Heresie of the Collyridians which he calls the Heresie of the Women because they first began the Worship of the Virgin Mary declares most expresly against the Worship of any Creature whatsoever For neither says he is Elias to be worshipped though he is reckoned among the living meaning that he was taken up into Heaven Body and Soul nor John nor any other of the Saints And as for the Virgin Mary he particularly adds that if God will not have us to worship the Angels how much more would he not have us to worship her that was born of Anna And concludes let Mary be had in Honour but let the Lord be worshipped St. Chrysostom in a long Discourse persuades Men to address their Prayers immediately to God and not as we address our selves to great Men by their Officers and Favourites and tells us that there is no need of such Intercessors with God who is not so ready to grant our Petitions when we entreat him by others as when we pray to him our selves Lastly St. Augustine because the Scripture pronounces him accursed that puteth his trust in Man from thence he argues that therefore we ought not to ask of any other but of our Lord God either the Grace to do well or the Reward of it The contrary to which I am sure is done in several of the Publick Prayers used in the Church of Rome And l. 12. de Civ Dei he expresly tells us that the Names of the Martyrs were recited in their Prayers at the Altar but they were not invocated by the Priest who did celebrate Divine Service And in the Third Council of Carthage which was in St. Augustin's time it is enjoined Can. 33. that all Prayers that were made at the Altar should be directed to the Father Which how it is observed in the Church of Rome we all know To conclude this matter it cannot be made appear that there were any Prayers to Saints in the Publick Offices of the Church till towards the end of the Eighth Century For in the Year 754. the Invocation of Saints was condemned by a Council of 338 Bishops at Constantinople as is acknowledged by the Second Council of Nice which first establish'd this Superstition in the Year 787 and this very Council was condemned Seven Years after in a Council at Frankfort and declared void and to be no otherwise esteemed of than the Council of Ariminum Thus you see when this Doctrine and Practice so contrary to the Doctrine and Practice of a great many of the first Ages of the Christian Church was first established namely at the same time with the Worship of Images and when the first Foundation of Transubstantiation was laid which as they began at the same time so they are very fit to go together I should now have proceeded to the next thing which I propos'd namely to answer the chief Pretences which are made for this Doctrine and Practice But of That in the following Discourse SERMON IV. Christ Jesus the only Mediator between God and Men. The Third Sermon on 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 IN the Two former Discourses upon this Text I have treated on the Second Proposition I laid down from the Words viz. That there is but one Mediator between God and men the Man Christ Jesus In treating on this Proposition I shewed First That it is agreeable to Scripture Secondly VOL. II. That it is agreeable to one great End and Design of the Christian Religion and of our Saviour's coming into the World which was to destroy Idolatry out of it Thirdly That from the Nature and Reason of the thing there can be but one Mediator or Intercessor in Heaven with God for Sinners and that he can be no other than Jesus Christ Fourthly I shew'd how contrary to this Doctrine the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome 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 This I endeavoured to do by shewing 1st How contrary this is to the Doctrine of the Scriptures 2ly How contrary to the Doctrine and Practice of the Church for several of the first Ages of it And thus far I have gone I proceed now in the 3d. Place to answer the chief Pretences and Excuses which are made by those of the Church of Rome Serm. IV. for this Doctrine and Practice As 1. That they only say that it is lawful to Pray to Angels and Saints but do not enjoyn and require it To this I answer Two things 1. In saying that it is lawful to Pray to Saints and Angels if they went no farther they say that which they can never make good because Prayer is an Act of Religious Worship and peculiar and proper to God only and therefore cannot be given to any Creature Angel or Saint This I have proved from Scripture where our Saviour commands us when we pray to say Our Father which art in Heaven that is to direct and address our Prayers to God only And St. Paul likewise forbids the worshipping Angels by invocating of them and making use of them as Mediators between God and us in his Epistle to the Colossians which Theodoret expresly interprets concerning the Invocation of Angels and applying our selves to them as Mediators and Intercessors with God in Heaven for us And the Council of Laodicea declares this Practice to be Idolatry Besides that the ancient Fathers of the Christian Church for above Three Hundred Years never spake of praying to any but God only and do expresly condemn the Invocation of Angels much more of the Saints who are Inferior to them and therefore they always define Prayer to be an Address to God a Conversing and Discoursing with God which would be a false Definition of Prayer if it were lawful to pray to any but to God only All which considered one may justly wonder at the Confidence of some Men who would have it taken for granted without any Proof that the Invocation of Saints and Angels is Lawful 2. If it were true that it is lawful to pray to Angels and Saints it is not true that the Church of Rome does only declare it to be lawful but does not require and enjoyn it as some of their late Writers pretend With what Face can this be said when there are so many Prayers to Angels and Saints and especially to the Blessed Virgin in the Publick Offices of their Church in which all are supposed to join as much as in the Prayers which are put up to God by the Priest 'T is true indeed the People understand neither but they are present at both and join in both alike that is as much as Men can be said to join in that which they do not understand as that Church supposeth People may do and receive great Edification
