Holiness and Submission to the Divine Will and thereby to serve the great Ends of our Creation yet the Promise of an eternal Crown and the Consideration of so vast an Interest might enforce us to Obedience This obviates all the Objections even of worldly Men who must needs Confess that in vain do they Labour for the Attainment of Felicity in this Life if it can never truly be found on this side Heaven A thorough perswasion of the Truth of this would banish all sinful Temptations and extravagant Desires of carnal Pleasures For Men would be the most deplorable and irrational of all Creatures if they preferred a present trifle before a future Treasure and voluntarily quitted the Life of Angels to retain those Pleasures which are common to Beasts And not only doth this Truth hold in quitting the momentany Enjoyments of this Life and suffering our selves to be deprived of them for an exchange of future Glory but even in undergoing the greatest Afflictions of this Life and embracing Death it self upon the same Account This our Saviour chiefly aims at in this place For when in the foregoing Verses he had foretold that bearing the Cross should be inseparable from the Profession of the Christian Religion and that he who endeavoured to decline this Cross and save his Life by a denial of his Faith should thereby incurr a much greater Punishment than is the loss of this temporal Life he subjoyns in the words of my Text For what shall it profit a Man if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul As if he should say That System of Religion which I have instituted and recommended to you is not intended to enlarge or satisfie the Pleasures of the Body but to increase the Dignity of the Soul improve its Faculties and procure to it a Happiness commensurate to the Vastness of its Desire and the Liberality of its Creator Whosoever therefore seriously intends to become my Disciple and partake of the Benefits of my Gospel must prepare himself with a firm Resolution to quit all the Interests and Advantages of the World embrace Afflictions and not decline Death whensoever the Malice of wicked Men and the Obligation of my Commands shall require that Tryal and Testimony of his Obedience And in so doing he shall not only perform his Duty but secure and promote his Interest For those who shall basely renounce their Allegiance to me or violate my Commands to save their own Lives and avoid the Malice of their Enemies shall after this Life undergo a much greater Loss and Punishment than that which they so Cowardly fear'd and ungenerously declin'd On the other side they who shall willingly lay down their Lives and slight all the Terrors of Men and Devils to preserve their Obedience to me intire and retain the Profession of my Gospel shall be certainly Crowned with so great a Reward that the loss of this temporal Life will be inconsiderable in respect of that eternal Life which is attained by it This is your Interest as well as my Command your Profit as well as Duty For it is not only reasonable that every Man should quit that particular share and Portion which he hath in the Pleasures and Possessions of this World to secure thereby his Hopes of a future Happiness but even if all the Riches and Possessions of the World were â—â—aped upon one single Man or could be all obtained by denial of my Religion or Violation of my Laws yet would it not be a sufficient Motive for so great a Crime And he that should prevaricate upon such mean Considerations would find in the end when he casts up his Account that he hath gained nothing To evince illustrate and recommend to you this great Truth is the Design of my present Discourse Which therefore I shall divide into these two Heads I. That the Interests of the Soul are infinitely greater and more considerable than those of the Body II. That this Interest is destroyed and the Soul rendred miserable by disobedience to the Laws of God I. That the Interests of the Soul are infinitely greater and more considerable than those of the Body And this appears if we consider either the Reason and Nature of things or the Revelation and Commands of God Under the first Head may be comprised the Nature and Dignity of the Soul and the Excellency of those peculiar Perfections and Rewards which the Soul is capable of First then the Dignity and Precedence of the Soul was ever acknowledged in all Ages by wife and learned Men of all Sects and Perswasions nay even the more rude and illiterate parts of Mankind did ever firmly believe this as an Opinion planted in them by the first Dictates of Nature and arising from the first Principles of Reason That we have an immortal Soul is a thing which ought to be supposed by all who profess the least shew of Religion and cannot be denied without the total Destruction of it All false Religions were invented by Men and the true Religion proposed by God merely for the Improvement and direction of this noble Being It is this only which distinguisheth us from the Rank and Condition of Beasts which likens us to God and makes us little inferiour to the Angels It is this whereby we contemplate the admirable and wonderful Perfections of God understand the Wisdom of his Government and the Greatness of his Works It is this alone whereby we form Habits of Vertue and do any thing grateful to our Creator whereby we receive the Instructions of God and know his Will And therefore Prov. XX. 27. the Spirit of Man is called the candle of the Lord because by that only we receive the Divine Illuminations and are instructed in the way to Happiness This Dignity and Preference of the Soul beyond the Body