work so many miraculous cures by vertue of a temperament peculiar to themselves for how come they only to happen to have this temperament and none of the Jews who had all equal advantages with them for it Why did none of the enemies of Christ do as strange things as they did How come they never to do it before they were Christians nor in such an extraordinary manner till after the day of Pentecost Did the being Christians alter their natural temper and infuse a sanative vertue into them which they never had before Or rather was not their Christianity like to have spoyled it if ever they had it before by their frequent watchings fastings hunger and thirst cold and nakedness stripes and imprisonments racks and torments Are these the improvers of an excellent constitution if they be I doubt not but those who magnifie it in them would rather want the vertue of it than be at the pains to obtain it 2. But what a natural temper cannot do they think the power of imagination may and therefore in order to the enervating the power of miracles they mightily advance that of imagination which is the Idol of those who are as little Friends to reason in it as they are to Religion Any thing shall be able to effect that which they will not allow God to do nay the mostextravagant thing which belongs to humane nature shall have a greater power than the most holy and divine spirit But do not we see say they strange effects of the power of imagination upon mankind I grant we do and in nothing more than when men set it up against the power of God yet surely we see far greater effects of that in the world than we do of the other The power of imagination can never be supposed to give a being to the things we see in the world but we have the greatest reason to attribute that to a divine and infinite power and is it not far more rational that that which gave a Being to the course of nature should alter it when it pleaseth than that which had nothing to do in the making of it So that in general there can be no competition between the power of God and the strength of imagination as to any extraordinary effects which happen in the world But this is not all for there is a repugnancy in the very nature of the thing that the power of imagination should do all those miracles which were wrought by Christ or his Apostles For either they must be wrought by the imagination of the Agent or of the Patient if of the Agent then there can be no more necessary to do the same things than to have the same strength of imagination which they had what is the reason then that never since or before that time were so many signs and wonders wrought as there were then by the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord If Peter and Iohn cured the lame man by the strength of imagination why have no persons ever since cured those whose welfare they have as heartily desired as ever they could do his Certainly if imagination could kill mens enemies there would never need Duels to destroy them nor Authority to punish such as do it and if it could cure Friends there would need no Physitians to heal and recover them and death would have nothing to do but with persons that were wholly Friendless If they say that persons are not sufficiently perswaded of their own power and therefore they do see little good let any of those who contend the most for it attempt the cure when they please of any the most common infirmity of mankind and if they cannot do that let them then perswade us they can do miracles by that which they cannot cure the tooth-ach by But here they will say the imagination of the Patient is necessary in order to a miracle being wrought upon him not such I am sure as Christ and his Apostles wrought who not only healed the lame and the blind but raised the dead and what power of imagination do they suppose in Lazarus when he had lain four days in the Grave and however they think of the soul they must in this case allow this power of imagination to be immortal So that were there no other arguments but that of raising the dead that demonstrates it impossible that what Christ or his Apostles did did depend on the strength of Fancy in those on whom they wrought their miracles Object But say they did not Christ and his Apostles require believing first in all persons that had miracles wrought upon them and why should this be but because the strength of imagination was required to it And is it not expresly said that Christ could not do any mighty works among his own country men because of their unbelief by which it appears that the efficacy of his miracles did depend on the faith of the persons To which I answer Answ. 1. That Christ did not always require faith in the person on whom he wrought his miracles for then it had been impossible he should ever have raised any from the dead which we are sure he did And did not St. Paul raise Euâ—ychus from the dead and can any think so absurdly as that faith was required from a dead man in order to his resurrection So that the greatest miracles of all others were wrought where there was no possibility of believing in those on whom they were wrought 2. When in miraculous cures believing was required it was to shew for what end those miracles were wrought viz. to confirm the Doctrine of the Gospel by them they did not work miracles to be admired by the people as Simon Magus would have done the Apostles had no such intolerable vanity to be cried up for Gods though they did such great things not like that Caesar of the Atheists as some call him who concludes one of his Dialogues with that horrible piece of vanity to say no more of it aut Deus es aut Vaninus and Pomponatius his Master before him had said Philosophi sunt Dii terrestres and you must be sure to reckon him in the number but how was it possible for these men to discover more their mean thoughts of a Deity than by making him to be as despicable as themselves What boasting and ostentation would these men have made of themselves if they could have done but the thousand part of what the Apostles did But they were men did as far excel all such in all true vertue and real excellency as they did in that miraclous power which God had given them If they required men to believe whom they cured it was that they might cure both body and soul together but sometimes they cured persons whom they saw not as the hankerchiefs from St. Paul at Ephesus cured the diseased when they were carried to them But generally
of Religion neither inquisitive about them nor serious in minding them what can we otherwise think but that such a one doth really think the things of the World better worth looking after than those which concern his eternal salvation But consider before it be too late and repent of so great folly Value an immortal Soul as you ought to do think what Reconciliation with God and the Pardon of sin is worth slight not the dear Purchase which was bought at no meaner a rate than the Blood of the Son of God and then you cannot but mind the great salvation which God hath tendered you 2. Consider on what terms you neglect it or what the things are for whose sake you are so great enemies to your own salvation Have you ever found that contentment in sin or the vanities of the World that for the sake of them you are willing to be forever miserable What will you think of all your debaucheries and your neglects of God and your selves when you come to die what would you give then if it were in your power to redeem your lost time that you had spent your time less to the satisfaction of your sensual desires and more in seeking to please God How uncomfortable will the remembrance be of all your excesses oaths injustice and profaneness when death approaches and judgement follows it What peace of mind will there then be to those who have served God with faithfulness and have endeavoured to work out their salvation though it hath been with fear and trembling But what would it then profit a man to have gained the whole World and to lose his own soul Nay what unspeakable losers must they then be that lose their Souls for that which hath no value at all if compared with the World 3. Consider what follows upon this neglect not only the loss of great salvation but the incurring as great damnation for it The Scripture describes the miseries of the life to come not meerly by negatives but by the most sensible and painful things If destruction be dreadful what is everlasting destruction if the anguish of the soul and the pains of the body be so troublesom what will the destruction be both of Body and Soul in Hell If a Serpent gnawing in our bowels be a representation of an insupportable misery here what will that be of the Worm that never dies if a raging and devouring fire which can last but till it hath consumed a fading substance be in its appearance so amazing and in its pain so violent what then will the enduring be of that wrath of God which shall burn like fire and yet be everlasting Consider then of these things while God gives you time to consider of them and think it an inestimable mercy that you have yet time to repent of your sins to beg mercy at the hands of God to redeem your time to depart from iniquity to be frequent in Prayer careful of your Actions and in all things obedient to the will of God and so God will pardon your former neglects and grant you this great salvation SERMON VI. Preached on GOOD-FRYDAY before the Lord Mayor c. HEBREWS XII III. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be weary and faint in your minds IT hath never yet been so well with the World and we have no great reason to hope it ever will be so that the best of things or of men should meet with entertainment in it suitable to their own worth and excellency If it were once to be hoped that all Mankind would be wise and sober that their judgements would be according to the truth of things and their actions suitable to their judgements we might then reasonably expect that nothing would be valued so much as true goodness nothing so much in contempt and disgrace as impiety and profaneness But if we find it much otherwise in the Age we live in we have so much the less cause to wonder at it because it hath been thus in those times we might have thought would have been far better than our own I mean those times and ages wherein there were not only great things first spoken and delivered to Mankind but examples as great as the things themselves but these did so little prevail on the stupid and unthankful world that they among whom the Son of God did first manifest himself seem'd only solicitous to make good one Prophesic concerning him viz. That he should be despised and rejected of men And they who suffer'd their malice to live as long as he did were not contented to let it dye with him but their fury increases as the Gospel does and wherever it had spread it self they pursue it with all the rude clamors and violent persecutions which themselves or their factors could raise against it This we have a large testimony of in those Iewish Christians to whom this Epistle was written who had no sooner embraced the Christian Religion but they were set upon by a whole army of persecutions Heb. 10. 32. But call to remembrance the former days in which after ye were illuminated ye endured a great fight of afflictions As though the great enemy of souls and therefore of Christians had watched the first opportunity to make the strongest impression upon them while they were yet young and unexperienced and therefore less able to resist so sharp an encounter He had found how unsuccessful the offer of the good things of this World had been with their Lord and Master and therefore was resolved to try what a severer course would do with all his followers But the same spirit by which he despised all the Glories of the World which the Tempter would have made him believe he was the disposer of enabled them with a mighty courage and strange transports of joy not only to bear their own share of reproaches and afflictions but a part of theirs who suffer'd with them v. 33 34. But lest through continual duty occasion'd by the hatred of their persecutors and the multitude of their afflictions their courage should abate and their spirits saint the Apostle finds it necessary not only to put them in mind of their former magnanimity but to make use of all arguments that might be powerful with them to keep up the same vigour and constancy of mind in bearing their sufferings which they had at first For he well knew how much it would tend to the dishonour of the Gospel as well as to their own discomfort if after such an early proof of a great and undaunted spirit it should be said of them as was once of a great Roman Captain Ultima Primis cedebant that they should decline in their reputation as they did in their years and at last sink under that weight of duty which they had born with so much honour before Therefore as a
