them When ye have lift up the Son of Man then shall ye know that I am He. And this in some measure mitigates and excuseth the present ignorance of the Apostles that they had not yet seen the completion of the last and greatest Acts of Christ particularly his Resurrection Lastly To say no more the extraordinary Gifts and Graces of the Holy Ghost were not yet poured forth Of these Gifts none of the least was a due preparation of Will and penetration of Judgment to conceive rightly the sence and meaning of all Divine Revelations and Mysteries This was afterwards plentifully poured down upon the Apostles as upon this Day but before that time was not conferred on them That the want of this extraordinary assistance of the Holy Ghost was a main cause of their Ignorance is plainly insinuated by all those Texts wherein Christ promiseth to the Apostles the Mission of the Holy Spirit to dispel their Ignorance and enlighten their understandings as in the words of the Text and John XV. 26. But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall Testify of me and when He the Spirit of Truth is come He will guide you into all Truth The ordinary assistance of the Divine Spirit had indeed all along accompanyed the Apostles which had been abundantly sufficient when added to the Motives of Faith and advantages of Instruction which they received from Christ to inform them in all things necessary considered as private Persons if they had removed all prejudices and used due attention and reason but the extraordinary Inspiration of the Holy Ghost being not necessary was not yet conferred on them For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified St. John VII 39. These were the principal causes of that Ignorance of the Apostles which we proposed to inquire into of that misapprehension of the Nature of our Saviours Office and Design which so eminently appears in the context as we before explained it which disabled them from considering the consequence of his Miracles For their heart was hardned Mark VI. 52. by reason of which They understood none of these things his Passion and Resurrection and this saying was hid from them neither knew they the things that were spoken Luc. XVIII 34. which caused the words of the women relating to the Resurrection of Christ to seem to them as idle Tales and incredible Fables Luc. XXIV 11. and the indignation of which drew from Christ that sharp Exprobration O ye of little faith Mattâ—… VIII 26. That this Ignorance ought not in the least to surprize us or induce us to entertain any thoughts prejudicial to Christianity it self appears from the Reasons which I have already assigned to it but will more fully be manifested in considering the second Head proposed which was To shew That the permission of this Ignorance till the sending of the Holy Ghost was not in the least repugnant to the Divine Wisdom or the design of the Gospel This will evidently appear from these two Considerations I. That it would be incongruous to the Divine Wisdom to use any extraordinary methods in removing the Ignorance of the Apostles and perfectly informing their Understandings until such Information not being possible to be obtained by the ordinary methods of Instruction should become absolutely necessary to the being of the Church II. That such a perfect and plenary Information was not necessary to the Apostles till after the Ascension of Christ. The first of these Propositions naturally follows from that known truth and received principle that God never worketh Miracles without necessity nor recurreth to extraordinary causes while natural and ordinary will suffice However fully to evince this matter and clear all remaining doubts I will consider all the possible methods of perfectly instructing the Apostles before the Ascension of Christ when the natural and ordinary means failed and demonstrate that God could not use any one of them without being injurious to his Wisdom and Honour These extraordinary methods may be reduced to these three Heads First God by his Almighty power might have over-ruled their understanding and without expecting the assent of the Will violently imprinted a perfect knowledge of his Revelations in it or even forced the Will to assent to it although it had not yet discoverd the truth of it But nothing can be imagined more injurious to the honour of God than a proceeding of this kind to prepare the way for Religion by violating those Priviledges of reasoning and free will which he at first conferred on them which were in truth to make Mankind happy by destroying their Nature Secondly our Saviour having already abundantly convinced the Apostles of the Divinity of his Mission and consequently of his Infallibity might have plainly and openly revealed to them all the Mysteries of his Religion and future Actions to be yet performed and required their immediate Assent to them without taking care to satisfie them at the same time of the truth and reasonableness of such Revelations by their Conformity to all precedent Revelations or the Law of Nature but this also was irrational in it self and consequently unworthy of the Divine Wisdom and might justly have been esteemed unsatisfactory by the Apostles For as they were fully convinced that our Saviour was a Divine Person so were they no less that all the precedent Revelations were delivered by inspired men and consequently deserved the same degree of Assent which his could do So that if the least repugnance between the Doctrine or Life of Christ and the ancient Prophesies could have been difcovered they were not in the least obliged to assent unto them Nay to a full and unexceptionable Proof of the truth of his Revelations it was not only necessary that no repugnance between them and the predictions of the Old Testament were discovered but also that an entire Conformity should appear Since the true Messias was by God designed to the Jews under those two Characters of extraordinary Miracles and perfect agreement of Life Actions and Doctrine to the precedent Predictions and Revelations and consequently could not be evidently distinguished without the concurrence of both those Proofs And indeed such an arbitrary Command of a blind Assent to any Revelations confirmed by Miracles without a previous Examination of the truth of them is so absurd and repugnant to the Laws of reasoning that it could not be used by Christ himself even in respect of Heathens For such a resignation of the Understanding could rationally be made to no other Authority than an Authority founded upon Arguments of greater Credibility than can be found in any other Case But such is not the Authority derived from Miracles for all objects of Sense and necessary Deductions from reason include at least an equal many a greater degree of Credibility I mean not hereby that any truths whatsoever can have a greater certainty than