us Satisfaction of the Truth and Divinity of the Doctrine of the Christian Religion which hath had so eminent a Confirmation given to it from Heaven and did at its first setting out so strangely prevail in the World against all Humane Probability not by might nor by power but by the spirit of the Lord. No man can well suppose a Religion in Circumstances of greater Disadvantage and upon all Humane Accounts more unlikely to sustain and bear up it self than the Christian Religion was The first Appearance of it was so mean and its Beginnings so small that no Man but would have thought it would presently have come to nothing and no other account can be given of the strange Success and Prevalency of it but that it was of God and therefore it could not be overthrown II. This Discourse may likewise satisfie us of the Reason why this Miraculous Power which accompanied the Gospel at first is now ceased because there is not the like Reason and Necessity for it which there was at first It was highly Necessary then to introduce the Christian Religion into the World and to be a sensible Evidence to Men of the Divinity of that new Doctrine which was Preached to them but now that the Gospel is generally entertained there is not the same Reason why this Miraculous Power should still be continued Acquisito fine cessant media ad finem when the End is once obtained the Means cease and the Wise God who is never wanting in what is Necessary does not use to be lavish in that which is Superfluous Now that the Christian Religion hath got firm footing in the World God leaves it to be propagated and advanced by its own Rational Force upon the Minds of Men now that the Prejudices of Education in a Contrary Religion are removed and the Powers of the World are reconciled to Christianity there is no need of such violent and extraordinary Means for the continuance of it now that it stands upon equal Advantages with other Religions God hath left it to be carried on in more humane and ordinary ways and such as are more level and accommodate to the Nature of Man That Miracles are long since ceased is acknowledged by the Fathers who lived an Age or two after the ceasing of them particularly by St. Chrysostome who gives the same Reason for it which I have just now assigned But the Church of Rome would still bear us in hand that this Miraculous Power does still continue in their Church and according to Bellarmine must always continue because he makes it an inseparable Property and Mark of the True Church But we pretend to no such Power nor have we any Reason so to do because all the Doctrines of our Religion are the Ancient Doctrines of Christianity delivered by our Saviour and by his Apostles publisht to the World and these are sufficiently confirmed already by the Miracles which our Saviour and his Apostles wrought in the Primitive Times of Christianity But the Church of Rome hath great Occasion and Need of New Miracles to confirm their New Doctrines and therefore as they have Reason they usually apply them to the Confirmation of their New Doctrines some to confirm Purgatory and to give countenance to Indulgences others to encourage the Worship of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints others to confirm that which all the Miracles in the World are not sufficient to confirm I mean the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which because it overthrows the certainty of Sense is in the Nature of it peculiarly incapable of being confirmed by a Miracle III. and Lastly The Consideration of what hath been said does justly upbraid us that this Religion which was so powerful at first and hath such Characters of Divinity upon it coming down to us confirmed by so many Miracles should yet have so little Effect upon most of us who call our selves Christians We have all the Advantages of the Christian Religion having been educated and brought up in it and yet it hath less Effect upon us than it had upon those whose Minds were prejudiced and whose Manners were depraved by the Principles of a false Religion for those who were reduced from Paganism to Christianity did on the sudden become better Men and were more Holy and Virtuous in their Lives than the greatest part of us who have been instructed and trained up all our lives in the Doctrine of Christianity The true Reason of which is that many of us are Christians upon the same account that they were at first Heathens because it was the Religion of their Country and they were born and bred up in it but Christianity was the Religion of their Choice and there were no Motives to perswade them to the Profession of that Religion but what were as powerful to oblige them to the Practice of it Let us also be Christians not only by Custom but by Choice and then we shall live according to our Religion He that takes up a Religion for any other Reason than to obey and practice it does not choose a Religion but only counterfeits the Choice of it We have beyond Comparison the best and most reasonable Religion in the World a Religion that hath the greatest Evidence of its Truth that contains the best Precepts and gives men the greatest Assurance of a future Happiness and directs them to the surest Way of attaining it Now the better our Religion is the worse are we if we be not made good by it The Philosophy of the Heathen made some virtuous and there were many eminent Saints under the Imperfection of the Jewish Institution What Degrees then of Holiness and Virtue may be expected from us upon whom the Glorious Light of the Gospel shineth so brightly I will conclude all with the Words of the Apostle Heb. 2.1 2 3 4. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the holy Ghost according to his own will SERMON VI. The Nature Office and Employment of Good Angels Preached on the Feast of St. Michael HEB. 1.14 Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation THis is spoken of Good Angels whose Existence as well as that of Evil Spirits the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament do every where take for granted no less than they do the Being of God and the Immortality of the Soul And well they may since they are all founded upon the general Consent of all Ages VOL. II. derived down to
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