commanded the power of Heaven When God of a sudden like one highly provoked drew forth the sword of his destroying Angel and by it cut off so many thousands in the midst of us Then we fell upon our knees and begg'd the mercy of Heaven that our Lives might be spared that we might have time to amend them but no sooner did our fears abate but our devotion did so too we had soon forgotten the promises we made in the day of our distress and I am afraid it is at this day too true of us which is said in the Revelations of those who had escaped the several plagues which so many had been destroyed by And the rest of the men which were not killed by these Plagues yet repented not of the work of their bands For if we had not greedily suckt in again the poyson we had only laid down while we were begging for our lives if we had not returned with as great fury and violence as ever to our former lusts the removing of one judgement had not been as it were only to make way for the coming on of another For the grave seemed to close up her mouth and death by degrees to withdraw himself that the Fire might come upon the Stage to act its part too in the Tragoedy our sins have made among us and I pray God this may be the last Act of it Let us not then provoke God to find out new methods of vengeance and make experiments upon us of what other unheard of severities may do for our cure But let us rather meet God now by our repentance and returning to him by our serious humiliation for our former sins and our stedfast resolutions to return no more to the practice of them That that much more dangerous infection of our souls may be cured as well as that of our bodies that the impure flames which burn within may be extinguished that all our luxuries may be retrenched our debaucheries punished our vanities taken away our careless indifferency in Religion turned into a greater seriousness both in the profession and the practice of it So will God make us a happy and prosperous when he finds us a more righteous and holy Nation So will God succeed all your endeavours for the honour and interest of that people whom you represent So may he add that other Title to the rest of those you have deserved for your Countries good to make you Repairers of the breaches of the City as well as of the Nation and Restorers of paths to dwell in So may that City which now sits solitary like a Widow have her tears wiped off and her beauty and comeliness restored unto her Yea so may her present ruines in which she now lies buried be only the fore-runners of a more joyful resurrection In which though the body may remain the same the qualities may be so altered that its present desolation may be only the putting off its former inconveniences weakness and deformities that it may rise with greater glory strength and proportion and to all her other qualities may that of incorruption be added too at least till the general Conflagration And I know your great Wisdom and Iustice will take care that those who have suffered by the ruines may not likewise suffer by the rising of it that the glory of the City may not be laid upon the tears of the Orphans and Widows but that its foundations may be setled upon Justice and Piety That there be no complaining in the Streets for want of Righteousness nor in the City for want of Churches nor in the Churches for want of a settled maintenance That those who attend upon the service of God in them may never be tempted to betray their Consciences to gain a livelihood nor to comply with the factions humours of men that they may be able to live among them And thus when the City through the blessing of Heaven shall be built again may it be a Habitation of Holiness towards God of Loyalty towards our Gratious King and his Successors of Iustice and Righteousness towards Men of Sobriety and Peace and Unity among all the Inhabitants till not Cities and Countries only but the world and time it self shall be no more Which God of his infinite mercy grant through the merits and mediation of his Son to whom with the Father and Eternal Spirit be all Honour and Glory for evermore SERMON II. Preached before the KING MARCH 13. 1665 9. PROV XIV IX Fools make a mock at Sin WHEN God by his infinite Wisdom had contrived and by a power and goodness as infinite as his Wisdom had perfected the creation of the visible world there seemed to be nothing wanting to the glory of it but a creature endued with reason and understanding which might comprehend the design of his wisdom enjoy the benefits of his goodness and employ it self in the celebration of his power The Beings purely intellectual were too highly raised by their own order and creation to be the Lords of this inferiour world and those whose natures could reach no higher than the objects of sense were not capable of discovering the glorious perfections of the great Creator and therefore could not be the fit Instruments of his praise and service But a conjunction of both these together was thought necessary to make up such a sort of being which might at once command this lower world and be the servants of him who made it Not as though this great fabrick of the world were meerly raised for man to please his fancy in the contemplation of it or to exercise his dominion over the creatures designed for his use and service but that by frequent reflections on the author of his being and the effects of his power and goodness he might be brought to the greatest love and admiration of him So that the most natural part of Religion lyes in the grateful acknowledgements we owe to that excellent and supream Being who hath shewed so particular a kindness to man in the creation and Government of the world Which was so great and unexpressible that some have thought it was not so much pride and affectation of a greater height as envy at the felicity and power of mankind which was the occasion of the fall of the Apostate spirits But whether or no the state of man were occasion enough for the envy of the Spirits above we are sure the kindness of Heaven was so great in it as could not but lay an indispensable obligation on all mankind to perpetual gratitude and obedience For it is as easie to suppose that affronts and injuries are the most suitable returns for the most obliging favours that the first duty of a Child should be to destroy his Parents that to be thankful for kindnesses received were to commit the unpardonable sin as that man should receive his being and all
all his evil actions which is the liberty we are now speaking of as any persons assert or contend for we cannot suppose that he should have a greater experience of it than now he hath So that either it is impossible for man to know when his choice is free or if it may be known the constant experience of all evil men in the world will testifie that it is so now Is it possible for the most intemperate person to believe when the most pleasing temptations to lust or gluttony are presented to him that no consideration whatever could restrain his appetite or keep him from the satisfaction of his bruitish inclinations Will not the sudden though groundless apprehension of poyson in the Cup make the Drunkards heart to ake and hand to tremble and to let fall the supposed fatal mixture in the midst of all his jollity and excess How often have persons who have designed the greatest mischief to the lives and fortunes of others when all opportunities have fallen out beyond their expectation for accomplishing their ends through some sudden thoughts which have surprized them almost in the very act been diverted from their intended purposes Did ever any yet imagine that the charms of beauty and allurements of lust were so irresistible that if men knew before hand they should surely dye in the embraces of an adulterous bed they could not yet withstand the temptations to it If then some considerations which are quite of another nature from all the objects which are presented to him may quite hinder the force and efficacy of them upon the mind of man as we see in Iosephs resisting the importunate Caresses of his Mistress what reason can there be to imagine that man is a meer machine moved only as outward objects determine him And if the considerations of present fear and danger may divert men from the practice of evil actions shall not the far more weighty considerations of eternity have at least an equal if not a far greater power and efficacy upon mens minds to keep them from everlasting misery Is an immortal soul and the eternal happiness of it so mean a thing in our esteem and value that we will not deny our selves those sensual pleasures for the sake of that which we would renounce for some present danger Are the flames of another world such painted fires that they deserve only to be laughed at and not seriously considered by us Fond man art thou only free to ruine and destroy thy self a strange fatality indeed when nothing but what is mean and trivial shall determine thy choice when matters of the highest moment are therefore less regarded because they are such Hast thou no other plea for thy self but that thy sins were fatal thou hast no reason then to believe but that thy misery shall be so too But if thou ownest a God and Providence assure thy self that justice and righteousness are not meer Titles of his Honour but the real properties of his nature And he who hath appointed the rewards and punishments of the great day will then call the sinner to account not only for all his other sins but for offering to lay the imputation of them upon himself For if the greatest abhorrency of mens evil ways the rigour of his Laws the severity of his judgements the exactness of his justice the greatest care used to reclaim men from their sins and the highest assurance that he is not the cause of their ruine may be any vindication of the holiness of God now and his justice in the life to come we have the greatest reason to lay the blame of all our evil actions upon our selves as to attribute the glory of all our good unto himself alone 2. The frailty of humane Nature those who find themselves to be free enough to do their souls mischief and yet continue still in the doing of it find nothing more ready to plead for themselves than the unhappiness of mans composition and the degenerate state of the world If God had designed they are ready to say that man should lead a life free from sin why did he confine the soul of man to a body so apt to taint and pollute it But who art thou O man that thus findest fault with thy Maker Was not his kindness the greater in not only giving thee a soul capable of enjoying himself but such an habitation for it here which by the curiosity of its contrivance the number and usefulness of its parts might be a perpetual and domestick testimony of the wisdom of its Maker Was not such a conjunction of soul and body necessary for the exercise of that dominion which God designed man for over the creatures endued only with sense and motion And if we suppose this life to be a state of tryal in order to a better as in all reason we ought to do what can be imagined more proper to such a state than to have the soul constantly employed in the government of those sensual inclinations which arise from the body In the doing of which the proper exercise of that vertue consists which is made the condition of future happiness Had it not been for such a composition the difference could never have been seen between good and bad men i. e. between those who maintain the Empire of reason assisted by the motives of Religion over all the inferiour faculties and such who dethrone their souls and make them slaves to every lust that will command them And if men willingly subject themselves to that which they were born to rule they have none to blame but themselves for it Neither is it any excuse at all that this through the degeneracy of mankind is grown the common custom of the world unless that be in it self so great a Tyrant that there is no resisting the power of it If God had commanded us to comply with all the customs of the world and at the same time to be sober righteous and good we must have lived in another age than we live in to have excused these two commands from a palpable contradiction But instead of this he hath forewarned us of the danger of being led aside by the soft and easie compliances of the world and if we are sensible of our own infirmities as we have all reason to be he hath offered us the assistance of his Grace and of that Spirit of his which is greater than the Spirit that is the World He hath promised us those weapons whereby we may withstand the torrent of wickedness in the world with far greater success than the old Gauls were wont to do in the inundations of their Country whose custom was to be drowned with their arms in their hands But it will be the greater folly in us to be so because we have not only sufficient means of resistance but we understand the danger before hand If we once forsake the strict
