John 3.8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might dissolve or demolish the works of the Devil by which St. John does more especially mean the idolatrous worship of the Heathen which consisted in the multitude of their Gods and the bloody and barbarous Rites and Sacrifices whereby they Worshipped them and likewise in the multitude of their Mediators between the Gods and Men who were also esteemed by them an inferiour sort of Deities Both these kinds of Idolatry had strangely prevailed and over-run the World before the appearance of our Lord and Saviour who came on purpose to deliver Mankind from the horrible Superstition and Slavery of the Worship of false Gods to pull down this Kingdom of the Devil and to demolish that Fabrick which he had been so long a rearing and to beat him out of those strong holds which he thought had been impregnable God indeed gave some check to these many Ages before and not long after their first appearance by the Jewish Religion which was on purpose introduced and confirmed and established by so many and such mighty Miracles to preserve and keep alive in the World the primitive Tradition and Belief of the One true God and likewise to be as it were some Shadow and rude Draught of that more perfect Dispensation of the Christian Religion which by one Sacrifice once offered and by one Mediator between God and men was to put an end to the infinite Superstitions of the Heathen Worship and all the bloody and barbarous Rites of it and likewise to the Idolatry they were guilty of in the Worship of their inferior Deities whom they look'd upon as a middle sort of Powers between the Gods and Men and therefore addrest themselves to them as Mediators between the Superior and Heavenly Gods and Men here on Earth This was plainly one of the great designs of the Christian Religion and therefore it concerns Christians to understand it and to be very careful that they do not suffer themselves to be deluded by any specious Pretences whatsoever to bring these things back again into the Christian Religion for the ruin and extirpation whereof it was purposely designed and intended And this seems plainly to be the meaning of that Caution wherewith St. John concludes his Catholick or General Epistle namely That Christians should be very careful that they were not carryed back again into the Heathen Idolatry by the confident Pretences of the Gnostick Hereticks to higher Degrees of Knowledge and. Illumination than other Christians had that is by their pretending to be the Infallible Church and the only true and genuine Christians For it is against this Sect that this Epistle is plainer designed which St. John thus concludes Chap. 5. from Ver. 18. to the end We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not meaning that he doth not commit the Sin unto death which he had spoken of just before viz. Apostacy from Christianity to the Heathen Idolatry or that which was very like it whosoever is born of God doth not commit this sin but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not that is he preserveth himself from the Contagion of Idolatry into which the Devil was so busie to seduce Mankind And we know that we are of God that is do belong to the true God and are Worshippers of him And the whole world lieth in Wickedness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in the power or under the dominion of that wicked One that is the greatest part of Mankind was sunk into Idolatry and the Worship of the Devil And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true We know that is we Christians are better Taught by the Christian Religion to acknowledge and worship the only true God And we are in him that is true in or by his Son Jesus Christ that is we Worship the only true God by his Son Jesus Christ And then he concludes Little Children keep your selves from Idols Intimating hereby that the Worshipping of any other besides this only true God and by any other Mediator than Jesus Christ is Idolatry There were indeed two very ancient and common Notions both amongst Jews and Gentiles of the Original whereof it is hard to give any certain account only this is certain that they did prevail very early and did very generally possess Mankind And they were these First That God was not to be appeased towards Sinners meerly upon their Repentance without the Death and Suffering of some other in their stead and that God would accept of this vicarious Punishment and Suffering instead of the Death of the Sinner himself And this seems to have given the Original to the Sacrifices of Living Creatures to appease the Wrath of God towards Sinners which in process of time as the Worship of false Gods prevailed in the World did proceed to that Degree of Superstition and barbarous Inhumanity that by the instigation of the Devil Men offered up the Blood of their Children and Sacrificed their Sons and Daughters to their Idols and false Gods Secondly Another common Notion which had likewise possest Mankind was That God was not to be immediately approached by sinful Men but that their Prayers were to be offered up to the Deity by certain Mediators and Intercessors that were to procure for them the Favour of the Gods and the gracious Answer and Acceptance of their Prayers And this was the Original of that other sort of Heathen Idolatry which consisted in the Worship of their Demons and Heroes that is of Angels and Souls departed viz. of such eminent Persons as had been great Benefactors to Mankind and for their worthy Deeds upon Earth were Canonized and translated into the number of their Inferior Gods By these as the chief Courtiers and Favourites of Heaven they address'd their Prayers and Supplications to the Superiour Gods Now with these Notions which had generally possess'd Mankind how imperfect soever God was pleased to comply so far as in the Frame of the Jewish Religion which was designed for a Type of the more perfect Institution of the Christian Religion and a Preparation for it I say God was pleased to comply so far with these Notions as to appoint Sacrifices to be slain and offered up for the Sinner and likewise an High Priest that once a year should enter into the Holy of Holies with the Blood of Sacrifices that were offered up for the People to make Expiation for them and in vertue of that Blood should interceed for the People as the Apostle to the Hebrews does declare at large And when God sent his Son in the fullness of time he was pleased likewise in the dispensation of the Gospel that perfect institution which was never to be altered to have so much regard to these common Notions and Apprehensions of Mankind as to
Saviour during which time though it was but four hundred Years there happened great Commotions and much more considerable Revolutions in the great Kingdoms of the World than had done in above two thousand Years before and in almost One thousand seven hundred Years since so that it is no wonder that the Prediction of these things is by God himself exprest in so very solemn a manner as I observed before At the time of this Prophecy the Empire of the World was newly translated from the Assyrians to the Medes and Persians and not long after the Grecians under Alexander the Great quite overthrew the Persian Empire and that by as sudden a Change as was ever perhaps made in the World possessing themselves by so swift and speedy a Conquest of a great part of the then known World as if to pass through it and to conquer it had been all one After the death of Alexander the Empire of the Grecians was shared among his great Captains whom the Romans by degrees conquered besides a great many other Kingdoms which Alexander never saw and some of them perhaps had never heard of At last the Empire of the World in all its greatness and Glory was possest by Augustus in whose time our Blessed Saviour was born So that here were mighty Commotions in the World wonderful Changes of Kingdoms and Empires before the coming of the Messias far greater and of much larger extent than those that were in Egypt and Palestine at the bringing of the Children of Israel out of Egypt and the giving of the Law from Mount Sinai And these did not only go before the coming of the Messias but they made way for the more easie propagating of his Doctrine and Religion for the Grecians and especially the Romans setled their Conquests in such a manner as in a good measure to propagate their Language among the Nations which they conquered and particularly the Romans did make the Ways for Travel and Commerce much more easie and commodious than ever they were before by employing their Armies when they had no other Work to make High-ways for the convenience of Passage from the Station of one Legion to another the Benefit and effect whereof we in England enjoy to this day a Pattern to all Princes and States that have necessary occasion for Armies how to employ them And this very thing proved afterwards a mighty Advantage for the more easie and speedy spreading of Christianity in the World II. Another part of this Prophecy is That about the time of the coming of the Messias the World should be in a general expectation of him and the Expectation of all Nations shall come And I doubt not but this Character of the Messias is taken out of that famous Prophecy concerning him Gen. 49.10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh come and by Shiloh the ancient Jews generally understood the Messias and to him shall the gathering of the people be or as it is render'd by the Septuagint and several other Translations and he shall be the Expectation of the Nations In allusion to which ancient Prophecy concerning him he is here