to Saints and Angels contrary to the plain Law and Word of God a Zeal for the sacrilegious depriving of the People of half the Sacrament contrary to our Saviour's plain Institution and the acknowledged Practice of the Catholick Church for a thousand years a Zeal for that most absurd of all Doctrines that ever was taught in any Religion I mean the Dostrine of Transubstantiation not only without any sufficient Authority from Scripture as is acknowledged by several of the most learned of the Roman Church but contrary to Reason and in defiance of the Sense of all Mankind a Zeal for these and many more like gross Errors and Practices cannot possibly be a zeal according to knowledge 2. That is a zeal without knowledge the degree whereof is manifestly disproportion'd to the Good or Evil of things about which it is conversant when there is in Men a greater and fiercer Zeal for the Externals of Religion than for the Vital and Essential Parts of it for the Traditions of men than for the Commandments of God for Bodily Severities than for the Mortification of our Lusts for the Means of Religion than for the End of it a greater zeal against the Omission and Neglect of some senseless and superstitious Practices than against the Practice of the grossest Immoralities and against the Denyers of the Doctrines of Transubstantiation and of the Pope's Infallibility an equal if not a greater zeal I am sure a more severe Prosecution than against those who deny our Saviour to be the true Messias and the Son of God This certainly is not a zeal according te knowledge Nor 3. That which is prosecuted by unlawful and unwarrantable Means That cannot be a zeal of God according to knowledge which warrants the doing of Evil that Good may come the violating of Truth and Faith and of the Peace of Humane Society for the Cause of the Catholick Church and breaking the eternal and immutable Laws of God for the advancing of his Glory Nor 4. An uncharitable Zeal which is an Enemy to Peace and Order and thinks it self sufficiently warranted to separate from the Communion of Christians and to break the Peace of the Church upon every scruple and upon every fancy and conceit of unlawful Impositions tho' in the most indifferent things nay upon this single Point because a thing which they acknowledge lawful and indifferent in it self is in the worship of God enjoyned by Authority The most unreasonable Principle that I think ever was avowed among Christians not to do a thing which otherwise they might do only because it is enjoyned and to fancy that an indifferent thing becomes comes presently unlawful because it is commanded by lawful Authority and that it is a Sin to do any thing in the Worship of God which is not left to their Liberty whether they will do it or not This is not only a Zeal without knowledge but contrary to common Sense Nor 5. A Furious and Cruel Zeal which St. James calls a bitter or a wrathful Zeal and which tends to confusion and every evil work which is blind with its own rage and makes Men as St. Paul says of himself when he persecuted the Christians exceedingly mad against all that differ from them and stand in the way of their fierce and outragious Zeal 6. And lastly A Zeal for ignorance is most certainly not a zeal according to knowledge and this is a Zeal peculiar to the Church of Rome by such strict Laws to forbid People the use of the Holy Scriptures in a known Tongue nay not so much as to allow them to understand what they do in the Service of God to require them to be present at their Publick Prayers and to joyn with them in them without letting them know the meaning of them to pretend to teach them by reading Lessons to them in an unknown Tongue and all this under pretence of increasing their Devotion as if the less Men understand of the Service of God the more they would be affected with it and edified by it And yet there is nothing in which the Church of Rome hath been more zealously concerned than to keep the People in ignorance Nothing they hive opposed with more obstinacy against the repeated application of Princes and People at the beginning of the Reformation than to allow the People the use of the Scriptures in their publick Prayers in an unknown Tongue And their obstinacy in this Point was not without Reason nothing being more certain than that if the People were once brought to understand the Scriptures they would soon quit their Religion which in so many things is so directly contrary to the word of God The III. And last thing remains to be spoken to viz. How far the doing of things out of a Zeal for God doth Mitigate and Extenuate the Evil of them 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 fault I bear them record I who was once acted by this ignorant and furious zeal which now possesseth them and persecuted the Christians in the same outragious manner as they still continue to do and all this with a very good Conscience as I thought and out of a zeal for God and the true Religion So he tells us Acts 26.9 I verily thought with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth So that his zeal was sincere and with a real intention to do Service to God and Religion and yet for all that was very faulty and sinful and if he had persisted in it Damnable so that his confidence that he was in the right and the Sincerity of his zeal in acting according to the perswasion of his Conscience did not alter the Nature of the actions he did out of this zeal and make them less wicked in themselves tho' it was some mitigation of the fault of the Person and render'd him more capable of the Mercy of God by Repentance than if he had done contrary to his Conscience and the clear convictions of his own Mind And therefore the best way to understand the great Evil and Wickedness of this furious and blind Zeal will be to consider the account which St. Paul after his Conversion gives of his own doings and what load he lays upon himself notwithstanding the Sincerity of his Zeal and that he acted according to his Conscience Acts viii and ix you have the History at large of his outrageous doings how he made havock of the Church entering into every house and haling men and women to Prison how he breathed out threatnings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. Acts 22.4 I persecuted says he this way unto the death binding and delivering into Prisons both men and women And Ch. 26.10 11. Many of the Saints did I shut up in Prison and when they were put to death I gave my voice
the Powers of the World did likewise strongly combine against it Among the Jews the Chief Priests and Rulers did with all their force and malice endeavour to stifle it in the birth and to suppress it in its first rise and several of the Roman Emperors who were then the great Governors of the World engaged all their Authority and their whole Strength for the extirpation of it and raised such a storm of Persecution against it as swept away greater numbers of Mankind than any Famine or Plague or War that ever was in the Roman Empire And yet this Religion bore up against all this Opposition and make its way through all the Resistance that the Lusts and Prejudices of Men armed with the Power and Authority of the whole World could make against it And this brings me to the 5. and last Consideration I mentioned the great discouragement that was given to the Entrance of this Religion There was nothing left to invite and engage Men to it but the Consideration of another World for all the Evils of this World threatned every one that took the Profession of Christianity upon him Whoever was known to be a Christian was liable to Reproach and Ruin to cruel Mockings and Scourgings to Banishment or Imprisonment and Confiscation of Estate but these were slight and tolerable Evils in comparison of others that were commonly inflicted upon them they were condemned to the Mines and to the Lions and all imaginable Cruelties were exercised upon them the most exquisite Torments that could be devised and Death in all its fearful shapes was presented to them to deter Men from embracing this Religion and to tempt them to quit it And yet they persisted in the Profession of their Religion and for the sake of it did not only take joyfully the spoiling of their goods but the most barbarous usage of their Persons and demeaned themselves not only with Patience and Courage but with Exultation and Triumph under those Tortures which no Man can hear or read of without horror And they did not only bear up thus manfully for one brunt but when these violent Persecutions were renewed and repeated upon them Christianity supported it self under all these daunting Discouragements for almost Three hundred Years and held out till the very Malice of their Persecutors was out of breath and their Cruelty had tired it self Nay it did not only support it self under all these Oppositions but grew and prospered and the Blood of Martyrs became the Seed of the Church and Christians sprang up faster than any Persecution could mow them down For Men by Degrees became curious to enquire into the Cause of such Sufferings and the Reason of so much Constancy and Patience under them and upon enquiry were satisfied and became Christians themselves and many times their very Persecutors were ready to Sacrifice their Lives the next Day for that very Cause for which but the Day before they had put others to Death And it cannot here be reasonably Objected that Christians yielded up themselves to all these Sufferings upon the same Account that some brave Spirits among the Heathen laid down their Lives for their Country namely out of a desire of Fame and to perpetuate their Names in After-ages this I say cannot reasonably be said in this Case because these Sufferers were not the great and ambitious Spirits the Flower and Select Part of Mankind but the Common People and many of them of the tenderer Sex and Age who have usually a greater Sense of Pain than of Glory and yet so were they animated by their Religion and Transported beyond themselves as not only to submit but many times to offer themselves to those Sufferings by declaring themselves to be Christians when no Man accused them and when they knew they should die for making that Profession so that it is harder to justifie their forwardness to Suffer than the sincerity of their Sufferings Besides that nothing could be more foolish and unreasonable than for Men to hope to get a Name by Suffering in a Crowd and to be particularly remembred to Posterity when they dyed in such multitudes that no Man knew the Names of the greatest part of the Sufferers You see then how strongly the Gospel prevailed how soon this new Religion over-ran the World how suddenly it subdued the Spirits and changed the Manners of Men and by what mean and despicable Instruments to all humane appearance this great Work was done and how in despite of all Opposition and Discouragements it was carried on Can any one of the false Religions of the World pretend to have been propagated and establisht in such a manner meerly by their own force and the Evidence and Power of Truth upon the Minds of Men and to have born up and sustained themselves so long under such fierce Assaults as Christanity hath done As for the Religion of Mahomet it is famously known to have been planted by force at first and to havâ— been maintained in the World by the same violent means So that great Impostor openly declares that he came not to