Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven OF all other Sects among the Jews the Scribes and Pharisees were the Chief and by their Learning and the outward shew that they made of Religion had gained an extraordinary Respect and Veneration from the common People who looked upon them as infallible Doctors of the Chair and received all their Tenets and Traditions as Oracles And as they were highly esteemed of by the People so they had also a very good opinion of themselves they loved the uppermost Rooms at feasts and the chief Seats in the Synagogues and greetings in the Markets and to be called of Men Rabbi they despised all other Persons in comparison of themselves and as they sat in Moses his Seat so no doubt but they expected as honourable a place in the Bosom of Abraham But tho' this fair outside of theirs appeared very lovely and took much with the People yet our Saviour saw through it and discerned that there was nothing but Rottenness and Hypocrisie in their Hearts that though they made clean the outside of the Cup and of the Platter yet within they were full of Extortion and Excess that though they fasted often and made long Prayers yet it was only for a pretence to devour Widows houses that though they paid Tithe of Mint and Anise and Cummin yet they omitted the weightier Matters of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith and that the Gate of Heaven would prove too streight to give any Entrance to their broad Phylacteries and large Borders of their Garments and therefore he often charges his Disciples to beware of treading in their steps not to acquiesce in such a vain and Hypocritical Ostentation of Religion which however it may gain the Applause of Men who can see no further than the outside will be nothing worth when it comes to be examined before his Tribunal but to labour for Sincerity and Pureness of Heart without which no Man shall see God For I say c. In the handling of which words I shall endeavour 1. to shew you what the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was which will not be thought worthy to be admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven 2. What manner of Righteousness ours must be that will procure us an entrance thither 1. For the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees if we examine it by the Character which the Holy Evangelists give us of it we shall find it extreamly faulty and indeed it is impossible to suppose it to be otherwise when we consider how many sharp Reproofs and dreadfull Woes are denounced against it by our Saviour The chief Particulars which render it faulty and deficient are these 1. Their Righteousness could not be acceptable in the sight of God for as much as in general they had a very false Notion of the Obligation of the Law of God which they interpreted only in the literal Sence of the words and thought that it extended only to outward actions but reached not to the inward Thoughts and Intentions of the mind So long as they washed their Hands they regarded not the foulness of their Heart and so long as they kept themselves free from any open and external Breach of the Commandments they thought themselves innocent though their mind was never so much set upon wickedness So long as they abstained from open Adultery they thought they might lust after a Woman and still be chast So long as they kept their Hands from shedding any Blood they thought it no sin or at least a small and venial one such as God would take no notice of to hate their Brother in their Heart So long as they did not bear false witness against their Neighbour before a Judge in open Court they thought it no Crime to backbite and slander him and that they might securely blast his Reputation and wound his good Name without any prejudice to their own Souls So long as they abstained from plain Theft and kept their Hands from picking and stealing they thought that like the Priest and the Levite in the Parable they might innocently pass by their Neighbour whom they saw wounded by Thieves and that no Obligation lay upon them to relieve him in his Distress Thus they grosly erred in their Interpretation of the Law which reaches not only our Actions but our words and our thoughts and confines our Tongues and our Hearts as well as our Hands Such Commandments as these they taught to be the least Commandments that the Breach of them was a very light and trivial sin and that for an idle Word or for a lustful or malitious thought or Intention provided that it broke not out into Action there was no fear of Damnation But our Saviour passes a very severe sentence upon them for teaching this Doctrine in the verse immediately before my Text Whosoever saith he shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven that is he shall not be accounted worthy to enter into that Kingdom And then he confutes this false Doctrine of theirs in the several branches of it in the following part of the Chapter Ye have heard saith he that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the Judgment but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgment Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt not commit Adultery but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a Woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his Heart Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time Thou shalt not forswear they self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths but I say unto you Swear not at all but let your Commuunicatian be Yea yea Nay nay for whosoever is more than these cometh of Evil. Ye have heard that it hath been said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy but I say unto you Love your Enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you This then was the first thing wherein the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was deficient They misunderstood the sense and meaning of the Law which our Saviour in this Sermon of his Restores to it self and interprets in its full and proper Latitude And secondly as it must needs be that Uno absurdo dato mille sequuntur upon this first false principle they built a second and having confined the Sense of the Law to so narrow a Compass they thereupon concluded that they were able to keep and perform it to a Title without any Supernatural Grace and Assistance from Heaven And indeed if this Construction of the Law had been true it is possible that this Conclusion which
Life and we must not add to it nor diminish from it but acquiesce in it and make it the sole Rule and Measure of our Faith imposing nothing upon our own or other men's Consciences but what is manifestly consentaneous and agreeable to the Doctrine contained therein Thus ye see that our Righteousness must be thoroughly purged and cleansed from all those Defects with which the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was defiled But still all this is not sufficient if our Righteousness doth not exceed theirs infinitely more than thus it will be nothing worth we shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven That Righteousness which must bring us thither must be absolutely compleat and perfect without Spot or Blemish such as the All seeing Eye of God can discern no Defect in and that it is impossible for us ever to find such a Righteousness as this in our selves I have already shewed you and yet such a Righteousness we must all of us have or else never expect Salvation for without Holiness ay and perfect Holiness too no man shall see the Lord. Since therefore we our selves are not able to perform such a Righteousness as this and yet such an one is absolutely necessary to bring us unto Heaven we must seek it from some other person and to whom should we have recourse for it but to Christ our Saviour who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption Let us therefore if we desire to be saved not trust in our own Merits as the Pharisees did for by the Works of the Law shall no flesh be justified but with the Hand of a true and lively Faith let us put on the Robe of Christs Righteousness which will be sure to hide our faults and to present us holy blameless and undefiled in the Presence of God But let us not deceive our selves neither and pretend to have this Faith and consequently that we have an interest in the Righteousness of Christ when there is no such Matter but let us try and examine our Faith whether it be a true and lively Faith or no. If it be not a Faith that Works by love if it be not fruitful and productive of good Works it is dead and insignificant it will stand us in no stead at all but if we pretend so to lay hold on Christ we shall only grasp a shadow No though we must not relie upon our own performances yet we must work ay and work as heartily as if our Works were Meritorious too but when we have done all we must utterly disclaim our own Righteousness trusting only in the Merits of Christ and desiring with S. Paul that we may be found in him not having our own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith This is such a Righteousness as will never fail us but whereas the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and of all other Hypocrites and Dissemblers with God shall sink them into the bottomless Pit this Righteousness of Faith will refresh our Souls and chear our Hearts with the sweet Hopes and comfortable Expectation here and bless them hereafter eternally with the joyfull Fruition of that Glory which God hath prepared for all them that love him SERMON X. 1 PET. IV. 18. And if the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Ungodly and the Sinner appear THAT there shall be