of the best Philosophy did we remember that we are the Offspring of God could we prostitute so noble a Nature to serve the Devil could we debase our selves so far as to truckle under the Violence and Servitude of our Passions Tully hath an admirable Saying to this purpose Put the case saith he that we should carry any thing so privately as that neither God nor man should discover us yet we should have such a reverence for our selves as not to suffer any thing that is immodest unjust or unclean to escape us So terrible is the witness of Conscience and so infallible is its decision in the great branches of our Duty THEN Sixthly Is Man such a curious piece of workmanship he must be under the peculiar Eye of Providence Thus reasons St. Paul Doth God take care of Oxen yes the very Law thou shalt not muzzle the Ox that treadeth out the corn prove sufficiently that they are under his care and the eye of his Providence BUT the care that is extended to those poor Animals that feed upon hay and corn is far below the special care that he hath of Mankind His delight is with the Sons of Men there is a peculiar eye of Favour that watches over the human Race and yet a higher degree of Love and Providence over good and holy Men. Psal 33.13 The Lord looketh from heaven he beholdeth all the sons of men v 14. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon the inhabitants of the earth v. 18. Behold the eye of the Lord is on them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy Psal 34.7 The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them But his Love towards Mankind is so strong that it cannot fall under Words He gave us his Son and if he gave us his Son how shall he not with him also give us all things He did not take hold of the nature of Angels but of the seed of Abraham It was his Love to us that engaged him to take upon him the form of a servant and humble himself unto death even the death of the cross Seventhly IF God hath put such Marks of Beauty and Honour on the human Nature Let us love one another So the Apostle enjoins Honour all men Love the brotherhood There is something due to our Nature under the cloud of the meanest Circumstances As the Philosopher alleged when he dispensed his Alms to an unworthy Person Non homini sed humanitati Our Love must resemble the Benignity of God that maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and the good and sendeth down Rain on the just and unjust LOVE is the life of Heaven whence all Bitterness and Unkindness is banished as far as Hell 't is planted in our Nature we are enclined to it by our original Constitution it is the Livery of the Christian Religion and the Badge of our Profession The Vices opposite to it make up the Devil's Nature and his Torture too Anger Bitterness Envy and Revenge create those Storms that continually ruffle the composure of our Spirits whereas the Practice of Christian Charity hath in it the Fore-tastes of Heaven and the Life of the Blessed THERE is no injury done to us can loose us from this Obligation no Error in Opinion no Enormity in Practice no Disaster of Fortune for our Brother is of our kind and however sullied and defac't retains still the Image of God The more frequently we consider this the more we are obliged to the Psalmist's resolution I will praise thee Which leads me to the Second Particular that I mentioned viz. The Psalmist's Gratitude and Acknowledgment Now in speaking to this I shall First Mention some of those Inducements that oblige us to it And then Secondly press the Practice of it 1. GOD is to be praised because he is the only Object of Praise Love and Admiration nothing else can love us again but God or some other Creature that resembles God Therefore St. John exhorts Love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him AND if he is to be praised because of the Works of Nature how much more because of his inestimable Love in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ Let the purest Spirits in their Robes of Light and Innocence admire it and veil their Faces with their Wings and stand at a distance and behold what manner of Love this is wherewith the Father hath loved us that we should be called the Sons of God If we cannot fly about the World with that Swiftness and Rapidity as the Angels do in Heaven yet what hinders our Souls to center themselves in his Love by the most unquenchable Ardors when we contemplate his Love to Mankind manifested in Jesus Christ 2. THE true exercise of our Reason requires it What is that you admire or what is it you pursue The Principles of Reason are everlasting and they are never so duly placed as on God who is invariable and without shadow of turning for the world passeth away and the fashion thereof doth perish but a Mind refined by the Principles of Christian Philosophy endures for ever Do but call to mind as M. Antoninus hath it such as have been in eminent Glory the Hero's and Captains of former Ages or such as have been tumbled down by Disgrace or run down with Misery such as have engaged to