plant his Religion by Miracles but the Sword And as for the Idolatries of the Heathen they came in upon the World by insensible degrees and did not oppose the Corruptions of Men but grew out of them and being suited to the vicious Temper and Disposition of Mankind they easily gained upon their Ignorance and Superstition by Custom and Example They were just such a Corruption of Natural Religion in such times of darkness and ignorance and by such insensible steps as there hath been since of the Christian Religion in some Parts of the World which we all know But no sooner did the Light of the Gospel shine out upon the World but the Idolatry and Superstition of the Heathen fell before it like Dagon before the Ark of God and tho' it had the Power of the World and Countenance of Authority on its side yet it was not able to maintain its ground and no sooner was that Prop taken away which was the only support of it but it presently sunk and vanisht it was not driven out of the World by Violence and Persecution but upon the breaking in of so great a Light it silently withdrew as being ashamed of it self And when afterwards the Emperor Julian endeavoured to retrieve it by his Wit and Authority and used all imaginable Arts and Stratagems to suppress and extinguish Christianity he was able to effect neither for the Christian Religion kept its ground and Paganism after it had made a little Blaze died with him Now to what Cause shall we ascribe this wonderful Success and Prevalency of the Gospel in the World There can but these Two be imagined the Excellency of the Christian Religion and the Power and Presence of the Divine Spirit accompanying it 1. The Excellency of the Christian Religion which both in respect of the goodness of its Precepts and the assurance of its Rewards hath plainly the advantage
Solomon's Temple which some that were then alive had seen in its glory yet in other respects it should far excel it for the time would come that this second Temple should be graced with the Presence of the Messias which would be a greater Glory to it than all the Riches of Solomon's Temple And this is fully exprest in the words which I have read unto you Thus saith the Lord of hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land And I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of hosts The silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of hosts The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of hosts and in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of hosts Now that it is some very great thing which is here foretold and promised for the Honour of this second Temple no Man can doubt that considers in what a solemn manner it is here exprest this great and glorious Title the Lord of hosts being no less than five several times used within the compass of these four Verses the like Instance whereto is not perhaps in the whole Bible Thus saith the Lord of hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth verse 6. And I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of hosts verse 7. The silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of hosts ver 8. And twice ver 9. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of hosts and in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of hosts So that by the solemn manner of expressing of it we may imagine that it is some very great thing which is spoken of and such as the like had never been before and such was the incarnation and coming of the Messias I know that the Modern Jews will by no means have this Text to be understood of the Messias and not without cause for he that is spoken of in the Text was to come into the second Temple which hath now been destroyed above 1600 Years ago and they do not believe the Messias to be yet come and therefore whatever shift they make they must interpret this Text of some other Person than the Messias But then it is plain for what Reason they do so it being evident from their own Talmud that the Ancient Jews did understand of the Messias but being harden'd in their Unbelief they pervert all those Texts whereby they might be convinc'd that Jesus our Blessed Saviour was the True Messias And indeed whoever carefully considers the several Expressions and Circumstances of this Prediction cannot understand it of any other To make this Evident I shall explain the several Expressions in the Text Thus saith the Lord of hosts Yet once it is a little while Yet a little while so it is in the Hebrew Yet once more so the LXX render it and so it is quoted from the LXX in the New Testament Heb. 12.26 and this Sense the Hebrew word may likewise bear and our Translation of the Text takes them both in Yet once it is a little while If we take the Words in the first Sense Yet a little while they signifie that God was then beginning those Changes in the World which were to precede and make way for the coming of the Messias This indeed was not till about Four Hundred Years after but a great while before that time God began those Changes in the World which were to prepare the way for his coming and considering the long time which was past from the first promise made to Abraham Four Hundred Years in comparison of that may seem but a little while But I rather choose the latter Sense of this Phrase Yet once more because the Hebrew will bear it and because it is so quoted in the New Testament as if the Prophet had said That God had before done a great thing in the World and accompanied with great Miracles viz. The giving of the Law by Moses which was attended with great Commotions both in Egypt by bringing the People of Israel out from thence with a mighty hand and by destroying the Nations before them whose Land God gave them for a Possession but now he would do one greater thing more the sending of the Messias and the planting of his Religion in the World in order whereunto there should be much greater and more universal Commotions and Changes in the World and more and greater Miracles wrought Yet once more and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and I will shake all nations From which Words the Apostle to the Hebrews argues the abolishing of the Jewish Dispensation and the bringing in of another that should be unalterable Heb. 12.27 And this Word Yet once more says the Apostle signifies the removing of those things that are shaken that those things which cannot be shaken way remain And this I shall have occasion to explain more fully in the following parts of this discourse Yet once more I will shake the heavens and the earth c. For the understanding whereof we are to consider That the Hebrews have no one Word whereby to express the World and therefore they do it by an enumeration of the principal Parts of it So Gen. 1. when Moses would express the Creation of the World he says In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth And so St. Peter when he would express the Revolution of all things after the universal Conflagration of the World calls it a new heaven and a new earth 2 Pet. 3.13 Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth that is a new World a quite other Frame and State of things than that which we now see And so the Prophet here in the Text to express the great Commotions and Changes that should be in the World before the coming of the Messias says that God will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land that is he would cause great Revolutions in the World there should be great Wars and Confusions and the Empires of the World should pass from one Hand to another And thus we find this very expression interpreted ver 21 22. of this Chapter I will shake the heavens and the earth and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations And to shew that by shaking the heavens and the earth is meant great Changes in the World and as it were an universal Commotion of it he adds in the Text by way of farther Explication and I will shake all nations And then it follows and the desire of all nations
his Will which he denied to many Prophets and righteous men who desired to see the things which we see but could not see them and to hear the things which we hear but could not hear them There were good Men in the World under those imperfect Revelations which God made to them but we have far greater Advantages and more powerful Arguments to be Good than ever they had And as we ought thankfully to acknowledge these blessed Advantages so ought we likewise with the greatest Care and Diligence to improve them And now how does the serious Consideration of this Condemn all Impenitent Sinners under the Gospel who will not be reclaimed from their Sins and perswaded to Goodness by all that God can do by the most plain Declaration of his Will to the World by the most perfect Precepts and Directions for a good Life by the most encouraging Promises to Obedience and by the most severe Threatnings of an Eternal and Unutterable Ruin in case of disobedience by the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men by the Terrors of the great day and the Vengeance of Eternal Fire by the wonderful and amazing Condescension of the Son of God appearing in our Nature by his merciful undertaking for the Redemption of lost and sinful Man by his cruel Sufferings for our Sins and by the kindest Offers of Pardon and Reconciliation in his Blood and by the glorious hopes of Eternal Life What could God have done more for us than he hath done What greater concernment could he shew for our Salvation than to send his own son his only son to seek and save us And what greater demonstration could he give of his Love to us than to give the Son of his Love to die for us This is the last Effort that the Divine Mercy and Goodness will make upon Mankind So the Apostle tells us in the beginning of this Epistle chap. 1.1 that God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son And if we will not hear him he will speak no more after this it is not to be expected that he should make any farther Attempts for our recovery he can send no greater and dearer Person to us than his own Son If we despise him whom will we Reverence If we reject him and the great Salvation which he brings and offers to us we have all the reason in the World to believe that our case is desperate and that we shall die in our sins This was the Condemnation of the Jews that they did not receive and believe on him whom God had sent And if we who profess to believe on him and to receive his Doctrine be found disobedient to it in our Lives we have reason to fear that our Condemnation shall be far heavier than theirs For since the appearance of the Son of God for the Salvation of men the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men especially against those who detain the truth of God in unrighteousness that is against those who entertain the Light of God's Truth in their Minds but do not suffer it to have its proper Effect and Influence upon their Hearts and Lives and make that a Prisoner which would make them free So our Lord tells us that the truth shall make us free but if after we have received the knowledge of the truth we are still the servants of sin our Condemnation is much worse than if the Son of God had never come For the Christian Religion hath done nothing if it do not take men off from their Sins and teach them to live well Especially at this time when we are celebrating the coming of the Son of God to destroy the works