every Christian who believes God more then Men is bound to abhor and since it is impossible at once to abhor them and to continue in Communion with that Church it must necessarily follow that Separating from it is a Duty and a Duty as much as our life is worth But 6. Though with respect to the Fundamental Principles of Christianity we grant the Church of Rome hath been visible for many Ages as well as other Churches yet in regard of those additional Articles I mention'd just now if the Doctrin makes a Church visible we must with very great Assurance affirm that the Church of Rome hath not been visible in all Ages for it will appear to any impartial Considerer that the present Doctrins which they have added to the old Foundation were neither taught in the primitive Church for the first three Hundred years after Christ nor even in the Church of Rome her self a Thousand years ago Not in the primitive Church for in all the genuine Writers of the first three Hundred years we find not a Word of Invocation of Saints of Transubstantiation of Worshiping of Images of religious Veneration of Relicks or of the Supremacy of the Church of Rome much less of her Infallibility Nay for a Thousand years after Christ the Church of Rome never had the Boldness to call her self Infallible not till Hildebrand's time or Pope Gregory VII by the Confession of some Romanists a Monster of Pride and Vice He was the first that gave himself and his Church that pompous and ridiculous Title And as I said the present Doctrins of the Church of Rome added to the Creed and made Articles of Faith were not believed much less look'd upon as necessary Articles even in the Church of Rome her self a Thousand years ago I mean in the time of Pope Gregory the First the Doctrins which are visible in that Church now were not visible then for in that Gregory's time the Sacrament was administred to the Laity in both kinds Worshiping of Images was counted abominable the Title of Vniversal Bishop was thought Antichristian private Masses where the Priest only receives and communicates were reputed unlawful the Books of the Maccabees were not taken into the Canon Purgatory was not yet lick'd into a perfect Shape much less into an Article of Faith No Masses were yet said for the Dead to deliver Souls from that Fire Auricular confession and extreme Vnction were not yet made Sacraments c. And therefore the Church of Rome could not possibly be visible in all Ages since her Doctrins she now Professes were not profess'd no not by her own Members in all Ages Inferences 1. A City set upon a Hill cannot be hid It follows therefore that a hidden Piety is no Piety I mean where a Person thinks it enough to Worship God in his Chamber or Closet and to pay him due respect in private and when he comes abroad into Company vain and sinful and wicked doth as they do dares not or will not own his pious Principles but conceals his better Inclinations and love of God and makes no expression of it either by disliking the Sins he sees or by dreading to imitate them or by vindicating the truth of the Gospel I say this Piety must needs be counterfeit and nought for it is against the Character Christ gives of his Disciples and Followers and in calling them a City set upon a Hill which cannot be hid and besides this is to be ashamed of him and of his Gospel before Men and how he resents that and will resent it in the last Day you may read Matth. X. 32 33. Mark VIII 38. I do not deny that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were Disciples of Christ but secretly for fear of the Jews Joh. XIX 38. But 1. Though they were no open Professours yet they consented not to the Impiety of the Jews in traducing and slandering the Lord Jesus Their Blood rose to hear him abused and in the midst of all their Fears we find very notable Effects of their Zeal for his Cause and Person Of Nicodemus we read Joh. VII 10 11. that when the whole Counsel was for condemning Christ to Death the brave Man stood up and argued with them Doth our Law judge a Man before it hear him and know what he doth And of Joseph St. Luke reports that he consented not to the Counsel and Deed of the barbarous Men who judged him Guilty of Death Luke XXIII 11. And St. Mark adds that he went in boldly unto Pilate and craved the Body of Jesus Mark XV. 43. But 2. Though these two Men were fearful and had no great courage to assert their Love and Devotion to Christ openly yet it was at a time when they were not throughly instructed in the Mystery of the Gospel The case alter'd when they came to have a more perfect knowledge of it and then not all the rage of Tyrants not all the Tumults the Jews could raise nor all the Terrours of Pilate could hinder them from owning their Love to his Doctrin and Commands We live in the broad Day-light of the Gospel and therefore must not take example by Men who were Novices in Christianity and while they were so For us to be one thing at home and another abroad Pious when alone Wicked when we do converse devout within the Walls of our Horses and profane and loose in Company which can bear no Strictness this is notoriously to dissemble with God and to be False and Treacherous to him What Caress a Friend and hug him in a Corner and revile or not to know him in Society Such baseness among Men is counted abominable and therefore cannot be supposed to be very pleasing when the same Affront is offered to God nor will your private Seriousness stand you in any stead in that Day when your Souls must give an account of their Behaviour before Men. A Christian must be a Man of Courage and when he is to do a known Duty not all the Threatnings and Comminations of cruel Men not all the hopes of Gain not all the baits of Profit not all the fears of losing his Honour Credit or Life must deter him from it for let come what will come of it the Life to come which is and must be his greatest Treasure will make infinite Recompence for all his Losses II. A City set on a Hill cannot be hid This shews that an active Life or a Life of Society and Converse is a much nobler Life than a Life solitary and retired from the World I will not deny that a solitary Life hath its Advantages and he that separates himself from Temptations is not very likely to be enticed by them Yet still it is a greater Act of Virtue and more Christian like to be good in the midst of all the enticing Pleasures of the World There is indeed greater Difficulty in it but then the Virtue is greater and the Fruit sweeter and the Reward will be
