joseph to flee into Egypt History furnishes us with many Instances of this kind how some whose lives have been secretly sought for and the Emissaries of death have been coming forward incognito to embrue their hands in blood have been rescued from those Assassines by the timely warnings of an Angel others who have simply attempted their own Danger and have just brought themselves to the brink of destruction have been wonderfully preserv'd by the opportune insinuation of an Angel Cave beware Again others who have been surpriz'd out of their sleep and caution'd to hasten with their Families out of the Towns wherein they have lived for that they would be suddenly visited with a sweeping Plague and so it happen'd a little time after their removal Thus sollicitous by Divine appointment are these heavenly Spirits for the good and welfare of Mankind But again Thirdly It is part of the Angels Ministry not only to defend from danger and to screen from approaching evils but to comfort the disconsolate to help in time of need and to bring supplies in times of scarcity When Elijah the Prophet was threatned by Jezebel with death for destroying the chief of Baal's Followers he fled to Beer-Sheba and leaving his Servant there he went a days Journey into the Wilderness and being overwhelm'd with sorrow he sate him down under a Juniper-Tree petitioning rather to die than to live and fell asleep in the interim an Angel touched him and said Arise and eat And be looked and behold there was a Cake baken on the Coals and a cruse of Water at his head And he did eat and drink and laid him down again And the Angel of the Lord came again the second time and touched him and said Arise and eat because the Journey is too great for thee And he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strengeh of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the Mount of God 1 Kings 19.5 6 7 8. When Isaiah the Prophet cryed out upon sight of the Vision Wo is me for I am unclean because I am a man of unclean lips and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips there flew one of the Seraphims unto him having a live Coal in his hand which he had taken with the Tongs from off the Altar and he laid it upon his Mouth and said Lo this has touched thy lips and thine iniquity is taken away and
were out upon thee when Death like an Executioner comes to seise and apprehend thee and hurry thee before the dreadful Tribunal where all thy past Actions must be examined all thy secret Sins laid open and a dreadful Sentence shall be immediately pronounced upon thee Is not the Consideration of this enough to prevail with Men who have their Wits about them to break off their Sins timely by Repentance and apply themselves to a serious thoughtfulness of their latter end Should a damned Spirit be permitted to come from the Region of Misery to tell thee how intolerable those Preparations are what Pain and Anguish those wretched Ghosts endure thou saist it may be that thou wouldst repent but if thou wilt not be convinced by the assertions of the Gospel it is to be presumed nothing besides can have effect upon thee as Abraham answered the rich Man in that Parable who desired him to send some Spirit to his surviving Bretheren to scare them to Repentance If they will not believe Moses and the Prophets they will not be persuaded though one rose from the dead Lastly And since we are promised all the assistance imaginable to fit us for those Mansions of Bliss let us not be so injurious to our selves as to be lacking on our parts Let us offer violence to our stubborn Wills wean our Affections from the objects of Sin and mortifie the Flesh till it is brought in subjection to the Spirit and intirely submissive to the Law of Reason Let us improve the means of Grace and be purely governed by the motions of God's Spirit What a comfortable Death will such a regular and well-managed Life produce All slavish fears misgivings frightful thoughts and terrible apprehensions will flee away and a prospect of the Heavenly Canaan will present it self we shall have a view of that glorious reception we are like to have which will sweeten the agonies of Death lift us up under the pressure of a sore Disease and carry us out of the World with a solid hope of entering into our Masters joy And here the Soliloquy of a Soul that is ready to pass out of this World into a better I a poor Creature of this World below I who have felt the troubles of this Mortal State been tortured by the Passions of Flesh and Blood Fears and Cares Despair and Hopes even I am going into a Heaven where none of these can enter where I shall be made happy with these Enjoyments which make God and Angels so I shall be made equal to the Angels in Heaven how far above them in my Happiness For what a value will the Experience of this World make me set upon the joys of another The sence and memory of Misery will make my Heaven double Oh! The mighty Raptures and Extasies this holy Soul falls into till it is swallowed up in uninterrupted Joys and holy Wonder And since there is far less trouble in Virtue than in Sin and since the Reward of each is so vastly different how blameable and worthy of Condemnation are they who refuse the former and chuse the latter Let none of us then for the sake of a few short-liv'd Pleasures run our selves in danger of being cast into a miserable Eternity wherein we shall sorely repent of our Inadvertencies