in the Text called the Expectation of all Nations and so by the Prophet Malachi chap. 3. ver 1. and the Lord whom ye expect or look for shall suddenly come into his temple Now this part of the Prediction in the Text was most eminently fulfilled in our Blessed Saviour For about the time of his coming the Jews were in a general expectation of him as appears not only from that ancient and general Tradition of theirs from the School of Elias that at the end of the second two thousand years of the World the Messias should come and our Blessed Saviour's coming did accordingly happen at that time but likewise from that particular Computation of the Jewish Doctors not long before our Saviour's coming who upon a solemn debate of the matter did determine that the Messias would come within fifty Years And this is farther confirmed from the great Jealousie which Herod had concerning a King of the Jews that was expected to be born about that time and from that remarkable Testimony in Josephus who tells us That the Jews rebelled against the Romans being encouraged thereto by a famous Prophecy in their Scriptures that about that time a great Prince should be born among them that should rule the World And Josephus flattered Vespasian so far as to make him believe that he was the Man and thereupon perswaded him to destroy the Line of David out of which the Tradition was that the Messias should spring as if the Accomplishment of a Divine Prediction could be hinder'd by any Human endeavour And this was not only the generl Expectation of the Jews about that time but of a great Part of the World as appears from those Two famous Testimonies of Two of the most Eminent Roman Historians Suetonius and Tacitus The words of Suetonius are these Percrebuerat Oriente toto vetus constans opinio esse in fatis ut Judaeâ profecti rerum potirentur There was an ancient and general Opinion famous throughout all the Eastern Parts that the Fates had determined that there should come out of Judea those that should govern the World and he adds what I quoted before out of Josephus Id Judaei ad se trehentes rebellarunt that the Jews taking this to themselves did thereupon rebel Now it is very remarkable that the very words of this Tradition seem to be a verbal Translation of that Prophecy in Micah That out of Judah should come the Governour Vt Judpaeâ profecti reruni potirentur The other Testimony is out of Tacitus and his Words are these lib. 21 Pluribus persuasio inerat antiquis Sacerdotum libris contineri eo ipso tempore fore ut valesceret Oriens profectique Judaeâ rerum potirentur A great many says he were possessed with a Persuasion that it was contained in the ancient Books of the Priests that at that very time the East should prevail and that they who should govern the World were to come out of Judeâ By the ancient Books of the Priests he in all probability means the ancient Prophecies of Scripture for the last Expression is the same with that of Suetonius taken out of the Prophet Micah and the other that the East should prevail does plainly refer to that Title given to the Messias by the Prophet Zachary chap. 6.12 where he is called The Man whose name is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Oriens and Germen both the East and a Branch our Translation hath it the Man whose name is the Branch but it might as well be render'd the Man whose name is the East Thus you see this Character of our Saviour in this Prophecy most literally fulfilled that he was the Expectation of all Nations I proceed to the III. Circumstance of this Prediction That he who is here foretold should come during the continuance of this second
him King and spat upon him and under a pretence of rejoycing for his Birth to crucifie to our selves afresh the Lord of life and glory and to put him to an open shame I will conclude all with the Apostle's Exhortation Rom. 13.12 13 14. Let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the Armour of Light Let us walk decently as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christy and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Now to our most gracious and merciful God the great Friend and Lover of Souls who regarded us in our low and lost Condition and cast an Eye of pity upon us when we were in our Blood and no other Eye pityed us and when we had lost and ruined our selves was pleased in tender compassion to Mankind to send his only begotten Son into the World to seek and save us and by the Purity of his Doctrine and the Pattern of his Life and the Sacrifice of his Death to purchase Eternal Life for us and to direct and lead us in the way to it And to him also the Blessed Saviour and Redeemer of Mankind who came down from Heaven that he might carry us thither and took Human Nature upon him that we thereby might be made Partakers of a Divine Nature and humbled himself to Death even the Death of the Cross that he might exalt us to Glory and Honour and whilst we were bitter Enemies to him gave such a Demonstration of his Love to us as never any Man did to his best Friend Vnto him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb that was slain to God even our Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ the first begotten from the dead and the Prince of the kings of the Earth to him who hath loved us Serm. II. and washed us from our sins in his own Blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and honour dominion and power now and for ever Amen SERMON II. Christ Jesus the only Mediator between God and Men. Preached at St. Peter's Cornhill ON THE Feast of the Annunciation 1691. 1 Tim. II. 5 6. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all THESE Words contain in them these four Propositions three of them express and the fourth of them sufficiently implyed in the Text. I. That there is one God VOL. II. II. That there is one Mediator between God and men Christ Jesus III. That he gave himself a ransom for all IV. That the Mediation or Intercession of Jesus Christ is founded in the Redemption of Mankind For this seems to be the Reason why it is added that he gave himself a ransom for all to signifie to us that because he gave himself a ransom for all therefore he interceeds for all In virtue of that Sacrifice which he offered to God for the Salvation of Men he offers up our Prayers to God and therefore it is acceptable to him that we should pray for all men This seems to be the true connexion of the Apostle's Discourse and the force of his Reasoning about our putting up publick Prayers for all men I have in a former Discourse handled the first of these See a Sermon concerning the Unity of the Divine Nature Printed in the year 1693. I proceed now to the II. That there is one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus One Mediator that is But one for the expression is the very same concerning one God and one Mediator and therefore if the Apostle when he says there is one God certainly means that there is but one God it is equally certain that when he says there is one Mediator between God and men he means there is but one Mediator viz. Christ Jesus He is the only Mediator between God and Men. In the handling of this Argument I shall proceed in this Method 1. I shall endeavour to shew That God hath appointed but one Mediator or Advocate or Intercessor in Heaven for us in whose Name and by whose Mediation and Intercession we are to offer up our Prayers and Services to God 2. That this is most agreeable to one main End and Design of the Christian Religion and of our Saviour's coming into the World 3. That it is likewise evident from the Nature and Reason of the thing it self That there is but one Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us to offer up our Prayers to God and that there can be no more And then 4. and Lastly I shall endeavour to shew how contrary to the Doctrine of the Christian Religion concerning one Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome in this matter is in their Invocation of Angels and the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and making use of their Mediation and Intercession with God for Sinners as likewise how contrary it is to the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Christian Church And then I shall answer their several Pretences for this Doctrine and Practice and shew that this Practice is not only needless but useless and unprofitable and not only so but very dangerous and impious First I shall endeavour to shew That God hath appointed but one Mediator or Advocate or Intercessor in Heaven for us in whose Name and by whose Intercession we are to offer up all our Prayers and Services to God Besides that it is expresly said here in the Text there is but one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus and that the Scripture no where mentions any other I say besides this we are constantly directed to offer up our Prayers and Thanksgivings and to perform all Acts of Worship in his Name and no other and with a Promise that the Prayers and Services which we offer in his Name will be graciously answered and accepted John 14.13 14. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son If ye shall ask any thing in my name I will do it And Ch. 16.23 24. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be be full In that day that is when I have left the World and am gone to my Father as he explains it at the 28th verse In that day ye shall ask me nothing but whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you That is You shall not need to address your Prayers to me but to my Father in my Name And ver 26 27. At that day ye shall ask in my name that is from the time
