against them and I punished them often in every Synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme and being exceedingly mad against them I persecuted them even to strange Cities Gal. 1.13 14. Ye have heard says he of my conversation in times past in the Jews Religion how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God and wasted it being exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers 1 Tim. 1.13 Who was before a blasphemer and a persecuter and injurious So that he chargeth himself with the guilt of Blasphemy and Murder and a most furious and outrageous Persecution of Good Men for which elsewhere he pronounceth himself the chief of Sinners From whence it evidently appears that Men may do the most Wicked and Damnable Sins out of a zeal for God And this was the case of many of the Jews as our Saviour foretold that the time should come when they should kill men thinking they did God good Service But yet for all this the Apostles of our Lord make no scruple to charge them with downright Murder Acts 2.23 speaking of their putting our Saviour to death whom ye by wicked hands have crucified and slain And Acts 7.52 The just One of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers Yet notwithstanding their Sin was of this high Nature in it self yet it was some mitigation of the fault of the Persons that they did these things out of an ignorant zeal and rendred them more capable of the Mercy of God upon their repentance And upon this account our Saviour interceded with God for Mercy for them Father forgive them for they know not what they do St. Peter also pleads the same in mitigation of their fault Acts 3.17 And now brethren I wot that through ignorance ye did it as did also your rulers And St. Paul tells us that he found mercy upon his repentance on this account 1 Tim. 1.13 But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and in unbelief But still for all this wicked things done out of Conscience and Zeal for God are Damnable and will prove so without repentance I shall now draw some Inferences from this Discourse by way of Application 1. If it be so necessary that our Zeal be directed by knowledge this shews us how dangerous a thing Zeal is in the weak and ignorant sort of People Zeal is an Edg-Tool which Children in understanding should not meddle withal and yet it most frequently possesseth the weakest Minds and commonly by how much the less knowing People are by so much the more zealous they are And in the Church of Rome where Knowledge is professedly discouraged and supprest in the common People Zeal is mightily countenanced and cherish'd And they make great use of it for this blind and furious Zeal is that which inspires diem to do such Cruel and Barbarous things as were hardly ever acted among the Heathen Zeal is only fit for wise Men but it is chiefly in Fashion among Fools Nay it is dangerous in the hands of wise Men and to be govern'd and kept in with a strict Rein otherwise it will transport them to the doing of Undue and Irregular things Moses one of the wisest and best of Men and most likely to govern and manage his Zeal as he ought and to keep aloof from all Excess and Extravagance being the meekest Man upon Earth yet he was so surprised upon a sudden occasion that in a fit of zeal he let fall the Two Tables of the Law which he had but just received from God and dasht them in pieces A true Emblem of an ungoverned zeal in the transport whereof even Good Men are apt to forget the Laws of God and let them fall out of their Hands and to break all the Obligations of Natural and Moral Duties 2. From hence we plainly see that Men may do the worst and wickedest things out of a Zeal for God and Religion Thus it was among the Jews who engrost Salvation to themselves and denyed the possibility of it to all the world besides and the Church of Rome have taken Copy by them as in an arrogant conceit of themselves so in the blindness and fury and uncharitableness of their Zeal towards all who refuse to submit to their Authority and Directions And as the Teachers and Rulers of the Jewish Church did of old so do the Church of Rome now They take away the Key of Knowledge from the People and will neither enter into the kingdom of Heaven themselves nor suffer those that would to enter in They Brand for Hereticks those who make the Holy Scriptures the Rule of their Faith and Worship as St. Paul tells us the Jews did in his Time Acts 24.14 After the way which they call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets They Establish the Merit of their own Righteousness not submitting to the Righteousness of God by the Faith of Jesus Christ So St. Paul tells us the Jews did in the Verse immediately after the Text For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God And as the Jews Anathematiz'd and Excommunicated the first Christians and Persecuted them to the Death as our Saviour foretold That the time would come when they should put them out of their Synagogues yea and kill them thinking they did God good service so the Church of Rome hath for many Ages used the sincere Professors of the same Religion Persecuting them first with Excommunication and then with Fire and Faggot and with all the violence and fury in the world endeavouring the utter extirpation and ruine of them by bloody Croisado's and a barbarous Inquisition by treacherous Massacres and all sorts of hellish Plots and Machinations witness the monstrous Design of this day never to be remembred or mentioned without horror To have destroyed at one blow and have swallowed up in one common ruine our King and Prince and Nobles and the Represent ative Body of the whole Nation witness the bloody Massacre of Ireland and all their wicked Designs and Practices continued to this very day 3. And lastly That zeal for God and Religion does not alter the Nature of Actions done upon that account Persecution and Murder of the sincere Professors of Religion are Damnable Sins and no zeal for God and Religion can excuse them or take away the guilt of them zeal for God will justifie no Action that we do unless there be discretion to justifie our zeal There is nothing oftner misleads Men than a misguided Zeal it is an ignis fatuus a false fire which often leads Men into Boggs and Precipices it appears in the Night in dark and ignorant and weak minds and offers it self a guide to those who have lost their way it is one of the most ungovernable Passions of Human Nature and therefore requires great knowledge and judgment to manage
