of any Religion that ever yet appeared in the World And this is a great Advantage indeed But by this alone it could never have been able to have broken through all that mighty Opposition and Resistance which was made against it and therefore that it might be able to encounter this with Success 2. God was pleased to accompany the first Preaching of it with a mighty and sensible Presence and Power of his Spirit And this brings me to the Second Part of the Text the Reason of the wonderful Efficacy and Success which the Apostles had in the Preaching of the Gospel the Lord wrought with them and confirmed the Word with signs following Which words express to us that Miraculous Power of the Holy Ghost which accompanied the first Preaching of the Gospel by which I do not intend to exclude the inward Operation of God's Holy Spirit upon the Minds of Men secretly moving and inclining those to whom the Gospel was Preached to embrace and entertain it which the Scripture elsewhere speaks frequently of and may possibly be intended in the first of these Expressions the Lord working with them and the latter may only be meant of the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit with regard to which God is said to confirm the Word with signs following or accompanying it But I rather think they are both intended to express the same thing and that the latter is only added by way of explication of the former to shew more particularly how the Lord wrought with them namely by giving Confirmation to their Doctrine by those miraculous Gifts and Powers of the Spirit which they were endowed withal the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following that is with those Miracles which accompanied the first Preaching of the Gospel For these words do plainly refer to the Promise of the Spirit at the 17th verse and these signs shall follow them that believe which is the Reason why they are here call'd signs following that is Miracles which accompanied the Word that was Preached And that this is the full meaning of this Text will appear by comparing it with one or two more Rom. 15.18 19. where St. Paul speaking of the things which Christ had wrought by him to make the Gentiles obedient to the Gospel he says they were done through mighty signs and wonders by the Power of the Spirit of God which is the same with that which is said here in the Text of the Lord 's working with the Apostles and confirming the Word with signs following So likewise Heb. 2.3 4. the Apostle there tells us that the Gospel which was first spoken by the Lord was confirmed by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost So that the great Confirmation which is said here to be given to the Gospel was by the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit which were poured forth upon the Apostles and Primitive Christians In speaking of which I shall briefly do these Two things I. Give an account of the Nature of these Gifts and of the Vse and End to which they served And then shew in the II. Place how the Gospel was Confirmed by them I. For the Nature of these Gifts and the Vse and End to which they were designed They are those Miraculous Powers which by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the day of Pentecost the Apostles were endowed withall to qualifie them to Publish the Gospel with more speed and success Such was the Gift of speaking divers Languages and the Gift of Interpreting things spoken in divers Languages And these Two Gifts were not necessarily united in the same Person for the Apostle tells us that some had the one and some the others the Gift of Prophecy and foretelling things to come which was always a sign of a Person Divinely Inspired the Miraculous Powers of Healing Diseases of Raising the Dead and of Casting out Devils a Power of inflicting Corporal Diseases and Punishments upon scandalous and obstinate Christians who would not submit to the Apostles Authority and Government which is in Scripture call'd a delivering up to Satan for the destruction or tormenting of the Body that the Soul may be saved nay in some cases this Power extended to the inflicting of Death it self as in the case of Ananias and Saphira Not that all these Miraculous Powers were given to every one of the Apostles or that they could exercise them at all times some were bestowed upon one and some upon another according to God's good pleasure and as was most expedient for the Vse and Benefit of the Church and most subservient to those Ends for which God gave them only we find that all the Apostles had the Gift of Tongues and that the Power of Casting out Devils in the name of Christ was common to every Christian and continued in the Church for a long time after the other Gifts were ceased as Tertul. Arnob. and Min. Felix do testifie even of their own times But II. I shall briefly shew how the Gospel was Confirmed by these Miraculous Gifts Now besides the particular Vses and Ends of those Miraculous Gifts as the Gift of Tongues did evidently serve for the more speedy Planting and Propagating of the Christian Religion in the World and the Power of inflicting Corporeal Punishments in a Miraculous manner upon Scandalous and Disobedient Christians did maintain the Power and Authority of the Apostles and was instead of an ordinary Magistratical Power which Christians were destitute of whilst the Roman Empire continued Heathen I say besides the particular Ends and Vses of all these Miraculous Gifts they did all in general as they were Miracles serve for the Confirmation of the Gospel The Apostles delivered the Doctrine of Christ and were Witnesses of his Resurrection from the dead as