and stubborn Perversenesses and wish we had been perswaded in time Let us therefore with our Church pray O Almighty God the Protector of all that trust in thee without whom nothing is strong nothing is holy increase and multiply upon us thy Mercy that thou being our Ruler and Guide we may so pass through things Temporal that we finally lose not the things Eternal And thus we beg for Jesus Christ's sake to whom with the Father and the ever Blessed Spirit be given all Honour Praise Thanksgiving and Obedience now henceforth and for evermore Amen SERMON VI. Luke XVI latter part of 22 verses The Rich man also died and was buried And in Hell he lift up his Eyes being in torments and sees Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom And he cried and said Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my Tongue for I am tormented in this flame WHen I enter'd upon these words you may remember I raised these following particulars from them As First That as the Souls of true Believers when they go out of their Bodies launch into a fixed state of Blessedness so the Souls of wicked men pass into a fixed state of Misery We no sooner read of the Rich man's being dead and buried but in Hell he lift up his Eyes being in torment Secondly That it will be a great part of the misery of the damned to understand those to be in Heaven whom in this life they scorned reproached and abused and it may be were Instruments of hastening them to those blessed Mansions It was doubtless a great aggravation of the Rich man's misery when he saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom that Lazarus whom he suffered to perish with hunger at his Gates Thirdly That the time will come when the most proud and ambitious Sinners would gladly be relieved by the meanest Saints Father Abraham says the Rich man send Lazarus the very same who begg'd for the crumbs which fell from my Table Fourthly That the state of the damned will be void of the least degrees of comfort The Rich man desired but the cooling of his Tongue but with as much Water as could be brought upon the tip of Lazarus 's finger Fifthly and lastly That the Tongue is a member the abuse of which in another life will lie very heavy upon lost Souls The chief member which the Rich man complained was most afflicted was his Tongue Send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue As concerning the former of these That the Souls of wicked Men when they go out of their Bodies pass into a fixed state of misery I urged that though their punishment will not be compleat till the day of Judgment when Soul and Body shall be re-united and sentence pass upon them yet their condition is irreversible no changing it for a better but there they weep and howl for the loss of Heaven reproach themselves for their obstinate perversenesses in neglecting the opportunities and slighting the means of happiness and sadly expect the day of Judgment having too much Reason to believe they shall be cast and condemned at that formidable Audit Hence I told you the Devils are said to fear and tremble being convinced that they shall at the last reckoning be thrown into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone And therefore it is spoken by St. Jude concerning the fallen Angels that kept not their first Estate having violated those everlasting Laws given to them by their Creator They are reserved in chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day That is they are not in
power and force to convince and reform Men than a singular special miracle wrought to that purpose can have is this It is not only the appointed means but God has ordained no other to reclaim men He will not that they be convinced so much by Sense as by Reason not so much by Ocular Demonstration as Rational Conclusions And therefore it argues that those men who are not won and brought over by the insinuations of the Gospel but expect some extraordinary dealings to convict them are desperately hardened and must perish without remedy It would infinitely detract from the power and authority of Gods word and render it insignificant and invalid if when men out of a fond humour and perverse disposition refuse to hearken to and be converted by it God should deviate from the ordinary rule by permitting Spectrums or Apparitions to discourse with and persuade them to break off their sins by a timely repentance His promises and threatnings would take but little effect nay men would scarce have Faith enough to believe them if such extraordinary methods were commonly used to cure Men of their obstinate blindness and perverse infidelity But wherefore should God answer Mens vain curiosity Why should he confute them of their Errours by new and strange means when the truth of Christianity hath been attested by wonders and miracles by the blood of Martyrs who died for the Confirmation of it and by the Conversion of many thousands since It must be concluded that they were weary of their lives very soft and easie melancholly fanciful Persons who would thus embrace death relinquish their interests goods and possessions for the sake of the Truth of which they had no apparent testimony They must imagine the world has lain a long while in Ignorance and Darkness amused only with fictious Relations and vain Genealogies and that those who died long since in the belief of the Scripture are without hope Or otherwise how is it that the Oracles