of all Gods Promises and Threats as much as if they were in fight and though we see them through a glasse but darkly yet we see them by it 1 Cor. 13. 12. it being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It represents the things of which we have no demonstration from sense or humane reasoning as convincingly to the mind as if they were before our eyes And it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the substance the subsistence and the very being of things that are not yet in being but in hope So that the Eye of Faith like that of God does see those things that are invisible and futurity is present to it Now by this alone it is of force to break the powers of the World which as we saw while the things of the other World were lookt upon as at a great distance afar off taking advantage of their absence storm'd the mind with present forces and had supplies at hand for fresh assaults so overcame it Whereas had the powers of the World to come been present now by Faith they are made so we see the other which are so inferiour that there is no more comparison than of immensity to a point a moment to Eternity could not stand before them 'T is too notorious that this is the case For should a man cry fire in the House how it had seiz'd the strengths of it were blotting out the glories of it in thick Smoak devouring all their shine in flame we would leave our Devotions our most eager pleasures to prevent this and no speed were swift enough to serve our cares and fears But though a Prophet of the Lord cry Tophet is prepared the pile thereof is Fire and much Wood and the Breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone kindling it and do this till his Lungs crack not one heart is mov'd nor brings a drop of tear to quench the flame because these fires are not present as the other neither have men any sense of them were they alike convincing alike present to the apprehension 't were impossible according to what we have demonstrated that the Will in her choyces and her aversations where the objects are of alike kind and have one common measure of their good and evil is determin'd to avoyd or take that which appears the greatest alwayes 't were I say impossible not to fly these which the Devils do believe and tremble at with greater dread wherever they appear Now a strong lively Faith must paint them out and shew them in each fin the World ensnares into Neither would any of those rotten planks which while the Will does fluctuate betwixt her worldly inclinations and these fears and is tost about offer themselves as I declared to you for her to escape upon though she does dash her self upon God's Threats choosing the present sin such as the application of Decrees or Promises made absolutely to himself without any condition confidence in Gods Mercies hopes of Pardon none of these would be security to one that were convinc't in earnest He that did believe and as it were discern that height which his ambition goads him to aspire to were upon the brink of the bottomless Pit whither when he arriv'd that very sin that tempts him with the glories of the prospect would then tumble him down headlong into that Abysse he would no more dare to ascend it by such false and guilty steps upon such hopes of mercy trusts on Promises or Decrees than he would dare to throw himself off from a Pinacle in confidence God was Almighty and Almerciful able enough and kind enough to stretch out his right hand and catch him in the fall or trusting to that Promise He will give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up least at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone Or leaning upon any such Decree as makes the term of life immovable and fatal neither to be hastned or retarded none of these will make him mad enough to break his neck neither would the same presumptions encourage him to cast away his Soul had he but equal apprehensions of the danger And it is plain all the temptations of the World and all these false encouragements cannot work upon a man when Death once looks him in the Face and the great Champions of Prophanenesse are tame then not that God's Threatnings are more true or made more evident to sense or reason than they were before but their Faith is active and they apprehend more strongly then To see my self trampled upon by pride and malice or worse yet begging of him whom my blood it may be helpt to streams of plenty begging like Lazarus the portion of his Dogs Dogs that are taught to snarle and bite and make more sores not lick them this is a state more killing than my want able almost to tempt a man to any courses But then if with the Eye of Faith I do but look beyond the gulph and there behold the Rich man in his flames begging for water and although it be the Region of eternall weeping yet not able to procure one drop of his own tears to cool his Tongue O then I see 't is better to be Lazarus although there were no Abraham's bosome But if my Faith look through that bosom also into that of God and there behold the Son of God leaving all the essential felicities of that Bosom to come live a life of Vertue here on Earth and to teach us to do so choosing to do this also in a state of the extreamest poverty consecrating want and nakednesse contempt and scorn making them thus the ensigns of a divine Royalty And to encourage us not to sink under any of the Worlds assaults he hath proposed Rewards of Vertue such as God is blessed in did my Faith give me but a constant view of all this sure the paint and varnish of these little things below the twinkling exhalations of the glories of this World could not