of the Devil we should take great heed that we be not found guilty of any Impiety and Wickedness because this is directly contrary to the main Design of the grace of God which brings Salvation and hath appeared to all men and the appearance whereof we do at this time commemorate for That teacheth men to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godlily in this present world And we cannot gratifie the Devil more than by shewing our selves more diligent than ordinary to uphold his Works at this very time when the Son of God was manifested on purpose to dissolve them We cannot possibly choose a worse a more improper Season to sin in than when we are Celebrating the Birth of the Blessed Jesus who came to save us from our sins This is as if a sick Man for joy that a Famous Physician is come to his House should run into all manner of Excess and so do all he can to enflame his Disease and make his case desperate Not but that our inward Joy may lawfully be accompanied with all outward innocent Expressions of it but we cannot be truly thankful if we allow our selves at this time in any thing contrary to the Purity and Sobriety of the Gospel It is matter of just and sad complaint being of great scandal to our Saviour and his holy Religion that such irregular and extravagant things are at this time commonly cone by many who call themselves Christians and done under a pretence of doing Honour to the Memory of Christ's Birth as if because the Son of God was at this time made Man it were fit for Men to make themselves Beasts If we would honour him indeed we must take care that our Joy do not degenerate into Sin and Sensuality and that we do not express it by Lewdness and Luxury by Intemperance and Excess by prodigal Gaming and profuse wasting of our Estates as the manner of some is as if we intended literally to requite our Saviour who being rich for our sakes became poor This is a way of parting with houses and land and becoming poor for his sake for which he will never thank nor reward us This is not to commemorate the Coming of our Saviour but to contradict it and openly to declare that we will uphold the Works of the Devil in despight of the Son of God who came to destroy them It is for all the World like that lewd and sensless piece of Loyalty too much in fashion some Years ago of being Drunk for the King Good God! that ever it should pass for a piece of Religion among Christians to run into all manner of excess for Twelve days together in honour of our Saviour A greater Aggravation of Sin cannot easily be imagined than to abuse the Memory of the greatest Blessing that ever was Christ coming into the World to take away sin into an opportunity of committing it this is to represent the Son of God as a Patron of Sin and Licentiousness and to treat him more contumeliously than the Jews did who bowed the Knee to him and mocked him and called
Salvation of Mankind I judge nothing more needful to be added to what has fallen in concerning that Subject in my handling the Second Proposition in this and the two former Sermons SERMON V. The general and Effectual Publication of the Gospel by the Apostles Preached on Ascension-Day 1688. Mark XVI 19 20. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right Hand of God And they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with Signs following IN these Words you have these Two great Points of Christian Doctrine I. Our Saviour's Ascension into Heaven and Exaltation at the right hand of God VOL. II. he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right hand of God II. The Effect or Consequence of his Ascension and Exaltation which was the general and effectual Publication of the Gospel they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following And both these are very proper for this Day but I shall at this time handle the latter Point namely the Effect op Consequence of our Saviour's Ascension into Heaven and Exaltation at the right hand of God they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following And these Words contain two things in them I. The general Publication of the Gospel by the Apostles they went forth and preached every where II. The Reason of the great Efficacy and Success of it namely the Divine and Miraculous Power which accompanied the Preaching of it Serm. V. the Lord wrought with them and confirmed the Word with signs following I. The general Publication of the Gospel by the Apostles they went forth and Preached every where And indeed the Industry of the Apostles and the other Disciples in publishing the Gospel was almost incredible What Pains did they take what Hazards did they run what Difficulties and Discouragements did they contend withal in this work and yet their Success was greater than their Industry and beyond all Humane Expectation As will appear if we consider these Five things 1. The vast Spreading of the Gospel in so short a space 2. The wonderful Power and Efficacy of it upon the Lives and Manners of Men. 3. The Weakness and Meanness of the Instruments that were imployed in this great Work 4. The powerful Opposition that was raised against it 5. The great Discouragements to the Embracing the Profession of it I shall speak briefly to each of these 1. The vast Spreading of the Gospel in so short a space This is represented Rev. 14.6 by an Angel flying through the midst of Heaven and preaching the Everlasting Gospel to every nation and kindred and tongue and people No sooner was the Doctrine of the Christian Religion publish'd and made known to the World but it was readily embraced by great numbers almost in all places where it came And indeed so it was foretold in the Prophecies of the Old Testament Gen. 49.10 That when Shiloh that is the Messias should come to him should the gathering of the people be And Isa 2.2 That in the last days the mountains of the house of the Lord should be establisht in the top of the mountain and be exalted above the hills and that all nations should flow unto it Isa 60.8 the Prophet speaking of Mens ready submission to the Gospel and the great number of those that should come in upon the Preaching of it they are said to flie as a Cloud and as the Doves to the windows So quick and strange a Progress did this new Doctrine and Religion make in the World that in the space of about 30 Years after our Saviour's Death it was not only diffused through the greatest part of the Roman Empire but had reached as far as Parthia and India In which we see our Saviour's Prediction fully verified that before the Destruction of Jerusalem the Gospel should be Preached in all the World Math. 24.14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all Nations and then shall the end come But this is not all Men were not only brought in to the Profession of the Gospel but 2. This Doctrine had likewise a wonderful Power and Efficacy upon the Lives and Manners of Men. The generality of those that entertained the Gospel were obedient to it in word and deed as the Apostle tells us concerning the Gentiles that were converted to Christianity Rom. 15.18 Upon the change of their Religion followed also the change of their Manners and of their former course of Life They that took upon them the Profession of Christianity did thenceforth not walk as other Gentiles did in the lusts of the flesh and according to the vicious course of the world but did put off concerning their former conversation the old man which was corrupt according to deceitful lusts and were renewed in the spirit of their mind and did put on the new man which after God was created in righteousness and true holiness So strange an Effect had the Gospel upon the Lives of the generality of the Professors of it that I remember Tertullian in his Apology to the Roman Emperor and Senate challengeth them to instance in any one that bore the Title of Christian that was condemned as a Thief or a Murderer or a Sacrilegious Person or that was guilty of any of those gross Enormities for which so many Pagans were every day made Examples of Publick Justice and Punisht and Executed among them And this certainly was a very admirable and hapy Effect which the Gospel had upon Men to work so great and sudden a Change in the Lives of those who entertained this Doctrine to take them quite off from those vicious Practices which they had been brought up in and accustomed to to change their Spirits and the temper of their Minds and of lewd and dishonest to make them sober and just and holy in all manner of Conversation of proud and fierce contentious and passionate malicious and revengeful to make them humble and meek kind and tender-hearted peaceable and charitable And that the Primitive Christians were generally good Men and of virtuous Lives is credible because their Religion did teach and oblige them to be such which tho' it be not effectual now to make all the Professors of it such as it requires they should be yet it was a very forcible Argument then in the Circumstances in which the Primitive Christians were For Christianity was a hated and persecuted Profession No Man could then have any inducement to embrace it unless he were resolved to practise it and live according to the Rules of it for it offered Men no Rewards and Advantages in this World but on the contrary threatned Men with the greatest Temporal Inconveniences and Sufferings and it promised no Happiness to Men in the other World upon any
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
of any Religion that ever yet appeared in the World And this is a great Advantage indeed But by this alone it could never have been able to have broken through all that mighty Opposition and Resistance which was made against it and therefore that it might be able to encounter this with Success 2. God was pleased to accompany the first Preaching of it with a mighty and sensible Presence and Power of his Spirit And this brings me to the Second Part of the Text the Reason of the wonderful Efficacy and Success which the Apostles had in the Preaching of the Gospel the Lord wrought with them and confirmed the Word with signs following Which words express to us that Miraculous Power of the Holy Ghost which accompanied the first Preaching of the Gospel by which I do not intend to exclude the inward Operation of God's Holy Spirit upon the Minds of Men secretly moving and inclining those to whom the Gospel was Preached to embrace and entertain it which the Scripture elsewhere speaks frequently of and may possibly be intended in the first of these Expressions the Lord working with them and the latter may only be meant of the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit with regard to which God is said to confirm the Word with signs following or accompanying it But I rather think they are both intended to express the same thing and that the latter is only added by way of explication of the former to shew more particularly how the Lord wrought with them namely by giving Confirmation to their Doctrine by those miraculous Gifts and Powers of the Spirit which they were endowed withal the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following that is with those Miracles which accompanied the first Preaching of the Gospel For these words do plainly refer to the Promise of the Spirit at the 17th verse and these signs shall follow them that believe which is the Reason why they are here call'd signs following that is Miracles which accompanied