to shew you that no objection to the Justice and Impartiality of God can be deduced from his conduct in relation to them Which not only tendeth to vindicate his Honour and to create in us a just esteem of his infinite Perfections not only restrains us from passing uncharitable censures upon our fellow Servants or conceiving amiss of those immutable Rules which God hath fixed to the exercise of his Mercy and Judgment but also teaches us that Salvation depends not so much upon any external Relation or Denomination as upon the eternal Obligations of Righteousness and Holiness This was the Second Head proposed to be Treated of namely the Conditions of the Divine Favour expressed in the latter part of the Text. But in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him The favour of God is not now as it seemed to be under the Jewish dispensation annexed to a Family or a Nation to external Badges and ritual Observations but to the more noble and universal obligations of Fear and Righteousness offered and dispensed unto all Men upon the same Conditions Conditions from which none can plead exemption even although no Revelation had enforced them They had then been Duties even without a Reward but are now conditions of a Reward which manifesteth the infinite Mercy and Goodness of God which is also enhanced by the universality of it for that in eve y Nation he that worketh Righteousness is accepted by him For after all the Title to a Reward must be grounded upon the Divine acceptance not on any merit of the Work But the time will not permit me to Discourse farther of these things I will only exhort you to make a just use of what you have already Learned That God is no respecter of Persons This cannot but be a mighty encouragement to you to use your utmost diligence to attain that Reward which God hath rendered equally possible to you with those who are now the greatest Saints in Heaven that whatever your condition or circumstances may be here below God respecteth not that in distribution of his Favour but only what is in your own power On the other side if you neglect these possible these easie conditions offearing God and working Righteousness flatter not your selves with the thoughts of being exempted by any peculiar Favour from undergoing that universal Sentence of Condemnation which is indifferently pronounced against all Sinners Which is also the conclusion drawn by St. Peter from this very consideration 1 Pet. I. 17. And if ye call on the Father who without respect of Persons judgeth according to every Mans work pass the time of your Sojourning here in fear The Thirteenth SERMON PREACH'D Easter-Day 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Coloss. III. 1. If ye then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God THE Resurrection of our Blessed Saviour from the Dead hath by the Church in all Ages been deservedly celebrated with a greater Solemnity than any other Festival whatsoever as being instituted in remembrance of the most signal Act of our Lord here on Earth and the final Completion of our Redemption by it Other Actions indeed prepared the Minds of his Followers to expect Salvation from him but this alone gave them infallible assurance of the performance of it Till then they retained Doubts and Scruples were meanly instructed in the Nature of his Office and Design of his Coming were confounded at his Ignominious Crucifixion and began to suspect that they had been mistaken in the Person of the Messias All their glorious hopes of a temporal Kingdom to be founded by their Lord and Master were laid aside and in a little time they began to doubt whether it were he that should have redeemed Israel The Church then was not only dispersed but destroyed and none left who would own their Belief in a Crucified Saviour The Apostles were fled The Women prepared Spices for his Body now lying in the Grave as not expecting it should rise again and the Jews triumphed over his afflicted Disciples as having defeated their hopes and overthrown their Pretences At this time in this State of things our Lord rose from the Dead and by his Resurrection demonstrated the Divinity of his Person dispelled the Anxiety of his Disciples and confounded his Enemies By this he retrieved the lost Faith of his Followers and put it beyond all possibility of being subject to any more Fluctuations Hereby he not only gave the last and most infallible Confirmation to the truth of his Doctrine by a Miracle unheard of in former Ages but also established in Mankind the glad assurance of a future Resurrection He had before indeed promised it but now gave an earnest of it in his own Person and manifested it to be possible by the actual effecting of it No wonder then that as the Church did at first receive our Lord from the Dead with unspeakable Joy and Triumph so it always continued to renew the remembrance of that Triumph by extraordinary Solemnities that the Apostles urged the Miracle of his Resurrection as the highest Argument of Conviction to Jews and Gentiles and admonished their Disciples to comfort one another with the Remembrance of it And not only so but also drew continual Arguments of Instruction and Motives of Holiness from it and made all the Mysteries and Sacraments of the Christian Religion to be in some measure subservient to it An Action of so great importance was not barely to strike the Senses and to satisfie the doubtful or convince the incredulous but to affect the Soul and become a Foundation of Practice as well as Belief to all Christians Our Lord raised not his natural Body from the Grave to leave us his Mystical Body groveling on the Ground he resumed not his bodily Life to leave us in a spiritual Death but taught us thereby to raise our Thoughts and Affections from the Earth to free our selves from the Power of Darkness and enter into the Regions of Light For we are risen with Christ if we be true Christians as the Apostle assureth us in my Text and if so the natural consequence will be That we seek those things which are above and act agreeably to the new state of Life into which we are entred If then ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God The words therefore will oblige me to treatFirst of our Resurrection with Christ and Secondly of the Conclusion drawn from thence by the Apostle that we ought therefore to seek those things which are above That we shall hereafter rise and bewith Christ is the most firm Belief of all Christians but that we are already risen may not perhaps be so easily conceived especially by those who experience not in themselves any Effects of this Blessed Resurrection We are therefore said to rise with Christ even in this Life either by similitude or by
St. Martins and now most Reverend Archbishop of Canterbury Who having in his hand a Manuscript concerning the incurable Scepticism of the Roman Church written in Latin and after a Scholastical manner by Mr. John Placet of Hamburgh desired Mr. Wharton to Epitomize it in a plain way of Argumentation and to translate it into English which was in a very short time perform'd by him Not long after this he was by the same Eminent Person recommended to the Lord Arundel of Trerice as a fit Tutor for the Education of his only Son In which Trust he acquitted himself to the great satisfaction of that Noble Lord who gave him a very honourable Allowance while with him and ever after retain'd a particular Esteem for him as long as he lived though he was pleas'd at the request of the most Reverend Archbishop Sancroft to part with him to be his Chaplain Next came forth a Treatise called Speculum Ecclesiasticum writ by a Papist Soldier which Mr. Wharton considered and refuted the false Reasonings and Quotations of it with that quickness that in the space of one day only he both begun and finished that Discourse Adding thereto by way of Preface two further Answers the First to the Defender of the Speculum for having got a view of the Defence while it was in the Press his Answer to it came out as soon or sooner than the Book it self and the Second to the half sheet against the Six Conferences Times now grew warm and the Papists began to be very confident of their Cause insomuch that there was a fear and accordingly Care taken about some Choice Manuscripts lest they should unhappily fall into the Enemies hand Hereupon in November 1687. Mr. Wharton was requested by several eminent Divines in London to go down to Cambridge and transcribe such Manuscripts as were of better Note Which so far as the time permitted he perform'd by the assistance of the Worthy Mr. Cory and Mr. Sagg two of the then Fellows of Corpus Christi College and of the Learned Mr. John Laughton the University Library-Keeper At his return from thence he Printed one of them Intituled The Rule of Faith writ before the Reformation about the Year 1450. by Reginald Peacock Bishop of Chichester to which he joyned a large and learned Preface proving the Holy-Scriptures to be the adequate Rule of Faith After these came out his own Treatise Of the Celibacy of the Clergy wherein he shewed such sharpness of Wit clearness of Reasoning and vastness of Reading as mightily rais'd his Esteem among all The Learned especially had extraordinary thoughts of him that a Person so young having hardly yet exceeded Twenty three years of Age should be able to compose such exquisite Works and to write such excellent Discourses as he had done This and his other ingenious and learned Performances extorted Commendations of him even from the Romanists themselves who took no small Pains to bring him over to their side To this end Mr. Matthews the Priest who privately said Mass in Windsor Castle had a Conference with him and was or at least might have been convincâ—…d by his Discourse that he was not likely to make him a Proselyte Others in like manner tried their Skill and the most excellent of the Popish Pieces were sent him out of France in hopes to prevail upon him but he remain'd immoveable For to use his own Expression Quo magis says he Pontificiorum Scripta pervolvi eo leviora ac futiliora illorum argumenta mihi semper visa sunt the more I have read their Writings the more weak and vain the lighter and more trifling did their Arguments always appear to me What their weaker Arguments fail'd in his own more solid perform'd reducing one of excellent Parts to our Communion which he had in his younger Years been unhappily prevail'd upon to desert who in Testimony of the reality of his Conversion receiv'd from his hands the Blessed Sacrament at St. Martin's Church leaving a Schedule of his Abjuration of Popery in the hands of the Reverend Doctor Tenison then Vicar there with whom it may possibly still remain But to return to his Works In the foremention'd year he translated out of French into English Monsieur Dellon's History of the Inquisition of Goa giving an account of the horrid Cruelties exercised therein About the same time also it was that he turn'd some Homilies of St. Macarius the Prologue and the Epilogue of Eunomius his Apologetick Treatise formerly transcrib'd by him out of a Manuscript of the Reverend Doctor Tenison with a Treatise of Pseudo-Dorotheus found by the Learned Mr. Dodwell in the Bodleian Library out of Greek into Latin and the famous Bull in Caena Domini out of Latin into English annexing a short Preface containing some Reflections upon the Bull and Annimadversions on the late account of the Proceedings of the Parliament of Paris He offered his assistance likewise to a new Edition of Dr. James's Corruption of the Scriptures Councils and Fathers by the Prelates of the Church of Rome for the maintenance of Popery which being a bad Cause was not to be supported by fair and honest Methods And at the request of Mr. Watts He reviewed the Version of Philalethe and Philirerre fitting it for the Press Immediately after these he publish'd his Enthusiasme of the Church of Rome wherein from the Examples of some of her most Illustrious Saints and more especially of those Three from whom Three of the chiefest Orders among them have their Denomination of Jesuits Dominicans and Franciscans he does most evidently make it appear that their great Founders whom they so much admir'd while living and now highly reverence when dead were in truth no other than wild and extravagant Fanaticks Upon the 12th of April 1688. the then most Reverend Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Sancroft sent for him to Lambeth and put into his hand Archbishop Ushers Dogmatical History of the Holy Scriptures in Manuscript with a Command to transcribe it and publish it which he in a few Months perform'd bestowing great Pains thereon in supplying what was imperfect digesting into Order what was confused and amending what was less accurate the iniquity of those timès not having permitted the Learned Author to put his last hand to it And then added thereto a large Supplement wherein he produces innumerable Testimonies for the same Argument from the first Ages of the Church successively and in Order to the Year 1520. In May following by the Advice of Dr. Tenison he put out Bishop Ridley's Treatise concerning the Eucharist togethèr with some choice Excerpta out of Bishop Poinets Diallacticum In June the same Year though as yet no more than Deacon he was honoured by the Archbishop with a Licence of Preaching through the whole Province of Canterbury a Favour vouchsafed to none but himself during the Continuance of that most Reverend Prelate in that See who was pleas'd to have him begin his Preaching on Whitsunday June the 3d which