Salvation of Mankind I judge nothing more needful to be added to what has fallen in concerning that Subject in my handling the Second Proposition in this and the two former Sermons SERMON V. The general and Effectual Publication of the Gospel by the Apostles Preached on Ascension-Day 1688. Mark XVI 19 20. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right Hand of God And they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with Signs following IN these Words you have these Two great Points of Christian Doctrine I. Our Saviour's Ascension into Heaven and Exaltation at the right hand of God VOL. II. he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right hand of God II. The Effect or Consequence of his Ascension and Exaltation which was the general and effectual Publication of the Gospel they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following And both these are very proper for this Day but I shall at this time handle the latter Point namely the Effect op Consequence of our Saviour's Ascension into Heaven and Exaltation at the right hand of God they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following And these Words contain two things in them I. The general Publication of the Gospel by the Apostles they went forth and preached every where II. The Reason of the great Efficacy and Success of it namely the Divine and Miraculous Power which accompanied the Preaching of it Serm. V. the Lord wrought with them and confirmed the Word with signs following I. The general Publication of the Gospel by the Apostles they went forth and Preached every where And indeed the Industry of the Apostles and the other Disciples in publishing the Gospel was almost incredible What Pains did they take what Hazards did they run what Difficulties and Discouragements did they contend withal in this work and yet their Success was greater than their Industry and beyond all Humane Expectation As will appear if we consider these Five things 1. The vast Spreading of the Gospel in so short a space 2. The wonderful Power and Efficacy of it upon the Lives and Manners of Men. 3. The Weakness and Meanness of the Instruments that were imployed in this great Work 4. The powerful Opposition that was raised against it 5. The great Discouragements to the Embracing the Profession of it I shall speak briefly to each of these 1. The vast Spreading of the Gospel in so short a space This is represented Rev. 14.6 by an Angel flying through the midst of Heaven and preaching the Everlasting Gospel to every nation and kindred and tongue and people No sooner was the Doctrine of the Christian Religion publish'd and made known to the World but it was readily embraced by great numbers almost in all places where it came And indeed so it was foretold in the Prophecies of the Old Testament Gen. 49.10 That when Shiloh that is the Messias should come to him should the gathering of the people be And Isa 2.2 That in the last days the mountains of the house of the Lord should be establisht in the top of the mountain and be exalted above the hills and that all nations should flow unto it Isa 60.8 the Prophet speaking of Mens ready submission to the Gospel and the great number of those that should come in upon the Preaching of it they are said to flie as a Cloud and as the Doves to the windows So quick and strange a Progress did this new Doctrine and Religion make in the World that in the space of about 30 Years after our Saviour's Death it was not only diffused through the greatest part of the Roman Empire but had reached as far as Parthia and India In which we see our Saviour's Prediction fully verified that before the Destruction of Jerusalem the Gospel should be Preached in all the World Math. 24.14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all Nations and then shall the end come But this is not all Men were not only brought in to the Profession of the Gospel but 2. This Doctrine had likewise a wonderful Power and Efficacy upon the Lives and Manners of Men. The generality of those that entertained the Gospel were obedient to it in word and deed as the Apostle tells us concerning the Gentiles that were converted to Christianity Rom. 15.18 Upon the change of their Religion followed also the change of their Manners and of their former course of Life They that took upon them the Profession of Christianity did thenceforth not walk as other Gentiles did in the lusts of the flesh and according to the vicious course of the world but did put off concerning their former conversation the old man which was corrupt according to deceitful lusts and were renewed in the spirit of their mind and did put on the new man which after God was created in righteousness and true holiness So strange an Effect had the Gospel upon the Lives of the generality of the Professors of it that I remember Tertullian in his Apology to the Roman Emperor and Senate challengeth them to instance in any one that bore the Title of Christian that was condemned as a Thief or a Murderer or a Sacrilegious Person or that was guilty of any of those gross Enormities for which so many Pagans were every day made Examples of Publick Justice and Punisht and Executed among them And this certainly was a very admirable and hapy Effect which the Gospel had upon Men to work so great and sudden a Change in the Lives of those who entertained this Doctrine to take them quite off from those vicious Practices which they had been brought up in and accustomed to to change their Spirits and the temper of their Minds and of lewd and dishonest to make them sober and just and holy in all manner of Conversation of proud and fierce contentious and passionate malicious and revengeful to make them humble and meek kind and tender-hearted peaceable and charitable And that the Primitive Christians were generally good Men and of virtuous Lives is credible because their Religion did teach and oblige them to be such which tho' it be not effectual now to make all the Professors of it such as it requires they should be yet it was a very forcible Argument then in the Circumstances in which the Primitive Christians were For Christianity was a hated and persecuted Profession No Man could then have any inducement to embrace it unless he were resolved to practise it and live according to the Rules of it for it offered Men no Rewards and Advantages in this World but on the contrary threatned Men with the greatest Temporal Inconveniences and Sufferings and it promised no Happiness to Men in the other World upon any
the Angels are the Overseers of Divine Service And therefore we ought to behave our selves with all Modesty Reverence and Decency in the Worship of God out of regard to the Angels who are there present and observe our Carriage and Behaviour And to this the Apostle plainly hath respect in that place which by Interpreters hath been thought so difficult 1 Corinth 11.10 where he says That for this Cause in the Assemblies of Christians for the Worship of God the Woman ought to have a Vail upon her head in token of subjection to her Husband because of the Angels that is to be decently and modestly Attired in the Church because of the presence of the holy Angels before whom we should compose our selves to the greatest external Gravity and Reverence which the Angels behold and observe but cannot penetrate into the inward Devotion of our Minds which God only can do and therefore with regard to him who sees our Hearts we should more particularly compose our Minds to the greatest Sincerity and Seriousness our Devotion Which I would to God we would all duly consider all the while we are exercised in the Worship of God who chiefly regards our Hearts But we ought likewise to be very careful of our external Behaviour with a particular regard to the Angels who are present there to see and observe the outward Decency and Reverence of our Carriage and Deportment Of which we are very careful in the Presence even of an Earthly Prince when he either speaks to us or we make any Address to him And surely much more ought we to be so when we are in the immediate Presence of God and of his holy Angels every one of whom is a much greater Prince and of greater Power than any of the Princes of this World But how little is this considered I speak to our shame and by how few among us And as Angels are helpful to good Men in working out their Salvation throughout the course of their Lives so at the Hour of Death they stand by them to comfort them and assist them in that needful and dismal time in that last and great Conflict of frail Mortality with Death and the Powers of Darkness to receive their expiring Spirits into their Charge and to conduct them safely into the Mansions of the Blessed And to this purpose also the Jews had a Tradition that the Angels wait upon good Men at their Death to convey their Souls into Paradise Which is very much countenanc'd by our Saviour in the Parable of the rich man and Lazarus Luke 16.22 where it is said that when Lazarus died he was carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom Nay that the Angels have some Charge and Care of the Bodies of good Men after death may not improbably be gathered from that Passage m St. Jude v. 9. where Michael the Archangel is said to have contended with the Devil about the Body of Moses What the ground of this Controversie betwixt them was may be most probably explain'd by a passage Deut. 34.6 where it is said that God took particular care probably by an Angel concerning the burying so Moses in a certain Valley and it is added but no man knoweth of his Sepulchre unto this day The Devil it seems had a fair Prospect of laying a Foundation for Idolatry in the