before mentioned that is unless we rise from Sin to die again Lastly the Justice of God and the incomparable Humility and Patience of Christ manifested in his Sufferings rendred it not possible not fit that he should be holden of Death He died not for his own but for the Sins of others and to demonstrate that his own Guilt drew not that Punishment upon him it was agreeable to the Justice of God to raise him up to relieve the Cause of oppressed Innocence and not suffer his Persecutors any longer to triumph in their wickedness Further by his exact Obedience by his inimitable Patience in suffering the Pains and his admirable Humility in undergoing the Shame of the Cross he did deserve to be raised up that as he had humbled himself in so extraordinary a manner so he should be exalted to a no less illustrious Glory And therefore the Sufferings and Humility of Christ are frequently assigned as the meritorious Cause of his Exaltation It was long before Prophesied of him Psal. CX 7. He shall drink of the brook in the way therefore shall he lift up his head And after his Passion and Ascension it is said of him by St. Paul Philip. II. He humbled himself and became obedient to death even the deash of the Cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him The first step of his Exaltation was his Resurrection which therefore was to relate to both those parts of his Humane Nature which had undergone that meritorious Humiliation Not only his Soul had suffered Agonies and the Contradiction of sinners had resigned it self intirely into the hands of God and submitted quietly to the Execution of that bitter Sentence which was inflicted on him as the Representative of sinful Men had endured the Shame of the Cross the insults of his Enemies a violent Separation from the Body with invincible Patience and Charity But also his Body had partaken in his Agony had sweat drops of Blood had endured Scourgings and Buffettings Crucifixion and the wound of the Spear Both Soul and Body therefore were to share in the Reward of all these Sufferings which began to be bestowed on him in his Resurrection His Body was to be raised from the Grave and his Soul being in no other Sense capable of Resurrection was to be reunited to the Body and both to continue for ever joyned since by his Death and Resurrection he is become the Mediator of a new and eternal Covenant Thus I have passed through the several parts of the Text and from the whole I shall make but one Inference proper to the Solemnity of this day If the Resurrection of Christ be the great and ultimate Confirmation of the Christian Religion that upon which our Faith is founded our hopes are raised that by which the Mystery of our Redemption is compleated the Author of it Crowned and advanced to be the Head of all the faithful who look for the same Resurrection it becomes us to celebrate this Festival Dedicated to the Memory of it with a suitable Religion We are not to account it an Arbitrary institution or the invention of the Church that this day is accounted Sacred beyond all others of the Year Our Lord hath made it so by rising from the Dead and compleating the Redemption of Mankind on it No revealed Religion was yet ever professed in the World which did not celebrate some certain and solemn Festivals at fixed times of the year and to cast off the publick Solemnization of those Festivals upon which the most illustrious Acts of the Life of our Saviour were performed is no other than in Fact to deny all belief in him and relation to him It is not enough to say that he hath declared he will be worshipped in Spirit and Truth He was himself then going up to Jerusalem to celebrate a solemn Festival when he spake those words And surely unless there be solemn times and places of worshipping him in Spirit and Truth it will never appear that he is so worshipped nor is he worshipped in Truth when Men pay no external Acknowledgments of those eminent Benefits which he hath truly obtained to them Himself hath consecrated this day by his rising from the Grave on it The Apostles have Dedicated it to this sacred Use by their own and by Divine Authority The Jews had before celebrated one day in seven in Recognition of their adoring that God who had created the World in Six days and rested on the Seventh and that Seventh day which they celebrated rather than any other of the Week was sanctified in Memory of their Deliverance out of Egypt wrought upon that day as it is Deut. V. 15. Remember that thou wast a Servant in the Land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day As the Jews therefore dated their Seventh day for ever from that day of their Deliverance out of Egypt so the Apostles began and the Church hath to this day continued to date their Seventh day from the day upon which their Redemption was compleated A Redemption so far greater than that given to the Jews from the Bondage of Egypt that well might the day instituted in remembrance of their Deliverance give way to the day celebrated in Honour of our Redemption This change therefore was made by the Apostles immediately upon the Resurrection of our Lord and even before his Ascension and so no doubt by his personal Direction and Approbation For all the religious Assemblies we find of them both before and after his Ascension were upon the first day of the Week That so as the Jews acknowledged their belief in God the Creator of the World by celebrating one day in seven and manifested their Worship of that God who brought them out of Egypt by Solemnizing for ever that Seventh day in which he brought them out So we Christians should declare that we worship the same God the Creator of the World by celebrating one day in seven and also manifest that we worship him in and through Jesus Christ by Sanctifying for ever that Seventh day upon which the great and last Act of our Redemption wrought by him was performed which is therefore in Scripture called the Lords Day Rev. I. 10. Farther as the particular Day of the weekly Festival of the Jews was determined by their Deliverance out of Egypt wrought upon the Seventh day so the far greatest of their Annual Solemnities was instituted in Commemoration of that Deliverance effected in the first Month of the year This God did institute by a special Command which was at large repeated to you in the first Lesson of this day And exacted the Observation of it with so great Rigour that he declared That Soul which did not keep this annual Feast should be cut off from Israel And can we imagine that God should require such eminent external Testimonies
in obedience to him and then Temptation in them will be so far from being a Crime that it will be an Act of Duty On the other side God could not be excused from the Imputation of all those ill Consequences as might attend such Temptation For whatsoever is performed by a supernatural Power derived from him is to be ascribed to him only Whatsoever happens in the ordinary Course of things or is effected by the natural Power of any Creature is only permitted by him he is not to answer for it but what is caused by his extraordinary Power delegated to any Creature may truly be said to be done by his direct Will and special Commission So that to avoid the charging of Injustice upon God we ought not to entertain any such Opinion of him He permits indeed the Devil to exert his Malice in the continual Temptation of Men and hinders not his Operations by a perpetual interposition of his Almighty Power nor would it be reasonable for us to expect it much less to conceive unworthy Thoughts of the Divine Government of the World which hath so settled the Frame of things that as if the Pleasures of the World the violent craving of a sensual Appetite and the Difficulty of Vertue were not sufficient to divert Men from their Duty the restless Sollicitation of evil Spirits is added to all these Arguments and Incentives to sin That it should be so was not a primary institution but a depravation of Nature accidental to the order of the World at first settled by the Author of it which when once happened God was no more obliged to remove or suspend by an extraordinary Miracle than he is to hinder the bad example Suggestions or Sollicitations of one Man to another And this is no small Encouragement to us to oppose the assaults of evil Spirits with Constancy and Resolution to consider that they act not against us by any extraordinary Communication of an infinite Power but by their own natural force only which must be finite and limited We read indeed in Scripture that the Devils are sometimes extraordinarily employed by God to execute his Will and that in relation to Mankind in which case they act by a supernatural Power derived from him but this extendeth not to Temptation They were at their first Creation intended for Ministerial Spirits an Office which the Blessed Angels still enjoy and although those wicked Spirits endeavoured to free themselves from Subjection to God which endeavour occasioned their fall yet what is none of their least Torments they are forced to acknowledge their subjection by executing his Commands An eminent example of this we find to have been frequent in the Apostles times when Persons who were Excommunicated by the Church with the highest censure or formally delivered up to Satan were seized on by him in a conspicuous manner and either wholly possessed by him and deprived of the use of their reason or immediately afflicted with violent Diseases Thus in the case of the incestuous Corinthian St. Paul commandeth the Governours of that Church solemnly to excommunicate him to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the Flesh that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. V. An employment surely very ungrateful to the Devils since nothing could tend more to the confirmation of the Christian Faith the Glory of God and the conviction of Men than such visible punishments which conduced also to the Salvation even of those who were affected with them striking them with a due awe of the Almighty Power of God and forcing them to enter into a serious consideration of their unhappy State and abhorrence of those sins which occasioned it If such exemplary punishments do not at this day attend the solemn Censures of the Church it is for the same reason for which the Gift of Miracles is denied to it although it is to be believed that the Devil acquires still no small power over such Persons when the Sentence is rightly and justly pronounced by their loss of that supernatural Grace which all true Christians receive in their Communion with the Church and in vertue of which they are chiefly enabled to withstand the wiles of the Devil Another example of this extraordinary power given to the Devils may be that of Demoniacks whose number seems to have been considerable at the time of our Saviour and perhaps somewhat of a like if not the same kind may still be found That the Devils possessed these unhappy Persons