he did with a Discourse on that Text S. John 14. 25 26. the first of the following Sermons In September following the Archbishop admitted him into the number of his Chaplains at the same time as his Custom was giving him a Living his Institution to which being deferr'd a while till he should be of full Age in the mean time the Vicaridge of Minster in the Isle of Thanet fell void to which he was Collated Novemb. the 12th of the same Year and afterwards to the Rectory of Chartham Septemb. the 19th 1689. He having first conferr'd on him the Holy Order of Priesthood with his own hand on his Birth-day Novem. the 9th 1688. Now it was that by the Advice and Encouragement of his Noble and Learned Patron he addrest himself to the composing of his Great Work called by him Anglia Sacra A Work of incredible Pains as must needs be acknowledged by any one who considers the uncommonness of the Subject never before so treated of by any one the scarcity and obscurity of the Materials from whence it was to be Collected and these too not to be had but in several places and at vast distances yet all these Difficulties were overcome by his own unwearied Diligence a◅d Patience and the kind and generous ◅sistance of Friends Among whom particularly must always be mentioned with Honour the profoundly Learned Dr. Lloyd the then Right Reverend Bishop of St. Asaph and now of Litchfield and Coventry who freely imparted to him many things worthy of Notice out of the curious Treasury of his incomparable Collections and did also several other ways animate him in the Prosecution of his Design Nor ought here to be forgotten the Reverend and Learned Dr. John Battely Archdeacon of Canterbury his dear and worthy Friend who with those two Learned Persons Dr. William Hopkins and Dr. Matthew Hutton the former Prebendary of Worcester and the Latter the Worthy Rector of Ayno in Northamptonshire communicated to him many things worthy of Publick Noticē the two first from the Archives of their respective Churches and the last out of his own private Collections A Work this was of such excellent Design that for it alone though he had given no other instance of his Industry and Zeal for the cause of Religion and Learning as he had many the Name of Mr. Wharton ought always to be dear to the Learned World for the benefit and advantage whereof so many Ancient Monuments of our Nation relating to Church Affairs have been brought to light and retriev'd from perishing in that Obscurity and Darkness wherein they had layn hid for many Ages Which methinks should have inclined a Learned Gentleman in the Preface to a late Book to reflect upon some of his Discourses with a little more Tenderness and Respect The whole Work was design'd to exhibit to us a compleat Ecclesiastical History of England untill the Reformation Two Volumes in Folio were by himself published in his Life time 1691. A Third in Octavo is since his Death come out giving an account of the Bishops and Deans of London and St. Asaph from the first Foundation of those Sees to the Year 1540. His account of which may perhaps by some be thought small and the performance not considerable tho' to them who know how very little the helps in such Matters are and the many tedious hours it must cost even to search them out it will I doubt not appear to deserve another sort of Judgment and the Consideration thereof reflect a due Commendation upon his unwearied Endeavours He intended the like for all the other Sees if God had granted Life but the infinite All-seeing Wisdom hath other ways disposed of him and in the midst of his great Designs call'd him to himself to receive an early Reward for his well-deserving Labours In 1693. He put out Venerable Bede's Commentaries on Genesis and on the Song of Habacuc together with Aldhelmus his eloquent Book of the Praise of Virginity There are several other Pieces for which the World is in some measure and upon some account indebted to him As. the Life of Cardinal Pool The Disceptation between the Embassadors of England and France in the Council of Constance about Precedency Mr. Stripe's Life of Archbishop Cranmer which he reviewed adding some critical Observations thereon in a large Postscript With some others also But that which he himself more especially rejoyced in and which to use his own words He accounted the most fortunate Transaction of his whole Life was the Honour which his late Lord the most Reverend Archbishop Sancroft did him upon his Death-bed in committing to his Trust the Papers of that Blessed Martyr Archbishop Laud and to his Care the Edition of them The most considerable among which containing the Troubles and Tryal of that great Person he published in the Year 1694. These we◅e the Works of Mr. Wharton which the Author of this Account has thought sufficient almost barely to Name without pretending to pass any Judgment concerning the Performance for that indeed is render'd altogether needless by the Universal Approbation and Applause wherewith they were constantly received as well in Foreign Countries as in our own by the Engagements which they always drew upon him from the greatest and most Learned of entring upon something else as soon as any one was finished and Lastly by the Esteem and Value they procured to him from Persons of all Degrees and Qualities Besides those which he publish'd in his Life-time he has left several Pieces behind him both Manuscript and others about which he has bestowed great Pains Among the former are several English Historians never as yet published which he hath with exact Care and Faithfulness transcribed and collated with the Originals sitting them for the Press and which possibly sometime or other may be made publick viz. Benedictus Abbas de Gestis Henrici Secundi Regis Angliae A. D. 1170. Chronicon Nicolai Tribetti vulgo de Trebeth Dominicani ab An. 1136. ad An. 1307. Chronicon Petri Ickham Compilatio de Gestis Britonum Anglorum Stephani Birchington Monachi Cantuariensis Historia de Regibus Angliae post Conquestum Liber Nonus de Miraculis Anglorum In some of them are contained vast Collections out of Ancient and Modern Records relating to Church Affairs As to his Sermons which are here presented to the Reader there is one thing which he is desired to take notice of There was a Sermon which ought to have accompanied these to wit that Preacht before her late Majesty of Blessed Memory but being by some accident left imperfect it has not been thought fit to be Printed among the rest which 't is hoped will be entertain'd with no less Applause now appearing together in publick than the Satisfaction they were heard with when deliver'd apart in private Auditories So much however happily remains of that aforesaid imperfect Sermon as is sufficient to declare what Worthy thoughts he had of the present Government and
of Mankind adapted it to our Imitation and performed no Actions if we except those which plainly referred either to his Prophetick Sacerdotal or Kingly Office which might not equally be performed by all orders and conditions of Men. So admirable was his Conduct so wisely accommodated to effectuate its design that is to serve for an universal Example to all his Followers A design in which the Goodness and Wisdom of God are equally visible as might be shewed by many Considerations I shall instance but in two First To propose the Example of our Saviour as an Object of imitation to all Christians was an excellent means to allure them to the practice of their Duty and a sure method to direct them in it It hath been an old Observation confirmed by the Experience of all Ages that Men are led more powerfully by Example than precept Men are ordinarily induced to imitate the Actions of those Persons for whom they retain a mighty awe and reverence they imagine somewhat extraordinary to be in them all and believe the only method to attain the same Greatness is to practise the same Actions If this natural inclination of Mankind be directed in the right Channel nothing tends more effectually to promote the great Ends of Piety and Holiness among men On the contrary the bad Example of great and powerful Persons hath debauched whole Nations and withdrawn them from their Duty Thus we find in the History of the Old Testament that Religion constantly flourished or decayed among the Jews according to the disposition and example of their Princes Bad Princes drew the whole Nation into Apostacy with them and Good ones restored the Worship of the true God in the hearts of all their Subjects Ahab's Example introduced among the ten Tribes so universal an Idolatry that he left but Seven thousand men in Israel who bowed not their knees to Baal And the Piety of King Josiah wrought such a general Reformation in his People That from the time of the Judges which judged Israel there was not such a Passover holden to the Lord. To improve this Inclination therefore of Mankind to their own advantage and his Glory God hath given to us the Example of his only Son which carrieth greater Inducements along with it than that of any earthly Princes For if Majesty and the Greatness of Power be the chief motive of Imitation our Exemplar is no less than God incarnate and what Honour as well as Perfection must it needs be for Mankind to imitate the Vertues and Excellencies of their Creator If kindness and the Sense of extraordinary Benefits can incite us to Imitation our Saviour hath engaged us by wonders of Mercy and the most amazing Acts of endearing Love And in what better manner can we express our gratitude to our Redeemer than by a perfect Conformity to his Life and Actions If the hopes of obtaining the same Happiness can move us our Saviour hath proposed a reward of the same Nature a Mansion in the same place of Glory with himself to all who labour to attain it by the exercise of the same Vertues All these Considerations cannot fail to make the Example of Christ infinitely more efficacious than that of any mortal Creature But this is not all it is found by the same Experience and upon the same Reasons that Mankind is taught more effectually by Example than by Precept The greatest part of Men have but