Worship of Moses after his death if he could have gotten the disposal of his Body to have buried it in some known and publick place And no doubt it would hare gratified him not a little to have made him who was so declared an Enemy to Idolatry all his life an occasion of it after his death But this God thought fit to prevent in pity to the People of Israel whom he saw upon all occasion so prone to Idolatry and for that Reason committed it to the Charge of Michael the Archangel to bury his Body secretly and this was the thing which Michael the Archangel contended with the Devil about But before I pass from this I cannot but take notice of one memorable Circumstance in this Contest mentioned likewise by St. Jude in these words yet Michael the Archangel when contending with the Devil he disputed about the Body of Moses durst not bring against him a railing accusation His Duty restrain'd him from it and probably his Descretion too As he durst not offend God in doing a thing so much beneath the Dignity and Perfection of his Nature so he could not but think that the Devil would have been too hard for him at railing a thing to which as the Angels have no disposition so I believe that they have no talent no faculty at it The cool Consideration whereof should make all Men especially those who call themselves Divines and especially in Controversies about Religion ashamed and afraid of this manner of disputing since Michael the Archangel even when he disputed with the Devil durst not bring against him a railing accusation But to proceed This we are sure of that the Angels shall be the great Ministers and Instruments of the Resurrection of our Bodies and the reunion of them to our Souls For so our Blessed Saviour has told us Matt. 24.30 31. That when the Son of man shall come in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory he shall send his Angels to gather the Elect from the four winds from one end of Heaven to the other Thus I have as briefly as I could and so far as the Scripture hath gone before us to give us light in this matter endeavoured to shew the several Ways wherein good Angels do Minister in behalf of t hem who shall be Heirs of Salvation All that now remains is to draw some Inferences from this discourse and so I shall conclude First what hath been said upon this Argument and so abundantly proved from Scripture may serve to establish us in the Belief of this Truth and to awaken us to a due Consideration of it That the Angels are invisible to us and that we are seldom sensible of their Presence and the good Offices they do us is no sufficient Reason against the Truth and Reality of the Thing if by other Arguments we are convinced of it For by the same Reason we may almost as well call in Question the Existance of God and of our own Souls neither of which do fall under the notice of our Senses and yet by other Arguments we are sufficiently convinc'd of them both So in this case the general Consent and Tradition of Mankind concerning the Existence of Angels and their Ministry about us especially being confirmed to us by clear and express Testimony of holy Scripture ought to be abundant Evidence to us when we consider that so general a Consent must have a proportionable Cause which can be no other but a general Tradition grounded at first upon Revelation and derived down to all succeeding Ages from the first Spring and Original of Mankind and since confirmed by manifold Revelations of
attend upon himself This is our Saviour's own Argument Matth. 18. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones for I say unto you their Angels do continually behold the face of your Father which is in Heaven With how much Contempt soever we may look upon a poor good Man he hath Friends and Patrons of a higher sort than any of the Princes of this World Fourthly If God appointed Angels to be Ministring Spirits on our behalf we may thence very reasonably conclude that God did not intend that we should worship them This seems to be a clear Consequence if the Reasoning of the Angel in the Revelation be good where he forbids St. John to worship him because he was his fellow servant Yea the Consequence seems to be yet stronger from the Text that if they be not only Fellow Servants but do in some sort minister unto us then we are not to worship them And yet this Practice is openly avowed in the Church of Rome though it be reproved so very severely by the Apostle as an Apostacy from Christianity Colos 2.18 19. Let no man says he deceive you in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels not holding the head as if it were a Renouncing of Christ out of a pretended Humility to make use of other Mediators besides him to the Father And notwithstanding also that the Angel in the Revelation does so vehemently forbid it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by no means upon no terms do it and he forbids it for such a Reason as makes it for ever unlawful namely that we ought not to worship those who serve and worship God together with us Do it not says the Angel I am thy fellow Servant worship thou God In which words he plainly directs us to the sole and proper Object of our Worship Bellarmine the great Champion of the Popish Cause never used more gross and apparent shuffling than in Answer to this Text. He says first why are we reproved for doing what St. John did To which the Answer is very easie because St. John himself was reproved by an Angel for doing what he did And now that his Question is answered one might methinks ask him a cross Question or two Why do the Church of Rome presume to do that which an Angel does so expresly forbid to be done Or was it fit for St. John to worship one who according to Bellarmine was so ignorant in the Doctrine of the Catholick Church as to reprove him for doing his Duty As is evident from his Second crafty Answer to this Text That St. John did well to give due Worship to the Angel And yet it is plain from this Text that the Angel did not think the Worship which St. John gave to him to be his due It is very hard to imagine but that a Man of Bellarmine's Understanding did intend to give up the Cause in his Answers to this Text But if he was in earnest then the Matter is brought to this plain and short issue Whether it be fitter for us to believe a Cardinal of Rome or an Angel of God Lastly We should imitate the holy Angel by endeavouring to serve God as they do in ministring to the Good of others Whilst we are in the Body in this state of infirmity and imperfection tho' we cannot serve God with the same Activity and Vigour that the blessed Angels do yet we may in the same Sincerity and with the same true Pleasure and Delight And we should learn also of them to condescend to the meanest Services for the good of others If the Angels who are no ways allied to us and do so much excel us in the Dignity and Perfection of their Nature for tho' David says that God made man little lower than the Angels his meaning is that he made him next below the Angels in the Rank of Beings but yet very distant from them in Perfection I say if those glorious Creatures who are the Chief of the Ways and Works of God do not think much to humble themselves to be Ministers on our behalf shall we be so proud as to think much to stoop to the lowest Offices to serve one another You see my Brethren what is the constant Work and Employment of the Blessed Spirits above to do good to Men especially in order to their Eternal Happiness and this is the highest degree of Charity and Charity is the highest Perfection of Men and Angels So that to employ our selves with all our Minds and with all our Might to help forward the Salvation of others is to be Good Angels I had almost said to be a kind of Gods to Men. I hope that we all of us do hope one day to be like the Angels in the Purity and Perfection of their Nature So our Saviour has told us that at the Resurrection we shall be like the Angels Now as they are the Patterns of our Hope and Happiness so let us make them the Examples of our Duty and Obedience according as our Saviour hath taught us to pray that God's will may be done on Earth as it is in Heaven that is that we may serve God and do his Will here on Earth so far as the Infirmity of our Nature and of our present state will admit with the same Readiness and Diligence with the same Chearfulness and Zeal that the holy and Blessed Angels do in Heaven And let us aspire continually in our minds after that Blessed Time when we shall be free from Sin and Sorrow from Affliction and Pain from Diseases and Deaths when we shall serve God without Distraction and do his Will without weariness and shall be for ever with the Lord amidst an innumerable company of Angels and the Spirits of just men made perfect Finally Let us bless God as for all the visible Effects of his merciful Providence towards us so likewise for the invisible Aids and Protection of his holy Angels many times probably vouchsafed to us when we are but little aware of it But above all let us bless him for his Son our Lord Jesus Christ who was made a little lower than the Angels that is a Mortal Man that by the Suffering of death for our sakes he might be cloathed with glory and honour according to the working of that mighty power which God wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all Principalities and Powers and Might and Dominion and every Name that is named not only in this World but also in that which is to come To him O Father with thee and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Dominion and Power both now and for ever Amen SERMON VII The Reputation of Good Men after Death Preached on St. Luke's Day Psal CXII 6. The latter Part of the Verse The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance AS the Desire and Hope of Immortality which is implanted in Humane Nature