not by their own natural power but by extraordinary commission derived from God seems unquestionable For it cannot be imagined that any finite Being could by its ordinary power alter the course of Nature If so Miracles would be no Argument of Divinity and the foundation of all revealed Religion would fall One of the most eminent and frequent Miracles of our Saviour was the cure of Demoniacks Now if the Devils could take possession of Men by their own power they might also quit that possession at their will and by quitting it opportunely perform the same Miracle as to the Eyes of Men which Christ himself did They acted therefore herein as the Executioners of God who might command and impower them to seize on the Bodies of Men to alter their natural Constitutions bereave them of the use of their Reason and afflict them with continual Torments in punishment of their Sins For which reason also we may well believe these Demoniacks to have been more numerous among the Jews than they ever were among Christians For the Covenant of the Jews included chiefly Temporal Rewards and Punishments in vertue whereof the Honour of God was concerned to inflict dreadful Punishments upon Notorious Sinners even in this Life while he had not yet made fully known to the World his Resolution of punishing Men in another Life But neither of these Cases doth infer a Command or Commission to the Devil to tempt Men yet there is one instance in Scripture which if not rightly understood may seem to infer it And that is the case of Job whose Patience and Submission God tried by the Ministry of the Devil It were enough to say that such extraordinary Examples are no more to be brought in proof and illustration of the ordinary conduct of God in relation to us than was his Command to Abraham of offering up his Son Isaac However neither here did the Devil receive any extraordinary Power of tempting Job in a strict Sense He was impowered indeed to raise that Tempest whereby the Sons of Job were buried in the ruins of their House But this is very agreeable with what I laid down before and may well be supposed to have been in punishment of their Sins of the greatness of which Job was so sensible that he daily offered Sacrifice to God in expiation of them The Devil was further enabled to destroy his Possessions and torment his Body with a loathsome Disease But all this
uncontrouled Tyranny in the World He had withdrawn the far greatest part of Mankind from the worship of the true God and caused the worship of himself to become the publick Religion of all Nations except the Jews Even the Jews he had often seduced to Idolatry and Disobedience to the Divine Commands and had newly instigated them to imbrue their hands in the Blood of their Messias All these enormous Crimes this continued Rebellion against God and particularly the last and greatest the Death of Christ did require from the Judge of all the World a severe Punishment which is therefore called Judgment in the Text because a Sentence proceeding from the Rules of Justice This Sentence was to be executed under the Gospel of Christ as we are told above in the XII 31. Now is the judgment of this world now shall the prince of this world be cast out The Execution of it was to be performed by the Preaching of the Gospel which should destroy the Powers of Hell free Men from the Captivity of Sin and withdraw the World from the Worship of Devils This to those proud Spirits was the sharpest Punishment which could possibly be inflicted and this was begun by the Mission of the Holy Ghost and carried on and compleated by the Gifts and Graces derived down and continued to the Church from his blessed Influence From the Blessings of this day it was that the Apostles received Abilities and Courage to preach the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the Earth to beat down the strong holds of Sin to ruin the power of Satan to turn Men to the Knowledge and Obedience of God From the Continuation of these Blessings the Church hath been always defended from the secret and open Assaults of these infernal Spirits the Governors and Ministers of the Church have been enabled to preach the Truth and discharge their Office successfully and all the Members of the Church have been established in the Faith and supported against all the Temptations of wicked Spirits So eminently did God upon this day exercise Judgment upon the Prince of this World that thenceforward his Kingdom continually decreased his Oracles were silenced his Altars abandoned his Worship relinquished his Disciples diminished until a glorious Church was founded in all parts of the Earth which by a solemn Engagement her Vow in Baptism professeth Enmity unto him Upon all these accounts did the Holy Ghost as a most faithful Advocate at his first Mission plead the Cause of Christ against his Adversaries whether the Devil or the Jews his Persecutors and upon the same accounts doth that blessed Spirit who was promised to remain with the Church till the end of the World and execute the Office of Advocate till the Consummation of all things still continue to plead the Cause of Christ against all his Enemies and that he should do so is highly requisite The Devil still assaults the Church by open Force or secret Temptations and to these the Holy Spirit opposeth his Gifts and Graces Infidels and Hereticks still profess Unbelief to the Doctrines of it and to these he opposeth the same Arguments of Conviction which were before manifested to have proceeded from his Mission All these remain yet in their full force Lastly even in the bosom of the Church among the Professors of Christianity are many to be found against whom it is necessary that the Holy Spirit should still plead the Cause of Christ which they discredit by their Sins and blaspheme by their Lives crucifying afresh the Lord of life and putting him to an open shame In that no less guilty than all those Enemies of Christ which the Holy Ghost at his first Mission was to convince For did the Jews disbelieve the Doctrine of Christ before the undeniable Confirmation added to it in the Mysteries of this day These Men by their Actions proclaim their Unbelief even after the Reception of this Confirmation Did the Spirit of God take so much pains to manifest the unerring Justice of God in the distribution of Rewards and Punishments After all these Men live insensible of either slighting his Rewards and defying his Punishments Did Christ come into the World and die a painful Death Did God exert his Power in so many Miracles Did the Holy Spirit descend as upon this day to put an end to the Empire of the Devil These Men by Perseverance in Sin endeavour to re-establish it in the World and do effectually restore it in their own Souls Justly therefore may this Eternal Advocate implead these Men before the last Tribunal I have conveyed the Knowledge of the true God even to these Sinners I have convinced them of the Truth of the Christian Faith at least they will pretend themselves to have been convinced I have nourished this Knowledge by causing the Holy Scriptures to be writ for their Edification I have endeavoured the Improvement of it by the constant Exhortation of those my Officers which I have settled in the Church I have assisted it by the grant of all necessary Graces as often as desired yet notwithstanding all this they have lived as if they knew not of it much less as if they were convinced of it All my Graces and Sollicitations of them have produced no other effect than to render their Sin the more hainous in that they have wilfully disobeyed my Commands slighted my Directions contemned my Exhortations and stifled my Motions All false Perswasions which might betray them to Sin and Disobedience I have long since corrected If they imagine the Disbelief or which is all one the Neglect of my Doctrines to be no hainous Crime I have long since convinced the World of Sin If they fancy God not to be an unerring and infallible Judge in the Dispensation of Rewards and Punishments I have long ago reproved the World of Righteousness If they pretend the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil to be irresistable I have long since judged the prince of this world taken away his Kingdom and limited his Power These then are the most criminal Enemies of the Name of Christ who being by me convinced of their Duty to obey his Laws refused to perform them who serving under his banner and kindly intreated by him deserted his Service and delivered up themselves to his and their own Enemy from whose Tyranny I had before freed them What then shall we plead in behalf of our selves at that dreadful day Shall we alledge want of Conviction That we pretend not to or if we should the Holy Ghost hath by the Wonders and Benefits of this day effectually confuted that pretence Shall we say that we believed not God to have been in earnest when he allured us with Rewards or threatened us with Punishments That Plea is removed by the Assertion of the Righteousness of God made upon this day Or shall we excuse our selves with want of extraordinary Assistances and Graces of the Holy Spirit enabling us to perform our Duty and overcome
upon his constant Guard least he should at any time be surprized And surely a Surprize is hard to be avoided where so many passages must be guarded when the Enemy may enter in by the Senses or Imagination by the Operation of external Objects or the suggestion of internal Thoughts and all these as numerous and various as are the Objects from whence they proceed or about which they are imployed Scarce in the best of Men may we not discover some Passion predominant to the rest and which might he be allowed to indulge he would confidently undertake for the good Behaviour of all the rest But this Liberty Christianity denieth to him injoyneth him an universal Conquest of all his Passions a general performance of the whole Will of God forbids the Omission of any one Duty upon Pain of incurring the Guilt of all And this is truly so great a Difficulty that we need not seek any farther Reasons why the best Christians of all Ages are but hardly saved I proceed to the Difficulties peculiar to the latter Ages of Christianity and which more nearly concern us I will mention but two 1. The want of an universal Example and 2. The want of Miracles By these the ancient Christians converted the Heathen World and through want of these we are almost returned to Heathenism It could not but be a powerful Argument of Vertue to all ingenuous Men when they could not so much as retain the Character they had undertaken without a diligent Exercise of Piety when to be a vicious Christian was to be a Monster in the account of the World when Vice was a Singularity and Dissent from all others of the same Denomination Whereas in latter Ages the whole hath been inverted the Character universally retained without any regard to the Conditions of it A pious Christian must dissent in the Course