dark Notions of the Nature of good and evil They cannot easily discern what Actions are in themselves perfective of humane Nature and pleasing to God nor distinctly perceive the deformity of Sin Revelation indeed might justly be supposed to supply this Defect and enlighten their Understanding but neither will this give them distinct Notions of their Duty unless they see the Precepts of it applied by some illustrious Example Precepts may be obscure difficult and ambiguous but the constant Practice of them in some eminent and reverend Person gives a full and perfect Intepretation of them And which is most considerable Precepts only affect the Understanding Examples strike the Sense and thereby in most Men make far deeper Impression than the former although enforced with a thousand Reasons Hence the most numerous part of Mankind have ever drawn the measure of their Duty from the Example of some illustrious Persons who are commonly reputed and allowed to have lived up to the Dignity and the Duty of their Nature and Religion and esteemed all their Actions good or bad not as they agreed to the natural Law of reason or revealed Law of God but as they were conformable to those Patterns whose Imitation they had proposed to themselves In vain therefore did the Heathen Philosophers make glorious Descriptions of the Excellency of moral Vertues in vain did they recommend the practice of them to the World by their Writings and Discourses while they continued to represent their Gods as guilty of the most enormous Vices and Slaves to their Lusts and Passions Men chose rather to follow the vitious Examples of their supposed Gods whom they imagined to be the Fountains of all Perfection patronized their Crimes by their Examples and hoped for impunity from their Presidents How wisely therefore hath God given to us Christians the most perfect and infallible Example of our Saviour Christ which might secure our obedience to him and by proposing to us the utmost Pattern of Perfection allure us to the Practice of it By this the meanest Christians are sensibly taught their Duty and directed in it by this thâ—… wisest are enabled to understand and interpret the Divine Precepts in their right sense and meaning And not only doth this tend to direct private Christians in the Conduct of their Lives but also to preserve Purity of Religion in the Church and diffuse the true Spirit of Christianity into all the Members of it A studious Care of imitating the Actions and Graces of the Blessed Jesus would above all other Remedies have obstructed the entrance of Superstitions and corrupt Opinions which than began to creep into the Church when men receded from this best and primitive Pattern and out of a fond Veneration for reputed Saints took more Care to imitate their Example than that of their Lord and Master This debased the Doctrines and corrupted the Devotions of Christians betraying them into gross Superstitions especially in the latter Ages of the Church when many persons obtained the repute of Saints who were remarkable for nothing else than exorbitant Austerities antick Devotions and irrational Practices when the Gospels which contained the Relation of our Saviours Actions were locked up in an unknown Tongue and nothing communicated to the People in the vulgar Language but Legendary Stories of reputed Saints To these abuses our Divine Lawgiver had assigned an easie and natural Remedy in proposing the example of himself In the Authors and followers of these Corruptions it was the Crime of some to quit this Example and the unhappiness of others
was the Holy Jesus from disturbing the publick quiet violating the Rights of the Civil Magistrate invading the Property of his Neighbours or doing any thing in opposition to those common Rights which are upheld by the Execution of Civil Laws that neither his imbittered Enemies nor his corrupt Judges could find any Resemblance of such Actions None ever urged a more steadfast Loyalty to the Supreme Powers nor demonstrated a more ready Obedience to the Commands of his Prince in all lawful things in the whole Conduct of his Life He not only enjoyned his Disciples to render unto Caesar the things which are Caesars but himself exactly performed it in submitting to his Deputies in paying to him Tribute even with the Expence of a Miracle and in studiously declining all the Acclamations of his admiring Followers which proceeded from the Expectation of a temporal Kingdom to be founded by him And in this both the Author and Doctrine of Christianity are eminently distinguished from all false Religions which Subject the common Laws of Justice to the interest of Religion and permit them to be freely violated for the Propagation of it Whereas Christianity hath secured the Rights of Princes wheresoever it hath obtained and added new Bonds of Obligation to the natural Ties of Justice Such at least was the Spirit of Christianity in the primitive Times when the cruel Persecutions and tyrannical Oppression of three hundred years could not provoke its Followers to resistance And such is the Spirit of it at this day wheresoever the Doctrine of it remains pure and uncorrupted But to demonstrate and magnifie the Justice of our Saviour a Vertue common even to moral Heathens and which would be the Duty of Mankind in order to preserve Society although there were no Religion in the world might be thought injurious to the eminent perfection of his Holiness did not the Experience of latter Ages and chiefly of our own Times evidence that not only the Precepts but also the Example of our Lord was necessary to recommend this Duty to his Followers And yet alas both are insufficient through the obstinacy of Men. No one Duty is more frequently or more securely violated by Christians than that of common Justice It was the Character which Pliny returned to the Emperour Trajan of the Christians when required to give him an account of their Opinions and Conversation That they were innocent and honest People who often meeting to celebrate the publick Worship of God bound themselves by the most solemn and sacred Oaths not to commit any Acts of Injustice Rapine and Violence to abstain from Theft Oppression and Fraud to be faithful to their Trust and not circumvent their Neighbours If that Learned Heathen were now alive I fear he would not be able to discover Christianity by this Note and Character and would hardly be perswaded that modern Christians were Professours of the same Religion But it is neither my business nor design to arraign the scandalous injustice of Christians in these times I will only add That this will increase our Condemnation that herein we have not only violated the Rules of a most just Religion but also departed from the Example of a most just Saviour The Meekness and mild Disposition of our Lord his Patience under Sufferings and readiness to forgive the greatest Injuries were no less Exemplary His meekness and patience were foretold by the Prophets He shall not strive nor cry neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets Esai XLII Tell ye the daughter of Sion Behold they King cometh unto thee meek and sitting upon an Asse Isa. LXII He was oppressed he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as sheep before her shearers is dumb so opened he not his mouth Esai LIII 7. How exactly all these Prophesies were fulfilled in his Person the whole History of the Gospel manifests He might if he had so pleased come attended with numerous Guards and a powerful Retinue which might have secured his Honour from Contempt and Scorn and struck Terrour into his Enemies yet he condescended to appear in a meek and humble Condition rather as the Lamb of God than as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah In the Execution of his Office he was frequently opposed by the unreasonable unbelief of some and obstinate Perverseness of others And not only so but despised reviled and slandered provoked with the most outrageous Injuries and betrayed by his own Friends and Creatures All these Affronts he might easily have revenged with the breath of his Mouth and returned upon his Adversaries their deserved Punishment by a single Demonstration of his Almighty Power But he quietly endured the highest Contradiction of sinners and possessed his soul in Patience With what Goodness and affectionate Terms did he urge the Practice of his Precepts to Mankind These he might have imposed on us as his Servants and Vassals He might have delivered them as God did the Law at Mount Sinai with Thunder and Lightning and given no other reason than his own Authority but he chose rather to urge them in a sweet and familiar manner and conjure Mankind by their own Good by the hopes of Happiness and by the remembrance of his Benefits to the observance of them With what Calmness and Serenity did he treat his most inveterate Enemies and not deny to the Traitour Judas even in the very Act of his Treason the endearing Compellation of Friend But then if we view the Circumstances of his Passion with what courage and composure of Mind he underwent those terrible Sufferings with what Meekness he bore the Insults and Scoffs of his Enemies how when he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously If we consider the Tranquility of his Soul in all these things and the unparallel'd Excess of his Mercy in praying for his Persecutors Father forgive them for they know not what they do We must conclude the whole to have been a most amazing instance of Meekness and Patience Such was the Example of our Saviour which fully expressed the force and meaning of his many Precepts and Exhortations relating to this Matter No Duty is more frequently and more largely urged by him than this of forgiving Injuries and overcoming Revenge That we should treat our Adversaries sweetly and without Passion that we should win them by kindness to an acknowledgement of their Fault and then freely forgive it to them or if they cannot by Mildness be obliged to Repentance yet at least to banish all thoughts and revenge of anger Not that the Religion of Christ forbids Men to use all lawful Defences or invoke the assistance of the Civil Magistrate against Injuries and Violences offered to them when impunity may encourage wicked Men to a greater Boldness and tend to the loss of private Persons or the disadvantage of the publick Christianity preserves intire all the