might be at large demonstrated from many other Considerations but I will insist only upon three which are plain and obvious to the understanding of all Men. As first by the Soul alone we receive the influence and benefits of God Some Divine Benefits indeed belong also to the Body as Creation and Preservation but those are common to all other Creatures and belong equally to the vilest of all created Beings whereas the Favours granted to the Soul are peculiar to it and to infinitely greater value For to pass by the natural Priviledges of Knowledge Desire and a Capacity of improvement all the superadded Happiness of our Nature is intirely bestowed on it alone All Revelation was given for the Instruction of this noble Being that so it might not be inferiour to the Angels in Happiness to whom it is little inferiour in Dignity To rescue this from the Slavery of Sin and Dominion of the Devil the Son of God descended from Heaven lived an afflicted Life and died a shameful Death Into this as into a capacious Treasure are all the Divine Graces conveyed Graces of which the Body is no more capable than a Stock or
could be no part of a finite Soul It hath its bounds and sphere of Activity fixed to it which if it exceeds it cannot judge without danger of Error and Illusion If we desire to extend our Knowledge to all Things and Objects the desire is unreasonable if we pretend to it the pretence is foolish The limitation of our Nature hath excluded all such Hopes which can be obtained no otherwise than by altering our Nature and raising us from the condition of Finite to Infinite Beings It becomes us to receive with grateful Acknowledgements those Perfections which God hath bestowed on us not to repine that he gave us not better much less be angry that they are not infinite since it is impossible that any Creature should have an infinite Understanding Further the Imperfection of our Knowledge is manifest from Experience The greatest part of Mankind are detained in miserable Ignorance even of plain and sensible Matters A barbarous Indian could never be perswaded of the Truth of many things which by their frequency are not in the least admir'd by us The fabrick of a Watch or the mutual Communication of Thoughts by Writing is no less inconceivable to him than the Mysteries of the Trinity are to us And yet we shou'd by no means allow his Conclusion if he should peremptorily deny the Existence of such things because he cannot conceive them Among us Men who have not improved their Reason by Thought and Study are far more unable to conceive those things which are certainly known by more Learned Men than the latter are to conceive the greatest Mysteries of the Deity And even in these the same Imperfection of Understanding may be discovered For however they may flatter themselves with knowing the Nature of Finite Beings and Causes of visible Effects which indeed are the proper and suitable Objects of Human Understanding yet they must acknowledge their Ignorance in many other things of the same kind and what they do pretend to know in Natural Philosophy others oft-times no less Learned will deny and if themselves now fancy that they know the Truth yet they must confess that they once knew it not or perhaps had different Conceptions of it And then that very improvement of their Knowledge is an undeniable Argument of the Imperfection of it So that if Men should always deny the truth of what they cannot conceive even all natural knowledge would be destroy'd and things most certain would be denied to exist And then surely we cannot but allow a greater distance to be between the infinite Knowledge of God and that of the most learned Man which how far soever improved yet still continueth to be finite than between the most perfect and most imperfect Understandings of any two Men living Secondly The Excellency of the Object may be such that it can never be fully conceived by the understanding of any created Being And such is God of whose Existence altho' we be most certain yet we have no other than an imperfect Idea of his Essence We conceive him indeed to be a most perfect Being but his Perfections we cannot comprehend in one single Idea we are forced to consider them apart and even then obtain the knowledge of them rather by removing all Imperfections from him then by conceiving the Nature of the Perfections themselves And after all many Attributes of God which none deny to be his Attributes and without which the Divine Nature cannot subsist include no less Difficulties than the Doctrine of the Trinity I will instance only in two his independent Existence and his Omnipresence For the first nothing can exist without a cause and since there can be no external cause to God the cause of his Existence must be sought for in himself and that is the infinity of his Nature Now altho' all Men firmly believe that God never received his Existence from any external Cause nor needed to do it since the infinity of his own Nature was a necessary Cause of independent Existence Yet cannot the Soul of Man conceive how any thing should be the cause of it self without being involved in inextricable darkness Again no Man can deny God to be Omnipresent who grants his Existence yet can we not conceive the Presence of God in all places without conceiving at the same time an Extension of parts altho' we be assured that God is an immaterial Being and as such can have no Extention of parts Further not only the infinity of the Subject may exceed our Apprehension but the Spirituality of it altho' finite may confound us in this Life wherein we are so much inured to judge by