into those Mansions of which they had been by him sufficiently inform'd At this Thomas far from acknowledging any suchinformation complains in the 5th verse that they were ignorant both of the place and the way to it Our Saviour answers that the place was no other than the Society of his Father whom they had sufficiently known by conversing with Him This far from removing the mistakes of the Apostles gave occasion to the discovery of a far greater ignorance in them For in the 8th verse Philip desireth him to shew the Father to them thereby manifesting how widely he had hitherto mistaken the Doctrine of Christ and what gross notions of the Father he entertain'd So strange an ignorance drew a sharp expostulation from our Saviour Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not knoâ—…n me Philip ver 9. Thereupon declaring unto him what sufficient means he had already given them of knowing the Father and promising to enable them yet further to a more perfect knowledge of him by sending the Comforter the Spirit of Truth He assureth them of a more clear and express Revelation of this matter at his Resurrection by manifesting himself and consequently the Father to piously disposed Persons who loved him and kept his Commandments Although he intended not to manifest himself in the same degree and manner to the whole World At this Judas Lebbaeus seems to be astonished and in a passionate exclamation which includeth somewhat of despair in it saith unto him ver 22. Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self unto us and not unto the World as imagining this illustrious manifestation to be no other than taking possession in a solemn and magnificent manner of that Glorious Worldly Kingdom which himself with the other Apostles in vain expected to be founded by their Master Such strange mistakes of which the meanest Christians would be ashamed in the present Constitution of the Church might justly be admired to have proceeded from those who were the familiar attendants of Christ through a Triennial Preaching Acquainted with all his Discourses and honoured with a familiar Conversation if we enquir'd not more narrowly into the causes of things and reasons of the divine dispensation OurSaviour himself seems not in the least to be surprized at it But only after a short answer to Lebbaeus his question hence taketh occasion to renew the promise of that remedy which he had ever design'd and often before promis'd I mean the Mission of the Holy Ghost in these words These things have I spoken unto you being yet present with you But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you As if he should say These answers I have briefly given to your doubts and scruples such as the shortness and necessity of the time would permit which still remains to me to be spent in your company I had before sufficiently explained all these Mysteries to you Provided your minds by removal of all prejudices by ordinary endowments of right apprehension and using due diligence had been rightly disposed to receive them But since you still continue ignorant of those great Truths and infinitely mistake my Doctrine And not only so but suffer your selves to be possess'd with terror and amazement at the news of my departure I will not forsake you or leave you destitute of the means either of consolation or better instruction but abundantly provide for both by sending to you after my Ascension another Comforter Even the Holy Ghost whom the Father at my Intercession and for my sake will send unto you He shall erect your drooping Spirits and remove your grief by administring consolation to you And dispel your Ignorance by enlightning your minds with clear notions and true Interpretations of whatsoever I have Taught unto you and recalling into your mind all those Doctrines and Lessons of mine which you may have forgotten These words being thus explained represent to us I. The promise of sending a Comforter II. The Person to be sent the Holy Ghost III The Office to be performed by the Holy Ghost when sent Which however various is perfectly included Either in the diverse significations of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Comforter which may be taken as an Advocate a Monitor or a Consolator Or in the annexed action of Teaching thâ—…m all things and bringing all things into their remembrance whatsoever Christ had said unto them At present I shall consider no more than the latter branch of the Third Point that is the Office of Teaching the Apostles which was to be performed by the Holy Ghost And in handling this I shall in the first place inquire what were the Causes and Reasons of this prodigious Ignorance of the Apostles after so long and so excellent Instruction Secondly I shall prove that the permission of this Ignorance till the sending of the Holy Ghost was not in the least repugnant to the Divine Wisdom or the design of the Gospel Thirdly I shall draw some few conclusions from both First then the Causes and Reasons of this so long continued Ignorance of the Apostles Of these I take the chief and most fundamental one to have been their Ignorance of the true sense of Scripture For the better explaining of this Cause I will premise some few Observations As 1. The Conformity of the Life and Actions of Christ to the Prophesies of the Old Testament was to the Jews the best and principal Argument of the Divinity of Christ of his Divine Mission and the Truth of his Revelations Miracles indeed might create a great probability of the truth of these Articles But such a conformity alone could demonstrate it since Miracles were common to inferâ—…our Prophets and sometimes even to false Prophets But an intire agreement of the precedent Prophesies was appropriated to the sole Person of the true Messias This appears from the nature of the Old Testament and end of writing it which taken in all its parts is chiefly designed to point out the future Messias by certain plain Notes and Indications whereby he might easily be discover'd to the Jews The Historical Books are imployed in describing his Genealogy The Psalms and Prophets in foretelling the time of his coming the manner of his Life his Passion Resurrection and Doctrine Now it would be highly injurious to the Wisdom of God that he should professedly cause so many Books to be written chiefly to design the Messias And yet design him by such Characters as should not be proper to him alone but might be common to other Persons So that the agreement of those Prophesies to the Person of Jesus Christ was to the Jews a most demonstrative proof that he was the true Messias Miracles indeed were in their respect also necessary to him But that chiefly because it was before Prophesied of the Messias that great and
to be founded by the Messias or expected from him which so long clouded the Understandings of the Apostles and hindred them from entertaining true Notions of that Mystery although having the Happiness to be brought up in a Christian and Orthodox Church we suck in true Notions of the Christian Religion in general even from our Infancy yet the prejudices which arise from our Passions and corrupt Affections are no less violent and betray us to no less fatal mistakes These not only defeat the Benefit of that assistance of the Holy Ghost in the Inquisition of truth which God hath promised to all well disposed Persons who rightly ask it of him but also directly introduce the foulest and most pernicious Errours by prompting us to form such Notions of Religion as may be most adapted and favourable to those corrupt Inclinations And this diligence in the Inquiry and Examination of our Religion will be so much the more necessary if we consider that God had indeed provided an effectual remedy for all the mistakes of the Apostles by the plentiful Effusion of the Holy Ghost upon them but hath left us to the ordinary Emanations and Assistance of the Divine Spirit which will lead us into all necessary Truths if our own Endeavours be not wanting but upon defect of those or any other due disposition of the mind will not only not produce this happy Effect but also depart from us II. The Sense of this great and inestimable Benefit conferred this day upon the Apostles and then upon the whole Church and our selves in particular ought to excite us to the utmost gratitude and engage us to endeavour not to render our selves unworthy of it at least not permit our selves to be ungrateful for it For