the great Miracle whereby his Doctrine was confirmed now there was all the Reason in the World to believe them whom God was pleased to give such a Testimony from Heaven for who could make any doubt of the Truth of Their Testimony concerning the Resurrection of Christ who were enabled to raise others from the dead and by many other wonderful things which they did gave such clear Testimony that God was with them Never had any Religion fewer worldly Advantages to recommend it and so little temporal Countenance and Assistance to carry it on but what it wanted from Men it had from God for he gave witness to it with signs and wonders and divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost God seems on purpose to have stript it of all Secular Advantages that the Christian Religion might be perfectly free from all suspition of Worldly Interest and Design and that it might not owe its Establishment in the World to the Wisdom and Contrivance of Men but to the Arm and Power of God The Inferences I shall at present make from this Discourse shall be these I. To give
us Satisfaction of the Truth and Divinity of the Doctrine of the Christian Religion which hath had so eminent a Confirmation given to it from Heaven and did at its first setting out so strangely prevail in the World against all Humane Probability not by might nor by power but by the spirit of the Lord. No man can well suppose a Religion in Circumstances of greater Disadvantage and upon all Humane Accounts more unlikely to sustain and bear up it self than the Christian Religion was The first Appearance of it was so mean and its Beginnings so small that no Man but would have thought it would presently have come to nothing and no other account can be given of the strange Success and Prevalency of it but that it was of God and therefore it could not be overthrown II. This Discourse may likewise satisfie us of the Reason why this Miraculous Power which accompanied the Gospel at first is now ceased because there is not the like Reason and Necessity for it which there was at first It was highly Necessary then to introduce the Christian Religion into the World and to be a sensible Evidence to Men of the Divinity of that new Doctrine which was Preached to them but now that the Gospel is generally entertained there is not the same Reason why this Miraculous Power should still be continued Acquisito fine cessant media ad finem when the End is once obtained the Means cease and the Wise God who is never wanting in what is Necessary does not use to be lavish in that which is Superfluous Now that the Christian Religion hath got firm footing in the World God leaves it to be propagated and advanced by its own Rational Force upon the Minds of Men now that the Prejudices of Education in a Contrary Religion are removed and the Powers of the World are reconciled to Christianity there is no need of such violent and extraordinary Means for the continuance of it now that it stands upon equal Advantages with other Religions God hath left it to be carried on in more humane and ordinary ways and such as are more level and accommodate to the Nature of Man That Miracles are long since ceased is acknowledged by the Fathers who lived an Age or two after the ceasing of them particularly by St. Chrysostome who gives the same Reason for it which I have just now assigned But the Church of Rome would still bear us in hand that this Miraculous Power does still continue in their Church and according to Bellarmine must always continue because he makes it an inseparable Property and Mark of the True Church But we pretend to no such Power nor have we any Reason so to do because all the Doctrines of our Religion are the Ancient Doctrines of Christianity delivered by our Saviour and by his Apostles publisht to the World and these are sufficiently confirmed already by the Miracles which our Saviour and his Apostles wrought in the Primitive Times of Christianity But the Church of Rome hath great Occasion and Need of New Miracles to confirm their New Doctrines and therefore as they have Reason they usually apply them to the Confirmation of their New Doctrines some to confirm Purgatory and to give countenance to Indulgences others to encourage the Worship of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints others to confirm that which all the Miracles in the World are not sufficient to confirm I mean the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which because it overthrows the certainty of Sense is in the Nature of it peculiarly incapable of being confirmed by a Miracle III. and Lastly The Consideration of what hath been said does justly upbraid us that this Religion which was so powerful at first and hath such Characters of Divinity upon it coming down to us confirmed by so many Miracles should yet have so little Effect upon most of us who call our selves Christians We have all the Advantages of the Christian Religion having been educated and brought up in it and yet it hath less Effect upon us than it had upon those whose Minds were prejudiced and whose Manners were depraved by the Principles of a false Religion for those who were reduced from Paganism to Christianity did on the sudden become better Men and were more Holy and Virtuous in their Lives than the greatest part of us who have been instructed and trained up all our lives in the Doctrine of Christianity The true Reason of which is that many of us are Christians upon the same account that they were at first Heathens because it was the Religion of their Country and they were born and bred up in it but Christianity was the Religion of their Choice and there were no