talk of all Men in every Condition of Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What 's become of all those things now And should our Reason spend its strength in the chase of such Shadows it cannot be duly employed in such transient Vanities had we but a view of the Impertinencies and Vanities that pass in one City but for one day how vain should we find the World to be 3. To praise God is the Enjoyment of Heaven The vision of God is nothing but the Light of Reason duly six'd on its true Object and advanc'd to its true Elevation when the Soul is dilated and enlarged and expatiates on its proper Theme Have you seen the Cedars or the Fir-trees that rise so high and spread their Branches so wide from a little Seed just so is the Soul how infinitely beyond its present self are its Operations then found to be Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Thus the Inhabitants of Heaven are frequently represented in the book of the Revelations c. 4.10 11. and elsewhere adoring the Excellencies of their great Creator The four and twenty Elders fall down before him that sat on the throne and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory honour and power
believe in him Thirdly The Interest that we have in his purchase by our adherence to him and dependence on him He that believes on me though he were dead yet shall he live First THAT our Saviour did raise himself from the dead is certain else our Religion is but a fable and a lying vanity It is S. Paul's own Inference to the Corinthians If Christ be not risen then our faith is in vain and we are yet in our sins And so our Saviour tells the Disciples that Christ must needs suffer and rise from the dead the third day The Spirit of Prophecy did enlighten the Jewish Church and foretold the success glories and triumphs of the Messias He shall drink of the brook in the way therefore shall he lift his head And Isa 53.10 That when he made his Soul an offering for sin he should prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand That because he had poured out his Soul unto death God would divide him a portion with the Great and he should divide the Spoils with the strong All those Predictions have the Resurrection of our Saviour in their bosom and without it they are nothing When he was declared to be the Son of God by the Resurrection from the dead the suspicions concerning his Person were remov'd he appear'd then to be the Christ of God the Lord of all things the Judge of the world And his mean equipage bitter pains and shameful disgraces did but heighten and inflame the Zeal and Devotion of Jew and Gentile How mysterious was the stratagem of his Love to hide the Glories of his Divinity to obscure the brightness of his Majesty by the interposal of human Nature to cloath himself with our flesh that he might die that through death he might overcome him that had the power of death and by his omnipotence raise himself from death and the grave For though he was Crucified through weakness yet he liveth by the power of God He was put to death as a notorious Malefactor exposed to the reproach and contempt of all Nations treated as an Enemy to God and to true Religion his adversaries insulted over him as one stricken smitten of God But when it appear'd that he was the mighty Favorite of Heaven by his Resurrection from the Dead how did this confute their Reasoning How did it baffle their Accusations How did it upbraid their Ignorance and scatter their vain Surmises and aggravate their incurable Malice Since he must needs be acknowledged to be the Messias in defiance of all spite and contradiction The stone which the builders refus'd became the head-corner-stone of the building Being found in fashion as a man be humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every Tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father Now the human Nature is rais'd above the Angelical in the Person of our Saviour And the hosts of heaven fall down before him that was dead and is alive and dies no more and every creature which is in heaven and in earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea say with a loud voice Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessings The very thought of it delivers us from all our fears as the value and merit from our offences This is the Triumphant Song of the Christian Church the strong Tower we flie to in all our straits and difficulties the immovable Author of our Faith Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us The meditation of it is the strongest inducement to a holy life for he was rais'd to bless us in turning every one of us from our iniquities For as he was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father Even so we also should walk in newness of life And if you be present with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God Do we worship him that is risen from the dead and brake thorow the Iron barrs of death and yet remain captive our selves under the tyranny and bondage of our sins Let it appear by our heavenly