the Word that was Preached And that this is the full meaning of this Text will appear by comparing it with one or two more Rom. 15.18 19. where St. Paul speaking of the things which Christ had wrought by him to make the Gentiles obedient to the Gospel he says they were done through mighty signs and wonders by the Power of the Spirit of God which is the same with that which is said here in the Text of the Lord 's working with the Apostles and confirming the Word with signs following So likewise Heb. 2.3 4. the Apostle there tells us that the Gospel which was first spoken by the Lord was confirmed 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 So that the great Confirmation which is said here to be given to the Gospel was by the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit which were poured forth upon the Apostles and Primitive Christians In speaking of which I shall briefly do these Two things I. Give an account of the Nature of these Gifts and of the Vse and End to which they served And then shew in the II. Place how the Gospel was Confirmed by them I. For the Nature of these Gifts and the Vse and End to which they were designed They are those Miraculous Powers which by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the day of Pentecost the Apostles were endowed withall to qualifie them to Publish the Gospel with more speed and success Such was the Gift of speaking divers Languages and the Gift of Interpreting things spoken in divers Languages And these Two Gifts were not necessarily united in the same Person for the Apostle tells us that some had the one and some the others the Gift of Prophecy and foretelling things to come which was always a sign of a Person Divinely Inspired the Miraculous Powers of Healing Diseases of Raising the Dead and of Casting out Devils a Power of inflicting Corporal Diseases and Punishments upon scandalous and obstinate Christians who would not submit to the Apostles Authority and Government which is in Scripture call'd a delivering up to Satan for the destruction or tormenting of the Body that the Soul may be saved nay in some cases this Power extended to the inflicting of Death it self as in the case of Ananias and Saphira Not that all these Miraculous Powers were given to every one of the Apostles or that they could exercise them at all times some were bestowed upon one and some upon another according to God's good pleasure and as was most expedient for the Vse and Benefit of the Church and most subservient to those Ends for which God gave them only we find that all the Apostles had the Gift of Tongues and that the Power of Casting out Devils in the name of Christ was common to every Christian and continued in the Church for a long time after the other Gifts were ceased as Tertul. Arnob. and Min. Felix do testifie even of their own times But II. I shall briefly shew how the Gospel was Confirmed by these Miraculous Gifts Now besides the particular Vses and Ends of those Miraculous Gifts as the Gift of Tongues did evidently serve for the more speedy Planting and Propagating of the Christian Religion in the World and the Power of inflicting Corporeal Punishments in a Miraculous manner upon Scandalous and Disobedient Christians did maintain the Power and Authority of the Apostles and was instead of an ordinary Magistratical Power which Christians were destitute of whilst the Roman Empire continued Heathen I say besides the particular Ends and Vses of all these Miraculous Gifts they did all in general as they were Miracles serve for the Confirmation of the Gospel The Apostles delivered the Doctrine of Christ and were Witnesses of his Resurrection from the dead as the great Miracle whereby his Doctrine was confirmed now there was all the Reason in the World to believe them whom God was pleased to give such a Testimony from Heaven for who could make any doubt of the Truth of Their Testimony concerning the Resurrection of Christ who were enabled to raise others from the dead and by many other wonderful things which they did gave such clear Testimony that God was with them Never had any Religion fewer worldly Advantages to recommend it and so little temporal Countenance and Assistance to carry it on but what it wanted from Men it had from God for he gave witness to it with signs and wonders and divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost God seems on purpose to have stript it of all Secular Advantages that the Christian Religion might be perfectly free from all suspition of Worldly Interest and Design and that it might not owe its Establishment in the World to the Wisdom and Contrivance of Men but to the Arm and Power of God The Inferences I shall at present make from this Discourse shall be these I. To give
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
the Angels are the Overseers of Divine Service And therefore we ought to behave our selves with all Modesty Reverence and Decency in the Worship of God out of regard to the Angels who are there present and observe our Carriage and Behaviour And to this the Apostle plainly hath respect in that place which by Interpreters hath been thought so difficult 1 Corinth 11.10 where he says That for this Cause in the Assemblies of Christians for the Worship of God the Woman ought to have a Vail upon her head in token of subjection to her Husband because of the Angels that is to be decently and modestly Attired in the Church because of the presence of the holy Angels before whom we should compose our selves to the greatest external Gravity and Reverence which the Angels behold and observe but cannot penetrate into the inward Devotion of our Minds which God only can do and therefore with regard to him who sees our Hearts we should more particularly compose our Minds to the greatest Sincerity and Seriousness our Devotion Which I would to God we would all duly consider all the while we are exercised in the Worship of God who chiefly regards our Hearts But we ought likewise to be very careful of our external Behaviour with a particular regard to the Angels who are present there to see and observe the outward Decency and Reverence of our Carriage and Deportment Of which we are very careful in the Presence even of an Earthly Prince when he either speaks to us or we make any Address to him And surely much more ought we to be so when we are in the immediate Presence of God and of his holy Angels every one of whom is a much greater Prince and of greater Power than any of the Princes of this World But how little is this considered I speak to our shame and by how few among us And as Angels are helpful to good Men in working out their Salvation throughout the course of their Lives so at the Hour of Death they stand by them to comfort them and assist them in that needful and dismal time in that last and great Conflict of frail Mortality with Death and the Powers of Darkness to receive their expiring Spirits into their Charge and to conduct them safely into the Mansions of the Blessed And to this purpose also the Jews had a Tradition that the Angels wait upon good Men at their Death to convey their Souls into Paradise Which is very much countenanc'd by our Saviour in the Parable of the rich man and Lazarus Luke 16.22 where it is said that when Lazarus died he was carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom Nay that the Angels have some Charge and Care of the Bodies of good Men after death may not improbably be gathered from that Passage m St. Jude v. 9. where Michael the Archangel is said to have contended with the Devil about the Body of Moses What the ground of this Controversie betwixt them was may be most probably explain'd by a passage Deut. 34.6 where it is said that God took particular care probably by an Angel concerning the burying so Moses in a certain Valley and it is added but no man knoweth of his Sepulchre unto this day The Devil it seems had a fair Prospect of laying a Foundation for Idolatry in the Worship of Moses after his death if he could have gotten the disposal of his Body to have buried it in some known and publick place And no doubt it would hare gratified him not a little to have made him who was so declared an Enemy to Idolatry all his life an occasion of it after his death But this God thought fit to prevent in pity to the People of Israel whom he saw upon all occasion so prone to Idolatry and for that Reason committed it to the Charge of Michael the Archangel to bury his Body secretly and this was the thing which Michael the Archangel contended with the Devil about But before I pass from this I cannot but take notice of one memorable Circumstance in this Contest mentioned likewise by St. Jude in these words yet Michael the Archangel when contending with the Devil he disputed about the Body of Moses durst not bring against him a railing accusation His Duty restrain'd him from it and probably his Descretion too As he durst not offend God in doing a thing so much beneath the Dignity and Perfection of his Nature so he could not but think that the Devil would have been too hard for him at railing a thing to which as the Angels have no disposition so I believe that they have no talent no faculty at it The cool Consideration whereof should make all Men especially those who call themselves Divines and especially in Controversies about Religion ashamed and afraid of this manner of disputing since Michael the Archangel even when he disputed with the Devil durst not bring against him a railing accusation But to proceed This we are sure of that the Angels shall be the great Ministers and Instruments of the Resurrection of our Bodies and the reunion of them to our Souls For so our Blessed Saviour has told us Matt. 24.30 31. That when the Son of man shall come in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory he shall send his Angels to gather the Elect from the four winds from one end of Heaven to the other Thus I have as briefly as I could and so far as the Scripture hath gone before us to give us light in this matter endeavoured to shew the several Ways wherein good Angels do Minister in behalf of t hem who shall be Heirs of Salvation All that now remains is to draw some Inferences from this discourse and so I shall conclude First what hath been said upon this Argument and so abundantly proved from Scripture may serve to establish us in the Belief of this Truth and to awaken us to a due Consideration of it That the Angels are invisible to us and that we are seldom sensible of their Presence and the good Offices they do us is no sufficient Reason against the Truth and Reality of the Thing if by other Arguments we are convinced of it For by the same Reason we may almost as well call in Question the Existance of God and of our own Souls neither of which do fall under the notice of our Senses and yet by other Arguments we are sufficiently convinc'd of them both So in this case the general Consent and Tradition of Mankind concerning the Existence of Angels and their Ministry about us especially being confirmed to us by clear and express Testimony of holy Scripture ought to be abundant Evidence to us when we consider that so general a Consent must have a proportionable Cause which can be no other but a general Tradition grounded at first upon Revelation and derived down to all succeeding Ages from the first Spring and Original of Mankind and since confirmed by manifold Revelations of
