is some Evidence of the Thing so likewise that Natural Desire which is in Men to have a Good Name perpetuated and to be remembred and mentioned with honour VOL. II. when they are dead and gone is a sign that there is in Humane Nature some Presage of a Life after Death in which they hope among other Rewards of well-doing to meet with this also to be well spoken of to Posterity And tho probably we should not know the Good that is said of us when we are dead yet it is an encouragement to Virtue to be secured of it before-hand and to find by Experience that they who have done their part well in this life go off with Applause and that the Memory of their Good Actions is preserved and transmited to Posterity And among the many Advantages of Piety and Virtue this is not altogether inconsiderable that it reflects an Honour upon our Memory after death which is a thing much more valuable than to have our Bodies preserved from Putrifaction For that I think is the meaning of Solomon when he prefers a Good Name before precious Oyntment Eccl. 7.1 A good name is better than precious Oyntment This they used in Embalming of dead Bodies Serm. VII to preserve them from noisomness and corruption but a Good Name preserves a Man's Memory and makes it grateful to Posterity which is a far greater Benefit than that of a precious Oyntment which serves only to keep a dead Body from stench and rottenness I shall briefly explain the Words and then consider the matter contained in them the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance By the righteous is probably here meant the good man in general for tho' Justice and Righteousness are in Scripture frequently used for that particular Virtue whereby a Man is disposed to render to every Man his own which is known by the name of Justice yet it is less frequently and perhaps in this place used in a larger Sense so as to comprehend all Piety and Virtue For so the righteous man is described at the beginning of this Psalm Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his Commandments And he is opposed to the wicked man v. 10. the wicked shall see it and be grieved that is he shall be troubled to see the Prosperity of the righteous the manifold Blessings of his life and the Good Name he shall leave behind him at his death which is the meaning of his being in everlasting remembrance that is long after he is dead perhaps for many Ages he shall be well spoken of and his Name mentioned with honour and his Good Deeds recorded and remembred to all Posterity So that the sense of the words amounts to this That eminently good men do commonly leave a Good Name behind them and transmit a grateful Memory of themselves to after Ages I say commonly for so we are to understand these kind of sayings not that they are strictly and universally true without exception but usually and for the most part It is possible that a Good Man may soon be forgotten by the Malice of Men or through the partiality and iniquity of the Age may have his Name blemisht after death and be mis-represented to Posterity but for the most part it is otherwise and tho' the World be very wicked yet it seldom deals so hardly and unjustly with Men of eminent Goodness and Virtue as to defraud them of their due Praise and Commendation after death It very frequently happens otherwise to Good Men whilst they are alive nay they are then very seldom so justly treated as to be generally esteemed and well spoken of and to be allowed their due Praise and Reputation But after death their Good Name is generally secured and vindicated and Posterity does them that right which perhaps the Age wherein they lived denyed to them Therefore in the Prosecution of this Argument I shall enquire into these Two things First Whence it comes to pass that Good Men are very often defrauded of their just Praise and Reputation whilst they are alive And Secondly What Security they have of a Good Name after death First Whence it comes to pass that Good Men are so frequently defrauded of their just Praise and Reputation while they are alive And to give our selves full satisfaction in this matter Two things are fit to be enquired into 1. From what Cause this proceeds 2. For what Reason the Providence of God doth often permit it 1. From what Cause it proceeds that good Men have so often the hard Fate to be ill spoken of and to be severely censur'd and to have their worth much detracted from while they are alive And this proceeds partly from Good Men themselves and partly from others 1. Good Men themselves are many times the cause of it For the best Men are imperfect and present and visible Imperfections do very much lessen and abate the Reputation of a Man's Goodness It cannot be otherwise but that the lustre of a great Piety and Virtue should be somewhat obscured by that mixture of Humane Frailty which does necessarily attend this state of Imperfection And though a Man by great Care and Consideration by great Vigilancy and Pains with himself be arrived to that degree and pitch of Goodness as to have but a very few visible Failings and those small in comparison yet when these come to be scann'd and commented upon by Envy or Ill-will they will be strangely inflamed and magnified and made much greater and more than in truth they are But there are few Persons in the World of that excellent Goodness but besides the common and more pardonable Frailties of Humanity they do now and then discover something which might perhaps justly deserve a severe Censure if some amends were not made for it by many and great Virtues Very good Men are subject to considerable Imprudences and sudden Passions and especially to an affected Severity and Moroseness of Carriage which is very disgustful and apt to beget dislike And they are the more incident to these kind of Imperfections because out of a just hatred of the vicious Customs and Practices of the World and to keep out of the way of Temptation they think it safest to retire from the World as much as they can being loth to venture themselves more than needs in so infectious an Air. By this means their Spirits are apt to be a little sower and they must necessarily be ignorant of many points of Civility and good Humour which are great Ornaments of Virtue though not of the Essence of it Now two or three Faults in a Good Man if an Uncharitable Man have but the handling and managing of them may easily cast a considerable Blemish upon his Reputation because the better the Man is so much the more conspicuous are his Faults as Spots are soonest discovered and most taken notice of in a pure and white Garment Besides that in matters of Censure Mankind do much
God both in the Old and New Testament But yet I am sensible that all this is no Conviction to the perverse and contentious Men will not believe even the Evidence of Sense it self when they are strongly prepossess'd and prejudiced to the contrary For do we not see great numbers of Men even so many as have the face to call themselves the Catholick Church that can make a shift when they have a mind either to believe or disbelieve things contrary to the plainest Evidence of their Senses All that I shall say further about this matter is that this Doctrine of Angels is not a peculiar Doctrine either of the Jewish or Christian Religion but the general Doctrine of all Religions that ever were and therefore cannot be objected against by any but the Atheists And yet after all I know not whence it comes to pass that this great Truth which is so comfortable to Mankind is so very little considered by us Perhaps the Corruption of so great a part of the Christian Church in the point of the Worship of Angels may have run us so far into the other extream as scarcely to acknowledge any Benefit we receive by them But surely we may believe they do us good without any Obligation to pray to them and may own them as the Ministers of God's Providence without making them the Objects of our Worship I confess it seems to me a very odd thing that the Power of the Devil and his Influence upon Men and the