Motives to perswade them to the Profession of that Religion but what were as powerful to oblige them to the Practice of it Let us also be Christians not only by Custom but by Choice and then we shall live according to our Religion He that takes up a Religion for any other Reason than to obey and practice it does not choose a Religion but only counterfeits the Choice of it We have beyond Comparison the best and most reasonable Religion in the World a Religion that hath the greatest Evidence of its Truth that contains the best Precepts and gives men the greatest Assurance of a future Happiness and directs them to the surest Way of attaining it Now the better our Religion is the worse are we if we be not made good by it The Philosophy of the Heathen made some virtuous and there were many eminent Saints under the Imperfection of the Jewish Institution What Degrees then of Holiness and Virtue may be expected from us upon whom the Glorious Light of the Gospel shineth so brightly I will conclude all with the Words of the Apostle Heb. 2.1 2 3 4. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the holy Ghost according to his own will SERMON VI. The Nature Office and Employment of Good Angels Preached on the Feast of St. Michael HEB. 1.14 Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation THis is spoken of Good Angels whose Existence as well as that of Evil Spirits the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament do every where take for granted no less than they do the Being of God and the Immortality of the Soul And well they may since they are all founded upon the general Consent of all Ages VOL. II. derived down to
Salvation of Mankind I judge nothing more needful to be added to what has fallen in concerning that Subject in my handling the Second Proposition in this and the two former Sermons SERMON V. The general and Effectual Publication of the Gospel by the Apostles Preached on Ascension-Day 1688. Mark XVI 19 20. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right Hand of God And they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with Signs following IN these Words you have these Two great Points of Christian Doctrine I. Our Saviour's Ascension into Heaven and Exaltation at the right hand of God VOL. II. he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right hand of God II. The Effect or Consequence of his Ascension and Exaltation which was the general and effectual Publication of the Gospel they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following And both these are very proper for this Day but I shall at this time handle the latter Point namely the Effect op Consequence of our Saviour's Ascension into Heaven and Exaltation at the right hand of God they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following And these Words contain two things in them I. The general Publication of the Gospel by the Apostles they went forth and preached every where II. The Reason of the great Efficacy and Success of it namely the Divine and Miraculous Power which accompanied the Preaching of it Serm. V. the Lord wrought with them and confirmed the Word with signs following I. The general Publication of the Gospel by the Apostles they went forth and Preached every where And indeed the Industry of the Apostles and the other Disciples in publishing the Gospel was almost incredible What Pains did they take what Hazards did they run what Difficulties and Discouragements did they contend withal in this work and yet their Success was greater than their Industry and beyond all Humane Expectation As will appear if we consider these Five things 1. The vast Spreading of the Gospel in so short a space 2. The wonderful Power and Efficacy of it upon the Lives and Manners of Men. 3. The Weakness and Meanness of the Instruments that were imployed in this great Work 4. The powerful Opposition that was raised against it 5. The great Discouragements to the Embracing the Profession of it I shall speak briefly to each of these 1. The vast Spreading of the Gospel in so short a space This is represented Rev. 14.6 by an Angel flying through the midst of Heaven and preaching the Everlasting Gospel to every nation and kindred and tongue and people No sooner was the Doctrine of the Christian Religion publish'd and made known to the World but it was readily embraced by great numbers almost in all places where it came And indeed so it was foretold in the Prophecies of the Old Testament Gen. 49.10 That when Shiloh that is the Messias should come to him should the gathering of the people be And Isa 2.2 That in the last days the mountains of the house of the Lord should be establisht in the top of the mountain and be exalted above the hills and that all nations should flow unto it Isa 60.8 the Prophet speaking of Mens ready submission to the Gospel and the great number of those that should come in upon the Preaching of it they are said to flie as a Cloud and as the Doves to the windows So quick and strange a Progress did this new Doctrine and Religion make in the World that in the space of about 30 Years after our Saviour's Death it was not only diffused through the greatest part of the Roman Empire but had reached as far as Parthia and India In which we see our Saviour's Prediction fully verified that before the Destruction of Jerusalem the Gospel should be Preached in all the World Math. 24.14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all Nations and then shall the end come But this is not all Men were not only brought in to the Profession of the Gospel but 2. This Doctrine had likewise a wonderful Power and Efficacy upon the Lives and