other terms than of denying ungodliness and worldly lusts and of living soberly righteously and godly in this present world And besides this Consideration we have the best Testimony in the World of their Unblameable Lives viz. the Testimony of their profest Enemies who did not persecute them for any personal Crimes which they charged particular Persons withal but only for their Religion acknowledging them otherwise to be very innocent and good People Particulary Pliny in his Letter to Trajan the Emperor who had given him in Charge to make particular Enquiry concerning the Christians gives this honourable Report of them That there was no fault to be found in them besides their obstinate refusal to Sacrifice to the Gods that at their Religious Meetings it was an essential part of their Worship to oblige themselves by a solemn Sacrament against Murder and Theft and Adultery and all manner of Wickedness and Vice No Christian Historian could have given a better Character of them than this Heathen Writer does But 3. The Success of the Gospel will appear yet more strange if we consider the Weakness and Meanness of the Instruments that were employed in this great Work A company of plain and illiterate Men most of them destitute of the advantages of Education went forth upon this great Design weak and unarmed unassisted by any worldy interest having no Secular Force and Power on their side to give countenance and authority to them and this not only at their first setting out but they remained under these Disadvantages for three Ages together The first Publishers of the Christian Religion offered Violence to no Man did not go about to compel any by Force to entertain the Doctrine which they Preached and to list themselves of their number they were not attended with Legions of armed Men to dispose Men for the reception of their Doctrine by Plunder and Free-Quarter by Violence and Tortures this Modern Method of Conversion was not then thought of nor did they go about to tempt and allure Men to their Way by the Promises of Temporal Rewards and by the Hopes of Riches and Honours nor did they use any artificial insinuations of Wit and Eloquence to gain upon the Minds of Men and steal their Doctrines into them but delivered themselves with the greatest plainness and simplicity and without any studied Ornaments of Speech or fine Arts of Perswasion declared plainly to them the Doctrine and Miracles the Life and Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ promising Life and Immortality to them that did believe and obey his Doctrine and threatning Eternal Wo and Misery in another World to the despisers of it And yet these contemptible Instruments notwithstanding all these disadvantages did their work effectually and by the Power of God going along with them gained numbers every day to their Religion and in a short space drew the world after them Nor did they only win over the Common People but also several Persons considerable for their Dignity and Eminent for their Learning who afterwards became zealous Assertors of Christianity and were not ashamed to be Instructed in the Saving Knowledge of the Gospel by such mean and unlearned Persons as the Apostles were for they saw something in them more Divine and which carried with it a greater Power and Perswasion than Humane Learning and Eloquence 4. We will consider the mighty Opposition that was raised against the Gospel At its first appearance it could not be otherwise but that it must meet with a great deal of difficulty and opposition from the Lusts and Vices of Men which it did so plainly and so severely declare against and likewise from the Prejudices of Men that had been brought up in a contrary Religion no Prejudice being so strong as that which is founded in Education and of all Prejudices of Education none so obstinate and hard to be removed as those about Religion yea tho' they be never so absurd and unreasonable Hath a Nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods Men are very hardly brought off from the Religion which they have been brought up in how little Ground and Reason soever there be for it the being trained up in it and having a reverence for it implanted in them in their tender Years supplies all other defects Had Men been free and indifferent in Religion when Christianity first appeared in the World and had they not had their Minds prepossest with other apprehensions of God and Religion and been inured to Rites and Superstitions of a quite different Nature from the Christian Religion or had they at that time been weary of the Superstitions of their Idolatrous Worship and been enquiring after a better way of Religion then indeed the Christian Religion had appeared with great advantage and would in all probability have been entertained with a readiness of Mind proportionable to the Reasonableness of it But this was not the Case When the Doctrine of the Gospel was first Publisht in the World the whole World both Jews and Gentiles were violently prejudiced against it and fixt in their several Religions The Jews indeed in former times had been very prone to relinquish the Worship of the True God and to fall into the Heathen Idolatry But after God had Punisht them severely for that Sin by a long Captivity they continued ever after very strict and firm to the Worship of the True God and never were they more tenacious of their Religion and Law than at that very time when our Saviour appeared in the World And though He was foretold in their Law and most particularly described in the authentick Books of their Religion the Prophets of the Old Testament yet by reason of certain groundless Traditions which they had received from the Interpreters of their Law That their Messias was to be a great Temporal Prince they conceived an invincible Prejudice against our Saviour upon account of the Mean Circumstances in which he appeared and upon this Prejudice they rejected him and put him to death and persecuted his Followers And though their Religion was much nearer to the Christian than any of the Heathen Idolatries yet upon this account of our Saviour's Mean Appearance they were much more averse to the Entertainment of it than the grossest Idolaters among the Nations Not but that their Prejudice also was very great the common People being strongly addicted to the Idolatry and Superstitions of their several Countries and the Wiser and more Learned whom they call'd their Philosophers were so puft up with a conceit of their own Knowledge and Eloquence that they despised the rudeness and simplicity of the Apostles and look'd upon their Doctrine of a Crucified Saviour as ridiculous and the Story of his Resurrection from the dead as absurd and impossible So St. Paul tells us that the Cross of Christ was to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness But besides the Opposition which the Gospel met withal from the Lusts and Prejudices of Men
By what Marks and Characters we may know that zeal which here and elsewhere in Scripture is condemned as not being according to knowledge III. How far the doing of any thing out of a zeal for God doth mitigate and extenuate the Evil of it For when the Apostle here testifies concerning the Jews that they had a zeal of God he speaks this in favour of them and by way of mitigation of their Faults When I have handled these Three Particulars I shall apply my Discourse to the present Occasion of this day I. What are the Qualifications and Properties of a zeal according to knowledge I shall mention these Three 1. That our Zeal be right in respect of its Object 2. That the Measure and Degree of it be proportioned to the Good or Evil of things about which it is conversant 3. That we pursue it by lawful ways and means 1. That our Zeal be right in respect of its Object I mean that those things which we are zealous for be certainly and considerably Good and that those things which we are zealous against be certainly and considerably Evil. A mistake in any of these quite marrs our Zeal and spoils the Virtue of it And tho' it be never so much intended for God it is not at all pleasing and acceptable to him because it is a blind and ignorant and mistaken Zeal And the hotter