shew how contrary to this Doctrine of the Christian Religion concerning one only Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome is in this matter namely in their Invocation of Angels and the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and flying to their Help and making use of their Mediation and Intercession with God for Sinners As likewise how contrary all this is to the Doctrine and Pratice of the Christian Church for several of the first Ages of it And then I should have answered their chief Pretences and Excuses for these things and shew'd that this Practice of theirs is not only needless being no where commanded by God but useless also and unprofitable and not only so but very dangerous and impious being contrary to the Christian Religion and highly derogating from the Virtue and Merit of Christ's Sacrifice and from the Honour of the only Mediator between God and Men. But of this another time SERMON III. Christ Jesus the only Mediator between God and Men. The Second Sermon on 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 IN these Words are four Propositions three exprest and the fourth implied I. That there is one God II. That there is one Mediator between God and men Christ Jesus III. That he gave himself a ransom for all VOL. II. IV. That the Mediation or Intercession of Jesus Christ is founded in his Redemption of Mankind That because he gave himself a Ransome for all men therefore he and he only is qualified to intercede for all Men in Vertue of that Sacrifice which he offer'd for the Salvation of all Mankind The Second of these I spake to the last time and endeavour'd to shew 1. That God hath appointed but one Mediator or Advocate or Intercessor in Heaven for us by whose Mediation we are to offer up all our Prayers and Services to God 2. That this Doctrine of one Mediator is most agreeable to one main End and Design of the Christian Religion and of our Saviour's coming into the World which was to destroy Idolatry 3. That from the Nature and Reason of the thing viz. because Intercession for Sinners is founded in the Merit of that Sacrifice by which Expiation of Sin is made there can be no other Mediator of Intercession Serm. III. but he who hath made Expiation for Sin by a Sacrifice offered to God for that purpose and this Jesus Christ only hath done Thus far I have gone I proceed now to The Fourth thing which I proposed in the handling of this Argument namely to shew how contrary to this Doctrine of the Christian Religion concerning one only Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us the Doctrine and the Practice of the Church of Rome is in this matter namely in their Invocation of Angels and the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and flying to their help and making use of their Mediation and Intercession with God for Sinners And that I may proceed more distinctly in this Argument I shall handle it under these particular Heads First I shall endeavour to shew That the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome in this matter is contrary to the Doctrine of the Christian an Religion concerning one only Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us Secondly That it is contrary to the Doctrine and Practice of the Christian Church for several of the first Ages of it Thirdly I shall endeavour to answer their chief Pretences and Excuses for this Doctrine and Practice Fourthly to shew that this Doctrine and Practice of theirs is not only needless being no where commanded by God but useless also and unprofitable Fifthly And not only so but very dangerous and impious because contrary to the Christian Religion and greatly derogating from the Vertue and Merit of Christ's Sacrafice and from the Honour of the only Mediator between God and Men. First I shall endeavour to shew that the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome in this Matter is contrary to the Doctrine of the Christian Religion concerning one only Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us namely in their Invocation of Angels and the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and flying to their Help and making use of their Mediation and Intercession with God for Sinners That Jesus Christ is our only Mediator and Intercessor with God in Heaven by whom we have access to God in any Action of Religious Worship and that all our Prayers and Services are to be offered up to God only by him and in his Name and Mediation and no other I have plainly shewed from Scripture and proved it by an invincible Argument taken likewise from Scripture namely because the Efficacy and Prevalency of his Mediation and Intercession is founded in the Vertue and Merit of his Sacrifice and that he is therefore the only Mediator between God and Men because he only gave himself a Ransom for all he is therefore our only Advocate with the Father because he only is the propitiation for our Sins and for the Sins of the whole World I have shewed likewise that the Scripture excludes Angels from being our Mediators with God from the main Scope and Design of the Epistle to the Colossians and much more are the Saints departed excluded from this Office being inferior to the Angels not only in the Dignity and Excellency of their Beings but very probably in the Degree of their Knowledge In short Prayer is a proper act of Religious Worship and therefore peculiar to God alone and we are commanded to Worship the Lord our God and to serve him only And no where in Scripture are we directed to address our Prayers and Supplications and Thanksgivings to any but God alone and only in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ Our Blessed Saviour himself hath taught us to put up all our Prayers to God our heavenly Father Luke 11.2 when you pray say Our Father which art in Heaven Which plainly shews to whom all our Prayers are to be address'd and unless we can call an Angel or the Blessed Virgin or a Saint Our Father we can pray to none of them And elsewhere he as plainly directs us by whom we are to apply our selves to God and in whose Name and Mediation we are to put up all our Requests to him John 14.6 I am the Way and the Truth and the Life no man cometh unto the Father but by me And then it follows Ver. 13 14. And whatsoever you 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 Nothing is clearer in the whole Bible than one Mediator between God and Men Christ Jesus and that he is our only Advocate and Intercessor with God in Heaven for us Secondly I shall endeavour to shew That the Doctrine and Practice of the