for not yielding to a Worship or Practice which he hath plainly forbid Thus the three young men in Daniel were persecuted for righeteousness sake because thrown into a fiery Furnace for not worshipping the golden Image which Nebuchadnezzar had set up and thus Daniel himself was persecuted for righteousness sake when cast into the Lion's Den for worshipping the true God three times a Day Thus the Primitive believers were persecuted for righteousness sake when imprison'd condemn'd to the mines butcher'd tormented thrown to the Lions forced to fight with Beasts c. because they would not sacrifice to Idols nor offer Incense to Jupiter nor swear by the Emperours and their genius c. And thus the poor Waldenses and Albigenses were persecuted for righteousness sake when pursued with Fire and Sword for not worshipping Saints and Angels and for not believing the Infallibility and Truth of the Roman Church And the same may be said of any Christian that loses his place or the favour of his Master Prince or Relatives for not telling a lye for not profaning the Lord's Day for being loath to cheat or defraud or to comply with others in their sins In a word to suffer for obeying any affirmative or negative standing Precept or Command of God is to be persecuted for righteousness sake and such Persons are pronounced blessed in my Text which leads me to the II. Point whether these words as well as the preceeding imply a negative Truth viz. that they who are not persecuted for righteousness sake are not blessed You may remember that in the explication of the preceeding Beatitudes I have still proved the Negative implied as that those who are not poor in spirit or are not meek or not pure in heart c. are not blessed Here one would think the Negative should not hold for it seems impertinent and absurd to say that those good Christians who have lived and died in times of Peace and Plenty and Tranquility are not blessed nor made partakers of the Kingdom of Heaven But notwithstanding all this the negative is as true as the affirmative provided we take Christ's meaning by the right handle as thus 1. Those who are persecuted and are not persecuted for righteousness sake their bare Persecution will not cannot make them blessed and this is very true For 1. A Man as I said before may be persecuted for his Crimes for robbing or stealing upon the High-way for clipping the King's Coin for breaking open a House and may suffer for it This may be call'd Persecution because the same severities are used upon him that are upon Men who suffer for righteousness sake but still this suffering cannot make him blessed or happy because he is not persecuted for righteousness sake 't is true such a Man being apprehended and imprison'd may repent and become a new Creature and upon that account he may be blessed but his bare Persecution doth not make him so because he is not persecuted for righteousness sake 2. A Man may be persecuted for a false erroneous Doctrine yet that cannot make him blessed i. e. if the Law or the Officers of Justice should persecute a Man that teaches that the Pope is Christ's Vicar and hath Power to depose Kings and to excommunicate them when they prove Hereticks and to give their Kingdoms away to others or that there is no Salvation out of the Church of Rome c. Considering the Penalties and Punishments the Law inflicts in such Cases on such pragmatical Men this may be called a Persecution but this Persecution cannot make the Teacher of these Doctrines blessed much less intitle him to the Kingdom of Heaven because all this while he is not persecuted for righteousness sake and he cannot be supposed to suffer as a Confessour or Martyr but rather as a Criminal It 's true the Teacher of such Doctrines may apprehend them to be part of the righteousness taught in the Gospel but it 's evident to all unbyass'd impartial and unprejudic'd Men that they are not but rather that they are as false as God is true and contrary to the Word of God and therefore his suffering cannot make him blessed no not if he should be canoniz'd by his own party because here is nothing of righteousness in the case no Doctrine no Precept plainly revealed by the Word of God a pretended righteousness may be but no real one 2. The Negative also holds if we say that those who are loath to suffer for righteousness sake when call'd to it are not blessed and cannot be and this is the Negative chiefly intended here even that those who in times of persecution for righteousness sake preferr their ease and quiet and Temporal prosperity before suffering for Christ are very unhappy Men and the reasons are plain 1. The Threatnings of Christ pronounced against all such Persons are very dreadfull Whosoever shall deny me before men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven He that loves Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me He that loves Son or Daughter more than me is not worthy of me He that doth not deny himself and follow after me is not worthy of me He that shall seek to save his life shall lose it Matth. X. 33 37 38 39. And again Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinfull Generation of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the Glory of his Father Mark VIII 38. And surely this can be no blessed Estate It 's true we are not to run into the Fire of persecution without need or without a call and the ancient Church justly blamed those forward Men who offer'd and accus'd themselves to the Heathen Judges and Executioners and even provok'd them to dispatch them because they were Christians but when we are call'd to suffering for righteousness sake and God thinks fit to try us by that Fire there to refuse it and for worldly profit greatness power and honour and an easie life to deny the truth or to subscribe to errours which we are perswaded in our Consciences are so this is such a blot upon Religion such a dishonour to Christ such an affront to truth that such a Person must needs appear very odious in the sight of God and an object of his wrath and anger cannot be blessed 2. Such Persons forfeit all their Title to the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore cannot be blessed this is implied in the Text and if a Man had all the Kingdoms of the World in Possession and were excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven he would be a very miserable Man miserable in all his greatness power and authority and so much the more miserable because after the height of all this splendour he is to sink into the nethermost Hell from one extream to another from the greatest felicity to the greatest misery The Kingdom of Heaven is intended for Conquerours He that is loath to suffer for
stamped and impressed upon his Soul He imitated God in those two things which one of the Ancients tells us will make us like God viz. speaking truth and bestowing benefits A man of greater simplicity and veracity I never knew and there are multitudes that will witness that he went about doing good He did vow in his Baptism to renounce the Devil the World and Flesh. Some men go no farther All their Religion comes from the Font. This good Man perform'd his Vow he cast out of himself the Evil One and renounced all his Works overcame the World in the noblest sense and subdued and mortified all the sinfull desires of the flesh He was a Conquerour and more than Conquerour He devoted himself intirely and without reservation to the service of his God It was not only his business but his choice and delight his meat and drink I need not say that he was much in Prayers and Fastings in Meditation and heavenly Discourse very frequent in devout Communions in reading and hearing the Word in watchings and great austerities He wisely considered that these were the means and not the end of Religion that these are not godliness but only helps and the way to it He arrived at the end of these things He had an ardent love of God a great Faith in him and was resigned to his Will He had an unspeakable Zeal for his Honour a profound regard to his Word and to his Worship and to all that had the nearest relation to him or did most partake of his image and likeness He was a Man after God's own heart He lived under a most gratefull sense of his Mercies he was governed by his fear and had a lively sense of God's special Care and Providence He had that sense of God's Mercy in giving us his Son to die for us that it was observed of him that when he discoursed of that Argument he used no measure no bounds or limits of his Discourse His heart was so affected with that Argument that he cou'd not put a stop to himself Jesus was his Lord and Master and he had his Life and Example always before him and conformed himself to it in the whole Tenour and Course of his Life His Religion was unaffected and substantial it was genuine and primitive and so great a pattern he was that he might have passed for a Saint even in the first and best times of Christianity He was of the Church of England and a most true Son of that Church and gave the greatest proofs of it Far was he from the Innovations of the Roman Church on the one hand and from Enthusiasm on the other His Writings are a sufficient proof of this I very well know that when the Church of England hath been traduced and disparaged he hath not forborn to make so vigorous a Defence that he lost a very great Man's friendship by it and felt the Effects of it afterwards by the loss of a considerable worldly advantage which he would otherwise have stood very fair for He shewed his Zeal for the Church of England when she was in greatest danger from many Enemies especially from the Church of Rome At that time when some were so wicked as to change their profession and others so tame as to sit still and not to concern themselves when the Enemies were at the Gates for there were too many that professed to be Sons of this Church and do so still who were over-awed and durst not appear with that Courage which God and all good Men might justly have expected from them then did this good Man bestir himself and lifted up his Voice like a Trumpet and undauntedly defended the Church when she most needed it God be praised there were others who did so likewise with great vigour and resolution and great hazard of their liberty and worldly Comforts And many of these had the hard hap to be traduced by their lukewarm Brethren who cry up the Church as if these were not the genuine Sons of this Church It hath not been for the advantage of the Church that those Men have been decried as not genuine Church-men who have done her the greatest service on the other hand some vaunt themselves to be such who have never been any support to their Mother in her greatest distress There are some of these who are like the Images we see in many Churches that are so placed in that bending Posture as if they bore upon their Shoulders the weight of