Manners of Men. The generality of those that entertained the Gospel were obedient to it in word and deed as the Apostle tells us concerning the Gentiles that were converted to Christianity Rom. 15.18 Upon the change of their Religion followed also the change of their Manners and of their former course of Life They that took upon them the Profession of Christianity did thenceforth not walk as other Gentiles did in the lusts of the flesh and according to the vicious course of the world but did put off concerning their former conversation the old man which was corrupt according to deceitful lusts and were renewed in the spirit of their mind and did put on the new man which after God was created in righteousness and true holiness So strange an Effect had the Gospel upon the Lives of the generality of the Professors of it that I remember Tertullian in his Apology to the Roman Emperor and Senate challengeth them to instance in any one that bore the Title of Christian that was condemned as a Thief or a Murderer or a Sacrilegious Person or that was guilty of any of those gross Enormities for which so many Pagans were every day made Examples of Publick Justice and Punisht and Executed among them And this certainly was a very admirable and hapy Effect which the Gospel had upon Men to work so great and sudden a Change in the Lives of those who entertained this Doctrine to take them quite off from those vicious Practices which they had been brought up in and accustomed to to change their Spirits and the temper of their Minds and of lewd and dishonest to make them sober and just and holy in all manner of Conversation of proud and fierce contentious and passionate malicious and revengeful to make them humble and meek kind and tender-hearted peaceable and charitable And that the Primitive Christians were generally good Men and of virtuous Lives is credible because their Religion did teach and oblige them to be such which tho' it be not effectual now to make all the Professors of it such as it requires they should be yet it was a very forcible Argument then in the Circumstances in which the Primitive Christians were For Christianity was a hated and persecuted Profession No Man could then have any inducement to embrace it unless he were resolved to practise it and live according to the Rules of it for it offered Men no Rewards and Advantages in this World but on the contrary threatned Men with the greatest Temporal Inconveniences and Sufferings and it promised no Happiness to Men in the other World upon any
attend upon himself This is our Saviour's own Argument Matth. 18. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones for I say unto you their Angels do continually behold the face of your Father which is in Heaven With how much Contempt soever we may look upon a poor good Man he hath Friends and Patrons of a higher sort than any of the Princes of this World Fourthly If God appointed Angels to be Ministring Spirits on our behalf we may thence very reasonably conclude that God did not intend that we should worship them This seems to be a clear Consequence if the Reasoning of the Angel in the Revelation be good where he forbids St. John to worship him because he was his fellow servant Yea the Consequence seems to be yet stronger from the Text that if they be not only Fellow Servants but do in some sort minister unto us then we are not to worship them And yet this Practice is openly avowed in the Church of Rome though it be reproved so very severely by the Apostle as an Apostacy from Christianity Colos 2.18 19. Let no man says he deceive you in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels not holding the head as if it were a Renouncing of Christ out of a pretended Humility to make use of other Mediators besides him to the Father And notwithstanding also that the Angel in the Revelation does so vehemently forbid it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by no means upon no terms do it and he forbids it for such a Reason as makes it for ever unlawful namely that we ought not to worship those who serve and worship God together with us Do it not says the Angel I am thy fellow Servant worship thou God In which words he plainly directs us to the sole and proper Object of our Worship Bellarmine the great Champion of the Popish Cause never used more gross and apparent shuffling than in Answer to this Text. He says first why are we reproved for doing what St. John did To which the Answer is very easie because St. John himself was reproved by an Angel for doing what he did And now that his Question is answered one might methinks ask him a cross Question or two Why do the Church of Rome presume to do that which an Angel does so expresly forbid to be done Or was it fit for St. John to worship one who according to Bellarmine was so ignorant in the Doctrine of the Catholick Church as to reprove him for doing his Duty As is evident from his Second crafty Answer to this Text That St. John did well to give due Worship to the Angel And yet it is plain from this Text that the Angel did not think the Worship which St. John gave to him to be his due It is very hard to imagine but that a Man of Bellarmine's Understanding did intend to give up the Cause in his Answers to this Text But if he was in earnest then the Matter is brought to this plain and short issue Whether it be fitter for us to believe a Cardinal of Rome or an Angel of God Lastly We should imitate the holy Angel by endeavouring to serve God as they do in ministring to the Good of others Whilst we are in the Body in this state of infirmity and imperfection tho' we cannot serve God with the same Activity