this Benefit was not confined to the persons of the Apostles it brings down with it many great and inestimable advantages to the Church which continue till this day By this we are assured that the Christian Religion hath received the last degree of Confirmation by this we know that Christ hath really ascended into Heaven and there taken possession of his Kingdom that however he hath removed his corporeal Presence he still continues to be present with us by the Influences and Operations of the Holy Ghost that he ceased not at his Ascension to govern and take care of the Church but abundantly provided for the necessity and convenience of it by sending the third Person of the ever Blessed Trinity who might actuate and direct it and performing the Office of a Paraclet teach exhort comfort and intercede for every single Member of it By this the drooping Spirits of the Apostles were erected their Fears dispelled and their Minds enlightened by this the truth of the Christian Religion was put past all Dispute and the Church invigorated with such an assurance of Divine assistance as might secure it from all Dangers and place it beyond the rage of men or fury of Tyrants We also at this day partake of the blessed Effects of this great Benefit we share in the Joys of the Apostles and experience the Influences of that Divine Spirit By this they were inabled to convey down to us infallibly the Christian Religion and found a Church of which to be Members we esteem our greatest Happiness By this Spirit we are united to the Body of the Church to Christ our Head and to one another By this we are excited to vertue and the practice of our Duty are assisted in the search of Truth are comforted in Afflictions and upheld in Dangers This Spirit our Saviour promised ver 16. should abide with us for ever not in that measure indeed and abundance which was conferred on the Apostles but according to the proportion of our necessities and the Improvement of that present Portion which is already conferred on us Let us endeavour by an exact discharge of our Duty and daily improvement in Piety to augment our Interest in the benefits of this Day and favour of the Holy Ghost at least let us take care least by our negligence and degenerate Behaviour we forfeit our Title to them both Lastly as we are obliged to admire and celebrate the infinite Goodness of God in bestowing upon the Church the diffusive Presence of the Holy Ghost by his Mission as upon this Day so are we no less engaged to be thankful for his particular Presence in the Holy Sacrament since this not only gives us a firm assurance of the continuance of that Presence which was at first granted as so great a Blessing to the Apostles but also derives down upon all worthy Communicants as far as is necessary to them the same Gifts and Graces which the first Descent of it procured to the Apostles By this means we may not only commemorate but act anew and experience in our selves all the Glories of this day by receiving into our Souls a plentiful Effusion of the same Spirit But then as several previous Dispositions were required in the Apostles to qualifie them for the reception of so great a Benefit so must we prepare our selves for the Participation of so great a Mystery with no less diligence and caution that as they firmly believed and constantly expected the Promises of our Saviour although he had removed his Corporeal Presence from them so we should without any Fluctuation believe the certain performance of all those Graces which are promised to all worthy Communicants and that however his natural Body is absent from us yet he is really present in the Elements by the Efficacy and Operation of the Holy Spirit that as they prepared themselves for the reception of the Holy Ghost by an intire Resignation of their Wills to his influence and direction so we should fit our Souls for the Entertainment of all those Graces conferred in the Sacrament by a perfect Resignation of our selves to God and steady Resolution of performing his Commands And that as they in order to obtain the promised Mission of a Comforter met all together with one accord in one house so we in order to receive the mighty Benefits of this Sacrament should be united in perfect Charity to one another If any of these due Qualifications be wanting we shall be so far from obtaining any share in the Benefits of this Day or Commemorating as we ought the wonderful Mission of the Holy Ghost that we shall forfeit our Title to all the Benefits of the Gospel and do despight to the Spirit of Grace Now to God the Father God the Son c. The Second SERMON PREACH'D Septemb. 16th 1688. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Philip. II. 5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus OUR blessed Saviour hath not only revealed to us the whole Will of God in relation to Mankind and thereby given to us a most excellent and truly Divine Religion but also set us a most perfect Example of Holiness and universal Righteousness in the whole Conduct of his Life therein exceeding all other Lawgivers
of Heathen Philosophers tended to no other End than to foment their Pride and create in them a vain Opinion of their own Wisdom and Merits They referred it not to God nor employed it as a Principle of obedience to him It abated not their Passions reformed not their Lusts and had no visible influence upon their Lives save in making them haughty and supercilious the constant Character of those Philosophers In opposition to this the Apostle Wills that we express the Divinity of our Reâ—…igion in the Holiness of our Lives that we be not puft up with Pride nor imagine it to be the product either of our own merit or understanding that we acknowledge to have received it from God and profess that we expect either to be saved or damned by our obedience to the Rules of it that we perpetually maintain an awful regard of the Commands of our Almighty Lawgiver and set our selves to the performance of them with the most profound Humility and Submission that we be not affrighted from the profession of our Faith by the greatest threats or Terrours nor be betrayed to the Omission of our Duty by supine Negligence and want of Consideration But this in a word That we be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us with meekness and fear In Discoursing of these words I shall insist upon these two Heads which naturally offer themselves to our Consideration I. That the Christian Religion is agreeable to the Principles of Reason and carrieth sufficient Evidence along with it II. That it is the Duty of every Christian not wanting the means of sufficient Instruction to enable himself to give a Reason of his Faith I. That the Christian Religion c. For the Apostle commanding us To be always ready to give a reason of the hope that is in us plainly intimates that a Reason may be given of it For that by this term of the hope that is in us is to be understood the whole System of our Faith appears as well from the Context as from the frequent Acceptation of those words in the same Sense in divers places of the New Testament This Religion as it carrieth eminent Marks of its Divinity on many other Accounts so chiefly in the reasonableness and evidence of it and that either 1. In respect of the Nature of it and the Rules prescribed by it Or 2. In respect of the undoubted certainty of its having been revealed by God I. If we respect the Nature and Constitution of the Christian Religion and the Rules of Life and Worship proposed by it we shall find it exactly rational and attended with the greatest Evidence This might be proved by many Considerations But at present I shall