Church of Rome in this matter is contrary to that of the Christian Church for several of the first Ages of it As for the Ages of the Apostles it hath been already proved out of their Writings That it was not practised in the three first Ages we have the Acknowledgment of Cardinal Perron and others of their learned Writers and they give a very remarkable Reason for it namely Because the Worship and Invocation of Saints and Angels and addressing our Prayers to God by them might have seem'd to have given Countenance to the Heathen Idolatry From whence I cannot forbear by the way to make these two Observations 1. That the Invocation of Saints and Angels and the Blessed Virgin and addressing our selves to God by their Mediation was not in those Primitive Ages esteemed a Duty of the Christian Religion because if it had it could not have been omitted for fear of the Scandal consequent upon it And if it was not a Duty then By what Authority or Law can it be made so since 2. That this Practice is very lyable to the Suspicion of Idolatry and surely every Christian cannot but think it fit that the Church of Christ should like a chast Spouse not only be free from the Crime but from all Suspicion of Idolatry And for the next Ages after the Apostles nothing is plainer than that both their Doctrine and Practice were contrary to the Doctrine and Practice of the present Church of Rome in this Matter The most ancient Fathers of the Christian Church do constanly define Prayer to be an address to God and therefore it cannot be made to any but God only And after the rise of Arianism they argued for the Divinity of Christ against the Arians from our Praying to him which Argument were of no force if Prayers might be made to any but God and this was in the beginning of the Fourth Age. And we no where find any mention of those Distinctions of Gods by Nature and Gods by Participation as Bellarmin calls the Angels and Saints or of a supream and inferior Religious Worship or of a Mediator of Redemption and a Mediator of Intercession which are so commonly made use of by the Church of Rome in this Controversie And which is as considerable as any of the rest the ancient Fathers were generally of Opinion that the Saints were not admitted to the Beatifick Vision till after the Day of Judgment and this is acknowledged by the most Learned of the Church of Rome But this very Opinion takes away the Foundation of Praying to Saints because the Church of Rome grounds it upon their Reigning with Christ in Heaven and upon the Light and Knowledge which is communicated to them in the Beatifick Vision and if so then they who believed the Saints not yet to be admitted to this Vision could have no Reason or Ground to pray to them And Lastly The ancient Church prayed for Saints departed and for the Blessed Virgin her self and therefore could not pray to them as Intercessors for them in Heaven for whom they themselves interceeded upon Earth And therefore the Church of Rome in complyance with the change which they have made in their Doctrine have changed the Missal in that Point and instead of praying for St. Leo one of their Popes as they were wont to do in their ancient Missal in this form Grant O Lord that this Oblation may be profitable to the Soul of thy Servant Leo the Collect is now changed in the present Roman Missal into this Form Grant O Lord that by the Intercession of Blessed Leo this Offering may be profitable to us And as the Gloss upon the Canon Law observes this change was made in their Missal upon very good Reason because anciently they prayed for Leo but now they pray to him which is an ingenuous Acknowledgement that both the Doctrine and Practice of their Church are plainly changed from what they anciently were in this matter What the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome are in this matter all the World sees and they themselves are so ashamed of them that of late all their endeavours have been to represent them otherwise than in truth they are and to obtrude upon us a new Popery which they think themselves better able to defend than the old which yet they have not shewn that they are so well able to do and therefore now instead of defending the true Doctrines and Practices of their own Church they would fain mince and disguise them and change them into something that comes nearer to the Protestant Doctrine in those Points As if they had no way to defend their own Doctrines but by seeming to desert them and by bringing them as near to ours as possibly they can But take them as they have mollified them and par'd them to render them more plausible and tenable that which still remains of them I mean the solemn Invocation of Saints and Angels as Mediators and Intercessors with God in Heaven for us is plainly contrary both to the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Ages of Christianity As for the Age of the Apostles I have already shewn it and the matter is as clear for several of the next following Ages as I shall briefly shew from a few very plain Testimonies In the Age next to the Apostles we have an Epistle of one of the Seven Churches I mean the Church of Smyrna in which in Vindication of themselves from that Calumny which was raised against them by the Jews among the Heathen That if they permitted the Christians to have the body of the martyred Polycarp they would leave Christ to worship Polycarp I say in vindication of themselves from this Calumny they declare themselves thus Not knowing say they that we can neither leave Christ who suffered for the Salvation of the World of those that are saved nor Worship any other or as it is in the old Latin Translation nor offer up the Supplication of Prayer to any other Person for as for Jesus Christ we adore him as being the Son of God but as for the Martyrs we love them as the Disciples and Imitators of the Lord. So that they plainly exclude the Saints from any sort of Religious Worship of which Prayer or Invocation was always esteemed a very considerable part Ireneus likewise tells us l. 2. That the Church doth nothing speaking of the Miracles which were wrought by the Invocatin of Angels nor by Inchantment nor by any other wicked Arts but by Prayers to the Lord who made all things and by calling on the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Here all invocation of Angels and by the same or greater Reason of the Saints is excluded And Clemens Alexandrinus delivers it as the Doctrine of the Church That since there is but one good God therefore both we and the Angels pray to him both for the giving and the continuance of good things In the next Age Origen is so full and express
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