of his Life from the greater part of the Christian World and Vertue is become a Singularity inasmuch as what cannot be sufficienty lamented many ingenuous Minds have been betrayed to sin to which otherwise they were not inclined least they should appear uncivil and morose And when unlawful Customs can acquire the Esteem of Civilities among Christians we cannot but confess an extreme Degeneracy of the true Spirit of Christianity It may truly be said of Examples in general that they have more influence upon the greater part of Mankind than Reasons or Arguments Men of ordinary Capacities such as make up the Body of Christendom take their measures of Christianity from the Practice of the Professors of it as Men do of the Laws of any Countrey from the Practice of the Courts of Justice and will hardly be perswaded that Christianity is so severe and serious a Matter when they perceive the far greater part of Christians trifle with it It is natural for Men to hope for impunity in a multitude to fall into impiety when no shame restrains them when a prevailing Example leads them As for Men of more raised Understandings it is impossible they should thus deceive themselves about the Obligation of their Religion yet even those escape not this universal Contagion they fear to be accounted singular are forced to dissemble and perhaps at last to stifle their Knowledge as not being able to withstand the force of such a mighty Torrent This Difficulty receives yet farther Aggravation if we reflect that it proceeds from our own Guilt that our selves are the Authors of it The Difficulties of the Apostolick Age were purely extraneous for which those Christians were not accountable They brought not their Persecutions upon themselves and their Sins committed before Conversion could not afterwards be justly imputed to them as Christians Whereas this disadvantage we now complain of is the Effect of our Sins committed in the Profession of Christianity to which every one of us have contributed somewhat and besides the internal Guilt of the Crime committed have upon that account increased our sin The Sense of which ought to be a Motive to us to endeavour by the Exemplariness of our future Conduct I will not say to remove this Difficulty and retrieve the glorious Example of former times for that can scarce be hoped but to compensate the Injury which we have done to the Christian Religion by our sinful Deportment The other disadvantage of the present Age which I mentioned the want of Miracles cannot indeed be ascribed to any Fault of ours nor yet be retrieved by us Yet a sensible disadvantage it must be acknowledged when we compare our selves with former times whose Faith and Zeal were constantly awakened kept up and enlivened by the frequent sight of Miracles which confirmed to them the Truth of what they had received the certainty of what they expected and the Power and the Favour of that God they worshipped But I wave the farther Consideration of this Difficulty because the removal of it is not in our Power Yet this use we may make of it to take occasion from it to reflect upon the infinite Goodness and most Wise Providence of God which hath so contrived the advantages and disadvantages of former and latter Ages that both of them have very near equal Assistances and Difficulties in the Prosecution of their Duty that so he might without derogation to his Justice perform what our Lord Promiseth in the Parable of the Housholder in the XX. of St. Matthew reward those whom he had called in the eleventh hour equally with those whom he had hired in the Morning who had born the heat and burden of the day which the Fathers generally expound of this very Case For now those whom he called first who underwent such grievous Afflictions and fierce Persecutions for the defence of the Faith cannot justly complain that we are equally rewarded with them who endured none of those Calamities The Church indeed in latter Ages hath enjoyed Peace and Quiet hath not maintained the Faith of Christ with the expence of her Blood so neither doth she enjoy those Miracles with the sight of which they were Blessed The remembrance of the eminent Example the Miracles and the Sufferings of our Lord were yet fresh in the minds of Men the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost were every where Conspicuous the Apostles yet alive who spoke and writ by the immediate impulse of God and even after their death the same Gifts and Miracles were continued till Peace was given to the Church All these advantages we want which they enjoyed Peace and Security we have which was denied to them If we proceed in the Comparison we want also that glorious Example of universal Piety which shone forth in their Days But then on the other side we enter not upon the Profession of Christianity with the same Prejudices and Habits of Vice with which they did They felt not the mischief of an ill Example prevailing among Christians So neither did they enjoy the benefit of a Christian Education Thus God hath most wisely in all Ages made
eternal Happiness and true Christian Obedience which no change of Fortune can dissolve no unforeseen Calamity can overthrow Therein the Undertaker is only to answer for his Diligence nor is any thing required to compleat his Success but what is intirely in his Power If he be not wanting to himself he may rest secure of the Reward the Nature the Extent the Duration and the Seat of which our Lord hath fully made known unto Man that so he might not any longer be distracted with anxious Thoughts about it and so hath upon that account also as he Promised in the precedent Verses given Rest unto his Soul wearied before with a Fruitless and uncertain Search of Happiness The last Argument which I proposed to speak of is taken from the external Assistance which Christ hath Promised and doth still continue to his Disciples in the Exercise of their Duty Our Lord in imposing his Yoke upon Mankind knew very well the Infirmities of their Nature the Opposition of his Precepts to their ordinary Passions the Tenderness and Clemency which became the Saviour Redeemer and Mediator of Mankind and therefore did not abandon them to the Conduct of their Free-will alone but assisted their Obedience with the Motions of his Holy Spirit with those supernatural Gifts and Graces which he bestows upon all his sincere Disciples which render the imposition of those Precepts which he laid upon them Easie and Pleasant to them To convey this Grace to all the worthy Receivers of it he hath founded a Church a Society of Men professing and publickly declaring Obedience to him in that manner and with those Rites which himself hath instituted He hath made himself the Head of this Body and as such Communicates the influences of his Blessed Spirit to all the Members of it to us who continue in Communion with it If any separate themselves from this Body whereof himself is the Head they cease to have any Relation to him receive none of those supernatural Assistances which are derived from the Head to all parts of the Body At least they cannot receive them by the ordinary method appointed to convey them And if any pretend new Lights and new Ways they are such as have no Promise annexed to them It is not to be admired therefore what may be truly observed That all Hereticks and Schismaticks dividing themselves from the Communion of the Church have in all Ages endeavoured to take away the Obligation of moral Duties and set up the Pretence of greater Lights of a more refined Knowledge to compensate the neglect of Temperance and Meekness of Justice and Charity They having divided themselves from the Body of the Church cut off the ordinary Communication between Christ and them and thereby depriving themselves of the benefit of those Divine Graces and Assistances which are conveyed by that Channel found themselves unable to Practise those Christian Vertues which our Lord requireth of his Disciples and therefore endeavoured to annul the necessity and Obligation of them But this is not to alleviate but to cast off the Yoke of Christ to Claim the Benefits and refuse the Conditions of the Covenant which he made with Mankind and in the mean while to cheat themselves and others with vain Perswasions and arrogant Pretences Our Lord hath Promised the Assistance of his Spirit and therein he will not fail he hath settled the means of conveying it and that he Will not change If we slight the Assistance we are unworthy of it if we forsake the means we are incapable Let us rightly esteem and implore this Assistance to our selves let us hold fast the means whereby we may receive it that is a constant Communion with his Body the Church in all her Holy Offices and Sacraments so shall we Experience that his Commands are not only Excellent in themselves agreeable to our Nature and rendred Pleasant by their Reward but are also made Easie by his Grace and the Influences of his Spirit In the whole we shall be convinced of the Truth of what he affirmed That his Yoke is easie and his Burden light and find assurance of what he Promised Rest to our wearied Souls The Thirteenth SERMON PREACH'D At LAMBETH CHAPEL Rom. XII 19. Dearly beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath For it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. THE Apostle having exhorted to the Duty of Charity throughout this whole Chapter and enforced his exhortation with many Arguments at last concludeth his Arguments with these words whereby he proveth that to act in a contrary manner were to encroach upon the Prerogative of God and invade what he claimeth peculiarly to himself And surely no less an Argument than the fear of violating the Majesty and the Power of God could deter Men from the Practice and Prosecution of revenge which at first Sight appears to be so natural a Passion in Man and can plead for it self with more plausible Arguments than any other sin whatsoever As that Nature directeth all Creatures to defend themselves and repel the Assaults of Enemies that for this Purpose all Animals are endued with proportionable Strength and Courage that to pass by one Enemy unrevenged exposeth a Man to the insults of Enemies to the scorn of Friends and to renewed Wrongs that it is no other than Baseness and Cowardize an Argument of a mean and timorous Soul to submit patiently to the Affronts and Wrongs of another Man and that to return evil for evil to punish the Malice of an Offender by procuring Loss or Grief to him is no other than a part of distributive Justice of which every Man may be allowed to be the Administrator that so as the smart of Revenge inflicted may punish the Malice of the Aggressor the Pleasure of inflicting Revenge may make some amends for the undeserved Sufferings of the injured Party Such Arguments Men are wont to plead in behalf of Revenge and such did once introduce an universal Opinion in the World that Revenge was not only a Matter allowed but even a Vertue the Duty of every Noble and Couragious mind Consonant to the intentions of Nature and the Office of every private Man Thus the great Masters of Morality among the Heathens among whom nothing is more frequent than such Expressions as these that Revenge is sweeter than Life it self that Moderation is to be observed in creating but none in revenging Injuries that not to revenge a Wrong is an Argument of Fear and Sloth of an unmanly and degenerous Mind On the contrary we are taught throughout this whole Chapter to bless them which persecute us to recompence to no Man evil for evil to live peaceably with all Men and in the last place which concerns my present Design not to avenge our selves but rather give place unto wrath not to take upon us to inflict the Punishment due to any sin of Injustice committed against us but to leave that to be inflicted by God either by