and Vigour that the blessed Angels do yet we may in the same Sincerity and with the same true Pleasure and Delight And we should learn also of them to condescend to the meanest Services for the good of others If the Angels who are no ways allied to us and do so much excel us in the Dignity and Perfection of their Nature for tho' David says that God made man little lower than the Angels his meaning is that he made him next below the Angels in the Rank of Beings but yet very distant from them in Perfection I say if those glorious Creatures who are the Chief of the Ways and Works of God do not think much to humble themselves to be Ministers on our behalf shall we be so proud as to think much to stoop to the lowest Offices to serve one another You see my Brethren what is the constant Work and Employment of the Blessed Spirits above to do good to Men especially in order to their Eternal Happiness and this is the highest degree of Charity and Charity is the highest Perfection of Men and Angels So that to employ our selves with all our Minds and with all our Might to help forward the Salvation of others is to be Good Angels I had almost said to be a kind of Gods to Men. I hope that we all of us do hope one day to be like the Angels in the Purity and Perfection of their Nature So our Saviour has told us that at the Resurrection we shall be like the Angels Now as they are the Patterns of our Hope and Happiness so let us make them the Examples of our Duty and Obedience according as our Saviour hath taught us to pray that God's will may be done on Earth as it is in Heaven that is that we may serve God and do his Will here on Earth so far as the Infirmity of our Nature and of our present state will admit with the same Readiness and Diligence with the same Chearfulness and Zeal that the holy and Blessed Angels do in Heaven And let us aspire continually in our minds after that Blessed Time when we shall be free from Sin and Sorrow from Affliction and Pain from Diseases and Deaths when we shall serve God without Distraction and do his Will without weariness and shall be for ever with the Lord amidst an innumerable company of Angels and the Spirits of just men made perfect Finally Let us bless God as for all the visible Effects of his merciful Providence towards us so likewise for the invisible Aids and Protection of his holy Angels many times probably vouchsafed to us when we are but little aware of it But above all let us bless him for his Son our Lord Jesus Christ who was made a little lower than the Angels that is a Mortal Man that by the Suffering of death for our sakes he might be cloathed with glory and honour according to the working of that mighty power which God wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all Principalities and Powers and Might and Dominion and every Name that is named not only in this World but also in that which is to come To him O Father with thee and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Dominion and Power both now and for ever Amen SERMON VII The Reputation of Good Men after Death Preached on St. Luke's Day Psal CXII 6. The latter Part of the Verse The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance AS the Desire and Hope of Immortality which is implanted in Humane Nature
the Infirmities yet he was free from the Corruption of Humane Nature therefore the Examples of meer Men liable to sin as we are may in many respects be more suitable and accomodate to encourage us to the imitation of those Virtues which are attainable by us in this state of Imperfection for which Reason the Apostle hath thought fit likewise to propose to us the highest Examples of that kind the first Teachers of our Religion for of these he seems to speak here in the Text namely those Apostles or Apostolical Men by whom they had been instructed in the Faith of Christ but who were now departed this life it being very probable that the Apostle here speaks of such as were dead when he says Remember them which have the rule over you or those that have been your Guides who have spoken to you the word of God whose Faith follow considering the end of their conversation I say this is very probable because he minds them to remember them which supposeth them to be absent but especially because he minds them to consider the end of their conversation by which surely he means the Blessed State of those Good Men after Death which is elsewhere called the end of our faith even the salvation of our souls 1 Pet. 1.9 So likewise Rom. 6.22 this is said to be the End of a holy Life ye have your fruit unto holiness and the End everlasting life And it very much favours this Interpretation that the Apostle afterwards speaks of the living Guides and Governours of the Church v. 17. Obey them which have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls So that it is highly probable that the Apostle here speaks of such Guides and Governours of the Church as had once been over them but were now departed this Life and therefore he might with more freedom and less envy recommend their Example to them and bid them call to mind their Faith and exemplary Conversation among them and propose it for a Pattern to themselves considering the happy End of it viz. The Blessed State they were now in and the Glorious Reward they were made Partakers of in another Life In the Words thus explained you have I. A Duty enjoyned which is to propose to our selves for our Imitation the Examples of Good Men that have gone before us especially the primitive Patterns of Christianity and the first Teachers of our Religion Remember them which have been your Guides and have spoken to you