insist on no more than two As I. Christianity proposeth a Divine Worship most consentaneous to the Nature of God and tendeth most effectually to secure his Honour among men The Brimary end of all Religion is the Worship of God and is intended cither to pay to God that tribute of Adoration and Thanks which his infinite Majesty and right of Creation Redemption and other benefits require or to implore his Favour in pardoning our sins supplying our Necessities or conferring his Graces on us All these Actions ought to be directed in that way which is most sutable to his Nature and may best express the perfection of it God is a Spirit and therefore requireth to be worshipped in spirit and truth Our Soul alone is truly capable of Religon can alone entertain the Idea of God and form an Act of Worship All outward Ceremonies and corporeal Modes of Worship are no otherwise Holy or to be accounted of than as they tend to shew the inward Devotion of the Soul which is wont to declare its Thoughts and Motions when vehement and intense by external Indications All other voluntary external Acts of Worship which are not the natural Effects and Signs of an inward Zeal and warmth of Devotion serve only to gratifie a foolish Superstition and relate no more to the Worship of God than any other irregular Motions of the Body If we really imploy the Faculties of our Soul as we ought to do in admiring the perfections of the Divine Nature in adoring his Majesty loving his Goodness and fearing his Justice these affections of the Mind will naturally discover themselves in outward Acts and Gestures and cannot be suppressed These external Actions declare to others the inward Sense of our Minds and thereby tend to manifest the Honour of God and publish his Glory but deserve no otherwise to be regarded either by God or Man than as they are the Signs and Effects of an inward Piety And hence we may judge of the Excellency of our Religion without considering the Evidence of its Revelation If it be chiefly employed in external Shews and Ceremonies and makes the performance of them without any inward Motion of the Soul an Act of Worship if it represents the Divine Attributes and Perfections by corporeal Symbols rather than noble Conceptions of the Soul and desires God to accept of that mean and imperfect Service instead of a near Conformity to himself by the Exercise of Holiness and Vertue Such a Religion may perhaps be true but neither agrceable to the Excellency of God nor answering to the Dignity of our own Nature God may accept it or even Command it for a time in Compassion to the Blindness and infirmity of Mankind not capable under some Circumstances of a more noble and spiritual Religion but could never intend to continue it any longer than till he should please to make a more full and open Revelation of himself And this was the Case of the Jewish Religion For the Heathens deserve not here to be considered among whom religious Worship consisted wholly in external Rites and Actions and those oft-times such as were in their own Nature unlawful The Religion of the Jews however instituted by God was chiefly employed in outward Rites and Observances in Washings and Abstinence from certain Meats in Observation of times and tedious Ceremonies which although they served to typefie the coming of the Messias and with him the Revelation of a more perfect Religion Yet did not directly signifie any inward Acts of Reverence Piety or Devotion nor were necessarily accompanied by them The perpetual offering of carnal Sacrifices alone argued the imperfection of their Worship Since therein the Sacrificers desired of God to accept the Lives of Beasts instead of a more holy and reasonable Sacrifice the devoting their own Wills and Affections to his Service 'T is the peculiar Honour of the Christian Religion to worship God in a manner agreeable to the simplicity of his Nature in Spirit and Truth In this the Affections of the Soul are alone respected no Ceremonial Observances imposed on us nor indeed any external Acts of Worship save only those Foederal Rites I mean the two Sacraments of Baptism and the
of the Messias They had formed to themselves mighty expectations of an external pomp and secular greatness wherewith their Messias should enter upon his Office and which he should communicate to the whole Nation They thought not of spiritual Blessings reformation of Manners removal of Errors proposal of a pure and rational Religion and assurance of a spiritual Happiness in another Life but mighty Armies and continual Triumphs wide Conquests and inesâ—…imable Spoils They expected to be freed from the Roman Yoke by the Victorious Arms of the Messias and by an uninterrupted success at last be inabled to give Laws to the whole World These fond conceits were now entertained by the whole Jewish Nation and tenaciously maintained by the Apostles who all along believed indeed their Master to be the true and great Messias but withal even to his Ascension continued to believe that he had not yet entered upon the execution of this glorious Office Not all the premonitions of his future Sufferings not the experience of his present Poverty and Disgrace or the sight of his Crucifixion and Burial could remove this inveterate Error from their minds or create in them a right apprehension of our Saviours Doctrine and Office But after all when he was ready to Ascend up into Heaven they asked him by common consent Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel Wilt thou now commence that glorious Reign which we have so long expected The want of this external Pomp and appearance in a State of such extraordinary humility totally hindred his Brethren that is his Kindred from believing on him as is expressed St. John VII 5. and could not divert the Apostles who believed him to be the Messias from nourishing vain hopes of a future greatness in this World Insomuch as immediately after Christ had foretold them in the X. of St. Mark that he should be betrayed delivered to the Gentiles Buffeted Scourged and Crucified the two Sons of Zebedee not discouraged by all these calamities which they imagined to be the entrance into a greater Temporal glory requested of him That One might fit on his right hand the other on his left in his Kingdom And the Disciples of Emmaus far from considering the past sufferings of Christ and reflecting on the circumstances of his Passion and precedent admonitions of it which might justly have refuted and defeated their foolish expectations began to suspect this was not the true Messias since he had not brought the hoped for external redemption to the Jews We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel but those hopes are vanished and he yet continues in his Grave Since then the Apostles continued to retain these prejudices preconceived Errors and were thereby hindred from conceiving the spirituality of Christs Kingdom which is the first and greatest principle of the Christian Religion it was impossible they should rightly understand the Doctrine of Christ until these prejudices were removed and true Notions of the nature of his Kingdom introduced Till then they could not but grosly mistake the meaning of all those many Revelations which he imparted to them and constantly wrested them to their own false notions and apprehensions This not only disabled them from understanding the true sense of what Christ was pleased to reveal to them but also hindred them while continuing in that State from receiving any more clear and express Revelation This our Saviour plainly tells them John XVI 12 13. I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now Howbeit when