Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A61626
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Sermons preached on several occasions to which a discourse is annexed concerning the true reason of the sufferings of Christ : wherein Crellius his answer to Grotius is considered / by Edward Stillingfleet ...; Sermons. Selections
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Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.
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1673
(1673)
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Wing S5666; ESTC R14142
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389,972
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404
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preserve the peace of the Christian Church when they are to plant Churches how ready to go about it how diligent in attending it how watchful to prevent all miscarriages among them When they write Epistles to those already planted with what Authority do they teach with what Majesty do they command with what severity do they rebuke with what pity do they chastise with what vehemency do they exhort and with what weighty arguments do they perswade all Christians to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things So that such persons who after all these things can believe that the Apostles were acted only by some extravagant heats may as easily perswade themselves that men may be drunk with sobriety and mad with reason and debauched with goodness But such are fit only to be treated in a dark room if any can be found darker than their understandings are 2. But yet there may be imagined a higher sort of madness than these men are guilty of viz. That when men are convinced that these things could not be done by meer Mechanical causes then they attribute them to the assistance of Spirits but not to the holy and divine but such as are evil and impure A madness so great and extravagant that we could hardly imagine that it were incident to humane nature unless the Scripture had told us that some had thus blasphemed the son of man and either had or were in danger of blaspheming the Holy Ghost too And this is properly blaspheming the Holy Ghost which was not given as our text tells us till after Christs ascension when men attribute all those miraculous gifts which were poured out upon the Apostles in confirmation of the Christian doctrine to the power of an unclean Spirit For so the Evangelist St. Luke when he mentions the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost which shall not be forgiven immediately subjoyns their bringing the Apostles to the Synagogues and Magistrates and Powers and adds that the Holy Ghost even that which they so blasphemed in them should teach them in that same hour what they ought to say I deny not but the attributing the miraculous works of Christ who had the Holy Spirit without measure to an evil Spirit was the same kind of sin but it received a greater aggravation after the resurrection of Christ from the dead and the miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles For now the great confirmation was given to the truth of all that Christ had said before he had some times concealed his miracles and forbid the publishing of them and to such he appeared but as the son of man of whom it is said that had they known him they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory and St. Peter more expresly and now Brethren I wote that through ignorance you did it as did also your Rulers But now since his resurrection and ascension when God by the effusion of the Holy Ghost hath given the largest and fullest Testimony to the doctrine of the Gospel if men after all this shall go on to blaspheme the Holy Ghost by attributing all these miracles to a Diabolical power then there is no forgiveness to be expected either in this world or the world to come Because this argues the greatest obstinacy of mind the highest contempt of God and the greatest affront that can be put upon the Testimony of the holy Spirit for it is charging the Spirit of truth to be an evil and a lying Spirit By which we see what great weight and moment the Scripture lays upon this pouring out of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles and what care men ought to have how they undervalue and despise it and much more how they do reproach and blaspheme it They might as well imagine that light and darkness may meet and embrace each other as that the infernal Spirits should imploy their power in promoting a doctrine so contrary to their interest For Heaven and Hell cannot be more distant than the whole design of Christianity is from all the contrivances of wicked Spirits How soon was the Devil's Kingdom broken his Temples demolished his oracles silenced himself baffled in his great design of deceiving mankind when Christianity prevailed in the world Having thus far asserted the truth of the thing viz. that there was such an effusion of the Holy Spirit now come to consider 2. The nature of it as it is represented to us by Rivers of living waters flowing out of them that believe by which we may understand 1. The plenty of it called Rivers of waters 2. The benefit and usefulness of it to the Church 1. The plentifulness of this effusion of the Spirit there had been some drops as it were of this Spirit which had fallen upon some of the Jewish nation before but those were no more to be compared with these rivers of waters than the waters of Siloam which run softly with the mighty River Euphrates What was the Spirit which Bezaleel had to build the Tabernacle with if compared with that Spirit which the Apostles were inspired with for building up the Church of God what was that Spirit of Wisdom which some were filled with to make garments for Aaron if compared with that Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation which led the Apostles into the knowledge of all Truth What was that Spirit of Courage which was given to the Iudges of old if compared with that Spirit which did convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgement What was that Spirit of Moses which was communicated to the 70. elders if compared with that Spirit of his son which God hath shed abroad in the hearts of his people What was that Spirit of prophesie which inspired some Prophets in several ages with that pouring out of the Spirit upon all flesh which the Apostle tells us was accomplished on the day of Pentecost But these Rivers of Waters though they began their course at Ierusalem upon that day yet they soon overflowed the Christian Church in other parts of the world The sound of that rushing mighty wind was soon heard in the most distant places and the fiery tongues inslamed the hearts of many who never saw them These gifts being propagated into other Churches and many other tongues were kindled from them as we see how much this gift of tongues obtained in the Church of Corinth And so in the History of the Acts of the Apostles we find after this day how the Holy Ghost fell upon them which believed and what mighty signs and wonders were done by them 2. The benefit and usefulness of this effusion of the Spirit like the Rivers of Waters that both refresh and enrich and thereby make glad the City of God The coming down of the Spirit was like the pouring water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground Now God opened the Rivers in