the Building whereas in truth they are only the fancy of the Architect and bear no weight at all The Doctor believed the Doctrine of this Church obeyed her Injunctions and conformed to her Constitutions Headmonished and diligently instructed his Charge kept Multitudes in her Communion and lived up to her holy Rules and was ready to sacrifice all that was dear to him in the World to promote the true Interest of this Church He would not indeed take the Cure of Souls and then put them out to nurse to some cheap and negligent Curate receive the profits and leave another man to take the pains He would not take a Vicarage and swear residence before his Ordinary and afterwards refuse to reside on pretence of some privilege or exempt Jurisdiction c. as very many have done But a Church-man he was notwithstanding Indeed the best of men have been mis-represented And there are a Number of the most useless men that yet in all places are crying up the Church of England but have little regard to her holy Rules I knew two men of the same Faculty in the same neighbourhood They were in their profession very eminent One of these had the Name of a Church of England man the other of a Fanatick And yet it is well known that the first very rarely if at all came to the Church or Communion the other was a great frequenter of both The Doctor was a man of very good Learning He had very goods kill in Languages He had addicted himself to the Arabic from his younger time and retained it in good measure to the last He had great skill in the Hebrew likewise nor was his skill limited to the Biblical Hebrew only in which he was a great Master but he was seen in the Rabbinical also He was a most diligent Reader of the Holy Scriptures in that Language in which they were originally written Sacras literas tractavit indefesso studio This Dr. Spanheim says of him in his youth viz. that he was indefatigable in the Study of the Holy Scriptures He adds that he was then one of an elevated wit of a mind that was cheerfull and covetous of making substantial proficiency And also that he gave a Specimen of it about the year 1659 when he was very young by a publick defending a Dissertation concerning the Vow of Jephtah touching the sacrificing his Daughter This upon his own request and motion he publickly defended with great presence of mind He had very good
burning Lake that will be his Portion As Christ taught his Hearers nothing but what was grave and solid and weighty so the Ministers of the Word must feed their Auditours with solid Food not with Trifles or Legends or dry insipid Stuff but with things that may make them wise unto Salvation This Phrase opening the mouth is sometimes used in Scripture for speaking with boldness and courage in the Name of the Lord as Ephes. VI. 19. Pray for me that I may open my mouth boldly So the Ministers of the Word must not be meally-mouth'd but Cry aloud and spare not lift up their Voices like Trumpets and shew the People of God their Transgressions and the House of Jacob their Sins Isa. LVIII 1. There is no dallying with the sins of Men no complementing their Souls with flattering and enticing Words Their Sores must be rubb'd and Salt and Vinegar thrown into their Wounds where it is so that gentler means will do no good Nor must we fear the anger or displeasure of Men for we have a greater Master to please who will bring forth our Righteousness as the light and our Judgment as the Noon-day nay and make our very Enemies to be at peace with us however if he doth not there is huge comfort in the discharge of a good Conscience to which purpose Christ bids his Messengers or Ministers rejoyce when they are reviled and despightfully used and accordingly of the Apostles we read That they departed from the Council rejoycing because they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the Name of the Lord Jesus Acts V. 41. 3. As it is our Office to teach you so it is your Duty to be taught I say to be taught not to quarrel with our Admonitions to shew your selves tractable to suffer the Word of exhortation and to admit the good Seed we sow into a good and honest Heart It 's true you are not to be believe every Spirit but to try the Spirits whether they be of God 1 John V. 1. But then when you have try'd our Doctrines and find them agreeable to the Word of the living God there is no Tergiversation to be used but our words must be receiv'd as if God himself spoke to you for we press no other things upon you than God hath commanded you in the Scriptures These Scriptures you have in your Hands and with the Beraeans you are exhorted to search whether things are so as we represent them What a sad thing is it in Popery not one of the common People not a Lay-man dares bring a Bible to Church with him if he doth he is no good Catholick nay in some Countries in danger of being burnt for a Heretick A good Catholick must have no Bible must not read it must not meddle with it it 's a dangerous Book he must not look into it for fear he should learn Heresie there or rather for fear he should discover how he hath been deluded by the Priests and taught for Doctrines the Commandments of Men. See here the mighty advantages the Reformation hath brought to you You can come to Church with your Bibles under your Arms and have not only leave but are entreated to compare what we say with the Oracles of God to satisfie your selves of the Truth of what we deliver and to believe your own Eyes But then as I said having found that our Exhortations and Doctrines are according to the Law and to the Testimony let it not be said of you as it was of Ezekiel's Hearers Ezek. XXXIII 31. They came and sat before the Prophet they heard his words but they would not do them with their Mouths they shew'd much love but their hearts went after Covetousness What a happiness doth that Minister enjoy that can say of his Disciples as St. Paul of the Thessalonians 2 Thess. 