the Word of God whose Faith follow II. The Motive or Encouragement to it from the Consideration of the Reward of it Considering the End of their Conversation I. The Duty enjoyned which is to propose to our selves for our Imitation the Example of Good Men that have gone before us especially the Primitive Patterns of Christianity and first Teachers of our Religion Remember them that have had the rule over you that have been your Guides and have spoken to you the word of God whose Faith follow In which Words the Apostle bids them call to mind their first Guides and Instructors in Christianity whom they had known and heard and conversed with in this World but who were now rested from their labours and were receiving the Reward of them to remember the Doctrines they heard from them and the Virtues they had seen in them and to embrace the one and imitate the other Thus We cannot remember the Primitive Teachers and Patterns of Christianity the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour became we did not personally know them and converse with them living at the distance of many Ages from their time But we may do that which is equivalent and a kind of Remembrance of them we may commemorate their Faith and the Virtue and Holiness of their Lives and what we hear and read of them we may propose for Patterns to our selves and copy them out in our Lives and Actions And this is our Duty and the same in substance with theirs who had the happiness to know and converse with those excellent Persons to hear them Preach and to see the Rules and Precepts of that Holy Doctrine which they Taught exemplified in their Lives In the handling of this Argument I shall do these Three things First Shew why amongst all the Examples of Good Men we should more especially propose to our Imitation the Primitive Teachers and Patterns of our Religion Secondly Wherein we should Imitate them The Apostle expresseth it in one Word in their Faith whose Faith follow Thirdly The Encouragement to this from the Consideration of the happy State they are in and the glorious Reward they are made Partakers of Considering the End of their Conversation First I shall endeavour to shew why among all the Examples of Good Men we should more especially propose to our Imitation the Primitive Teachers and Patterns of our Religion I mean the holy Apostles of our Lord and Saviour whose Faith we should endeavour to follow and to Imitate the holiness and virtue of their Conversation For These certainly come nearest to that most Perfect and Excellent Pattern of all Goodness our Blessed Saviour and are the fairest Transcripts of that unblemisht Original Hence it is that St. Paul so frequently exhorts Christians to Imitate his Example and the Examples of the other Apostles it being reasonable to presume that They came nearest to the Pattern of our Lord. 1 Cor. 11.1 Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ Phil. 3.17 Brethren be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an Ensample For our Conversation is in Heaven And this is reasonable that the first in every kind should be the Rule and Pattern of the rest and of all that follow after because it is likely to be most perfect In process of Time the best Institutions are apt to decline and by insensible degrees to swerve and depart from the Perfection of their first state and therefore it is a good Rule to preserve things from corruption and degeneracy often to look back to the first Institution and by that to correct those Imperfections and Errors which will almost unavoidably creep in with Time If we would preserve that Purity of Faith and Manners which our Religion requires we should have frequent recourse to the Primitive Teachers and Patterns of Christianity and endeavour to bring our Belief and Lives to as near a Conformity with theirs as is possible Who so likely to deliver the Faith and Doctrine of Christ pure and uncorrupted as the Primitive Teachers of it who received it from our Lord himself and were by an extraordinary assistance of the Holy Spirit secured from Error and Mistake in the delivery of it And who so likely to bring their Lives and Conversations to an exact Conformity with this holy Doctrine as they who were so throughly Instructed in it by the best Master and shewn the Practice of it in the most perfect Example
very grievous to them if they be sensible of what is done here below I mean to Worship them and to Pray to them and to the great Disparagement of the powerful Intercession of our great High Priest Jesus the Son of God to make them the Mediators and Intercessors in Heaven with God for us Of this the Scripture hath no where given us the least intimation but hath expresly commanded the contrary to worship the Lord our God and him only to serve and to pray to him alone in the name of Jesus Christ who is the only Mediator betwixt God and Man Nor are there any Footsteps of any such Practice in the primitive Church for the first Three Hundred Years as is acknowledged by our most Learned Adversaries of the Church of Romer The Scripture no where propounds the Saints to us for Objects of our Worship but for the Patterns of our lives This is the greatest Respect and Veneration that we can or ought to pay to them and whatever is beyond this is a Voluntary Humility injurious to God and our Blessed Saviour and most certainly displeasing to those whom we pretend to Honour if they know how Men play the fool about them here below Let us then endeavour to be like them in the Holy and Virtuous Actions of their Lives in their constant Patience and Suffering for the Truth if God shall call us thereto And we may be like them