inclinations of men and proposed such means of advancing it as were most like to make men great by undertaking them And men are never so willing to be cheated by any Religion as that which complies with their present interests and gratifies their sensual inclinations In this case there need not many arguments to court persons to embrace that which they were so strongly inclined to before and the very name of Religion does them great service when it allows what they most desire and makes them sin with a quiet Conscience But that is the peculiar honor of Christianity that as it can never be suspected to be a design for this world so it hath risen and spread it self by ways directly contrary to the Splendor and Greatness of it For it overcame by sufferings increased by persecutions and prevailed in the world by the patience and self-denial of its followers He that was the first Preacher of it was the greatest example of suffering himself and he bids his Disciples not to think much of following their Lord and Saviour though it were to take up the Cross and lay down their lives for his sake We may easily imagine how much startled and surprized his Disciples were at such discourses as these who being possessed with the common opinion of the temporal Kingdom of the Messias came to him with great expectations of honour and advancement by him and no less would content some of them than being his highest Favourites and Ministers of State suting at his right hand and at his left hand in his Kingdom they had already in their imaginations shared the preferments and dignities of his Kingdom among themselves and were often contending about preheminence who should be the greatest among them Insomuch that when Christ now the time of his suffering approaching began more plainly to discourse to them of his own sufferings at Hierusalem v. 21. St. Peter either out of his natural forforwardness and heat or being elevated by the good opinion which our Lord had expressed of him before v. 17. takes upon him very solemnly to rebuke him for ever thinking to submit himself to so mean a condition Be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee v. 22. upon which Jesus not only reproves Peter with great smartness and severity as savoring more of the pomp and ease of the world than of the nature and design of his Kingdom v. 23. but takes this occasion to tell his Disciples that they must no longer dream of the Glories and Splendor of this world nor entertain themselves with vain Fancies of the Pleasures and contentments of this life but if they would shew themselves to be truly his Disciples they must prepare for persecutions and Martyrdoms they must value their Religion above their lives for the time was now coming on they must part with one or the other and if they were not prepared beforehand by self-denial and taking up the Cross they would run great hazard of losing their souls for the love of this world and therefore our Saviour shews 1. The great advantage that would accrue to them if they were willing to suffer for his sake Whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it v. 25. i. e. instead of this short and uncertain life which would spend it self in a little time he should have one infinitely more valuable and therefore no exchange could be better made than that of laying down such a life as this for one of eternal Happiness and Glory for so our Saviour elsewhere explains it he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal St. John 12. 25. 2. The great folly of losing this eternal state of happiness for the preservation of this present life or the enjoyment of the things of this world which he first lays down as a certain truth v. 25. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it and then discovers the folly of it in the words of the text by comparing such a mans gain and his loss together supposing he should obtain the utmost that can be hoped for in this world For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul Wherein we may consider these three particulars 1. The possibility supposed of losing the soul though a man should gain the whole world 2. The hazard implied of the loss of the soul for the sake of the gain of the world 3. The folly expressed of losing the soul though it be for the gain of the whole world 1. The possibility supposed of the loss of the soul in another world For the force of our Saviours argument depends wholly on the supposition of the certainty of the souls Being in another state and its capacity of happiness or misery therein For setting that aside there can be no argument strong enough to perswade any man to part not only with what he hath or hopes for in this life but with life it self He that is so great a Fool to be an Athiest would yet be much more so to be a Martyr for his opinion What is there could recompence the loss of life to a man that believes that there is nothing after it But supposing there should be a life to come as it is impossible to give any demonstration to the contrary what madness would it be for a man to run himself into the miseries of another world with a design to prove there is none If all that our Saviour had meant were only to represent the folly of a person that would lay down his life for the purchase of an estate for so the soul is often taken for the life that would not have reached the scope and design of his discourse And no instances can be produced of such a kind of folly which would be as great as for a man to lose his head for a wager or to purchase the lease of his life by destroying himself But supposing this to be a Proverbial speech yet the folly of losing a mans life for the gain of the whole world is not brought in by our Saviour meerly for it self but as it doth much more represent the unspeakable folly of such who for the love of this world will venture the loss of an eternal endearing life and all the misery which is consequent upon it If that man would gain nothing by his bargains but the reputation of a Fool that for the possession of the whole world for one moment would be content to be killed in the next how much greater folly are they guilty of that for the sake of this world and the pâ—eservation of their lives here expose themselves to all the miseries of another life which God hath threatned or their souls can undergo It is such a loss of the soul which is here spo ken of as is consistent with