particular Vigilancy and Activity of Evil Spirits to tempt us to Sin should be so readily owned and so sensibly talkt of among Christians and yet the Assistance of good Angels should be so little taken notice of and considered by us The Scripture speaks plainly of both and the Reasons for believing both are equal For God forbid but that good Angels should be as officious and forward to do us good as the Devil and his Angels are malicious and busie to do us Mischief And indeed it would be very hard with Mankind if we had not as much Reason to Hope for the Assistance and Protection of good Spirits as we have cause to Fear the Malice and Fury of the bad Good Angels are certainly as Powerful and have as strong a Propension and Inclination to do good as the Devil has to do harm and the Number of good Angels is probably much greater than of Evil Spirits The biggest Number that are used in Scripture are applied to good Angels Dan. 7.10 it is said of the Angels about God's Throne that thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him And Revelations 5.11 the number of them is said to be ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands And the Apostle to the Hebrews ch 12.22 calls them an innumerable company of Angels What then should be the Reason that Men should be so apt to own the Snares and Temptations which the Devil lays before us in all our ways but take so little notice of the Attendance and good Offices done to us by good Spirits I can imagine but these Two Reasons and I am sorry I can find no better That we are more mindful of Injuries than of Benefits and are glad to take in others for the excuse of our Faults but are loth any should come in for a share in the Good that is done by us And yet methinks it should be a very comfortable Consideration to us against the Enmity and Cunning of the Devil and his Angels that the Holy Angels of God are as Intent and Industrious to do us good and to help forward our Salvation as Evil Spirits can be to work our ruin and destroy us Secondly We should with great thankfulness acknowledge the great Goodness of God to us who takes such Care of us as to appoint his Angels and to give them particular Commission and Charge concerning us to protect and assist us in all our ways and especially to promote the great Concernment of our Eternal Happiness And that not only some particular and inferiour Spirits but the Chief Ministers of this great King of the World those that stand in his Presence and behold his face and not a few of these but the whole Order of them are imployed about us So the Apostle seems to say by the Question which he puts in the Text Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister That is all at one time or other And though they be principally appointed to minister to us in order to our Salvation yet we have no Reason to doubt but God imploys them many times for our Temporal Safety and makes use of them more especially in those great Revolutions in which his Cause and Religion are more immediatly concern'd In such a Case it is not at all incredible that God should give his Angels a particular Charge concerning those that fight his Battels to pitch about their Camps and secretly to assist them against their Enemies and to ward off and put by many dangerous blows and thrusts which are made at them and wonderfully to preserve them when the Instruments of death fly about them and do execution on every side of them To what can we ascribe such and so many remarkable Deliverances of a Person upon whom so much depends but either to the immediate hand of God or to the Ministry of Angels And where God is provided so abundantly with such powerful Beings and Ministers of his Will though they may be invisible to us yet there is great Reason to believe that he very seldom works without them And now what an astonishing Regard is this which the great God is pleased to have for the Sons of Men that he should make the whole Creation serviceable to us not only the visible Creation for the support of our Bodies and the diversion of our Minds but even the noblest of all his Creatures the great and glorious Inhabitants of the invisible World mightily surpassing us mortal Men in the simplicity and purity of their Nature in the quickness and largeness of their Understandings and in their Power and Vigour of Acting I say that God should give these excellent and glorious Beings the Charge over us and send them forth to Minister to us for the Safeguard of our Persons for the success of our Affairs and for the Security and Furtherance of our eternal Salvation Lord what is man that thou art thus mindful of him that when thou madest him lower than the Angels thou shouldest yet make the Angels to minister unto him Thirdly If the Angels have particular Charge of good Men we should take heed how we despise or be any way injurious to them For how despicable so ever they may appear to us they are certainly very dear to God since he deems them so considerable is to employ his Chief Ministers about them and to commit the Charge of them to those who by their Office do more immediately
Patience of the Saints here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus And then he immediately adds as it is in the Text And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do accompany them Thus much may suffice to have been spoken on this Text. SERMON XII The Vanity and Wickedness of honouring dead Saints and Persecuting the Living Preached on All-Saints Day Luke XI 49 50 51. Therefore also said the Wisdom of God I will send them Prophets and Apostles and some of them they shall slay and persecute That the blood of all the Prophets which was shed front the foundation of the world may be required of this Generation from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the Altar and the Temple Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this Generation THE latter part of this Chapter is a very sharp but just Invective made by our Saviour against the Hypocrisie of the Scribes and Pharisees VOL. II. of which he gives many instances and this among the rest for one that they pretended a great Honour and Respect for the Righteous Men and Prophets of former Ages whom their Fathers had Persecuted and Slain but yet were of the very same Spirit and Temper and as ready to Persecute Good Men as their Fathers were They raised indeed stately Monuments to the Memory of those Saints and Martyrs and adorned them with great Art and Cost and it is likely made a great Shew of Esteem and Veneration for them But all this while they were of the same disposition with their Fathers and bare the same implacable Hatred and Malice against the Prophets and Righteous Men who then lived among them yea against that great Prophet whom God had sent into the World Jesus the Son of God which their Fathers did against the Good Men of their Times And tho' they disclaimed the Wickedness and Cruelty of their Fathers with never so much Zeal and Vehemency yet for all that they were ready to do the same things Now this was so gross and odious a piece of Hypocrisie in them Serm. XII that our Saviour doth with great Reason denounce so severe a Wo against them Wo unto you for ye build the Sepulchres of the Prophets and your Fathers killed them Truly ye bear Witness that ye allow the deeds of youe Fathers For they indeed killed them and ye build their Sepulchres And then it follows Therefore also said the Wisdom of God I will send them Prophets and Apostles and some of them they shall slay and persecute That the blood of all the Prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias which perished between the Altar and the Temple There are considerable Difficulties in both these Passages As to the former Wo unto you for ye build the Sepulchres of the Prophets and your Fathers killed them Truly ye bear Witness that ye allow the deeds of your Fathers For they indeed killed them and ye build their Sepulchres The force of this Reasoning is at first sight not easie to be discern'd and therefore