of those Sublunary and perishing things How much should we despise and undervalue those empty and fading Vanities seeing we have such infinitely better things prepared for us and waiting upon us Doth he who is called to a Kingdom mind Sticks and Straws Trifles and petty inconsiderable things Remember O Christian what thou art and what thou art called to keep up the Decorum that is suitable to the dignity of thy Person and walk worthy of the Vocation whereunto thou art called Do not creep upon thy Belly and lie groveling upon the Ground lift up thy Head and let thy Heart be where thou seest thy Treasure is Be not like the foolish Indians who sell their Gold and their Pearls and other precious things for Brass and Iron and Glass Beads Do not seek to fill thy Belly with Husks when thou mayst have fulness of Bread in thy Father's House Do not grasp so fast but let go those painted Vanities those mere shadows of Delight and make sure to thy self that fulness of Joy and those Rivers of Pleasure which are at God's Right hand for ever and ever Secondly Consider those things that thou mayst have Comfort in thy Afflictions that thou mayst bear up with a chearful Spirit under all the Crosses that are laid on thee The hopes of Heaven do lighten the burthen of Affliction they take away the heavy pressure thereof How light should we consider our Affliction which is but for a moment seeing it is followed by a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory Look unto Iesus the author and finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God Now if we suffer with him we shall be also glorified together with him And I reckon saith St. Paul that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Thirdly Consider what a mighty Encouragement this Blessed life is and what a powerful inducement it should be to Prayer Meditation to all Holy Duties and in a word to a hearty compliance with the whole Gospel We are not commanded those things in vain for naught all the pains we are at this way shall be well rewarded Do we toil and sweat for the Bread which perisheth And shall we not labour for that which endureth to Eternal Life Do Men venture upon Merciless Seas Do they throw themselves upon the Points of Swords and before the mouths of Cannons for a little Gain or some small piece of Honour And shall we refuse to walk Circumspectly to live Soberly Righteously and Godly for Heaven and Eternal Life Be ashamed O Christian of thy Sloth and Laziness blush to see some taking more Pains for Earth than thou art for Heaven for Perishing thant hou art for Eternal Riches You see your Labour is not in vain be stedfast therefore and immoveable and always abounding in the Work of the Lord run with Patience the Race that is set before you and run so that you may obtain Do not faint and weary in well-doing but persevere therein to the very End Be thou faithful unto the death saith Christ and I will give thee a Crown of life Finally Let what hath been said raise your Appetite and stir up in you a Holy and Sincere Desire of this Sacrament of the Lord's Supper which strengthens your Faith cherishes your Hope gives you the Encrease of Grace here and is to you a sure Pawn and Pledge of Glory hereafter For this Holy Sacrament is the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus not the Sacred Symbols and Representations thereof only but the conveyance of the Merits of his Death and Sufferings also Now Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood ye have no life in you Eat therefore O Friends Drink yea Drink abundantly O Beloved that your Souls may be satisfied and live for evermore Now unto him who hath loved us and given himself unto the Death for us and who hath opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers even unto Iesus Christ with the Father and Blessed Spirit the Glorious and Incomprehensible Trinity be all Praise Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen SERMON VIII ON EASTER-DAY 1689. 1 COR. XV. 19. If in this Life only we have Hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable WHAT the Church Commemorates in this great Festival of Easter solemnly celebrated by all Antiquity St. Paul evidently proves in this Chapter viz. That important Article of our Creed the Resurrection of our Lord Iesus Christ. And from this necessarily he deduceth another most material Point which is the Certainty of our own Resurrection The firm Belief of both these Points are not only absolutely Necessary but also the serious and frequent Consideration of them is most useful that we may be strengthened and encouraged in our Temptations comforted in our Troubles and animated to a chearful Labouring in every work of the Lord. The certainty of an after state as well as the Quality thereof is only known by the Gospel it is Iesus Christ only who hath brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel The Heathens had some knowledge thereof but it was very faint It was only as a Dream and Imagination for when our Apostle taught it at Athens he was counted a Babler and was mocked there even by the Philosophers themselves And