he the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth I have yet greater Mysteries to reveal to you and which will seem more astonishing to you but the indisposition of your understanding at present clouded with Prejudices and Errours would defeat the benefit of them These therefore I leave to be revealed by the Holy Ghost whom I shall send unto you who by an extraordinary operation assisting your understanding will prepare it for a ready reception of all those Truths A Third reason of this Ignorance of the Apostles at that time when our Saviour spoke these words of my Text to them may be that the greatest and most Illustrious Actions of our Saviours Life the Mysteries of which created in them the greatest perplexity remained yet to be performed I mean his Crucifixion Resurrection and Ascension Before they saw these things effected they could not imagine that he whom they had represented to themselves as a Triumphant Messias and Earthly King should undergo them and therefore all our Saviours premonitions concerning them were no less dark and obscure than surprizing to them but afterwards the real performance of them awakened their attention and gave them occasion to reflect more seriously upon the reasons of these things They then plainly perceived the true meaning of every prediction of Christ when they saw the event of the thing foretold and viewing the circumstances of all these Actions could not but discover that they were all manifestly foretold of the Messias by the Prophets and were consequently to be necessarily perform'd by him Not to say that the Resurrection being the far greatest and most Illustrious Miracle might reasonably be supposed to have produced a greater effect upon their minds than any precedent Action And how the subsequent performance of Actions and Mysteries foretold by Christ contributed in the Apostles to a right understanding of the predictions and Mysteries themselves appears from the whole History of the Gospel more especially from those two passages which I before produced John II. 22. When therefore he was risen from the dead his Disciples remembred that he had said this unto them and they believed the Scriptures and again John XII 16. These things understood not his Disciples at the first but when Jesus was glorified then remembred they that these things â—…ere written of him Nay so much did Christ himself attribute to the cogency of the proof which might be drawn from the Miracle of his Resurrection that to the Jews desiring a convictive proof of his divine Mission he assigned no other than that as Jonas was in the Whales Belly three Days and three Nights so the Son of Man should continue no longer a space of time in the Heart of the Earth And however his other Miracles and the Testimony of the Prophets abundantly demonstrated the Divinity of his Mission to unprejudiced Persons yet in some places he seems willing to pardon their suspension of assent till they should see this grand and final Miracle performed Thus in the words preceding my Text assuring his Apostles that though he departed for a while he should Live again He tells them that at that Day the Day of his Resurrection ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you And John VIII 28. Disputing with the incredulous Jews and not being able to convince their obstinate stupidity he saith unto
Glory of all his Works and Miracles to his Almighty Power With what admirable Resignation did he yield up himself to the Divine Will and disposal He deprecated indeed the pains of Death and the terrible Torments of an ignominious Crucifixion yet all with intire Submission to his Fathers pleasure Nevertheless not my Will but thy Will be done A temper of mind than which none more lively representeth our absolute Subjection to God or tends more directly to secure real Happiness to us both in this Life and that which is to come Hereby we own our selves to be the Workmanship of God his Creatures and his Vassals bound to submit to his Will and receive the severest Dispensations of his Hand with reverence Hereby we acknowledge the infinite Perfection of his Wisdom who best knows what is most convenient for us and the admirable Contrivances of his Providence whereby he maketh all things work together for good to them that fear him This Disposition will alleviate all the Afflictions and allay all the Tempests of this Life and even place us beyond the reach of all assaults on this side Heaven and by rendring our Wills conformable to the Will of God sit us for the eternal Fruition of him This blessed Temper our Saviour possessed in the highest degree in this consisted the Merits of his obedience this exalted him to the right hand of God and will infallibly Conduct us to the same Glory if his most excellent Example can invite us to the practice of the same Duty Secondly the Life and Conduct of Christ was exemplar in an ardent Zeal for the Divine Glory This indeed is a necessary Consequence of true Piety For this being founded in a just Conception of the Greatness and Excellency of the Divine Attributes and a due Sense of our Obligation arising from it cannot subsist without an earnest Concern for the maintenance and increase of the Divine Glory amongst men Can we be said to love our Creator and yet patiently endure to hear his Name blasphemed and his Attributes perhaps also his Existence called in question Can we truly reverence his adorable Name and yet securely see it vilified by prophane Persons without asserting the Honour of it or at least testifying our Displeasure at such bare-face't impiety Surely this is the least which the profession of our Religion requireth of us Nor can we justly deny that to God which we afford to the meanest Friend whofe injured Names we are wont to vindicate and not hear them reviled without impatience Our Saviour hath set us a most excellent Pattern in this kind With what Indignation did he receive the Proposals of the Devil disadvantagious to the Honour of his Father He contented himself barely to reject it but with a Get thee behind me Satan manifested how much the very proposing of it was displeasing to him But in no occasion did his Zeal more signally appear than in driving the Money-Changers Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple An Action very remarkable if we consider all the Circumstances of it and which as appears from the History of the Gospel was performed by him at two several times For St. John Chap. II. relates it as being done in the beginning of his Ministerial Office and the other three Evangelists as performed immediately before his Passion Therein he had to encounter with a numerous multitude of People who could plead Prescription and the Authority of a long Permission for their Traffick in the Temple Persons of that profession are not wont to be moved by Reason and Argument when interest lies at stake A powerful Garrison was at hand in the Tower of Antonias to repress all Seditions in the Temple and himself a single Person armed with no apparent Authority nor any other weapon than a simple Whip Yet all these Difficulties the Blessed Jesus overlooked that he might vindicate the injured Honour of his Father disdaining that his Fathers house should be made an house of Merchandise and that the Temple built for the Honour of his Name should be turned into a den of Thieves This Holy transport of Zeal drew even his Disciples into Admiration who could not imagine the reason of it till they remembred that it was written The Zeal of thine house hath eaten me up Joh. II. 17. This vigorous Zeal obtained ever in the Church while the true Spirit of Christianity was kept up among the