Conversation that we are acted by a Spirit superior to the World that we are born of God that he that is in us is stronger than he that is in the world for in this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother Do we believe that our Saviour is victorious over Death and the Grave and yet shall we remain slaves to our Lusts and Passions Let the contrary appear that we are united to him in the closest manner encouraged by his Promises and enliven'd by his Spirit Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise think on these things And this is the most proper method to prove to the World the Resurrection of our Saviour and the divinity of our Religion and this was the Argument that the first Christians made frequently use of to confound their Adversaries For how can we be made partakers of the Divine Nature but by the Divine Power Shall we live a Life more pure and heavenly than the rest of Mankind if we are not inspir'd with a Spirit not only opposite to but above the maxims principles and genius of the World Shall the Scythians Persians and Romans forsake their fierceness lasciviousness and pride and become calm and chast and humble if they have no other rule to direct them than the glimmerings of Nature and weak essays of Philosophy Is it possible that we can overcome the Inclinations of Nature Lust Passion and Revenge but by a Spirit higher than Nature Can evil Habits be so soon removed Or can the Ethiopian change his Skin If we are then changed from what we were to the true use of our Reason and the acknowledgments of the Deity and the practice of all Vertue To what cause can this change be imputed but to the Divine Spirit of Jesus whose powerful intercecession prevails to Redeem us from under the dominion of all Error Darkness and Prejudice Do we then believe in Christ risen from the dead Let us live no more to sin but unto him that died for us and
Christianity 1. I SAY Let us consider the Nature of that God whom we serve NOTHING purifies and enlarges the Mind more than the true account of the Divine Nature And therefore our Saviour when he came to accomplish the great Reformation did in the first place establish the true Notion of Almighty God and reveal the Father unto us No wonder then if the Heathen World was miserably sunk and buried in their Lusts and Impieties when the very History of their Gods and the Fables of their Poets did represent them under the Tyranny of their Passion Lust Jealousie Rapine and Revenge acting all the Extravagancies that make our Nature miserable and infamous How could they think it but honourable to be like their Gods could they be induc'd to reform what was heroically virtuous BUT blessed be God we have no such subterfuge and pretence for our wickedness God hath manifested himself clearly unto us we have such Notions of the Deity as are adequate to the Reason and Spirituality of our Souls fix'd in the Gospel THE Holy Scriptures every where represent him as the first Original and Self sufficient Being at an eternal distance from all weakness mixture change or composition the only Center of all Life Power Goodness and Omniscience WILL you consider his Power See how elegantly the Prophet Isaiah confutes from his Power the folly of Idolatry The Nations are as a drop of a bucket they are counted as the small dust of the ballance He taketh up the Isles as a very little thing all Nations are as nothing and they are less than nothing and vanity It is he hath sitteth on the circle of the Earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers he stretches out the heavens as a Curtain and spreads them out as a Tent to dwell in THE Armies of Heaven wait his call the brightest Seraphims stand ready to fly his errands up and down the Creation to whom then will ye liken God what likeness will ye compare him to When we think of his Power the very first thoughts of it should allay the pride and swellings of Vanity How soon were the passionate complaints of Job run down with the mention of his ineffable Power and his heart struck with Silence and Reverence IF you consider his Wisdom O Lord how manifold are thy works In wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full of thy Riches The Lord of Hosts is wonderful in Council and excellent in working Great in Council and mighty in works who from the darkest Labyrinths and Intricacies of Providence makes the event beautiful and comely IF you consider his Goodness it endures for ever He is the Center and the Fountain of it If his Justice it is inviolable The Scepter of his Kingdom is a Scepter of Righteousness If his Holiness He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity If his Knowledge and Omniscience He is light it self and dwells in light inaccessible and with him is no darkness at all LET us then but a little more feriously reflect upon the Nature of God and warm our Soul at this fire Let us ask Is this God whose Majesty fills the Heavens and the Earth to be indeed approach'd with flat and tepid Devotions Did the Heathens worship their Idols with so