among the Iews there was the Sect of the Sadducees who believed neither Resurrection nor Spirit St. Paul attacks these Epicurean and Sadducean Principles in this Chapter for it would seem that some of the Church of Corinth were corrupted with them and said That there is no Resurrection of the Dead though the belief of this point be so essential to a Christian that he ceases to be one who denies it The words of our Text are one of those Arguments St. Paul makes use of for evincing the Truth and certainty of our Resurrection and it is an Argument taken ex absurdo which is accounted a demonstration even in the strictest Science for there be many Propositions of the Mathematicks which cannot be otherwise demonstrated than by shewing the absurd Consequences of their being false I shall endeavour to demonstrate the strength and force of this Argument of St. Paul for another Life But first let us consider the Truth of his Assertion here that we that is Good and Sincere Christians would be of all others the most miserable if there were no more expected than what this Life doth afford St. Paul saith here that if Christians had no hope but in this Life they would be of all Men most miserable He doth not say they would be the only miserable Persons whereby he clearly insinuates that others as well as they are liable to Misery in this World As some Ignorant and Unjust Men charge
Fears The difference betwixt the godly and the wicked may be compared to that of two Persons at Sea in a most dangerous Storm where there is Hope of saving Life but nothing else But the one has a goodly Inheritance to live upon when he comes to Land and therefore cannot be much cast down whereas the other having lost his whole Stock and Substance is not only miserably damped with Grief for the Loss of that but also quite confounded with the Thoughts of his after Poverty and Misery Thirdly This Doctrine of the Certainty of another better Life serves greatly to comfort us under the Miseries and Calamities of this and therefore that we may have this Comfort let us both firmly fix the Belief of it in our Hearts and also frequently meditate thereon It is in vain for any to expect to pass thorow this World without Trouble and Affliction and there is no true support under any Affliction but the lively hope of that glory which is to be revealed with this one may bear the heaviest Cross chearfully and without it the lightest Affliction may overwhelm the spirit For this cause saith St. Paul we faint not for though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Cheer up thy Spirit whosoever thou art that liest under the pressure of any Affliction if thou repentest of thy Sins if thou lovest God and be resolved to walk so as to please him why shouldst thou be cast down Lift up thine Eyes unto yonder Regions above and consider what an Interest thou hast there what a blessed Inheritance is there reserved for you Is thy condition here uneasie and troublesom and art thou still tossed about remember when thou comest there thou shalt have all Rest and Peace Art thou hated by Men and persecuted with their Hands and Tongues let not that vex thee seeing thou art Beloved of God and hast Friends Above who will shortly receive thee unto their everlasting Habitations where are good things which neither eye hath seen nor ear heard nor can the heart of man conceive them Take the spoiling of your Goods joyfully knowing that ye have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance Dost thou here suffer the want of all things bear it for a while patiently for when thou ascendest Heaven and enter'st into the presence of God thou shalt find fulness of joy and rivers of pleasures for evermore The bitterness of this Life shall be abundantly recompenced by the sweetness and happiness of the other There it is where we shall be comforted for all the days wherein we have been afflicted For there men shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them nor any heat for the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes When Columbus set first out to Sea in order to discover a New World he suffered unspeakable Straits Hardships and Difficulties The very reading of them is astonishing yet he still bore out by the hope of discovering Land which was very faint and uncertain for he only conjectured that there might be such a thing Now if such a faint and uncertain hope of an Earthly Country could make one run upon so many Hazards and bear up under such Disasters what a support to our Minds and a Comfort to our Spirits should the hope of an Heavenly Country be a Country whose Riches and Glory and Felicity we poor Mortals cannot conceive much less express And which is no Dream or Conjecture but which is clearly demonstrated to us by the Word of God And from which nothing can obstruct us if we be but stedfast and immoveable and always abounding in the work of the Lord. Death might have prevented Columbus's Discovery and robb'd him of that Satisfaction but Death cannot impede our passage unto Heaven for it is the very means of entring into it It is the very loosing of the Fetters