the worse it is not an heavenly fire that comes down from above but it is like the fire of Hell Heat without Light If we mistake Good and Evil and be zealously concerned against that which is Good or for that which is Evil the greater our Zeal is the greater is our Fault and instead of doing God and Religion Service and Credit we do the greatest Mischief and Dishonour we can to them both Or if the thing about which our Zeal is conversant be of a doubtful and uncertain nature this is not properly an Object of Zeal Men should never be earnest for or against any thing but upon clear and certain Grounds that what we contend so earnestly for is undoubtedly Good and that which we are so violent against is undoubtedly Evil If it be not we are zealous for we know not what and that I am sure is a zeal not according to knowledge And if the thing be certainly Good or Evil which we are so concerned about it must also be considerably so otherwise it will not warrant our being zealous about it All Truth is Good and all Error Bad but there are many Truths so inconsiderable and which have so small an influence upon Practice that they do not deserve our Zeal and earnest Contention about them and so likewise are there many Errors and Mistakes of so slight and inconsiderarable a Nature that it were better Men should be let alone in them than provok'd to Quarrel and Contend about them Thus that great Heat that was in the Christian Church about the Time of observing Easter was in my Opinion a Zeal not according to knowledge They were on both sides agreed in the main which was to celebrate the Memory of our Saviour's Resurrection But there were different Customs about the Time which was a matter of no such consideration as to deserve so much Heat and Zeal about it especially considering the uncharitable and mischievous Consequences of that difference 2. That our Zeal may be according to knowledge the Measure and Degree of it must be proportioned to the Good or Evil of things about which it is conversant That is an ignorant Zeal which is conversant about lesser things and unconcerned for greater Such was the Zeal of the Scribes and Pharises who were mightily concerned about external and lesser Matters but took little or no care of inward Purity and real and substantial Goodness they were very careful not to eat with unwasht hands and to make clean the outside of the cup and platter but then they were full of extortion and all unrighteousness they pay'd tythe of mint and anise and cumin but omitted the weightier things judgment mercy and fidelity or as St. Luke expresseth it they past over Judgment and the love of God A zealous strictness about external Rites and Matters of difference where there is a visible neglect of the substantial Duties of Religion and the great Virtues of a good life is either a gross Ignorance of the true Nature of Religion or a fulsome Hypocrisie And so likewise is a loud and zealous out-cry against Rites and Ceremonies and the Imposition of indifferent things in Religion when Men can release themselves from the Obligation of Natural and Moral Duties and pass over mercy and justice and charity 3. A Zeal that is is according to knowledge must be pursued and prosecuted by Lawful and Warantable Means No Zeal for God and his Glory for his true Church and Religion will justifie the doing of that which is morally and in it self evil Will ye speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him We do not know what belongs to the Honour of God and Religion if we think to promote his Glory by means so dishonourable and offensive to him The Apostle pronounceth it a Damnable Sin for any to charge this Doctrine upon Christianity that evil may be done for a good end and to promote the glory of God Rom. 3.8 As we he slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say let us do evil that good may come whose damnation is just And yet nothing is more frequent than for a Man out of a Zeal for God and Religion to over-look the Evil and Unlawfulness of the Means they use for the advancing so good an End This is that which hath sanctified those refined Arts of Lying and Perjury by Equivocation and Mental Reservation those seditious ways of disturbing the Peace of Kingdoms by Treason and Rebellion by the Excommunicating and Disposing of Princes upon pre tence of Heresie of Extirpating those whom they please to call Hereticks by Inquisitions and Croisado's and Massacres and this not only in the opinion of private Persons but in the judgment of Popes and of General Councils I proceed in the II. Place to shew by what Marks and Characters we may know the contrary Zeal that which is not according to knowledge which is condemned here in the Text and very frequently in other Places of Scripture And tho' this may be sufficiently known by the contrary Marks and Properties which I shall but briefly mention yet to discover it more fully I shall add One or Two more very gross and sensible signs and instances of it 1. It is a zeal without knowledge that is mistaken in the proper Object of it that calls good evil and evil good a Zeal for gross Errors and Superstitions plainly contrary either to the revelation of God's Word or the light of Reason or to common Sense any or all of these cannot be a zeal according to knowledge A Zeal for the Worship of Images for praying
us Satisfaction of the Truth and Divinity of the Doctrine of the Christian Religion which hath had so eminent a Confirmation given to it from Heaven and did at its first setting out so strangely prevail in the World against all Humane Probability not by might nor by power but by the spirit of the Lord. No man can well suppose a Religion in Circumstances of greater Disadvantage and upon all Humane Accounts more unlikely to sustain and bear up it self than the Christian Religion was The first Appearance of it was so mean and its Beginnings so small that no Man but would have thought it would presently have come to nothing and no other account can be given of the strange Success and Prevalency of it but that it was of God and therefore it could not be overthrown II. This Discourse may likewise satisfie us of the Reason why this Miraculous Power which accompanied the Gospel at first is now ceased because there is not the like Reason and Necessity for it which there was at first It was highly Necessary then to introduce the Christian Religion into the World and to be a sensible Evidence to Men of the Divinity of that new Doctrine which was Preached to them but now that the Gospel is generally entertained there is not the same Reason why this Miraculous Power should still be continued Acquisito fine cessant media ad finem when the End is once obtained the Means cease and the Wise God who is never wanting in what is Necessary does not use to be lavish in that which is Superfluous Now that the Christian Religion hath got firm footing in the World God leaves it to be propagated and advanced by its own Rational Force upon the Minds of Men now that the Prejudices of Education in a Contrary Religion are removed and the Powers of the World are reconciled to Christianity there is no need of such violent and extraordinary Means for the continuance of it now that it stands upon equal Advantages with other Religions God hath left it to be carried on in more humane and ordinary ways and such as are more