Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
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A64233
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Pray for the peace of Jerusalem a visitation sermon. / preached at Gainsbrough, May 7th 1691 by Nathanael Taylor ...
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Taylor, Nathanael, d. 1702.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing T547; ESTC R33904
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20,217
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32
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habere Deum deceat tamen habendum sciat And the Philosopher tells us how God is known by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist de Mundo c. 6. T. 1. p. 863. And as they acknowledged a God so they seldom mentioned his Name especially Jove's which may probably be a Contract of the Jews and our Jehovah without some Epithet declaring their Esteem of and Honour for him as Jupiter Optimus Maximus Immortalis c. And 't is probable they had some notion of a Christ and the Son of God becoming Man and perhaps this was the reason why about the time of our Saviour's Birth Sueton. Aug. Caesar c. 53. Bishop Taylor L. of Christ S. 4. p. 25. Platina f. 6. Euseb Hist l. 2. c. 2. Augustus Caesar in Honour to our Saviour Dominum se posthac appellari ne a Liberis quidem aut Nepotibus vel serio vel joco passus est However 't is certain Tiberius Caesar under whom our blessed Saviour suffered would have had our Christ reckoned among the Number of their Gods And as they had thus a Notion of God and Honour for him so they made it their first and chief Business to take care of his Worship Thus one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythag. v. 1. Phocyl v. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor was the Worship of God their chief Business but they were zealous and uniform in it Ovid. Metam l. 1. thus Ovid brings in Jupiter declaring it Signa dedi venisse Deum vulgus precari Coeperat And of Dencalion and Pyrrhus's Zeal Ovid tells us thus Vt Templi tetigere gradus procumbit uterque Lib. eodem Pronus humi gelidoque pavens dedit oscula saxo But it would be tedious to insist on their Devotion let one Instance serve for all to shew their Zeal for Religion Val. Maximus saith of the Heathen Rome Val. Max. l. 1. c. 1. n. 9. Omnia post Religionem ponenda semper nostra Civitas duxit etiam in quibus summae majestatis conspici decus voluit Surely then we Christians and Ministers of the best of Churches ought to esteem its Peace and our Religion more than our Lives and Fortunes A Religion far better than they poor Creatures could pretend to Their Heathen Idols even that at Delphos being silenced at our Saviour's Death as Plutarch himself grants Plutarch de Orac. defect Dr. Cave introduct to v. 1. L. Fath. p. 10. Dr. Heylin's Cosmog l. 2. Phocis and others witness which was a Demonstration that Christ came to put an end to their Idolatry and certainly if they were so zealous for their Idolatry it should excite our Zeal for Christianity and our Prayers and Endeavours for the promoting and continuing the Peace of our Jerusalem 2. Consider the fidelity of the Jews to their Temple and Religion Scripture abounds with Evidences of their strictness in their Services and Devotions and how hardly any of them closed with Christ when he came tho' their promised Messiah but in zeal to their Law and Church they cryed out Crucifie him crucifie him And as for the Honour the Jewish Nation had for their Temple at Jerusalem 't is recorded Philo Legat. ad Cajum cited by Bp. Usher in power of Princes obed of Subject p. 191 to 198. That when the Emperor Cajus after our Saviour's time would have had his Image set up in the Temple at Jerusalem with the Title he had assumed to himself of New Jupiter all the Old Men Young Men and Boys in one rank all the Old Women young Ones and Virgins in another offered themselves to be slain by the Emperor's Fury rather than they would suffer their Temple to be prosaned with Idolatry Euseb Hist l. 3. c. 5 6 7 8. Dr. Cave v. 2. L. F. L. St. Simeon p. 94 95. v. 1. L. F. L. St. Stephen p. 11. L. St. Cyril p. 352 353. Tho' afterwards this Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus Vespasian and scarce one stone left upon another according to our Saviour's Prediction Matth. 24. And when the Emperor Julian to prove Christ a false Prophet did encourage the Jews to rebuild it no sooner had they cleared the Rubbish and laid the Foundation but a terrible Earthquake shaked it down and all the Buildings about it and destroyed the Undertakers of it And when the next day others attempted it a great Fire broke out and forced them to give over as is attested by Writers Heathen as well as Christian By which the ever-blessed Jesus demonstrated his putting an end to the Jewish Oeconomy and his bringing the World to a purer Religion that of the Gospel Christianity And surely if the Jews were so zealous for and so faithful to their Religion which was so obscure and chargeable so burthensom and troublesom we should joyn all our Prayers and use all our Endeavours for the Peace of our Jerusalem and the Welfare of our Religion which sets us free from that Yoke of Bondage Gal. 5.1 Mat. 11.28 29. easeth us of those Burthens and makes our Service perfect Freedom Especially 3. If we consider the Zeal of the Primitive Christians who rather than they would comply with the Worship of false Gods or suffer their own Worship of the true God to be profaned were themselves sacrificed and rather chose to part with their Lives Dr. Heylin 's Cosmog in 4o. l. 3. p. 193 293. Leigh on Caesars p. 247. 9. than their Religion witness the Disciples and Apostles of the ever-blessed Jesus most of whom died Martyrs witness the Ten Primitive Persecutions in the last of which under Dioclesian 't is said 5000 Christians were martyred for every day of the year except the first of January on which they shed no Blood as St. Hierom writes Nor did our Religion lose by their Sufferings but was rather the more propagated occasioning that Christian Adage Sanguis Martyrum est semen Ecclesiae Let the like Zeal be in us our Faith is the same our Hopes and Encouragements of Support under and of Glory after Sufferings are as great as they had they were Flesh and Blood as well as we Let us not then fear to bear a Cross with Christ on Earth if call'd to it since we expect to wear a Crown with him in Heaven Death we must meet with and to suffer it for Christ's and our Religion's Cause will make that which is a Debt to Nature an Advantage to us our thus suffering here adding to our Crown of Glory hereafter 2 Cor. 4 1◠18. For assuredly if they who live to Christ shall be happy with Christ much more shall they be glorious who with the Noble Army of Martyrs die for Christ rather than they will disown or betray him 4. Let us be earnest and zealous in our Prayers and Endeavours for our Religion and the Peace of our Jerusalem from the sad Effects of Schism in the Church and Civil War its usual Product in