is some Evidence of the Thing so likewise that Natural Desire which is in Men to have a Good Name perpetuated and to be remembred and mentioned with honour VOL. II. when they are dead and gone is a sign that there is in Humane Nature some Presage of a Life after Death in which they hope among other Rewards of well-doing to meet with this also to be well spoken of to Posterity And tho probably we should not know the Good that is said of us when we are dead yet it is an encouragement to Virtue to be secured of it before-hand and to find by Experience that they who have done their part well in this life go off with Applause and that the Memory of their Good Actions is preserved and transmited to Posterity And among the many Advantages of Piety and Virtue this is not altogether inconsiderable that it reflects an Honour upon our Memory after death which is a thing much more valuable than to have our Bodies preserved from Putrifaction For that I think is the meaning of Solomon when he prefers a Good Name before precious Oyntment Eccl. 7.1 A good name is better than precious Oyntment This they used in Embalming of dead Bodies Serm. VII to preserve them from noisomness and corruption but a Good Name preserves a Man's Memory and makes it grateful to Posterity which is a far greater Benefit than that of a precious Oyntment which serves only to keep a dead Body from stench and rottenness I shall briefly explain the Words and then consider the matter contained in them the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance By the righteous is probably here meant the good man in general for tho' Justice and Righteousness are in Scripture frequently used for that particular Virtue whereby a Man is disposed to render to every Man his own which is known by the name of Justice yet it is less frequently and perhaps in this place used in a larger Sense so as to comprehend all Piety and Virtue For so the righteous man is described at the beginning of this Psalm Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his Commandments And he is opposed to the wicked man v. 10. the wicked shall see it and be grieved that is he shall be troubled to see the Prosperity of the righteous the manifold Blessings of his life and the Good Name he shall leave behind him at his death which is the meaning of his being in everlasting remembrance that is long after he is dead perhaps for many Ages he shall be well spoken of and his Name mentioned with honour and his Good Deeds recorded and remembred to all Posterity So that the sense of the words amounts to this That eminently good men do commonly leave a Good Name behind them and transmit a grateful Memory of themselves to after Ages I say commonly for so we are to understand these kind of sayings not that they are strictly and universally true without exception but usually and for the most part It is possible that a Good Man may soon be forgotten by the Malice of Men or through the partiality and iniquity of the Age may have his Name blemisht after death and be mis-represented to Posterity but for the most part it is otherwise and tho' the World be very wicked yet it seldom deals so hardly and unjustly with Men of eminent Goodness and Virtue as to defraud them of their due Praise and Commendation after death It very frequently happens otherwise to Good Men whilst they are alive nay they are then very seldom so justly treated as to be generally esteemed and well spoken of and to be allowed their due Praise and Reputation But after death their Good Name is generally secured and vindicated and Posterity does them that right which perhaps the Age wherein they lived denyed to them Therefore in the Prosecution of this Argument I shall enquire into these Two things First Whence it comes to pass that Good Men are very often defrauded of their just Praise and Reputation whilst they are alive And Secondly What Security they have of a Good Name after death First Whence it comes to pass that Good Men are so frequently defrauded of their just Praise and Reputation while they are alive And to give our selves full satisfaction in this matter Two things are fit to be enquired into 1. From what Cause this proceeds 2. For what Reason the Providence of God doth often permit it 1. From what Cause it proceeds that good Men have so often the hard Fate to be ill spoken of and to be severely censur'd and to have their worth much detracted from while they are alive And this proceeds partly from Good Men themselves and partly from others 1. Good Men themselves are many times the cause of it For the best Men are imperfect and present and visible Imperfections do very much lessen and abate the Reputation of a Man's Goodness It cannot be otherwise but that the lustre of a great Piety and Virtue should be somewhat obscured by that mixture of Humane Frailty which does necessarily attend this state of Imperfection And though a Man by great Care and Consideration by great Vigilancy and Pains with himself be arrived to that degree and pitch of Goodness as to have but a very few visible Failings and those small in comparison yet when these come to be scann'd and commented upon by Envy or Ill-will they will be strangely inflamed and magnified and made much greater and more than in truth they are But there are few Persons in the World of that excellent Goodness but besides the common and more pardonable Frailties of Humanity they do now and then discover something which might perhaps justly deserve a severe Censure if some amends were not made for it by many and great Virtues Very good Men are subject to considerable Imprudences and sudden Passions and especially to an affected Severity and Moroseness of Carriage which is very disgustful and apt to beget dislike And they are the more incident to these kind of Imperfections because out of a just hatred of the vicious Customs and Practices of the World and to keep out of the way of Temptation they think it safest to retire from the World as much as they can being loth to venture themselves more than needs in so infectious an Air. By this means their Spirits are apt to be a little sower and they must necessarily be ignorant of many points of Civility and good Humour which are great Ornaments of Virtue though not of the Essence of it Now two or three Faults in a Good Man if an Uncharitable Man have but the handling and managing of them may easily cast a considerable Blemish upon his Reputation because the better the Man is so much the more conspicuous are his Faults as Spots are soonest discovered and most taken notice of in a pure and white Garment Besides that in matters of Censure Mankind do much
leaving a Good Name behind them and of Perpetuating the Fame and Glory of their Actions to after Ages Upon this ground chiefly many of the Bravest Spirits among the Heathen were animated to Virtue and with the hazard of their lives to do great and glorious Exploits for their Country And certainly it is an Argument of a great Mind to be moved by this Consideration and a sign of a low and base Spirit to neglect it He that hath no regard to his Fame is lost to all purposes of Virtue and Goodness when a Man is once come to this not to care what others say of him the next step is to have no care what himself does Quod conscientia est apud Deum id fama est apud homines what Conscience is in respect of God that is Fame in respect of Men. Next to a good Conscience a clear Reputation ought to be to every Man the dearest thing in the World Men have generally a great value for Riches and yet the Scripture pronounceth him the happier Man that leaves a Good Name than him that leaves a great Estate behind him Prov. 22.1 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches If then we have any regard to a Good Name the best way to secure it to our selves is by the holy and virtuous Actions of a good Life Do well and thou shalt be well spoken of if not now yet by those who shall come after the surest way to glory and honour and immortality is by a patient continuance in well-doing God hath engaged his promise to us to this purpose 1 Sam. 2.30 Them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed The name of the wicked shall rot says Solomon Prov. 10.7 But God doth usually take a particular care so preserve and vindicate their Memory who are careful to keep his Covenant and remember his Commandments to do them 3dly and lastly When ever we pretend to do honour to the Memory of Good Men let us charge our selves with a strict Imitation of their Holiness and Virtue The greatest honour we can do to God or Good Men is to endeavour to be like them to express their Virtues and represent them to the World in our lives Upon these Days we should propound to our selves as our Patterns all those holy and excellent Persons who have gone before us the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour and all those blessed Saints and Martyrs who were faithful to the death and have received a crown of life and immortality We should represent to our selves the Piety of their Actions and the Patience and Constancy of their Sufferings that we may imitate their Virtues and be followers of them who through faith and patience have inherited the promises and seeing we are compast about with such a cloud of witnesses we should lay aside every weight and run with patience the race which is set before us Let us imagine all those great Examples of Piety and Virtue standing about us in a throng and fixing their Eyes upon us How ought we to