another Life after this in which all Mankind shall reap the Fruit of their Actions done in the Flesh and be adjudged to an unalterable State either of Happiness or Misery to all Eternity is not only an Article of Faith amongst Christians but a Truth of which the wiser sort of the Heathens were generally convinced This I say is a Truth which all Christians profess firmly to believe but yet alas how small is the Number of those that demonstrate the Truth and Sincerity of their Faith by their Holy Lives and Conversations We all of us know and are assured that there is a just God who will render to every man according to his deeds Rom. 2.6 and will by no means clear the guilty Exod. 34.7 We believe that there is an Heaven prepared for Saints and an Hell for Sinners and yet notwithstanding this belief how many thousands that are called by the Name of Christ run on head-long boldly and impudently in Wickedness and pursue with all imaginable Eagerness and Delight those fatal Paths that lead to Destruction as if the Joys of Heaven were a Trifle not worth our Acceptance or the Torments of Hell the object rather of our Desires than Fears But notwithstanding all this Obstinacy and Hardness of our Hearts the Lord God who is ever merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth leaves us not to our selves but is continually calling and inviting us to Repentance by the preaching of his Word and by the secret and powerful Operations of his Holy Spirit Sometimes Heaven is pleased to smile upon us and as it were kindly to desire and intreat us to come and be its Inhabitants to accept of the glorious Liberty of the Children of God to be made Citizens of Sion and free Denizens of the New Jerusalem and at other times it frowns and awakens us with Thunder out of our sinful Lethargy God tries all ways imaginable to reclaim us and deliver us from the Jaws of Death Sometimes he pours down his Judgments upon our Heads that in our Affliction we may seek him early and sometimes he stretches forth the Arms of his Mercy to embrace us and draws us to him with the Cords of a Man with the Bands of Love Hos 11.4 Sometimes he holds forth the golden Scepter to us and graciously invites us to come and kiss the Son lest he be angry and sometimes he shakes his Rod of Iron over our Backs and threatens to dash us in pieces if we will not hear the Rod and who hath appointed it Hence are those many and gracious Invitations to Repentance which God hath made to us in his Word and those terrible Threatnings which he hath therein denounced to affright us from Sin amongst all which there is scarce one to be found that is more emphatical and piercing than this of my Text which must needs fill the Hearts of all obstinate and impenitent Sinners with Horrour yea and it strikes a Terrour even into the Godly themselves and makes them work out their Salvation with fear and trembling It thunders Hell certain and inevitable Damnation to the Wicked and hardly admits the Righteous into Heaven And if the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Vngodly and the Sinner appear The words are propounded by way of interrogation a thing very frequent in Scripture and generally used for the more powerful enforcing of some weighty and material Argument What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it
TWELVE SERMONS UPON Several Occasions BY SAMUEL SCATTERGOOD Late Vicar of Blockley in Worcestershire LONDON Printed by J. Heptinstall for John Hartley over-against Gray's-Inn-Gate in Holborn 1700. Collegium S. S. et Individuae Trinitatis in Academia Cantabrigiensi TO THE READER Courteous Reader I Here present thee with Twelve Sermons being Part of a greater Number which the Authour some time before his Death permitted me to Print According to thy kind Acceptance of these I may perhaps be hereafter encouraged to present thee with the Rest I shall not trouble thee with any Account concerning the Authour nor offer to fore-stall thy Judgment in commending his Works to thee I shall onely beg of thee to believe that if I had not great Reason to hope that thou would'st think these Sermons well worthy of thy Perusal no private Interest could ever have induc'd me to have made them Publick J. S. THE CONTENTS SERMON I II III. Gal. IV. 4 5. But when the fulness of the Time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law To redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons Page 1 16 32 SERMON IV V. 1 Cor. VI. 20. For ye are bought with a Price therefore glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit which are Gods P. 47 66 SERMON VI. Heb. IV. 14. Seeing then that we have a great High priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our Profession P. 85 SERMON VII Matth. XI 28. Come unto me all ye that Labour and are heavy Laden and I will give you Rest P. 100 SERMON VIII Col. II. 18 19. Let no Man beguile you of your Reward in a voluntary Humility and worshipping of Angels intruding into those things which he hath not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly Mind And not holding the Head from which all the Body by Joints and Bands having Nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the Increase of God P. 115 SERMON IX Matth. V. 20. For I say unto you That except your Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven P. 133 SERMON X XI 1 Pet. IV. 18. And if the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Ungodly and Sinner appear P. 148 164 SERMON XII 1 Cor. X. 12. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall P. 180 SERMON I. GAL. IV. 4 5. But when the fulness of the time was come God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law To redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons THE Galatians unto whom S. Paul writes this Epistle had in his absence been perverted and seduced from the true Doctrine of the Gospel which he had preached unto them by some false Teachers that had crept in among them and had perswaded them that tho' they did believe and that rightly that Jesus was the true Messias whom the Prophets foretold should come into the world yet still it was necessary for them to be Circumcised and to conform to the Law of Moses which they thought was never to be abrogated as well as to the Law of Christ unto which they had so lately vowed Obedience This Doctrine S. Paul confutes in this Epistle and thunders an Anathema against whosoever he be that teaches it though it were an Angel from Heaven Though we saith he or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed chap. 1.8 And afterwards in the close of the Epistle he proves to them at large that the Ceremonial Law was totally abrogated by the Law of Christ and that by Faith in him not only Jews but Gentiles were the children of Abraham and heirs of the Promise Know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham and the Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathens through faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham chap. 3. 7 8 9. And tho' indeed the Jews had most glorious Privileges and Favours conferred upon them by the bounty of God under the Mosaical Oeconomy beyond what he had vouchsafed to any People upon earth besides for unto them were committed the oracles of God and they received the Law by the disposition of Angels God had chosen them to be his own peculiar People his only visible Church upon earth until the coming of the Messias So that the Psalmist had great reason to confess that he had not dealt so with any Nation yet for all this our Apostle assures them that how great soever these Privileges of the Jews might seem and indeed really were in comparison of what God had vouchsafed to other Nations during the time of the Law yet they were far inferiour to those which the Church was afterwards to enjoy under the Oeconomy of the Gospel the glorious and everlasting Kingdom of Christ Whereupon he resembles the Law to a School-master which was to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith chap. 3.24 But saith he After that faith is come we are no longer under a School-master For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus And in the beginning of this fourth Chapter he compares the Church under the Law to an Heir in his Minority but the Church under the Gospel to an Heir now come to Age and in Possession of his inheritance Now I say that the Heir as long as he is a Child differeth nothing from a Servant though he be Lord of all but is under Tutors and Governours until the time appointed of the father Even so we when we were children were in bondage under the Elements of the world But when the fulness c. Thus ye see the coherence and scope of the Text and ye cannot chuse but apprehend at the first view of it that it is very sutable to this present Season and that it will furnish us with excellent Matter with a most magnificent and heavenly Feast of fit and proper Meditations to entertain our Souls with at this great Festival which we celebrate in Memory of the wonderful Incarnation and Nativity of our blessed Saviour Indeed it is hard to instance in any other Text of Scripture wherein the whole Mystery of our Saviour's Incarnation is so amply and fully explained in so few words as it is in these which I have now made choice of for the Subject of my Discourse which evidently contains all these important Truths 1. Here is our Saviour's Divinity implied in these words God sent forth his Son 2. Here is his Humanity together with the manner how he became Man and how qualified made of a woman made under the law 3. The