1. 3. We are bound to give thanks to God always for you as it is meet because your Faith grows exceedingly and the Charity of you all toward each other abounds I conclude with St. Paul's Admonition Heb. XIII 17. Obey them that have the Rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls as they that must give an account that they may do it with Joy and not with Grief for that is unprofitable for you SERMON III. St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 3. Blessed are the Poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven HAving done with the Historical and Circumstantial Part of this Sermon contain'd in the First and Second Verses we go on to the Doctrinal And here a very glorious Scene opens a Scene of admirable Truths of Truths which are Paradoxes to persons who rise no higher than the Animal life perfect Mysteries which the Princes of this World know not which the Great understand not and which the sensual part of Mankind are ready to laugh at and which none but a thinking or thoughtfull Person can admire As the inspired David or whoever was the Collectour of the Psalms begins that Volume with the way to Bliss so our Saviour begins his Sermon with the same Subject Indeed this was his peculiar Province and of the weighty and momentous Errands he was sent upon this was one to teach Men the true way to Bliss endless and eternal Moses had done it before the Prophets had attempted the like Philosophers had made some Essays of that kind but their Notions were imperfect and they had no distinct notices of all the materials necessary and convenient for that excellent Structure and there was a Providence in it because the fuller Revelation of God's Will was reserv'd to the coming of the Messiah or the Son of God And it is remarkable that Christ in his Directions how to attain to solid Bliss runs counter to the World and such as are commonly counted the most wretched and miserable are here pronounc'd blessed It 's like some that were by when Christ deliver'd this Sermon expected he should have begun in another strain such as Blessed are the Rich and the Men whose Barns are large and who have much Goods laid up for many Years who have Money at command can eat what they list and drink what they please whose Lands bring forth plentifully and whose Presses run over who are courted and respected by all that know them whether great or low and are in a capacity of denying themselves in nothing that their fond Appetite craves But my thoughts are not as your thoughts saith God He takes other Measures and therefore Blessedness is here ascribed to Persons where a Man would least imagine or expect to find it even to the poor in Spirit Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Three things do here very naturally offer themselves to our Consideration I. Who the poor in Spirit are or what poverty in Spirit is II. In what sense the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs and belongs to them And III. How their Title to this Kingdom makes them blessed I.
profession and outwardly but inwardly too converted to the Faith of Christ for upon this Conversion their former hatred and enmity to others is laid aside and they are all for Peace and Concord though I say these Prophecies are actually accomplisht in despight of all the Sects that profess Christ's Religion yet the Jews a dull hard inconsiderate sort of People and who are guided much by their Senses seeing the everlasting quarrels that are among Christians and how one party persecutes and abuses the other and upon what slight occasions they quarrel and fall out and break Peace and Communion one with another I wonder not to see them offended at these doings and harden'd in their Unbelief for not to mention the Divisions Heresies and Schisms in the ancient Church at this day the Eastern Churches stand divided against the Western the Western is broke into several Parties the Church of Rome against the Protestants and the Protestants against the Church of Rome and the Protestants are divided among themselves In these Divisions the Church of Rome erects her Head and pretends she is the only True and Catholick Church because they are united among themselves But to shew the weakness of this boasting 1. At this rate every particular Church must be the Catholick Church because the Members of every particular Church are united among themselves So in the Church of England her Members and Pastours all subscribing to the Articles of her Communion and professing the same Doctrine Ceremonies and Worship whether they be in Europe or Africa or Asia or America and there is no particular Church that 's constituted by any publick Authority but may boast of this Unity 2. It is not a bare Union of Men that makes a Church a true Church but that Union must have Truth for its Foundation else you know Thieves and Robbers and High-way-men and Pyrates and Buccaneers because they agree among themselves might lay claim to this Title and the most perverse Hereticks because they agree in certain Points might say they are the true Church and Heathens and Pagans because they agree in Superstition and in believing a Multitude of Gods might bid fair for this Character However 3. The Unity the Church of Rome boasts of is only a pretence for all the World knows the mighty differences that are within her own Bosom of the Scotists and Thomists of the Franciscans and Dominicans of the Jansenists and Jesuits who stick not to call one another Hereticks not to mention the late Divisions betwixt the Disciples of Molinos and their Opponents and were it not for fear of Fire and Prisons and the Inquisition some of these would break out into open War against