level and accommodate to the Nature of Man That Miracles are long since ceased is acknowledged by the Fathers who lived an Age or two after the ceasing of them particularly by St. Chrysostome who gives the same Reason for it which I have just now assigned But the Church of Rome would still bear us in hand that this Miraculous Power does still continue in their Church and according to Bellarmine must always continue because he makes it an inseparable Property and Mark of the True Church But we pretend to no such Power nor have we any Reason so to do because all the Doctrines of our Religion are the Ancient Doctrines of Christianity delivered by our Saviour and by his Apostles publisht to the World and these are sufficiently confirmed already by the Miracles which our Saviour and his Apostles wrought in the Primitive Times of Christianity But the Church of Rome hath great Occasion and Need of New Miracles to confirm their New Doctrines and therefore as they have Reason they usually apply them to the Confirmation of their New Doctrines some to confirm Purgatory and to give countenance to Indulgences others to encourage the Worship of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints others to confirm that which all the Miracles in the World are not sufficient to confirm I mean the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which because it overthrows the certainty of Sense is in the Nature of it peculiarly incapable of being confirmed by a Miracle III. and Lastly The Consideration of what hath been said does justly upbraid us that this Religion which was so powerful at first and hath such Characters of Divinity upon it coming down to us confirmed by so many Miracles should yet have so little Effect upon most of us who call our selves Christians We have all the Advantages of the Christian Religion having been educated and brought up in it and yet it hath less Effect upon us than it had upon those whose Minds were prejudiced and whose Manners were depraved by the Principles of a false Religion for those who were reduced from Paganism to Christianity did on the sudden become better Men and were more Holy and Virtuous in their Lives than the greatest part of us who have been instructed and trained up all our lives in the Doctrine of Christianity The true Reason of which is that many of us are Christians upon the same account that they were at first Heathens because it was the Religion of their Country and they were born and bred up in it but Christianity was the Religion of their Choice and there were no Motives to perswade them to the Profession of that Religion but what were as powerful to oblige them to the Practice of it Let us also be Christians not only by Custom but by Choice and then we shall live according to our Religion He that takes up a Religion for any other Reason than to obey and practice it does not choose a Religion but only counterfeits the Choice of it We have beyond Comparison the best and most reasonable Religion in the World a Religion that hath the greatest Evidence of its Truth that contains the best Precepts and gives men the greatest Assurance of a future Happiness and directs them to the surest Way of attaining it Now the better our Religion is the worse are we if we be not made good by it The Philosophy of the Heathen made some virtuous and there were many eminent Saints under the Imperfection of the Jewish Institution What Degrees then of Holiness and Virtue may be expected from us upon whom the Glorious Light of the Gospel shineth so brightly I will conclude all with the Words of the Apostle Heb. 2.1 2 3 4. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the holy Ghost according to his own will SERMON VI. The Nature Office and Employment of Good Angels Preached on the Feast of St. Michael HEB. 1.14 Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation THis is spoken of Good Angels whose Existence as well as that of Evil Spirits the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament do every where take for granted no less than they do the Being of God and the Immortality of the Soul And well they may since they are all founded upon the general Consent of all Ages VOL. II. derived down to
necessary if we expect the Crown of Life and hope for the same happy End which they had for none but they that continue to the end shall be saved 4. We should imitate them in the efficacy and fruitfulness of their Faith in the Practice and Virtues of a good Life Whose faith follow considering the end of their Conversation that is their Perseverance in a holy Course to the end And these must never be separated a sound Faith and a good Life Without this our Faith is barren and dead as St. James tells us ch 2. v. 17. Our Knowledge and Belief of the Christian Doctrine must manifest it self in a good Conversation Who is a wise man says the same St. James ch 3. v. 13. Who is a wise man and endowed with knowledge amongst you Let him shew-out of a good conversation his works This is a faithful saying saith St. Paul to Titus ch 3. v. 8. and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they who have believed in God be careful to maintain good works And herein the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour were eminent Examples They lived as they Taught and Practised the Doctrine which they Preached So St. Paul strictly chargeth Timothy 1 Tim. 4.12 Be thou an example of the Believers in word in conversation in charity in faith in purity And our Saviour tells us that hereby chiefly false Prophets and Teachers might be known from the true Apostles of Christ Matth. 7.20 By their fruits ye shall know them And indeed we do not follow the faith of those Excellent Persons if we do not abound in all the fruits of righteousness which by Jesus Christ are to the praise and glory of God I come now to the Third and Last Thing I Proposed viz. the Encouragement to this from the Consideration of the happy state of those Persons who are proposed to us for Patterns and the glorious Reward which they are made Partakers of in another World Considering the end of their Conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their egress or departure out of this Life into a Blessed and Glorious State where they have received the Crown and Reward of their Faith and Patience and Pious Conversation in this World or else which comes much to one considering the conclusion of their Lives with what Patience and Comfort they left the World and with what joyful Assurance of the happy Condition they were going to and were to continue in for ever And this is a great encouragement to Constancy and Perseverance in Faith and Holiness to see with what Chearfulness and Comfort good Men die and with what a firm and steady Perswasion of the Happiness they are entring upon For who would not be glad to leave the World in that Calmness and Serenity of Mind and comfortable Assurance of a Blessed Eternity Bad Men wish this and are ready to say with Balaam Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his But if we would have the Comfort of such a Death we must live such Lives and imitate the Faith and good Conversation of those whom we desire to resemble in the manner of their Death and to go into the same Happy State that they are in after Death If we do not make their Lives our Pattern we must not expect to be conformable