in no case obtain an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven let us in the next place consider what manner of Righteousness ours must be which will bring us to those Mansions of Glory And 1. it must not have any of these Faults with which the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was tainted and rendred odious and abominable in the sight of God Their Righteousness as ye have heard was such as consisted only in the performance of external Actions according to the literal Sense of the Law but ours must proceed further even to the cleansing and purifying our Hearts from all manner of evil thoughts Blessed are the pure in Heart saith our Saviour for they shall see God They and they only shall enjoy that beatifical Vision whose Heart is undefiled for it is that which God chiefly respects and so long as that is right and sincere as to the Main though we do sometimes through the Frailty of our Nature and the strength of some Temptation that hath overcome us fall into any sin yet we shall certainly obtain Pardon at the Hand of God upon our true Repentance They thought themselves well enough if they did no evil nay more than so if evil was done them by another Person they thought they might with a safe Conscience revenge themselves but our Master hath commanded us not to resist Evil but if any man smite us upon the Right cheek to turn to him the other also and not only not to hurt our Neighbour but to love our Enemies to bless them that curse us to do good to them that hate us and to pray for them which despitefully use us and persecute us It is not sufficient for us that our outward Actions are not Evil but we must take heed to our Words and our Thoughts we must make a Covenant with our Eyes keep our Mouth with a bridle that we offend not in our Tongue and bring into Captivity every Thought to the Obedience of Christ for for every idle Word and every misguided Thought we shall give an account at the Day of Judgment 2. Our Righteousness must not be such as makes us presume that we can of our selves and by our own strength keep all the Commandments and fulfill the whole Law Alass we are not able of our selves to keep any one Commandment and S. James tells us that if we offend in one point we are guilty of all The Scripture hath most plainly and fully discovered to us our weakness in this case that we are so far from being able to perform any good Work that we cannot of our selves so much as think a good Thought without the Holy Spirit of God inspires it into our Hearts who work in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure that there is not a just man upon Earth that doth good and sins not but that in many things we offend all and that if we say that we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us These and the like expressions in Scripture if we consider them are sufficient to satisfie us that we are so far from being able to keep the whole Law that we cannot perform any one Title of it as we ought and therefore we must not as the Scribes and Pharisees did place our Righteousness in this that we are able and do perform an intire Obedience to the Law And if so much less must we in the third place as they did and the Church of Rome who follows their Example doth at this day boast of and Glory in our own works as if they were meritorious in the sight of God The Scripture every where condemns this as the most dangerous and damnable Pride with which our Hearts can possibly be infected and nothing will more certainly bar the Gate of Heaven against us than our supposing that we can deserve that it should flie open unto us How can a Man be just with God saith Job and In thy sight saith the Psalmist no man living shall be justified And if no Man living can pretend to be just in the sight of God so as to escape his Condemnation surely much less can any Man pretend to have done him so great service as to merit a Reward from him No all boasting and glorying on our part is utterly excluded except it be glorying in our infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon us We are taught a quite contrary Lesson a Lesson of Meekness and Humility when we have done our best to say that we are unprofitable Servants and to desire that the iniquity even of our most Holy things and the shamefull Nakedness of our Righteousness may be covered and hid from the pure Eyes of God by the white and spotless Robe of the Righteousness of Christ Fourthly we must not as the Pharisees did and as too many that tread in their steps do at this day place our Righteousness in our forwardness to censure the Lives and Conversations of other Persons and in our backwardness to enquire into our own Censoriousness in some men's Opinion passes for a Gospel-virtue and he that is most forward to speak evil of others and especially of his betters of his Superiours and Governours is for so doing lookt upon to be the greatest Saint But surely these are Saints of a new stamp and I know no reason why they arrogate that Title to themselves except it be by an Antiphrasis because they walk directly contrary to the Doctrine of the Gospel which hath expresly commanded us not to judge lest we be judged our selves and to speak evil of no Man especially not to despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities except we have an ambition to be of the number of those mockers which S Jude prophesied should come in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly Lusts Separating themselves sensual having not the Spirit all incomparable qualifications for Saint-ship Fifthly we must not as the Pharisees did put on a shew of Religion purposely to gain the Applause of Men and to carry on our worldly Designs I am sure this unhappy Nation hath swarmed with Pharisees enough of this sort Men that with a specious shew of Piety led captive silly Women beguiled unstable Souls and gained Admiration of the credulous and easy Vulgar that with sanctified Pretentions Holy Looks frequent Fastings long Prayers and canting and treasonable Sermons carried on the most villainous and accursed Designs that ever publickly disgraced Christianity And God grant that there be not too many such Pharisees among us still but I pass them by their Names are odious and their Religion scandalous Lastly we must not as the Pharisees did and we know who doth Still preferr unwritten Traditions before the holy Scriptures God hath caused that sacred Book to be written on purpose for our Instruction and hath therein fully revealed so much of his Will to us as is sufficient for us to know in order to our obtaining everlasting
as he himself required with which his Justice is fully satisfied and his Wrath appeased And this was that Oblation of himself of his own most precious Body and Blood when he poured out his soul unto death to be an offering for sin upon the Altar of the Cross Christ being come an High-Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this building neither by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us Hebr. 9.11 12. And without looking any further that one Epistle to the Hebrews may satisfie us in this Point the main Design of it being to convince the Jews that Jesus Christ was such an High-Priest as we are speaking of Who was once offered to bear the sins of many and who shall appear unto them that look for him the second time without sin unto salvation Secondly as our blessed Saviour hath offered this holy spotless and most acceptable Sacrifice of himself unto God for us so doth he likewise continually intercede for us at his right hand pleading the merits of his most precious Death and Passion in our behalf that we thereby may be delivered from the Curse of the Law and receive the adoption of Sons Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us Hebr. 9.24 and Hebr. 7.25 He tells us That he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them So Rom. 8.34 Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us And if any man sin saith S. John we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous 1 Joh. 2.1 Thus then it is evident that our blessed Saviour is by the holy Evangelists and Apostles that have given us a true and faithful account of him represented to be as great an High-Priest as it was possible that the Messias could be for who can be higher than he that is set down at the right hand of God And this naturally brings me to the Consideration of his last and highest Office which is that of a King For surely he that is exalted unto the right hand of God can be no less than a King in the highest Degree a King of Saints and Angels a King of Kings and Lord of Lords Let the Jews perswade themselves what they please concerning the greatness of the Kingdom of their imaginary Messias whom they fondly dream is yet to come into the world though they cannot deny that the time prefixed for his coming by the Prophets is long since past yet a greater King they cannot imagine him to be than we know and are fully assured by the unanimous Testimony of most faithful and unexceptionable Witnesses that our blessed Saviour already is who is and ever shall be a King upon Gods holy hill of Sion whom he hath exalted and set at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come and put all things under his feet and given him to be the head over all things to the Church Eph. 1.20 21 22. That our blessed Saviour was to be such a King as this the Angel Gabriel expresly foretold to the Virgin Mary at his Conception Luk. 1.31 Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdom there shall be no end Which words plainly imply that he was not to be a temporal King a King of this World whose Kings and Kingdoms shall all perish and come to an end but a spiritual King of a