of all Holiness and Virtue Great Reason there is therefore why all Christians should follow their Faith and make their Coversation more especially the Patterns of their Lives The want of a due regard to these Fountains of Christian Doctrine and the first and best Patterns of Christian Practice hath been the great Cause of that foul degeneracy of the Romish Church both in the Doctrine and Practice of Christianity They do not follow the Faith of the Apostles the first Fathers and Teachers of Christianity but of the Fathers of the Council of Lateran and Trent Thus have they forsaken the Fountain of living waters the Holy Scriptures and have hewn to themselves broken Cisterns that will hold no water the Doctrines and Traditions of Men. Nay they have stopt up this Fountain of living waters from the People and forbid them to come to it and forced them to drink of those impure and pudled Streams which they let out to them and instead of the Lives of the holy Apostles and those eminent Graces and Virtues which shined forth in them they represent to them the Patterns of new Saints some of which neither they nor their Fathers knew and indeed never were in being as St. Almanach and St. Synoris and several others many of them so far from being Saints that they may be reckoned among the worst of Men for instance our Countryman Thomas a Becket who for Pride and Rebellion may almost vye with Lucifer himself and yet this ill Man and worst of Subjects was Canonized to that height as for Two hundred Years together to engross the Worship of these Western Parts of the World and to impoverish the Shrines of all other Saints even of the Blessed Virgin her self others such Ideots or hot-headed Fanaticks that he that reads their Lives would take them to be Fools and Mad-men rather than Saints as Francis and Dominick and Ignatius Loyola and several others of the same stamp and many the very best of them so disguised by their Legends that instead of the substantial Virtues of a Good Life their story is made up of false and fantastical Miracles and ridiculous Freaks of Superstition All which considered there is great Reason why we should have recourse to the Primitive Patterns of Faith and Holiness and be followers of them who we are sure were followers of Christ I proceed to the Second Thing I proposed namely wherein we should imitate these Patterns And the Apostle expresseth it in one word in their Faith Whose faith follow And the word Faith is frequently in the New Testament used so largely as to comprehend the whole Condition of the Gospel a firm Belief of the Doctrine of it and the Fruit and Effect of this Belief in a good Conversation And that Faith here in the Text takes in a holy Life is evident from what follows Whose faith follow considering the end of their Conversation from whence it is evident that the Apostle speaks of such a Faith as shews forth it self in a good Conversation So that we may very well suppose the Apostle here to recommend the Primitive Faith to our imitation in these Four respects 1. In regard of the Sincerity and Purity of it 2. In regard of the Firmness and Stability of it 3. Of their Constancy and Perseverance in it 4. Of the Efficacy and Fruitfulness of it in a good Conversation All these may be collected from the Expressions and Circumstances of the Text. 1. We are to imitate these Primitive Patterns in the Sincerity and Purity of their Faith I mean that the Faith which we profess be the sincere Doctrine of Christianity and the pure Word of God free from all mixture of Humane Additions and Inventions and not made up as the Faith of the Pharisees was among the Jews and theirs of the Church of Rome is at this day of the Word of God and the Doctrines and Traditions of Men not like the Creed of Pope Pius the IV. which is now the Standard of the Roman Faith consisting of the 12 Old Aricles of the Christian Faith delivered to us by Christ and his Apostles and as many new ones coined and stampt by their later Councils This is not to follow the Faith of the Apostles and first Patterns of Christianity the Faith once delivered to the Saints as St. Jude calls it This is to have our Faith stand upon the Authority of Men and not on the Word of God whereas we are to follow the Faith of the first Guides of the Christian Church who spake unto them the Word of God as the Apostle expresly chargeth here in the Text. 2. We are to imitate them in the Stability and Firmness of our Faith and not suffer our selves to be shaken and removed from it by every wind of new Doctrine the Faith of Christ being unchangeable as Christ himself And that by following the Faith of the Primitive Guides and Teachers of Christianity the Apostle here means that we should be stedfast and unmoveable in it is plain from what follows immediately after the Text Whose faith follow considering the End of their Conversation Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever Be not carryed about with divers and strange doctrines for it is a good thing that the heart be establisht with grace that is in the Doctrine of the Gospel which is frequently called the grace of God 3. We are to imitate them in the Constancy and Perseverance of their Faith and that notwithstanding all the Discountenance and Opposition the Persecution and Suffering which attend the Profession of this Faith which the Apostle sufficiently intimates in this Epistle to have been the Condition of those Christians to whom he wrote and therefore he proposeth so many Examples to them of constant and patient Suffering for God and his Truth and it is probable enough that the Apostle here recommends the Example of those who were the Primitive Martyrs as well as Teachers of Christianity He had before proposed to them the living Examples of those who were under actual Persecution and Sufferings for the Gospel v. 3. Remember those that are in bonds and those that suffer adversity and here in the 7. v. he seems to propose the Pattern of those who had laid down their Lives and dyed for the Faith Remember those who have been your Guides and have spoken to you the Word of God whose Faith follow considering the End of their Conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may be rendr'd the last act of their Lives the manner of their going out of the World perhaps by Martyrdom as if had said Imitate them in their Constancy and Perseverance in the Faith even to the last in laying down their Lives for it And thus we should be ready to do if God calls us to it However it is certain the Aopstle meant their Constancy and Perseverance in the Faith to the last and their dying in if not for the Faith of Christ And this is