of Gratitude from the Jews for Deliverance from a temporal corporeal Bondage and leave us without any Obligation of rendring publick and solemn Honour to him for freeing us from a spiritual and eternal Slavery The Redemption wrought by Christ is to us what the Deliverance out of Egypt was to the Jews The Feast of Easter instituted in the remembrance of the Completion of that Redemption is to us what the Feast of the Passover was to them appointed in Memory of their Deliverance Christ is our Passover as we heard this Morning from 1 Cor. V. Let us therefore keep the Feast The Determination of our Christian Festivals is to be taken from the most illustrious Actions of Christ our Redeemer and when they are determined they are to be celebrated with no less Religion than were the Festivals of the Jews nay rather with greater Expressions of Joy Gratitude and Devotion because they Commemorate far greater Benefits That this Festival therefore was particularly instituted by the Apostles those words of St. Paul do not obscurely intimate but the Practice of the universal Church immediately after their times do most evidently manifest it Scarce was St. John the last Liver of the Apostles Dead when the Eastern and Western Churches began to divide about the time of Solemnizing Easter not whether it should be solemnized but whether it should be a fixed or a moveable Feast both contending for their own Custom as for an essential Point of Religon in that indeed straining a Circumstance too far but clearly proving thereby that the solemn Observation of Easter was then by all Christians accounted an essential Institution of Religion in that they esteemed it unlawful to vary the least Circumstance formerly received in the Observation of it And as this Festival hath succeeded instead of the Jewish Passover which did prefigure the whole Mystery of our Redemption so the due manner of our Celebration of it was typified by the Ceremonies prescribed by God to them in eating the Paschal Lamb. As they were commanded to remove all Leaven out of their Houses so we are to put away the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness in the words of St. Paul As they then sung Hymns of Thanksgiving to God for their Deliverance out of Egypt so we ought to give Praise and Glory to God for consummating our Redemption by the Resurrection of our Lord upon this day As they eat the Paschal Lamb with bitter Herbs in a Habit and Posture expressing their readiness to go out of Egypt with great Testimonies of rejoycing and mutual Kindness So we should receive the Elements of Bread and Wine representing the Sacrifice of Christ the Lamb of God once offered upon the Cross for the sins of the whole World which is the chief and most solemn Act of our Worship to be paid upon this day with a bitter Repentance and Sorrow for past sins with a stedfast reliance upon the Promises of God with a perfect Submission to his Will and readiness to go wherever he shall lead us with a sincere Charity towards one another and to all the Members of Mankind for whom Christ died that is for all Men without Exception and with the most intense Thanksgiving that our Souls can form for all the Benefits of our Redemption but more particularly for raising to Life as upon this day him who died for our sins and rose again for our Justification So by worthily Celebrating here on Earth the Memory of the glorious Resurrection of our Lord we shall obtain to be hereafter admitted to follow the Example of his Resurrection and share in the Glory which he now enjoys in Heaven Which God of his infinite Mercy grant for the sake of him who died and rose again our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom with the Father c. The Fifteenth SERMON Preach'd on April 5th 1690. At LAMBETH CHAPEL 1 Tim. II. 8. I will therefore that Men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting PRAYER being one of the greatest Duties of a Christian Life that whereby we chiefly pay our Adoration to God whereby we obtain the Remission of our Sins and the Relief of our Necessities to which so many Promises are annexed and so frequent Exhortation to the Practice of it to be found in Scripture we ought to be well instructed in the Nature the Necessity and the Conditions of it To effect this was the chief Intention of the Apostle in this whole Chapter in which this Verse being more comprehensive than the rest I have chosen it for the Subject of my intended Discourse of Prayer In it the words easily direct me to insist on these Four Heads I. The Duty of Prayer I will that Men pray II. The Place of it Every where III. The posture of Prayer Lifting up their hands IV. The Conditions required to make it acceptable and effectual Lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting I. The Duty of Prayer is expresly commanded in the first words I will c. To inforce the Authority of which Command the Apostle saith in the former Verse that he was ordained a Preacher an Apostle and Teacher of the Gentiles acted herein by Divine Commission And surely it was no light Matter when the Apostle whose Authority was long since received in all the Churches founded by him thought fit to produce his Commission before he imposed the Command a Command not first introduced by him but often repeated by our Lord himself who taught his Disciples a Form of Prayer and injoyned them to watch and pray But since none as I suppose will dispute the Command or deny the Authority of it it will be of more advantage to shew the reasonableness and the use of Prayer Which I proceed to do First then Prayer is the principal Act of Adoration paid by Man to God and upon that account becomes necessary to us Man being the Creature of God at first produced out of nothing by his Almighty Power and afterward all his Life long depending on his Providence and maintained by him oweth to God all that Service which he is capable to pay and that is no other than to adore his Majesty to acknowledge his Power to celebrate his Praises to admire his infinite Perfections in all things to own his dependence on him to profess himself the Creature the Servant the Subject of God and to behave himself as such This is all which Man can pay to God for those infinite Benefits which he hath received from him God hath no Interests of his own to be promoted by us The Infinity of his Nature hath set him beyond all want of external Aids and even beyond all increase of Happiness even that Glory which he receiveth from our Worship is of no advantage to him yet is it not the less required of us since it declares our Conviction of that Gratitude Subjection and Obedience which are due to his Benefits and his Power that Honour Worship and Reverence which belong
Professions of Faith and Obedience to himself appears from that frequent Expression employed by him in the Old Testament For my Temples sake at Jerusalem What Reason can be assigned why God should be moved to do any thing for his Temples sake which being purely material was not capable of any Merit but that it being erected to his Honour and dedicated to his Service by the Nation of the Jews was an illustrious Sign to the whole World that that Nation believed and trusted in him While that Fabrick stood consecrated to his Name and Prayers were offered up in it to him it could not be dissembled that he was the God of that Nation and they his People And indeed it is too sad and yet undeniable that wherever the solemn and publick Worship of God in certain and fixed Places dedicated to that use is discontinued Religion the Honour and Reverence of God immediately decays and becomes forgotten As in all Parts of the Christian Church it may be observed that wherever the publick Worship of God in Churches hath been taken from Christians as in Persia and Africa the Faith of Christ hath been wholly lost in one or two Generations whereas the Church of Greece by the Advantage of the use of Churches permitted to them hath continued to flourish and retain her Faith unshaken under the Government of the Turks although continually oppressed discountenanced injured and persecuted by them It was therefore the Effect of the most benign Providence of God in the Primitive Church that he suffer'd not any of their Persecutions to be of long Continuance but restoring Peace to the Church gave them Liberty therewith to exercise the true Worship of himself in publick solemn and sacred Places Could the Religion of Christ have been maintained by private and clancular Meetings the Zeal and Piety of those Times would have effected it Yet then it was thought impossible to perform it Nor would God have interposed by so many Miracles of Providence to restore his Church to the Freedom of worshipping him in publick Churches had not such Worship been more acceptable to him than that directed from Corners of private Houses And therefore no sooner was the Storm of any Persecution blown over but the Christians immediately set themselves to erect magnificent Churches to the Honour of the true God and in them to celebrate all Acts of Worship Not that God heard not their Prayers directed to him from secret and private places their Piety Patience and Constancy deserved no less but himself received far less Honour from private than publick Worship and therefore for his own Names-sake as he frequently told the Jews he restored them to the enjoyment of peace and quiet Thus the Jews also contented themselves to worship in a movable Tabernacle while they travelled in the Wilderness or were not fully settled in the Land of Canaan But no sooner were all the Jebusites driven out of the Land but David prepared to build a stately Temple in Honor of the God of Israel Thus the Erection and Dedication of Churches is not only an open profession of the Worship of that God to whose Service they are consecrated but also an eminent Monument of Gratitude to God for giving peace and quiet unto the Church procuring to her Members the Liberty of offering up Prayers to him and professing to believe on him in publick The Magnificence of these Fabricks is a further Argument