to sue out prohibitions in the Court of Heaven to hinder the effects of Iustice there Do they design to out-wit infinite Wisdom or to find such flaws in Gods government of the World that he shall be contented to let them go unpunished All which imaginations are alike vain and foolish and only shew how easily wickedness baffles the reason of mankind and makes them rather hope or wish for the most impossible things than believe they shall ever be punished for their impieties If the Apostate Spirits can by reason of their present restraint and expectation of future punishments be as pleasant in beholding the follies of men as they are malicious to suggest them it may be one of the greatest diversions of their misery to see how active and witty men are in contriving their own ruine To see with what greediness they catch at every bait that is offered them and when they are swallowing the most deadly poyson what arts they use to perswade themselves that it is a healthful potion No doubt nothing can more gratifie them than to see men sport themselves into their own destruction and go down so pleasantly to Hell when eternal flames become their first awakeners and then men begin to be wise when it is too late to be so when nothing but insupportable torments can convince them that God was in earnest with them that he would not always bear the affronts of evil men and that those who derided the miseries of another life shall have leisure enough to repent their folly when their repentance shall only increase their sorrow without hopes of pardon by it 3. But if there were any present selicity or any considerable advantage to be gained by this mocking at sin and undervaluing Religion there would seem to be some kind of pretence though nothing of true reason for it Yet that which heightens this folly to the highest degree in the last place is that there can be no imaginable consideration thought on which might look like a plausible temptation to it The covetous man when he hath defrauded his neighbour and used all kinds of arts to compass an Estate hath the fulness of his baggs to answer for him and whatever they may do in another world he is sure they will do much in this The voluptuous man hath the strong propensities of his Nature the force of temptation which lies in the charms of beauty to excuse his unlawful pleasures by The ambitious man hath the greatness of his mind the advantage of authority the examples of those who have been great before him and the envy of those who condemn him to plead for the heights he aims at But what is it which the person who despises Religion and laughs at every thing that is serious proposes to himself as the reason of what he does But alas this were to suppose him to be much more serious than he is if he did propound any thing to himself as the ground of his actions But it may be a great kindness to others though none to himself I cannot imagine any unless it may be to make them thankful they are not arrived to that height of folly or out of perfect good nature lest they should take him to be wiser than he is The Psalmists fool despises him as much as he does Religion for he only saith it in his heart there is no God but this though he dares not think there is none yet shews him not near so much outward respect and reverence as the other does Even the Atheist himself thinks him a Fool and the greatest of all other who believes a God and yet affronts him and trifles with him And although the Atheists folly be unaccountable in resisting the clearest evidence of reason yet so far he is to be commended for what he says that if there be such a thing as Religion men ought to be serious in it So that of all hands the scoffer at Religion is looked on as one forsaken of that little reason which might serve to uphold a slender reputation of being above the beasts that perish nay therein his condition is worse than theirs that as they understand not Religion they shall never be punished for despising it which such a person can never secure himself from considering the power the justice the severity of that God whom he hath so highly provoked God grant that the apprehension of this danger may make us so serious in the profession and practice of our Religion that we may not by slighting that and mocking at sin provoke him to laugh at our calamities and mock when our fear comes but that by beholding the sincerity of our repentance and the heartiness of our devotion to him he may turn his anger away from us and rejoyce over us to do us good SERMON III. Preached at WHITE-HALL LUKE VII XXXV But Wisdom is justified of all her Children OF all the Circumstances of our Blessed Saviours appearance and preaching in the World there is none which to our first view and apprehension of things seems more strange and unaccountable than that those persons who were then thought of all others to be most conversant in the Law and the Prophets should be the most obstinate opposers of him For since he came to fulfil all the Prophesies which had gone before concerning him and was himself the great Prophet foretold by all the rest none might in humane probability have been judged more likely to have received and honoured him than those to whom the judgement of those things did peculiarly belong and who were as much concerned in the truth of them as any else could be Thus indeed it might have been reasonably expected and doubtless it had been so if interest and prejudice had not had a far more absolute power and dominion over them than they had over the rest of the people If Miracles and Prophesies if Reason and Religion nay if the interest of another World could have prevailed over the interest of this among them the Iewish Sanhedrin might have been some of the first Converts to Christianity the Scribes and Pharisees had been all Proselytes to Christ and the Temple at Ierusalem had been the first Christian Church But to let us see with what a jealous eye Power and Interest looks on every thing that seems to offer at any disturbance of it how much greater sway partiality and prejudice hath upon the minds of men than true Reason and Religion and how hard a matter it is to convince those who have no mind to be convinced we find none more furious in their opposition to the person of Christ none more obstinate in their infidelity as to his Doctrine than those who were at that time in the greatest reputation among them for their authority wisdom and knowledge These are they whom our Saviour as often as he meets with either checks for their
reason to disobey when there is an apprehension that may make more for his advantage But when the reason of obedience is derived from the concernments of another life no hopes of interest in this world can be thought to ballance the loss which may come by such a breach of duty in that to come So that no persons do so dangerously undermine the foundations of civil Government as those who magnifie that to the contempt of Religion none so effectually secure them as those who give to God the things that are Gods and by doing so are obliged to give to Caesar the things that are Caesars This was the Doctrine of Christianity as it was delivered by the first author of it and the practice was agreeable as long as Christianity preserved its primitive honour in the world For so far were men then from making their zeal for Religion a pretence to rebellion that though Christianity were directly contrary to the Religions then in vogue in the world yet they knew of no other way of promoting it but by patience humility meekness prayers for their persecutors and tears when they saw them obstinate So far were they then from somenting suspicions and jealousies concerning the Princes and Governours they lived under that though they were generally known to be some of the worst of men as well as of Princes yet they charge all Christians in the strictest manner as they loved their Religion and the honour of it as they valued their souls and the salvation of them that they should be subject to them So far were they then from giving the least encouragement to the usurpations of the rights of Princes undeâ— the pretence of any power given to a head of the Church that there is no way for any to think they meant it unless we suppose the Apostles such mighty Politicians that it is because they say nothing at all of it but on the contrary bid every soul be subject to the higher powers though an Apostle Evangelist Prophet whatever he be as the Fathers interpret it Yea so constant and uniform was the doctrine and practice of Obedience in all the first and purest ages of the Christian Church that no one instance can be produced of any usurpation of the rights of Princes under the pretence of any title from Christ or any disobedience to their authority under the pretence of promoting Christianity through all those times wherein Christianity the most flourished or the Christians were the most persecuted And happy had it been for us in these last ages of the World if we had been Christians on the same terms which they were in the Primitive times then there had been no such scandals raised by the degeneracy of men upon the most excellent and peaceable Religion in the world as though that were unquiet and troublesom because so many have been so who have made shew of it But let their pretences be never so great to Infallibility on one side and to the Spirit on the other so far as men encourage faction and disobedience so far they have not the Spirit of Christ and Christianity and therefore are none of his For he shewed his great wisdom in contriving such a method of saving mens souls in another world as tended most to the preservation of the peace and quietness of this and though this wisdom may be evil spoken of by men of restless and unpeaceable minds yet I will be still justified by all who have heartily embraced the Wisdom which is from above who are pure and peaceable as that Wisdom is and such and only such are the Children of it 3. I come to shew That the design of Christs appearance was very agreeable to the infinite Wisdom of God and that the means were very suitable and effectual for carrying on of that design for the reformation of Mankind 1. That the design it self was very agreeable to the infinite Wisdom of God What could we imagine more becoming the Wisdom of God than to contrive a way for the recovery of lapsed and degenerate Mankind who more fit to employ upon such a message as this than the Son of God for his coming gives the