their Adversaries and Competitours Nay 4. There is no Christian Church that hath been more guilty of breaking the Peace of Christendom than the Church of Rome and because several Churches would not satisfie or gratifie her Ambition would not put their Necks under her Yoke nor believe the falsest and idlest thing in the World her Supremacy and Infallibility she hath boldly separated her self from their Communion this was the reason why she separated from the Eastern Churches and by this insolence she hath forced the Protestant Churches from her Communion and not he that is forced away but he that forces is the Schismatick And indeed that which justifies the Protestant Churches separation from her or breaking Peace and Communion with her is 1. Because she would impose that upon the Consciences of Men which Christ and his Apostles never imposed 2. Because she hath turned the Spiritual Worship of the Gospel into carnal and mechanical Devotion and introduced innumerable Superstitions which have no foundation in the Word of God and would have them believ'd as firmly as the Gospel it self 3. Because she hath brought in a Worship which with all the favourable Interpretations imaginable cannot be excused from Idolatry even the Worship of dead Men and Women of the Bread in the Eucharist of Images and Pictures and Reliques c. contrary to the Design of the Gospel 4. Because though she hath been often entreated admonish'd and exhorted to reform these Abuses for some hundred Years together yet she is obstinate and instead of reforming hath harden'd her self in them and thinks to hectour Men by her Power and Authority into a Belief of that which cannot be defended with solid Arguments 5. Because rejecting the Supreme Authority of the Scriptures which are the sole Rule of Faith she hath made her pretended Head and such Councils as he shall call or approve of the sole Dictatours and Expositours of the Doctrine of Christ requiring blind Obedience to their Decisions contrary not only to the Word of God but to the Sense of all true Antiquity So that there can be no peace I mean no Peace of Communion with Rome for though we are commanded to live peaceably with all Men yet we are withall to have a due regard to Truth Eph. IV. 15. Nor must Peace be bought at so dear a Rate as to comply with Men in their Sins and Errours which is the Reason why Peace and Holiness are join'd together in that known Exhortation of the Apostle Follow peace with all men and Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. XII 14. Indeed an external Peace we are to maintain with all Mankind but this differs much from Peace of Communion in Divine Worship and Sacraments The Divisions among Protestant Churches are to be deplored so much the more because the Points they differ in are inconsiderable and might easily be composed if Men had but peaceable Tempers and were resolved to lay aside Interest and carnal Respects and Punctilio's of Honour and Credit c. for they all agree in fundamentals all are satisfied that the Church of Rome hath notoriously deviated from the simplicity of the Gospel and the matters in difference are things in which Salvation is not concerned And upon that account their labours deserve great Commendations who heretofore and very lately have endeavour'd to reconcile the Protestant Churches into a perfect Union A blessed Work Blessed are the Peace-makers that endeavour to make Peace among the jarring Members of Christ's Body and though they may fail of Success yet they shall not lose their Reward In the mean while those who widen or heighten these differences and incite the respective Parties to hatred and wrath and animosities one against another to be sure are no Children of the God of Peace and had need at least before they die make publick Satisfaction for the dreadfull Effects their Heats and Passions do produce But as this Peace among Protestant Churches is very much to be wish'd and pray'd for so I despair to see so glorious a Work take effect except the differing Parties would resolve to stand to the Rules following 1. That the respective Parties which agree in the chief Points of Religion do not make any of those Points they differ in fundamental as if
Societies would fall under this Notion No no to suffer as an evil doer is a very different thing from being persecuted for Righteousness sake St. Peter hath determined this long agoe 1 Pet. ii 20. What glory is it if when ye are buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently but if when you do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God and again 1 Pet. iv 15. Let none of you suffer as a Murtherer or as a Thief or as an evil doer or as a busy-body in other mens matters but if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed That old Saying is very true Not the Suffering but the Cause makes the Martyr Indeed it is to be considered in all Sufferings and it skills very much what it is we suffer and what we suffer for and what manner of man the person is who suffers Some we read of that have suffer'd for Vain-glory as Peregrinus in Lucian and the Gymnosophists and Regulus and Mutius and the Alexandrian Woman and others in the Greek and Roman Histories And the Circumcelliones of old were so fond of suffering Martyrdom that some would cast themselves down head-long from steep Hills or throw themselves into Fire or into Water and even courted men to knock them on the head And therefore the Church Ps. xliv 21 22. to remove all suspicions that she suffered upon a wrong Principle or for a sinister End appeals to God the searcher of all Hearts He knows the secrets of the Heart for thy sake are we killed all the day long as if she had said Thou O Lord who knowest all things knowest that it is not for a sinister End or for Trifles that we suffer