to to them in the happy Manner of their Death When we hear of the Death of an eminent good Man we do not doubt but he is happy and are confident that he will meet with the Reward of his Piety and Goodness in another World If we believe this of him let us endeavour to be like him that we may attain the same Happiness which we believe him to be possest of and as the Apostle exhorts ch 6.12 Let us not be slothful but followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Let us shew the same Diligence that they did that we may have the same full Assurance of Hope unto the End which they had The Inference from this Discourse which I have made upon this Argument is to shew what Use we ought to make of these excellent Examples which are set before us of the first Founders and Teachers of our Religion and what is the proper Honour and Respect which we ought to pay to their Memory Not Invocation and Adoration but a zealous Imitation of their Faith and good Conversation The greatest Honour we can do them the most acceptable to God the most grateful to them and the most beneficial to our selves is to endeavour to be like them Not to make any Images and Likeness of them to fall down before them and worship them but to Form the Image of their Faith and Virtues upon our Hearts and Lives Not to Pray to them but to Praise God for such bright and glorious Examples and to endeavour with all our Might to imitate their Faith and Patience and Piety and Humility and Meekness and Charity and all those other Virtues which were so resplendent in them And this is to remember the Founders of our Religion as we ought to follow their Faith and to consider the end of their Conversation Had the Christian Religion required or intended any such thing as of latter Times hath been practised in the World it had been as easy for the Apostle to have said Remember them that have been your Guids and have spoken to you the Word of God to erect Images to them and to worship them with due Veneration and to pray to them and make use of their Intercession But no such thing is said or the least Intimation given of it either in this Text or any other in the whole Bible but very much to the contrary Their Example indeed is frequently recommended to us for our Imitation and Encouragement and for this Reason the Providence of God hath taken particular Care that the Memory of the Apostles and so many primitive Christians and Martyrs should be transmitted to Posterity that Christians in all succeeding Ages might propound these Patterns to themselves and have perpetually before their Eyes the Piety and Virtue of their Lives and their patient and constant Sufferings for the Truth that when God shall please to call us to the like Tryal we may not be wearied and faint in our Minds but being compassed about with such a Cloud of Witnesses having so many Examples in our Eye of those who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises and do now as it were look down from their happy State upon us here below who are combating with manifold Temptations to see how we behave and acquit our selves in our Christian Course we may take encouragement to our selves from such Examples and such Spectators to run with Patience the Race which is set before us I know indeed that other Use than this hath been and is at this Day made of the Memory of the Saints and Martyrs of former Ages very dishonourable to God and
he remains faithful who hath threatned and cannot deny himself This is matter of great Terror and seriously to be thought upon by those who are tempted to deny Christ and his Truth either by the hope of worldly Advantage or the fear of temporal Sufferings What worldly Advantage can we propose to our selves by quitting our Religion which can be thought an equal Price for the loss of our immortal Souls and of the Happiness of all Eternity Suppose the whole World were offered us in consideration yet what is a man profited if he should gain the whole world and lose his own Soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul as our Saviour Reasons Matt. 16.26 And on the other hand if the fear of Temporal Suffering be such a Terror to Men as to shake their Constancy in Religion and to tempt them to renounce it the fear of Eternal Torments ought to be much more Powerful to keep them stedfast to their Religion and to deter them from the denial of it If Fear will move us then in all Reason that which is most Terrible ought to prevail most with us and the greatest Danger should be most dreaded by us according to our Saviour's most Friendly and Reasonable Advice Luke 12.4 5. I say unto you my friends be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that have no more that they can do But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear Fear him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him If there can be no doubt which of them is most to be dreaded there can be no doubt what we are to do in case of such a Temptation I shall now draw some Inferences from this Discourse by way of Application First If this be a faithful saying that if we be dead with Christ we shall also live with him if we suffer we shall also reign with him but if we deny him he will also deny us The Belief of it ought to have a mighty influence upon us to make us stedfast and unmoveable in the Profession and Practice of our Holy Religion This Inference the Apostle makes from the Doctrine of a Blessed Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.58 Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. If any thing will fix Men in the Profession of their Religion and make them serious in the Practice of it the Belief of a Glorious Resurrection and of the Reward which God will then give to his Faithful Servants must needs have a very powerful Influence upon them to this purpose Upon the same ground the Apostle to the Hebrews exhorts them to hold fast the Profession of their Faith without wavering because he is faithful that hath promised If we be constant in the Profession and Practice of our Holy Religion God will be faithful to the Promise which he hath made of Eternal Life to those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality If under the dark and imperfect Dispensation of the Law Good Men shewed so much Courage and Constancy for God and Religion as we read in that long Catalogue of Heroes Heb. 11. How much more should Christians whose Faith is supported much more strongly than theirs was by a much clearer Evidence of another Life and a Blessed Immortality than they had by more express Promises of Divine Comfort and Assistance under Sufferings than were made to them and by the most Divine and Encouraging Example of the greatest Patience under the greatest Sufferings that the World ever had in the Death and Passion of the Son of God who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the Shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God! When we consider this Glorious Example of Suffering and the Glorious Reward of it how can we be weary and faint in our minds If the Saints and Apostles of the Old Testament did such great things by Virtue of a Faith which relyed chiefly upon the Attributes and Providence of God what should not we do who have the Security of God's express Promise for our Comfort and Encouragement We certainly have much greater Reason to take