greatest assurance to the minds of men that God was serious in the management of this design than which nothing could be of greater importance in order to the success of it And how was it possible he should give a greater testimony of himself and withal of the purpose he came about than he did when he was in the world The accomplishment of Prophesies and power of Miracles shewed who he was the nature of his Doctrine the manner of his Conversation the greatness of his Sufferings shewed what his design was in appearing among men for they were all managed with a peculiar respect to the convincing mankind that God was upon terms of mercy with them and had therefore sent his Son into the world that he might not only obtain the pardon of sin for those who repent but eternal life for all them that obey him And what is there now we can imagine so great and desireable as this for God to manifest his wisdom in It is true we see a great discovery of it in the works of Nature and might do in the methods of Divine Providence if partiality and interest did not blind our eyes but both these though great in themselves yet fall short of the contrivance of bringing to an eternal happiness man who had fallen from his Maker and was perishing in his own folly Yet this is that which men in the pride and vanity of their own imaginations either think not worth considering or consider as little as if they thought so and in the mean time think themselves very wise too The Iews had the wisdom of their Traditions which they gloried in and despised the Son of God himself when he came to alter them The Greeks had the wisdom of their Philosophy which they so passionately admired that whatever did not agree with that though infinitely more certain and useful was on that account rejected by them The Romans after the conquest of so great a part of the World were grown all such Politicians and Statesmen that few of them could have leisure to think of another world who were so busie in the management of this And some of all these sorts do yet remain in the World which makes so many so little think of or admire this infinite discovery of divine Wisdom nay there are some who can mix all these together joyning a Iewish obstinacy with the pride and self-opinion of the Greeks to a Roman unconcernedness about the matters of another life And yet upon a true and just enquiry never any Religion could be found which could more fully satisfie the expectation of the Iews the reason of the Greeks or the wisdom of the Romans than that which was made known by Christ who was the Wisdom of
not the sobriety of the very Turks upbraid our excesses and debaucheries and the obstinacy of the Iews in defence and practice of their Religion condemn our coldness and indifferency in ours If we have then any tenderness for the honour of our Religion or any kindness for our own Souls let us not only have the Name but let us lead the lives of Christians let us make amends for all the reproaches which our Religion hath suffered by the faction and disobedience of some by the Oaths and Blasphemies the impieties and profaneness of others by the too great negligence and carelesness of all that if it be possible Christianity may appear in its true glory which will then only be when those who name the Name of Christ depart from iniquity and live in all manner of holy conversation and godliness SERMON IV. Preached at WHITE-HALL ROMANS I. XVI For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the Power of God unto salvation to every one that believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek THese words are uttered by one who was himself a remarkable instance of the truth of the Doctrine contained in them Viz. of that Divine Power which did accompany the Gospel of Christ. For what can we imagine else should make him now not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ who not long before was not ashamed to persecute all those who professed it One whose spirit was fermented with the leaven of the Pharisees and inraged with fury against all who owned the name of Christ is of a sudden turned quite into another temper to the confusion of those who employed him and the amazement of them whom he designed to persecute Nay so great was the change which was wrought in him that from a Bigot of the Iewish Religion he becomes an Apostle of the Christian and from breathing flames against the Christians none more ready than he to undergo them for Christ. If he had only given over his persecution it might have been thought that he had meerly run himself out of breath and grown weary of his former fury as greater persons than he did afterwards but to retain the same fervour of spirit in preaching Christ which he had before in opposing him to have as great zeal for making Christians as he had for destroying them must needs proceed from some great and unusual cause Whilest the Iews thought he had too much learning and interest to become their enemy and the Christians found he had too much rage and fury to be their friend even then when they least expected it instead of continuing an Instrument of the Sanhedrin for punishing the Christians he declared himself an Apostle and servant of Jesus Christ. And that no ordinary one neither for such was the efficacy of those divine words Saul Saul why persecutest thou me that they not only presently allay his former heat but quicken and animate him to a greater zeal for the honour of him whom he had persecuted before And the faster he had run when he was out of his way the greater diligence he used when he found it there being none of all the followers of Christ who out-stript him in his constant endeavours to advance the Christian Religion in the World And if an unwearied diligence to promote it an uncessant care for preserving it an universal concern for all who owned it and an undaunted spirit in bearing the affronts and injuries he underwent for it be any perswasive arguments of the love a man bears to his Religion there was never any person who made a clearer demonstration than St. Paul did of the truth of his Religion and his sincerity in embracing it For his endeavours were suitable to the greatness of his spirit his care as large as the Horizon of the Sun of righteousness his courage as great as the malice of his enemies For he was neither afraid of the malice of the Iews or of the Wisdom of the Greeks or of the Power of the Romans but he goes up and down preaching the Gospel in a sphere as large as his mind was and with a zeal only parallel with his former fury He encountred the Iews in their Synagogues he disputed with the Greeks in their most famous Cities at Athens Corinth Ephesus and elsewhere and everywhere raising some Trophies to the honour of the Gospel nothing now remained but that he should do the same at Rome also And for this he wants not spirit and resolution for he even longed to be there vers 11. nâ—y he had often purposed to go thither but waited for a convenient opportunity v. 13. But while God was pleased otherwise to dispose of him he could not conceal the joy which he had for the ready entertainment of the Christian Religion by those to whom he writes and that their saith was grown as famous as the City wherein they dwelt v. 8. First I thank my God through Iesus Christ for you all that your Faith is spoken of throughout the whole World and he further manifests the greatness of his affection to them that without ceasing he made mention of them always in his Prayers v. 9. And among the rest of the blessings he prayed for for himself and them he was sure not to forget his coming to them v. 10. Not out of an ambitious and vain-glorious humour that he might be taken notice of in that great and Imperial City but that he might be instrumental in doing them service as he had done others v. 11. 13. And to this end he tells them what an obligation lay upon him to spread the Doctrine of Christ in all places and to all persons v. 14. I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians to the wise and to the unwise So that neither the wisdom of the Greeks nor the the ignorance of the Babarians could hinder St. Paul from discovering to them the contrivances of infinite wisdom and the excellent methods of divine Goodness in order to mens eternal welfare And although Rome now thought it self to be the seat of Wisdom as well as Empire and Power yet our Apostle declares his readiness to Preach the Gospel there too v. 15. for which he gives a sufficient reason in the words of the Text for I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the Power of God to Salvation c. Wherein we have considerable these two things 1. The Apostles boldness and freeness in declaring the doctrine of Christ For I am not ashamed c. 2. The ground of it in the following words for it is the Power of God to Salvation c. 1. The Apostles boldness and freeness in declaring the doctrine of Christ. It was neither the gallantry of the Roman Court nor the splendor of the City not the greatness of her Power or wisdom of her Statesmen could make St. Paul entertain the meaner opinion
hearty and sincere obedience to his will declared by his Son so that all those who perform that though they live not in the nice observance of the Law of Moses shall not need to fear the penalty of their sins in another life Which is the second thing he designs to prove viz. That those who obeyed the Gospel whether Iew or Greek were equally capable of salvation by it For saith he is God the God of the Iews only is he not also of the Gentiles Tes of the Gentiles also because both Iew and Gentile were to be justified upon the same terms as he proves afterwards So that Gods justifying of us by the Gospel is the solemn declaration of himself upon what terms he will pardon the sins of men that is deliver them from the penalties they have deserved by them For the actual discharge of the person is reserved to the great day all the justification we have here is only declarative from God but so as to give a right to us by vertue whereof we are assured that God will not only not exercise his utmost rigour but shew all favour and kindness to those who by belief of the Gospel do repent and obey God doth now remit sin as he forbears to punish it he remits the sinner as he he assures him by the death of Christ he will not punish upon his repentance but he fully remits both when he delivers the person upon the tryal of the great day from all the penalties which he hath deserved by his sins So that our compleat justification and salvation go both upon the same terms and the same Faith which is sufficient for one must be sufficient for the other also What care then ought men to take lest by mis-understanding the notion of Believing so much spoken of as the condition of our salvation they live in a neglect of that holy obedience which the Gospel requires and so believe themselves into eternal misery But as long as men make their obedience necessary though but as the fruit and effect of Faith it shall not want its reward for those whose hearts are purified by Faith shall never be condemned for mistaking the notion of it and they who live as those that are to be judged according to their works shall not miss their reward though they do not think they shall receive it for them But such who make no other condition of the Gospel but Believing and will scarce allow that to be called a Condition ought to have a great care to keep their hearts sounder than their heads for their only security will lye in this that they are good though they see no necessity of being so And such of all others I grant have reason to acknowledge the irresistable power of Divine Grace which enables them to obey the will of God against the dictates of their own judgements But thanks be to God who hath so abundantly provided for all the infirmities of humane Nature by the large offers of his Grace and assistance of his Spirit that though we meet with so much opposition without and so much weakness within and so many discouragements on every side of us yet if we sincerely apply our selves to do the will of God we have as great assurance as may be that we shall be kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation SERMON V. Preached at WHITE HALL HEBREWS II. III. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation WHen the wise and eternal Counsels of Heaven concerning the salvation of Mankind by the death of the Son of God were first declared to the World by his own appearance and preaching in it nothing could be more reasonably expected than that the dignity of his Person the authority of his Doctrine and the excellency of his Life should have perswaded those whom he appeared among to such an admiration of his Person and belief of his Doctrine as might have led them to an imitation of him in the holiness of his life and conversation For if either the worth of the Person or the Importance of the Message might prevail any thing towards a kind and honourable reception among men there was never any person appeared in any degree comparable to him never any Message declared which might challenge so welcome an entertainment from men as that was which he came upon If to give Mankind the highest assurance of a state of life and immortality if to offer the pardon of sin and reconciliation with God upon the most easie and reasonable terms if to purge the degenerate World from all its impurities by a Doctrine as holy as the Author of it were things as becoming the Son of God to reveal as the Sons of men to receive nothing can be more unaccountable than that his person should be dispised his Authority slighted and his Doctrine contemned And that by those whose interest was more concerned in the consequence of these things than himself could be in all the affronts and injuries he underwent from men For the more the indignities the greater the shame the sharper the sufferings which he did undergo the higher was the honour and glory which he was advanced to but the more obliging the instances of his kindness were the greater the salvation that was tendered by him the more prevailing the motives were for the entertainment of his Doctrine the more exemplary and severe will the punishment be of all those who reject it For it is very agreeable to those eternal Laws of Justice by which God governs the world that the punishment should arise pro portionably to the greatness of the mercies despised and therefore although the Scripture be very sparing in telling us what the state of those persons shall be in another life who never heard of the Gospel yet for those who do and despise it it tells us plainly that an eternal misery is the just desert of those to whom an eternal happiness was offered and yet neglected by them And we are the rather told of it that men may not think it a surprize in the life to come or that if they had known the danger they would have escaped it and therefore our Blessed Saviour who never mentioned punishment but with a design to keep men from it declares it frequently that the punishment of those persons and places would be most intolerable who have received but not improved the light of the Gospel and that it would be more tolerable for the persons who had offered violence to Nature and had Hell-fire burning in their hearts by their horrid impurities than for those who heard the Doctrine and saw the Miracles of Christ and were much the worse rather than any thing the better for it But lest we should think that all this black scene of misery was only designed for those who were the Actors in that doleful Tragedy of our
Saviours sufferings we are told by those who were best able to assure us of it that the same dismal consequences will attend all the affronts of his Doctrine as if they had been offered to his own person For it is nothing but the common flattery and self-deceit of humane nature which makes any imagine that though they do not now either believe or obey the Gospel they should have done both if they had heard our Saviour speak as never man spake and seen him do what never man did For the same disposition of mind which makes them now slight that Doctrine which is delivered to them by them that heard him would have made them slight the Person as well as the Doctrine if they had heard it from himself And therefore it is but reasonable that the same punishment should belong to both especially since God hath provided so abundantly for the assurance of our Faith by the miraculous and powerful demonstration of that divine spirit which did accompany those who were the first publishers of this Doctrine to the world And therefore the Author of this Epistle after he hath in the words of the Text declared that it is impossible to escape if we neglect the great salvation offered us by the Gospel in the following words he gives us that account of it that at first it began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will So that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost falling upon the Apostles and the many signs and wonders which were wrought by them were the great testimony of God to the world that these were the persons imployed by himself to declare that Doctrine whereon the eternal salvation of Mankind did depend And since we have so lately acknowledged the truth of this testimony which God gave to the Apostles by the solemn celebration of that glorious descent of the Holy Ghost upon them on the day of Pentecost that which naturally follows from it is the great care we ought to take lest we be found guilty of neglecting that great salvation which is offered to us in that Doctrine which was attested in so eminent a manner by God himself and that from the consideration of our own danger for how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation wherein are three things considerable 1. The care God hath taken to make us happy by offering so great salvation to us 2. The care we ought to take in order to our own happiness not to neglect the offers which God hath made us 3. The unavoidable punishment which those do incur who are guilty of this neglect How shall we escape I need not tell this Auditory how forcible the Negative is which is expressed by such an interrogation which appeals to the judgement of all who hear it and so relies not upon the bare authority of the speaker but upon the plain evidence of the thing which others were judges of as well as himself As though he had said if you slight and disesteem the Gospel of Christ upon whatever grounds ye do it if either through too great an opinion of the wisdom of this world you despiâ—e it as vain and useless if through too mean an opinion of the excellency of Christianity you reject it either as uncertain in its Theory or impossible in its practice or if through too great a love of the pleasures of sin or a secure and careless temper of mind you regard not the doing what Christianity requires to make you happy think with your selves what way you can find to escape the wrath of God for my part I know of none for if God were so severe against the violation of a far meaner institution viz. of the Law of Moses insomuch that every contempt and disobedience did receive a just recompence of reward how shall we escape who neglect so great salvation or as the Apostle elsewhere argues to the same purpose He that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace This is a sad subject but I am afraid too necessary to be spoken to in the Age we live in wherein men seem to be inapprehensive of the danger of inwardly despising the Religion they prosess to own and the neglecting of that which they hope to be saved by It is strange that it should be so but much more strange that men should think to do so and not be called to an account for it It is not only the gross and open sinner that defies Heaven and by his oaths and blasphemies dares God to shew his Power and Justice upon him but the slye and self-deceiving hypocrite that hates Religion while he thinks he loves it that in his heart contemns it but is afraid to know that he does so that ought to be possessed with a truer sense of Religion and a greater dread of the issue of the contempt or neglect of it There is some appearance of ingenuity in an open enmity but none so dangerous as that which hides it self under the disguise of friendship In our Saviours time there were several sorts of those who shewed their disesteem of him some that were so enraged against him that they contrive all ways for his disgrace and punishment others could hear him with patience but the cares of this World the deceitfulness of Riches and the lust of other things choaked and stifled all good apprehensions of him that they became weak and ineffectual And those were guilty of making light of the marriage-feast because of other business which they had to mind Matth. 22. 5. as well as those who offered all the injuries and affronts to his servants that invited them v. 6. And as it was in the days of our Saviour so it is now some were eating and drinking minding nothing but the vain and sensual pleasures of the world some were buying and selling so busie in this world that they had no leasure to think of being happy in another some were deriding and blaspheming but all these too wise or too vain or too profane to mind the offers of eternal salvation I wish we could say it were otherwise now that a sensual and voluptuous an easie and a careless life in some that ambition and the restless pursuit after the honour and riches of the world in others that a profane wit and a contempt of all that is serious in those that think themselves too great to be Religious did not enervate the force of Christianity upon their minds and make them all
but too much will unfit them for greater business But do men believe these things to be true or not when they say thus if they be true why need they fear their uncertainty if they be certain what pains and care can be too great about them since a little will never serve to obtain them Let but the care and diligence be proportionable to the greatness of the end and the weight of the things and you never need fear the want of a recompence for all your labour But suppose you say if you were fully convinced of their certainty you would look more after them What hinders you from being so convinced Is it not a bad disposition of mind which makes you unwilling to enquire into them examine things with a mind as free as you would have it judge seriously according to the reason of things and you will easily find the interests of a life to come are far more certain as well as more desireable than those of this present life And yet the great uncertainty of all the honours and riches of this world never hinder the covetous or ambitious person from their great earnestness in pursuit of them And shall not then all the mighty arguments which God himself hath made use of to confirm to us the certainty of a life to come prevail upon us to look more seriously after it Shâ—ll the unexpressible love of the Father the unconceiveable sufferings of the Son of God and the miraculous descent and powerful assistance of the Holy Ghost have no more impression on our minds than to leave us uncertain of a future state What mighty doubts and suspicions of God what distrusts of humane Nature what unspeakable ingratitude and unaccountable folly lies at the bottom of all this uncertainty O fools and slow of heart to believe not only what the Prophets have spoken but what our Lord hath declared God himself hath given testimony to and the Holy Ghost hath confirmed 3. But is not your Interest concerned in these things Is it all one to you whether your souls be immortal or no whether they live in eternal felicity or unchangeable misery Is it no more to you than to know what kind of Bables are in request at the Indies or whether the customs of China or Iapan are the wiser i. e. than the most trifling things and the remotest from our knowledge But this is so absurd and unreasonable to suppose that men should not think themselves concerned in their own eternal happiness and misery that I shall not shew so much distrust of their understandings to speak any longer to it 3. But if notwithstanding all these things our neglect still continues then there remains