if we do but sincerely endeavour it and pray to God for his Grace and Assistance to that end For these Examples were not left for our Admiration only but for our Imitation We frequently read the Lives of the Apostles and first Founders of our Religion But I know not how it comes to pass we choose rather lazily to admire them than vigorously to follow them as if the Piety of the first Christians were Miraculous and not at all intended for the Imitation of succeeding Ages as if Heaven and Earth God and Men and all things were alter'd since that time as if Christianity were then in its Youthful Age and Vigour but is since decayed and grown old and hath quite lost its Power and Virtue And indeed the generality of Christians live at such a faint and careless rate as to make the World believe that either all the Stories of the Primitive Christians are Fables or else that the Force of Christianity is strangely abated and that the Holy Spirit of God hath forsaken the Earth and is retired to the Father But Truth never grows old and those Laws of Goodness and Righteousness which are contained in the Gospel are still as reasonable and apt to gain upon the Minds of Men as ever God is the same he was and our Blessed Saviour is still at the Right Hand of God Interceding powerfully for Sinners for mercy and grace to help in time of need The Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel are still as true and powerful as ever and the holy Spirit of God is still in the World and effectually works in them that believe Let us not then deceive our selves in this matter The Primitive Christians were Men like our selves subject to the same Passions that we are and compassed about with the same Infirmities so that altho' that extraordinary Spirit and Power of Miracles which God endowed them withal for the first planting and propagating of the Gospel in the World be now ceased yet the sanctifying Power and Virtue of God's Holy Spirit does still accompany the Gospel and is ready to assist us in every good work In a word We have all that is necessary to work the same Graces and Virtues in us which were in them and if we be not slothful and wanting to our selves we may follow their faith and at last attain the end of it even the Salvation of our Souls Let us then from an idle admiring of those excellent Patterns proceed to a vigorous imitation of them and be so far from being discouraged by the Excellency of them as to make even that Matter and Ground of encouragement to our selves according to that of Tertullian Admonetur omnis aet as fieri posse quod aliquando factum est all Ages to the end of the World may he convinced that what hath been done is possible to be done There have been such Holy and Excellent Persons in the World and therefore it is possible for Men to be such Let us not then be slothful but followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Since we are compast about with such a Cloud of Witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us and let us run with Patience the Race which is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the Shame and is now set down at the right hand of God SERMON IX The Encouragement to Suffer for Christ and the Danger of denying him Preached on All-Saints Day 2 Tim. II. 11 12. It is a faithful saying For if we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reign with him If we deny him he also will deny us IN the beginning of this Chapter St. Paul encourageth Timothy to continue steadfast in the Profession of the Gospel notwithstanding the Sufferings which attended it VOL. II. Verse 1. Thou therefore my Son be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus and Verse 3. Thou therefore endure hardship as a good Souldier of Jesus Christ And to animate him in his Resolution he quotes a Saying which it seems was well known and firmly believed among Christians a Saying on the one hand full of Encouragement to those who with Patience and Constancy Suffered for their Religion and on the other hand full of Terrour to those who for fear of Suffering denyed it It is a faithful saying This is a Preface used by this Apostle to introduce some remarkable Sentence of more than ordinary weight and concernment 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save Sinners and chap. 4.8 9. Godliness is profitable unto all things having a promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation Titus 3.8 This is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly Serm. IX that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works And here in the Text the same Preface is used to signify the Importance of the saying he was about to mention It 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 If we deny him he will deny us The First Two Sentences are Matter of Encouragement to those who Suffer with Christ and for him and