to Saints and Angels contrary to the plain Law and Word of God a Zeal for the sacrilegious depriving of the People of half the Sacrament contrary to our Saviour's plain Institution and the acknowledged Practice of the Catholick Church for a thousand years a Zeal for that most absurd of all Doctrines that ever was taught in any Religion I mean the Dostrine of Transubstantiation not only without any sufficient Authority from Scripture as is acknowledged by several of the most learned of the Roman Church but contrary to Reason and in defiance of the Sense of all Mankind a Zeal for these and many more like gross Errors and Practices cannot possibly be a zeal according to knowledge 2. That is a zeal without knowledge the degree whereof is manifestly disproportion'd to the Good or Evil of things about which it is conversant when there is in Men a greater and fiercer Zeal for the Externals of Religion than for the Vital and Essential Parts of it for the Traditions of men than for the Commandments of God for Bodily Severities than for the Mortification of our Lusts for the Means of Religion than for the End of it a greater zeal against the Omission and Neglect of some senseless and superstitious Practices than against the Practice of the grossest Immoralities and against the Denyers of the Doctrines of Transubstantiation and of the Pope's Infallibility an equal if not a greater zeal I am sure a more severe Prosecution than against those who deny our Saviour to be the true Messias and the Son of God This certainly is not a zeal according te knowledge Nor 3. That which is prosecuted by unlawful and unwarrantable Means That cannot be a zeal of God according to knowledge which warrants the doing of Evil that Good may come the violating of Truth and Faith and of the Peace of Humane Society for the Cause of the Catholick Church and breaking the eternal and immutable Laws of God for the advancing of his Glory Nor 4. An uncharitable Zeal which is an Enemy to Peace and Order and thinks it self sufficiently warranted to separate from the Communion of Christians and to break the Peace of the Church upon every scruple and upon every fancy and conceit of unlawful Impositions tho' in the most indifferent things nay upon this single Point because a thing which they acknowledge lawful and indifferent in it self is in the worship of God enjoyned by Authority The most unreasonable Principle that I think ever was avowed among Christians not to do a thing which otherwise they might do only because it is enjoyned and to fancy that an indifferent thing becomes comes presently unlawful because it is commanded by lawful Authority and that it is a Sin to do any thing in the Worship of God which is not left to their Liberty whether they will do it or not This is not only a Zeal without knowledge but contrary to common Sense Nor 5. A Furious and Cruel Zeal which St. James calls a bitter or a wrathful Zeal and which tends to confusion and every evil work which is blind with its own rage and makes Men as St. Paul says of himself when he persecuted the Christians exceedingly mad against all that differ from them and stand in the way of their fierce and outragious Zeal 6. And lastly A Zeal for ignorance is most certainly not a zeal according to knowledge and this is a Zeal peculiar to the Church of Rome by such strict Laws to forbid People the use of the Holy Scriptures in a known Tongue nay not so much as to allow them to understand what they do in the Service of God to require them to be present at their Publick Prayers and to joyn with them in them without letting them know the meaning of them to pretend to teach them by reading Lessons to them in an unknown Tongue and all this under pretence of increasing their Devotion as if the less Men understand of the Service of God the more they would be affected with it and edified by it And yet there is nothing in which the Church of Rome hath been more zealously concerned than to keep the People in ignorance Nothing they hive opposed with more obstinacy against the repeated application of Princes and People at the beginning of the Reformation than to allow the People the use of the Scriptures in their publick Prayers in an unknown Tongue And their obstinacy in this Point was not without Reason nothing being more certain than that if the People were once brought to understand the Scriptures they would soon quit their Religion which in so many things is so directly contrary to the word of God The III. And last thing remains to be spoken to viz. How far the doing of things out of a Zeal for God doth Mitigate and Extenuate the Evil of them For when the Apostle here testifies concerning the Jews that they had a zeal of God he speaks this in favour of them and by way of mitigation of their fault I bear them record I who was once acted by this ignorant and furious zeal which now possesseth them and persecuted the Christians in the same outragious manner as they still continue to do and all this with a very good Conscience as I thought and out of a zeal for God and the true Religion So he tells us Acts 26.9 I verily thought with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth So that his zeal was sincere and with a real intention to do Service to God and Religion and yet for all that was very faulty and sinful and if he had persisted in it Damnable so that his confidence that he was in the right and the Sincerity of his zeal in acting according to the perswasion of his Conscience did not alter the Nature of the actions he did out of this zeal and make them less wicked in themselves tho' it was some mitigation of the fault of the Person and render'd him more capable of the Mercy of God by Repentance than if he had done contrary to his Conscience and the clear convictions of his own Mind And therefore the best way to understand the great Evil and Wickedness of this furious and blind Zeal will be to consider the account which St. Paul after his Conversion gives of his own doings and what load he lays upon himself notwithstanding the Sincerity of his Zeal and that he acted according to his Conscience Acts viii and ix you have the History at large of his outrageous doings how he made havock of the Church entering into every house and haling men and women to Prison how he breathed out threatnings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. Acts 22.4 I persecuted says he this way unto the death binding and delivering into Prisons both men and women And Ch. 26.10 11. Many of the Saints did I shut up in Prison and when they were put to death I gave my voice