up our Cross more chearfully and to bear it more patiently than they did Secondly We should always be Prepared in the Resolution of our Minds to Suffer for the Testimony of God's Truth and a good Conscience if it should please God at any time to call us to it This our Saviour hath made a necessary Condition of his Religion and a Qualification of a true Disciple If any man will be my disciple let him take up his Cross and follow me so that we are to reckon upon it and to prepare for it that if it comes we may not be surprized as if some strange thing had happened to us and may not be unresolved what to do in such a case And God knows when we may be called to it However it is wise to forecast it in our Minds and to be always in a Preparation and Readiness to entertain the worst that may happen that if it come we may be able to stand out in an evil day and if it does not come God will accept the Resolution of our Minds and reward it according to the Sincerity of it He that knows what we would have done will consider it as if we had done it Thirdly The less we are called to suffer for God the more we should think our selves obliged to do for him the less God is pleased to exercise our Patience we should abound so much the more in the active Virtues of a good Life and our Obedience to God should be so much the more chearful and we more fruitful in every good work If there be no need of sealing the Truth with our Blood we should be sure to adorn and recommend it by our Lives Fourthly and Lastly If the hopes of Immortality will bear Men up under the extremity of Suffering and Torments and give Men Courage and Resolution against all the Terrours of the World they ought much more to make us victorious over the Temptations and Allurements of it For certainly it is in Reason much easier to foregoe Pleasure than to endure Pain to refuse or lay down a good Place for the Testimony of a good Conscience than to lay down our lives upon that Account And in vain does any Man pretend that he will be a Martyr for his Religion when he will not rule an Appetite nor restrain a Lust nor subdue a Passion nor cross his Covetousness and Ambition for the sake of it and in hope of that eternal life which God that cannot lye hath promised He that refuseth to do the less is not like to do the greater It is very improbable that a Man will die
dead which die in the Lord as if St. John had said considering the Extremity and cruel Circumstances of this last and severe Persecution we may from that time forward reckon those who are already dead supposing that they died in the Lord to be very happy in that they did not live to see and suffer those things which will then befall the faithful Servants of God when the Devil shall come having great wrath because he knoweth he hath but a short time Much in the same Sense as Solomon when he considered the oppressions that were done under the Sun says Eccl. 4.2 That he praised the dead which were already dead more than the living which were yet alive that is considering the Oppressions which were so frequent in the World he reckoned those happier that were out of it than those who still lived in it And as this is very agreeable to the Scope of what goes before so it suits very well with what follows after as the Reason why those Persons are declared to be so happy yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them that is that they may be at an end of their Troubles and Sufferings and may not be tryed beyond their Strength and Patience under that Terrible Persecution which will Reign at that time and likewise that they may receive the Reward of all the Good they have done and the Evils they have suffered in this World in the very same sense that the righteous are said to be taken away from the evil to come Esai 57.1 2. The righteous is taken away from the evil to come he shall enter into peace They shall rest in their beds each one walking in his uprightness that is enjoying the comfort of his Integrity and Sincerity towards God And now the main Difficulty being over we shall need to trouble our selves the less about the other Expressions in the Text Yet there are Two which I shall a little explain to you 1. What is here meant by dying in the Lord. And this sort of Phrase in the Lord in Christ and in the name of Christ is used in Scripture very variously In general it signifies the doing or suffering any thing with relation to Christ and upon his account and so to die in the Lord doth most frequently signifie to die in the Faith of Christ and the Profession of the Christian Religion Sometimes it signifies to die for his Cause and to bear Testimony to his Truth which is therefore called Martyrdom as St. Paul is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 4.1 A Prisoner in the Lord that is for his Cause So likewise St. Peter If ye be reproached 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the name of Christ happy are ye And 't is probable that the expression 1 Cor. 15.18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ is to be stood of those that died for his Cause because it follows immediately if in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable that is considering how much Christians Suffered for him in this Life they were in a most miserable Condition if there were nothing to be expected beyond it but especially if we consider the parallel Phrase 1 Thess 4.14 So them also that sleep in Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Jesus sake that is them that have suffered Martyrdom for him will God bring with him And in this sense many understand the Phrase in the Text as spoken of Martyrs Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord that is for his Cause And tho' I think the Phrase may well enough be understood more generally yet I shall not reject this Sense Because it is not unsuitable to the Scope and Occasion of the words For considering that last and extreme Persecution which he had described it was not altogether improper to pronounce those happy that had Suffered Martyrdom already and were taken away from those dreadful Calamities which in these last days of Antichrist were to fall upon the faithful Servants of Christ The other Expression is the last in the Text And their works do follow them So we render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which yet does most properly signifie to accompany or go along with one and so indeed the Expression will rather be more Emphatical they rest from their labours and their works accompany them But whether the word be rendred to follow or to accompany the difference is not very material Thus you see what the particular sense and meaning of the words probably is to declare the happy Estate of those Saints or Martyrs who were already dead in and for the Faith of Christ and should not live to see those cruel and fearful Sufferings which should afterwards come upon the Christians But then this is grounded upon that general Truth that they are happy that dye in the Lord. And this is that which I intend now to prosecute abstracting from the Particular occasion upon which these words were spoken which brings me to the Second thing I propounded and chiefly designed to handle upon the occasion of this day namely the happy Estate of Good Men after they are departed out of this Life And in speaking to this I shall