Kingdom which is everlasting Such a King as this our Lord owned himself to be I appoint unto you a Kingdom saith he to his Disciples as my father hath appointed unto me that ye may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel Luk. 22.29 30. A King even Pilate himself seemed positively to declare him by the Superscription upon his Cross Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews which he would by no means alter at the request of the chief Priests Such a King he most powerfully demonstrated himself to be by his triumphant Resurrection from the Dead Such a King he yet more fully proved himself to be by his most glorious Ascension into Heaven Having first told his Disciples that all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth he shews them the truth of it by ocular Demonstration visibly in their sight ascending up into Heaven to take Possession of his eternal Kingdom sending moreover two Angels to comfort them and assure them that he the same Jesus which was taken up from them into heaven shall so come in like manner as they had seen him go into heaven Act. 1.11 And after all this according to his Promise as a King that was ascended on high that had led captivity captive and received gifts for men he bestows upon them a gift fit for the King of Heaven to bestow upon his choicest Favourites even that of the Holy Ghost upon the Day of Pentecost thereby to the astonishment of all that beheld them impowering them to work Miracles and to speak with Tongues in order to the accomplishing that great work about which he employed them which was to proclaim him over all the World to be such a King such a Saviour and to gather him a Church out of all the Nations of the Earth declaring that unto all those that will believe and obey him and receive him for their Soveraign Lord and King he will most assuredly be the authour of eternal salvation having redeemed them from the Curse of the Law and purchased for them the adoption of sons and that when at the last day he shall come again in the Glory of his Father to judge the world in righteousness he shall then as an omnipotent King whose Power nothing can resist execute Vengeance upon all his Enemies and reward all his faithful and obedient Subjects with everlasting Felicity receiving them into his heavenly Kingdom there to Reign together with him in Glory as Kings and Priests unto God for ever thus I have proved to you I hope beyond all Contradiction except such as proceeds from wilful and obstinate Malice or notorious Ignorance or Prejudice which must
themselves in the Worship of God may justly expect such an answer from him as he gives to the Priests that offered polluted bread upon his Altar Mal. 1.8 Offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy Person saith the Lord of Hosts In the Oriental Countries therefore where men never use this Ceremony of uncovering their Heads to their Superiours but stand covered even in the Presence of their Emperour neither is it practicable in their Temples since amongst them the uncovering of the Head is so far from being acknowledged to be a Demonstration of Honour and Respect that it is indeed lookt upon to be an absurd and ridiculous thing and therefore instead thereof they use to put their Shooes off their feet whensoever they enter'd into their Churches which is a Custom in those parts of greater Antiquity perhaps than Moses himself it being not at all improbable that that command which God gave to him in the Bush Exod. 3.5 was no institution of a new Ceremony but only an information that that place was hallowed by the extraordinary Presence of God and therefore he ought to behave himself with the same fear and reverence and to use the same manner of Worship and Adoration which in those Countries was usual and customary in the Temples and holy Places dedicated to the Service of God Put off thy shooes saith he from off thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground And had the Ceremony of uncovering the Head been in use in those Countries as it is here we may rationally conjecture that God would have altered his Command accordingly But to leave these remote Countries with which we are not much concerned and to return to our own from what hath been said it is plain that the outward Gestures and Ceremonies which we are obliged to use in the publick Worship of God are chiefly these three kneeling at Prayers Standing up at other times when it is appointed by the Church and having our Heads uncovered at all times As for sitting though the general practice of all men hath made it to be connived at in the time of the Sermon or the like yet it is a posture that is never very commendable in the Church it is certainly in the time of Prayer most intolerable and he that uses it least at other times deserves most commendation and comes nearest to the practice of the first and purest Ages of Christianity It was therefore a pious resolution of Biship Hall to this purpose in one of his Meditations God saith he is the Lord of my Body also and therefore challenges as well reverent Gesture as inward Devotion I will ever in my Prayers either stand as a servant before my Master or kneel as a Subject to my Prince I might instance in more particulars but that I may hasten to a conclusion I shall name only this one which will comprehend all the rest and that is That our Bodily Worship may be compleat we must take care that our Tongue be duly employed in bearing its part in the publick Service of God as the Church hath appointed which if we would do we should avoid that scandalous Behaviour which is too commonly seen in our Churches of whispering and laughing and playing idle Tricks which is a thing to be abominated by all pious and devout Christians Thus I have shewed you according to my ability the Summ and Substance of this duty of glorifying God in our Body and in our Spirit which that we may evermore perform effectually God of his infinite mercy vouchsafe to direct sanctifie amd govern both our hearts and Bodies in the ways of his Laws and in the Works of his Commandments that through his most mighty protection both here and ever we may be preserved in Body and Soul through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ SERMON VI. HEB. IV. 14. Seeing then that we have a great High-priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our Profession THERE are four several Steps or Degrees of our Saviour's Exaltation Three of which are already past and the other is yet to come The first is his Resurrection from the Dead The second is his Ascension into Heaven The third is his Session at the Right Hand of God The fourth is his coming again with Glory to judge both the Quick and the Dead The first of these his Resurrection from the Dead we Commemorated at Easter and the present time invites us now to Exercise our Meditations upon the second his Ascension into Heaven and any Text furnishes us with a very excellent Method for the doing of it to the Glory of God and the Good and Comfort of our own Souls For first the Apostle lays down the Truth of this Doctrine that our Saviour is ascended into Heaven and secondly he shews us what influence the consideration of his Ascension should have upon us So that the Text it self is an Epitome of a Sermon containing both Doctrine and Application The Doctrine that our Saviour is ascended into Heaven the Apostle takes for granted in the former part of the Verse Seeing then that we have a great High-priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God And this Doctrine he confirms chap. 9. ver 24. For Christ is not entred into the Holy Places made with Hands which are the Figures of the true but into Heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us and chap. 7. ver 26. Such an High-priest became us who is Holy Harmless Vndefiled separate from Sinners and made higher than the Heavens The Application which the Apostle makes of this Doctrine is in the latter part of my Text and it is this that since Christ is ascended into Heaven we ought stoutly and resolutely to maintain the Profession of our Christian Religion and to contend earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints Seeing then c. In speaking to which Text I shall do these three Things First I shall shew that Jesus Christ our Redeemer the Eternal Son of God is truly ascended into Heaven Secondly That he ascended thither as our High-priest And Thirdly I shall conclude with the Apostles Application and shew you how strongly this should oblige us to hold fast our Profession First I shall shew you That Jesus Christ our Redeemer the Eternal Son of God he who we own and believe to be the true Messias whom all the Prophets pointed at is truly ascended into Heaven And here it will be necessary to clear two Things by the way First What is meant by that Heaven into which Christ is ascended And secondly how and in what manner he is said to have ascended thither For the first of these not to trouble you with an account of all the several Significations of the word Heaven in Scripture we are to understand by that Heaven into which our Saviour is ascended the Heaven of