nothing but a fearful looking for of judgement and the fiery indignation of God For there is no possibility of escaping if we continue to neglect so great salvation All hopes of escaping are taken away which are only in that which men neglect and those who neglect their only way to salvation must needs be miserable How can that man ever hope to be saved by him whose blood he despises and tramples under foot What grace and favour can he expect from God who hath done despight unto the Spirit of Grace That hath cast away with reproach and contempt the greatest kindness and offers of Heaven What can save him that resolves to be damned and every one does so who knows he shall be damned if he lives in his sins and yet continues to do so God himself in whose only pity our hopes are hath irreversibly decreed that he will have no pity upon those who despise his goodness slight his threatnings abuse his patience and sin the more because he offers to pardon It is not any â—elight that God takes in the miseries of his Creatures which makes him punish them but shall not God vindicate his own honour against obstinate and impenitent sinners He declares before hand that he is far from delighting in their ruine and that is the reason he hath made such large offers and used so many means to make them happy but if men resolve to despise his offers and slight the means of their salvation shall not God be just without being thought to be cruel And we may assure our selves none shall ever suffer beyond the just desert of their sins for punishment as the Apostle tells us in the words before the Text is nothing but a just recompence of reward And if there were such a one proportionable to the violation of the Law delivered by Angels how shall we think to escape who neglect a more excellent means of happiness which was delivered by our Lord himself If God did not hate sin and there were not a punishment belonging to it why did the Son of God die for the expiation of it and if his death were the only means of expiation how is it possible that those who neglect that should escape the punishment not only of their other sins but of that great contempt of the means of our salvation by him Let us not then think to trifle with God as though it were impossible a Being so merciful and kind should ever punish his Creatures with the miseries of another life For however we may deceive our selves God will not be mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flâ—sh reap corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting I shall only propound some few Considerations to prevent so great a neglect as that of your salvation is 1. Consider what it is you neglect the offer of Eternal Happiness the greatest kindness that ever was expressed to the World the foundation of your present peace the end of your beings the stay of your minds the great desire of your Souls the utmost felicity that humane Nature is capable of Is it nothing to neglect the favour of a Prince the kindness of Great Men the offers of a large and plentiful Estate but these are nothing to the neglect of the favour of God the love of his Son and that salvation which he hath purchased for you Nay it is not a bare neglect but it implies in it a mighty contempt not only of the things offered but of the kindness of him who offers them If men had any due regard for God or themselves if they had any esteem for his love or their own welfare they would be much more serious in Religion than they are When I see a person wholly immersed in affairs of the World or spending his time in luxury and vanity can I possibly think that man hath any esteem of God or of his own Soul When I find one very serious in the pursuit of his Designs in the World thoughtful and busie subtle in contriving them careful in managing them but very formal remiss and negligent in all affairs
looked better than his neighbours they thereby suspecting he had some concealed provisions They brake into the houses of such whom they imagined to be eating and if they found them so they either forced the meat out of their mouths or choaked them with attempting to do it It was no news then for a Woman to forget her sucking Child so as not to have compassion upon the Son of her Womb for the story is remarkable in Iosephus of a Mother that not only eat part of her Son who sucked at her breast but when the smell had tempted some to break in upon her and take part with her and were struck with horror at the sight of it What saith she will you shew your selves more tender than a Woman or more compassionate than a Mother It was no news to see Parents and Children destroying one another for a piece of bread to see the streets and tops of houses covered with the bodies of those who dropt down for want of food in so much that the stench of their carcases soon brought a Plague among them which and the Famine raged together with that violence that when there was no possibility of burying their dead they threw them over the Walls of the City and Titus beholding the incredible numbers of them lift up his hands to Heaven and cryed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it was none of his doing For he used all possible means to prevent the ruine of the City and Temple as well as the destruction of the People but all to no purpose for now the time of Gods vengeance was come yea the full time of his wrath was come So that Titus often confessed he never saw such an instance of divine vengeance upon a people that when their Enemies designed to save them they were resolved to destroy themselves And Philostratus tells us that when the neighbour Provinces offered Titus a Crown in token of his conquest of Iudaea he utterly refused it with this saying that he had nothing to do in the glory of that action for he was only the instrument of Gods vengeance upon the Iews Which we may easily believe if we consider almost the incredible number of those who were destroyed at that time 1100000 reckoned in that number in the time of eight months siege and 90000 carried away captive which might have been thought incredible but for one circumstance which is mentioned by their own Historian that at the time of the siege Hierusalem was filled with Jews coming from all parts to the solemnity of the Passover where they were shut up asin a Prison and their Prison made their place of Execution Yea so prodigious were the calamities which besel this people not only at Hierusalem but at Caesarea Antioch Scythopolis Alexandria and almost all the Cities of Syria that Eliazer one of the heads of the Faction when he saw they could not hold out against the Romans at Massada perswaded them all to kill one another by this argument that it was now apparent that God from the beginning of the War had designed their destruction and they had better be the executioners of his vengeance themselves than suffer the Romans to be so Upon which they all miserably destroyed each other who were the last who opposed the Roman Power What shall we say then to these things Have we any ground to suspect the truth of the story as either made by Christians in hatred of the Jews or improved mightily to their disadvantage Not so certainly when all the circumstances are related by Jewish and Roman Writers who had no kindness at all for Christians Or shall we say there was nothing extraordinary in all this but that the Jews were a wild and seditious people that destroyed themselves and their nation but it is evident they were not always so they had been a people that had flourished with the reputation of wisdom and conduct and had great success against their enemies And the Romans themselves at this time acknowledged they never saw a people of a more invincible spirit and less afraid of dying than these were But all this turned to their greater prejudice and they who had been so famous in former ages for miraculous deliverances from the power of their enemies were now not only given up into their hands but into those which were far more cruel which were their own What then can we imagine should make so great an alteration in the State of their affairs now but that God was their friend then and their enemy now He gave then success beyond their Counsels and without preparation now he blasts all their designs divides their counsels and makes their contrivances end in their speedier ruine Now they felt the effect of what God had threatned long before Woe be unto you when I depart from you Now their strength their wisdom their peace their honour their safety were all departed from them Whereby we see how much the welfare of a Nation depends upon Gods Favour and that no other security is comparable to that of true Religion The Nation of the Jews was for all that we know never more numerous than at this time never more resolute and couragious to venture their lives never better provided of fortified Towns and strong places of retreat and all provisions for War but there was a hand writing upon the Wall against them Mene Tekel Peres God had weighed them in the ballance and found them too light he divides their Nation and removes his Kingdom from them and leaves them to an utter desolation Neither can we say this was some present infatuation upon them for ever since all their attempts for recovering their own land have but increased their miseries and made their condition worse than before Witness that great attempt under Barchocebas in the time of Adrian in which the Jews themselves say there perished double the number of what came out of Egypt i. e. above 1200000 men After which they were not only wholly banished their land but forbid so much as to look on the place where the Temple had stood and were fain to purchase at a dear rate the liberty of weeping over it ut qui quondam emerant sanguinem Christi emant lachrymas suas as St. Hierom speaks i. e. that they who had bought the blood of Christ were now fain to buy their own tears It would be endless to pursue the miseries of this wretched people in all ages ever since the slavery disgrace universal contempt the frequent banishments confiscations of estates constant oppressions which they have laboured under So that from that time to this they have scarce had any estates but never any Country which they could call their own So that St. Augustin hath truly said the curse of Cain is upon them for they are vagabonds in the earth they have a mark upon them so that they are not destroyed and