the report of our Senses that few or none can form a distinct Conception of an immaterial Being All allow the Soul of Man to be such yet the greatest part of Mankind are not able to form any Conception of an immaterial Being and even those who can yet have no other than a very confused Idea of it which consists rather in a Negative Conception of it to wit that it is not material than in any positive Notion of its Immateriality If then things which are on all sides allowed continue to be inconceiveable if we cannot solve the Difficulties arising from many Attributes in God which yet we cannot deny to be in him without denying his Existence at the same time if we be so much at a loss in the Conception of any immaterial Being we ought not to be astonished or scandalized that the Doctrine of the Trinity cannot be fully conceived by us So then since humane Reason cannot by its own Conceptions alone find out and determine all which may relate to the Nature of God the Second Consideration proposed will take place namely That in judging the truth of these Matters we must not consider their Internal Probability so much as their external Motives of Credibility For since we cannot perfectly comprehend the Nature of God many Properties may be in it which we could never discover by the light of Reason nor yet when discovered to us fully conceive them But what we cannot conceive we cannot judge of from internal Arguments which are to be drawn from the Nature and Essence of the subject the perfect knowledge of which being denied to us we cannot form any Arguments from thence It remains therefore that we respect only the external Arguments of its truth and those can be no other than external Revelation We cannot doubt that God fully knoweth his own Nature and that as he is most wise he is most veracious that as he cannot be deceived himself so he cannot deceive us If then we be sufficiently assured that God hath revealed this all scruples ought to cease which is the Apostles Argument in this Case It must be indeed acknowledged that we may be deceived in our belief of a Divine Revelation and that since God cannot affirm any thing which is false it is an invincible Argument against any pretended Revelation this Matter is false
therefore it cannot be revealed by God We must have therefore some rule whereby to direct our Assent and Judgment in this Case and that is very obvious For the understanding necessarily at least reasonably inclining to that part which carrieth the greatest evidence along with it if the Evidence of the Revelation of any Proposition be greater than the Evidence of its falsity we must in obedience to the Laws of reason embrace and believe it But if the Evidence of its falsity exceeds the Evidence of its Revelation we may safely reject it Let us therefore compare the Evidence of both sides Matters of Revelation may concern either finite or infinite Nature Examples of the first sort in the Christian Religion are all such Propositions as relate to the natural Body of Christ Of the second all such as respect the Divine Nature In the first Case which exceedeth not the natural Capacity of our Understandings nothing can be true which may not be fully conceived by us For altho' many Properties and Qualities of finite Beings may lie for ever undiscovered to the natural light of Reason yet when discovered to us they may be easily conceived by us if they carry any truth with them So that whatsoever in finite Natures is inconceivable to us can be no part of Divine Revelation For we cannot imagine any Revelation to be made without an intended Obligation of Assent now since God hath required us to judge according to the greater Evidence he could never require us to believe a Proposition the Evidence of whose falsity exceeds the Evidence of its Revelation And since we are proper Judges of the Nature of finite Beings when discovered to us not to be able to conceive any Proposition relating to them is an unanswerable Argument of the falsity of it since if it were true we should be easily able to conceive it and reconcile it to all other truths and the received Laws of Reason And upon this account the Doctrine of Transubstantiation can never be any part of a revealed Religion But in Matters relating to infinite Beings it is far otherwise In those it is no Objection against the truth of them that we are not able to conceive them as we before shewed The only internal Argument which can be used in this Case against the truth of any Revelation must be founded upon a Contradiction included in it to wit if the Revelation proposeth any thing which destroyeth the Idea of the Object or which is all one introduceth a Conception which cannot consist with it Such would be to affirm there are two or more God's or that he is a corporeal Being and such like For the very Notion of God being no other than that of an infinite and most perfect Being the Primary cause and Author of all other Beings to suppose any other Being independent from him or himself to be capable of Division and Limitation the inseparable Property of all corporeal Beings would destroy the Notion of him In this Case we should affirm and deny the same thing or which is all one Contraries of the same thing wherein consists the absurdity of a Contradiction So that the only internal rule which is left us to judge of any Revelation concerning the Divine Nature is whether or no it includeth a Contradiction either in Terms or by Self-evident consequence For no other consequence can be allowed in this Case since the consequences upon which a Contradiction is to be founded must be of