Heavens the highest and most glorious Heaven which is the Imperial Throne of the Majesty of God far above all those Celestial Orbs which are visible to our Sight wherein the Sun and Moon and Stars perform their constant and regular Motions according to those Laws which God gave them at their first Creation Through all these Heavens our Saviour passed in his Ascension as is plain from my Text if we consult the Original for what our Translation Renders is passed into the Heavens is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is passed through the Heavens i. e. through all these visible Heavens into that invisible one wherein he dwelt with his Father in inaccessible Light and Glory and Majesty from all Eternity And that this is the meaning of that Heaven into which our Saviour is ascended is plain from that Expression of our Apostle which I cited before Hebr. 7.26 where he tells us That such an High-priest became us as was made higher than the Heavens And likewise from that Eph. 4.10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all Heavens Thus ye see what is meant by that Heaven into which our Saviour is ascended For the second Thing how and in what manner he is said to have ascended thither I answer he ascended not by any local Motion or Translation of his Divine Nature from Earth to Heaven for that being Infinite and Omnipresent filling all places at once cannot be supposed to be capable of being removed any whither where before it was not but he ascended by translating his humane Nature his whole Man both Body and Soul from Earth where he had assumed that Nature and hypostatically united it to his Divinity unto the Right Hand of God in the highest Heavens And that Christ is thus ascended into Heaven the Scripture most amply and plainly assures us First this Ascension of his was typified and prefigured under the Mosaical Law by the High-priests entering once a Year into the Holy of Holies to make an Atonement for himself and the People as our Apostle shews us chap. 9. of this Epistle The Holy Ghost this signifying saith he That the way into the holiest of all was not made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing which was a Figure for the time then present But Christ being come an High-priest of good Things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with Hands that is to say not of this Building neither by the Blood of Goats and Calves but by his own Blood entered in once into the Holy Place having obtained Eternal Redemption for us Again this Ascension of our Saviour into Heaven was Typified by those extraordinary Translations of Enoch and Elias Secondly it was foretold by the Prophets as appears by that of Ps 68.18 Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led Captivity Captive Thou hast received Gifts for Men which place St. Paul expresly applies to our Saviour's Ascension Eph. 4.8 and Ps 24. is almost all of it a prophetical Description of this Ascension and is therefore very fitly appointed by our Church to be Read upon that Day which we set apart for the Commemoration of it To the same effect is that Prophecy of Isai chap. 63.1 where the Prophet describes the Holy Host of Heaven rejoicing and wondering at the Glorious Ascension of our Lord into those everlasting Mansions Who is this say they that cometh from Edom with died Garments from Bozrah This that is Glorious in his Apparel travelling in the greatness of his Strength I that speak in Righteousness mighty to Save And as our Saviour's Ascension was typified and foretold in the Old Testament so we find that all those Types and Prophecies were made good and fulfilled in the New There we have a most faithful and punctual Account as of his Nativity his Passion his Resurrection from the Dead so likewise of his Ascension into Heaven This we find that our Saviour himself plainly foretold some Days before it came to pass Go to my Brethren saith he to Mary Magdalen and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God Joh. 20.17 And when this was to be fulfilled that there might not want sufficient Witnesses to attest the truth of his Ascension the Evangelist St. Luke tells us That when he was about to ascend up to his Father he led his Disciples out as far as to Bethany and that there he lift up his Hands and Blessed them and that while he Blessed them he was parted from them and carried up into Heaven But still further lest any should doubt notwithstanding our Saviour's being visibly parted from his Disciples and received up into the Air whether he did really ascend into Heaven or not to remove all manner of occasion of such doubting God immediately sends two Angels from Heaven to certifie them that he was really ascended thither for the story tells us Acts 1.10 That while they looked stedfastly toward Heaven as he went up behold two men stood by them in white Apparel which also said Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven Now there remains no ground at all of doubting whether our Saviour be really ascended into Heaven or no since what the Apostle's eyes were not able visible to behold the Testimony of two Angels hath undeniably confirmed Thus much briefly of my first particular that Christ our Redeemer is truly and really ascended into Heaven i.e. that his humane Nature both Body and Soul are actually by the Omnipotent Power of his God-head translated into the highest Heavens The next thing to be considered is that he is ascended into Heaven as our High-priest It is true that Christ ascended into Heaven for his own sake as well as for ours For surely he that for the expiation of God's Wrath had humbled himself so low he that had wrought so glorious a Work as the Redemption of Mankind and that by undergoing most bitter and unconceivable Sufferings did highly deserve to be exalted to the Right-hand of his Heavenly Father And therefore he himself saith that these sufferings of his were the way to his glory Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory Luke 24.26 But although Christ ascended into Heaven for himself that he might take possession of that Kingdom which he had justly deserved yet he ascended thither for us also As at his Resurection he arose from the dead not for himself only but for us also and became the First-fruits of them that slept so likewise at his Ascension he passed into the Heavens as our High-priest by virtue of whose Ascension all his Elect shall ascend up after him unto the same place of Glory and Immortality This is evident from these words of my Text Seeing then
that we have a great High priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God This the Scripture testifies frequently in other places We have such an High-priest saith our Apostle who is set on the Right-hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens a Minister of the Sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not Man Heb. 81.2 and c. 6.20 he tells us that the Fore-runner is for us entred into that within the Veil even Jesus made an High-priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck Now the office of Christ our High-priest consists chiefly in these things 1. In being our Advocate to make intercession for us to the Father If any man sin saith S. John we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous 1 Joh. 2.1 and who is he that condemneth saith S. Paul It is Christ that died yearather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Rom. 8.34 How great a favour how inestimable a benfiet is this to have the only beloved Son of God in whom he is well pleased and to whom he will deny nothing continually to plead and make intercession for us unto his Father They only are truly sensible of this Blessing who are wounded with the Arrows of the Almighty and pressed sore with his hand so that there is no soundness in their flesh because of his anger neither any rest in their Bones because of their Sin They find the benefit of such an Intercession and how desperate and remediless their condition would be had they not such an High-priest that is ever ready upon their true Repentance to make an atonement for them to plead the merit of his sufferings in their behalf and to interpose betwixt them and the wrath of God 2. Christ ascended into Heaven as our High-priest that being thither ascended he might send unto us the Comforter even the Holy Ghost to abide with us for ever This was one main reason of his Ascension as himself declares to his Disciples John 16.7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth It is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you This he had promised long before by the prophet Joel c. 2. of that Prophecy v. 28. It shall come to pass saith he that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophesie your old men shall dream Dreams your young men shall see Visions This promise he fulfilled upon his Apostles upon the day of Pentecost Acts 2. and he performs it dayly to all his elect continually begetting and increasing in their hearts the Graces of his Holy Spirit by the Ministery of his word This is that blessed Spirit of truth that guides us into all truth and teaches us all things that bears witness with our Spirits that we are the children of God and seals us unto the day of Redemption and this Holy Spirit Christ as our High-priest sends unto us from Heaven For although he be present every where in respect of his Divine Essence which is Omnipresent yet by his gracious Operation he is present only in the Hearts of his Elect unto whom he is sent by Christ as a Pledge of his Love to abide with them for ever The third Office which Christ performs for us as our High-priest is to prepare a place for us in Heaven The Sin of Adam had shut the Gate of Heaven against us For nothing that is Defiled or Unclean shall enter into the New Jerusalem but Christ by his perfect Obedience and by his meritorious Sufferings for our Sakes hath Expiated the Guilt of this Sin and by his ascending up thither himself hath opened unto us the Gate of Heaven again and given us assurance that he will draw us up after him This he promised to his Disciples Joh. 14.2 I go saith he