Professors of it and if it be visibly decayed in our Age we are certain thaâ—… Piety and true Devotion hath decayed with it Among the antient Christians nothing was esteemed so dear as the Honour of their God and Saviour This they feared not to vindicate with their dearest Lives and thought the expence of their Blood a just Tribute to it They contented not themselves to make an open profession of their Faith and belief in God when urged to it but voluntarily and unprovoked performed it when the performance of it was adjudged and punished as a Capital Crime by their Persecutors They thronged to the Tribunals of the Heathen Judges and openly professed themselves to be Christians when Racks and Gibbets and the most exquisite Torments attended the Profession This was in an eminent manner Not to be ashamed of the Cross of Christ and the highest Evidence of a most fervent Zeal for the Divine Glory I will not say that this voluntary Profession and thereby the exposing of themselves to the rage of their Enemies was their Duty I will not exhort you to the like Zeal which is neither necessary nor practicable in these peaceable times of the Church But certainly this abundantly condemns the Luke-warmness of many Christians who are content to hear the Honour and Majesty of their Creator defamed by prophane Discourses when the Vindication of it would cost them no more than a gentle reproof or some small Testimony of displeasure Thus our Saviour gave us an excellent Example of our Duty towards God If we consider his Life in relation to all those Duties which every Man oweth to himself we shall find it an admirable Pattern of every one of them His Temperance Sobriety and Chaftity were remarkable neither giving way to Luxurious Pleasures nor aiming at great Austerities The Pharifees indeed his professed Enemies taxed him as a glutton and wine-bibber a friend of publicans and sinners But this Calumny proceeded as well from their inveterate Rancour and Malice as from a fond Opinion that the Vertues of Temperance and Sobriety were inconsistent with a free Deportment and obliging Conversation To them it seemed that the perfection of Temperance consisted in austere Macerations of the Body and an utter Renunciation of all the Conveniences of Life not a sober in and rational use of them Hence they imagined John the Baptist only Who came neither eating nor drinking to come in the way of righteousness and accused the Conduct of our Saviour who came eating and drinking that is without any unusual Abstinence and Macerations of Looseness and
that inestimable Sacrifice which was offered on the Cross may confess and firmly believe that Jesus Christ died for the sins of Mankind was buried and rose again But then I fear this remembrance will without the use of those Commemorative Rites which God ordained for our Instruction and the compleat Manifestation of those infinite Benefits become purely Historical and have little influence upon our Practice and contribute much less to excite that Sense of Gratitude which might induce us to resign up our selves to his Will and Direction who had done and suffered so great things for us This is best procured by the use of those most Holy Mysteries where the Death and Passion of our Saviour is in the most lively and significant manner represented to us where the benefit of it is in particular applied to every one of us where every single Communicant may behold the Body of Christ broken and his Bloodshed for him and by descending into a serious Consideration of it form a right Judgment of the greatness of that Benefit which will then only appear infinite and transcendent to him when he is convinced that it reacheth to himself in particular and may be productive of his eternal Happiness This cannot but raise the utmost affections of his Soul and create such a Sense of Gratitude as shall not easily expire but endeavour to exert it self in all those Actions which shall be judged acceptable to so great a Benefactor while the lively Memory of those Benefits continue which shall ever continue if often repaired renewed and increased by a frequent Participation in that solemn Act of their Commemoration How great therefore was the prudence of the Apostolick and Primitive Times which repeated that Commemoration every day and when the increase of their number permitted not that at least every Sunday and esteemed every baptized Person who being come to years of Discretion omitted constantly to bear a part in it to have by that Intermission fallen from the Faith and cut himself off from the Church of Christ This produced and secured that lasting Gratitude which served for the grand Motive and Spring of all Christian Vertues permitted not their Zeal to grow cold and continued the same heat of Devotion among them as if their Saviour had been yet present with them And shall we deplore the decay of Religion in our Age and the degeneracy from the Spirit of those antient Times and yet neglect to make use of those means whereby they raised and fomented a just Sense of their Obligation to God and therein laid the Foundation of their so much celebrated Piety We are equally convinced of the truth of those Benefits we no less firmly believe that Christ died for us than they did we no less passionately desire eternal Happiness and have all other means of Instruction equally afforded to us We enjoy the same Faculties of Soul and Body and believe our selves to have the same innate generous Inclinations of mind the Grace of God doth no lefs abound to us and the same Rewards do yet attend us How then comes it to pass that we cannot equal their Piety and Holiness that we fall short of their Zeal and Devotion and come so far beneath the Example of those Holy Persons that we seem to be the Followers of a different Religion and the Disciples of another Master This can rationally be ascribed to no other cause than to the willful neglect of those Assistances in the performance of our Duty which our Saviour bequeathed to us of which the chief and infinitely greatest is the frequent Celebration of the Holy Eucharist whereby that great Principle of Obedience in revealed Religion I mean Gratitude might be produced kept alive and receive continual Accession in the Minds of Christians This to the no less scandal than prejudice of Christianity hath in latter Ages been fatally neglected and discontinued reduced to some few Seasons and Festivals of the year and then performed by a very inconsiderable part of the Church in her several Congregations An abuse which perhaps cannot be equalled in any System of Religion which ever obtained in the World that the Primary and Essential Rite of it should be generally omitted by those who pretend to be Disciples of it Justly therefore doth it turn to the Honour of the Reformation in general that it hath in some measure removed this abuse and given occasion to more frequent and numerous Celebrations of the Holy Eucharist over all Christendom which before that time in the Church of Rome were by long disuse almost become unknown For as for their constant private Masses whatsoever may be pretended for their being a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the quick and dead most certainly they do not in the least conduce to Commemorate and set forth the Death of Christ. Justly also to the Honour of the Church of England in particular which after a lamentable and universal disuse of these Holy Mysteries introduced in the late times of Confusion both of Church and State hath happily restored the use of them renewed frequent Communions and enjoys numerous Communicants May Pastors and People conspire to make this