of Thankfulness for the wealth and plenty of that People by whom they were founded in Honour of God and remain an eternal Mark of Acknowledgment that both peace and plenty proceeded from his Gift to whose Name they are sacred They are the most obvious and sensible Demonstration of the long and uninterrupted Continuance of the Faith of Christ in any Nation and the Devotion and Zeal of his Followers and thereby exceedingly promote the Honour of God in the World which is the chief end of all publick Exercise of Religion To confine the Worship of God to private Houses or movable Congregations is what the ancient Christians thought the greatest Misfortune attending their Persecution And they who in times of Peace pay no more solemn Worship to God than what is really necessary to pay in time of persecution if they should indeed be persecuted it is more than probable will pay no manner of Worship At least to decry the Erection and Consecration of sacred places seems to be no other than to oppose the Increase of Divine Honour and to include a fear least posterity should know from those durable Fabricks that their Fore-fathers worshipped the true God Lastly if the publick Worship of God is to be celebrated in places solemnly set apart for that use and the peculiar presence of God is promised in such Places if his Honour be promoted by erection of such sacred Buildings and kept up by the Continuance of them it follows that no small Reverence is to be paid to them To treat them as unholy or common places in any matter is to withdraw them from that use to which they were designed to rob God of his peculiar possession and to deny his presence in them On the contrary all external Acts of Reverence manifest our Acknowledgment of the Relation which they bear to him of our Belief in him to whose Honour they are dedicated of our Gratitude to him by whom we enjoy the open Profession of our Religion of our Zeal for his Glory which is chiefly advanced and maintained by them of our perswasion of his constant and immediate presence in them that Veneration therefore which the devout Members of this Church pay to sacred Places is neither the Effect of Superstition nor the Remains of Popery but ariseth from a pious and rational perswasion of the Honour due to God and all things relating to him A Practice as ancient as Christianity it self and which St. Paul makes use of as received and confessed among all Christians when reproving the Indecencies committed by the Corinthians in their Churches 1 Cor. XI 22. he aggravates the Guilt of them by this Consideration What have ye not Houses to eat and to drink in or despise you the Church of God Where opposing the Church of God to private Houses it is plain that he speaks of material Churches and no less plain that he taketh it for granted and allowed by them that so great Reverence is due to these Churches that even for the sole Consideration of their Holiness no indecent Action ought to be committed in them Before him our blessed Lord had by his own Practice given us an eminent Example of the same Regard due to sacred places when he scourged the Money-Changers out of the Temple at Jerusalem although they had placed themselves only in the outward Porches and Avenues of the Temple where no Act of religious and publick Worship was wont to be performed And the Reason he assigned was this It is written my House shall be called the House of
more having more largely treated of it in my Discourse upon Easter-day which I will not repeat The Nineteenth SERMON Preach'd on June 1st 1690. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Mark XVI 19. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right hand of God WE lately celebrated the Memory of the Ascension of our Lord and the Offices of our Church direct us to employ our thoughts upon it in this intermediate time between that and Whitsunday To do this we are not only induced by that near Relation which it bears to Christ who by it took his last Farewel of his Disciples and entred upon the Possession of his Kingdom but also by those eminent Benefits which the whole Church received from it the Gift of the Holy Ghost the Confirmation of Faith and the increase of Hope In Discoursing of it I will confine my self to these three Considerations I. The necessity and convenience of the Ascension of Christ. II. The Truth of it III. The Advantages and Benefits which we receive by it I. That it was necessary our Lord should leave the Earth and ascend into Heaven himself often declared and in Joh. XVI 7. gives the Primary Reason of it Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is convenient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you The Mission of the Comforter that is the Holy Ghost was absolutely necessary and the necessity of it confessed by the Disciples of Christ yet could not this be effected untill Christ should ascend into Heaven It was convenient for the Apostles that the Comforter should be sent as by whom they received a most invincible Confirmation of their Faith and their Hopes What greater Consolation can be imagined to Disciples afflicted for the Departure of their beloved Lord than to receive such an infallible Assurance of his Being placed in Power and Glory in Heaven as did arise from the eminent Operations of Divine Power brought down by the Holy Ghost at his Intercession What stronger Confirmation of their Faith could they receive than that the Promises of their Master concerning a Comforter were effected which demonstrated the Truth of all he had said the actual Possession of that Glory which was vailed in the Infirmities of his humane Nature while he conversed upon Earth and the Prevalency of his Intercession with God the Father in their behalf What more could be desired to assure them of the continuance of their Masters Love after his Departure or to enable them successfully to discharge that Office of converting an unbelieving World which was imposed on them than that such Gifts should be conferred on them as were never before vouchsafed unto Mankind the knowledge of all Tongues the Faculty of speaking Eloquently and Boldly and the Power of working Miracles All these Reasons made it convenient and desirable to the Apostles that the Comforter should be sent unto them To the whole Church this was much more necessary which without that Mission could never have had Existence being founded and maintained by those Divine Gifts and Influences which were derived from thence Yet neither could the Apostles nor the Church have been Blessed with this so necessary so often Promised and so much to be desired Mission of the Holy Ghost had not our Lord first ascended into Heaven and there by his Power and Intercession have procured it The Comforter as he was to be the Advocate the Deputy to plead the Cause of Christ on Earth could not naturally take place but in his Absence and the very Mission of him as it was an Act of Regal Power could not be administred by Christ until he had taken Possession of his Kingdom which commenced at his Ascension into Heaven Nor is this the only Reason which made it convenient for the Church that our Lord should remove his visible Presence from us but the Possibility at least the increase of Man's Reward did depend upon it The Design of the coming of the Messias so long expected was known and confessed to be to restore the lost Happiness of Mankind to redeem them from their former Misery and to advance them to a State of Glory In prosecution of this Design if we consider either the Wisdom of God or the Nature of Man it could not but be expected that this Happiness should be affixed to certain Rules consequent to certain Conditions to be performed by Man not indifferently bestowed on all nor yet on any without Respect to their peculiar Merits The Application of it was to be directed and determined according to the right use of Reason and Free-will in every Man The whole of this consists in Obedience to the Laws of God and one great Branch of it in assenting to his Authority and believing all his Revelations And as an Assent to all the Revelations of God made at all times was the Duty of Man so more especially an Assent to those last and most considerable Revelations made by his own Son incarnate was required of Man and was farther intended to qualifie him for the Reception of that super-natural Happiness which was by him to be conveyed unto the World Since no greater Evidence of a right use of Reason and Veneration of the Divine Majesty could be offered than to inquire after to Assent to and obey the Revelations communicated by him It would be tedious and unnecessary to repeat those great Commendations of this eminent Act of right Reason call'd Faith and those many Promises of Reward annexed to it which may be found in the Scripture But from the whole it appeareth that this was to be the principal Condition of the Justification and therein of the Happiness of Man That this Act therefore might be the more Illustrious and might be Crowned with a more noble Reward it was convenient that Christ should withdraw his visible Presence from the World and therein give way to the Operation of Faith which is the Evidence of things not seen Had Christ continued for ever upon Earth in that glorious Majesty which was to take place after his Resurrection had he presented to the Senses of every Man sensible Demonstrations of his Divine Power in that Case to have believed on him would have been no more praise worthy no more meritorious than to assent to the ordinary Reports of Sense Who ever pretended to have acquired Merit by believing an Axiom of Mathematical Demonstrations Or who ever thought it an Argument of a true and just â—anagement of the Will and Understanding to believe that one Colour differeth from another or that the Sun doth shine These things strike our Senses and force a Belief whether we will or no in this Case to offend while the Soul enjoys its Reason and the Body the Organs of Sense is not so much as possible To have believed the Divinity of Christ while the Sense of an illustrious