to widen our differences or increase our animosities they are too large and too great already nor to condemn any humble and modest dissenters from us but I despair ever to see our divisions healed till Religion be brought from the Fancies to the hearts of men and till men instead of mystical notions and unacccountable experiences in stead of mis-applying promises and misunderstanding the spirit of prayer instead of judging of themselves by mistaken signs of Grace set themselves to the practice of humility selfdenial meekness patience charity obedience and a holy life and look on these as the greatest duties and most distinguishing characters of true Christianity And in doing of these there shall not only be a great reward in the life to come but in spight of all opposition from Atheism profaneness or superstition we may see our divisions cured and the Kingdom of God which is a Kingdom of peace and holiness to abide and flourish among us SERMON IX Preached at WHITE HALL WHITSUNDAY 1669. JOHN VII XXXIX But this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Iesus was not yet glorified WHat was said of old concerning the first creation of the world that in order to the accomplishment of it the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters is in a sense agreeable to the nature of it as true of the renovation of the world by the doctrine of Christ. For whether by that we understand a great and vehement mind as the Jews generally do or rather the Divine power manifesting it self in giving motion to the otherwise dull and unactive parts of matter we have it fully represented to us in the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost For that came upon them as a rushing mighty wind and inspired them with a new life and motion whereby they became the most active instruments of bringing the world out of that state of confusion and darkness it lay in before by causing the glorious light of the Gospel to shine upon it And left any part should be wanting to make up the parallel in the verse before the text we read of the Waters too which the Spirit of God did move upon and therefore called not a dark Abyss but flowing rivers of living water He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his bellie shall flow rivers of living water Not as though the Apostles like some in the ancient Fables were to be turned into fountains and pleasant Springs but the great and constant benefit which the Church of God enjoys by the plentiful effusion of the Holy Spirit upon them could not be better set fotth than by rivers of living water flowing from them And this the Evangelist in these words to prevent all cavils and mistakes tells us was our Saviours meaning But this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive And lest any should think that our Blessed Saviour purposely affected to speak in strange metaphors we shall find a very just occasion given him for using this way of expression from a custom practised among the Jews at that time For in the solemnity of the feast of Tabernacles especially in the last and great day of the Feast mentioned v. 37. after the sacrifices were offered upon the Altar one of the Priests was to go with a large Golden Tankard to the fountain of Siloam and having filled it with water he brings it up to the water-gate over against the altar where it was received with a great deal of pomp and ceremony with the sounding of the Trumpets and rejoycing of the people which continued during the libation or pouring it out before the Altar after which followed the highest expressions of joy that were ever used among that people insomuch that they have a saying among them that he that never saw the rejoycing of the drawing of water never saw rejoycing in all his life Of which several accounts are given by the Jews some say it had a respect to the later rain which God gave them about this time others to the keeping of the Law but that which is most to our purpose is that the reason assigned by one of the Rabbies in the Ierusalem Talmud is because of the drawing or pouring out of the Holy Ghost according to what is said with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of Salvation By which we see that no fairer advantage could be given to our Saviour to discourse concerning the effusion of the Holy Ghost and the mighty joy which should be in the Christian Church by reason of that than in the time of this solemnity and so lets them know that the Holy Ghost represented by their pouring out of water was not to be expected by their rites and ceremonies but by believing the doctrine which he preached and that this should not be in so scant and narrow a measure as that which was taken out of Siloam which was soon poured out and carried away but out of them on whom the Holy Ghost should come rivers of living waters should flow whose effect and benefit should never cease as long as the world it self should continue So that in the words of the text we have these particulars offered to our consideration 1. The effusion of the Spirit under the times of the Gospel but this spake he of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive 2. The nature of that effusion represented to us by rivers of living waters flowing out of them 3. The time that was reserved for it which was after the glorious ascension of Christ to Heaven For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Iesus was not yet glorified 1. The effusion of the spirit under the times of the Gospel by which we mean those extraordinary gifts and abilities which the Apostles had after the Holy Ghost is said to descend upon them Which are therefore called signs and wonders and divers gifts of the Holy Ghost and the operations of the Spirit of which we have a large enumeration given us in that place The two most remarkable which I shall insist upon and do comprehend under them most of the rest are the power of working miracles whether in Healing diseases or any other way and the gift of tongues either in speaking or interpreting they who will acknowledge that the Apostles had these will not have reason to question any of the rest And concerning these I shall endeavour to prove 1. That the things attributed to the Apostles concerning them could not arise from any ordinary or natural causes 2. That they could not be the effects of an evil but of a holy and divine spirit and therefore that there was really such a pouring out of the spirit
they took all opportunities to convey the Doctrine of Christianity into the minds of those out of whose bodies they cast either diseases or Devils But is it not said that Christ could do no mighty works among them because of their unbelief and the power of his disciples could not be greater than his own To which I answer 1. It is no where said in the Scripture that Christ could do no miracles at all among them because of their unbelief for in one place it is said And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief He did miracles enough to convince them but when he saw their obstinacy he would not cast away any more upon them And in that other place where it is said that he could there do no mighty work it is presently added save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them And what absurdity is there that Christ should do no extraordinary miracle among them among whom he saw that himself and his miracles were both equally contemned It is not the method of divine goodness to bestow the largest kindnesses at first those who improve the beginnings of savour shall have more but those who despise the first may justly be rejected from any farther kindness 2. When it is said that he could not that expression doth not imply any impossibility in the thing but a deliberate resolution to the contrary so it is used Acts 4. 20. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard Who questions but there was a possibility in the thing that they might have held their peace but it was a thing which upon great deliberation they had resolved not to do So thou canst not bear them which are evil and we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth From which it appears that this can be no prejudice to the power of Christ in working miracles but only shews his just resolution not to do it considering the contempt wherewith he had been entertained among them 2. It is pretended by those men who set themselves to undervalue those miraculous gifts which the Apostles had that the gift of tongues might be only the effect of an Enthusiastick heat or some distemper of their brains as men in a high Fever are apt to speak such things and words which while they are in health they could never do But that such unreasonable imaginations do more argue a distempered brain than any thing we assert concerning these divine persons will easily appear from these considerations 1. That no violent heat whatsoever can form a new language to a man which he never knew before If language had been natural to man there might have been some reason for it but that we all know to be an arbitrary thing and as well might a blind man paint with an exact difference of colours or one write plainly who could never read as any person by the meer heat of his Phancy speak suddenly in a tongue which he never learnt There have been some who have said that the mind of man hath naturally all kinds of languages within it self and it wants nothing but some mighty heat to stir men up to speak in any kind of them But we are to take notice that those things are accounted wit when spoken against Religion which would have been non-sense and contradictions if spoken for it And certainly nothing could be more absurdly said than for the same men to make all the imaginations we have of things to come in by our senses and yet to say that the mind of man can have those things in it which he never learnt or heard If this supposion were true we might invert that saying of Festus to St. Paul much learning hath made thee mad for then madness or that which is the next to it a great heat of brain would make men the most learned If this were true there would be a much easier way of attaining to speak in the languages of all nations than that which many take to gain a very few of them for the heightening of Phancy either by Wine or a degree of madness would inspire men with skill in tongues to a miracle 2. But supposing such a thing possible which is far from being so yet it is very remote from our present case for the Apostles made it manifest to all persons that they were far enough from being inspired with the vapours of wine or touched with any Enthusiastick madness They spake with strange tongues but in such a manner as convinced great numbers of their hearers of the excellency of that doctrine which was delivered by them As St. Paul answered Festus I am not mad most noble Festus but speak forth the words of truth and soberness so they did not speak incoherent and insignificant words which madness makes men do nor any mean and trivial things meerly for ostentation of their gifts but they spake though with divers tongues the great or wonderful things of God So their auditors confessed with admiration These are not the effects of Wine or Madness as St. Peter at large proves against the unreasonable cavils of some who mocked and said they were full of new wine Which he doth with so great success that the same day 3000 persons disowned their former course of life and embraced Christianity Surely madness was never more infectious never made men more wise and sober than this did if the Apostles were acted only by that When was there ever better and more weighty sense spoken by any than by the Apostles after the day of Pentecost With what reason do they argue with what strength do they discourse with what a sedate and manly courage do they withstand the opposition of the Sanhedrin against them they never fly out into any extravagant passion never betray any weakness or fear but speak the truth with boldness and rejoyce when they suffer for it It could be no sudden heat which acted them on the day of Pentecost for the same Spirit and power continued with them afterwards they lived and acted by vertue of it so that their life was as great a miracle as any that was wrought by them Their zeal was great but regular their devotion servent and constant their conversation honest and prudent their discourses inflaming and convincing and the whole course of their lives breathed nothing but glory to God and good will towards men If they are called to suffer for their Religion with what constancy do they own the truth with what submission do they yield to their persecutors with what meekness and patience do they bear their sufferings If differences arise among Christians with what care do they advise with what caution do they direct with what gentleness do they instruct with what tenderness do they bear with diffenters with what earnestness do they endeavour to