Expositors have gone several ways to explain it Some comparing this with the parallel Place in St. Matthew's Gospel Ch. 23.29 will not have our Saviour to mean that by building the Sepulchres of the Prophets they express'd their approbation of their Fathers killing them They did indeed testifie by their usage of the Righteous Men that liv'd amongst themselves that they were of the very same Temper and Spirit which their Fathers had been of and that they would have done just as their Fathers did if they had been in the same Circumstances with their Fathers So that they were Witnesses to themselves as it is in St. Matthew that they were the Children of them which killed the Prophets They own'd themselves their Children by Descent and their Actions Witnessed that they were their Children also in Resemblance nay as it is there farther intimated they seem'd resolv'd to fill up the Measure of their Fathers tho' all this while they pretended not to approve their Fathers Behaviour and therefore whilst they were building the Tombs of the Prophets and garnishing the Sepulchres of the Righteous they said if we had been in the days of our Fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets And the Interpreters that go this way do accordingly render these words of St. Luke not as they are in our Translation ye bear Witness that ye allow the deeds of your Fathers But ye bear Witness and ye allow or are well pleas'd with the deeds of your Fathers that is ye own that they were your Fathers who did these things and tho' ye do not in words allow what they did yet your inward Tempers and Dispositions whether you know it or no are the very same with theirs which you too plainly testifie by your Actions so that when you build the Sepulchres of the Prophets you only expose the Deceitfulness and Hypocrsie of your Hearts your Pretences and your Actions directly contradicting each other Thus some Expositors give the Sense of this Passage But Others think that our Saviour intended somewhat more in St. Luke namely to retort upon them the Honour which they seem'd to do to the Prophets in building their Sepulchres as an Argument that they rejoyced in their Death seeing they were so well content to be at the Charge of a Monument for them like Herod who when he had Murdered Aristobulus made a Magnificent Funeral for him or as the Roman Historians say of Caracalla tho' he hated all Good Men whilst they were alive yet he would pretend to Honour them when they were dead This Some think our Saviour intended in these Words Truly ye bear Witness that ye allow the deeds of your Fathers For they indeed killed them and ye build their Sepulchers As if he had said Hereby ye testifie that ye allow and like very well what your Fathers did to the Prophets According to which latter Exposition there seems to be more Force and greater Sharpness in our Saviour's Reproof as not only charging them with their ill usage of the Righteous Men of their own Times but moreover making them by their building the Tombs and garnishing the Sepulchres of the Antient Prophets to become as it were Accessories to the Murder of them But leaving this Digression I now proceed to that which I primarily intended namely First to explain the following Words which I have chosen as my present Subject and then to make some Observations upon them Therefore also said the Wisdom of God I will send them Prophets and Apostles and some of them they shall slay and persecute that the blood of all the
the Powers of the World did likewise strongly combine against it Among the Jews the Chief Priests and Rulers did with all their force and malice endeavour to stifle it in the birth and to suppress it in its first rise and several of the Roman Emperors who were then the great Governors of the World engaged all their Authority and their whole Strength for the extirpation of it and raised such a storm of Persecution against it as swept away greater numbers of Mankind than any Famine or Plague or War that ever was in the Roman Empire And yet this Religion bore up against all this Opposition and make its way through all the Resistance that the Lusts and Prejudices of Men armed with the Power and Authority of the whole World could make against it And this brings me to the 5. and last Consideration I mentioned the great discouragement that was given to the Entrance of this Religion There was nothing left to invite and engage Men to it but the Consideration of another World for all the Evils of this World threatned every one that took the Profession of Christianity upon him Whoever was known to be a Christian was liable to Reproach and Ruin to cruel Mockings and Scourgings to Banishment or Imprisonment and Confiscation of Estate but these were slight and tolerable Evils in comparison of others that were commonly inflicted upon them they were condemned to the Mines and to the Lions and all imaginable Cruelties were exercised upon them the most exquisite Torments that could be devised and Death in all its fearful shapes was presented to them to deter Men from embracing this Religion and to tempt them to quit it And yet they persisted in the Profession of their Religion and for the sake of it did not only take joyfully the spoiling of their goods but the most barbarous usage of their Persons and demeaned themselves not only with Patience and Courage but with Exultation and Triumph under those Tortures which no Man can hear or read of without horror And they did not only bear up thus manfully for one brunt but when these violent Persecutions were renewed and repeated upon them Christianity supported it self under all these daunting Discouragements for almost Three hundred Years and held out till the very Malice of their Persecutors was out of breath and their Cruelty had tired it self Nay it did not only support it self under all these Oppositions but grew and prospered and the Blood of Martyrs became the Seed of the Church and Christians sprang up faster than any Persecution could mow them down For Men by Degrees became curious to enquire into the Cause of such Sufferings and the Reason of so much Constancy and Patience under them and upon enquiry were satisfied and became Christians themselves and many times their very Persecutors were ready to Sacrifice their Lives the next Day for that very Cause for which but the Day before they had put others to Death And it cannot here be reasonably Objected that Christians yielded up themselves to all these Sufferings upon the same Account that some brave Spirits among the Heathen laid down their Lives for their Country namely out of a desire of Fame and to perpetuate their Names in After-ages this I say cannot reasonably be said in this Case because these Sufferers were not the great and ambitious Spirits the Flower and Select Part of Mankind but the Common People and many of them of the tenderer Sex and Age who have usually a greater Sense of Pain than of Glory and yet so were they animated by their Religion and Transported beyond themselves as not only to submit but many times to offer themselves to those Sufferings by declaring themselves to be Christians when no Man accused them and when they knew they should die for making that Profession so that it is harder to justifie their forwardness to Suffer than the sincerity of their Sufferings Besides that nothing could be more foolish and unreasonable than for Men to hope to get a Name by Suffering in a Crowd and to be particularly remembred to Posterity when they dyed in such multitudes that no Man knew the Names of the greatest part of the Sufferers You see then how strongly the Gospel prevailed how soon this new Religion over-ran the World how suddenly it subdued the Spirits and changed the Manners of Men and by what mean and despicable Instruments to all humane appearance this great Work was done and how in despite of all Opposition and Discouragements it was carried on Can any one of the false Religions of the World pretend to have been propagated and establisht in such a manner meerly by their