and removing the Cloggs which detain us in this miserable Life and a setting us at Liberty to return to God whence we came and to take possession of that glorious Life which Christ hath purchased for us Fourthly and lastly Is there a Life after this and a blessed Life too Then certainly it becometh us to give all diligence to secure it for our selves 't is no less our Interest than our Duty It will not fall to our Lot by Chance and without we use true endeavours after it It is true Jesus Christ hath purchased this Life for us and payed the price of it without which no Man could ever have expected it But still it lies on us to qualifie our selves for it by the Performances of those Conditions on which it is granted and these are Faith and Holiness First We must have Faith for without this saith the Scripture it is impossible to please God And if it be impossible to please him without Faith it is impossible to expect Heaven without it for he will never admit one there who doth not please him He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not on the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him If you ask what Faith is It is to believe the Existence of God his Almighty Power his Infinite Wisdom his Incomprehensible Goodness and his most Wise and Watchful Providence It is to give a most hearty assent to the Truth of his Word to the Authority and Goodness of his Laws to the ineffable greatness of his Promises and to the Justice of his Threatnings It is to receive with Zeal and Affection the Lord Jesus Christ to own the miraculous Nature and Dignity of his Person and to acknowledge the Necessity Vertue and Usefulness of his Offices of Prophet Priest and King Finally it is to admit by a profound Humility the Incomprehensible Mystery of the Trinity and to depend upon the Influence and Operation of the Holy Spirit the third Person of the God-head Our Faith must comprehend all this And without this Faith no Man can be saved For unless a Man believe all that God has clearly proposed he not only does not honour God as he ought but he actually dishonours and affronts him Now the true evidence of this Faith is Holiness which is also the other Condition required of those that would be saved Faith without works saith St. Iames is dead And without holiness saith St. Paul no man shall see the Lord Heb. xii 14. How fit and proper unsanctified Persons may be for settling and propagating Christ's Kingdom upon Earth I do not well know but this I know and am sure of that none shall share of his Heavenly Kingdom but they who are pure as he is pure
who humbleth and exalteth saith the wise Son of Syrach And Solomon whose Words have yet greater Weight saith whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker and he that is glad at Calamities shall not be unpunished So the Prophet Habakkuk saith That he was humbled at these Disasters of Midian and Cushan that he himself might rest in the day of trouble Who wisely and seriously consider the Instability of humane Affairs will neither be lifted up with their own Prosperity nor will they insult over their Neighbours Misery For what is the ones Case to Day may be the others to Morrow Who at present braves it out with Pride and Scorn may within a little time come to be contemptible Quem dies vidit veniens superbum Hunc dies vidit fugiens jacentem Res Deus nostras celeri citatas turbine versat Secondly We see here that the Church and People of God are often visited with the Rod of Afflictions The Text declareth it and if any Persons doubt it let them read the History of the Church and they shall be fully convinc'd As for the Iewish Church 't was first sadly oppress'd in Egypt and thereafter for the space of forty Years 't was exercised in a barren Wilderness with divers kinds of Afflictions After they came to Canaan during the time of the Judges they were often brought low They had Peace a part of David's and all Solomon's Life but afterwards it was continually interrupted till they were carried Captive to Babylon When they were brought back and restored to their own Land they were not settled without hot Debates and Contests with their Neighbours and after their Settlement they had severe Wars and were kept in continual Exercise with divers sore Troubles until Christ as appears from Iosephus and the History of the Maccabees And as for the Christian Church Trouble sprang up with it and continually attended it for the space of Three Hundred Years it suffered Ten severe General Persecutions besides many sad particular Conflicts And tho' after that the Emperours and Rulers turned Christian there was no general Persecution for the Name of Christ and the Sake of the Gospel yet there was no particular Church or People without the Rod of Correction They have been visited either with Foreign Wars or Intestine Divisions with Pestilence or Famine or some other Calamity No Nation or People can boast of an Immunity from such Disasters but for the space of One Hundred Years As Man in his private Capacity so States and Societies are born to Trouble Nor is an Exemption from the same among the Privileges