equal evidence with a Contradiction in Terms which is always Self-evident If we apply these Rules to the question of the Trinity it will be no hard Matter to determine it For God being confessedly an infinite Being and the Doctrine of the Trinity a Matter relating to his Nature and Properties we may from hence perceive that we are not to require a distinct Knowledge of it but only whether it be Contradictory And first it is manifest that it includeth no Contradiction in terms For we do not say That there is one God and three Gods which would be all one as to say there is one God and not one God Neither do we say There is one Person in the Deity and three Persons which would be all one as to say There is one Person and not one Person Nor do we say that the Father is the Son at the same time that we say he is not the Son These are the only imaginable Contradictions in terms and these are no part of the Doctrine of the Trinity The consequential Contradictions chiefly insisted on by the Adversaries of the Trinity are these Two 1. If there be three Persons and each Person be God then there are three Gods which is Contradictory to an allowed Proposition there is but one God 2. If these three Persons agree in a third viz. in the Nature of God they must agree among themselves and so there will be but one Person which is contradictory to the Proposition laid down viz. There are three Persons The first Consequence is founded upon this Proposition There cannot be a plurality of Persons without a plurality of Natures The second upon this there cannot be a communication of Natures without an Identity of Persons Now who will say that either of these Propositions is self-evident nay that they carry the least evidence with them since nothing can be evident to us of which we cannot judge and we cannot judge of these two Propositions unless we fully understood the very Nature of God It is generally imagined indeed that it cannot be so in finite Beings but that is no Argument that it cannot be so in infinite Beings nor are we yet sure that it cannot be so in Finite Beings For even in the Soul of Man there is no small resemblance of it where are several Faculties which can operate independently from each other and yet all singly possess all the Properties and Qualities of the Soul consider'd as such as its Immateriality Immortality and such like So in the Deity there are several Persons obtaining distinct Operations but partaking in all the commune Attributes of the Deity such as Eternity Omnipotency and others After all it must be acknowledged by all sober Men that the Difficulties upon which the Adversaries of this Doctrine proceed are far less evident than are the general Motives of Credibility of the Christian Faith as that Christ died and rose again performed many Miracles which were attested and confirmed by his Disciples who were Eye-witnesses of them wrought other Miracles in testimony of them and at last laid down their Lives for the same Cause having first consigned the memory of them to Writing which hath been invariably handed down to us in all Ages These Arguments are plain obvious and certain whereas the forementioned Difficulties are obscure and inconceivable to many and to all uncertain There are indeed many Erronious Christians and have formerly been more who pretend that Christ and his Apostles revealed no such thing
Mistakes of Job and his Friends which I proposed and come now to consider in the second place To Solve this Difficulty every one of them formed a different Opinion yet all came short of Truth Eliphaz who spake first asserted that God inflicted temporal Misfortunes on no Man but by way of Punishment for some enormous Sins and therefore urged Job to confess his secret Sins and give Glory to God as it is XXII 5. Is not thy wickedness great and thine iniquities infinite And so on Where he affirmeth Job to be the greatest of Sinners only because God had heaped extraordinary Calamities upon him Bildad maintaind that God might as the supreme and absolute Governour of the World afflict Man without any respect to antecedent Sins but then that he was bound in Justice to recompense it to him by subsequent Prosperity For thus he expresseth himself VIII 6 7. If thou wert pure and upright surely now he would awake for thee and make the Habitation of thy Righteousness prosperous Though thy beginning was small yet thy latter end should greatly increase Zophar delivereth his Opinion throughout the whole XI Chap. that God might in right of his supreme Power lay the heaviest Afflictions upon Men without any respect either to Antecedent Sin or subsequent Recompence Elihu thought that God might afflict good and bad Men indifferently but that if good Men received the Affliction humbly and with submission and addressed themselves to God by Prayer for the removal of it and if bad Men were moved to repent through it God would remove the Affliction and restore prosperity to them especially if an Angel interceded for them as he expresseth himself at large in the XXXIII Chap. Lastly Job whatever his Opinion might be while his Calamity was yet fresh and any hopes remained of the speedy removal of it or however he might alter his Judgment after the Revelation of God in the end of the Book yet in the midst of his Troubles when the Disease grew inveterate and no hope of Delivery yet appeared he seems to have thought that God inter-medled not in the proceedings of the World and reserved neither Rewards for the good nor Punishments for the bad Which Opinion he proposeth chiefly in the XXI Chap. All these Opinions were alike erroneous