priviledges of Nature and derogates not in the least from the Rules of Justice but forbids Men to be transported by Passion against their Adversaries and not to seek revenge for revenge sake that is it does not forbid to repair the loss of this Injury or prevent the like Injustice to himself or others for the future but to return the Injury and gratifie his anger in creating a like Inconvenience to his Adversary or maintaining an inward Hatred to him And herein the Spirit of Christianity most eminently discovers it self For to preserve the common Rights of Justice is no extraordinary matter for a revealed Religion to perform This the Dictates of Nature the Sense of our own temporal Interest and the Rules of civil Society may effect But to conquer those violent Passions of Hatred Anger and desire of Revenge to retain a quiet and undisturbed Mind amidst provoking Injuries and Affronts to entertain the insults of an Enemy rather with Pity than Resentment and manifest how little we were affected with them by a constant readiness to forgive them These are the proper Characters and most certain Marks of a Soul filled with the Love of God and plac't above the reach of humane things which hath an intire Command of the inferiour Faculties of the Body and doth in earnest pursue the ends of a Divine Religion These chiefly rendred the Life of Christ admirable and extraordinary and will make us the not unworthy Disciples of so great a Master Lastly the Charity of our Lord was correspondent to all the other perfections of his Mind that is most intense and of the highest degree Indeed this seems to have been the darling Vertue of the Blessed Jesus Which he studiously cultivated above all others to promote which all his designs did in some measure tend and his Example most directly lead All the Actions of his Life were almost so many Demonstrations of his Love to Mankind Even his Miracles which were primarily wrought to testifie his Divine Power bore eminent Characters of this Loving kindness being employed in healing the Diseases and supplying the wants of Men upon account of which the Apostle saith That he went about doing good and even his Enemies were forced to confess Mark VII 37. He hath done all things well he maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak But the highest Testimony of the Charity of our Saviour was his inestimable Love in the Redemption of Mankind his descent from Heaven ignominious Life upon Earth and at last most painful Death upon the Cross to rescue his own Creatures who had rebelled against him from the Power of Satan and the consequences of their own sins Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us 1 John III. 16. And greater love than this hath no man A Love so stupendious that it no less confounds the Apprehension than exceeds the imitation of finite Men. To this the highest Expressions of our Charity are but faint attempts and imperfect shadows A perfect imitation of it is beyond our Capacity and therefore not required but whatsoever is possible to us can be but a mean return to so vast an Obligation St. John therefore makes this easie and natural inference from it Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another 1 John IV. 11. If our Creator loved us his Creatures who had nothing in us worthy his Love but had many ways offended and deserved his extreme Displeasure if he loved us to so wonderful a degree surely we ought to love our Fellow Creatures who have in them no less excellent Perfections than our Selves with all possible affection which however to the utmost of our power is yet infinitely beneath the Love wherewith he loved us Especially since our Saviour chiefly imposed this Condition on us in return of his infinite Kindness and that also in respect to his own Example John XIII 34 35. A new commandment I give unto you That ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another So that in this consisteth the very Life of Christianity without this no man can pretend to be the Disciple of our Lord. By this in the Apostolick times Christians were eminently distinguished from the rest of the world when they devoted all their Possessions to the Offices of Charity and had all things common An excess of Charity which however no longer Practicable than while the number of Disciples continued to be small and was therefore laid aside when the Church became numerous as being neither necessary nor convenient nor even possible yet clearly shews what was the primitive Genius of Christianity how exactly they followed the Footsteps of their Blessed Master and with what fervour of Charity they were indued A fervour which expired not with the disuse of that Apostolick Custom of sharing their Possessions in common but continued to exert it self for some Ages after in all possible Demonstrations of a real Charity Insomuch that the Heathens used to cry out in admiration See how these Galileans love one another If then we be unwilling to be accused of having disobeyed the great Commandment of our Saviour forsaken his Example and intirely lost the genuine Spirit of Christianity we must retreive that admirable Charity which was by him so mightily enjoyned practiced and bequeathed to his Disciples Thus I have considered the Example of our Lord in some of the greater lines and strokes of it and shewn it to have been in all respects the most excellent which could possibly be proposed to Mankind It remains that I urge the imitation of it in some few words First then the imitation of this Divine Example is the Duty of every Christian considered in the Notion of a Disciple which includes not only an Obligation of yielding an intire Obedience to the commands of Christ but also of following his Example as near as possible and that in the first place To assent to and obey the Divine Precepts is properly the Notion of a Believer but of a Disciple to imitate the Actions and Conduct of his Master And therefore the Patriarchs and Jews might well be called Believers in God but not the Disciples of God Precepts only were given to them the Divine Example was not proposed as a Rule unto them The Apostles of our Lord are also by way of eminence called his Disciples Because they were the constant Witnesses and Attendants of his Life who did partake of the same manner of living and were supposed to be his Companions as well in moral as natural Actions Although this Title is not so far appropriated to them as to be denied to us if we take the same care to follow the Example of our Lord and Master as they did We may follow it though at a distance we may pursue it though we cannot attain to it And that
Conceptions dark and unaccountable above the understanding and capacity of the common People fitted only for the Contemplation of Philosophers and after all no other than the products of a volatile Fancy So little adapted to the understanding of the vulgar or indeed intended for their benefit that they were studiously concealed under the venerable Name of Mysteries and imparted only to Confidents Among the Jews all imaginable Care was taken to instruct the People in all necessary Duties relating to God Themselves and their Neighbours But even the more Learned of them knew not the Reasons of those many Ceremonies and Legal Observations imposed on them They knew in general that many of them typified the coming of a future Messias who should institute a more excellent Religion and be the Author of signal Benefits to their Nation But alas this knowledge was lame and imperfect in its own Nature and infinitely unsatisfactory to them who desired to know somewhat more certain yet still continued to wander in the dark without any certain guide This appears from the Writings of those Learned Jews who lived about the time of our Saviour's coming These employed their Labours in finding out the hidden meaning of the Mosaick Law and discovering the Reasons of all those Ceremonial Institutions but so unsuccessfully that they plainly mistook the design of their Divine Lawgiver and by turning all his Ritual Precepts into Allegories and obscure Mysteries defeated their Institution and corrupted the truth of their Religion with false Notions and Interpretations And no wonder indeed for the veil was not yet taken from them nor to be removed but by the coming of the Messias who was to be the Sun of righteousness dispersing the dark Clouds of ignorance and giving light unto the World He alone hath made a full Discovery of the Will of God rendred the knowledge of it easie to all and thereby made the Ignorance of necessary Truths to be inexcusable herein compleating the Covenant which God made with the House of Israel in the Prophet Jeremy XXXI 33 34. After those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying know the Lord. For they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord. Yet must we not imagine that in proposing this plain and easie Religion God intended to supercede all Labours of Mankind and imprint the knowledge of it even violently upon our Minds He hath dealt with us as rational Creatures proposed the truth clearly to us enforced it with the most perswasive Arguments fitted it to our Capacity and afforded us easie means of obtaining a perfect knowledge of it After such abundant Provision for the free Entertainment of it in our Minds he leaves it to the Liberty of our Will whether we will embrace or reject it To deal otherwise with us were to suppose us meer Brutes and Machines not capable of entertaining any Religion and unfit to receive either Rewards or Punishments It was not only the Precept of our Saviour but the Wisdom of all Ages Not to cast holy things before Dogs nor Pearls before Swine to create a knowledge of Divine Truths in persons insensible of the Benefit conferred upon Mankind in the Revelation of them and who make no advancement towards their Reception The Divine Wisdom hath chosen to propose those eternal Truths in such a method as that a perfect Acquisition of the knowledge of them might exercise the diligence and obedience of Mankind We must bring Minds freed from all Prejudices and Passions use due attention search the Scriptures weigh the Reasons and Arguments which perswade their Divinity and being once convinced of that acquiesce in them and in a word use all means which God hath abundantly provided for our Instruction We must not satisfie our selves with an Historical knowledge but inquire into the Reasons of the Divine Oeconomy reflect upon the reasonableness of it and make it the Subject of our Meditations A Subject than which none can be more worthy the Dignity of our Nature or more necessary to the being of a Christian. By this we shall be convinced That the performance of all Christian Duties is not only enforced by the revealed Will of God but also commanded by the Law of Nature that the constant Practice of them is our greatest Perfection and would be our utmost Happiness although attended with no Rewards Every increase of knowledge will augment the force of our Obligation and bring some perswasive Argument to the Exercise of our Duty But then if we consider what the Revelation of Christianity hath added to those imperfect Discoveries made by the light of Nature the Mysteries of our Redemption the Sacrifice of the Cross the Free Pardon of our sins the hopes of eternal Life and those Foederal Rites the Sacraments by which we are intitled to these Benefits we shall be able more perfectly to comprehend the Wisdom and Goodness of God and the Greatness of our Obligation to him These advantages naturally flow from a perfect knowledge of our Faith However the Apostle in giving this Precept more immediately respects the Conviction of those Persons who spoke evil of the Christians as of evil doers as appears from the following Verse For when Christianity first appeared in the World teaching the Worship of one only God and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Commanding all men every where to repent and enjoyning them upon the severest Penalties to live godlily holily and righteously in this present world Men decried it as leading to Atheism and the Extirpation of Divine Worship because forbidding any Worship to be given to those false Gods who were the universal Objects of Adoration at that time and changing all pompous external Ceremonies into a spiritual and internal Worship They traduced it as irrational and debasing the Dignity of Mankind because not proposed with the usual Ostentation of worldly Wisdom and Philosophy and requiring men to deny their Lusts conquer their Desires and sorfake their most darling Passions Lastly they rejected it as impious and execrable as an unheâ—…rd of Superstition and a fond Credulity because they knew not those Arguments upon which it was founded nor considered the demonstrative Proofs which recommended it To convince the Folly and Ignorance of these men the Apostle requires all Christians to be ready always to give an answer to every man of the reason of the hope that is in them that so whereas they speak of them as evil doers they may be convinced that neither the Doctrine of Christians leads to Immorality nor their Practice favours it For the knowledge of Christianity was not intended to be a Speculative Science meerly to inform the Judgment and not Correct our Errours But as an operative knowledge which might visibly exert it self in all our Duties to God and Man The Divinity