of God are not more credited by them Why are men so seared and impenitrable that the word of God which is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged Sword loseth its Vertue and its healing Operations upon them quit defeated And furthermore If God had discovered any insufficiency in his Holy Word that it was not able to turn mens hearts he would have used some other methods to that end and not have permitted so many thousands to have lived and dyed in their sins to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever He would not suffer poor Souls to run into the Labyrinth of Despair nor others to be hardened if his word alone which hath brought Life and Immortality into the world was not capable or had not sufficiency of Doctrine to instruct and guide them in the path that leads to Heaven Nor would our blessed Saviour have pronounced such terrible woes against the Unbelieving Jews nor had Divine providence cursed them who were once his peculiar People a chosen Generation a royal Priest-hood as he did by scattering them all the world over but no where incorporated into a Nation a standing and visible mark of Vengeance upon them I say this people would not have been so severely dealt with upon the account of their infidelity If the word preached by the Holy Jesus and confirmed by miracles and unusual signs was not convincing and influential Wherefore it is sadly recorded of them John 12.40 That God hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes and understand with their heart and be converted From hence I draw this Conclusion That when men arrive to such a pitch of daring presumption as to give little or no heed to the written word of God all other means used for their Conversion such as Preaching friendly Counsel and Admonishment seldom affecteth or worketh a change in them Hence a Friend becometh anothers Enemy because he tells him the truth mildly reproves him for his sin sorrowfully tells him what a desperate condition he is in and what he must expect if he persists and dies in an irrepentant state By such Gods Ministers and their wholesom Discourses are reproached those Sermons which they should use as medicaments to heal their wounded Souls are made their sport and pastime fitting only to be Subjects of vain wit and frothy drollery It is a sad presage of final ruine when the standing Revelation of Gods Will doth not work upon men to the changing of their manners and turning them from under the power of Satan unto God In all probability neither an Angel from Heaven nor a damned Ghost from beneath could ever reach and overcome them For if that word which was ushered into the world with Thundrings and Lightnings delivered by the Prophets by God's special Order and Inspiration and to strengthen the credibility of it was rehearsed and promulged by Jesus Christ and that the knowledge thereof might be universally spread was delivered by the same Jesus to the Apostles and that succeeding ages might not be brought up in ignorance and live and dye without the knowledge of God and their Duty was handed down from the Apostles to Us That word that reformed three thousand Souls at one time Converted Heathens who had no other sense of their Maker than what they received from the Book of Nature and brought over multitudes to the Profession and Practice of Christianity who never heard of it before I say if this word of God which has abundantly evidenced its power and efficacy and is the means of that Piety and Religion practised in our days cannot prevail with men their stubbornness and wilful infidelity defeating its aptness and influence we may very reasonably conclude that if a special miracle was wrought to convert them it would be to no purpose But here notwithstanding what has been already urged some may yet say in the Language of the Text But if one rose from the dead we would repent The Motives and Arguments of the Gospel being still and the same and which by experience we find have not power enough to reclaim us some new method used for our Conversion as an Apparition or Ghost would above any thing else persuade us Now how little this would affect them I shall shew in the prosecution of the second Point which is Secondly That should God condescend to gratifie a Wicked Mans vain Curiosity by causing one to rise from the dead and to testifie unto him that the course he takes without speedy amendment will be the eternal ruine of him and that the preparations in Hell are very terrible and insupportable yet he will invent Arguments and propound Reasons to fortisie himself that he may not be affected with and instuenced by such an Apparition and frightful Relation as heretofore he did to withstand the prevalent Motives of Religion It is not to be disputed but that if a Spectrum or Ghost should appear to a very wicked man suppose it to