and yet all founded upon the Attributes of God those of Eliphaz Bildad and Elihu upon his Justice those of Zophar and Job upon his Power The Errors of the Three first plainly arose from hence that they pretending to determine Matters above their knowledge confined the Exercise of the Divine Judgment and consequently the Dispensation of Rewards and Punishments to this Life only Had this which they all supposed been indeed true one at least of their Opinions must necessarily have been received otherwise the Justice of God could not be cleared But what ground had they to conclude that God exercised his Judgments in this Life only Might not the Nature of Man the quality of the Rewards and Punishments to be inflicted on an immaterial and immortal Soul teach them that another World was a far more convenient Tribunal for this Judicature Or if they knew not the Nature of the Rewards for want of Revelation yet at least the example of the Patriarchs with which they were not unacquainted and wherewith our Saviour afterwards convinced the Jews might not I say the experience of their Afflictions and Troubles have taught them that God did not ultimately bestow his Rewards and consequently not his Punishments in this Life They had received glorious Promises of some extraordinary Benefits to be received from God Promises which might justly make them expect some eminent Advantages beyond the rest of Mankind yet none of all these just Expectations were satisfied in this World wherein they were Strangers and Pilgrims exposed to Injuries and troubled with frequent Afflictions and that till Death an invincible Argument that God reserved the Consummation of their Hopes and his Promises to another Life As to the Opinion of Zophar that God might bring Afflictions on Men for no other end than to demonstrate his absolute and arbitrary Power over Mankind that overthroweth both the Wisdom and Justice of God It would render his Government Tyrannical and even like to that of Hell which Sports in the Misery of Mankind God is a most wise Being and cannot do such a vain Act he is a most just Being and cannot execute such an unjust Sentence He never afflicts or prospers Men by extraordinary Power in this Life but either for their Reward their Punishment or their Correction As for the Prosperity or Affliction which may befall Men in the ordinary Course of the Government of the World they may respect indeed none of all those Ends nor do they concern our present Case Lastly The Opinion of Job that God interpofeth not extraordinarily in the Affairs of Mankind might be confuted from the same Attributes and Considerations For we must not suppose that God allowed and ratified whatsoever he had said when he gave such an illustrious Testimony of Integrity to him in the close of the Book That was only to vindicate him from the Aspersions of his Friends more particularly Eliphas and Elihu maintaining that his Afflictions had befallen him for the Enormity of his antecedent Sins God confirmed not his Speeches made in answer to them by this Suffrage and therefore Job himself deploreth the rashness of his Opinion in XLII 6. Wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes And indeed nothing could be more false or derogatory to the Majesty of God and the Preservation of his Honour among Men. Only Job asserted not pertinaciously as his Friends did their Opinions he concluded not peremptorily but only confessed that he could not discover any extraordinary interposition of God by visible Effects in this Life An Opinion indeed which too many have taken up and some do yet maintain but which cannot be allowed without the utter ruin of Religion and Reason also For do we not believe that God is infinitely good and just that he is the supreme Governour of the World both in this Life and after Death But can we conceive him to be infinitely good who after having created Man and settled him in the World takes no farther care of him abandons him to Chance and there stops the Emanations of his Goodness Can he be perfectly just who makes no provision for the universal Calamities or Opressions of Mankind which cannot but often happen notwithstanding the ordinary Laws of his Government which consist only in maintaining the Course of Nature Do we not destroy his Government when we confine it only to another Life or perhaps allow it no place in either Since God hath created the World the Government of it hath become necessary to him and then not to derive at any time any extraordinary influences upon it will be no more commendable than for a temporal Prince to sit still and be unconcerned for the Affairs of
brightness shall the Moon give Light unto thee but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting Light and thy God the Glory And as the Effect of all this IX 2. The people which sate in darkness saw great Light and to them which sate in the region and shadow of death Light is sprung up Which Prophecy St. Matthew observeth to have been exactly fulfilled by our Saviour in the IV. 16. of his Gospel After so many Magnificent Prophesies concerning the extraordinary Light to be brought into the World by the Messias we cannot but raise our Apprehensions and expect somewhat more than humane Knowledge to be communicated by him to the World somewhat more than humane Light to be dispensed by him Nor shall we be deceived in our Expectations the Light communicated by our Lord to the World is so universal in the extent so resplendent in the Nature so constant in the Duration of it that it in no ways falls short of those Glorious Predictions which went before concerning it