which knew not the Lord nor yet the works which he had done for Israel Now see the effect of this Forgetfulness It follows in the 11. Verse And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Baalim and forsook the Lord God of their fathers And therefore the Psalmist commonly joyneth both together Oblivion of the Divine Benefits and disobedience to his Commands as Psalm CVI. 7. Our Fathers regarded not thy wonders in Egypt neither kept they thy great goodness in remembrance but were disobedient at the Sea even at the Read Sea and Verse 19. They made a calf in Horeb and worshipped the molten Image and they forgat God their Saviour who had done so great things in Egypt and Psalm LXXVIII 11 12. They kâ—…pt not the covenant of God and would not walk in his law But forgat what he had done and the wonderful works which he had shewed for them And indeed if the Sense of the Divine Benefits cannot perswade us if an Argument recommended by so many great advantages cannot move us if we be deaf to the obliging words of so sweet a Charmer and inexorable to all his Invitations in vain will it be hoped that other Arguments will have any influence upon us Other Arguments may be unknown to us for want of Attention in us or sufficient Proposal to us But this of Gratitude gaineth entrance in our Wills without requiring any studious Attention or claborate Proposal So con-natural it seems to Mankind that it cannot be rejected without doing violence to our Wills and over-ruling the natural Propension of our Minds If we hear of any illustrious Acts of Beneficence or Charity conferred even on any third Person from whence we our selves reap no advantage we find our selves strongly inclined in favour of the Benefactor and carried with a secret Love towards him If the Benefit be conferred upon our selves we are even neâ—…essitated to form an Act of Love and begin to be grateful before we can make any serious reflection on the Benefit So obvious is this Argument so perswasive in it self and agreeable to finite Natures that it fails not to make impression even upon brute Beasts who retain a grateful remembrance of their Benefactors and reward their Benefits by a submissive Obedience Unanswerably therefore doth God argue in the Prophet Isaiah against the ingratitude of his People Esai I. 23. I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me The Ox knoweth his owner and the Asse his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider And shall Man be less grateful to his Creator than brute Beasts to their fellow Creatures Or shall we alone of all the Creation be untameable by kindness and refuse to be mollified by any Favours Let us rather consider how infinite the Love of God is to us and how great our Obligation depending on it that when he might have obliged us by the Law of Vassallage by the Right of Creation and his own supreme Power to a strict and unsinning Obedience he hath condescended to do it rather by repeated Demonstrations of peculiar kindness That he hath adapted the Arguments of Obedience to the weakness of our Wills and imperfections of our Understandings that he hath in a manner quitted his other glorious Attributes of Omniscience Omnipresence Almighty Power and Infinite Majesty and remitted our Duties belonging to them requiring us to consider him only under the amiable Attribute of Goodness and Loving-kindness and worship him no farther than as the Emanations of that shall oblige us If after all this we shall continue impenitent and fail in our Returns of Duty to God we shall render our selves inexecusable to the whole World and fall just Sacrifices to his Wrath and Vengeance We shall not be so much as able to plead the force of any Temptation for the Commission of so monstrous an ingratitude Since God by heaping upon us so many alluring Benefits hath more strongly tempted us to the Obedience of his Laws than all the Flatteries and Pleasures of the World can entice us to our own Destruction We have no less vehement a Propensity to Love our Benefactors than to gratifie our Lusts and if we view the Rewards on one side and Punishments on the other have infinitely more reason And this is sufficient to prove the Second Head proposed That the Sense of our Obligation arising from the Divine Benefits is the most effectual Motive of obedience to the Laws of God It remains that I consider the influence of Gratitude upon our Minds arising from the Consideration of the forbearance and long-suffering of God in Relation to the particular Duty of Repentance mentioned in my Text. But since the present time doth not permit that I will only in a few words Summ up what I intended to say by way of Application Of all the Acts therefore of Divine Mercy this Forbcarance and Long-suffering ought least to encourage Men to deferr their Repentance and Reformation since it was intended by God to procure an effect directly contrary to produce that happy Reformation by giving space for Repentance If to forgetthe Divine Benefits be so great a Sin how monstrous and unpardonable a Crime must it be to abuse them to a quite contrary intent May we not justly take up the words of Moses Deut. XXXII 6. Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise This is so manifest an Affront to the Nature of God that an higher Indignity cannot be thought of to refuse the offers of Mercy willfully neglect the means of Pardon and therein do despite to the Spirit of Grace To pardon so notorious an Injury to the Divine Goodness is inconsistent with the Holiness of God and therefore the Apostle assureth us in the Verse following the Text That the despisers of this mercy treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God Let us remember that by willfully deferring our Repentance we add to the number of our former Sins and which is infinitely more render them finally unpardonable by forfeiting our Claim to that Mercy from whence alone Pardon was to be expected That hereby we bid defiance to the Divine Justice and provoke God to the Execution of it upon our selves and then that nothing is so terrible as an abused Mercy and a slighted Goodness You only saith God to the Jews in the Prophet Amos chap. III. ver 2. Have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities So unpardonable is the neglect of Proficiency under the means of Grace Whereas if we be induced by a Sense of Gratitude to Repentance we have this Comfort that our Repentance is placed upon the best Foundation the Love of God whence ariseth that true Contrition which God hath promised not to despise And then how much more noble is it how more becoming the Excellency of our
present Joy and in this will consist our future reward to be admitted to perform continual Acts of Honour and Glory to God in Heaven To be urged to the Practice of the same Actions in this Life ought rather to be esteemed an Anticipation of those future Joys than an Imposition If it be indeed a Happiness in Angels to be employed in continual Acts of this Nature if it shall be hereafter an infinite Favour to us to be admitted to the same Office it is now at least some Degree of Happiness to perform that imperfectly which we shall then compleatly and so much the greater Degree by how much the more we are intent on it But then That we may not deceive our selves with a false Opinion of giving Honour and Glory to God when we fall short of it that we may not be ranked among those of whom God complains That they Honour him with their lips but their heart is far from him we must take especial Care that the Honour and Glory we pay to God be real and unfeigned The Apostle teacheth us to be sincere in this Duty by affixing an Amen to the end of these words which is as much as to say indeed or may it be so may Men sincerely and in earnest give Honour and Glory unto God may their Hearts agree with their Mouths and their Actions with their Declarations Otherwise instead of honouring we shall but vilifie and affront God and deny his Attribute of Omniscience vainly imagining that our Hypocrisie is concealed from him and undiscerned by him And indeed no deliberate Sin can be committed without overthrowing our Belief of all the Divine Attributes and effacing or at least for a while clouding all Notions of Religion arising from them By the Commission of any such Sin we disown him to be our King withdraw our selves from his Government and refuse to be directed by his Laws We set up to our selves and pursue a different end from that appointed by the Laws of our Creation we wrest our selves out of the Possession of Christ by the price of whose Blood we were redeemed and deliver our selves to his and our professed Enemy the Devil We deny him thereby to be a King eternal who continueth his Government even after Death and exerciseth severe Judgment upon Sinners for things done in the Body We dis-believe the immutability of his Will and fondly imagine that he will in our Favour reverse his Sentence of Condemnation pronounced against obstinate and deliberate Sinners We perswade our selves that we escape his Knowledge and are hid from his All-seeing Eye So fatal and erroneous is every deliberate Sin that it either destroyeth or debaseth for a time all Principles of true Religion and Notions of a Deity and thereby becomes a temporary Apostacy That we therefore may escape the Danger of that unhappiness let us constantly keep in Mind the infinite Perfections of God and our Obligations arising from them let us always remember that he is our Creator our King and our Redeemer that he will after Death take an exact and impartial account of our Actions that he hath decreed Damnation to all obstinate and impenitent Sinners and will not recall his Sentence that he knoweth all our Thoughts and seeth our most private Motions Let us frequently call these things to Mind and Act as if we had them continually before our Eyes so shall we give Honour and Glory to God in our Lives so may we without the Check of our own Consciences confess his Glorious Attributes with our Mouths and so shall we be admitted to sing Glory and Honour to him eternally in Heaven Which God grant for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. The Ninth SERMON PREACH'D March 17th 1688 9. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Psal. XCV 7 8. To day if ye will hear his Voice Harden not your hearts THERE is no greater Argument of the miserable Condition of Mankind since the Fall of Adam no fuller demonstration of the Dominion of the Flesh over the Spirit of which the Scripture so often complains than the willful Omission of those means which are at the same time allowed to be the only way to Happiness This Happiness all Men earnestly desire and none are ignorant that the Conditions of it are Repentance and Obedience all acknowledge this to be highly reasonable and absolutely necessary yet all find and deplore in themselves a continual aversion to set immediately upon the serious Practice of these Conditions They flatter themselves indeed with some hopes at least of attaining the proposed Happiness and by the hopes of this support themselves whensoever they give their Souls leave to entertain any serious Reflections The Scripture and their own Conscience tells them That these hopes are vain while they continue in unrepentance yet they deferr their Repentance from day to day and fondly imagine that it will never be too late to set upon it they are loth to fix the time of this necessary Duty and say to their Souls hitherto thou hast served the Lusts of the Flesh and Temptations of the World henceforward from this very moment abandon them and devote thy self to God Wisely therefore hath the Church in all Ages ever since the Apostles time set apart a solemn time in every year which we call Lent wherein all Christians should be taught and obliged to attend more diligently upon the Execution of their Duty to enter into a more serious Consideration of their eternal interest and be exhorted to begin a resolute Opposition of their Lusts and Passions by inuring themselves to a severe Exercise of Holiness and Vertue by denying to gratifie the Lust of the Flesh in its inordinate Desires and if it be otherwise untameable to reduce it by Maceration or other sober Austerities By this means Sinners are induced to bethink themselves in earnest of their forlorn State and Condition and what they were always unwilling to fix themselves the time of their Repentance is appointed for them and the performance of it is assisted by this excellent Discipline of thâ—… Church And then that we may not neglect it that we may not imagine immediate Repentance to be unnecessary that we may not omit either to fix a time to it our selves or to embrace the time appointed by the Church wherein all the Faithful do in a more particular manner apply themselves to exercise Acts of Repentance we are assured by the Holy Ghost That if we will not yet at least God hath set a time wherein he expects our Repentance and beyond which he will not await To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts From which words I shall take occasion to Discourse upon these two Heads I. The Duty of Repentance enjoyned in those words Harden not your hearts II. The term prefixed to it that it be done immediately To day if ye will hear c. I. The Duty of Repentance enjoyned which is fitly expressed by these words Harden not your hearts For if we