demean our selves in such a Presence and under the eye of such Witnesses and how should we be ashamed to do any thing that is unworthy of such excellent Patterns and blush to look upon our own lives when we remember theirs Good God! at what a distance do the greatest part of Christians follow those Examples and while we honour them with our lips how unlike are we to them in our lives Why do we thus reproach our selves with these glorious Patterns Let us either resolve to imitate their Virtues or to make no mention of their Names for while we celebrate the Examples of Saints and Holy Men and yet contradict them in our lives we either mock them or upbraid our selves Now the God of Peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ c. SERMON VIII The Duty of imitating the Primitive Teachers and Patterns of Christianity Preached on All-Saints Day 1684. HEB. XIII 7. The latter Part of the Verse Whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation The whole Verse runs thus Remember them which have the Rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation THE great Scope and Design of this Epistle is to perswade the Jews who were newly converted to Christianity VOL. II. to continue stedfast in the Profession of it notwithstanding all the Sufferings and Persecutions it was attended withall and to encourage them hereto among many other Arguments which the Apostle makes use of he doth several times in this Epistle propound to them the Examples and Patterns of Saints and Holy Men that were gone before them especially those of their own Nation who in their respective Ages had given remarkable Testimony of their Faith in God and constant Adherence to the Truth Ch. 6.11 12. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end that ye be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises And Ch. 11. he gives a Catalogue of the Eminent Heroes and Saints of the Old Testament who by Faith had done such Wonders and given such Testimony of their Patience and Constancy in doing and suffering the Will of God from whence he infers Ch. 12.1 that we ought to take Pattern and Heart from such Examples to persevere in our Christian course Serm. VIII Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of Martyrs or Witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us especially since they had greater Examples than these nearer to them and more fresh in Memory the great Example of our Lord the Founder of our Religion and of the first Teachers of Christianity the Disciples and Apostles of our Lord and Saviour The Example of our Lord himself the Captain and Rewarder of our Faith v. 2. of that 12th Ch. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame v. 3. For consider him who endured such contradiction of sinners a-against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds This indeed is the great Pattern of Christians and in regard of the great Perfection of it surpasseth all other Patterns and seems to make them useless as having in it the Perfection of the Divinity not in its full brightness which would be apt to dazle rather than direct us but allayed and shadowed with the Infirmities of Humane Nature and for that Reason more accommodate and familiar to us than the Divine Perfections abstractedly considered But yet because our Blessed Saviour was God as well as Man and clear of all stain of sin for tho' he was cloathed with
necessary if we expect the Crown of Life and hope for the same happy End which they had for none but they that continue to the end shall be saved 4. We should imitate them in the efficacy and fruitfulness of their Faith in the Practice and Virtues of a good Life Whose faith follow considering the end of their Conversation that is their Perseverance in a holy Course to the end And these must never be separated a sound Faith and a good Life Without this our Faith is barren and dead as St. James tells us ch 2. v. 17. Our Knowledge and Belief of the Christian Doctrine must manifest it self in a good Conversation Who is a wise man says the same St. James ch 3. v. 13. Who is a wise man and endowed with knowledge amongst you Let him shew-out of a good conversation his works This is a faithful saying saith St. Paul to Titus ch 3. v. 8. and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they who have believed in God be careful to maintain good works And herein the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour were eminent Examples They lived as they Taught and Practised the Doctrine which they Preached So St. Paul strictly chargeth Timothy 1 Tim. 4.12 Be thou an example of the Believers in word in conversation in charity in faith in purity And our Saviour tells us that hereby chiefly false Prophets and Teachers might be known from the true Apostles of Christ Matth. 7.20 By their fruits ye shall know them And indeed we do not follow the faith of those Excellent Persons if we do not abound in all the fruits of righteousness which by Jesus Christ are to the praise and glory of God I come now to the Third and Last Thing I Proposed viz. the Encouragement to this from the Consideration of the happy state of those Persons who are proposed to us for Patterns and the glorious Reward which they are made Partakers of in another World Considering the end of their Conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their egress or departure out of this Life into a Blessed and Glorious State where they have received the Crown and Reward of their Faith and Patience and Pious Conversation in this World or else which comes much to one considering the conclusion of their Lives with what Patience and Comfort they left the World and with what joyful Assurance of the happy Condition they were going to and were to continue in for ever And this is a great encouragement to Constancy and Perseverance in Faith and Holiness to see with what Chearfulness and Comfort good Men die and with what a firm and steady Perswasion of the Happiness they are entring upon For who would not be glad to leave the World in that Calmness and Serenity of Mind and comfortable Assurance of a Blessed Eternity Bad Men wish this and are ready to say with Balaam Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his But if we would have the Comfort of such a Death we must live such Lives and imitate the Faith and good Conversation of those whom we desire to resemble in the manner of their Death and to go into the same Happy State that they are in after Death If we do not make their Lives our Pattern we must not expect to be conformable to to them in the happy Manner of their Death When we hear of the Death of an eminent good Man we do not doubt but he is happy and are confident that he will meet with the Reward of his Piety and Goodness in another World If we believe this of him let us endeavour to be like him that we may attain the same Happiness which we believe him to be possest of and as the Apostle exhorts ch 6.12 Let us not be slothful but followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Let us shew the same Diligence that they did that we may have the same full Assurance of Hope unto the End which they had The Inference from this Discourse which I have made upon this Argument is to shew what Use we ought to make of these excellent Examples which are set before us of the first Founders and Teachers of our Religion and what is the proper Honour and Respect which we ought to pay to their Memory Not Invocation and Adoration but a zealous Imitation of their Faith and good Conversation The greatest Honour we can do them the most acceptable to God the most grateful to them and the most beneficial to our selves is to endeavour to be like them Not to make any Images and Likeness of them to fall down before them and worship them but to Form the Image of their Faith and Virtues upon our Hearts and Lives Not to Pray to them but to Praise God for such bright and glorious Examples and to endeavour with all our Might to imitate their Faith and Patience and Piety and Humility and Meekness and Charity and all those other Virtues which were so resplendent in them And this is to remember the Founders of our Religion as we ought to follow their Faith and to consider the end of their Conversation Had the Christian Religion required or intended any such thing as of latter Times hath been practised in the World it had been as easy for the Apostle to have said Remember them that have been your Guids and have spoken to you the Word of God to erect Images to them and to worship them with due Veneration and to pray to them and make use of their Intercession But no such thing is said or the least Intimation given of it either in this Text or any other in the whole Bible but very much to the contrary Their Example indeed is frequently recommended to us for our Imitation and Encouragement and for this Reason the Providence of God hath taken particular Care that the Memory of the Apostles and so many primitive Christians and Martyrs should be transmitted to Posterity that Christians in all succeeding Ages might propound these Patterns to themselves and have perpetually before their Eyes the Piety and Virtue of their Lives and their patient and constant Sufferings for the Truth that when God shall please to call us to the like Tryal we may not be wearied and faint in our Minds but being compassed about with such a Cloud of Witnesses having so many Examples in our Eye of those who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises and do now as it were look down from their happy State upon us here below who are combating with manifold Temptations to see how we behave and acquit our selves in our Christian Course we may take encouragement to our selves from such Examples and such Spectators to run with Patience the Race which is set before us I know indeed that other Use than this hath been and is at this Day made of the Memory of the Saints and Martyrs of former Ages very dishonourable to God and