but it is for thy Name 's sake and because we will not lift up our Hands to a strange God 2. Nor is it to suffer for every Cause where Conscience is pretended He that is persecuted for Righteousness sake suffers for his Conscience but not every one that suffers and pretends he suffers for Conscience is therefore persecuted for Righteousness sake We know the greatest Villanies have been carried on under a shew of Religion and Conscience hath been pleaded by Murtherers of Kings and Princes and Bishops and others and when such abominable wretches have suffered for it they have been most justly punished but far from being persecuted farther from being persecuted for Righteousness sake To pretend Conscience when Men act against a known Law of God is mocking of God and if it were lawfull to laugh at a thing so sad and dreadful deserves to be ridiculed more than argued Felix Mauz a turbulent Anabaptist in Helvetia being put to death for practising against the State and Government had the Impudence to thank God that he had called him to seal the Truth with his Blood and among other expressions before his death said Lord into thy hands I do commend my Spirit It 's like unwary and weak Spectators look'd upon his suffering as being persecuted for Righteousness sake but it was nothing less indeed no more than a just Punishment for his Treasonable Practices however colour'd over with Expressions and Sayings of Consciencious Men. He that deceives himself or suffers himself to be deceiv'd into an erroneous Doctrine or Practice and believes that his Conscience dictates to him both that Belief and Practice and suffers for it cannot properly be said to suffer for Righteousness sake if that Righteousness he pretends to and for which he thinks he suffers have no relation to the express word of God Conscience must be guided by the plain word of God I say plain for I do not think that obscure hard and knotty places of Scripture which have exercised the Wits of the Learnedst Men are an ordinary Rule of Conscience If a Man fancies that his Doctrine or Practice for which he suffers is commanded in the Word of God when really it is not he suffers indeed for an erroneous Conscience which he should have taken care to rectify and inform better but cannot be said to be persecuted for Righteousness sake because he suffers not for a notorious Doctrine or Action manifestly commanded in the Word of God and tho' I grant that the Magistrate who punishes him may be too severe upon him and the Officers of Justice who execute the Law may handle him rudely and barbarously and though I believe God will pardon his Error if accompanied with simplicity of Heart and free from Malice or sinister Designs yet still he cannot be said to be persecuted for Righteousness sake And having told you what being persecuted for Righteousness sake is not I must in the next place tell you what it is And here though you may guess at the Nature of it by what hath been said already yet for Orders sake 1. To be persecuted for Righteousness sake is to be evil entreated for asserting or maintaining a Principle or Doctrine which God hath plainly reveal'd either by the light of Nature or by the light of Scripture and for not subscribing to a Doctrine manifestly false or contrary to the Scripture I mention here the light of Nature for the light of Nature is the light of God as well as the Scripture It 's granted the Scripture is the brighter and the clearer light but still the light of Nature is the light of God And he that is persecuted for asserting there is but one God and that Polytheism or a multitude of Gods is Non-sense or a Fable as Socrates the Heathen Philosopher was who died for that Doctrine may be justly said to be persecuted for Righteousness sake because he suffers for a true and manifest Principle of the light of Nature and for a Truth written by God upon the Heart and which every Man is bound to assert and maintain which is the reason that Justin Martyr makes Socrates a kind of Christian and a Martyr for a standing Principle of Divinity After the same manner if a Man should be persecuted for maintaining the Resurrection of the Dead or that the Scripture is the Word of God or that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah and Saviour of the World and that he is God as well as Man and that he died for our sins and rose again from the Dead c. as the Apostles were persecuted by the Sadduces Pharisees and Heathens such a Person is truly persecuted for righteousness sake for these Truths are very clearly revealed in Scripture and every Christian is bound to profess them and the same may justly be said of those late Sufferers in the neighbouring Kingdom who suffer'd for not believing or not subscribing to the Doctrines of Transubstantiation the Sacrifice of the Mass Purgatory c. for these Doctrines are not only not to be found in the Word of God but are contrary to it 2. To be persecuted for righteousness sake is to be evil entreated for espousing a Worship or Practice which God hath plainly commanded on