Miracle wrought by him was yet present to confess he came in the Flesh while his Body was yet visible to acknowledge his Resurrection from the Dead when the Senses of every Man proclaimed no less all this would have been so slight an Argument of the right use of Reason so little deserving any Commendation or Reward that it would be no more than the necessary result of the Faculties and even not in the Power of the Will to avoid But when the Object is removed from the Sense and yet discovered by Reason when the Eye doth not see what the Affections still embrace when the Soul ceaseth not to hope upon probable and just Motives what it never received by Demonstration of Sense this is indeed a noble Act of right Reason worthy of a spiritual Being and worthy of a Divine Reward And such a Reward hath our Lord annexed to it pronouncing Joh. XX. 29. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed This Blessedness Christ by his Ascension hath communicated to the whole Church which without that had wanted the Qualification of a rational and well grounded Faith to acquire the Favour of God Further the Ascension of our Lord and therein his Exaltation to the supreme Degree of Glory was in Justice due to his precedent meritorious Sufferings which are therefore assigned as the cause of his Exaltation by St. Paul Phil. II. He made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant c. wherefore God also hath highly exalted him c. The Humility manifested by him in his Incarnation in the whole Course of his Life and in his Passion infinitely surpassed all the Examples of former times That the Son of God should vouchsafe to descend from his Seat of Glory in Heaven to leave the Bosom of the Father and cloath himself with the Infirmities of humane Nature that in this Nature he should not take upon him the Majesty of a Prince nor so much as allow himself the ordinary Satisfactions and Pleasures of it but live an afflicted Life and die a shameful Death and all this for his own Creatures who far from deserving such a Favour from him had rebelled against him from their Creation would lay violent hands upon themselves and continue their Contempt of his Authority till the Dissolution of all things this was such an extraordinary Humiliation that none other but the Son of God could have effected And therefore was in Justice to be Crowned with such a Reward as none but the Son of God could receive namely that that Body which had been thus depressed should be raised above all Creatures should be placed above Angels and Archangels should be advanced to the immediate Presence of God should for ever remain united to the Divine Nature and therewith be translated into the principal Seat and Throne of the Deity that is into Heaven Lastly To name no more Reasons it was necessary for Christ to ascend into Heaven that so he might fulfill all righteousness perform all which the ancient Prophets had foretold of the Messias or he had denounced of himself It was long since Typified by the Ceremonies used by the High Priest among the Jews in the Day of Propitiation which represented the Final Attonement to be made by Christ for the Sins of the World It was commanded by God that the High Priest should enter but once every year into the Holy of Holies that is upon that Day when with the Blood of the Sacrifice he passed thro' the Tabernacle and the parts of it into that place It was a received Opinion among the Jews that the Holy of Holies represented the Heaven of Heavens and the Tabernacle this visible World From which Opinion joyned with the legal Ceremonies of that day it appeared as the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews argueth IX 11 12. That the High Priest of the good things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands was to enter into the holy place having obtained eternal Redemption for us That he should lay down his Life as an Expiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the People and being slain should pass thro' all the Stages of this World here below and ascending into the highest Heavens the Throne of the Divine Majesty should there present his Blood Blood of that inestimable value as need not be shed and presented every year but as he once appeared in the lower World to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself so once for all he ascended into the higher Heavens not to appear again until he shall come in the Clouds with Majesty and great Glory to judge the quick and Dead The same was fortold by the Prophet David Psal. LXVIII 18. and from thence urged by St. Paul Ephes. IV. 8. Thou hast ascended up on high into Heaven as it is in the common Acceptation of the Original word thou hast led Captivity Captive thou hast received Gifts for Men. A Prophesie which notwithstanding all the Pretences of the Jews can neither be applied to Moses nor to Joshua nor to David himself nor to any illustrious Conqueror of that Nation who never ascended into Heaven but to Christ alone who really and bodily ascended into the highest Heaven unto the Throne of the Majesty of God By his Death and Resurrection he subdued Sin Death Hell and the Devil and in his Ascension visibly triumphed over them and led them Captive When that Body which by the Sacrifice of it self had destroyed Sin was in Reward of that meritorious Suffering advanced into Heaven there to be continually present with God when that Body which had been subjected to Death and afterwards was raised from it received now a certain Proof of its Immortality was raised into Heaven where is no place of Corruption left when the Captain of Man's Salvation visibly ascended unto the eternal Place of Happiness having first Promised to draw all his faithful Followers after him and from whence he dispensed the precious and glorious Gifts of the Holy Ghost to the Sons of Men. If these Prophesies and Types foretelling and prefiguring the Ascension of the Messias should seem obscure yet it cannot be denied that the Messias was to receive a glorious Kingdom This we are well assured the Nature of our Lords Office the Design of his Coming the Dignity of his Person permitted him not to receive on Earth and therefore it was necessary he should ascend into Heaven there to take Possession of it It had been a mean Reward to his Humility Patience and Sufferings preceding his Resurrection to have been advanced to a temporal Kingdom to be dignified with a Reward common oft-times to the worst of Men. The greatness of this World was inconsistent with his Design the Pleasures of it were contemned by him and that Divinity which was no longer to be clouded or depressed but to shine forth in its full Lustre could find no fit Habitation upon Earth which in
justly to be accounted laudable For if we consider the great Lines and main Parts of the Doctrine of Christ they will be found to direct the Practice of those Actions which by all the World must be acknowledged to be good and excellent to be laudable and divine such as are Justice Sobriety Devotion and Charity It is not among Christians alone that such Actions are esteemed Praise-worthy All Parties of sober Men as well Heathens as those professing revealed Religions have agreed in this common Sentiment in the Veneration and Praise of all such Vertues From hence it was that even when the Heathens derided the Faith of the Cross they still acknowledged the Excellency of those Persons who professed it They also were convinced that all those moral Vertues were the Perfection of Mankind only in this they disagreed that whereas they accounted the uniform Practice of them to be an undertaking possible only to more exalted Minds Christ had made it the Duty of all his Followers Although even this difference of Opinion could not but raise their Thoughts to an extreme Veneration of that Divine Person who formed these Laws and even forced from them a Confession of that Praise which was due to such an Institution and the Author of it Thus the very Nature of a Christian Life as it is directed by the Precepts of our Lord fitteth it to be an eminent Example to others He distinguished his Religion from all others by the Excellency of his Laws and Precepts so that whosoever should observe them must distinguish themselves from the rest of the World by a more perfect exercise of Vertue and Holiness And hence it is that he naturally infers in the twentieth Verse Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no Case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was the exact performance of all the Legal Institutions of the Mosaical Law of Sacrifices Washings and other Ceremonies which abstracting from the positive Command of God had nothing excellent in the Practice of them To see the Jews killing their Sacrificed Beasts washing their Bodies often or Circumcising themselves was no Motive of Holiness or giving Glory to God to those who were not of the same Religion They discerned nothing laudable in all this and were rather prompted to pity the Slavery than to imitate the Devotion of their Service Whereas the Practice of those good Works which Christianity imposeth is amiable and lovely in the sight of all Men ever carrieth along with it the Commendation and Approbation of all Spectators Thus our Lord fitted his Doctrine to be a light to the World and least it should fail of its designed End he hath commanded us to improve it to its right use and therein hath led the way by his own Example He confined not himself to a Desart as did John the Baptist but conversed in their Cities and more frequented Meetings that all Men might see the constant Piety Goodness and Charity which attended all his Actions be instructed by them and drawn to the Imitation of them He indulged his Conversation to Publicans and Sinners that he might gain them first to a love of his Person and then to an imitation of his Vertue He disdained not the Company of any who might receive advantage from his Doctrine or Example And that he might fit his Life for an universal Pattern to all his Followers he engaged not in the constant Practice of extraordinary Austerities as did John the Baptist but amidst the most severe and strict Exercise of all Vertues allowed to himself the innocent Pleasures and Entertainments of the World He refused not to sit down with those who invited him to splendid Entertainments as with Levi and Zacheus nor to be present at the Marriage-Feast At other times he was content to suffer Hunger and Cold Contempt and the vilest Injuries to undergo long watching in Prayer and Fasting For so it behoved him even in this Sense also to perform all Righteousness who was to be the grand Exemplar to all succeeding Ages Not to confine himself to any one method of Life least thereby his Example should become deficient to those who should be engaged in another but to pass through all the more ordinary Actions and Varieties of humane Life that in all Cases we might be able to approve and direct our Actions by conforming them to his Practice and if any doubt should arise concerning them might be able to justifie them by the Authority of his Example Both the Observation therefore of the Precepts and the Imitation of the Practice of Christ which are equally the Duty of every Christian engageth him to be exemplar in his Life and Conduct And thus first the whole Body of Christians will become a light to the rest of the World and then every Member of the Church to each other Our Lord describeth both in this place very lively Ye are the Salt of the Earth Verse 13. The rest of the World will remain in Sin and Corruption but in the numerous Society which I shall found and call by my Name Piety and Vertue and whatsoever is good and excellent shall be maintained Yet not to be confined to that Society alone but to be communicated to all who shall receive Instruction from it Ye are the light of the World Verse 14. The greater part of Mankind remain in Darkness and Ignorance but I have placed my Church as a glorious Light to dispel this Darkness and remove this Ignorance that so all who do but lift up their Eyes have the least inclination to Truth and Goodness may there discover the light and repair to it And this cannot fail to take effect while the brightness of this Light shall remain while the Church shall continue glorious and unspotted while the Members of it shall all or the more part of them perform their Duty For as it followeth a City placed on a Hill or a Light placed in a Room cannot be hid If indeed those Vertues which I command be observed by those who profess my Name if Justice Chastity Beneficence and other Marks of Goodness be indeed so eminently exercised by so numerous a Body of Men it cannot be but the rest of Mankind will take notice of it and as many as desire to be freed from Darkness will approach to this Light Or if thro' sloth and negligence they still continue afar off however they will not be able to deny that they see the Light and must admire both it and the Author of it Thus the meanest Christian may make himself truly Exemplary by performing his Duty conscientiously in the Station in which God hath placed him Although his Understanding and Abilities have not fitted him to be an Example to others singly considered If he well dischargeth his single Station although never so mean in the Church he contributeth to this great Design of Christ of making his Church a