he remains faithful who hath threatned and cannot deny himself This is matter of great Terror and seriously to be thought upon by those who are tempted to deny Christ and his Truth either by the hope of worldly Advantage or the fear of temporal Sufferings What worldly Advantage can we propose to our selves by quitting our Religion which can be thought an equal Price for the loss of our immortal Souls and of the Happiness of all Eternity Suppose the whole World were offered us in consideration yet what is a man profited if he should gain the whole world and lose his own Soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul as our Saviour Reasons Matt. 16.26 And on the other hand if the fear of Temporal Suffering be such a Terror to Men as to shake their Constancy in Religion and to tempt them to renounce it the fear of Eternal Torments ought to be much more Powerful to keep them stedfast to their Religion and to deter them from the denial of it If Fear will move us then in all Reason that which is most Terrible ought to prevail most with us and the greatest Danger should be most dreaded by us according to our Saviour's most Friendly and Reasonable Advice Luke 12.4 5. I say unto you my friends be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that have no more that they can do But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear Fear him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him If there can be no doubt which of them is most to be dreaded there can be no doubt what we are to do in case of such a Temptation I shall now draw some Inferences from this Discourse by way of Application First If this be a faithful saying that if we be dead with Christ we shall also live with him if we suffer we shall also reign with him but if we deny him he will also deny us The Belief of it ought to have a mighty influence upon us to make us stedfast and unmoveable in the Profession and Practice of our Holy Religion This Inference the Apostle makes from the Doctrine of a Blessed Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.58 Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. If any thing will fix Men in the Profession of their Religion and make them serious in the Practice of it the Belief of a Glorious Resurrection and of the Reward which God will then give to his Faithful Servants must needs have a very powerful Influence upon them to this purpose Upon the same ground the Apostle to the Hebrews exhorts them to hold fast the Profession of their Faith without wavering because he is faithful that hath promised If we be constant in the Profession and Practice of our Holy Religion God will be faithful to the Promise which he hath made of Eternal Life to those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality If under the dark and imperfect Dispensation of the Law Good Men shewed so much Courage and Constancy for God and Religion as we read in that long Catalogue of Heroes Heb. 11. How much more should Christians whose Faith is supported much more strongly than theirs was by a much clearer Evidence of another Life and a Blessed Immortality than they had by more express Promises of Divine Comfort and Assistance under Sufferings than were made to them and by the most Divine and Encouraging Example of the greatest Patience under the greatest Sufferings that the World ever had in the Death and Passion of the Son of God who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the Shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God! When we consider this Glorious Example of Suffering and the Glorious Reward of it how can we be weary and faint in our minds If the Saints and Apostles of the Old Testament did such great things by Virtue of a Faith which relyed chiefly upon the Attributes and Providence of God what should not we do who have the Security of God's express Promise for our Comfort and Encouragement We certainly have much greater Reason to take up our Cross more chearfully and to bear it more patiently than they did Secondly We should always be Prepared in the Resolution of our Minds to Suffer for the Testimony of God's Truth and a good Conscience if it should please God at any time to call us to it This our Saviour hath made a necessary Condition of his Religion and a Qualification of a true Disciple If any man will be my disciple let him take up his Cross and follow me so that we are to reckon upon it and to prepare for it that if it comes we may not be surprized as if some strange thing had happened to us and may not be unresolved what to do in such a case And God knows when we may be called to it However it is wise to forecast it in our Minds and to be always in a Preparation and Readiness to entertain the worst that may happen that if it come we may be able to stand out in an evil day and if it does not come God will accept the Resolution of our Minds and reward it according to the Sincerity of it He that knows what we would have done will consider it as if we had done it Thirdly The less we are called to suffer for God the more we should think our selves obliged to do for him the less God is pleased to exercise our Patience we should abound so much the more in the active Virtues of a good Life and our Obedience to God should be so much the more chearful and we more fruitful in every good work If there be no need of sealing the Truth with our Blood we should be sure to adorn and recommend it by our Lives Fourthly and Lastly If the hopes of Immortality will bear Men up under the extremity of Suffering and Torments and give Men Courage and Resolution against all the Terrours of the World they ought much more to make us victorious over the Temptations and Allurements of it For certainly it is in Reason much easier to foregoe Pleasure than to endure Pain to refuse or lay down a good Place for the Testimony of a good Conscience than to lay down our lives upon that Account And in vain does any Man pretend that he will be a Martyr for his Religion when he will not rule an Appetite nor restrain a Lust nor subdue a Passion nor cross his Covetousness and Ambition for the sake of it and in hope of that eternal life which God that cannot lye hath promised He that refuseth to do the less is not like to do the greater It is very improbable that a Man will die
a Rack which yet ought to have been indifferent to them had they believed themselves and really esteemed that which others account Pain to be as Happy a Condition as that which is commonly called Ease But we need not trouble our selves to confute so stupid a Principle which is confuted by Nature and by every Man's Sense and Experience I think we may take it for granted that Freedom from Misery is a very considerable part of Happiness otherwise Heaven and Hell if we consider only the Torment of it would be all one But certainly it is no small endearment of Religion to the common Sense of Mankind that it promiseth to us in the next Life a Freedom from all the Evils and Troubles of this And by this the Happiness of Heaven is frequently described to us in Scripture Esai 57.2 speaking of the righteous Man he shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds 2 Thess 1.7 where the Apostle speaking of the Reward of those who should Suffer Persecution for Religion It is a righteous thing with God says he to recompense to you who are troubled Rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels And the Apostle to the Hebrews frequently describes the Happiness of Christians by entring into rest And Rev. 21.4 the State of the New Jerusalem is set forth to us by Deliverance from those Troubles and Sorrows which Men are subject to in this World and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are past away Thus it is with us in this World we are liable to Sorrow and Pain and Death But when we are once got to Heaven none of these things shall approach us The former things are pass'd away that is the Evils we formerly endured are past and over and shall never return to afflict us any more And is not this a great Comfort when we are Labouring under the Evils of this Life and Conflicting sorely with the Miseries of it that we shall one Day be past all these and find a safe Refuge and Retreat from all these Storms and Tempests When we are Loaded with Afflictions and even tired with the Burden of them and ready to faint and sink under it to think that there remains a rest for us into which we shall shortly enter How can it choose but be a mighty Consolation to us whilst we are in this vale of tears and troubles to be assured that the Time is coming when God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes and there shall be no more sorrow nor crying There are none of us but are obnoxious to any of the Evils of this Life we feel some of them and we fear more Our outward Condition it may be is uncomfortable we are poor and persecuted we are destitute of Friends or have many Enemies we are despoiled of many of those Comforts and Enjoyments which we once had Our Bodies perhaps are in Pain or our Spirits troubled or though we have no real Cause of outward Trouble yet our Souls are ill Lodg'd in the dark Dungeon of a Body over-power'd with a Melancholy Humour which keeps out all Light and Comfort from our Minds And is it no reviving to us to think of that Happy Hour when we shall find a Remedy and Redress of all these Evils at once Of that blessed