much Lukewarmness as is too too visible among the Christians Nay but their sacrifices prostrations vain repetitions their superstitious Pageantry and Ceremonies requir'd a great deal of attention and application The very Devils if they were worshipped would not be satisfied with the careless behaviour of the Christians in our days and shall we approach the Invisible Immortal God with less regard than the Pagans did their dumb idols Our God is a Spirit saith our Saviour and must be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth And if you would allow me to speak a little more plainly nothing casts greater contempt upon the God that we adore or the Religion that we espouse than the manner of our Worship When we approach our Patrons and Benefactors on Earth we meet their smiles with the lowest submissions and acknowledgements But when we come unto the Altar we offer the blind and the lame in the language of the Prophet Offer it now unto thy Governour saith the Prophet The Living God must be worshipped with life and serv'd with vigour and ador'd with devotion He is all Perfection and cannot be serv'd with the cold and faint essays of half conviction and lame consideration I ask then when we dwell on the Nature of God whether or no the whole Soul ought to be employed in his Worship and Service BUT had we to do with such a Deity as the Epicureans fancied one that had eternally locked up himself within the Imperial Heavens If our actions and affairs came not at all under his cognizance then we might approach him with that remissness coldness and unconcernedness that is visible in our addresses But our God is all pure Life intent upon the Government of the World all things are open and naked before him with whom we have to do His eyes pierce into the Secrets that are buried in darkness He look'd down to see if any did seek after God He humbles himself to behold the things that are done in Heaven and in Earth There passes nothing unobserved Whether shall I fly from his presence If we ascend into the Heavens he is there in his Majesty and Power and his glorious Troops attend his pleasure He worketh all things after the Council of his own Will Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he both in heaven and in earth in the sea and in all deep places The most casual and apparently fortuitous actions are ordered by his Wisdom Nothing so little but it falls under his care He is not a little Prince confin'd to the Hills and Mountains as the Aramites profanely imagin'd but the valleys also are his The young Lions roar and seek their meat from God the Lillies of the field are adorned not a Sparrow falls to the ground without your Father your very hairs are all numbered But 2 LET me press this from the Nature of his Law the sum whereof obliges us to love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our soul with all our strength and our neighbour as our selves The Laws of Men restrain our hands and determine our outward motions but the Laws of God set bounds to our very thoughts He that gave Man understanding sees the very first risings of our inventions and there is nothing appears irregular without but what was formed within for out of the heart proceed murders adulteries c. And therefore the Divine Law reaches the inside as well as the outside it makes a very exact Anatomy of the whole Soul and opens up our hearts unto our selves and discovers what we knew not before and yet now we know to be exactly true The most intricate cases are comprehended under
I mean the power of Miracles IF it were needful to cite Authors for this I might name many I take it for granted that here the Apostle is to prove the vanity of them that oppos'd his Doctrine and slighted his Methods for want of human eloquence he states the opposition between their way and his THEY set off their Dogmata with all the dress and parade of Rhetorical Amplifications their Proofs and Topicks mustered up in all the braveries of Art and Logick He spoke and asserted the mysteries of the Gospel with greater simplicity but greater Majesty less Ostentation in his utterance but much more Power and Efficacy We need not think by this that the Apostle was not eloquent but that he did not intend nor design to lay the stress of his Sermons on his eloquence He derived their success and victory from a higher spring Those who boasted themselves most in their philosophical composures might be overcome by such as were more eminent in that kind of Learning But the proofs of our Apostle were wholly out of that road and beyond the reach and skill of the profoundest Sophies even a demonstration that all his Enemies were forc'd to acknowledge it was the finger of God And because this is so material to the Apostles design and contains in it a very solid proof for our Religion I will endeavour to open the nature of it more fully 1. LET us consider the force and rational evidence that Miracles give to the Testimony of him that works them 2. THE special force they had to prove the Verity and Authority of Christian