excellent Custom become universal that so at last we may have the Happiness to see this Church equal the Apostolick times in Zeal and Piety as it doth in Purity of Doctrine But I return to the prosecution of my Text although even this conduceth mightily to the Illustration of the Argument now in hand and having sufficiently manifested that Gratitude or a right Sense of our Obligation arising from the Considerations of the infinite Benefits of God was intended by him to be to us the grand Motive of Obedience to his Laws I proceed in the Second place to shew that II. This is the best and most effectual Motive which could be employed for that Purpose Which however it cannot be called in question since as we have already shewed this Motive was before all others chosen by the infallible Wisdom of God to lead us to Repentance and thereby to Salvation yet I will proceed to demonstrate the truth of it by these following Considerations First then if we respect the force of Goodness in general and how prevalent the Obligation of Benefits is in its own Nature we cannot but conclude it to be the most effectual of all Arguments Nothing is so amiable and perswasive as this Vertue of Beneficence which carrieth invincible Charms along with it and maketh greater Conquests in the hearts of Men than all the force and terrour of the World Other Vertues may create a Veneration some a fear and others an admiration of the Persections of the Person endued with them but this alone produceth Love the most active Principle of our mind In God there are many Attributes which may confound the apprehension of Mankind as the infinity of his Nature his Eternity and Omnipresence others which may create awful Apprehensions of him as his Omnipotence and Omniscience and some which may produce
by reflecting on it would perswade himself that his Interest is indeed engaged in it For it affects those very Passions which are wont to betray the Will of man to sin desire and fear and would men consider could not but be more prevalent than all other Objects which move those Passions since the Reward proposed is more desirable the Punishment denounced more to be feared than any other thing whatsoever This was the Argument which our Lord his forerunner John Baptiâ—…t and his Apostles employed to convert the World Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand the time now cometh when he will no longer wink at the Sins of Mankind when he will evidently declare his Resolution to punish impenitent Sinners and even exemplifie it in the terrible Destruction of the impenitent Nation of the Jews as he did shortly after The axe is now laid to the root of the tree and every tree which bringeth not foâ—…th good fruit shall be hewen down and cast into the fire These and such like Denunciations of the wrath of God to unrepenting Sinners drew multitudes of Men to a sense of and sorrow for their Sins not only the more devout Jews but also Soldiers and Publicans who confessing their Sins were then Baptized manifesting by that anciently received Emblem of Purity and Innocence their Resolution of sinning no more Even after a full Conviction formed of their Duty our Lord thought fit to propose this very Argument to his Disciples who had been long trained up in Obedience to him and were now entring upon the most difficult Point of Christianity the patient enduring of Persecution Affliction and even Death it self all which he foretold should befall them in that Mission which he then enjoyn'd them Yet to these Fears he opposeth as the greatest Remedy this Consideration only Fear not them which can kill the Body and after that can do no more but I will tell you whom you shall fear Fear him who can destroy both Body and Soul in Hell All other Motives of Interest all other Objects of fear or hope concern the Body only and terminate there But in the Matters of Religion the Reward to be desired the Punishment to be feared equally concern both Soul and Body the common Happiness or Misery of both which depends upon it The Reward you may slight perhaps as not desiring any greater Satisfaction than what you now enjoy but the Fear you cannot surmount that will still affect you For if you so much value the present ease of the Body the one part of you you cannot but be affrighted at the certain Expectation of the eternal Misery of both Soul and Body If this Consideration hath not that effect upon us which it had upon the Hearers of Christ John Baptist and the Apostles it is because the Expectation of this denounced Destruction far from being certain in us is eluded by vain Perswasions that Destruction may be avoided without Repentance We all believe the truth of the Divine Revelations prescribing Rules of Piety Justice and Temperance commanding Repentance upon neglect or violation of these Rules giving Sentence of dreadful Punishments upon Impenitence We all confess that we have violated those Rules we apply not the Remedy of Repentance and yet we hope to avoid the Punishment For did not Men really flatter themselves with those hopes it is impossible that the mind of Man convinced of the truth of such a future Punishment and conscious of its own Demerits should not immediately apply it self to prevent the Execution of that dreadful Sentence by a timely Repentance These false hopes and perswasions may be referred to a double Head either that of Presumption or that of Inadvertency That men through a fond Opinion of their own worth fancy God will exempt them from the general Sentence and from the necessity of Repentance or at least allow this and another and a third Sin to them or that they proceed in sin securely and with a sort of Stupidity never willingly considering the consequences of Punishment upon Sin and when they are suggested to them still putting them off and continuing to imagine that God will however save them though theyk now not why Both these sort of Prejudices are too common among all Christians and to both I shall oppose some general Considerations shewing it impossible that Goâ—… should not execute the Sentence of Destruction pronounced universally against all impenitent Sinners or in the words of my Text that it cannot be that Men should not repent and yet should not perish The necessity of Destruction consequent upon Unrepentance is drawn chiefly from the Determination of the Divine Will which hath so appointed it And the resolution of God herein is so frequently and fully expressed in Scripture that no doubt can be admitted of it Nay the holy Spirit of God seems to have taken particular care least men should be deceived herein by affixing vehement Asseverations to his Threats of Punishments As in Ezech. XVII 19. Thus saith the Lord God as I live surely my Oath that he hath despised and my Covenant that he hath broken even it will I recompense upon his own head And in the XXII Chapter having denounced to Sinners the extremity of his anger he subjoyns Verse 14. Can thy heart endure or can thy hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it So that those who promise Salvation to themselves without Repentance of past Sins or Reformation of Life must either pretend to new Lights and new Revelalations new terms of Covenant or disbelieve those contained in Scripture which are indeed the only true ones Yet I will not say dis-believe them For far be it from me to judge that of many Christians who do firmly indeed believe all the Revelations of that Sacred Writing and yet continue their hopes of Salvation without employing the means of it Only we must confess that believing them we do not regard them and when we do seriously reflect upon it must acknowledge that such vain hopes are inconsistent with those revealed Truths For I hope none of this Assembly have been deceived with the idle Pretences of inward Lights or unaccountable Revelations of Arbitrary Election for secret Reasons and absolute Reprobation for unknown Causes which Delusions when once entertained would render all Repentance useless We hold fast to the old form of Tradition delivered to the Saints pretend to no Revelations unknown to former Ages to know more of the Will of God than what our Lord or the Apostles have plainly delivered in Scripture We are content to go to Heaven the same way that all Saints have gone before us by the Exercise of Repentance and good Works Nor if there be any truth in those Sacred Writings is there any other way Yet we hear those Holy Scriptures daily read to us wherein we are commanded by Precepts we are allured by Promises we are terrified by Threats
