A SERMON PREACH'D before the KING AT White-Hall MAY the Twentieth MDCLXXVII BY JOHN SVDBVRY D. D. And DEAN of Durham Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY Published by His Majesties special Command In the SAVOY Printed by Tho. Newcomb and are to be sold by Robert Boulter at the Turks-head in Cornhill over against the Royal Exchange 1677. MATTHEW 28.20 And lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World THese Words were spoken by Christ to his Apostles a little before his Ascension into Heaven when he was about to send them abroad into the World with that Commission in the Words immediately before Go Ye therefore and Teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you To which purpose having told them before by what Authority he sent them and how Able he was to carry them through all the Difficulties and Dangers which were before them in the former Verse All Power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth He tells them here how ready they should find him on all occasions in which his Presence should be needfull to them Lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World In which Words he speaks of his Presence not with one of them onely whom he had made the Head and Chief of them all commending them to his Direction and Commanding them to submit themselves to his Authority But as he joined them altogether in one and the same Commission in the former Verse Go ye therefore and Teach all Nations So he speaks here of his Presence with them All Lo I am with you And not with them onely and with those among all Nations whom he sent them to Teach and to Baptize For he would not have them think that he sent them to lay the Foundation of a Church which should Stand and Fall together with them for want of his Power and Presence with it afterward when they were dead and gone and therefore he tells them that should never be wanting to it so long as the World should stand Lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World This Presence of Christ with his Apostles in their Generation and with his Apostolick Church among all Nations in that and in all succeeding Generations to the end of the World is here commended to our Consideration with a Note of Attention Lo or Behold I am with You. For it is a point which requires a more than ordinary Consideration because it is not easie to conceive how he that is exalted far above all Heavens can be Present with so many Men on Earth when he is at so great a distance from them and many of them at so great a distance from each other And as it requires it upon that account so it deserves it upon another which is the great importance of it as we shall see before I end Now first for his Presence with them when he said I am with you he did not exclude the Presence of the Father and of the Holy Ghost For speaking of the Holy Ghost John 14.16 he saith I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you And that they might not think the Holy Ghost so much another Comforter that in sending him he would withdraw Himself from them he tells them in the next Verse I will not leave you Comfortless I will come to you And speaking of the Father at the 23 Verse of the same Chapter he saith If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him But because he had spoken to them oftentimes of his departure from them and perceived that sorrow had filled their heart Joh. 16.6 because he had said this to them he tells them for their comfort that he would not so depart from them but that he would still be with them Lo I am with you alway 2. When he said I am with you he did not speak of his bodily presence They could not well so much mistake him if they did believe and remember what he had often told them Me ye have not always Joh. 12.8 I go to the Father and ye shall see me no more Joh. 16.10 and at the 28 Verse of the same Chapter I leave the world and go to the Father Or if they could be so incredulous or forgetful it could not be long before they would see their errour if they would believe their own eyes for it was not long after that while they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight Acts 1.9 And though it follows in the next Verse that while they looked stedfastly towards heaven as he went up behold two men stood by them in white apparel which also said Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven They knew very well that would not be till the end of the world Acts 3.21 Whom the heavens must receive until the times of the restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world began But what ever we may think of them we find that others have so much mistaken him as to alledge these words to prove the Ubiquity of his Body which is contrary to the nature of a Body and all the differences that are or can be imagined between his Body and all other Bodies cannot give it a property which is repugnant to the nature of a Body for then it should not be a Body There have been likewise and still are great disputes about his Bodily presence in the Sacrament of his Body and Bloud And for want of better Arguments many strange Tales have been told of Miracles which have been wrought to prove it but they are so absurd and impertinent that it is almost a miracle that any men should be so void of shame as to report them or any men or women so void of understanding as to believe them For though he that hath all power in heaven and in earth can do any thing that he will he never did nor ever will do any thing that is absurd or impertinent And many Tales of his visible appearance sometimes in the form of a Lamb sometimes of a little Child and sometimes in the substance of flesh and bloud which are reported in Authors of no small account are so absurd that if the Books in which they are to be read were not easie to be produc'd it might be