them intends it or not they cannot be concealed or pass unregarded Upon which account Christ justly resembleth them to a City placed on a Hill and to a Candle set on a Candlestick in the 14th and 15th Verses which naturally appear and give Light to all round about them as if he should say Do but you take care to perform good Works and the very Nature of them will cause them to become Exemplar I do not require you to publish and Blazon them abroad nor is there any need of it For if they be indeed performed they cannot escape the Knowledge and Observation of other Men. Farther not only the Nature of good Works maketh the Ostentation of them to be unnecessary in order to become Exemplar but also they carry with them less Temptation to Pride and Arrogance than any other Acts either of true or supposed Religion If the grounds and more ordinary Reasons of Pride and Self-conceit in Religion be searched it will be found that they are wont to be grounded in the more easie and commonly in mistaken Points of Religion As of old among the Pharisees in the punctual performance of Washings and other Ritual Observations among the more Ignorant of the Church of Rome at this day in Pilgrimages Beads and other Trifles among their Saints in extraordinary Austerities or unusual Acts of Self-denial among Enthusiasts in Raptures and pretended Inspirations All these naturally tend to foment the Pride and Self-conceit of Men they draw the Eyes of others on them and serve to make unwary People believe them extremely Conscientious and have this farther advantage towards the Design of Hypocrites that they are cheaply performed cross no Passion restrain no Lust make a great shew and cost them nothing And when they are performed not affording any inward Satisfaction of Mind as having no internal worth it is but natural for the Actors of them to seek that Satisfaction from the Praises and Applause of other Men which they reaped not from the Reflections of their own Conscience Whereas the performance of good Works raiseth in the Soul of Man so sweet a Complacency when reflected on that external Commendations can add nothing considerable to the internal Satisfaction of the Mind and will be neglected when compared with it To which I may add that the Exercise of many good Works and most signally the greatest of them that of Charity towards the Poor do naturally dispose to Humility accustoming the Mind to consider and compassionate the Wants and Infirmities of inferior Persons and condescend to the relief of their Condition It being most certain that Pride or an over-valuing of their own Dignity is in some Men the Cause of uncharitableness as well as the love of Riches betraying them to imagine it beneath their Quality to take into their Consideration the necessities of distressed Persons and to be aggrieved for them Which sort of Pride cannot consist with real Charity and where this is to be found the former can have no place At least it is most certain that Hypocrisie may consist with all those mistaken Indications of Holiness I before mentioned but with good Works with Mercy Justice Truth and Charity it is impossible it should consist For that whosoever performeth these doth really perform what he pretends to do that is satisfieth the Obligation of the Religion which he professeth However although ordinarily it be not necessary so to direct the performance of good Works that they may not escape the Knowledge of Men and it be always unlawful to direct them in that manner for this end alone to obtain the Praise of Men Yet in some extraordinary Cases it is not only lawful to perform them publickly with this Design that they may be seen of others not to obtain their Praise but to promote the Honour and Glory of God but it is also highly acceptable to God and serviceable to his Church This is warranted by the express words of our Lord in the Text which require his Disciples to cause their Light so to shine before Men that they may see their good Works and glorifie God If this Design doth at last terminate in the Honour of God and be so intended it is not only warrantable but recommendable by God and will be certainly rewarded by him Only great Caution is to be used in the Management of it and a scrupulous Care to be observed least any thing of vain Glory any sinister End should intervene and is to be put in Practise only in Cases of exceeding moment Such are when any Age or large Society of Men are especially deficient in any Duty In which Case it is a laudable and noble Undertaking for any private Persons to give the greatest and most publick Lustre to their performance of that Duty that so if it be possible by their eminen Example therein they may retrieve the publick Practice of it and whensoever any great and common Good altho' of another Nature may be attained or promoted thereby Such was the Case more particularly of the Apostles who were sent to preach Faith and Repentance among Jews and Heathens generally devoid not only of Faith but of all Moral Vertues For this Reason it was necessary that those noble Acts of Charity which they exercised in healing the Sick and restoring the use of their Limbs and Senses to those who before wanted them should be performed publickly that themselves should decline no opportunity of manifesting the Excellency of the Christian Religion and the deep Impression of it upon their own Minds For this Cause also St. Paul was not ashamed to relate at large and to Glory in the many Afflictions Hazards and Persecutions which he had undergone for the Testimony of Christ because the amplifying of his Labour and Patience tended to the spiritual Good of the Corinthians to whom it is directed and consequently promoted the Honour of God This Design also justified the Bravery of those ancient Christians who voluntarily and unsought for delivered up themselves into the hands of their Persecutors when they observed a general Cowardize and frequent Examples of Apostacy among other Christians who were apprehended and brought before the Heathen Tribunals that so by their Courage and Constancy they might excite others to persist resolutely in the Profession of their Faith It must be acknowledged that simply to throw themselves into Danger to expose themselves to the Fury of their Persecutors was unlawful Our Lord in Matth. X. 23. had commanded his Disciples When they should be persecuted in one City to fly into another And the Doctrine and Discipline of the ancient Church had forbidden the ordinary Practice of such rash Undertakings Yet whensoever so great a Good might be attained thereby as to raise the dejected Courage of other Christians and to assert the Honour of Christ against the Heathens boasting in the subversion of many weaker Christians it was not only lawful to engage in voluntary Martyrdom but highly meritorious and rewarded as such by
God if no vain Glory or desire of humane Praise were intermixed therewith but the sole Design was the Advancement and Vindication of the Divine Glory For far be it from us to censure or condemn of Rashness all those noble ancient Martyrs who without any Force confessed the Faith of Christ at the Heathen Tribunals and thereby drew upon themselves Torments and Death that they might give an Example of Constancy to less couragious Christians who could not otherwise withstand the force of Persecution It was found by Experience that such generous Examples did more effectually raise the Courage of other Christians labouring under Persecution than the Sense of their Duty or the hope of all those glorious Rewards proposed by Christ to those who should suffer for his Name And to justifie this proceeding in such extraordinary Cases St Paul himself as we read Acts XXI had resolved to go up to Jerusalem and continued his Resolution although it was foretold to him by Agabus and other Prophets and himself knew by the Spirit that Bonds and Imprisonment did abide him that he should there suffer a grievous Persecution Nor is this the only Case wherein it may be lawful or commendable to perform good Works publickly and with this Design that they may be seen of Men. Many other such Cases may be found I will instance but in two Pennance and Charity As for the first the Practice of publick Pennance it must be confessed by all who know the State of the ancient and present times of Christianity that the use of it was then the great Preserver of unfeigned Piety among Christians and that the Discontinuance of it now is the chief Cause of the want and coldness of Religion in our times They very well knew formerly as well as we do now that God chiefly regardeth inward Repentance the Contrition of the Soul That Admonition of our Saviour was then as well as now contained in the Gospel But thou when thou fastest anoint thy Head and wash thy Face that thou appear not unto Men to fast but unto thy Father which is in Heaven where what is said of Fasting may be applied to all other Acts and Indications of Repentance Yet the infinite Benefit which the Church received from the publick performance of Pennance required the Institution and the great Advancement of the Glory of God which arose from thence justified the Practice of it Then was Religion and Piety maintained in its full Vigour when Persons guilty of any scandalous Crimes however eminent by Birth or Station were put to open Pennance secluded from the rest of the Faithful placed by themselves in a separate