also by joining with the Priest in a Service which they do not understand But how they can be edified by what they do not understand I must confess my self as little able to understand as they do their Prayers But whether they understand them or not 't is certain that if the People have any part in the Publick Prayers of the Church they are bound to pray to Angels and Saints And if the Creed of Pope Pius IV. framed by Virtue of an Order of the Council of Trent be of any Authority with them one of the Articles of it is that I do firmly hold that the Saints which Reign together with Christ are to be worshipped and invocated and that they do offer up Prayers to God for us And this Creed all the Governors of Cathedrals and Superior Churches and all who hold any Dignity or Benefice with Cure of Souls from them are bound solemnly to make Profession of and Swear to and carefully to cause it to be Held and Taught and Preached by all that are under their Charge so that they are to Teach the People that the Saints which reign together with Christ are to be worshipped and prayed to And therefore unless People are not bound to do that which they are to be Taught it is their Duty to do they are by Virtue of this Article required to worship and pray to Saints And if the Publicly Office of their Church be the Publick Worship and Pope Pius his Creed the Publick Faith of the Romish Church no Man can be either of the Faith or in the Communion of that Church who does not only hold it Lawful but his Duty to worship the Saints in Heaven and to pray to them and accordingly does join in the Worship of them and Prayers to them as much as in any other part of Divine Service 2. Another Pretence for this Doctrine and Practice is that the Saints in Heaven do pray for us and what is this but to be Mediators and Intercessors with God for us And if so why may not we pray to them to intercede with God for us To this I answer four things 1. We do not deny that the Saints in Heaven pray for us that are here upon Earth because they may do so for any thing we know but that they do so is more than can be proved either by clear Testimony of Scripture or by any convincing Argument from Reason and therefore no Doctrine or Practice can be safely grounded upon it 2. Tho' it were certain that the Saints in Heaven do pray for us yet they are not Mediators and Intercessors properly so called For all Intercession strictly and properly so call'd is in Virtue of a Sacrifice offered by him that intercedes and therefore he only by whom Expiation of Sin is made upon Earth can be properly an Intercessor with God in Heaven but this no Angel or Saint hath done or can do And as I have shew'd in some of the former Discourses it is the plain scope of a great part of the Epistle to the Hebrews to prove this very thing that under the Gospel we have an High Priest that lives for ever and appears in the Presence of God for us in the Virtue of that Blood which he shed and that Sacrifice which he offered upon the Cross for the Expiation of Sin And that by this High Priest only we have Access with Freedom and Confidence to the Throne of Grace and by him do offer up all our Prayers and Thanksgivings and all other Acts of Religious Worship to God And this the Apostle shews was typified in an imperfect Manner by the Jewish High Priest under the Law who was but one and none but he only could enter into the Holy of Holies with the Blood of the Sacrifices that were slain and burnt without by which Blood he made an Atonement and Interceded for the People and though every Priest might pray for the People and the People for one another which is a kind of Intercession yet that peculiar kind of Intercession which was performed by the High Priest in the Holy of Holies in virtue of the Sacrifice that was slain without could not be made but by the High Priest only By all which was typified our High Priest under the Gospel who only hath made Expiation of Sin by the Sacrifice of himself and is enter'd into Heaven to appear in the Presence of God for us where he lives for ever to make Intercession for us in virtue of that Blood which was shed for the Expiation of Sin and which can only be presented to God by him that shed it And this is properly Intercession like that of the High Priest under the Law for the People of Israel and this kind of Intercession can be made by none in Heaven for us but only by the High Priest of our Profession Jesus the Son of God and by none else can we offer up our Prayers and Services to God and consequently we cannot address our selves to any other Angels or Saints as Mediators with God for us 3. Supposing it certain that the Saints do pray for us yet we may not address solemn Prayer to them to pray for us because Prayer and solemn Invocation is a part of that Religious Worship which is peculiar to God 4. Supposing it not only certain that the Saints in Heaven do pray for us but likewise that they might be proper Mediators and Intercessors with God for us yet we ought not to pray to them because they cannot hear us as I shall have occassion to shew fully by and by 3. Another of their Pretences or Excuses for this Practice is that praying to Saints to pray for us is no more than what we do to good Men upon Earth when we desire them to pray for us So the late Expounder of the Catholique Faith namely the Bishop of Meaux tells us that they pray to the Saints in Heaven in the same order of Brotherly society with which we entreat our Brethren upon Earth to pray for us But that this is not a true Representation either of their Doctrine or Practice in this matter will appear by these following Considerations 1. That they pray to the Angels and Saints in Heaven with the same solemn Circumstances of Religious Worship that they pray to God himself in the same place and in the same humble Posture and in the same Religious Offices and Services in which they pray to God which surely is never done by any to their Brethren upon Earth 2. That in their Prayers and Thanksgivings they joyn the Angels and the Blessed Virgin arid the Saints together with God and Christ as if to use their own Phrase it were in the same order of Brotherly Society and as if they were all equally the Objects of our Invocation and Praise of which in my last Discourse I gave several plain Instances but this also is never done to our Brethren upon Earth 3. That in the Creed of