thought that they had been invented by their Adversaries to reproach their Doctrine and not reported by themselves to make it more credible But to let them pass what need of his bodily presence in the Sacrament to make it effectual to exhibit that Grace which is signified by it that men must be called Hereticks and burnt alive for not believing or not professing they believe it when they know they neither do nor can believe it What more need of it there than with his Apostles to assist them in that work about which he sent them or with his Church in all succeeding Generations to make good all the Promises which he hath made to it For all this may be as well without his bodily presence as with it He that hath all power in heaven and in earth is present where he is absent present in Spirit where he is absent in Body present to manifest his power and grace where he is not present to manifest his Person And if while he was on Earth his power was not so confin'd to his bodily presence but that he could shew it upon divers persons without coming so near to them as to touch them or so much as to see them as when he said to the Centurion who came to him beseeching him for his Servant who lay at home sick of the Palsie Matth. 8.6 13. Go thy way and as thou hast believed so be it done unto thee And his servant was healed in the self-same hour And when he said to the Woman of Canaan who besought him for her Daughter Matth. 15.22 28. who was grievously vexed with a devil Be it unto thee even as thou wilt And her daughter was made whole from that very hour And when he said to the Nobleman who came to him in Cana of Galilee Joh. 4.46 50 52 5â— and besought him that he would come down and heal his son who was sick at Capernaum and at the point of death Go thy way thy son liveth And at the same hour the fever left him Can we think that his power and grace are more confin'd to his bodily presence now he is so much in the form of God than it was when he was in the form of a Servant If when his hands and feet were nailed to the Cross he had so much power in Heaven as to cover the face of it with blackness and so much power on Earth as to make the foundations of it to tremble under his feet what bounds shall we set to the working of that power whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself Phil. 3.21 Or what words can more fully express the Omnipotence of that power than the words which he himself useth in the Verse but one before my Text All power is given to me in heaven and in earth 3. When he said I am with you as he did not speak of his Bodily presence so neither did he speak only of a general presence for so he is with them that are against him and he against them He is with them so as to know their works and even their most secret and retir'd thoughts But he spake of his presence with them to bless and prosper them in that work about which he had sent them not so as to suffer no man to appear against them for he told them before they shall put you out of the Synagogues yea Joh 16.2.4 the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service And that he told them these things that when the time should come they might remember that he told them of them But with them to make his word in their mouths successful to that end for which he designed it With them Luke 15.21 to give them a mouth and wisdom which all their adversaries should not be able to gainsay or resist With them to instruct their ignorance to give them confidence to manifest his strength in their weakness to make them able Ministers of the New Testament not only of the Letter but of the Spirit and Master-builders of that House which he would make to stand so firm and stedfast upon that foundation which he would lay by them that all the storms and tempests that should beat upon it should never overthrow it nor time which consumes all things be able to destroy it And thus he was with them as it appear'd soon after in a good measure to them that saw and heard them For though S. Matthew concludes his Gospel without any mention of it we have a full and clear expression of it in the Gospel of S. Mark in the last Chapter at the last Verse They went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following In which words there is a two-fold manifestation of his presence with them the one is his co-operation or working together with them They were not the Authors of that Word which they preached among all Nations nor of the Faith with which it was receiv'd in the hearts of them that heard them but the Ministers For that which S. Paul saith of himself and Apollos 1 Cor. 3.5 Who then is Paul and who is Apollos but Ministers by whom ye believed even as the Lord gave to every man may as truly be said of all the rest of them Who was Peter or who was any of the rest of them but Ministers of that grace which fell upon them that heard them They were not so arrogant as to assume unto themselves so much as a thought of that power 2 Cor. 3.5 6. We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God who also hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit And as he that sent them saith of himself Joh. 8.50 I seek not mine own glory so S. Paul saith of himself and them 2 Cor. 4.5 We preach not our selves but Christ Jesus the Lord and our selves your servants for Jesus sake And he alleadgeth this for a reason why this Ministery was committed Vers 7. not to Angels but men and among men not to the Wise and the Scribes the and Disputers of this world but to them We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us The other manifestation of his presence with them was the Signs and Miracles which he wrought by them to confirm the Word which he sent them to preach For the Miracles which were wrought by them were not wrought by them in their own name but in his In my name they shall cast out devils Mark 16.17 they shall speak with new tongues they shall take up Serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall recover As therefore in the curing of