of the People of God The Roman Church makes Temporal Felicity one of the Notes of the true Church But her Infallibility appears as little here as in other things For as it is no where promised in Scripture so no Church can de facto shew it She her self would fail if she were put to prove her self the true Church by this for where was her Temporal Felicity when Rome it self was sacked and the Pope shut up in Prison Calamities and Afflictions do indeed indicate that they who suffer them are Sinners But they do not prove them to be Reprobates and Cast-aways for the People of God may expect them as well as others nay they may look for them more than others because God is more jealous of them and his glory is more concerned to Punish Sin in them Thirdly We may observe here that even when God is most provoked to lay on his afflicting Hand and to Punish he doth not forbear to shew Kindness And that in the extreamest Misery there is still ground to Hope in God for a Deliverance None ever provoked God more than the People of Israel and Iudah in the days to which this Prophecy referrs nor did any Peoples case look more desperate than theirs when carried Captive by the King of Assyria And yet you see here that the Prophet in regard to them then saith when I fall I shall rise when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me As God casts down with one Hand he lifts up with another Soepe premente Deo fert Deus alter opem Thus when he cast the Israelites out of their own Land he made them to find favour with the People among whom they were dispersed God wisely tempereth his Punishments so that while they vindicate his Holiness and Justice they also serve to manifest his Mercy and Good-will God hath no pleasure in Wickedness and therefore when he seeth it he punisheth it But all his hatred being against the Crime and not the Person therefore he saveth and comforteth them and maketh their very Afflictions tend to their Good unless they have made themselves altogether incorrigible and have hardned their Hearts against all his Methods and then indeed he gives them up to Destruction When he sees it necessary to withdraw external and worldly Comforts he doubles inward and spiritual Consolations So the Prophet Isaiah having denounced Judgments against Israel he addeth And therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of Affliction yet shall not thy Teachers be removed into a corner any more but thine eyes shall see thy Teachers and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying this is the way walk ye in it when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the left The felicity of the Soul is to be preferred to the welfare of the Body and Spiritual Consolations to Worldly Advantages Now because ordinarily People are insensible of the former and indisposed to receive them while the latter abound with them Therefore he takes away this that they may seek the other and be capable of them so that we really gain by our losses and our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Thus it is said Hos. ii 14. Therefore behold I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her and I will give her her vineyards from thence and the valley of Achor for a door of hope and she shall sing there as in the days of her youth and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt These words shew that God comforteth his People in their Afflictions and therefore afflicteth them that he may make them sensible of his Kindness and have occasion to speak comfortably to them As also that in due time he will deliver them and make them to rejoice for the days wherein they have been afflicted It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. There is always ground to hope and never reason to despair be our condition never so low perplex'd and troubled For he is
is it to be like Jesus for he is the brightness of the Father's Glory and the express Image of his Person so that to be like him is to be like God By the Imitation of Jesus we recover what our First Parents lost and forfeited to themselves and us even the Image of God Therefore the Imitation of Jesus brings more Honour and Glory than any or all earthly Dignities Likeness to God is the highest degree a Creature is capable of therefore if we understood our selves and our interest we should be more ambitious of this than of all the Titles and Dignities which either Kings or People can bestow If the Imitation of Christ were impossible it would not have been enjoined us but neither is it so difficult as some at first may imagine besides that the Difficulties may be surmounted through the Grace of God the thing will become both easie and pleasant if we will but converse with Christ contemplate and meditate on him frequently They who converse much together we see use to slide insensibly into the Manners Fashion and Behaviour of one another Even so if we take this Method we shall soon find our selves changed into a resemblance with Jesus Christ. But we all saith the Apostle with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. iij. 18. But now as it is our Duty