to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also Thus is Christ ascended into Heaven as our High-priest he is gone thither before us to prepare a place for us a place of endless Bliss and Felicity in those glorious Mansions of his Heavenly Father And so I have done with the Doctrinal part of my Text and shewed you that Christ is really ascended into Heaven and that he is ascended thither as our High-priest I come now to the last Thing I propounded which is to press to you the Apostles Application and to shew you how strongly the Consideration of this Doctrine should oblige us to hold fast our Profession And what can oblige us more to hold fast our Profession to lead a Godly and a Christian Life and to have our Conversation in Heaven than this that we have a great High-priest Jesus the Son of God that is already passed into the Heavens on purpose to prepare for us there an Everlasting Crown of Glory The consideration of the blessed Effects of the Ascension of our Lord if we make a right use of it will enable us to fight the good fight of Faith with Courage to keep our selves unspotted of the World in whatsoever Circumstances we are and to steer our Course aright through all the manifold Changes and Chances of this Mortal Life till we arrive at the end of our Hope even the Salvation of our Souls Let our Condition be what it will good or bad I say the thoughts of this will enable us to behave our selves so as shall be most for the Glory of God and our own Good For first Hath God Blessed us with Peace and Prosperity in this World Hath he given us a plentiful Portion of the good Things of this Life Hath he heaped upon us Riches and Honour filled our Barns with Plenty and caused our Presses to burst out with new Wine Though these things are strong Temptations and very apt to alienate our Hearts from God yet the consideration of our Saviour's Ascension will enable us to overcome them If in the midst of these worldly Blessings we frequently and seriously call to mind that we have a great High-priest that is preparing for us things that are incomparably better and more glorious in Heaven our Eyes then will not be dazled nor our Hearts bewitched with these fading and perishing Enjoyments upon Earth We shall set no higher an Estimate upon them than they deserve but shall be careful to use them with a Christian Prudence and Moderation to the glory of God and the good of our Selves and such poor Members of Christ as we see stand in need of our Charity We shall look upon all these temporal Blessings to be but only lent us for a time but our Hearts and Affections will be wholly fixed with most ardent and longing Desires upon that eternal
of ten thousand several Persons though they all pray at the same instant for several things in several Places or Countries of the World Nay and he can tell us too unto what Angel or Saint it is most proper for us to direct our Prayers in every particular Exigence of all which matters S. Paul after he had been caught up into the third Heaven either was utterly ignorant or most unpardonably negligent in fourteen several Epistles never to acquaint us with this comfortable Doctrine Nay which is worse he seems directly to contradict it as if he were as obstinate an Heretick as we are affirming positively that there is one God and one Mediatour between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 And so I shall pass to the Apostles third Argument against the worship of Angels which is this It is highly injurious to the incommunicable Honour and Prerogative of this one Mediatour between God and Men our Lord Jesus Christ they that are guilty of it hold not the Head that is by offering such a manifest affront to the blessed Son of God they do in effect deny him to be the sole Head of his Church cutting themselves off from being Members of his Body and bringing upon themselves a most dreadful Anathema The Office of a Mediatour between God and Man is an Office of so high and Divine a Nature that no Person could be capable of it but one who was both God and Man For it was necessary that whosoever undertook this Office should not only make satisfaction for our Sins but should also receive our Prayers and present them unto God and render them acceptable unto him through his Intercession Now not to insist upon the former of these two things it is plain from what I have already said that the latter of them viz. to receive Prayers and divine Worship is an incommunicable Prerogative of God of which none can upon any Account whatsoever be capable but himself only God the Father therefore having conferred this high Honour upon his only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ who as he was Man had purchased it by his Death and Passion and as he was God equal with the Father was qualified for it without any injury to the Divine Majesty I say God the Father having conferred upon his Son this Honour not only of being our Redeemmer but our Advocate also to receive and present our Prayers and to make intercession for us and having not given us the least Intimation in his word that he allows any part of this Honour to any of the holy Angels or Saints what can be more plain than that they who pray to Angels and Saints as Mediatours at least of Intercession together with Christ do thereby highly affront him by joyning Co-partners with him in this incommunicable Honour of being the only Mediatour both of Redemption and Intercession between God and Man And that our blessed Saviour is so the Scripture most plainly and frequently declares There is but one God and one Mediatour between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus Saith S. Paul in the Place above-mentioned where it is observable that this Office of Mediatour between God and Men is an Office so divinely glorious and honourable that the Apostle thinks it no sacrilege to mention it with the same Reverence and Respect that he doth God himself There is one God and one Mediatour And indeed so well he might Since this Mediatour is God and Sits together with his Father in his Throne being able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them Heb. 7.25 Let the Church of Rome produce but any one plain Text of Scripture to Satisfie us that there is any other Mediatour whether of Redemption or Intercession between God and men besides the Lord Jesus Christ and we will confess our selves to be as they are pleased to call us gross Hereticks but if they can produce no such Text let us repose all our Trust and Confidence in that one Mediatour whom God in his Word hath pronounced to be so assuring our selves that whosoever joyn other Mediatours together with him praying upon that Account either to Angels or Saints yea even to the blessed Virgin Mary her self by so doing offer a manifest Affront to this one Mediatour between God and Men cutting themselves off from Christ and not holding the Head And now I need say very little concerning our Apostles last Argument against the Worship of Angels which is this that it is destructive and deadly to our own Souls and the End of it will be Damnation for he that imposes this Worship upon us beguiles us of our Reward I say I need not insist upon this since it is sufficiently evident from what I have already delivered For if the Worship of Angels be a false and voluntary Humility a Will-Worship flatly repugnant to the Word of God if it proceed from a real and carnal Pride in the Imposers of it who intrude into those things which they have not seen vainly pufft up by their fleshly mind if it be injurious to the royal and incommunicable Prerogative of our Lord Jesus Christ which is to be the sole Mediatour between God and Men insomuch that whosoever owns any other Mediatour besides him whether it be Saint or Angel doth thereby in effect renounce his Saviour not holding the Head then certainly this Worship of Angels must needs be deadly to our Souls and whosoever imposes it upon us beguiles us of our reward and brings us into apparent Danger of Damnation Hence then it is evident that had we no other Reason as we have many and great ones this one were abundantly sufficient to justifie our Separation from the Church of Rome wherein the Worship of Angels and Saints is not only allowed but imposed upon all its Members as a necessary Term of Communion contrary to the express Word of God and the Practice of the Primitive Christians for about three hundred years after Christ This I say is sufficient to prove our Church to be herein Catholick and Apostolical and theirs Heretical and Schismatical from the Catholick Church of Christ cut off from his Body and not holding the Head that is not the true Head which is Christ though they have a false one that hath usurped that Title wherein they have literally fulfilled these words of my Text. Stand fast therefore Brethren in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage Ye see that the Worship of Angels and Saints is notoriously Sinful let no man therefore impose it upon you neither by fraud nor violence since whosoever doth so beguiles you of your Reward that crown of life which our Lord hath promised to give unto all that are faithful unto death SERMON IX MATTH V. 20. For I say unto you That except your Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and