Religion And 1. WE must acknowledge the possibility of Miracles since we acknowledge a Deity and a Providence For he that hath established the Laws of Nature and directed the motions of all its wheels may for special ends of his Providence interupt that order and method and let us understand that he is above Nature And it is very reasonable and just for mankind upon such solemn occasions to look for extraordinary Appearances of the Divine Power both to confirm their Faith and provoke their Gratitude when God establishes new Laws or repeals old ones 't is highly necessary that his Message and Testimony be seal'd with some such undeniable Evidence as cannot rationally be resisted The multitude of jugling tricks and impostures in the world is so far from lessening this Argument that they rather strengthen it Because if Miracles were not acknowledged to be a sufficient evidence of a Divine Testimony they had never been counterfeited And it is certain that our reason closely and duly applyed to all circumstances is able to distinguish between a true Miracle and a counterfeit So we may take it for granted that the Miracles wrought by Christ and his Apostles were a sufficient undeniable Evidence that their Testimony was from God i. e. that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messias and that they were his Followers and Disciples and truly and sufficiently acquainted with his Discipline and Doctrine 2. THIS will appear if we consider the special necessity there was that such Miracles should be wrought in confirmation of Christian Religion either to point out 1. The Person of the Messias Or 2. To dispossess the Devil out of his strong holds Or 3. To satisfie the expectations of all men both Jews and Gentiles 1. THIS Proof was necessary in Christ and his Apostles to point out his Person to the Jews When the Jews require a sign from our Saviour he doth not reject the enquiry as in it self unreasonable but made in an unreasonable manner i. e. some extraordinary prodigy from Heaven such as were done in confirmation of the Laws of Moses and they would not be contented with the Miracles of our Saviour that were far more Glorious and Divine both for manner and quality than those done by Moses When I affirm that Miracles were necessary to point out the Person of the Messias I mean they confirm'd his Testimony to be from God he affirming himself to be the Messias and the sacred Oracles giving this character of the Messias that he should work Miracles For we cannot think that the wisdom and goodness of God will suffer the utmost Seal of rational Evidence to be affixed to a Ly. The Learned Huetius hath excellently cleared the Prophecies concerning the Messias from all the Cavils of the Jews and there was no characteristick given of him in the Prophets more frequent and specifick than his working of Miracles Isa 42.6 7. I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee for a Covenant of the People for a light of the Gentiles To open the blind eyes to bring out the prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house And Luke 4.18 Our Saviour tells us that the famous Prophecy of the Messias Isa 61. Is fulfilled in himself HENCE is it that he appeals to his Miracles as to his credential Letters from Heaven If I had not done amongst them the works which none else did they had had no sin i. e. That of Infidelity and again Believe me for the works sake And their unbelief is justly expos'd in that queston of our Saviour ' s when he asks for which of those works do ye stone me When John the Baptist hearing of the Miracles of our Saviour sent two of his Disciples with this question to him Art thou he that should come i. e. Art thou indeed the Messias Our Saviour return'd no other answer than this Go said he and shew John again those things which you do hear and see The blind receive their sight the lame walk and the dead are raised up The Jews themselves acknowledge that they could not in reason expect greater Miracles to be done by the Messias than those which they saw perform'd by our Saviour When Christ cometh say they will he do nice Miracles than these which this man doth And Nicodemus grants That no man can do these things unless God be with him NOW those Miracles are so much the more illustrious that He not only wrought them himself but gave power also to His Disciples when he was ascended unto the Father to confirm their Testimony by Miracles And the first Ages of Christianity furnish us with many undeniable proofs so frequent and so palpable were those demonstrations of the Divine Power that multitudes of men and women were heal'd by the Apostles only by the sincere Invocation of the Name of Jesus and they such as were past all the cure of Art and Nature The shadow of S. Peter passing by did heal many And the Author to the Hebrews assures us That God bore them witness with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will And the Ancients largely prosecute this Argument that such and so many Miracles were wrought by the Apostles as clearly prov'd