part of the Church and there appearing in Sackcloath or other penitential Dress begged the Pardon of God with Tears and desired Reconciliation and this not only for many days but oftimes for many years together Such Discipline could not but produce in the Minds of all Christians who beheld it an exceeding dread of Sin and Caution in abstaining from such Scandals as would certainly draw upon them either a total Separation from the Church and the Hopes of Salvation or the necessity of undergoing the same Severities The sight of those Penitents was more instructive to ordinary Christians than all the most elaborate Invectives against Sin or Exhortations to Repentance representing to them at once the Guilt the Horror the Shame and the Punishment of Sin Nor was their Repentance to be accounted less real or internal because attended with such outward Professions rather these gave an evident Argument of the reality and sincerity of their Repentance since to take away the Guilt and remove the Scandal of their Sin and reconcile themselves to God and his Church they refused not to undergo the long and strict Severities of publick Pennance and which of all things is most repugnant to the Inclinations of humane Nature to put themselves to open Shame In like manner however ordinarily speaking Charity ought to be done in secret and our Lord hath largely warned us To take heed lest we do our Alms before Men to be seen of them that is for this only Reason that we may be seen and praised by them yet if we do our Alms before Men that they may see them and by seeing them may be excited either to glorifie God or to practice the like Charity then it is not only lawful not only secureth the Rewards promised to Charity but also becometh of excellent advantage to the Church and the Honour of God and entitleth to the Rewards due to the Propagation of Religion and the Divine Glory However it might be in ancient Times or former Ages when almost all Christians exercised Charity even to profuseness certainly in our Age which is chiefly deficient in the practice of this Duty it would be a noble Undertaking in any to restore the Practice of it by the Lustre of any eminent and publick Example And although very great Rewards be promised to secret Charity it is not to be doubted but that to publick Charity exercised in such Cases much greater are reserved if it be not corrupted with any mixture of vain Glory or ignoble Designs because such hath not only all the Effects of secret Charity in relieving the Wants of others but farther also contributeth very much to the Honour of God the common good of the Church and the Edification of other Men. In all these and other like Cases the advantage produced thereby to the Church consists not so much in exciting others by the force of Example to the Imitation and Practice of the same good Works although that be very great as in the Conviction of the truth of Christianity which it invincibly formeth in the Minds of Men. To Persons of ordinary Capacities and Knowledge such as constitute the far greater part of the Church there can be no more certain Argument of the Truth of that Religion which they profess than that the same is professed by so great a number of eminent and excellent Persons If they believe the Profession of others to be sincere and real themselves will Assent without any Scruple if they suspect their reality themselves will be tempted to Infidelity Now the publick and eminent performance of good Works give the only evident Demonstration of the sincerity of the perswasion of other Men since in a Countrey where any Religion prevails by Custom and Education a verbal Profession of it may be only the effect of either and not to contradict it may be due only to common Civility But whoever publickly performeth good Works giveth an undeniable Testimony that he doth in earnest believe the Truth of what he professeth and thereby disposing others to the same belief increaseth the number of the Faithful and advanceth the Glory of God performeth the Duty enjoyned in my Text and shall receive the Reward of it Thus much of the End to which exemplary Piety ought to be directed the Glory of God and that this End will really be
the brightness of the Sun the Example of wise and holy Men to the fixed Stars which however far inferior to the Glory of the Sun yet are seated in Heaven and communicate to the Earth a Light never to be extinguished and that at a great distance The nearer we approach to these luminous Bodies the greater Light we shall receive from them The Examples of holy Men while alive are so many shining and burning Lights in their several Generations and even after their Deaths will derive exceeding influence to succeeding Ages so long as the Memory of their eminent Piety and good Works shall be continued Those excellent Graces wherewith they were endued those noble Testimonies of Vertue and Holiness which they gave tended no less to the benefit of the whole Church and the instruction of other Christians than to their own Salvation and if they be not equally beneficial to us at this distance of time it is because we either take no Care to obtain the knowledge of them or suffer the remembrance of them to slip out of our Minds It is undeniable indeed that in this present Age and among us especially the Memory of these things is almost lost which is not the least cause of the prevailing wickedness of the Age and present Examples of equal Lustre are very rare or indeed scarce any yet for all that those Holy Persons cease not to retain their glorious Seat in Heaven and there as the Prophet saith To shine as the brightness of the Firmament as the fixed Stars always maintain their Stations and preserve their Light altho' at any time not seen by us To this glorious Station in Heaven our Lord hath promised to advance all those who by extraordinary Piety and the eminent Exercise of good Works shall endeavour not only to save their own Souls but also to Profit the Church in general and to promote the Salvation of any other in particular May the hope of this glorious Reward excite every one of you to the performance of this Duty of Exemplariness And may God of his infinite Mercy accept and Crown your Endeavours for the sake and Merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom c. The One and Twentieth SERMON Preach'd on Decemb. 25th 1690. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Luk. II. 14. Glory to God in the highest and on Earth Peace Good-will towards Men WHAT the Patriarchs saw afar off and desired what the Prophets foretold and just Men in all preceding Ages did assuredly expect the Manifestation of God in the Flesh and the Salvation of Mankind to be wrought thereby did this Day receive its Final accomplishment by the Birth of our Lord and Saviour the Commemoration of which is the occasion of this present Solemnity Nor can we more fitly commemorate it than by this admirable Hymn which the Angels and heavenly Host upon this occasion sang before us and the Church hath in all Ages since retained in her most Sacred Offices Glory be to God in the highest and on Earth Peace Good-will towards Men. This Hymn seems to have been a part of the publick Service of the Jews and to have been employed by them to express and celebrate the most illustrious Instances of the Divine Goodness to them For we find Acclamations very like to it in several places of Scripture and particularly upon the triumphant Entry of Christ into Jerusalem The Jews being perswaded that their long-looked for Messias was now come and all the temporal Advantages which they fancied would attend his Coming cryed out Peace in Heaven and Glory in the Highest But surely upon no occasion was it ever so justly used as by the Angels upon this Day in which the Divine Glory did so eminently shine forth and the eternal Happiness of Mankind did commence For from the Angels we receive this Hymn and are taught to sing it by their Example which is related in the Verse preceding the Text And suddenly there was with the Angels a multitude of the heavenly Host praising God and saying c. One Angel declared to the Shepherds the glad Tidings of great joy which should be to all People the Birth of Christ but the whole Quire of Angels the Host of Heaven joyned to sing Praise to God and celebrate those Benefits which were that day derived down upon all Mankind Themselves received not like Benefits to Men from the Incarnation of the Son of God yet returned Glory to God for it The Reasons of which it may not be amiss to lay down before I proceed to consider the parts of this Hymn singly First then the Angels were moved to give Thanks to God by the increase of the Divine Glory among Men which they foresaw would be consequent to this Incarnation Their Office is to attend continually before the Throne of God and sing Praises without Intermission to him so that every new increase of the Divine Glory inflames their Zeal in this Holy Office The primary Reasons indeed of that Glory and Praise which they continually yield to God are eternal being drawn from his immutable Attributes of supreme Power Wisdom Goodness and Majesty Yet every illustrious Manifestation of any of these glorious Attributes by external Effects becometh also the Subject of their Praise Thus in in Revel IV. 8. we find the Angels celebrating the eternal Attributes of God in that Hymn Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come And in many other places celebrating the Effects of these Attributes as Rev. XV. 3. Great and marvellous are thy Works Lord God Almighty and XIX 7. Let us be glad and rejoyce and give Honour to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come Nay as it should seem by comparing the several forms of Doxology to be found in the Book of Revelations the Angels since the Manifestation of the Mystery of God incarnate have in a manner changed the Subject of their Doxologies and confined themselves almost wholly to the Contemplation of this Mystery and the glorious Effects of it For in the beginning of that Book while the secrets of Heaven are still supposed to be Sealed up the wonderful Effects of this Mystery not yet to be fully disclosed all their Doxologies insist upon the general Attributes of the Divine Nature But after the full Declaration and Completion of those glorious Events and Effects of this Mystery which are there described the Argument of the heavenly Hymns is altered and imployed in the celebrating the Victories of the Lamb the overthrow of Satan and the Happiness of the Kingdom of the Messias That is so eminent and admirable is the Mystery of this Day so much conducing to the Divine Glory that since the Completion of it it is become the chief Subject of the Contemplation of those Holy Spirits who hereby best of all discern and are enabled to celebrate that Power Wisdom and Goodness which they before admired in God Farther the Angels celebrated the Birth of Christ as rejoycing at the