dazle my mind and captivate my Soul I should burst these entanglements to catch at those 'T is evident and 't is acknowledg'd that when our belief shall be all vision and our expectation possession when our understanding shall become all sense in Heaven and we see and tast and have those glories then we cannot sin cannot be tempted from them And therefore by the measures of the nearness of these objects of our sight and of our interest so are our strengths to stand and overcome temptations Now Faith is sight gives presence we have seen and it gives interest too He that believes is born of God saith the Apostle and therefore hath a right Now to be born of one is to receive from him a principle of life He then that hath receiv'd from God a Principle of life such as he can derive life like his own such as is led in Heaven when he does consider his original and looks upon himself as born of
inferr Christ's Application that at least we begin to cease and sin no more least a worse thing come unto us I. He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceast from Sin None but He and He certainly When it appear'd that Eden had too much of Garden for innocence to dwell in and although man were made upright yet amidst such delights he could not be so a whole day but of the many inventions he found out the first was to destroy himself immediately and under the shadow of the Tree of life he wrought out death and made the Walks of Paradise lead him towards Hell God saw himself concern'd to take another course He sets a guard of fire about Eden about the place of pleasure as well as in the place of torments and there was as much need of flame to keep man out of Paradise as flame to fright him from Hell He makes the Earth not spring with Garden any more but bring forth thorns and bryars that might scratch and tear man in the pursuit of things below which if the Soul should cleave and cling unto the Earth might gore and stab it in the embrace Nothing but sufferings will do us good The Earth was most accurst to man when it was all Paradise nothing but the malediction could make it safe and bless it to us our happiness must be inflicted executed on us and we must be goaded into blessedness and therefore God hath put afflictions into every dispensation since the first Among the Jews sin did receive immediate punishment by the tenour of the Covenant and though the retributions of our Covenant be set at distance as far remote as Hell yet Christ has drest his very promises in sackcloth and in ashes tears and trouble when he would recompense heroick vertue he says it shall receive an hundred fold with persecution Mar. 10. 30. and he does grant us sufferings to you it is given in the behalf of Christ to suffer Phil. 1. 29. so that the sting of the Serpent is now the tempter his biteings and his venom moving us to obedience as much as his lying tongue did our first Parents to rebellion and when he does fulfill Gods threat and wound the heel he onely drives us faster away from him and makes us haste to him that flies to meet us with healing under his wings This method God hath alwaies us'd and the experience confirm'd by the blood of all ages even from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of this season of all the Prophets that went before us and the Apostles that came after them as if those were men inspir'd for ruine and what ever Judgment they denounc't it was their own burden and as if these were men chosen out for and delegated to persecution men appointed unto death as St. Paul expounds their office none escap't and the next succeeding times of Primitive Christianity were but Centuries of Martyrdom so many years of Fire and Faggot and worse tortures This method hath not past by any Grandeur but of those great ones that have been eminently good their afflictions have vy'd with their Majesty the Calendar hath had as much share of them as the Chronicle the Martyrology as the Annals and their bloud not their Purple put them in the Rubrick Gods Furnace made Crowns splendid gave them a Majesty of shine and an Imperial glory and so all our Crowns indeed must be prepar'd in the Furnace he that told us we must be Baptiz'd with fire saw there was something in us that the Christians water will not cleanse Baptism may wash sullays but not dross away That must be washt in flame and nothing else but fire will take away our base alloy And it cannot be otherwise never was there any other way to Glory for when God was to bring many Sons to glory he sanctified the very Captain of our salvation through sufferings Heb. 2. 10. Who though he were a Son and that the Son of God yet learned he obedience by the things that he suffered Heb. 5. 8. This therefore is the only and most effectual way of teaching it when God speaks in Judgment and indeed he counts all other of his voices but as silence in comparison of this and though he gave his Law in Thunder and sent his Prophets daily to denounce wrath to transgression yet he reckons of all this as if he had said nothing till he speak Plagues and commands afflictions Psal. 50. 21. after a Catalogue of sins he tells the man these things hast thou done and I kept silence though my Law did warn thee and my Messengers call'd to thee yet I hardly expect that thou shouldst hear those whispers with all those voyces I did scarce break silence but now I will reprove thee and thou shalt hear the rod or hear thy own groans under it For that we may be sure to hear this voyce God does by it open the ear Job 33. 