own force and the Evidence and Power of Truth upon the Minds of Men and to have born up and sustained themselves so long under such fierce Assaults as Christanity hath done As for the Religion of Mahomet it is famously known to have been planted by force at first and to havâ— been maintained in the World by the same violent means So that great Impostor openly declares that he came not to plant his Religion by Miracles but the Sword And as for the Idolatries of the Heathen they came in upon the World by insensible degrees and did not oppose the Corruptions of Men but grew out of them and being suited to the vicious Temper and Disposition of Mankind they easily gained upon their Ignorance and Superstition by Custom and Example They were just such a Corruption of Natural Religion in such times of darkness and ignorance and by such insensible steps as there hath been since of the Christian Religion in some Parts of the World which we all know But no sooner did the Light of the Gospel shine out upon the World but the Idolatry and Superstition of the Heathen fell before it like Dagon before the Ark of God and tho' it had the Power of the World and Countenance of Authority on its side yet it was not able to maintain its ground and no sooner was that Prop taken away which was the only support of it but it presently sunk and vanisht it was not driven out of the World by Violence and Persecution but upon the breaking in of so great a Light it silently withdrew as being ashamed of it self And when afterwards the Emperor Julian endeavoured to retrieve it by his Wit and Authority and used all imaginable Arts and Stratagems to suppress and extinguish Christianity he was able to effect neither for the Christian Religion kept its ground and Paganism after it had made a little Blaze died with him Now to what Cause shall we ascribe this wonderful Success and Prevalency of the Gospel in the World There can but these Two be imagined the Excellency of the Christian Religion and the Power and Presence of the Divine Spirit accompanying it 1. The Excellency of the Christian Religion which both in respect of the goodness of its Precepts and the assurance of its Rewards hath plainly the advantage
us Satisfaction of the Truth and Divinity of the Doctrine of the Christian Religion which hath had so eminent a Confirmation given to it from Heaven and did at its first setting out so strangely prevail in the World against all Humane Probability not by might nor by power but by the spirit of the Lord. No man can well suppose a Religion in Circumstances of greater Disadvantage and upon all Humane Accounts more unlikely to sustain and bear up it self than the Christian Religion was The first Appearance of it was so mean and its Beginnings so small that no Man but would have thought it would presently have come to nothing and no other account can be given of the strange Success and Prevalency of it but that it was of God and therefore it could not be overthrown II. This Discourse may likewise satisfie us of the Reason why this Miraculous Power which accompanied the Gospel at first is now ceased because there is not the like Reason and Necessity for it which there was at first It was highly Necessary then to introduce the Christian Religion into the World and to be a sensible Evidence to Men of the Divinity of that new Doctrine which was Preached to them but now that the Gospel is generally entertained there is not the same Reason why this Miraculous Power should still be continued Acquisito fine cessant media ad finem when the End is once obtained the Means cease and the Wise God who is never wanting in what is Necessary does not use to be lavish in that which is Superfluous Now that the Christian Religion hath got firm footing in the World God leaves it to be propagated and advanced by its own Rational Force upon the Minds of Men now that the Prejudices of Education in a Contrary Religion are removed and the Powers of the World are reconciled to Christianity there is no need of such violent and extraordinary Means for the continuance of it now that it stands upon equal Advantages with other Religions God hath left it to be carried on in more humane and ordinary ways and such as are more level and accommodate to the Nature of Man That Miracles are long since ceased is acknowledged by the Fathers who lived an Age or two after the ceasing of them particularly by St. Chrysostome who gives the same Reason for it which I have just now assigned But the Church of Rome would still bear us in hand that this Miraculous Power does still continue in their Church and according to Bellarmine must always continue because he makes it an inseparable Property and Mark of the True Church But we pretend to no such Power nor have we any Reason so to do because all the Doctrines of our Religion are the Ancient Doctrines of Christianity delivered by our Saviour and by his Apostles publisht to the World and these are sufficiently confirmed already by the Miracles which our Saviour and his Apostles wrought in the Primitive Times of Christianity But the Church of Rome hath great Occasion and Need of New Miracles to confirm their New Doctrines and therefore as they have Reason they usually apply them to the Confirmation of their New Doctrines some to confirm Purgatory and to give countenance to Indulgences others to encourage the Worship of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints others to confirm that which all the Miracles in the World are not sufficient to confirm I mean the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which because it overthrows the certainty of Sense is in the Nature of it peculiarly incapable of being confirmed by a Miracle III. and Lastly The Consideration of what hath been said does justly upbraid us that this Religion which was so powerful at first and hath such Characters of Divinity upon it coming down to us confirmed by so many Miracles should yet have so little Effect upon most of us who call our selves Christians We have all the Advantages of the Christian Religion having been educated and brought up in it and yet it hath less Effect upon us than it had upon those whose Minds were prejudiced and whose Manners were depraved by the Principles of a false Religion for those who were reduced from Paganism to Christianity did on the sudden become better Men and were more Holy and Virtuous in their Lives than the greatest part of us who have been instructed and trained up all our lives in the Doctrine of Christianity The true Reason of which is that many of us are Christians upon the same account that they were at first Heathens because it was the Religion of their Country and they were born and bred up in it but Christianity was the Religion of their Choice and there were no Motives to perswade them to the Profession of that Religion but what were as powerful to oblige them to the Practice of it Let us also be Christians not only by Custom but by Choice and then we shall live according to our Religion He that takes up a Religion for any other Reason than to obey and practice it does not choose a Religion but only counterfeits the Choice of it We have beyond Comparison the best and most reasonable Religion in the World a Religion that hath the greatest Evidence of its Truth that contains the best Precepts and gives men the greatest Assurance of a future Happiness and directs them to the surest Way of attaining it Now the better our Religion is the worse are we if we be not made good by it The Philosophy of the Heathen made some virtuous and there were many eminent Saints under the Imperfection of the Jewish Institution What Degrees then of Holiness and Virtue may be expected from us upon whom the Glorious Light of the Gospel shineth so brightly I will conclude all with the Words of the Apostle Heb. 2.1 2 3 4. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the holy Ghost according to his own will SERMON VI. The Nature Office and Employment of Good Angels Preached on the Feast of St. Michael HEB. 1.14 Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation THis is spoken of Good Angels whose Existence as well as that of Evil Spirits the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament do every where take for granted no less than they do the Being of God and the Immortality of the Soul And well they may since they are all founded upon the general Consent of all Ages VOL. II. derived down to