for it by such a precedent exercise of Repentance did not presume to take upon himself the Name of a Christian While this excellent Discipline prevailed an Universal Piety could not but be produced among the Professors of Christianity when all those Arguments which now chiefly hinder the practice of Repentance did then promote it I mean a general example and the fear of Shame It was then no more than fashionable to put on at least the pretence of Repentance in this Holy Season and then to indulge to the Body its wonted Pleasures and Gayeties was no less absurd than to rejoyce at a Funeral when all compose themselves with a seeming Gravity Again to confess the guilt of Sin when all joyned in the same Confession was no matter of shame Whereas now the example of Impenitence prevails and to put on a more severe Deportment to restrain the usual method of Life would be accounted and derided as a Singularity Now the Order of things is inverted and through disuse of Confession whether publick or private shame is affixed not to the Commission but to the Confession of any Sin So that if the former excellent Discipline could be retreived the same shame which now diverts us from Confession would then deterr us from Commission It can scarce be hoped indeed that a Discipline so far surpassing the degenerate spirit of latter times will ever be restored yet this we think our selves obliged to remind you of that ye might understand for what end this Holy Season was at first Instituted and might be moved by this Noble Example to make at least some use of so excellent an Institution if not to confess your sins in publick yet at least to confess them to God in secret if not to put your selves to an open Shame yet at least to conceive inwardly both a shame and hatred of your Sin to examine your Consciences strictly to purg them from all corruptions to remove all vicious habits to reconcile your selves to God by an earnest Repentance of past Sins and a well grounded beginning of future Obedience To this end the Church since she can do no more is wont during this solemnity to inculcate by frequent exhortations the Duty of Repentance and to this purpose I have chosen this Text. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish These words of our Lord were occasioned by a pernicious error of the Jews that the not execution of exemplary vengeance upon them in this Life was an Argument that they were no great sinners and that signal Calamities were an Indication of an extraordinary Impiety whereas those who escaped any such Calamities might presume themselves to be Innocent and thereupon deferr or wholly omit repentance Thus Pilate having lately slain several Galiteans at Jerusalem in the Act of Sacrificing and the Tower in Siloam having slain Eighteen Men by a sudden Fall as we read in the Second and Fourth Verses the Jews presently concluded that this Calamity which they supposed to have been inflicted by the extraordinary direction of God was preceded with an extraordinary guilt of the Sufferers and not finding such Calamities to fall upon themselves thence raised a false perswasion that they were more Righteous than those unhappy Men and more beloved by God To correct this false perswasion our Lord assureth them that it was no other than a vain delusion to think that those Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans or that those upon whom the Tower fell were sinners above all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem or that themselves were more Righteous than either and tells them that unless they repent they shall all likewise perish In which words he I. Insinuates the error of their perswasion that the not execution of Divine Vengeance in this Life is an Argument of the Innocence of Men and little necessity of Repentance And II. Pronounceth the certainty of their Destruction without repentance At this time I will confine my self to the former only and shew the unreasonableness of deferring repentance for this cause that God doth not revenge the Sins of Men in this Life a reason which hath more hindred the practice of Repentance than any other It was long since a complaint of the Wise Man that the Sinner goes on securely because he seeth not Vengeance to be speedily executed and because he feels it not in this Life believeth there is none prepared for him in the other He hath wholly busied himself in matters of sense and takes his measures formeth his Judgments from the perceptions of it believeth not any thing which that doth not ascertain to him or if he doth believe the being and the Providence of God the dispensation of Rewards to Good and infliction of Punishment upon bad Men consequent to it yet through a corrupted Judgment cannot conceive himself capable of any greater Happiness than worldly Prosperity nor of any more grievous Punishment than Poverty and secular Distress So that if the Rewards and Punishments of God be not consonant to these Conceptions he cannot conceive wherein they should consist and while he may be secured of the continuance of Happiness in this Life he hath gained his end and resteth secure as to what may befall him hereafter he cannot believethat God can be angry with him to whom he permitteth the uninterrupted enjoyment of worldly Happiness which while he possesseth he seeth no reason to believe himself to be in a State of Enmity with God If such visible Punishments did attend his sin as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira even fear would force him to be Pious but the want of such terrible examples continually to awaken him betrays him to a false belief either of the remissness and negligence of God or of his own Innocence not deserving any such Punishment and in both cases draweth him into a false opinion that Repentance is not necessary But what a miserable corruption must the judgment of Man have suffered which can be cheated into a false perswasion that himself is capable of none but sensible Rewards or Punishments That Man should carry about him an immaterial Soul and yet not conceive any spiritual Benefits or Miseries Either not know or not value any perfections or improvements but what the Body may receive Yet this delusion is too frequent in Mankind even that part of it which believe there is within them a Spiritual and an Immortal Being which actuates their Bodies which giveth them their thoughts by which alone they conceive themselves Happy or Miserable They acknowledge all this and yet will not believe any Happiness or Misery peculiar to the Soul alone they confess the Soul must endure for ever and yet continue wilfully Ignorant that it cannot continue in a Neutral State but must be the Subject either of Happiness or Misery So true is that observation of the Psalmist XLIX ult Man being in Honour hath no understanding but is compared to the Beasts that perish While he abounds in sensual pleasures he acts
to the Actions and Concerns of this Life God neither promised nor exercised any such constant visible Justice which might distinguish the Good from the Bad and sensibly teach Men the necessity of Repentance much less can it be expected that in the more spiritual Religion of Christ and more abstracted from the Interests of the World any such discrimination of Good and Bad by External Circumstances of prosperity should take place that God should constantly awaken the negligence of slothful Christians by severe and visible Judgments or if he doth not should be thought to approve their Conduct Yet is this Error almost as frequent among Christians as it was formerly among the Jews While Men enjoy the satisfactions of this Life securely and find themselves at ease they fondly imagine that Heaven also hath declared it self in Favour of them and are not willing to entertain a thought of the displeasure of God towards their vicious Courses least the thoughts of it should abridge their present Happiness They are told indeed of the pleasures and punishments of another Life but conceiving no greater pleasure than what they now enjoy nor fearing any greater punishment than the deprivation of that enjoyment because they find the possession of it continued to them they â—…magine themselves secure and think that they either have escaped the Divine Punishment or not deserved it To be convinced of the unreasonableness of this conclusion we need only reflect upon the example of our Blessed Saviour who notwithstanding he was most dear to God publickly declared to be his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased and even in respect of his Humane Nature taken separately said to increase in favour with God and Man yet in the Opinion of the World led a miserable and afflicted Life underwent all those things which the sensual appetite of Man most dreadeth as Poverty Hunger Pain and a Violent Death yet all this while continued to be the most beloved Son of God In conformity to his Example his Apostles to whom he so often professed an extraordinary Love suffered all the sensible inconveniencies of this Life and were yet the peculiar Favourites of their Lord and Master now Exalted into Heaven So that Temporal affliction is by no means any Indication of the displeasure of God nor the contrary of his Favour So then in vain do Men reject or deferr Repentance because they see not the constant execution of his displeasure upon Notorious Sinners in this World For how should that displeasure exert it self Not in Poverty Afflictions or in Temporal Calamities For these we find in our Lord himself and his dearest Servants and therefore can never be any Argument of the dis-favour of God Yet from these Characters alone Man would take his measures who fondly imagineth nothing to be more dreadful than such Disasters and knoweth no greater misery than what ariseth from them while he consulteth his Sense alone But God seeth not as Man seeth he knoweth what will be real Happiness and Misery to Man and therein placeth his Rewards and Punishments As his Rewards are not adapted to the sensual imaginations of Men so neither are his Punishments to their Fears and Passions What they suppose to be a severe Punishment may possibly be a Benefit but certainly is so small a Punishment as does not