God both in the Old and New Testament But yet I am sensible that all this is no Conviction to the perverse and contentious Men will not believe even the Evidence of Sense it self when they are strongly prepossess'd and prejudiced to the contrary For do we not see great numbers of Men even so many as have the face to call themselves the Catholick Church that can make a shift when they have a mind either to believe or disbelieve things contrary to the plainest Evidence of their Senses All that I shall say further about this matter is that this Doctrine of Angels is not a peculiar Doctrine either of the Jewish or Christian Religion but the general Doctrine of all Religions that ever were and therefore cannot be objected against by any but the Atheists And yet after all I know not whence it comes to pass that this great Truth which is so comfortable to Mankind is so very little considered by us Perhaps the Corruption of so great a part of the Christian Church in the point of the Worship of Angels may have run us so far into the other extream as scarcely to acknowledge any Benefit we receive by them But surely we may believe they do us good without any Obligation to pray to them and may own them as the Ministers of God's Providence without making them the Objects of our Worship I confess it seems to me a very odd thing that the Power of the Devil and his Influence upon Men and the particular Vigilancy and Activity of Evil Spirits to tempt us to Sin should be so readily owned and so sensibly talkt of among Christians and yet the Assistance of good Angels should be so little taken notice of and considered by us The Scripture speaks plainly of both and the Reasons for believing both are equal For God forbid but that good Angels should be as officious and forward to do us good as the Devil and his Angels are malicious and busie to do us Mischief And indeed it would be very hard with Mankind if we had not as much Reason to Hope for the Assistance and Protection of good Spirits as we have cause to Fear the Malice and Fury of the bad Good Angels are certainly as Powerful and have as strong a Propension and Inclination to do good as the Devil has to do harm and the Number of good Angels is probably much greater than of Evil Spirits The biggest Number that are used in Scripture are applied to good Angels Dan. 7.10 it is said of the Angels about God's Throne that thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him And Revelations 5.11 the number of them is said to be ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands And the Apostle to the Hebrews ch 12.22 calls them an innumerable company of Angels What then should be the Reason that Men should be so apt to own the Snares and Temptations which the Devil lays before us in all our ways but take so little notice of the Attendance and good Offices done to us by good Spirits I can imagine but these Two Reasons and I am sorry I can find no better That we are more mindful of Injuries than of Benefits and are glad to take in others for the excuse of our Faults but are loth any should come in for a share in the Good that is done by us And yet methinks it should be a very comfortable Consideration to us against the Enmity and Cunning of the Devil and his Angels that the Holy Angels of God are as Intent and Industrious to do us good and to help forward our Salvation as Evil Spirits can be to work our ruin and destroy us Secondly We should with great thankfulness acknowledge the great Goodness of God to us who takes such Care of us as to appoint his Angels and to give them particular Commission and Charge concerning us to protect and assist us in all our ways and especially to promote the great Concernment of our Eternal Happiness And that not only some particular and inferiour Spirits but the Chief Ministers of this great King of the World those that stand in his Presence and behold his face and not a few of these but the whole Order of them are imployed about us So the Apostle seems to say by the Question which he puts in the Text Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister That is all at one time or other And though they be principally appointed to minister to us in order to our Salvation yet we have no Reason to doubt but God imploys them many times for our Temporal Safety and makes use of them more especially in those great Revolutions in which his Cause and Religion are more immediatly concern'd In such a Case it is not at all incredible that God should give his Angels a particular Charge concerning those that fight his Battels to pitch about their Camps and secretly to assist them against their Enemies and to ward off and put by many dangerous blows and thrusts which are made at them and wonderfully to preserve them when the Instruments of death fly about them and do execution on every side of them To what can we ascribe such and so many remarkable Deliverances of a Person upon whom so much depends but either to the immediate hand of God or to the Ministry of Angels And where God is provided so abundantly with such powerful Beings and Ministers of his Will though they may be invisible to us yet there is great Reason to believe that he very seldom works without them And now what an astonishing Regard is this which the great God is pleased to have for the Sons of Men that he should make the whole Creation serviceable to us not only the visible Creation for the support of our Bodies and the diversion of our Minds but even the noblest of all his Creatures the great and glorious Inhabitants of the invisible World mightily surpassing us mortal Men in the simplicity and purity of their Nature in the quickness and largeness of their Understandings and in their Power and Vigour of Acting I say that God should give these excellent and glorious Beings the Charge over us and send them forth to Minister to us for the Safeguard of our Persons for the success of our Affairs and for the Security and Furtherance of our eternal Salvation Lord what is man that thou art thus mindful of him that when thou madest him lower than the Angels thou shouldest yet make the Angels to minister unto him Thirdly If the Angels have particular Charge of good Men we should take heed how we despise or be any way injurious to them For how despicable so ever they may appear to us they are certainly very dear to God since he deems them so considerable is to employ his Chief Ministers about them and to commit the Charge of them to those who by their Office do more immediately