and justly gives to our Lord the Author and Conveyer of it the Title of the Light of the World This will appear evidently if we consider either I. The Doctrine Or II. The Example of Christ Upon both which Accounts he was the Light of the World I. Then the Doctrine of Christ gave Light unto the World by removing the Errors of it and teaching it the Rules of Truth which might point out the way to Happiness To conceive the better the happy Effects of the Doctrines of Christ let us take a view of the state of the World at that time and we shall find as in the beginning Darkness to have over-spread the face of the Earth A very small part of Mankind enjoyed the benefit of Revelation and even they had corrupted and almost effaced the Divine Truths revealed to them by false Glosses and gross Interpretations they had forsaken the weightier Matters of the Law and even those who were most Conscientious among them busied themselves wholly in observing such trivial Ceremonies as themselves had for the most part formed by mistaken Interpretations But the infinitely greater part of Mankind lived as without God in the Word They had intirely lost those revealed Notions which were delivered to their Fore-fathers immediately after the Deluge and the natural Notions of Religion they had so far corrupted that their Worship was downright Impiety and all their religious Actions so many gross Superstitions In the far greater part of the World all Notions of Morality and a Natural Law were intirely lost and it was a brutish Fear only which kept up any sort of Religion among them Which after all was such a Religion as was their greatest Crime being no other than a most stupid Idolatry In the more polite part of the World which retained Civility and pretended to Letters the natural Law indeed was kept up among the more Learned of them but even by them so mistaken and corrupted that they allowed as lawful the Practice of some enormous Vices which to convince of unlawfulness needed no more than to consult the common Reason of Mankind as Fornication Sodomy practising the idolatrous Worship of the Country although at the same time convinced of the Folly of it Self-murder and many other Vices which the most refined of their Philosophers defended to be lawful As for the common People their Notions of God were such as the publick Religion of the Country infused into them the most vile and unworthy of a Deity which can be imagined such as patronized all the Crimes they could commit provided they violated not the Laws of their Country For by these Corruptions no Notion of Morality was left among them nor any other distinction of Good and Evil than what the Laws of their Country imprinted in them They could not but imagine that such Actions were good in their own Nature which their chief Gods had practised altho' their inconvenience to the publick had caused them to be forbidden In a word conceive a People ignorant both of God and their own Nature desirous of Happiness but knowing not where to find it and pursuing methods directly contrary to it groping in Darkness without the least ray of Light and such was the state of the World at that time To rescue the World from this miserable Darkness to restore Light to the minds of Men was a noble undertaking and worthy the Son of God an undertaking which as it could be performed by none but the Son of God so was it most happily effected by him He saith of himself that he came a Light into the World that whosoever believeth on him should not abide in darkness John XII 46. His Design was to deliver us from the power of darkness as the Apostle assures us Coloss. I. 13. A Design first begun by himself in Person and afterwards carried on by the Apostles and their Successors to this day by his Command and through his Power whom he sent as St. Paul describes his Commission Acts XXVI 18. To open the eyes of the Gentiles or the ignorant and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God Himself while conversant on Earth busied himself in nothing more than in detecting the false Explications of the Moral part of the Jewish Law which was of equal Obligation to all Mankind in discovering the Corruptions of it and restoring it to its Primitive Integrity And not content only to discover the Errors of the World as it was commonly objected to the Heathen Philosophers that they could easily overthrow the Opinions of one another but could establish no Truth in the room of them he plainly revealed their whole Duty to them taught them even the Principles of the Moral Law that so Men might no more be subject to mistake in it To this he added the Revelation of the whole Will of God which concerns either the Rewards or Punishments annexed to this Law which might reinforce the Practice of it or the future Felicity of Man to be obtained by the Observation of it or the means of Pardon in Case of the Violation of it Nor was this Light to be confined to a Corner to be appropriated to a few it was to be made truly the Light of the World to be communicated to all to be continued to the end of the World The easiness and simplicity of it adapted to the Capacity and Practice of all Men fitted it for such an universal Communicaon And that it should be actually communicated he abundantly provided by proclaiming it himself to all while on Earth by establishing a numerous Order of Disciples who should propagate it successively to the end of the World by inspiring Holy Writers to commit it plainly and intirely to writing by founding a Church the Members of which should by certain solemn Rites or Sacraments oblige themselves to the Practice of it by contriving the Discipline and Government of this Church in such a manner as might