us from the first Spring and Original of Mankind of which general Consent and Tradition it is one of the hardest things in the World to assign any good Reason if the Things themselves were not true Therefore I shall not go about to force my way into this Argument concerning the Existence of Spirits and Beings distinct from Matter by dint of dispute which perhaps would neither be so proper nor so profitable for this Assembly but shall take the thing as I find it received by a general Consent of Mankind And so the Books of Divine Revelation do Nor was there Reason to proceed in any other method than to suppose these things and take them for granted as generally assented to by Mankind without either asserting them for new Discoveries or attempting to prove what was so universally believed The Scriptures indeed have more particularly declared the Nature of these Spirits as also their Order and Employment as in the words which I have read to you where the Office and Employment of Good Angels is more particularly discovered Serm. VI. Are they not all says the Text ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation The Author of this Epistle to the Hebrews having had occasion in comparing the two Dispensations of the Law and the Gospel to speak of the Angels by whose Ministry the Law was given did not think fit to entertain those to whom he wrote with any nice and curious Speculations for School Divinity was not then in fashion about the Nature and Order of Angels but tells us what it concerns us more to know namely what their Office and Employment is in regard to us Concerning their Nature he only tell us that they are Spirits as to their Office and Employment he says in general that they are Ministring Spirits that is that they stand before God to attend upon him ready to receive his Commands and to execute his Pleasure more particularly that they are upon occasion appointed and sent forth by God to minister on the behalf and to do good Offices for them that shall be heirs of salvation Which last words are a description of pious and good Men such as had sincerely embraced the Christian Religion and were thereby become the Children of God and Heirs of Eternal Salvation So that these words are a brief Summary of the Doctrine of Good Angels and of what the Scripture has thought fit to reveal to us concerning them Which may be referred to these Three Heads First Their Nature Are they not Spirits Secondly Their general Office and Employment Are they not Ministring Spirits Thirdly Their special Office and Employment in regard to good Men they are sent forth to minister for them that is in their behalf and for their benefit who shall be heirs of salvation And this is as much as is necessary for us to know concerning them and all this is very agreeable to the general Apprehension of Mankind but the Scripture hath very much cleared and confirmed to us that which was more obscure and less certain before I shall briefly explain and illustrate these Three Heads and then draw some useful Inferences from the whole First For their Nature they are Spirits This is universally agreed by all that acknowledge such an Order of Beings that they are Spirits But whether they are pure Spirits devested of Matter and all kind of corporeal Vehicle as the Philosophers term it hath been a great Controversie but I think of no great Moment and Consequence Not only the ancient Philosophers but some of the ancient Christian Fathers did believe Angels to be cloathed with some kind of Bodies consisting of the purest and finest Matter which they call Aetherial And this Opinion seems to be grounded upon a pious Belief that it is the peculiar Excellency and Prerogative of the Divine Nature to be a pure and simple Spirit wholly separate from Matter But the more current Opinion of the Christian Church especially of later times hath been that Angels are mere and pure Spirits without any thing that is Material and Corporeal belonging to them but yet so that they have a Power to assume thin and airy Bodies and can when they please appear in Humane Shape as they are frequently in Scripture said to have done And this seems most agreeable to the Scripture Account of them tho' I think it is no necessary Article of Faith either to believe that they are cloathed with some kind of Bodies or that they are wholly devested of Matter But however this be they are described in Scripture to be endowed with great Excellencies and Perfections they are said to excell in strength Psal 103.20 and in Knowledge and Wisdom Hence are those Expressions of being as an Angel of God to discern good and bad 2 Sam. 14.17 Wise according to the wisdom of an Angel v. 20. To be of great Activity and Swiftness in their Motions hence it is that they are represented in Scripture as full of wings and to excel in purity and holiness hence is that Title given them in Scripture of the Holy Angels This is the Summ of what the Scripture hath in several places delivered to us concerning the Nature and Properties of good Angels and beyond this all our Kowledge of them is mere Conjecture and Uncertainty and the nice Speculations concerning them idle and wanton Curiosities Indeed the Scripture gives sufficient intimation of several Ranks and Orders among them by calling Michael an Archangel and Chief Prince and by distingushing them by the names of Principalities and Powers and Thrones and Dominions But what the difference of these Names import though some have attempted to explain yet I do not find that they have discovered any thing to us besides their own Ignorance and Arogance in pretending to be wise above what is written intruding into those things which they have not seen being vainly puft up in their fleshly minds as the Apostle censures some in his time Secondly We have here their general Office and Employment they are ministring Spirits they are as I may say domestick Servants and constant Attendants upon that great and glorious King whose Throne is in the Heavens and whose Kingdom ruleth over all they stand continually before him to behold his face expecting his Commands and in a constant readiness to do his Will For tho' the Omnipotence of God and his perfect Power of acting be such that he can do all things immediately by himself whatever he pleaseth in Heaven and in Earth can govern the World and steer the Affairs of it and turn them which way he thinks best by the least nod and beck of his Will without any Instruments or Ministers of his Pleasure yet his Wisdom and Goodness has thought fit to honour his Creatures especially this higher and more perfect Rank of Beings with his Commands and to make them according to their several Degrees and Capacities the ordinary Ministers of his Affairs in the