14 15 16. God speaks once yea twice yet man perceiveth it not in a dream and in a vision then he opens the ears of men by Chastisements as it follows in four verses full of them 19 20 21 22. and sealeth his instruction that he may withdraw Man from his purpose i. e. that he may make him cease from sin It seems the place of Dragons is Gods chiefest School of Repentance and we may have a clearer sight of him in the dimness of anguish than Vision it self does give When men did not perceive that saith Job yet this open'd the Ear and so God sealeth the Instruction And truly when the Soul dissolves in Tears and when as David words it The heart in the midst of the body is even like melting wax then onely 't is susceptible of Impression then is the time for sealing the Instruction Nor does Chastisement open the Ear only but the understanding also I will give her trouble 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will take her into the Wilderness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he and speak unto her Heart There is convincing Experience of all this Pharaoh that was an Atheist in Prosperity does beg for prayers in Adversity before he suffers Pharaoh saies Who is the Lord that I should obey his voyce I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go Exod. 5. 2. but yet Thunder preaches obedience into him and Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said I have sinned the Lord is righteous and I and my People are wicked intreat the Lord that there be no more mighty Thundrings no more Voices of God the Hebrew words it and I will let you go Exod 9. 27. And in the Book of Judges you will find that whole Age was nothing but a vicissitude of sinning and suffering divided betwixt Idolatry and Calamity When Gods hand was not on them they ran after other Gods as if to be freed from Oppression had been to be set free from Gods Worship and Service but when
but that he should truly be perswaded so without this duty is impossible for he that is Christ's hath crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts therefore by good Logick he that hath not crucified them is not Christ's and evidently whosoever is not crucified at all he is not crucified with Christ. And sure I need not put you in remembrance that the man in whom sin reigns and whensoere his Lusts and Passions bid him go he goeth or come he cometh or do this he doeth it that the body of sin is not crucified in him that which were nayled and settel'd on the Crosse and slain there could not command and rule him so Or if sins dominion be not so absolute but God hath got some footing so as that his Law hath power in the man's mind so as to make him make resistances against his sin and he dislikes it but alas commits it still yet what he does allows not but returns to do it at the next temptation afterwârds would faâ—â— be good yet does not find how to perform something governs in his members leading that Law in his mind into captivity to the law of sin this man although he hath the body of death yet 't is not crucified and slain for it does live and exercise the greatest tyranny upon him forces him to serve and to obey against his mind it overcomes his own heart and all inclinations to good and conquers God within him Till men have left off the custome of the works of sin and all grosse deeds of the flesh it were as vain to prove they are not crucified as that he is alive that walks and eats Those works they are the fruits of the flesh the of-spring of its lusts and were that crucified and we by likenesse to Christ's death planted into the Crosse we could no more produce them than that dead Tree the Crosse could bear fruit or then a Carcasse could have heat to generate or the grave become a womb the dust bring forth Secondly Yea more they perform not the outward actions of life who have but the image of death on them and a man asleep works not yet is alive his fancy and his inwards work and if sin be onely kept from breaking out and men commit not grosse deeds of the flesh but yet indulge to these things in imagination and the heart cherish them in phansie and design and wish onely restrain the practice or indulge to spiritual wickednesses you may as well say that a man is dead because he does not walk abroad because he keeps within doors and lives onely in his Closet or his Bed-Chamber as say that sin is crucified which while it stirs but in the heart it is not dead Thirdly Once more we part from all acquaintance with the dead the Corps of one that had the same Soul with us howsoever we may have some throws of grief to leave it yet we put it from us we admit it to no more embraces but if 't were the loathsome Carcasse of a Villain Traytor that was Executed we turn from the sight as from a siend it is a detestable and accursed spectacle And so he that hath put his Body of sin to death would have great aversations to it yea how dear soever it had been he would no more endure the least acquaintance with it then he would go seek for his old conversations in the Chambers of Death he would shun the sight of any the most bosom custome as he would the Ghost of his dead Friend he would abandon it as a most ghastly dreadful spectacle he would also bury these his dead out of his sight Thus he must needs be dispos'd that hath crucified his Old man And they that are thus dead with Christ shall also live with him yea those that are thus crucified with him he hath already rais'd up together and hath made them sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus There already in their cause and in their right and pledge and there hereafter in effect and full enjoyment SERMON X. CHRIST-CHURCH IN OXFORD Novemb. 5. 1665. LUKE IX 55. Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of THE state of that great controversie which the words suppose between the Jews and the Samaritans as it then stood seems briefly thus Those that were planted in the Regions of Samaria by Salmaneser however great Idolaters at first having admitted in a while the God of Israel among their Gods and after having an High-Priest of Aaron's Line a Temple too built on that place where Abraham and the Fathers of the Hebrews friends of God did choose to offer Sacrifice and on that very place where God himself enjoyn'd the Law and all the Blessings of it to be publisht to the People on Mount Gerizim which therefore seems to have pretences to vye with Mount Zion for there also the Lord commanded the Blessing An Altar too saith Benjamin in his Itinerary made of the same stones that God commanded to be taken out of Jordan and set up for a memorial of his Peoples passage through it And besides all this having the Law of Moses too when they had all these pretensions to the God of Israel they clave to him alone and wholly threw off their Idolatry So Epiphanius does affirm expresly And their countrey being as Josephus sayes the receptacle of all discontented fugitive Jews a great part of it too planted with them by Alexander they espoused the Worship of the Jews and came to differ very little either in the Doctrine or the practise of Religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having all things as it were the very same the only distance seems to be betwixt their Temples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 just as the Woman states it to our Saviour 4. Joh. Our Fathers Worshipped in this Mountain but ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to Worship So that if we audit the account of the Samaritane guilt they separated from the place of Worship which God had appointed and set up another in a word they were Schismaticks Whether this be such a guilt as should make those terms equivalent He is a Samaritane and hath a Devil I shall not say but it is such as makes our Saviour say somewhat exclusively Salvation is of the Jews All the Blessings and Salvations of the Law did indeed hover on Mount Gerizim were given thence that was the place of them but they were cut away when Schisme came The Church is not a place of blessing when 't is built against the Church The Altar hath no Hornes to lay hold on for refuge but to push and gore onely when it is set up against the Altar and Gerizim is Ebal when it stands in competition with Mount Zion Well this onely thing does breed the greatest distances imaginable in the Nations nothing more divides than Separation and Schisme and then these Samaritanes as all Separatists do grew such
Opiniastres and so violent in their way as to deny humanity to those that would not joyn with them they would not grant the Civilities of Passage to one that intended for Jerusalem to Worship They refuse it to our Saviour here because his Face was thitherward v. 53. A Schismatick will reject a Christ if his Face be fromward their new Establishment if he but look towards the Antient Worship At this the Sons of Zebedee are offended zealous for their Master as being most particularly concern'd in him two of his neerest intimates and their zeal would needs break out into flame And why not a rudenesse to Eli jah was reveng'd by him with Fire from Heaven which consumed twice fifty Souldiers and their Captain though they came to do the King's Command And shall these hated Schismaticks be rude to Thee and reject the Messiah and yet go unpunished Lord shall we command fire to come down from Heaven to consume them even as Elias did Which our Saviour answers with this sharp rebuke Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of Not to divide but to explain my Text and so instead of parts present you with some Subjects of Discourse By Spirit here is meant that disposition and complexure of Christian Piety and Vertues that course and Method of Religion which the Spirit does prescribe to Christ's Disciples and does guide them in or in a word the temper of the Gospel is so called And this in opposition to the Law the difference of these being exprest by a diverse manner of Spirit the one is called Spirit of Bondage the other Spirit of Adoption so here Ye know not of what Spirit ye are ye do not judge aright if you believe the temper of the Gospel is like that of the Law The course that I prescribe to my Disciples differs much from that of Prophets under the old Testament you must be guided by another Spirit than Elija's was in calling for Fire if my Spirit dwell in you For I came not to destroy â—â—ens lives on any such account In this sense it affords these propositions First To destroy Mens lives or other temporal rights on this account meerly because they are Apostates Schismaticks or otherwise reject the true Religion or Christ himself is inconsistent with the temper of the Gospel This is that which Christ reproves here telling them that would do so Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of Secondly Because the Spirit of Elias which the Gospel Christian Spirit here is set in opposition to oppos'd the Magistrate destroy'd those that came commission'd from the Prince and Christ designedly does say ye must not do now what Elias did therefore to attempt upon or against the Magistrate on the account of Christ or of Religion is inconsistent with the Spirit of the Gospel First of the first that to destroy mens lives c. But here I must observe that since these fiery Disciples that did give occasion for our Saviours rebuke here were no Magistrates nor did