God both in the Old and New Testament But yet I am sensible that all this is no Conviction to the perverse and contentious Men will not believe even the Evidence of Sense it self when they are strongly prepossess'd and prejudiced to the contrary For do we not see great numbers of Men even so many as have the face to call themselves the Catholick Church that can make a shift when they have a mind either to believe or disbelieve things contrary to the plainest Evidence of their Senses All that I shall say further about this matter is that this Doctrine of Angels is not a peculiar Doctrine either of the Jewish or Christian Religion but the general Doctrine of all Religions that ever were and therefore cannot be objected against by any but the Atheists And yet after all I know not whence it comes to pass that this great Truth which is so comfortable to Mankind is so very little considered by us Perhaps the Corruption of so great a part of the Christian Church in the point of the Worship of Angels may have run us so far into the other extream as scarcely to acknowledge any Benefit we receive by them But surely we may believe they do us good without any Obligation to pray to them and may own them as the Ministers of God's Providence without making them the Objects of our Worship I confess it seems to me a very odd thing that the Power of the Devil and his Influence upon Men and the particular Vigilancy and Activity of Evil Spirits to tempt us to Sin should be so readily owned and so sensibly talkt of among Christians and yet the Assistance of good Angels should be so little taken notice of and considered by us The Scripture speaks plainly of both and the Reasons for believing both are equal For God forbid but that good Angels should be as officious and forward to do us good as the Devil and his Angels are malicious and busie to do us Mischief And indeed it would be very hard with Mankind if we had not as much Reason to Hope for the Assistance and Protection of good Spirits as we have cause to Fear the Malice and Fury of the bad Good Angels are certainly as Powerful and have as strong a Propension and Inclination to do good as the Devil has to do harm and the Number of good Angels is probably much greater than of Evil Spirits The biggest Number that are used in Scripture are applied to good Angels Dan. 7.10 it is said of the Angels about God's Throne that thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him And Revelations 5.11 the number of them is said to be ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands And the Apostle to the Hebrews ch 12.22 calls them an innumerable company of Angels What then should be the Reason that Men should be so apt to own the Snares and Temptations which the Devil lays before us in all our ways but take so little notice of the Attendance and good Offices done to us by good Spirits I can imagine but these Two Reasons and I am sorry I can find no better That we are more mindful of Injuries than of Benefits and are glad to take in others for the excuse of our Faults but are loth any should come in for a share in the Good that is done by us And yet methinks it should be a very comfortable Consideration to us against the Enmity and Cunning of the Devil and his Angels that the Holy Angels of God are as Intent and Industrious to do us good and to help forward our Salvation as Evil Spirits can be to work our ruin and destroy us Secondly We should with great thankfulness acknowledge the great Goodness of God to us who takes such Care of us as to appoint his Angels and to give them particular Commission and Charge concerning us to protect and assist us in all our ways and especially to promote the great Concernment of our Eternal Happiness And that not only some particular and inferiour Spirits but the Chief Ministers of this great King of the World those that stand in his Presence and behold his face and not a few of these but the whole Order of them are imployed about us So the Apostle seems to say by the Question which he puts in the Text Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister That is all at one time or other And though they be principally appointed to minister to us in order to our Salvation yet we have no Reason to doubt but God imploys them many times for our Temporal Safety and makes use of them more especially in those great Revolutions in which his Cause and Religion are more immediatly concern'd In such a Case it is not at all incredible that God should give his Angels a particular Charge concerning those that fight his Battels to pitch about their Camps and secretly to assist them against their Enemies and to ward off and put by many dangerous blows and thrusts which are made at them and wonderfully to preserve them when the Instruments of death fly about them and do execution on every side of them To what can we ascribe such and so many remarkable Deliverances of a Person upon whom so much depends but either to the immediate hand of God or to the Ministry of Angels And where God is provided so abundantly with such powerful Beings and Ministers of his Will though they may be invisible to us yet there is great Reason to believe that he very seldom works without them And now what an astonishing Regard is this which the great God is pleased to have for the Sons of Men that he should make the whole Creation serviceable to us not only the visible Creation for the support of our Bodies and the diversion of our Minds but even the noblest of all his Creatures the great and glorious Inhabitants of the invisible World mightily surpassing us mortal Men in the simplicity and purity of their Nature in the quickness and largeness of their Understandings and in their Power and Vigour of Acting I say that God should give these excellent and glorious Beings the Charge over us and send them forth to Minister to us for the Safeguard of our Persons for the success of our Affairs and for the Security and Furtherance of our eternal Salvation Lord what is man that thou art thus mindful of him that when thou madest him lower than the Angels thou shouldest yet make the Angels to minister unto him Thirdly If the Angels have particular Charge of good Men we should take heed how we despise or be any way injurious to them For how despicable so ever they may appear to us they are certainly very dear to God since he deems them so considerable is to employ his Chief Ministers about them and to commit the Charge of them to those who by their Office do more immediately
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
capable of Nay I will go lower If God had made no express Promise and Declaration of a Future Happiness and Reward to those that serve him and suffer for him Yet if any Man out of a sincere Love to God and awful Regard to his Laws endure Trouble and Affliction if there be a God and Providence this is Assurance enough to us that our Services and Sufferings shall one time or other be Considered and Rewarded For as sure as any Man is that there is a God and that his Providence regards the Actions of Men so sure are we that no Man shall finally be a loser by any thing that he doth or suffers for him So that the Matter is now brought to this plain Issue That if it be Reasonable to Believe there is a God and that his Providence Regards and Considers the Actions of Men it is also Reasonable to endure Present Sufferings in Hope of a Future Reward and there is certainly enough in this Case to govern and determine a Prudent Man that is in any good measure Persuaded of another Life after this and hath any tolerable Consideration of and regard to his Eternal Interest Indeed if we were sure that there were no Life after this if we had no expectation of a Happiness or Misery beyond this World the wisest thing that any Man could do would be to enjoy as much of the present Contentments and Satisfactions of this World as he could fairly come at For if there be no resurrection to another life the Apostle allows the Reasoning of the Epicure to be very good Let us eat and drink for to morrow we dye But on the other hand if it be true that we are designed for Immortality and that another State remains for us after this Life wherein we shall be Unspeakably Happy or intolerably and Eternally Miserable according as we have behaved our selves in this World it is then evidently Reasonable that Men should take the greatest Care of the longest Duration and be content to bear and dispense with some Present Trouble and Inconvenience for a Felicity that will have no end and be willing to Labour and take Pains and deny our present Ease and Comfort for a little while that we may be Happy for ever This is reckoned Prudence in the Account of this World for a Man to part with a Present Possession and Enjoyment for a much greater Advantage in Reversion But surely the disproportion between Time and Eternity is so vast that did Men but firmly believe that they shall live for ever nothing in this World could reasonably be thought too good to part withal or too grievous to suffer for the obtaining of a Blessed Immortality In the Virtue of this Belief and Persuasion the Primitive Christians were Fortified against all that the Malice and Cruelty of the World could do against them and they thought they made a very wise Bargain if thorugh many tribulations they might at last enter into the Kingdom of God because they believed that the Joys of Heaven would abundantly Recompence all their Sorrows and Sufferings upon Earth And so confident were they of this that they looked upon it as a special Favour and Regard of God to them to call them to Suffer for his Name So St. Paul speaks of it Phil. 1.29 Vnto you it is given on the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake Yea they accounted them happy who upon this account were miserable in this World So St. James expresly pronounceth of them Jam. 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation meaning the Temptation of Persecution and Suffering for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him And this consideration was that which kept up their Spirits from sinking under the weight of their greatest Sufferings So St. Paul tells us 2 Cor. 4.14 16. Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus For which cause we faint not but tho' our outward man perish yet our inward man is renewed day by day The Sufferings of their Bodies did but help to raise and fortifie their Spirits Nay so far were they from fainting under those Afflictions that they rejoyced and gloried in them So the same Apostle tells us Rom. 5.2 3. that in the midst of their Sufferings they rejoyced in hope of the Glory of God and that they gloried in tribulations as being the way to be made Partakers of that Glory And Heb. 10.34 That they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance And for this Reason St. James Chap. 1.2 exhorts Christians to account it all joy when they fell into divers temptations that is various kinds of Sufferings because of the manifold Advantages which from thence would redound to them Now what was it that Inspired them to all this Courage and Chearfulness but the Belief of a mighty Reward far beyond the Proportion of all their Sufferings and a firm Persuasion that they should be vast Gainers by them at the last This Consideration St. Paul urgeth with great force 2 Cor. 4.17 18. Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory whilst we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal If we would compare things justly and attentively regard and consider the invisible Glories of another World as well as the things which are seen we should easily perceive that he who suffers for God and Religion does not renounce Happiness but puts it out to Interest upon terms of the greatest advantage I shall now speak briefly to the Second Part of this remarkable Saying in the Text If we deny him he also will deny us To which is subjoined in the words following if we believe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we deal unfaithfully with him yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself that is he will be constant to his Word and make good that solemn Threatning which he hath denounced against those who for fear of Suffering shall deny him and his Truth before Men Matt. 10.33 Whosoever faith our Lord there shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven Mark 8.38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the Holy Angels This is a Terrible Threatning to be disowned by Christ at the Day of Judgment in the presence of God and his Holy Angels And this Threatning will certainly be made good and tho' we may renounce him and break our faith with him yet