leaving a Good Name behind them and of Perpetuating the Fame and Glory of their Actions to after Ages Upon this ground chiefly many of the Bravest Spirits among the Heathen were animated to Virtue and with the hazard of their lives to do great and glorious Exploits for their Country And certainly it is an Argument of a great Mind to be moved by this Consideration and a sign of a low and base Spirit to neglect it He that hath no regard to his Fame is lost to all purposes of Virtue and Goodness when a Man is once come to this not to care what others say of him the next step is to have no care what himself does Quod conscientia est apud Deum id fama est apud homines what Conscience is in respect of God that is Fame in respect of Men. Next to a good Conscience a clear Reputation ought to be to every Man the dearest thing in the World Men have generally a great value for Riches and yet the Scripture pronounceth him the happier Man that leaves a Good Name than him that leaves a great Estate behind him Prov. 22.1 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches If then we have any regard to a Good Name the best way to secure it to our selves is by the holy and virtuous Actions of a good Life Do well and thou shalt be well spoken of if not now yet by those who shall come after the surest way to glory and honour and immortality is by a patient continuance in well-doing God hath engaged his promise to us to this purpose 1 Sam. 2.30 Them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed The name of the wicked shall rot says Solomon Prov. 10.7 But God doth usually take a particular care so preserve and vindicate their Memory who are careful to keep his Covenant and remember his Commandments to do them 3dly and lastly When ever we pretend to do honour to the Memory of Good Men let us charge our selves with a strict Imitation of their Holiness and Virtue The greatest honour we can do to God or Good Men is to endeavour to be like them to express their Virtues and represent them to the World in our lives Upon these Days we should propound to our selves as our Patterns all those holy and excellent Persons who have gone before us the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour and all those blessed Saints and Martyrs who were faithful to the death and have received a crown of life and immortality We should represent to our selves the Piety of their Actions and the Patience and Constancy of their Sufferings that we may imitate their Virtues and be followers of them who through faith and patience have inherited the promises and seeing we are compast about with such a cloud of witnesses we should lay aside every weight and run with patience the race which is set before us Let us imagine all those great Examples of Piety and Virtue standing about us in a throng and fixing their Eyes upon us How ought we to demean our selves in such a Presence and under the eye of such Witnesses and how should we be ashamed to do any thing that is unworthy of such excellent Patterns and blush to look upon our own lives when we remember theirs Good God! at what a distance do the greatest part of Christians follow those Examples and while we honour them with our lips how unlike are we to them in our lives Why do we thus reproach our selves with these glorious Patterns Let us either resolve to imitate their Virtues or to make no mention of their Names for while we celebrate the Examples of Saints and Holy Men and yet contradict them in our lives we either mock them or upbraid our selves Now the God of Peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ c. SERMON VIII The Duty of imitating the Primitive Teachers and Patterns of Christianity Preached on All-Saints Day 1684. HEB. XIII 7. The latter Part of the Verse Whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation The whole Verse runs thus Remember them which have the Rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation THE great Scope and Design of this Epistle is to perswade the Jews who were newly converted to Christianity VOL. II. to continue stedfast in the Profession of it notwithstanding all the Sufferings and Persecutions it was attended withall and to encourage them hereto among many other Arguments which the Apostle makes use of he doth several times in this Epistle propound to them the Examples and Patterns of Saints and Holy Men that were gone before them especially those of their own Nation who in their respective Ages had given remarkable Testimony of their Faith in God and constant Adherence to the Truth Ch. 6.11 12. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end that ye be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises And Ch. 11. he gives a Catalogue of the Eminent Heroes and Saints of the Old Testament who by Faith had done such Wonders and given such Testimony of their Patience and Constancy in doing and suffering the Will of God from whence he infers Ch. 12.1 that we ought to take Pattern and Heart from such Examples to persevere in our Christian course Serm. VIII Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of Martyrs or Witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us especially since they had greater Examples than these nearer to them and more fresh in Memory the great Example of our Lord the Founder of our Religion and of the first Teachers of Christianity the Disciples and Apostles of our Lord and Saviour The Example of our Lord himself the Captain and Rewarder of our Faith v. 2. of that 12th Ch. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame v. 3. For consider him who endured such contradiction of sinners a-against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds This indeed is the great Pattern of Christians and in regard of the great Perfection of it surpasseth all other Patterns and seems to make them useless as having in it the Perfection of the Divinity not in its full brightness which would be apt to dazle rather than direct us but allayed and shadowed with the Infirmities of Humane Nature and for that Reason more accommodate and familiar to us than the Divine Perfections abstractedly considered But yet because our Blessed Saviour was God as well as Man and clear of all stain of sin for tho' he was cloathed with
are the very same in Sense If we be dead with him that is if we lay down our lives for the Testimony of the Truth as he did we shall also live with him that is we shall in like manner be made Partakers of Immortality as he is If we suffer or endure as he did we shall also reign with him in Glory The other Sentence is Matter of Terrour to those who deny him and his Truth If we deny him he also will deny us to which is subjoyned another Saying much to the same Sense if we believe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we be unfaithful yet he remaineth faithful he cannot deny himself that is he will be as good as his word and make good that Solemn Threatning which he hath denounced against those who shall for fear of Suffering deny him and his Truth The Words being thus explained I shall begin with the First Part of this remarkable Saying If we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reign with him This it seems was a noted Saying among Christians and whether they had it by Tradition of our Saviour or whether it was in familiar use among the Apostles as a very proper and powerful Argument to keep Christians stedfast to their Religion I cannot determine It is certain that Sayings to this Sense are very frequent especially in the Epistles of St. Paul Rom. 6.5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection and Verse 8. Now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him 2 Cor. 4.10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of our Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body and Verse 18. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh and Rom. 8.17 If so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together Phil. 3.10 11. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made comfortable unto his death If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead 1. Pet. 4.12 13. Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as tho' some strange thing happened unto you but rejoyce in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy You see that the Sense of this Saying was in frequent use among the Apostles as a powerful Argument to Encourage Christians to Constancy in their Religion notwithstanding the Dangers and Sufferings which attended it This is a faithful saying If we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reign with him And the Force of this Argument will best appear by taking into consideration these Two things I. What Virtue there is in a firm Belief and Persuasion of a Blessed Immortality in another World to support and bear up Mens Spirits under the greatest Sufferings for Righteousness sake and even to animate them if God shall call them to it to lay down their Lives for their Religion II. How it may be made out to be reasonable for Men to Embrace and Voluntarily to submit to Present and Grievous Sufferings in Hopes of a Future Happiness and Reward concerning which we have not nor perhaps are capable of having the same degree of Certainty and Assurance which we have of the Evils and Sufferings of this present Life I. What Virtue there is in a firm Belief and Persuasion of a blessed Immortality in another World to support and bear up Mens Spirits under the greatest Sufferings for Righteousness sake and even to animate them if God should call them to it to lay down their Lives for their Religion If Men do firmly believe that they shall change this Temporal and Miserable Life for an Endless State of Happiness and Glory and that they shall meet with a Reward of their Sufferings infinitely beyond the proportion of them both in the Weight and Duration of it this must needs turn the Scales on that side on which there is the greatest Weight And there is a sufficient ground for a firm Belief of this For if any thing can certainly be concluded from the Providence of God this may That Good Men shall be happy one time or other And because they are very often great Sufferers in this Life that there is another State remains for them after this Life wherein they shall meet with a full Reward of all their Sufferings for Righteousness sake But besides the Reasonableness of this from the consideration of God's Providence we have now a clear and express Revelation of it life and immortality being brought to light by the Gospel This St. John tells us is the great Promise of the Gospel 1 John 2.25 This is the promise which he hath promised us even eternal life And this Promise our Saviour most expresly makes to those who Suffer for him Mat. 5.10 11 12. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falslly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven Mark 10.29 Verily I say unto you there is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the Gospel's but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time with persecutions that is so far as a State of Persecution would admit and in the world to come eternal life And if such a Perswasion be firmly fixt in our Minds the Faith of another World and the assured Hope of Eternal Life and Happiness must needs have a mighty force and Efficacy upon the Minds of Sober and Considerate Men because there is no proportion between Suffering for a little while and being Unspeakably and Etternally happy So St. Paul tells us he calculated the matter Rom. 8.18 I reckon says he that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us The vast disproportion between the Sufferings of a few Days and the Joys and Glory of Eternity when it is once firmly believed by us will weigh down all the Evils and Calamities of this World and give us Courage and Constancy under them For why should we faint if we believe that our light affliction which is but for a moment will work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory As the same St. Paul assures us 2 Cor. 4.17 If our Minds be but throughly possest with the hopes of a Resurrection to a Better and
capable of Nay I will go lower If God had made no express Promise and Declaration of a Future Happiness and Reward to those that serve him and suffer for him Yet if any Man out of a sincere Love to God and awful Regard to his Laws endure Trouble and Affliction if there be a God and Providence this is Assurance enough to us that our Services and Sufferings shall one time or other be Considered and Rewarded For as sure as any Man is that there is a God and that his Providence regards the Actions of Men so sure are we that no Man shall finally be a loser by any thing that he doth or suffers for him So that the Matter is now brought to this plain Issue That if it be Reasonable to Believe there is a God and that his Providence Regards and Considers the Actions of Men it is also Reasonable to endure Present Sufferings in Hope of a Future Reward and there is certainly enough in this Case to govern and determine a Prudent Man that is in any good measure Persuaded of another Life after this and hath any tolerable Consideration of and regard to his Eternal Interest Indeed if we were sure that there were no Life after this if we had no expectation of a Happiness or Misery beyond this World the wisest thing that any Man could do would be to enjoy as much of the present Contentments and Satisfactions of this World as he could fairly come at For if there be no resurrection to another life the Apostle allows the Reasoning of the Epicure to be very good Let us eat and drink for to morrow we dye But on the other hand if it be true that we are designed for Immortality and that another State remains for us after this Life wherein we shall be Unspeakably Happy or intolerably and Eternally Miserable according as we have behaved our selves in this World it is then evidently Reasonable that Men should take the greatest Care of the longest Duration and be content to bear and dispense with some Present Trouble and Inconvenience for a Felicity that will have no end and be willing to Labour and take Pains and deny our present Ease and Comfort for a little while that we may be Happy for ever This is reckoned Prudence in the Account of this World for a Man to part with a Present Possession and Enjoyment for a much greater Advantage in Reversion But surely the disproportion between Time and Eternity is so vast that did Men but firmly believe that they shall live for ever nothing in this World could reasonably be thought too good to part withal or too grievous to suffer for the obtaining of a Blessed Immortality In the Virtue of this Belief and Persuasion the Primitive Christians were Fortified against all that the Malice and Cruelty of the World could do against them and they thought they made a very wise Bargain if thorugh many tribulations they might at last enter into the Kingdom of God because they believed that the Joys of Heaven would abundantly Recompence all their Sorrows and Sufferings upon Earth And so confident were they of this that they looked upon it as a special Favour and Regard of God to them to call them to Suffer for his Name So St. Paul speaks of it Phil. 1.29 Vnto you it is given on the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake Yea they accounted them happy who upon this account were miserable in this World So St. James expresly pronounceth of them Jam. 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation meaning the Temptation of Persecution and Suffering for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him And this consideration was that which kept up their Spirits from sinking under the weight of their greatest Sufferings So St. Paul tells us 2 Cor. 4.14 16. Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus For which cause we faint not but tho' our outward man perish yet our inward man is renewed day by day The Sufferings of their Bodies did but help to raise and fortifie their Spirits Nay so far were they from fainting under those Afflictions that they rejoyced and gloried in them So the same Apostle tells us Rom. 5.2 3. that in the midst of their Sufferings they rejoyced in hope of the Glory of God and that they gloried in tribulations as being the way to be made Partakers of that Glory And Heb. 10.34 That they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance And for this Reason St. James Chap. 1.2 exhorts Christians to account it all joy when they fell into divers temptations that is various kinds of Sufferings because of the manifold Advantages which from thence would redound to them Now what was it that Inspired them to all this Courage and Chearfulness but the Belief of a mighty Reward far beyond the Proportion of all their Sufferings and a firm Persuasion that they should be vast Gainers by them at the last This Consideration St. Paul urgeth with great force 2 Cor. 4.17 18. Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory whilst we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal If we would compare things justly and attentively regard and consider the invisible Glories of another World as well as the things which are seen we should easily perceive that he who suffers for God and Religion does not renounce Happiness but puts it out to Interest upon terms of the greatest advantage I shall now speak briefly to the Second Part of this remarkable Saying in the Text If we deny him he also will deny us To which is subjoined in the words following if we believe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we deal unfaithfully with him yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself that is he will be constant to his Word and make good that solemn Threatning which he hath denounced against those who for fear of Suffering shall deny him and his Truth before Men Matt. 10.33 Whosoever faith our Lord there shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven Mark 8.38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the Holy Angels This is a Terrible Threatning to be disowned by Christ at the Day of Judgment in the presence of God and his Holy Angels And this Threatning will certainly be made good and tho' we may renounce him and break our faith with him yet
of any Religion that ever yet appeared in the World And this is a great Advantage indeed But by this alone it could never have been able to have broken through all that mighty Opposition and Resistance which was made against it and therefore that it might be able to encounter this with Success 2. God was pleased to accompany the first Preaching of it with a mighty and sensible Presence and Power of his Spirit And this brings me to the Second Part of the Text the Reason of the wonderful Efficacy and Success which the Apostles had in the Preaching of the Gospel the Lord wrought with them and confirmed the Word with signs following Which words express to us that Miraculous Power of the Holy Ghost which accompanied the first Preaching of the Gospel by which I do not intend to exclude the inward Operation of God's Holy Spirit upon the Minds of Men secretly moving and inclining those to whom the Gospel was Preached to embrace and entertain it which the Scripture elsewhere speaks frequently of and may possibly be intended in the first of these Expressions the Lord working with them and the latter may only be meant of the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit with regard to which God is said to confirm the Word with signs following or accompanying it But I rather think they are both intended to express the same thing and that the latter is only added by way of explication of the former to shew more particularly how the Lord wrought with them namely by giving Confirmation to their Doctrine by those miraculous Gifts and Powers of the Spirit which they were endowed withal the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following that is with those Miracles which accompanied the first Preaching of the Gospel For these words do plainly refer to the Promise of the Spirit at the 17th verse and these signs shall follow them that believe which is the Reason why they are here call'd signs following that is Miracles which accompanied the Word that was Preached And that this is the full meaning of this Text will appear by comparing it with one or two more Rom. 15.18 19. where St. Paul speaking of the things which Christ had wrought by him to make the Gentiles obedient to the Gospel he says they were done through mighty signs and wonders by the Power of the Spirit of God which is the same with that which is said here in the Text of the Lord 's working with the Apostles and confirming the Word with signs following So likewise Heb. 2.3 4. the Apostle there tells us that the Gospel which was first spoken by the Lord was confirmed by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost So that the great Confirmation which is said here to be given to the Gospel was by the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit which were poured forth upon the Apostles and Primitive Christians In speaking of which I shall briefly do these Two things I. Give an account of the Nature of these Gifts and of the Vse and End to which they served And then shew in the II. Place how the Gospel was Confirmed by them I. For the Nature of these Gifts and the Vse and End to which they were designed They are those Miraculous Powers which by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the day of Pentecost the Apostles were endowed withall to qualifie them to Publish the Gospel with more speed and success Such was the Gift of speaking divers Languages and the Gift of Interpreting things spoken in divers Languages And these Two Gifts were not necessarily united in the same Person for the Apostle tells us that some had the one and some the others the Gift of Prophecy and foretelling things to come which was always a sign of a Person Divinely Inspired the Miraculous Powers of Healing Diseases of Raising the Dead and of Casting out Devils a Power of inflicting Corporal Diseases and Punishments upon scandalous and obstinate Christians who would not submit to the Apostles Authority and Government which is in Scripture call'd a delivering up to Satan for the destruction or tormenting of the Body that the Soul may be saved nay in some cases this Power extended to the inflicting of Death it self as in the case of Ananias and Saphira Not that all these Miraculous Powers were given to every one of the Apostles or that they could exercise them at all times some were bestowed upon one and some upon another according to God's good pleasure and as was most expedient for the Vse and Benefit of the Church and most subservient to those Ends for which God gave them only we find that all the Apostles had the Gift of Tongues and that the Power of Casting out Devils in the name of Christ was common to every Christian and continued in the Church for a long time after the other Gifts were ceased as Tertul. Arnob. and Min. Felix do testifie even of their own times But II. I shall briefly shew how the Gospel was Confirmed by these Miraculous Gifts Now besides the particular Vses and Ends of those Miraculous Gifts as the Gift of Tongues did evidently serve for the more speedy Planting and Propagating of the Christian Religion in the World and the Power of inflicting Corporeal Punishments in a Miraculous manner upon Scandalous and Disobedient Christians did maintain the Power and Authority of the Apostles and was instead of an ordinary Magistratical Power which Christians were destitute of whilst the Roman Empire continued Heathen I say besides the particular Ends and Vses of all these Miraculous Gifts they did all in general as they were Miracles serve for the Confirmation of the Gospel The Apostles delivered the Doctrine of Christ and were Witnesses of his Resurrection from the dead as the great Miracle whereby his Doctrine was confirmed now there was all the Reason in the World to believe them whom God was pleased to give such a Testimony from Heaven for who could make any doubt of the Truth of Their Testimony concerning the Resurrection of Christ who were enabled to raise others from the dead and by many other wonderful things which they did gave such clear Testimony that God was with them Never had any Religion fewer worldly Advantages to recommend it and so little temporal Countenance and Assistance to carry it on but what it wanted from Men it had from God for he gave witness to it with signs and wonders and divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost God seems on purpose to have stript it of all Secular Advantages that the Christian Religion might be perfectly free from all suspition of Worldly Interest and Design and that it might not owe its Establishment in the World to the Wisdom and Contrivance of Men but to the Arm and Power of God The Inferences I shall at present make from this Discourse shall be these I. To give