was sore against the hair It was an hard thing he thought to sell his Possessions to take up a Cross an hard thing to part with his Wealth to purchase Affliction and to exchange a Garland of Roses for a Crown of Thorns If Salvation must cost so much he was resolved to let it alone and thought it not worth his while to part with his present Enjoyments for the Reversion of Heaven but though he had made so great a shew of Religion and had kept as he pretended all the Commandments from his Youth yet Christs Yoke was too heavy for him and he went away sorrowing for he had great Possessions This is no doubt the case of many now in the world that pass in the Eyes of Men for good Christians They make a very fair shew of Religion insomuch that they cheat even their own selves and perswade themselves into a groundless presumption of their own Salvation and that the condition of their Souls is very good when it must of necessity be otherwise so long as they harbour a Serpent in their bosom which will be sure to sting them to death some beloved sin or other of which they cannot find in their Hearts to repent Perhaps they come to Church constantly and for the most part receive the word with gladness But nevertheless their goodness is but as a morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away Though sometimes at the hearing of a searching Sermon their affections may be extraordinarily moved for the present yet the good seed of the word can take no firm Root in such stony Ground It is but only a sudden Motion that they feel in their Hearts which passes away as quick as it came It is but a faint representation an empty shadow of that unspeakable comfort and joy in the Holy Ghost which is a continual Feast to the Godly a Heaven upon Earth to all those happy Souls who are sealed unto the day of Redemption These Men like Agrippa are but almost perswaded to be Christians Some good thing there is in the them toward the Lord but it is so very little that their faith is less than a grain of Mustard-seed They would fain enter into Heaven at the last but neither the hopes of Heaven nor fear of Hell can prevail with them to lay aside that darling Sin which doth so easily beset them They can be content to let God have a good share of their Heart but they cannot be perswaded to give him the whole They can endure to hear God's Word preached and perhaps for the most part they delight in it too They love to hear Sin condemned and Godliness commended so long as they imagine themselves to be unconcerned But if the Preacher chance to touch one of these Men to the quick and saith to him in plain Terms Thou art the Man then he is more ready to fly in his Face like Ahab and to tell him that he is a Troubler of Israel than to confess with David that he hath sinned against the Lord. Or at the best he goes away sorrowing like the Rich-man or trembling like Felix and desires to hear no more of those matters till the Archangel's Trump shall summon him to hear of them to his Everlasting Confusion Whilst the Prophet speaks to these Men smooth things so long they can hear him with pleasure and he is to them as Ezekiel was to the Jews as a very lovely Song of one that hath a pleasant Voice and can play well on an Instrument But if he sharply rebukes Sin and they find their own Consciences touched to the quick then they are pricked to the Heart not with godly Sorrow and Contrition but with Fury and Indignation While he speaks to them in the still small Voice of the Gospel and preaches the glad Tidings of Peace and Reconciliation with God by Jesus Christ they are pleased at the Heart and are too ready to lay hold on those Promises which belong only to the Israel of God But if he thunder out against them the Curses of the Law and denounces the Wrath of God against all impenitent Sinners then they sit but at little ease in their Seats and the Church begins to be too hot for them They like it well so long as the Spiritual Chirurgeon pours Balm into their Wounds but if he takes his Probe and begins to search them they are not able to endure it The Prophet Micaiah had never been condemned to be fed with Bread of Affliction and Water of Affliction had he been one of the lying Prophets and prophesied good concerning Ahab S. John Baptist's Head might have remained secure on his Shoulders and never have been served up in a Charger to satisfie the longing of a revengeful Woman had he but permitted Herod quietly to enjoy his beloved Herodias Our blessed Saviour had never been Crucified had he not so frequently and publickly reproved the Hypocrisie of the Scribes and Pharisees Thus ye see the Righteousness of these partial Professours of Piety and how dangerous a thing it is for Men to take the liberty to cherish any one Sin For though at the present it may seem to be but a little one it will one Day shew it self more at large appear in its proper Colours and like the little Cloud that arose out of the Sea like a Man's hand it will suddenly overspread their whole Heaven and darken their Consciences with Horrour and Astonishment They may pass for good Christians in fair Weather but what will they do in foul They may venture abroad and shew their Heads boldly while the Sun shines but can they out-face a Storm They appear like Saints in the Halcyon Days of the Church when she enjoys Peace and Tranquillity and flourishes under the Protection of pious and prudent Governours but surely they will tremble at the fiery Trial and make Shipwreck concerning Faith in the Tempest of Persecution They may bless God when they are in Prosperity while he makes an Hedge about them and their House but can they do it as heartily like Job when they are in Affliction A Judas may own Christ and cry Hosanna to the Son of David when he rides in Triumph towards Jerusalem and a Peter may deny him when he is at Calvary 'T is Persecution that is the surest Touch-stone to try a Christian 'T is that which will discover the true Metal from the counterfeit For certainly he that will readily lay down his Life for Christ's sake will much more be willing to part with all his Sins for him and will not dare to harbour the least Lust which may provoke his Displeasure But suppose there arises no such thing as Persecution to disturb them but all be calm and quiet such Persons as these must needs be very unhappy notwithstanding For surely they will find but very little Satisfaction in any of their Actions no not in their very Prayers themselves For we know that God hears not Sinners and he is
and Blood and the Gate that must admit him into those Mansions of Glory is exceeding strait and he must strive hard if he will enter in at it Thus ye see in general that the Righteous shall scarcely be saved that is it shall cost him much Labour and Sweat and Pains to work out his Salvation and through much Tribulation through many and great Troubles and Afflictions through many amazing Difficulties and affrighting Dangers he shall at the last enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and receive a Crown of Glory And this will appear more plainly if we consider distinctly these several Difficulties which he hath to encounter in his way to Heaven And these are First his own natural Corruptions The best and holiest of Men our Blessed Saviour only excepted who was sanctified from the Womb are all conceived and born in Sin By one Man saith St. Paul Sin entred into the World and Death by Sin and so Death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned Rom. 5.12 And this Original Sin as it is generally stiled by Divines which the Righteous themselves even the best of God's Saints as well as other Men bring into the World with them deriving it from Adam by a wonderful but certain Propagation is of a spreading and infectious Nature as dangerous and deadly to the Soul if it be not carefully subdued and mortified as Leprosie to the Body It is ever active and stirring labouring and struggling continually to get the Mastery over the Soul that so it may break out into open and actual Transgressions And too often it doth so even in good Men and prevails sometimes over the most pious and devoutest Christians This was that which moved David to commit Adultery and Murder This was that which shook the Constancy of Peter and made him so timorously and basely to deny his Master And this is that which causes so many Weaknesses and Failings in all the Saints of God so that there is not a just Man upon Earth that doth good and sins not but in every Man there is a Law in his Members warring against the Law of his Mind and bringing him into Captivity to the Law of Sin which is in his Members Rom. 7.23 In every Man as the same Apostle speaks Gal. 5.17 The Flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these two are contrary the one to the other so that by means of this intestine War within him it comes to pass often times that he cannot do the things that he would Even the Heathen Philosophers did observe and complain of though they knew not the Cause of this strange Depravation of humane Nature Plato tells us that Men are by Nature wicked and cannot be perswaded to do that which is right and that the two great and principal Diseases of the Soul are Ignorance and Vice And to the same Effect Tully observes that Nature is to Man a Stepmother that brings him into the World with a naked Body feeble and helpless and with a Soul throughout the whole Course of his Life sorrowful and distracted with Multiplicity of Cares and Troubles tormented with Fears tired with Labour and prone to Lust wherein the Divine Light Wit and good Manners are as it were overwhelmed and stifled This sad Condition which all Mankind is in by Nature I say the wiser Sort even amongst the Heathen amidst the gross Darkness of Paganism and Idolatry had some little Knowledge of though they were utterly ignorant of the true Cause and Reason of it And therefore they made it their chief Care and Business by their Learning and Philosophy according to the best of their Power to correct and amend it