at all compensate the guilt of having offended an Infinite Majesty To revenge therefore the Wickedness of Men wholly in this Life could not but come far short of the demerit of their Actions and after all would but little contribute to manifest the Divine Justice of God or excite the Repentance of Men since what God would in that case inflict would be far different from what Men esteem the greatest misery which renders the constant execution of Divine Justice in this Life unpracticable Other considerations make it unreasonable And first the Wisdom of God hath appointed some time wherein Man should give a trial of his Obedience and live in a State of Probation during which time neither Rewards nor Punishments of his Actions should ordinarily be distributed but both reserved till that Probation should expire and the last resolutions of Man were known This time can be no other than that of Life on Earth in which Man at his first entrance hath proposed to him the Arguments of Obedience to God the Rewards of that Obedience and all other Motives to his Duty On the other side the pleasures of Sin allure him the suggestions of evil Spirits tempt him the want of consideration fits him to follow the directions of sense alone and not to trouble himself with any other Interest than that of this Life His Will and the freedom of choice is still reserved intire to him Life and Death is set before him as it was by Moses before the Jews he is at liberty to choose which he pleaseth still remembring that upon his conduct in this Life depends the Happiness or Misery of his future State In the mean time God ordinarily affrights him not into his Duty by a certain Execution of Punishment consequent in this Life to the Commission of his sins neither doth he draw him to Obedience by the sensible experience of Rewards For that would destroy all the merit of Faith or Obedience since the Actions of Men would then proceed from the dictates of their own sense not upon the principle of believing this because God hath said it or doing that because God hath Commanded it I say that ordinarily God doth not dispose Men to Obedience by the sensible experience of Justice executed in this Life although often in mercy to Mankind he doth extraordinarily in this Life Reward the eminent good Actions of his Obedient Servants and Punish the more notorious Sins of wicked Men. This he doth for the Vindication of his Justice and for the Instruction of other Men to whom beside the ordinary Light of Revelation he doth sometime indulge these extraordinary admonitions But this is not to be drawn into any Rule by us we may not hence conclude that Prosperity is an Argument of the Favour of God or the not inflicting of exemplary Revenge a sign of Reconciliation with him Rather we ought to judge that the time of this Life God hath given us for a Trial of Obedience during which he patiently awaits our Resolution All this our Lord manifests to us in the parable of the Tares which the Housholder would not suffer to be plucked up till the time of Harvest but till then be mixed securely among the Corn plainly insinuating that the ordinary providence of God should in this Life make no discrimination between the Good and Bad but suffer both alike to live secure without any denunciation of his Judgment till the time of Harvest which himself explains to be the time of the last Judgment when the Tares and the Wheat should be severed from each other This proceeding indeed doth shock the common understanding of Men but that ariseth from
are increased How shall I pardon thee for this We have hitherto considered God only as the Author of that revealed Religion which we profess It may not be amiss to consider him also as the common Governour of the world and the Judge of all Mankind To the Execution of these Offices nothing is more necessary than an impartial Execution of Justice which cannot consist if Rewards and Punishments be distributed without any respect to the Merits or Demerits of Men if the Rewards proposed to the diligent observers of the Divine Commands be given in common to the Neglecters of them In vain then would good Men employ so much Industry Zeal and Caution in vain should they forego the Pleasures of Life deny the Desires of the sensual Appetite and Labour in the more arduous Duties of Christianity if by all this they gained no more than what negligent Sinners might secure to themselves and yet retain the use of all those Pleasures which a depraved Will could desire Nor could we account for the Justice of God if he should require such difficult Duties of his most faithful Servants and yet allow the same Rewards to his Enemies to impenitent Sinners which he hath proposed to them Our Lord told the Pharisees indeed those great Pretenders to Holiness That the Sinners and Publicans go into heaven before them and in another place saith That the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force But then those Sinners did repent which the Pharisees refused to do and the violence offered to Heaven is there no other than Prayers and Tears Without those the supream Judge would continue inexorable to them who hath promised indeed to lay open Heaven to penitent Sinners but upon no other Condition will admit them into it Otherwise what Abraham said to God Gen. XVIII 25. when he imagined that God would involve the just Inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah in the univeâ—…sal Destruction which he was about to bring upon those Cities That be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked That be far from thee Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right The same we might justly apply if God communicated the Rewards of just Men such as Pardon of sins and hope of future Happiness to impenitent Sinners But sar be it from us to imagine any such uneven Conduct in God who from the in variable distribution of Pardon to Penitent of Punishment to unrepenting Sinners raiseth the Proof of his own Justice Ezek. XVIII 25 26 27. Hear now O house of Israel Is not my way equal are not your ways unequal When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity and dieth in it for his iniquity that he hath done he shall die Again when the wicked turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his soul alive Therefore I will judge every one according to his ways saith the Lord God Repent and turn your selves from all your Transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruin I have been so long upon this Head that I have little time left to speak of the Second which is the Usefulness of Repentance in that if it be perfect sincere and rightly applied it averts the Punishment due to sins Not through any intrinsick Merit of its own but through the gracious acceptance of God who hath promised Pardon upon true Repentance That we may not be deceived therefore in the Nature of Repentance we may reflect upon the Reasons for which Repentance is so acceptable to God who as he is a most perfect Being doth nothing without most evident reason God therefore whensoever he taketh the Soul of Man to himself and caâ—…th it to Judgment judgeth it according to the present Disposition of it If a Man hath formerly lived up to his Commands but did afterwards Apostatize from them and gave up himself to the direction of his Lusts and died in that corrupt Habit of Mind he shall be judged according to it If he formerly neglected his Duty but before his Death had changed all the Habits and Dispositions of his Soul into firm Resolutions of Obedience to God into a perfect Hatred of Sin and a love of Piety and dieth in them God will reward him according to that prefent Dispofition Such a Repentance then which God will accept must be an entire change of the very frame of the Mind not a slight Sorrow for past sins nor even a bitter Sorrow for them if founded only upon the prospect of the Punishment attending them it proceeds not to change the Habits of the Soul For with such a Sorrow a love of sin may well consist Nor even if this Sorrow should proceed to a careful discharge of Duty for many days together and often break out into ardent Ejaculations of Devotion yet will not this avail unless the Will be firmly setled in Resolutions of continuing the work so well begun and taken off from all Complacency in sin As the Body of Man is not to be accounted sound or healthful although it hath now and then some intervals of Health unless the whole Crasis of it be strong and uncorrupted That every one may judge of himself herein let him propose to himself the greatest Temptation which he knoweth can affect him let him imagine himself secure from being discovered in this World and not being immediately snatcht away to Judgment then let him impartially examine himself whether in those Circumstances he should preferr his Duty before the Pleasure of sin If he be well assured of his Resolution therein he may then hope well of his own Condition But because Men in such Examinations will be partial to themselves let him take a View of his latest Actions in which if he can find any sin committed deliberately after Consideration in cool Blood and the Suggestions of his own Conscience to the contrary then let him assuredly conclude that the state of his Soul is depraved that the whole frame of it must be changed by Repentance before God will extend any Mercy to him and that without such Repentance he is for ever lost For in every such deliberate sin Man really chooseth Damnation to himself In the precedent Deliberation of it his Conscience sets before him Life and Death on the one hand the Command of God the Authority of his Command and the Promises of Obedience on the other hand the Guilt of sin and the Punishments affixed to it If notwithstanding all this his Will be over-ruled by the seeming Pleasures of Vice to embrace it and violate the Laws of God Man doth therein make an absolute Choice of Damnation for himself and doth as truly renounce Obedience to God as if he made an open and formal Abjuration of it A mind therefore so corrupted can by no means be said to be well disposed or