Christ himself that gave the rebuke assume but renounce openly all such Authority therefore no observation grounded on these words can controul the Magistrates just power in punishing offences done against his Laws although pretences of Religion and Conscience give colour to those offences the Gospel does diminish no rights of the secular Powers Now Supreme Magistrates though as such they have no right to judge in Articles of Faith to define what is true Religion what not for then the Pagan Princes who had never heard of Christ and yet are as much Magistrates as any would have right to judge what Doctrines Christ delivered down to be believed But certainly when Christ Commission'd his Faith to run through all the World not onely independently from all the powers of it but in perfect opposition to them they can have no right to judge in that which whatsoever they shall Judge we are a like bound to receive the Faith of Christ without any the least difference to their judgment But though they have no right to judge of this they have Authority to determine what Faith shall have the priviledges of their State and what shall not which shall be publiquely profest and which they will inhibit with Penalties For sure the Priviledges of the State and power of Penalties are the proper rights of the Supreme Power and therefore none but that can judge and determin of them In a word since it is most evident that the tranquility of a State does depend upon nothing more than the profession and priviledging of Religion it follows that those Powers to whose Judgment and Decrees the care and Tranquility of the State is committed must have the power to judge and to determine what Faith shall be publiquely profest and priviledg'd by the State In which Judgment and administration if they erre and priviledge a false Faith and inhibit the true they use their Powerill and are responsible to God for doing so but they do not invade or usurp a Power that is not their own Rather 't is most certain if the Principles of any Sect or else if not they yet the pursuance of any Principles do tend directly towards or are found to work Commotions and Treasonable enterprises the Supreme Power hath as much right to restrain yea and Punish them although with Death according to their several merits as he hath to punish those effects in any other instances wherein they do expresse themselves Nor must Religion secure those practises which it cannot sanctifie but does envenome For by putting an everlasting concern into mens opinions and actions their undertakings are made by it more desperate and unreclaimable What wounds and what Massacres must the State expect from them that stab and murder it with the same Zeal that the Priest kills a Sacrifice that go to act their Villanies with Devotion and go to their own Execution as to Martyrdom 'T were easie for me to deduce the practise of this Power from the best Magistrates in the best times if that were my businesse who had onely this temptation to say thus much that I might not seem to clash with the Magistrates Power of coercion in Religious causes when I did affirm that to destroy mens Lives or other temporal Rights on this account meerly because they are Apostates Schismaticks or otherwise reject the true Religion or Christ himself is inconsistent with the temper of the Gospel If you would discover what the temper of the Gospel is you may see it in its Prophecy and Picture in the Prophet Isay The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid the sucking Child shall play on the hole of the Asp and the weaned Child shall put his hand on the Cockatrice den and the Serpent shall eat the dust Whatever mischief these have in themselves there 's nothing of devouring or of hurt to one another in this state 't is like Paradise
that do resist the happy issue which the Text here promiseth First of the first Though no man can be tempted so as to be soil'd by the temptation but he that is drawn away by his own Lust and enticed James 1. 14. and all the blandishments of this World all the wiles and artifices of the Prince and God of it the Devil are not able to betray one into sin till his own Lust conceive that sin and bring it forth Man must be taken first in his own Nets and fall into that pit himself hath digged before he can become the Devil's prey Yet Satan hath so great an hand in this affair that the Tempter is his Name and Office Mat. 4. 3. And the War which is now before us is so purely his that we are said to fight not against flesh and blood those nests and fortresses of our own Lusts but against Principalities and Powers against the Rulers of the darknesse of this World against spiritual wickednesses in high places â— that is against the Enemy here in the Text the Devil Now to bring about his ends upon us he hath several means The first that I shall name is Infidelity With this he began in Paradise and succeeded by it for he had no sooner told the Woman that she should not surely die and so made her doubt of not believe and consequently not fear that which God had threatned but she took of the forbidden fruit and she did eat and gave it to her Husband too and he did eat Now if a Serpent siding with her inclination could so quickly stagger and quite overthrow her Faith if she because she sees and likes a pleasing Object can in meer defiance of her own assured Conviction when the Revelation look'd her in the face and God himself was scarce gone out of sight straight give credit to a Snake that comes and confidently gives the lye to God her Maker offers â—er no proof at all of what he sayes but onely flatters her desires