that their works shall be rewarded but that they shall go along with them and that they are blessed upon this Account and this implies that they shall receive a sure Reward For as the Apostle Reasons God is not unrighteous to forget our Work and Labour of Love Verily there is a Reward for the righteous as sure as there is a God that judgeth in the Earth But how Great and Glorious that shall be I am not in any measure able to declare to you It may suffice that the Scripture hath assured us in general that God is the Rewarder of Good Men and that he will make them Happy not according to what can now enter into our narrow Thoughts but according to the exceeding greatness of his Power and Goodness If we are to receive our Reward from God we need not doubt but it will be very large and such as is every way worthy of him to bestow For he is a great King and of great Goodness and we may safely refer our selves to him in confidence that he will consider us not according to the Meanness of our Service but according to the Vastness of his Treasures and the Infinite Bounty of his Mind If he hath promised to make us Happy tho' he have not particularly declared to us wherein this Happiness shall consist yet we may trust him that made us to find out ways to make us happy and may believe that he who made us without our Knowledge or desire is able to make us Happy beyond them both Only for the greater Encouragement of our Holiness and Obedience tho' he hath promised to Reward every Good Man far beyond the Proportion of any Good he hath or can do yet he hath declared that these Rewards shall be proportionably greater or less according to the degree of every Man's Piety and Virtue So our Saviour tell us that they who are persecuted for righteousness sake great shall be their reward in heaven Matt. 5.12 That there will be a difference between the Reward of a righteous Man and a Prophet that is of one who is more publickly and eminently useful for the Salvation of others And among those who are Teachers of others they that are more industrious and consequently more likely to be successful in this Work shall have a more Glorious Reward as we are told by the Angel Dan. 12.3 And they that be Wise or as it is in the Margin rendred they that be Teachers shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever So likewise we find in the Parable of the Talents that he that improv'd his Talent to Ten was made Ruler over Ten Cities And St. Paul 2 Cor. 9.6 speaking of the Degrees of Mens Charity and Liberality towards the Poor says expresly He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly but he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully which by Proportion of Reason may be extended to the Exercise of all other Graces and Virtues 1 Cor. 15.41 42. The Apostle there represents the different Degrees of Glory which Good Men shall be invested with at the Resurrection by the different Glory and Splendor of the Heavenly Luminaries There is one glory of the Sun another of the Moon and another glory of the Stars for one Star differeth from another Star in glory So also is the Resurrection of the dead So that the more any Man suffers for God and the more Patiently he Suffers the more Holily and Virtuously the more Charitably and Usefully he lives in this World the more good Works will accompany him into the next and the Greater and more Glorious Reward he may hope to receive there which as the Apostle Reasons in the Conclusion of that Chapter concerning the Doctrine of the Resurrection ought to be a mighty Encouragement to every one of us not only to be stedfast and unmoveable that is fix'd and resolute in the Profession and Practice of our Religion but abounding likewise in the work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our labour is not in vain in the Lord. Every Degree of Diligence and Industry in the Work and Service of God will most certainly one day turn to a happy Account Having therefore such Promises dearly Beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God The more perfectly holy we are here on Earth the more perfectly happy we shall be in Heaven and continue so to all Eternity I have now done with the Two Reasons which are here given in the Text of the Happiness that Good Men such as die in the Lord shall be made Partatakers of in another Life because they rest from their labours and their works accompany them they are freed from all the Evils which they suffer'd and shall receive the Reward of all the Good they have done in this Life I should now have proceeded to make some Inferences from this Discourse But those I will reserve for another Discourse on this Subject All that I shall add at present as the Application of what I have already said is That this should stir us up to a careful and zealous Imitation of those Blessed Persons described in the Text who are dead in the Lord and are at rest from their Labours and whose works do accompany them Let us Imitate them in their Faith and Patience in their Piety and Good Works and in their Constancy to God and his Truth which was dearer to them than their Lives Thus their Virtues and Sufferings are described in the Visions of this Book Chap. 13.10 Here is the Patience and the Faith of the Saints and Chap. 14.12 Here is the Patience of the Saints Here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus and Chap. 12.11 And they overcame by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their Testimony and they loved not their Lives unto the Death In this Way and by these Steps all the Saints and Martyrs of all Ages have ascended up to Heaven and attained to that Blessed State which they are now Possessed of after all the Evils which they Suffered in this World They are now at rest from their labours and all the good Works which they have done are gon along with them and they are now and shall for ever be receiving the Comfort and Reward of them And if we tread in their Steps by a zealous Imitation of the Piety and Holiness of their Lives and of the Constancy and Patience of their Sufferings we shall one Day be Translated into their Blessed Society and made Partakers with them of the same Glorious Reward If we have our Fruit unto Holiness our end shall be everlasting life If we be faithful unto death we shall receive a Crown of Life Let us then as the Apostle to the Hebrews exhorts Chap. 6.11 12. Every one of us shew the same Diligence to the full assurance