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
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
it and keep it within bounds It is like fire a good Servant but a bad Master if it once get head it consumes and devours all before it and the great danger and mischief of it is that it is most commonly found where it should not be and possesses those most who are least fit to govern it and most frequently employed about what it should not be and ten to one but it is either mistaken in the Object or in the Measure and Degree of it and even when it is a Virtue it is a nice and dangerous one for the wisest Men are apt to mingle their own Passions and Interests with their Zeal for God and Religion So that it is not enough that Men are acted by a zeal for God and do sincerely follow the dictates of their Consciences but they must be careful to inform their Consciences and not suffer themselves to be violently transported and hurried on by their own Passions and Prejudice and by a blind and furious zeal without knowledge But what then Would we have Men not follow their own Consciences or act contrary to them No by no means For tho' Conscience be not our Rule yet it is our immediate Guide and he does ill who does act against his Conscience But Men must be careful how they settle their Practical Judgment of things and conclude things to be Lawful or Unlawful Duties or Sins without Reason and good Ground God hath given us Understandings to try and examine things and the light of his Word to direct us in this tryal and if we will judge rashly and suffer our selves to be hurried by Prejudice or Passion the Errours of our Judgment become Faults of our Lives For God expects from us that we should weigh and consider what we do and when he hath afforded us light enough to discern betwixt Good and Evil that we should carefully follow the direction of it that we should be suspicious of our selves when our Zeal carries us to do things that are furious and cruel false and treacherous and have a horrid appearance even to the light of Nature we should question that zeal which is so contrary to Christian Goodness and Meekness to Peace and Charity and which tends to Confusion and every Evil Work I will conclude all with that excellent Passage of St. James which will shew us how little regard is to be had to many Mens Pretences of Zeal for Religion Jam. 3.13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge amongst you Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom But if ye have bitter zeal and strife in your hearts glory not and lye not against the truth This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish For where zeal and strife is there is confusion and every evil work But the wisdom which is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace SERMON XIV The best Men liable to the worst Treatment from Mistaken Zealots Preached on November 5. 1686. JOHN XVI 2. They shall put you out of the Synagogues Yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service THESE words were spoken by our Blessed Saviour when he was about to leave the World at the thoughts whereof finding his Disciples to be exceedingly troubled VOL. II. he comforts them by the Consideration of the great Benefit and Advantage which from thence would accrue to them he tells them that he was going to Heaven to interceed for them and to make way for their admission there and withall promiseth that his Father would send the Holy Ghost who should abundantly supply the want of his Presence with them but he tells them at the same time that they should meet with very ill Entertainment and Usage from the World but so had He Ch. 15.18 If the world hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you and why should they expect to be better treated than He was v. 20. Remember the word that I said unto you the servant is not greater than the Lord if they have persecuted me they will also persecute you And at the beginning of this Chapter he tells them that he did on purpose forewarn them of these things to prepare their Minds beforehand and to arm them against the worst that might happen v. 1. These things have I I have spoken to you Serm. XIV that ye should not be offended And then he declares more particularly how far the Rage and Malice of Men should proceed against them and in what kind they should suffer They shall put you out of the Synagogues Yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service So that our Saviour here fortells Two sorts of Persecution which his Disciples should be Exercised withal Excommunication they shall put you out of their Synagogues And Excision Yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will thinks that he doth God service And these perhaps were but several Kinds and Degrees of Excomunication for the clearer understanding whereof it will be requisite briefly to explain the Three Degrees of Excommunication among the Jews The First call'd Niddui is that which our Saviour here means by putting out of the Synagogue and which he elsewhere expresseth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or separation Luke 6.22 Blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate yon from their company And the Effect of this Excommunication was to exclude Men from the Communion of the Church and People of God and from his Service which was a great disgrace because after this Sentence none of the Jews were to converse with them but to look upon them as Heathens and Publicans The Second Degree of this Censure was called Cherem which included the first but extended farther to the Confiscation of Goods into the Sacred Treasury and devoting them to God after which there was no Redemption of them And of this we find express mention Ezra 10.7 8. where it is said That they made Proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem and that whosoever would not come within three days according to the Counsel of the Princes and Elders all his substance should be devoted and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carriied away The Third Degree ws Shammatha when the Rebellious and Contumacious Person was Anathematiz'd and Devoted and as some conceive according to the Law Levit. 27.29 was to be put to death tho' other very konwing Men in the Jewish Learning think it amounted to no more than a final Sentence whereby they were left to the Judgment of God by some remarkable Judgment of his to be cut off from
the Congregation of Israel Of the First and Last of these Degrees of Excomunication our Saviour seems here to speak but whether in both Instances in the Text he alludes in the one to the lowest and in the other to the highst Degree of Excommunication among the Jews is not so certain To the First he plainly does when he says they shall put you out of the Synagogues And then he adds that they should proceed much higher against them even to put them to death the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service that is they should not only think it Lawful to kill them but look upon it as a Duty as a high Act of Religion as an acceptable Piece of Worship and a Sacrifice well-pleasing to God For so indeed the word does not only import but most properly signifie whosoever killeth you shall think 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he offers a Sacrifice to God for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes used for a Sacrifice but being joyned with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems necessarily to be determined to that Sense From the words thus explained I shall make these following Observations very proper for our Consideration upon the Occasion of this day 1. That the best of Men may be separated and excluded from the Communion of those who may assume to themselves to be the true and the only true Church yea and suffer under the Notion of very Bad and Criminal Persons This our Saviour here foretold of his Apostles some of the best Men that ever lived They shall put you out of their Synagogues 2. That they who are thus Excommunicated by the pretended true Church may nevertheless be real Members of the true Church of Christ Tho' the Apostles were thus dealt withall by the Jewish Church they did not cease for all that to be Members of the true Church of God 3. That from uncharitable Censures Men do easily and almost naturally proceed to Cruel Actions After they had put the Disciples of our Lord out of their Synagoguse and thereby concluded them to be Hereticks and Reprobates they presently proceed to kill them as not worthy to live They shall put you out of their Synagogues and when they have done that they will soon after think it a thing not only fit but Pious and Meritorious to put you to death the time will come that they will think it a good service to God to kill you 4. That Men may do the Vilest things and the most Wicked not only under a grave pretence of Religion but out of a real opinion and perswasion that they do Religiously Murder is certainly one of the greatest and most crying Sins and yet our Saviour foretells that the Jews should put his Disciples to death being verily perswaded that in so doing they offered a most acceptable Sacrifice to God Yea the time shall come that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offers a Sacrisice to God 5. That such Actions are never the less horribly Impious and Wicked 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. 