are above so fit our selves for the Reception of his Representative Body in the Holy Sacrament that we be not unworthy after Death to be received unto the Society of his Natural and now glorious Body in Heaven Where he sitteth on the right hand of God To him with the Father and the Holy Spirit be ascribed all Honour Power and Glory henceforth and for evermore The Fourteenth SERMON PREACH'D May 4th 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Joh. XIV 1. Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me OUR Lord and Saviour being now ready to leave the World and return to his Father endeavoured by many Preparatory Discourses to confirm the Minds and dispel the Anxiety of his Disciples who began to despond at the News of his approaching Departure This to them not yet fully understanding the design of Christ's Coming seemed a total Dereliction of them and abandoning them to the World They had forsaken all the present Conveniences of Life when they entred into the number of his Disciples and had all along shared in the Miseries and Hardships that their Master was content to endure on Earth in hopes of partaking at last in the Glories of that temporal Kingdom which they fondly imagined he would found on Earth With these Hopes they supported themselves under all their Calamities and busied themselves in proposing imaginary Methods of enjoying what they so long and so earnestly expected We find them disputing who should be the greatest Officer or the principal Favourite in this Kingdom who should sit on his right hand and on his left And now that after their Lord had entred into Jerusalem in a triumphal manner their Hopes were enhanced and Expectations grew higher as believing the Completion of them to be at hand and that this glorious Kingdom of the Messias would immediately commence When on a sudden all their Hopes were dashed and their imaginary Happiness overthrown by a free and open Declaration of their Lord concerning his Sufferings and ignominous Death which now drew near and were immediately to be accomplished In what Confusion and Anxiety must we then conceive them to have been when not only their Hopes and therein in their own Opinion the Fruits and Reward of so many Labours so much Hardship undertaken and endured in prospect of their Preferment in a temporal Kingdom to be founded by their Master were in an instant overthrown and cancelled When not only themselves were to be dispersed as sheep having no Shepheard exposed to the Derision Insults and Persecution of the Jews who as our Lord foretold should even force them to deny their Master and thereby renounce all Title to any share in the Glories of his Kingdom When they were to be left alone without any Head to direct comfort and protect them When not only all these Calamities were to come upon themselves but also their dearest Lord and Master was to be delivered up to the Rage of wicked Men to be treated with the utmost Indignities and at last Crucified as a Malefactor What Distraction must they then have suffered when so many contrary Passions Love of their Master and fear of their own Misery Deprivation of past hopes and Despair of future Happiness wrought together in their Minds They retained still indeed some faint Hopes of the Resurrection of their Lord after three days Imprisonment in the Grave who should then enter upon his Kingdom and satisfie all their Expectations but alas even these remaining Hopes are dissipated by our Saviour's acquainting them in this Chapter that immediately after his Resurrection he was to leave the World and go unto the Father In this disconsolate Condition of the Church our Lord seeks to chear up the Spirits and remove the Despair of his Followers by representing to them the necessity of his Suffering That thus it was written and that thus it behoved Christ to suffer by giving them the Promise of the Holy Ghost who should both Comfort Instruct and Guide them by assuring them this Comforter could not be sent untill himself first returned to the Father and by his Intercession should obtain the Mission of him that although his Bodily Presence should be taken from them yet that it was for their good and that he would ever continue to be present with them by the influences of his Government and Blessed Spirit by interceding for them continually with the Father by promoting their Requests in the Court of Heaven by pouring down his Gifts and Graces on them and watching over them with a constant Eye of Providence but above all in preparing Mansions for them in Heaven to receive them after Death and the Final Completion of their Labours upon Earth Upon all these Accounts he bids them not be troubled in their Hearts for his Departure and the temporal Calamities which they fancied would ensue upon it and for an Argument of Consolation says to them Ye believe in God believe also in me As if he should say You cannoâ—… deny that it is both your Duty and Safety also to trust in God considered only as the Creator and Governour of the World to resign up your Wills to his difposal and upon firm assurance that he both knoweth and willeth what is best for you rest contented in all the various Conditions of Life If you consider him as the Author of your Religion in which ye have been brought up ye have yet much greater reason to rely upon his Care and Providence in all doubtful Cases and Distresses as having often experienced his peculiar Kindness to your Church and Nation in many and wonderful Instances which were therefore at first recorded that ye might from thence conceive assured hope of the Divine Goodness and Providence interposing in your behalf in all Calamities as it is in the LXXVIII Psalm He gave Israel a law which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children To the intent that when they came up they might shew their children the same That they might put their trust in God and not to forget the works of God If for these Reasons you are content to trust in God and depend on him for relief in your Afflictions for much greater Reasons ye ought to confide and relye upon my Promises of Assistance to you and constant Care of you even after I shall be removed from you inasmuch as ye have received from me more manifest Assurances of the peculiar Favour of God to you than ever were indulged to any part of Mankind to the Patriarchs or the Jews My Ability to do all this you cannot doubt As knowing who I am and what place I bear in Heaven or if ye should not believe this merely for the Consideration of the Divinity of my Person yet believe me for the very works sake Ver. 11. being convinced by so many Miracles as I have wrought for your Satisfaction that I am able to perform whatsoever I Promise to you And then for my willingness to do it you have