in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God Excellent Counsel In the midst of all temptations darkness clouds and shadows of Death let them even resolve to depend upon God's Mercy and Goodness and rest there whatever comes of it and though they can give no reason for so doing yet let them fix here and upon this Resolution If I perish I will perish in the hopes of God's Mercy While the Light of Holiness shines and burns in them there is that in them which will secure their Title to the Enjoyment of God's everlasting Light Light will mingle with Light and the Light of the Love of God in the Soul on this side Heaven by a natural Tendency must necessarily at last terminate in and be united to him who dwelleth in a Light which no mortal Man can approach unto For with thee O Lord is the Fountain of Light and in thy Light shall we see Light Lift thou up the Light of thy Countenance upon us and we shall be safe SERMON XV. St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 14. A City set upon a Hill cannot be hid IN these Words our Saviour prosecutes his Design in the preceding Characters he had given of his Disciples and Followers He had called them the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World and these Characters he illustrates and inlarges upon not only in the Text but in the two Verses following He had told them that their Lives must be Exemplary their Conversation Edifying and their Actions such as might serve both to reform and enlighten others to this he adds another simile ye are saith he and God expects and intends you should be like a City set upon a Hill now a City set upon a Hill cannot be hid i. e. Men will take notice of you as they do of a City seated upon a Hill if your Lives are not according to the rules of my Gospel your Christianity and Discipleship will soon be seen through and you will quickly betray your Hypocrisy Your business is to own and profess the Truth in the Face of the Sun and by your conformity to my holy Laws to let the World see that you are of the same Mind and Spirit and Temper that I am of Cities are conspicuous all Men that pass by them look upon them especially if they be set on a Hill so the Eyes of the World are and will be upon you and it will soon appear what manner of Spirit you are of Let it be therefore your care so to behave your selves that those who look upon you and observe your deportment may be convinc'd that you do not profess one thing and practise another This is the natural Sense and Design of our Saviour's Expression here as will appear to any one that shall examine the Drift and Scope of Christ in this Sermon on the Mount and the antecedent and consequent Passages But because the Church of Rome lays a great stress upon this Place and makes use of it to prove the perpetual visibility of their Church I must necessarily discover to you the Vanity of that pretence before I draw any Inferences from this Passage to instruct you how to govern your Lives and Actions according to the import of this Similitude not that I am fond of controversy or love to insult over a dying Religion but the Subject lies in my way and to balk it would look like betraying the noble Cause we have espoused built upon the eternal Pillars of Truth and Reason The pretence therefore is this It must be granted say they that the Church of Christ must have been visible in all Ages for it is a City set upon a Hill which cannot be hid and there is no reason it should for how should Heathens and Infidels be converted to the Faith of Christ if the Church which must teach them that Faith were not visible If it had lain hid and obscure in the World for several Ages confined to Caves and Dens to Corners and Deserts as you Protestants pretend Christ must have miss'd of his Design which was by the conspicuousness of his Church to draw Unbelievers into the bosom of it Now it 's evident that the Church of Rome hath been visible in all Ages conspicuous and splendid for many Centuries together without any interruption yours never began to appear till Luther and Calvin and Henry VIII made it visible therefore the Church of Rome must be the true Church and yours the false because it hath not been visible in all Ages This is the Pretence and now let us briefly consider the Weakness and Absurdity of it 1. Whatever may be said for the perpetual visibility of Christ's Church it is plain that from this Text it cannot be proved for Christ doth not speak here of his Followers considered as a Church or a body of Men united under their Pastors in the Profession of the Doctrin of the Gospel and in the Use and Administration of the Sacraments of the New Testament but of every individual Disciple considered as a Christian and a follower of Christ to teach him how he ought to live and behave himself in the World to the Edification of others And this is evident from the Virtues of Meekness and Humility and Patience and Peaceableness c. press'd in the foregoing Verses which are things appertaining to every private Christian and this saying you are a City set on a Hill which cannot be hid is spoken to the very same Persons of whom the aforesaid Virtues are required So that these Words relate to a Christian Duty not to the State or Condition or Splendour or visibility of Christ's Church But 2. Suppose they do relate to Christ's Church considered as a Church they must necessarily relate to Christ's universal Church for here is no particular Church mention'd Christ's universal Church of all Ages Nations Countrys may he called a City as it is in other places stiled a Body for as a City is made up of various Buldings and as a Body consists of many Members so Christ's universal Church consists of many particular Churches which make up that great City and that vast Body and if these Words relate to Christ's universal Church how can they be applied to a particular and especially to the Church of Rome more then to the Church of Ethiopia or Greece or Armenia and how absurd must be the Consequence The universal Church of Christ is a City set upon a Hill which cannot be hid therefore the Church of Rome is that Church or therefore the Church of Rome is that City It 's true they call themselves the Vniversal or Catholick Church so did the Donatists of old but what doth calling themselves so signify when it is evident and clear as the Sun at Noon that the Church of Rome is but a particular Church There were Churches in the World before the Church of Rome was heard of and there are at this Day and have been all along Churches which may