6. I observe that the Corruption of the best tilings is the worst Religion is 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 horrible Impieties than a blind Zeal for God and false and mistaken Principles in the matter of Religion as is plain from the Instances here before us in the Text. I shall speak as briefly as I can to these Observations 1. That the best of Men may be separated and excluded from the Communion of those who may assume to be the true and only true Church and that under the Notion of very Bad and Criminal Persons This our Saviour foretells in the Text should be the Fate of his Apostles some of the best and holiest Persons that ever lived they shall put you out of the Synagogues And what the Jews did in the beginning of Christianity to the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour hath been too frequently practised since by some of the Professors of Christianity toward one another and very Good Men have in several Ages fallen under the Censure of Excommunication and been separated from the External Communion of the Church and branded with the odious Names of Hereticks and Apostates by those who have arrogated to themselves to be the only Orthodox and true Church and have gotten the external Power and Management of Religion into their hands witness the Case of Athanasius and others in the Reign and Prevalency of Arianism and the ill Treatment that not only particular Persons Eminent for their Learning and Piety but whole Churches have met with in this kind from that haughty and uncharitable Church which makes nothing of thundering out this most fearful Sentence of Excommunication against Persons and Churches much better and more Christian than her self and against all that will not submit to her pretended Infallibility and usurped Authority over the Souls and Consciences of Men. But it is our great Comfort that the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord and Master were thus used by a Church that made the same Pretences that they do and upon Grounds every whit as plausible as I could clearly shew if I were minded to persue and make out this Comparison 2. They who are thus Excommunicated by the pretended only true Church may nevertheless be true Members of the Church of Christ Tho' the Apostles were thus dealt withall by the Jewish Church they did not cease for all this to be real Members of the true Church of God For it is not calling Hereticks first that proves them that do so to be no Hereticks or acquits them from the same or greater Crimes than those which they are so forward to charge upon other Men nor will God condemn all those who are Excommunicated by Men and deny Salvation to every one whom they shall please to separate from their Society and to call by some odious name Men may be put out of the Synagogue and yet receiv'd into Heaven for the Judgment of God is not according to the uncharitable Censures of Men but according to Truth and Right The Sentence of Excommunication is certainly very dreadful where it is duly inflicted and next to the Judgment of God Men ought to be afraid of justly incurring the danger of this Censure and it ought to be upon very plain and evident grounds that Men either separate themselves or endanger their being cut off from the Communion of the Church they live in But when it once comes to this that a Church is infected with gross Errors and Corruptions plainly contrary to the Word of God especially if
that Church will impose her Errors upon all that are of her Communion then those who refuse to comply do not sepavate themselves but are cut off do not depart but are driven out of the Communion of that Church and Separation in that case is as innocent and free from the guilt of Schism as the Cause of it is for the terms of Communion are become such that those who are convinced of those Errors and Corruptions can have no Salvation if they continue in that Communion and then I am sure their Salvation will not be endangered by leaving it or being Excommunicated out of it for that would be the hardest case in the World that Men should be Damned for continuing in the Communion of such a Church and damned likewise for being cast out of it Therefore no Man ought to be terrified because of the boldness and presumption of those who with so much Confidence and so little Charity damn all that are not of their Communion for we see plainly from the Text that Men may be in the right and surest way to Salvation and yet be Excommunicated by those who call themselves the true Church and will not allow Salvation to any but those of their own Communion The Disciples of our Lord and Saviour were certainly very good Men and in a safe way of Salvation tho' they were Excommunicated and put out of the Synagogue by the chief Priests and the Rulers of the Jewish Church I proceed to the 3. Observation which was this that from uncharitable Censures Men do by an easie step and almost naturally proceed to Cruel Actions After the Jews had put the Disciples of our Lord out of their Synagogues and thereby concluded them to be Hereticks and Reprobates no wonder they should proceed to kill those whom they thought not worthy to live they shall put you out of their Synagogues says our Saviour and when they have done that they will soon think it a thing not only fit and reasonable but Pious and Meritorious and a good Piece of Service done to God to put you to death Uncharitableness naturally draws on Cruelty and hardens Humane Nature towards those of whom we have once conceived so hard an opinion that they are Enemies to God and his Truth And this hath been the source of the most barbarous Cruelties that have been in the world witness the severity of the Heathen Perfection of the Christians which justified it self by the Uncharitable Opinion which they had conceived of them that they were despisers of Religion and the Gods and consequently Atheists that they were pertinacious and obstinate in their Opinions that is in the Modern Stile they were Hereticks And the like uncharitable conceit among Christians hath been thought a sufficient ground even in the judgment of the Infallible Chair for the justification of several bloody Massacres and the cruel Proceedings of the Inquisition against Persons suspected of Heresie for after Men are once Sentenced to Eternal Damnation it seems a small thing to torment and destroy their Bodies 4. Men may do the vilest and most wicked things not only under a grave Pretence of Religion but out of a real Opinion and Perswasion of Mind that they do Religiously Murder is certainly one of the greatest and most crying Sins and yet our Saviour foretels that the Jews should put his Disciples to Death being verily perswaded that in so doing they should offer a most acceptable Sacrifice to God yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offers a Sacrifice to God Not but that the great Duties and Virtues of Religion are very plain and easy to be understood and so are the contrray Sins and Vices But then they are only plain to a teachable and honest and well-disposed mind to those who receive the word with meekness and are not blinded with wrath and furious Zeal to those that receive the truth into an honest heart and entertain it in the love of it they are plain to the humble and meek for the humble God will guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his ways such as these God seldom suffers to fall into fatal mistakes about their Sin or Duty so as to call good evil and evil good to call light darkness and darkness light to think Uncharitableness a Virtue and downright Murder a great Duty But if Men will give up themselves to be swayed by self-Love and self-Conceit to be governed by any base or corrupt Interest to be blinded by Prejudice and intoxicated by Pride to be transported and hurried away by violent and furious Passions no wonder if they mistake the Nature and confound the Differences of things in the plainest and most palpable cases no wonder if God give up Persons of such corrupt minds to strong delusions to believe lies It ought not to be strange to us if such Men bring their Understandings to their Wills and Interests and bend their Judgments to their Prejudices make them to stoop to their Pride and blindly to follow their Passions which way soever they lead them for God usually leaves such persons to themselves as run away from him and is not concerned to secure those from splitting upon the most dangerous Rocks who will stear their Course by no Compass but commit themselves to the wind and tide of their own Lusts and Passions In these Cases Men may take the wrong Way and yet believe themselves to be in the right they may oppose the Truth and persecute the Professors of it and be guilty of the blackest Crimes and the most horrid Impieties Malice and Hatred Blasphemy and Murder and yet all the while be verily perswaded that they are serving God and Sacrificing to him Of this we have a plain and full instance in the Scribes and Pharisees the chief Priests and Rulers among the Jews who because they sought the Honour of Men and not that which was from God and loved the Praise of Men more than the Praise of God because they were prejudiced against the Meanness of our Saviour's Birth and Condition and had upon false Grounds tho' as they thought upon the Infallibility of Tradition and of Scripture interpreted by Tradition entertain'd quite other Notion of the Messias from what he really was to be because they were proud and thought them selves too wise to learn of him and because his Doctrine of Humility and self-Denyal did thwart their Interest and bring down their Authority and Credit among the People therefore they set themselves against him with all their Might opposing his Doctrine and blasting his Reputation and persecuting him to the Death and all this while did bear up themselves with a conceit of the Antiquity and Priviledges of their Church and their profound Knowledge in the Law of God and a great External shew of Piety and Devotion and an arrogant Pretence and Usurpation of being the only Church and People of God in the World And by virtue of these Advantages they thought
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
Evening how that we pray for all the World for Kings and for all that are in authority Secondly For whom we are to pray In general for all men Our Prayers are one of the greatest and best Expressions of our Charity and therefore ought to be as large and extensive as our Charity is We are bound in common Charity to love all Men and to wish well to them but our bare Wishes signifie nothing unless we direct them to God who is able to confer upon them the Blessings and Good Things which we wish to them And this is a Charity which God hath put into every Man's Power and which the poorest Man in the World as well as the richest is capable of exercising at all times and upon all occasions For the Ear of God if open to the Prayers of the poor as well as of the rich and they are every whit as prevalent with him nay the Scripture seems to say that God hath a more particular regard to the Prayers of the poor So that we may be liberal and bountiful in our Prayers to those to whom we are able to give nothing else and when our Hands cannot reach to relieve them we may pour out our Hearts to God for them we may pray for their Spiritual and Temporal good and we may praise God for the good which befalls them tho' it was out of our power to be any ways instrumental to procure it for them Thirdly For whom we are more especially and in the first place to pray viz. for those who have the greatest and most publick influence of all others upon the peace and happiness of Mankind for Kings and for all that are in authority that is for the Supreme Magistrate and for all inferior Magistrates who derive their Power and Authority from the Supreme Government is necessary to the welfare of Mankind because it is the great Band of Humane Society the Guard of its Peace and the Security of every Man's Person and Property and therefore we are concerned as much as is possible both to pray for our Governours and to bless God for them because without them we should be in a most wretched