not withstand the force of such a Miracle wrought for their Reformation No says Abraham If they will not believe Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead And now I proceed to make some special application of the whole and then conclude And here First We learn the danger of refusing to be reformed by the publick and standing revelation of God's Will that we become so de perately hardened that nothing else no not a Miracle would have any influence upon us because we dis-believe that Word which is so well attested by Moses and the Prophets by Jesus Christ and his Apostles and the blood of Martyrs and an Apparition doth not carry along with it such a rational Conviction Besides we have already heard how many ways the force of an argument drawn from ones appearance from the dead may be evaded but now none of these pretences can be made against the evidence of a standing revelation so well attested and confirmed by Miracles Signs and Wonders It is the fond and vain fancy of some that if they had lived in our Saviours time and had seen him work Miracles restore the Lame and Paralytick raise the Dead to Life open the Eyes of those that never saw and the like or if they had seen him hanging on the Cross in a great agony and giving up the Ghost or if they had seen him after his Resurrection they should certainly have been Converted and become eminently holy Persons What a gross illusion is this If now they will not be reformed by the Motives of the Gospel which in time was faithfully penned by the Evangelists who both knew and conversed with our Saviour heard his Sermons and saw those mighty Wonders that he wrought who were Witnesses of his Resurrection and held Conferences with him after he rose from the Dead I say if they will not be reformed by the Writings of the Evangelists neither would they if they had lived in the days of our Saviour Again some wait for the powerful influences of the Blessed Spirit that is sin on till God shall please to turn their hearts Wherefore look they for any other means than the Rule of the Scriptures which though indeed they are not absolutely converting without the assistance of Divine Grace yet they are in order to it And we know not any who prize and venerate the Word of God make it their constant study and earnest desire to believe the Propositions and live up to the Rule of Life therein prescribed but are enabled and wonderfully assisted in their pious endeavours And if Men are void of Grace it is because they make not a right use of the written VVord which bids them ask and they shall receive to seek and they shall find to knock and it shall be opened which bids them humbly to read and search and in them they shall find eternal life It is Mens wilfully shutting their Eyes and hardening their Hearts against the knowledge of the truth which makes them so little benefited by the Gospel Secondly From what has been said we learn how guilty and inexcusable they are who still continue in Insidelity or are vicious in their Lives and Conversations notwithstanding the goodness of God in vouchsafing them the light and liberty of the Gospel What will these kind of Men be able to plead for themselves when they are by the sound of the last Trump summoned to Judgment Will they vainly pretend that the Word of God was not influential enough or the Motives used therein too weak to work upon them Their own Hearts will confute them and too plainly manifest their own stubbornness How faithless or perverse soever Men be in this life yet in the other they will be more slexible and believing and to their own shame confess that God Almighty did all that became such a Being to make them happy that nothing was left undone or that was necessary to convince their Reason and Understanding but it was their petulant follies obstinate perversenesses and treacherous infidelities presumptuously shutting their eyes and hardening their hearts which were the cause of their unhappiness How will the Rich Man and his five Brethren rise up in Judgment against such Infidels They would not believe Moses and the Prophets but these would not believe neither Moses nor the Prophets nor Jesus Christ nor his Apostles The Pagans Turks and the rest of those ignorant People whom Moses never watered with the Dew of Heavenly Doctrine will rise up in Judgment against them who having no more knowledge of their Creator than they learn from the Book of Nature live more morally than many of us do Certainly such Men have no thought how they shall be able to stand before the Son of Man when he comes to Judgment they do not consider what it is to appear before the tremendous Bar of Justice unprepared there to give an Account of the Sins of a whole Life and not one of them repented of To appear before an earthly Judge in a bad Cause and to be too well convinced that there are Witnesses enough to condemn us this is Matter of great Trouble and Concern and makes a Man very uneasie But to appear before the Judge of Judges who sits upon eternal Life and Death as a Malefactor who lived and died so and to have the glorious Company of the Apostles the goodly Fellowship of the Prophets and the noble Army of Martyrs a great Cloud of Witnesses against us is infinitely more furprising and terrible And O the great Condemnation of those who have a long time lived under the sound and preaching of the Gospel and have had the tenders of Salvation again and again offered to them It had been better for them if they had never been born it shall be much more tolerable in the day of Judgment for the Sodomites and Sidonians than for them To conclude As we hope to fare well when Jesus Christ comes to Judge the World as we would that he should say unto us Well done good and faithful Servants enter ye into the Joy of your Lord Let us be all convinced by the publick and standing Revelation of God's Will that is by the Gospel of Jesus Christ So when he who is our Life shall appear we also shall 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