preserve the peace of the Christian Church when they are to plant Churches how ready to go about it how diligent in attending it how watchful to prevent all miscarriages among them When they write Epistles to those already planted with what Authority do they teach with what Majesty do they command with what severity do they rebuke with what pity do they chastise with what vehemency do they exhort and with what weighty arguments do they perswade all Christians to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things So that such persons who after all these things can believe that the Apostles were acted only by some extravagant heats may as easily perswade themselves that men may be drunk with sobriety and mad with reason and debauched with goodness But such are fit only to be treated in a dark room if any can be found darker than their understandings are 2. But yet there may be imagined a higher sort of madness than these men are guilty of viz. That when men are convinced that these things could not be done by meer Mechanical causes then they attribute them to the assistance of Spirits but not to the holy and divine but such as are evil and impure A madness so great and extravagant that we could hardly imagine that it were incident to humane nature unless the Scripture had told us that some had thus blasphemed the son of man and either had or were in danger of blaspheming the Holy Ghost too And this is properly blaspheming the Holy Ghost which was not given as our text tells us till after Christs ascension when men attribute all those miraculous gifts which were poured out upon the Apostles in confirmation of the Christian doctrine to the power of an unclean Spirit For so the Evangelist St. Luke when he mentions the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost which shall not be forgiven immediately subjoyns their bringing the Apostles to the Synagogues and Magistrates and Powers and adds that the Holy Ghost even that which they so blasphemed in them should teach them in that same hour what they ought to say I deny not but the attributing the miraculous works of Christ who had the Holy Spirit without measure to an evil Spirit was the same kind of sin but it received a greater aggravation after the resurrection of Christ from the dead and the miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles For now the great confirmation was given to the truth of all that Christ had said before he had some times concealed his miracles and forbid the publishing of them and to such he appeared but as the son of man of whom it is said that had they known him they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory and St. Peter more expresly and now Brethren I wote that through ignorance you did it as did also your Rulers But now since his resurrection and ascension when God by the effusion of the Holy Ghost hath given the largest and fullest Testimony to the doctrine of the Gospel if men after all this shall go on to blaspheme the Holy Ghost by attributing all these miracles to a Diabolical power then there is no forgiveness to be expected either in this world or the world to come Because this argues the greatest obstinacy of mind the highest contempt of God and the greatest affront that can be put upon the Testimony of the holy Spirit for it is charging the Spirit of truth to be an evil and a lying Spirit By which we see what great weight and moment the Scripture lays upon this pouring out of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles and what care men ought to have how they undervalue and despise it and much more how they do reproach and blaspheme it They might as well imagine that light and darkness may meet and embrace each other as that the infernal Spirits should imploy their power in promoting a doctrine so contrary to their interest For Heaven and Hell cannot be more distant than the whole design of Christianity is from all the contrivances of wicked Spirits How soon was the Devil's Kingdom broken his Temples demolished his oracles silenced himself baffled in his great design of deceiving mankind when Christianity prevailed in the world Having thus far asserted the truth of the thing viz. that there was such an effusion of the Holy Spirit now come to consider 2. The nature of it as it is represented to us by Rivers of living waters flowing out of them that believe by which we may understand 1. The plenty of it called Rivers of waters 2. The benefit and usefulness of it to the Church 1. The plentifulness of this effusion of the Spirit there had been some drops as it were of this Spirit which had fallen upon some of the Jewish nation before but those were no more to be compared with these rivers of waters than the waters of Siloam which run softly with the mighty River Euphrates What was the Spirit which Bezaleel had to build the Tabernacle with if compared with that Spirit which the Apostles were inspired with for building up the Church of God what was that Spirit of Wisdom which some were filled with to make garments for Aaron if compared with that Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation which led the Apostles into the knowledge of all Truth What was that Spirit of Courage which was given to the Iudges of old if compared with that Spirit which did convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgement What was that Spirit of Moses which was communicated to the 70. elders if compared with that Spirit of his son which God hath shed abroad in the hearts of his people What was that Spirit of prophesie which inspired some Prophets in several ages with that pouring out of the Spirit upon all flesh which the Apostle tells us was accomplished on the day of Pentecost But these Rivers of Waters though they began their course at Ierusalem upon that day yet they soon overflowed the Christian Church in other parts of the world The sound of that rushing mighty wind was soon heard in the most distant places and the fiery tongues inslamed the hearts of many who never saw them These gifts being propagated into other Churches and many other tongues were kindled from them as we see how much this gift of tongues obtained in the Church of Corinth And so in the History of the Acts of the Apostles we find after this day how the Holy Ghost fell upon them which believed and what mighty signs and wonders were done by them 2. The benefit and usefulness of this effusion of the Spirit like the Rivers of Waters that both refresh and enrich and thereby make glad the City of God The coming down of the Spirit was like the pouring water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground Now God opened the Rivers in
high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys that the poor and needy who seek water might be refreshed and they whose tongues failed for thirst might satisfy themselves with living water These are some of the lofty expressions whereby the Courtly Prophet Isaiah sets forth the great promise of the spirit none better befitting the mighty advantages the Church of God hath ever since enjoyed by the pouring out of the spirit than these For the fountain was opened in the Apostles but the streams of those Rivers of living water have run down to our Age not confined within the banks of Tiber nor mixing with the impure waters of it but preserved pure and unmixed in that sacred doctrine contained in the Holy Scripture Within those bounds we confine our faith and are not moved by the vain discourses of any who pretend to discover a new Fountain head to these waters at Rome and would make it impossible for them to come down to us through any other Channel but theirs But supposing they had come to us through them have they thereby gotten the sole disposal of them that none shall tast but what and how much they please and must we needs drink down the filth and mud of their Channel too As long as they suffer us to do what Christ hath commanded us to do viz. to take of these waters of life freely we do our own duty and quarrel not with them But if they go about to stop the passage of them or adulterate them with some forrain mixture or strive with us as the Herdsmen of Gerar did with Isaac's Herdsmen saying the Water is ours then if the name of the well be Esek if contentions do arise the blame is not ours we assert but our own just right against all their encroachments For as Isaac pleaded that he only digged again the wells of water which they had digged in the days of Abraham his Father and although the Philistins had stopped them after the death of Abraham yet that could be no hindrance to his right but he might open them again and call their names after the names by which his Father had called them So that is the substance of our Plea we pretend to nothing but to clear the passage which they have stopped up and was left free and open for us in the time of the Apostles and Fathers we desire not to be imposed upon by their later usurpations we plead for no more but that the Church of God may have the same purity and integrity which it had in the primitive times and that things may not only be called by the names by which the Fathers have called them but that they may be such as the Fathers have left them But otherwise let them boast never so much of the largeness of their stream of the Antiquitity of their Channel of the holiness of their waters of the number of their Ports and the riches of their trading nay and let them call their stream by the name of the Ocean too if they please yet we envy them not their Admaâ— and Pharpar and all the Rivers of Damascus so we may sit down quietly by these living waters of Iordan We are contented with the miracles which the Apostles wrought without forging or believing new ones we are satisfied with the gift of strange tongues which they had we know no necessity now of speaking much less of praying in an unknown tongue we believe that Spirit infallible which inspired the Apostles in their holy writtings and those we acknowledge embrace and I hope are willing to dye for But if any upstart Spirit pretend to sit in an infallible chair we desire not to be brought under bondage to it till we see the same miracles wrought by vertue of it which were wrought by the Apostles to attest their infallibility 3. The last thing to be spoken to is the season that this effusion of the Spirit was reserved for which was after the glorious ascension of Christ to Heaven This was reserved as the great Donative after his Triumph over Principalities and Powers when he was ascended up on high he sends down the greatest gift that ever was bestowed upon mankind viz. this gift of his Holy Spirit Hereby Christ discovered the greatness of his purchase the height of his Glory the exercise of his Power the assurance of his Resurrection and Ascension and the care he took of his Church and People by letting them see that he made good his last promise to them of sending them another Comforter who should be with them to assist them in all their undertakings to direct them in their doubts to plead their cause for them against all the vain oppositions of men And he should not continue with them for a little time as Christ had done but he should abide with them for ever i. e. so as not to be taken from them as himself was but should remain with them as a pledge of his love as a Testimony of his truth as an earnest of Gods favour to them now and their future inheritance in heaven for he should comfort them by his presence guide them by his counsel and at last bring them to glory Nothing now remains but that as the occasion of our rejoycing on this day doth so much exceed that of the Jews at their ceremony of pouring out the water so our joy should as much exceed in the nature and kind of it the mirth and jollity which was then used by them With what joy did the Israelites when they were almost burnt up with thirst in the wilderness cast of the pleasant streams which issued out of the rock that rock saith the Apostle was Christ and the gifts of the Spirit are that stream of living water which flows from him and shall not we express our thankfulness for so great and unvaluable a mercy Our joy cannot be too great for such a gift as this so it be of the nature of it i. e. a spiritual joy The Holy Ghost ought to be the Fountain of that joy which we express for Gods giving him to his Church Let us not then affront that good Spirit while we pretend to bless God for him let us not grieve him by our presumptuous sins nor resist his motions in our hearts by our wilful continuance in them The best way we can express our thankfulness is by yielding up our selves to be guided by him in a holy life and then we may be sure our joy shall never end with our lives but shall be continued with a greater fulness for ever more SERMON X. Preached at WHITE-HALL MARCH 2. 1669. ISAIAH LVII XXI There is no peace saith my God to the Wicked IF we were bound to judge of things only by appearance and to esteem all persons happy who are made the object of the envy of some and the flattery of