Condition Mankind would be unavoidably miserable without Government Humane Society would presently disband and all things would run into confusion It is a remarkable Saying of one of the Jewish Masters Pray for the happiness of the Kingdom or Government for if it were not for the fear of that Men would devour one another alive And Josephus tells us that when the Jews were made subject to the Romans tho' it was by Conquest twice a day they offered up Sacrifices for the life and safety of the Emperour And this was very agreeable to what God had commanded that People by his Prophet in a much like case when the Jews were Conquered by the King of Babylon and carried away Captives Jer. 29.7 Seek the peace of the City whither I have caused you to be carried away Captives and pray unto the Lord for it for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace And surely the Reason is much stronger why we should pray for our natural Princes and Governours I come now to the Fourth and Last Thing Considered in the Text and which I principally design to speak to namely the Reason or Argument which the Apostle uses to engage us to pray for our Princes and for all that are in Authority that we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty The manifold Benefits and Advantages which redound to us from our Governors is a sufficient Argument why we should pray to God for them and Praise him likewise for so great a Blessing and that in the first place I exhort therefore first of all saith the Apostle c. Now the Apostle here in the Text expresseth Two great Advantages of Government which upon the Matter do comprehend all the rest 1. That by Government we are Secured in our Civil Rights and Interests in the quiet and peaceable Possession of what is our own 2. That we may thereby be protected in the free Practice and Exercise of Religion and Virtue These are the Two greatest and most desirable Things to Man and neither of these can be had without Government I shall briefly consider these Two particulars and then endeavour to shew what Obligation the Consideration of them lays upon us both to Pray to God in the behalf of our Princes and Governours and likewise to Praise God for them And then I shall conclude all with a brief Application of this whole Discourse to the Solemn Occasion of this Day First I shall begin with the Benefits and Advantages of Government mention'd in the Text namely these Two 1. That by it we are secured in our Civil Rights and Interests in the quiet and peaceable Possession of what is our own Without Government there could be no such thing as Property in any thing beyond our own Persons for nothing but Law can make Property and Laws are the Effect of Government and Authority Nay without Government we have no security of our Persons and Lives much less of any thing that belongs to us and is at present in our Possession Were we not protected by Laws which are the Effect of Government we could have no safety no quiet enjoyment of any thing but every Man must be perpetually upon his guard against all the World and exposed to continual Violence and Injuries from those who are too many and too strong for him so that all our quiet and security from Fear and Danger from the Fraud and Oppression of those who are more Crafty and Powerful than our selves from endless Confusions and Distractions and from a State of perpetual Feud and War with all Mankind is entirely due and owing to Civil Government And this alone is so unspeakable a Benefit that without it Men of all Creatures would be the most Miserable because all that Wit and Sagacity all that Cunning and Contrivance which Mankind hath above the Bruit Creatures would but enable them to do so much the more Mischief to one another and to devise and find out more Powerful and Effectual Means and Instruments to harm and destroy one another In short that we live and that we live well in any tolerable Condition either of Safety or Plenty and that we are able to call any thing our own for one Day or for one Hour that we are not in perpetual Terrour and Apprehension of mortal Dangers and that we are at any time free from the Invasion of what we at present possess by the fraud and force of others is solely the Effect of this great Blessing and Divine Appointment of Government to preserve the peace of Humane Society and by wise and wholsome Laws to tye up Mens Hands from mutual Injuries and Violence Upon this all the Comfort and all the Security of Humane Laws does depend From hence it comes to pass that as the Scripture expresseth it
We may sit down every man under his own Vine and under his own Fig-tree and that there shall be none to make us afraid So that if Security is necessary to the Comfort and Happiness of Mankind then Government is so too For without this the Societies of Men would presently dissolve and fall in pieces and all things would run into Confusion and Disorder 2. Another great Benefit which may reasonably be expected from Government tho' it does always so happen is that Men are protected by it in the free Exercise and Practice of Religion and Virtue Therefore we should pray for Kings and for all that are in authority says the Apostle that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty that is in the Practice of Piety and Devotion towards God of Sobriety and Temperance in regard to our selves and of Justice and Charity toward all Men. It 's true indeed and so the Apostles and first Christians found it by experience that the Edg and Authority of Laws may be and sometimes is turned upon the true Religion and the sincere Professors of it But even then tho' Good Men may receive great harms and injuries from Persecuting Princes and Governors as the Primitive Christians did from several of the Roman Emperors yet then it so happens that Good Men have some considerable Benefit and Protection from the Civil Government and Laws being for the most part preserved from the fury and rage of the Multitude so that tho' particular Persons undergo the Tryal of Cruel Sufferings yet much greater Numbers do escape and are preserved And which is very considerable in this Matter against several of the main and essential Parts of Religion there never was any Humane Laws made as against the inward Love Honour and Reverence of Almighty God and the Worshipping him in our Hearts and in Secret of this Part of Religion Humane Laws can take no cognizance Nay farther yet against Humility and Meekness against Modesty and Patience against Temperance and Chastity against Peaceableness and obedience to Government against Justice and Gratitude against Charity and Forgiveness of Injuries against these and such like Virtues the Apostle has told us there is no Law Against the Practice of these without some of which Government could not possibly subsist no Perfection was ever raised no not by the worst of Governors On the contrary in the Practice of these Virtues Good Men have been in all Ages and Times protected by Law 'T is true indeed that Good Men have many times been grievously Perfected by the Civil Government and Authority for the external Profession of revealed Religion which was the case of the Christians at that Time when the Apostle commanded them to pray for Kings and for all that were in Authority that under their protection they might lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty St. Paul knew very well when he gave this injunction to them that Supplications and prayers be made for Kings and for all that are in authority that the Powers of the World did not at that Time favour Christianity But he knew likewise that Government was necessary to the Happiness of Mankind and that Christians even in that State of Perfection did enjoy many considerable Benefits and Advantages by it so that they were not perpetually exposed to popular Rage and Cruelty and the Violence of Wicked and Vnreasonable Men Which would not only have hindred the progress of Christianity but would in a short time have endangered the extinguishing of it Besides that by the favour and protection of Government the Christians had many considerable Intervals of Peace and Ease which gave Christianity a breathing time and opportunity to recover it self and tho' the Secular Authority did for a long time discountenance Christianity and keep it under Hatches that was but an accidental effect and abuse of Government and Obedience was still due and Prayers for it so much the more necessary yea and Thanksgivings to God for it very reasonable upon account of the common Benefits and Advantages of it to Humane Society Besides that Christians did hope and believe that the Civil Government might in time be gained to give its countenance and assistance to Christianity and that Kings and Princes might become nursing Fathers to the Church as was expresly foretold by the Prophets and afterwards in God's due time was remarkably accomplisht In the mean time Christians were patiently to Obey and Suffer in expectation of those Glorious Rewards in another World which were promised to their Faith and Patience and to pray for the Powers that Persecuted them that they also might be brought to the acknowledgment of the Truth and might use that Power which God had committed to them for the protection of Truth and Innocency and for the Continuance and Support of the true Religion which blessed be God was afterwards the Case of Christianity for several Ages I proceed in the Second Place to shew what Obligation the Consideration of the mighty Benefits and Advantages of Government lays upon us both to pray to God on the behalf of Princes and Governors and likewise to praise God for them Because in their Welfare and Prosperity the Publick Peace and Happiness doth chiefly consist and in the Publick Good consists the Good of particular Persons and above all the Piety and Goodness of Princes and Magistrates especially those who are in highest Place of Authority have a general good influence upon the Manners of Men both for the discountenancing of Wickedness and Vice and for the encouragement of Religion and Virtue which are the main Pillars and Foundation of publick Peace and Prosperity A King sitting in the Throne of Judgment saith Solomon Prov. 20.8 scattereth away all evil with his eyes The Pattern of a Religious and good Prince is a living Law to his Subjects and more than the Example of Ten thousand others to Mould and Fashion the Manners of the People to a Conformity to it Besides that there is as one expresseth a kind of Moral Connexion and Communication of Evil and of Guilt betwixt Princes and People so that they are many times mutually Rewarded for the Virtues and good Actions and Punished for the Sins and Faults of one another Of which proceedings of the Divine Justice towards the People of Israel there are many remarkable instances in Scripture where God Rewarded the Piety of Good Princes with great Blessings upon their People and Punisht the Personal Faults of their Kings with publick Judgments upon the whole Nation So that in Truth it is the greatest Kindness and Charity to our selves to pray for our Princes and Governors because our welfare is involved in theirs and we suffer not only in all the Misfortunes and Calamities which befal them but many times upon account of their Personal Faults and Miscarriages Quicquid delirant Reges plectuntur Achivi the Extravagances of Princes are punisht in the Misfortunes of their Subjects Thus David