with promises and expectations of she knows not what Te shall not dye but ye shall be as Gods if in spite of Knowledge she turn Infidel so soon and easily 'T is no great wonder if that Serpent do at this distance from Revelation prevail on men whose conversation being most with Sense their satisfactions also consequently gratifying of their Sense they do not willingly assent to any thing but that which brings immediate evidence and attestation of the Senses which the objects of our Faith do not especially if it give check to and restrain those satisfactions as those do on such men I say that do not care nor use in things that are against their mind to apply the Understanding close and strongly to reflect on those considerations which should move assent and work belief Considerations which I dare affirm if with sincerity adverted to if there be no improbity within to trash their efficacy no sensual inclination cherish'd that must hinder their admittance as not being able to endure to lodge in the same breast with those persuasions would make disbelief appear not onely most imprudent but a thing next to impossible But in those that give themselves no leisure have no will thus to advert 't is not strange if through Satans arts in things of this remote kind they have onely languid opinions which sink quickly into doubts and by degrees into flat Infidelity S. Paul does setch the rise of unbelief of Christianity from hence 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this World hath blinded their minds That is if the Christian Doctrine do not appear to be the truth of God to any 't is to obstinate persons onely whom the Devil hath besotted so with the advantages and pleasures of this World that their affections to these will not let the other be admitted For That Carnal prejudice can cast a mist before the mind or that a bright and glittering Temptation of this World may dazle it so as that it cannot see that which is most illustriously visible we have this demonstration Those Works which Christ and his Apostles wrought which made the whole World that was Heathen then so many Millions of such distant Nations as could never meet together to conspire an universal change in their Religions made them yet agree to lay aside their dear gods and their dearer Vices and do that to embrace a Crucified Deity a God put to a vile ignominious death as one worse than the worst of men and a Religion that was as much hated counted as accursed as that God of it He and his Doctrine crucified alike and a Religion too that had as great severities in its Commands as in its Persecutions that did it self enjoyn as hard and cruel things to flesh and blood as they that hated it inflicted the duties and the punishments equally seem executed on its followers and a Religion whose performances had no retributions here but fatal ones no otherwise rewarded but with fire and faggot and whose after-promises were most incredible Those Works that could produce all this had certainly Omnipotent conviction in them sure we are there must be prodigie of Miracle either in the causes or in the effect And yet the Scribes and Pharisees are not wrought on by them Their carnal Prejudices would not be removed not by the Finger of God The mean and despicable and as to all their worldly expectations and affections the unsatisfying condition of our Saviour had so clouded all his Works and their own pride so blinded them that they could see no argument in Miracle Now 't is the Devil that God of the World that hath the power of its Glories and the managery of its temptations who by raising these affections dazles so and blinds the minds of men that they should not believe S. Paul affirms it And 't is plain that unbelief is no one's Interest but Satan's For it is not Man's Not the vertuous man's certainly He 's concern'd as much as Happinesse amounts to to believe there is a God whose Cares and Providence watch over him whose Ears and Armes are open to him whose Bowels yearn for him whose Blood did purchase him whose everlasting Blessednesses do await him 'T is his Interest to trust that Vertue which the World so scorns or pitties was yet worthy God should be Incarnated to teach it die to purifie us into it and will raise us up again to crown it Neither is this Unbelief Man's real Interest abstracting from these prejudices of Religion For if it were Man's real Interest then it were every man's wisest course to pursue that Interest But if every man did so and should persuade himself into Infidelity and that Religion and a Deity were but dreams or artifices and so arrive so far as to have no fear of God nor sense of Honesty or Vertue the whole world must needs return into the
that God does seem to condescend as far in this his Treaty as in coming down from Godhead into Flesh there is Exinanition in his yieldings and complyance He sent his Son to move us to be reconciled as if he did acknowledge us the offended party and as if he meant to give us satisfaction in his Blood he dyes upon the Crosse to effect that reconciliation When our Saviour would magnify a love he thus expresses it Greater love than this hath no man that a man lay down his life for his friend But behold here is greater love for Christ commended his love to us in that when we were Enemies he dyed for us onely out of hopes to make us friends Love strong as death indeed that brought him to the grave who could not dye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 affection violent as Hell that brought God to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and made him descend to Hell For so low he