confine my self to Two Particulars which the Text mentions as the Reasons and Grounds why they that dye in the Lord are declared to be in so Blessed a Condition yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them 1. Good Men when they are departed this Life are freed from all the Labours and Pains they were exercised with in this World That they may rest from their labours 2. They reap the Comfort and Reward of all the Good which they have done in this World And their works do follow them or rather go aloâ—â— with them to receive the Reward which God hath promised to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality 1. Those who die in the Lord are freed from the Evils and Miseries of this Life And this is so great a Felicity that some and those who think themselves no small Philosophers have placed the chief Happiness of Man in freedom from Pain and Trouble But tho' Happiness do not consist in this alone yet it cannot be denied to be a great part of it For tho' some have been so phantastically obstinate as against the Reason and Common Sense of Mankind to maintain this Paradox that a wise Man may be as happy upon the Rack or in Phalaris his Bull as in the greatest ease and freedom from Pain that can be imagined Yet Nature cries shame of this Hypocrisie and there are none of those wise Men they speak of were ever such Fools as to try the Experiment and to shew by their Actions that it was indifferent to them whether they lay'd themselves down upon their Beds every Night or were stretcht upon
they might do any thing and that whosoever opposed the Authority of so ancient and good a Church must needs be very bad Men and deserve to be proceeded against in the severest manner As if any pretence of Piety could give a Priviledge to do wickedly and by how much the Wiser and Holier any Man took himself to be he might do so much the worse things There is another remarkable Instance of this in St. Paul who out of a blind and furious Zeal for the Traditions of his Fathers Persecuted the true Church of God by Imprisonment and Death and all manner of Cruelties and all this while he verily thought that he was in the right and that he ought to do all these things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth And if God had not in a miraculous manner checkt him in his course and changed his Mind he would have spent his whole life in that course of Persecution and Cruelty and would with Pope Paul the IV. upon his Death-Bed have recommended the Inquisition or if he could have thought of any thing more severe to the chief Priests and Rulers of the Jewish Church I will not trouble you with nearer Instances tho' the Jewish Church is not the only Church in the World that hath countenanced the Destruction and Extirpation of those who differed from them as a piece of very acceptable Service to God and meritorious of the Pardon of their Sins 5. I observe that such Actions as these are never the less horribly Wicked and Impious notwithstanding the good Mind with which and the good End for which they are done The Jews were not excused from the guilt of Persecution and Murder for all they thought they did well in killing the Disciples of our Lord. For to make an Action good and acceptable to God the goodness of all Causes and of all Circumstances must concur and any one defect in any of these does vitiate the whole Action and spoil the goodness of it We must do it with a good Mind being verily perswaded that what we do is good and acceptable to God in which sense St. Paul saith that whatever is not of Faith is Sin and we must do it for a good End for the Honour of God and the Service of Religion and the Benefit and Edification of Men. But there is one thing wanting yet which is often forgotten but is mainly considerable viz. what we do with a Good Mind and to a Good End must be Good and Lawful in it self commanded or allowed or at least not forbidden by God If it be what good Circumstances soever may belong to the Action the whole Action is stark naught because the very Matter and Substance of it is Evil and Unlawful and Damnable tho' done for never so good an End So St. Paul tells us that they who said they might do evil that good might come their damnation was just He tells us indeed that some would have charged this Doctrine upon the Christians and particularly upon himself but he rejects it with the greatest detestation and which is not unworthy of our observation in his Epistle to the Roman Church as if the Spirit of God to whom all Times are present had particularly directed him to give this Caution to that Church that in future Ages they might be warned against so Pernicious a Principle and all wicked Practices that are consequent upon it And we find that St. Paul after his Conversion did think it no sufficient Plea and Excuse for himself and his Persecution of the Christian Profession that what he did was out of Zeal for God and his true Religion as he was verily perswaded but notwithstanding that acknowledged himself a Murderer and one of the greatest Sinners for which without the great Mercy of God he had perisht everlastingly 6. And lastly I observe that the Corruption of the best things is the worst Religion is certainly the highest Accomplishment and Perfection of Humane Nature and Zeal for God and his Truth an excellent Quality and highly acceptable to God and yet nothing is more barbarous and spurs Men on to more horrid Impieties than a blind zeal for God and false and mistaken Principles in the matter of Religion Our Saviour compares the Christian Religion and the Ministers and Professors of it to Salt and Light The most useful and delightful things in the World Religion enlightens the minds of Men and directs them in the way wherein we should go it seasons the Spirits and Manners of Men and preserves them from being Putrified and Corrupted but if the Salt lose its savour if that which should season other things be tainted it self it is thenceforth the most insipid and offensive thing in the World good for nothing but to be cast upon the Dunghil if the light that is in us be darkness how great is that darkness Mistakes and false Principles are no where so pernicious and of such mischievous Consequence as in Religion A blind and misguided Zeal in Religion is enough to spoil the best Nature and Disposition in the World St. Paul for ought appears was of himself of a very kind and compassionate Nature and yet what a Fury did his mistaken Zeal make him It is hardly credible how madly he laid about him but that he himself gives us the account of it Acts 26.9 10 11. I verily thought with my self says he that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth which thing I also did in Jerusalem and many of the Saints I shut up in Prison having received authority from the Chief Priests And when they were put to death I gave my voice against them and I punished them oft in every Synagogue and compel'd them to blaspheme and being exceedingly mad against them I persecuted them even to strange Cities I might descend lower and give Instances both of former and later times of Emperours and Princes both Heathen and Christian that of themselves were mild and gentle and yet through a mistaken Zeal and the instigation of their Chief Priests have been carried to Cruel and Bloody things And indeed nothing gives so keen an edg even to the mildest Tempers as an erroneous and wild zeal for God and Religion it is like Quick-Silver in the back of a Sword that is not very sharp of it self which gives a mighty force and weight to its blow and makes it to cut terribly And it is very sad to consider that the zealous Prosecution of Mistakes in Religion hath produced sadder and more barbarous Effects in the World and more frequently than the ordinary Corruptions and Degeneracy of Natural light is apt to do as the decay of the richest and most generous Wines makes the sowerest Vineger so that the Pasquil or Libel against Pope Vrban the VIII upon occasion of his taking off the Brazen Roof of the Old Capitol which had held out so many Ages and that notwithstanding Rome had been so often sackt by Barbarous