But unto us Christians God hath unlocked this Secret and hath fully discovered this great and hidden Mystery which all the Learning of the profoundest Heathen Philosophers was not able to search out In the lively Oracles of the Holy Scriptures he hath fully explained unto us both the Cause and Danger and Remedy of this Corruption of our Nature In that Sacred Book we have it represented to us under divers Names and Characters all of them foul and abominable like it self This is that which Rom. 7.17 St. Paul calls the Sin that dwells in us Because since the Fall of our First Parents it is become natural and hereditary to us and never leaves us nor forsakes us in this World but abides continually in our Flesh even unto Death whence in the same Chapter it is called the Evil that is present with us and Hebr. 12.1 the Sin which doth so easily beset us because it cleaves to us so closely and inseparably and with so much Force and Violence presses and besieges all the Strength and Powers of our Soul The word in the Original is very Elegant and Emphatical and but once used in all the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sin which doth so easily beset us that Sin which doth as it were hug and embrace us and is continually insinuating and winding it self like a Serpent into our Hearts with a Design to deceive and beguile us This is that which ver 15. of the same Chapter is called a Root of Bitterness springing up to trouble us because it is ever plentiful in producing evil Branches and corrupt and deadly Fruit. This is that which by St. James is called the Lusts that war in our Members James 4.1 and by St. Peter the fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 St. Paul calls it the old Man and the Body of Sin Rom. 6 6. And what the Members of that Body are he tells us Coloss 3.5 Fornication Uncleanness inordinate Affection evil Concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry Thus ye see the first Difficulty that the Righteous Man hath to encounter within his way to Heaven which renders that way so troublesome to him that notwithstanding all his Courage and Resolution he cannot walk in it without great Pains and Labour He carries a most unwelcome and heavy Clog about him from which he cannot possibly disengage himself which continually pulls him back and hinders and retards his Soul in its Flight towards those glorious Mansions of Joy and Happiness towards which it doth so eagerly press forward And had he no other Enemies but this one to vanquish even this alone might be sufficient to satisfie us that he shall scarcely be saved since it is most certain that he never shall be saved at all except he do overcome this first Enemy of his Salvation which of all others is the most formidable One deceitful Dalilab was worse to Samson than all the Philistines and this one innate intestine Foe of ours which lies continually in our Bosom is more dangerous to us than either the World or the Devil both which join their Forces together with this to bring us to Destruction And could we as we have all solemnly promised and engaged to do in our Baptismal Vow renounce all the sinfull Lusts
came in a very Mean and despicable Condition so poorly provided for that he had not so much as a House wherein he might lay his Head nor a cradle wherein he might rest but was forced to be content with a Stable for the one and a Manger for the other And all the rest of his Life was answerable to this Mean beginning He was continually affronted and abused and persecuted by the Chief Priests and Scribes and Pharisees and by almost all Men with whom he conversed and after all this he was most perfidiously betrayed by one of his own Disciples denied by another of them and forsaken by all the rest and at the last most barbarously murdered by bloudy and sinful Men. And if God dealt thus hardly with his only begotten Son in whom he was ever well-pleased it would be unreasonable for his Disciples and Followers to expect to fare so much better than their Lord as to be wholly exempted from Afflictions in this Life If the Captain of our Salvation was not made perfect but through sufferings surely then we shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven except we drink more or less of the same Cup. This our blessed Lord hath assured us shall be the Portion of all that will follow him Luke 14.26 27. If any Man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple And whosoever doth not bear his Cross and come after me cannot be my Disciple And In the World ye shall have Tribulation John 16.33 And this the holy Apostles afterwards found true by their own Experience They were all hated and maligned and persecuted whithersoever they went and not one of them died a natural Death but S. John the Disciple whom our Saviour seemed to love above the rest and perhaps was therefore pleased to exempt him from suffering a violent Death as the other did And thus it fared afterwards with their Successours the Bishops and Pastours of the primitive Church yea and not only with them but with the greatest part of their Flock too Every one that was known to profess the Faith of Christ was persecuted as a Traytour and to be a Christian was to be a capital Offender And though at present by the blessing of God the Light of the Gospel shines amongst us gloriously yet even amongst Christians themselves those few rare Examples of Piety those Persons that are extraordinarily strict and careful to live answerable to their Profession in all Holy Conversation and Godliness are generally hated and scorned and looked upon with an evil Eye and suffer more Sorrow and Affliction in the World than other Men. And now I have given you an Account of all those dangerous Enemies and those manifold and great Difficulties and Troubles which the Righteous Man hath to overcome in his way to Heaven And from what I have said it is sufficiently evident that he shall scarcely be saved that is it shall cost him great pains and striving to work out his Salvation and through much Tribulation he shall enter into the Kingdom of God And if the Righteous be thus scarcely saved I need not insist much upon the other Proposition nor spend many words to shew you that the wicked the ungodly and the sinner shall most certainly be damned For this follows from the former Doctrine by an undeniable consequence and therefore the Apostle takes it for granted appeals to your own Judgment and leaves it to your selves to determine the question in the words of my Text If the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Ungodly and the Sinner appear If the Righteous that hath undergone so many Troubles hath taken so much pains to subdue and mortifie his Lusts hath with so much Constancy and Resolution turned away his Eyes and his Heart from the bewitching Baits and ensnaring Pomps and Vanities of this sinful World hath with so much Courage and Faith resisted the Temptations of Satan and quenched all the fiery Darts of the Wicked hath with so much Patience and Meekness born his Cross and indured the Afflictions and sufferings of this present Life is after all these painful and glorious Performances even when he hath gained a full and compleat Victory over all his Spiritual Enemies and is a Triumphant Conquerour over Principalities and Powers still but an unprofitable Servant and dares not appear before God's Tribunal trusting in his own Righteousness but in that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith how then shall the Ungodly and the Sinner that hath taken no pains at all to fight the good Fight of Faith that hath let loose the Reins to his Lusts that hath yielded himself a Slave to his Passions that hath put God out of all his Thoughts hath set-his Heart and Affections wholly upon the things which are on Earth and glutted himself with sensual Pleasures hath harkned to the wicked suggestions of the Devil hath walked according to the Course of this World according to the Prince of the Power of the Air the Spirit that works in the Children of Disobedience hath enjoyed his good things in this Life and hath not come into trouble like other Men be able to stand before the Righteous Judge of all the Earth when he shall be summoned to give an account of all his Actions done in the flesh The case is plain he shall not be able to stand at all but shall be overwhelmed with everlasting Confusion and Misery and Despair The Vngodly saith the Psalmist shall not stand in the Judgment nor Sinners in the Congregation of the Righteous For the Lord knoweth the way of the Righteous but the way of the Vngodly shall perish Psal 1.5 6. If then we desire to stand in that great Day and to lift up our Heads with joy at the coming of our Saviour let us resolve and labour with all our Might now to stand and fight the Lords Battles Manfully against all the Enemies of our Souls Ye see in what Circumstances we are how great Opposition every faithful Champion of Jesus Christ is like to meet with in this troublesome Wilderness before he can arrive at his heavenly Canaan But though the difficulties which threaten us be great yet they are not insuperable but we may by the Assistance of God's holy Spirit who is ready to help our Infirmities overcome them if we will Let not any thing then discourage nor affright us from our perseverance in well-doing but let us animate our selves by the Example of the blessed Apostles and Martyrs and Confessours to run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Authour and finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the Right-hand of the Throne of God Let us consider him that endured such Contradiction of Sinners against