stoopt thus he humbled himself to perswade us to be reconcil'd and to prevail with us to be at peace with God And is a Reconciliation with the Lord so hateful to us that we will be Enemies to the Crosse that works it are we so assur'd of worsting God Almighty that we will resist whatever makes towards a peace with him are the sinners expectations so tempting do we look for such advantage from the Covenant we have made with Death and the agreement we are at with Hell that we will have the League defensive and offensive will be foes to their foes and will have War with God because he is their Enemy are we thus resolv'd to be reveng'd upon the Triumphs of the Crosse and because our Saviour spoyled Principalities and Powers triumphing over them on it therefore set our selves against that Trophee of his Victories over our friends the Devil and his Fiends is the love of Christ so injurious to us that we will be Enemies to the Expresses of it and when his affection threw him down so low for our sakes humbled him to Hell to beg and to procure our friendship will we go to trample on him there rather than not go thither and rather than we will not be for ever there Was it not for this O blessed Saviour that thou didst pray against thy Cup so earnestly because of Man's ingrateful enmity to it because thou wast to suffer God Almightys Indignation in it and the Sinners hatred for it because it was the Cup of the Lords fury and Man 's also God squeezed into it all the dregs of his Wrath and man scornfully spits into it and when the one will make thee drink it up the other throws it in thy face was it not because thou wert to take a Crosse up which thou couldst not bear the Torments of and Man will not endure the Blessings of but most despitefully treads down that Cross while thou art sinking under it laden with their weight This is alas a state so sad that neither S. Pauls tears nor Christ's Blood hath sufficient compassion for And yet though one wept the other dyed for them these men have neither tears nor pitty for themselves Yet one would think this were a subject worthy of them 'T is storied of Xerxes that when he took a view of his vast Army which he went to Conquer Greece with an Army such as the Sun never saw and it could scarce see that which the Historian sayes did Coelo minitari tenebras as it cover'd and drank up the Sea and took up and devour'd the Earth so it did seem to darken Heaven too An Army which consisted saith Herodotus when muster'd at Thermopylae of Five Millions two hundred eighty three thousand two hundred and twenty Men besides Laundresses Harlots and Horses and it had Twelve hundred Gallies for Sea fight besides Twenty hundred Ships for carriage when upon this view he had for a while gloryed in his happinesse to behold and Command so many Nations and so Powerfull a Fleet and Army notwithstanding on a sudden he burst into Tears on this Consideration that in one Hundred years there should not one survive of that great marvellous multitude And truely through his folly in one hundred weeks scarce any one but was the prey of Enemies and Death and Infamy But 't is a sadder Contemplation to reflect on the far greater Armie of the Enemies of the Crosse who if they do not end that quarrel will in fewer years be all dead and in Hell I know not whether such a sad reflexion called out S. Paul's Tears but sure I am it does deserve their own And there is nothing will avail in their behalf without their tears It may be tears are piteous things for such brave Sinners But then what will these insulting Enemies of the Cross do when they shall see that Sign of the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven When this Crosse shall usher in the great Assize When they shall look on him that they have pierced and Crucified upon it And when that Crucified offended Enemy shall come there to be their Judge That takes himself to be offended much more in his kindnesse than his Person and will judge this more severely that we would not let his Crosse and Passion do us any good than that we Crucified him on it Let us then be caution'd in the fear of God to be no longer Enemies to that which is to reconcile our Judge to us If we have his Friendship on the Crosse we may be sure to have it on the Judgment Seat He that on the Crosse parted with Godhead and with Life for us will on the Bench adjudge us that Inheritance which his Crosse did purchase for us He sits there to pronounce Happinesse upon all faithful sincere Christians to proclaim Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you To which c. SERMON XV. WHITE-HALL Novemb. 15. 1668. MARKE X. 15. Verily I say unto you whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little Child he shall not enter therein THE Kingdom of God especially as it concerns the forepart of the Text signifies nothing else but that of the Messiah or in one word Christianity and that both as to the profession and the practise the Doctrine and the life of it For so the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which Theophylact expounds the words the Preaching of the Doctrine is it self called the Kingdom of God by our Saviour Mat. 21. 42. 'T is not delivering of a message onely in weak empty words 't is Jurisdiction and exercise of Soveraignty And the Commission that authoriz'd to it was the delegation of the Powers of Omnipotence All Power saith our Lord is given to me both in Heaven and in Earth and which the Syriack adds in that place also as my Father sent me so send I you go ye therefore and teach all Nations teaching them to observe whatsoever I have Commanded you As if this were