Nations and his selling it to inrich his Family quod non fecerant Barbari fecerunt Barberini may with changing the Name and Occasion be applyed to a great many others that they have been guilty of those Cruelties against Christians upon account of difference in Religion which the most Barbarous Nations never exorcised upon one another I have done with the Observations and the Text and shall I now need to make any Application of what hath been said to the Occasion of this day The thing applys it self since the horrid Design of this Day was undertaken and carried on upon the same Pretences and Principles upon which the Jews persecuted the Disciples of our Lord and much in the same Method for they first thunder'd out an Excommunication against them and then took it for granted that it would be an acceptable Sacrifice to God to destroy them I will not go about to aggravate the Comspiracy of this Day it is past my skill nor will I extend the blame and guilt of it any farther than the plain Evidence and Reason of the thing does enforce It is a thing so scandalous to Humane Nature and so great a Reflection upon any Church and Religion to be accessory to the contriving or countenancing of any such Design that I am very well contented that it should be confined to as narrow a compass as may be and none esteemed guilty of it but those that were openly in it or have since endeavour'd to excuse it All that we desire of others is that they would declare their hearty detestation of such abominable Practices and be as good as their word and that they would not account it a service and sacrifice to God to destroy all that cannot be of their Mind So that the Inference from all this Discourse in short shall be this that Men should take great care to inform their Consciences aright and to govern them by the plain Rules of Good and Evil the Law of God written upon our hearts and revealed in his Word which forbids such Practices as I have been speaking of as clearly as the Sun shines at Noonday and that we would always be afraid to do a bad thing tho' gilded over with never so glorious Colours and specious Pretences of zeal for God and his Truth For a Man may do a thing with an honest Mind and for a religious End and be Commissioned and Countenanced as St. Paul was by them who take themselves to be the only true Church in the World and yet at last prove to have been all the while a Blasphemer and a Murderer and the greatest of Sinners for none of these Pretences are sufficient to warrant and sanctifie a wicked action Before this can be done the immutable nature of Good and Evil must be changed I will conclude all with that gentle Reproof of our Blessed Saviour to his Disciples when their Zeal for him had transported them to make that cruel Request to him that he would as Elias had done upon a like occasion call for fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritans Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of for the Son of man came not to destroy mens lives but to save them hereby declaring to us the true Spirit and â—â—â—per of Christianity and that they 〈◊〉 contrary to it are ignorant 〈…〉 â—ature of the Christian Religion Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of for the Son of man came not to destroy mens lives but to save them SERMON XV. The Duty and Reason of Praying for Governours Preached on the 29 of May. 1693. 1 TIM II. 1 2. I exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in authority that we way lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty I Need not tell any here that this Day is appointed by Authority for an Anniversary Solemnity in a grateful Commemoration of the great Mercy of God to these Nations VOL. II. in putting an end to the intestine Wars and Confusions of many Years in restoring to us our own ancient Government and Laws and in bringing home as upon this Day the rightful Heir of these Kingdoms to the Crown and Throne of his Fathers And tho' the Glory of this Day hath been not a little sullied and obscured by many things which have happened since that Time fitter now to be buried in Silence and Oblivion than to be mention'd and raked up yet it hath pleased God in scattering those black Clouds which not long since hung over us to restore this Day to its first Lustre and brightness so that we may now with great joy look back upon it as designed by the wise Providence of God to make way for the Happiness which we now enjoy under their present Majesties by whom under God we have been delivered from that terrible and imminent Danger which threatned our Religion and Laws and the very Constitution it self of our ancient Government And to this Occasion no kind of Argument can be more proper and suitable Serm. XV. than that which the Text affords to our Consideration in this Injunction of St. Paul to Timothy to take care that in the Publick Worship of God Supplications and Thanksgivings be put up to God for Kings and all that are in authority I exhort therefore c. In which Words there are Four things considerable First The Duty here enjoyn'd which is Prayer expressed to us in several Words which seem to denote the several kinds or parts of Prayer I exhort therefore that supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men For Kings and for all that are in authority c. Some of these words are of a very near signification and yet there seems some difference betwixt them most probably this 1. By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render Supplications is probably meant that part or kind of Prayer wherein we supplicate God for the Pardon of our Sins and for the averting and removing of Evils whether Temporal or Spiritual from our selves or others 2. By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render Prayers seems to be meant Petitions for Blessings and good things from God and these are most properly call'd Prayers 3. By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to be particularly meant Pleadings and Intercessions on the behalf of others 4. By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is certainly intended Praises and Thanksgivings to God for his Blessings and Goodness to our selves and others This seems to be the difference between them which whether it be exactly so or not is not very material since these are unquestionably the several kinds or parts of Prayer And these several sorts of Prayer St. Chrysostom in his Comment upon this Text tells us were Publickly used in his Time in the daily Service of the Church this says he all Communicants do know is done every day Morning and