it For the whole Catholick Church in all places of the World and at all times to the end of the World is but one Flock of which he is not only the Chief Shepherd 1 Pet. 5.4 as St. Peter calleth him but the onely Joh. 10.16 Other Sheep I have which are not of this Fold them also I must bring and they shall hear my Voice and there shall be one Fold and one Shepherd For though he hath appointed other Shepherds under him he is the Shepherd of those Shepherds and as they are called Shepherds with reference to them whom he hath appointed them to feed so they are called Sheep when they are mentioned with him So he calleth his Apostles Mat. 10.16 Behold I send you forth as Sheep in the midst of Wolves And Mat. 26.31 All ye shall be offended because of me this night for it is written I will smite the Shepherd and the Sheep of the Flock shall be scattered abroad There is no Shepherd so vigilant over his Flock for he never Slumbers nor Sleeps nor so conversant with it Joh. 10.14 I am the good Shepherd and know my Sheep and am known of mine Nor so able and ready to see that none of them be lost through any want of care in him at the 28 Verse of the same Chapter They shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand To the same purpose is the Metaphor of a Lord or Master of a great House in which he dwells and which he rules and governs All that are of the Houshold of Faith are of his Houshold and Family whom he rules and governs by his Word and Spirit whom he feeds at his Table and supplies them with all things which he knows to be needfull or expedient for them There is no Lord or Master that is so conversant in his own House for he is never from Home I am with you alway saith he I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Hebr. 13.5 Nor so much Lord and Master of it Hebr. 3.5.6 Moses verily was faithful in all his House as a Servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after but Christ as a Son over his own House whose House are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end Moses was but in the House Christ is over the House Moses was but in the House as a Servant but Christ as the Son over his own House And the Servant abideth not in the House for ever Joh. 8.35 but the Son abideth for ever The Metaphor of a Man and his Wife whom he loves and cherisheth is a very significant and elegant expression of that Vnion and Communion which is between Christ and his Church For that which God saith of the one in the literal sense Gen. 2.24 A man shall leave his Father and his Mother and shall cleave unto his Wife and they shall be one Flesh St. Paul applies to Christ and his Church in the mystical sense Eph. 5.32 This is a great mystery But I speak concerning Christ and the Church But as there is no Metaphor so frequently used to this purpose as that of the Head and the Body so there is none that is so fully applyed to signifie that influence which he hath upon all the Members and that which he hath upon every one of them according to their several offices For as the Body consists of many Members which being fitly joined and compacted together among themselves and with the Head live and grow up together in one Body by virtue of that influence which the Head hath upon them all So this great Body of the Church which consists of many Members fitly joined together one with the other and all of them with him who is the Head of that Body is made partaker of that Faith and Love by which they all live and grow up together in Unity among themselves and with him Col. 2.19 He is the Head from which all the Body by Joints and Bands having nourishment ministred and knit together encreaseth with the encrease of God And as the Body hath many Members and all the Members have not the same Office but the influence which the Head hath upon them all doth not only make them all Partakers of the same Spirit of Life by which they live but likewise of that power and virtue by which they all perform their several Offices as the Eye doth not only live but see the Ear hear and all the Members perform that Office which they have in the Body so it is in this great Body of the Church as it is very well and fully expressed by St. Paul Eph. 4.11 where having spoken in the former Verse of the Ascension of Christ into Heaven that he might fill all things he useth this Metaphor of a Head and a Body to signifie how he filleth all things now after his Ascension into Heaven He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the Work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ till we all come in the Vnity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ that we henceforth be no more Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every Wind of Doctrin by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive but speaking the Truth in Love may grow up into him in all things which is the Head even Christ from whom the whole Body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplyeth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the Body unto the edifying of it self in love And in the first Chapter of the same Epistle we have an elegant expression of the height to which he is exalted at the 20 Verse God hath set him at his own right Hand in Heavenly places far above all Principality and Power and Might and Dominion and every name that is named not only in this World but also in that which is to come And that we might not think that his Exaltation to so great a height hath made a separation between him and his Church on Earth he saith in the next Verse God hath put all things under his Feet and gave him to be the Head over all things to the Church which is his Body the fulness in him that filleth all in all Now this may suffice to let us see how little need there is of another Head to Rule and Govern this great Body of the Church for if it be the fulness of him that filleth all in all there can be no need of a Coadjutor and if he be with it alway to the end of the World there can be no need of a Successor It is not with him as