our Honour our Interest to follow Christ and to labour to be like him So it is fit to consider wherein we should follow him Some Imitations are indiscreet unreasonable and so far from obliging that they provoke A King loves to be imitated by his Subjects because it is a Testimony of their Love and Respect and the greatest Honour they can put upon him But he would not have them to imitate the Peculiarities of Royalty and Sovereignty Imitation should not be in things peculiar but in these things which are common which may agree to and suit with both So we must not attempt to follow Christ in what was peculiar to him as the Son of God and the Saviour of the World we must not imitate the Acts of his Almighty Power or what was proper to his Mediatory Office It is no part of our Duty to imitate him in his Miracles in his walking on the Water commanding the Winds and Seas casting out Devils fasting Forty Days and the like What we ought to imitate is the Divine Vertues which shined forth in his holy Life and which appeared in all his Actions Wherefore he saith learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart These Words may also be considered as an Encouragement for coming to Christ taking up his Yoke and learning of him because he is a meek and lowly Person gentle and easy no wise rigid and severe therefore Men may come to him readily and ought to come willingly for they need not fear hard Usage he will not treat them roughly nor impose grievous Tasks upon them He is a kind and loving Master who consults the Good and Ease of his Disciples and who will not exact any Service which is not both reasonable and also for their Interest as is clearly insinuated in the last Words my yoke is easy and my burden is light But seeing Jesus requires us to imitate him and is frequently proposed as an Example to us and seeing in this very place in which he bids us come and learn of him he recommends himself as a meek and lowly Person therefore we ought to consider those Vertues of Humility and Meekness as particularly proposed for our Imitation Jesus Christ had all other Vertues as well as these he was a true Pattern of Love to God of Zeal Submission Obedience and heavenly Mindedness of Charity Mercifulness and good Will towards Men of Chastity Purity Sobriety Patience and Contentment and in a Word of every thing which is Praise worthy in the Sight of God or good Men. By his Life as well as Doctrine we may learn how to behave our selves in all Circumstances and Conditions in Poverty and Affliction under Contempt and Disgrace when we are hated and persecuted And though he possessed not outward Plenty and Grandeur yet several of his Actions shew the true end and use of these and do teach those who possess them to imploy them more for the Glory of God and the Good and Comfort of others than for their own private Satisfaction From his Practice and Example we may learn our Duty to Superiours Inferiours and Equals But tho' he be a Pattern of all Vertue and Goodness yet he instanceth only in Meekness and Humility either because these comprehend all other or are the chief and first to be learned and which if they be learned will draw all other after them All Vertue and Religion either respects Man or God and without Meekness and Humility it is impossible to carry our selves aright towards either of them But he that is truly humble and meek will certainly endeavour to please both Nay the very Exercise of these two comprehends all our Duty to God and Man as we may learn from Micah vi He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but that thou shouldest do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with thy God Meekness cannot be either better or more briefly described than in the Characters of Charity given by St. Paul It suffereth long is kind envieth not vaunteth not it self is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things For these Characters belong to Charity because it softneth our Natures and rendreth us meek Meekness is a Branch of Charity and naturally flows from it These two are inseparable and we may certainly conclude the one is not where the other is wanting Love smooths our Natures and carries off all Ruggedness of Temper it disposeth us both to please others and also to be well pleased with what they do it maketh the Persons and Actions of others acceptable and even when any thing is amiss in either it excuseth or censureth gently If Christian Love did abound more there would be more of Meekness and good Nature in common Conversation But because that is very much wanting therefore there is so little generous Complaisance to be seen The most are very selfish and have but very little Concernment for others and this is the Cause why they are so surly and morose so peevish and wrathful why their Temper is so stiff and uneasie and their Behaviour so rough and blustering they love themselves too much and others too little and therefore they can hardly condescend to gratify others and are but seldom satisfied with what is done to themselves As Meekness proceeds from Love so from Humility and therefore they are