Place where we shall take Sanctuary from all those Afflictions and Troubles which pursued us in this World Where Sorrow and Misery and Death are perfect Strangers and into which nothing that can render Men in the least unhappy can ever enter Where our Souls shall be in perfect rest and contentment and our Bodies after a while shall be restored and reunited to our Souls not to Cloud and Clog them as they do here but so happily changed and refined to such a Perfection that they shall be so far from giving any disturbance to our Minds that they shall mightily add to their Pleasure and Happiness And when we are once Landed in those Blessed Regions what a Comfort will it be to us to stand on the Shore and look back upon those rough and dangerous Seas which we have escaped How pleasant to consider the manifold Evils and Calamities which we are freed from and for ever secured against To remember our past Labours and Sufferings and to be able to defie all those Temptations which were wont to assault us in this World with so much violence and with too much success And this is the Condition of the Blessed Spirits above They find a perfect cessation of all Afflictions and Troubles they rest from their labours But this is not all For. 2. They are not only freed from all the Evils and Sufferings they were exercised withal in this World but they shall receive a plentiful Reward of all the Good they have done in it their works do accompany them When Pious Souls go out of this World they do not only leave all the Evils of the World behind them but they carry along with them all the Good they have done to reap there the Comfort and Reward of it Just as on the other hand Wicked Men when they die leave all the good things of this World all the Pleasures and Enjoyments behind them but the Guilt and Remorse of their wicked Lives accompany them and stick close to them to Torment them there and that there they may be Tormented for them Thus the Scriptures represent to us the different Condition of Good and Bad Men Esai 3.10 11. Say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings Wo unto the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him Which is many times true in this World but however that happen will most certainly and remarkably be made good in the other And this is most Emphatically exprest to us in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Luke 16.25 where the Rich Man Petitions Abraham for some Ease and Abraham returns him this Answer Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented What a Change was here How Comfortable to the one and how Dismal to the other Lazarus found rest from all his Labours and Sufferings and his Piety and Patience accompanied him into the other World and conveyed him into Abraham's Bosom Whereas the Rich Man was parted from all his good things and the Guilt of his Sins went along with him and lodged him in the place of Torments But my Text confines me to the bright side of this Prospect The consideration of that Glorious Recompence which Good Men shall receive for the Good Works which they have done in this World Indeed the Text doth not expresly say
were likewise judicially Dead Dead in Law being Condemned by the just Sentence of it So soon as ever we sinned Eternal Death was by the Sentence of God's Law become our due Portion and Reward and this being our Case God in tender Commiseration and Pity to Mankind was pleased to send his Son into the World to inter pose between the Justice of God and the Demerits of Men and by reversing the Sentence that was gone out against us and procuring a Pardon for us to rescue us from the Misery of Eternal Death and not only so but upon the condition of Faith and Repentance of Obedience and a Holy Life to bestow Eternal Life upon us and by this means to restore us to a better Condition than that from which we were fallen and to advance us to a Happiness greater than that of Innocency And was not this great Love to design and provide so great a Benefit and Blessing for us to send his Son Jesus to bless us in turning away every one of us from our Iniquities Our Blessed Saviour who came from the bosom of his Father and knew his tender Affection and Compassion to Mankind speaks of this as a most wonderful and unparallell'd expression of his Love to us John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son God so loved the world so greatly so strangely so beyond our biggest hopes nay so contrary to all reasonable expectation as to send his only-begotten Son to seek and to save the sinful Sons of Men. If it had only in general been declared to us that God was about to send his Son into the World upon some great design and been left to us to conjecture what his Errand and Business should be how would this have alarmed the guilty Consciences of sinful Men and fill'd them with infinite Jealousies and Suspicion with fearful expectations of Wrath and fiery Indignation to consume them For considering the great Wickedness and Degeneracy of Mankind what could we have thought but that surely God was sending his Son upon a design of vengeance to Chastise a Sinful World to Vindicate the Honour of his despised Laws and to revenge the multiplyed Affronts which had been offered to the highest Majesty of Heaven by his Pitiful and Ungrateful Creatures Our own Guilt would have been very apt to have fill'd us with such Imaginations as these that in all likelihood the Son of God was coming to Judgment to call the Wicked World to an Account to proceed against his Father's Rebels to pass Sentence upon them and to Execute the Vengeance which they had deserved This we might justly have dreaded and indeed considering our Case how ill we have deserved at God's Hands and how highly we have provoked him what other weighty Matter could we hope for But the Goodness of God hath strangely out-done our Hopes and deceived our Expectation so it follows in the next Words God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world intimating that this we might justly have imagin'd and feared but upon a quite contrary Design that through him the world might be saved What a surprize of Kindness is here that instead of sending his Son to condemn us he should send him into the world to save us to rescue us from the Jaws of Death and of Hell from that Eternal and Intolerable Misery which we had incurred and deserved And if he had proceeded no farther this had been wonderful Mercy and Kindness But his Love stopt not here it was not contented to spare us and free us from Misery but was restless till it had found out a way to bring us to Happiness for God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son not only that whosoever believes in him might not perish but might have everlasting life This is the Second Evidence of God's great Love to us the greatness of the Blessing and Benefit which he had designed and provided for us that we might live through him not only be delivered from Spiritual and Eternal Death but be made partakers of Eternal Life III. The last Evidence of God's great Love to us which I mentioned was this that God was pleased to use such a Means for the obtaining and procuring of this great Blessing and Benefit he sent his only-begotten Son into the World that we might live through him And this will appear to be great Love indeed if we consider these Four things 1. The Person whom he was pleased to employ upon this Design he sent his only-begotten Son 2. How much he abased him in Order to the effecting and accomplishing of this Design implyed in these words he sent him into the World 3. If we consider to whom he was sent to the World And 4. That he did all this voluntarily and freely out of his meer Pity and Goodness not constrain'd hereto by any Necessity not prevail'd upon by any Application or Importunity of ours nor oblig'd by any Benefit or Kindness from us 1. Let us consider the Person whom God was pleased to employ in this Design he sent his only-begotten Son no less Person than his own Son and no less dear to him than his only-begotten Son 1. No less Person than his own Son and the Dignity of the Person that was employed in our behalf doth strangely heighten and set off the Kindness What an Endearment is it of the Mercy of our Redemption that God was pleased to employ upon this Design no meaner Person than his own Son his begotten Son so he is called in the Text his Son in so peculiar a Manner as no Creature is or can be the Creatures below Man are call'd the Works of God but never his Children the Angels are in Scripture call'd the Sons of God and Adam likewise is call'd the Son of God because God made him after his own Image and Likeness in Holiness and Righteousness and in his Dominion and Sovereignty over the Creatures below him But this Title of begotten Son of God was never given to any of the Creatures Man or Angel for unto which of the Angels said he at any time thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee as the Apostle Reasons Heb. 1.5 He must be a great Person indeed to whom this Title belongs of the begotten Son of God and it must be a mighty Love indeed which moved God to employ so great a Person on the behalf of so pitiful and wretched Creatures as we are It had been a mighty Condescension for God to treat with us at all but that no less Person than his own Son should be the Embassadour is an astonishing Regard of Heaven to poor sinful Dust and Ashes 2 This Person was as dear to God as he was great he was his only-begotten Son It had been a great Instance of Abraham's Love and Obedience to God to have sacrificed a Son at his Command but this Circumstance makes it much greater that it was his only Son hereby