and not broke loose from the Chains and Dominion of the Devil The state of our Lord and his Church were indeed at that time in the highest confusion without any Consolation or apparent possibility of Recovery Yet much greater is the Misery of an unrepentant Sinner who suffers all this thro' his own Fault and until he be regenerate seeth no approaching Delivery From all these Calamities our Saviour and his Church were rescued by his glorious Resurrection And from all these Miseries is unhappy Man delivered by his Regeneration Our Lord by his Resurrection vindicated his Honour from the Blasphemies of Jews and Gentiles who had argued against his Divinity from the seeming Imperfections of his Sufferings overthrew the design of wicked Spirits endeavouring to defeat the Success of his Mission by the Ignominy of the Cross and delivered his Church from that Disgrace and Despair which it had by his Death incurred Such were the Benefits and Glories of this days Resurrection and no less are the Advantages of rising with Christ from Sin unto a new Life which removeth that Stain and Imperfection introduced into our Nature by Sin restores it to that primitive Glory which it obtained in the State of Innocence rescueth us from the Slavery of the Devil repairs the Honour and Integrity of our Souls and renders us infinitely Happy by making us Partakers of the Divine Favour For this was none of the least Arguments which inhanced the Glory os Christ's Resurrection that God by interposing in so extraordinary a manner in his behalf evidently manifested how dear he was unto him whom he would not leave in Hell in a state of Disgrace nor suffer to see corruption This raised him beyond the Degree of all mortal and corruptible Men and placed him in such an height of Glory as cannot be resembled by any thing but the Regeneration of a Christian wherein God interposeth by his Power not so visibly indeed but no less miraculously converting assisting and confirming him by his Grace without which this admirable Change cannot be effected A Change which however in an inferiour Degree declares the Power and the Love of God who produceth Habits of the most exalted Vertue in a Soul before overwhelmed with Sin and Wickedness For Resurrection denotes not only a Deliverance from the Calamities of Death and Corruption but also an enabling any one to renew an active Course of Life Our Lord was not barely content to rescue his Body from the Grave and the insults of his Enemies but he carried it with him triumphantly into Heaven and there sitting at the right hand of God employeth it in Conjunction with his Divine Nature to mediate continually the Redemption of Man If then we be risen with Christ we must manifest the truth of our Resurrection by vital Actions proper to a new and spiritual Life which are the Exercise of all spiritual Vertues and a strict Conformity to the Laws of that new Society with Heaven wherein we are engaged Farther a bare recovery of Life deserveth not the Title of a Resurrection for then the intermediate Death would have been of no advantage at least it reacheth not the illustrious Example of our Lord's Resurrection who after that was endued with a farr more glorious State than before his Death Before his Crucifixion he was subject to all the Infirmities of humane Nature Sin only excepted after his Resurrection exempted from them all-Before his Passion subject to change and decay after his Resurrection instated in an eternal and immutable Possession of Glory For as St. Paul amplifies this very matter Rom. VI. 9. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more Death hath no more Dominion over him His Life preceding and following his Resurrection were infinitely different that contemptible and mean this glorious and terrible that common with the rest of Mankind this exalted above all the Infirmities of humane Nature And this is the Reason why our Saviour conversed not openly among the Jews after his Resurrection as he had done before from that time a new and different State of Life was to commence never any more to be altered or relinquished Whence we are taught that to come up to the Resurrection of our Lord and Master and express it nearly in our Lives we ought to exceed what is required of us in a Natural State and improve our Obedience farther than was exacted of us in a State wherein no more than temporary Rewards were promised at least that after our Entrance into a new Life after our Profession of Christianity we walk invariably whereunto we have attained that we suffer not our selves to relapse into our former State which we relinquished bydying with Christ and deprive our selves of the Benefit of partaking in his Resurrection by a similitude in this Life which might otherwise secure to us a nearer imitation of him by a glorious Resurrection in the next Of this the Resurrection of our Lord giveth us the greatest assurance Without that signal Confirmation of the truth of the Divine Promises Men would have been prone to dis-believe them It seemed a matter incredible both to Jews and Gentiles that God should after many Ages recollect the scattered parts of a dead Body and reuniting them into their former Frame once more animate them with a living Soul This to some seemed impossible to others improbable But both were refuted by the Example of our Lord's Resurrection which was to that purpose always urged by the Apostles in their Preaching and is employed by St. Paul as the chief Argument against the incredulity of the Corinthians in the 1 Epist. XV. Chapter God had promised as well to raise up Mankind at the last day as to raise up his Son on the Third day and the certain Completion of this latter Promise secured the Belief of the former there being no more effectual Argument to perswade Men to rely upon the Promise of future Benefits than to demonstrate to them how all preceding Promises were infallibly performed And thus in some sense all Mankind may be said to rise with Christ inasmuch as Christ being risen from the dead is become the first fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. XV. 20. That as the whole Mass is sanctified by the Dedication of the first Fruits so all Mankind received an earnest of the Divine Promises concerning their Resurrection in the Person of Christ. But then in a more particular and proper manner all faithful Christians may be said to rise with Christ. There is a Resurrection to Death as well as Life a terrible as well as a desireable Resurrection To rise therefore with Christ is the happy Resurrection and That as St. Peter tells us 1 Epist. I. 4. is to rise to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us That this will be the Reward of all good and pious Christians the Resurrection of their Lord and Master is sufficient assurance to them To such Christ is a Head
all along experienced my Affection to you and if you do still doubt I do now give you fresh Assurances For if it were not so I would have told you Verse 2. And if ye shall ask any thing in my nâ—…e I will do it Verse 14. Even my Crucifixion is for your sake for to purchase Redemption for you and after that my return into Heaven is for your sake also to secure your Reward and prepare you Mansions there For in my Fathers house are many Mansions As it followeth in the second Verse I go not to take possession of the Joys of Heaven for my self alone but in your Name also and in your behalf Let not your hearts therefore be troubled neither he distracted with the Afflictions that may fall upon you For whatsoever Shocks you may meet with in this World although you be persecuted injured and oppressed let not this afflict you or cause you to despair this is not your abiding place your Mansion is in Heaven let this be your Consolation This was abundantly sufficient to dispel the Anxiety and raise the drooping Spirits of the Apostles and not only so but also in some manner to support all faithful Christians in difficult Emergencies to all Ages This was spoken indeed to the Apostles but written for our Instruction whom it doth no less concern For the Church succeeding the Apostles was not by any peculiar Priviledge exempted from Difficulties and Disasters The Promises made unto her were not to take place in this Life and therefore if she were assaulted with Tempests and oppressed by the Malice of Men or Devils she suffers no more than her Lord and Master did before her than her Founders and his beloved Disciples also did A greater Calamity cannot befall the Church than what befell the Apostles at this time Nay all that ever the Church suffered all that it can suffer come farr beneath it and yet our Saviour thought this Consideration a sufficient Remedy to their Affliction Much more therefore will it suffice to remove our lesser Troubles and continue a constant quiet and tranquility in our Minds who are Followers of the same Faith and Heirs of the same Hopes And that it may do so I will take occasion from the Text to Discourse of these two Heads I. What reason and ground Natural Religion or the Mosaick Dispensation giveth us to trust in God and receive Comfort from thence in all Difficulties and the apprehension of Calamities insinuated in those words Ye believe in God II. What force the Christian Religion hath superadded to these Reasons of Trust and Consolation Believe also in me First then What Reason c. I joyn Natural Religion and that of the Jews herein together because no certain hopes or promise of Happiness in another Life were given to either and upon that account the Reasons of depending upon God in this Life were common to both The Jews indeed had stronger reason to relye upon the Divine Providence as having had more frequent and apparent Experience of it but it was a Reason of the same kind with that common to Natural Religion which proceedeth no farther with any certainty than the consideration of the Divine Government of the world in this present Life Let us then enter into the same Consideration where the first thought which presents it self will be that since God created Man by his own good Pleasure and continueth to govern him and all other parts of the Creation according to his own Primary Decrees it is but reasonable that Man should acquiesce in the Laws of his Government For if God bestowed on him the benefit of Existence and continueth it by a constant Preservation he may justly expect that Man should thankfully receive that Benefit without repining that it was no greater All other parts of the Creation perform their Duties without variance in their several Stations and Capacities and if Man alone desires that his Station may be changed his Post removed he shews himself unworthy even of the first Benefit I mean that of Existence much more of any extraordinary Acts of Favour to be wrought by God in his behalf The meanest and most miserable Member of Mankind excluding his Sins which are the product of his own Choice is farr more Happy than any other part of the visible World as enjoying a noble and capacious Soul which is capable of receiving true Happiness if directed aright or at least pleasing it self with a mistaken Happiness a Priviledge which is denied to the irrational part of the Creation which however many of them have more exquisite and accurate Organs of sense than Men yet thence receive neither real nor imaginary Happiness because not reflecting on any Perceptions of sense After all let the Afflictions of any private Man be never so heavy yet it cannot be denied that the more noble part of him the Soul is still at Liberty to improve its more real Happiness and not subject to any of those Calamities any farther than it shall immerge or interest it self in the Concerns of the Body And even this is no small Consolation that in all the mis-fortunes of this Life we perform the Will of God in executing that Station which his Providence hath appointed us in the World And that this Station is fittest for us we must believe if we reflect on the perfection of the Divine Wisdom if not fittest for us simply and in its own Nature yet in Conjunction with all other Circumstances it being not reasonable that we should at all times expect the interruption of the publick Government of the World for our private Concerns Indeed it must be acknowledged that as God is the absolute Governour of the world so he is also infinitely Just and Holy which may encourage Men who have no knowledge of Rewards or Punishments in another Life to expect that he should in an extraordinary manner in this Life interpose in behalf of good Men and against bad Men. So that however the former Consideration may remove the Anxiety of Men yet nothing less than an assured Belief of this latter will ever perswade them to trust in God which supposeth the hopes of some extraordinary Assistance or proceeding in the World And therefore such extraordinary influences were actually conferred upon the Jews whose Obedience or Dis-obedience was commonly attended with temporal Rewards or Punishments But this was in Vertue of a particular Covenant which admitting no better hopes confined it felt to the Concerns of this Life and after all received frequent Exceptions and Variations many wicked Men among them living in Plenty and dying in Peace and othâ—…rs of eminent Sanctity persecuted oppressed and at last unjustly Slain So that only probable Motives of trust in God remained in that Dispensation under the Law as because Peace or Misery did for the most part accompany Virtue or Vice and this even those who followed the Dictates only of natural Religion in some measure had who have often taken notice