limits of a just Punishment and the excess of that Punishment being a real Injury Entitles the other to a fresh Revenge I might therefore insist upon the reasonableness of the Divine Prohibition of revenge to Man from the advantage which it brings to the Preservation of the Peace and Order of the World were it not an Argument too inconsiderable to be employed in Conjunction with the former To return therefore to the former Consideration since the Justice of all Punishment consists in the Parity of it to the guilt of the Crime committed and vehemence of Passion to which humane Nature is incident suffers not Men to observe that Parity in execution of Revenge and not to observe it is a sin against God as in many other Respects so in this also that it is a Violation of Justice we ought to esteem it a singular Benefit that God hath taken the Execution of revenge into his own hands and not left the Management of it to our Discretion least it should unavoidably expose us to the Danger of sin either in carrying it beyond its just Bounds or in executing it for other Reasons than the Love of Justice or Hatred of sin And to this Consideration the Apostle seems to have had a peculiar regard when he citeth that passage of the Old Testament Vengeance is mine c. which in the place referred to Deut. XXXII 35. plainly relates to this Matter For there God having denounced to the Jews the Punishments he would inflict on them in Case of their Apostacy from him telleth them among other things that he would deliver them into the hands of their Enemies into the power of strange Nations who should tyrannize over them and mightily oppress them and therein become the Executioners of those Punishments which he designed to their sins Not that thereby their Tyranny and Oppression should become the less unlawful because subservient to the secret purposes of God to which they in oppressing the Jews had no regard but only to the satisfaction of their Hatred and other Passions And therefore this Oppression so far exceeding the Rules of Justice God in the 35th Verse aforecited threatens that he will severely revenge upon them And accordingly in XXV of Ezekiel 12th God foretels the utmost Execution of his Wrath upon Edom for taking a too severe Revenge of the People of Israel altho' himself had delivered them into their hands to be plagued by them So that if no other Argument disswaded us from the prosecution of Revenge if a moderate Revenge were even permitted by God yet the Difficulty of observing moderation in it and the danger of incurring sin thereby should deterr us from it Thus Men are made unfit to be entrusted with the execution of Revenge for that they know not certainly the just Proportion of the supposed Crime and the Punishment due to it and altho' they were secured of it yet would rather consult the direction of their own Passions than the Rules of Justice Yet the Cause of revenge is still maintained in the World and no wonder when it is supported by so many Passions as Envy Hatred Malice and the like These indeed to minds of more happy Education and nobler Thoughts naturally appear odious and therefore such as pretend to a better Blood and greater Minds found their Practice of revenge upon a Principle of Honour to which they Fancy all other Considerations ought to yield entertaining a vain Perswasion that this Honour cannot consist with the patient induring of Injuries and that every Affront unrevenged draws upon them the imputation of Cowardize An Opinion built upon false Notions of Honour and Valour and which far from being an Argument of true Greatness of Mind manifests a real weakness in it For wherein is the Honour of Man to be placed but in such Perfections as may improve his Faculties adorn his Nature and promote his Happiness If upon these Principles he raiseth the favourable esteem of other Men his Honour is then truly founded If for other Reasons which are indeed no Perfections he fancieth himself to be admired he betrays the weakness of his Judgment in that he prides himself in the Admiration of others no less injudicious Such is when Esteem is founded upon Rashness or a precipitate Boldness upon Impatience of bearing the least Indignity and preferring this Resolution to all Considerations If this be a real Honour then such a passionate determination must be indeed a perfection of Nature an improvement of Reason but if that be too gross to affirm the pretence of Honour must be laid aside Nor yet can any Argument of Valour or Greatness of Mind be drawn from such a Conduct Valour indeed is such a constant Resolution of Mind as cannot be moved or over-turned by any external Accident cannot be interrupted by Fears and Passions and a Mind truly great is placed above all such mean Resentments and rather scorns than fears the Attempts of other Men. How then can he be said to make good this Character whom an Injury shall torment and disquiet whose Thoughts may be ruffled and his Passions raised at the pleasure of any other who by manifesting so great a Concern in little matters betrays the Consciousness of his own unworthiness and imperfection of the want of real Worth and Happiness which can be so far impaired by Trifles and petty Injuries that without Revenge it cannot be restored In Truth there is no greater Indication of an abject and mean Spirit of Cowardize and Imperfection of mind than that impatience that fear and jealousie which always attends Revenge thus founded upon mistaken Honour But I do injury to the Cause I handle when I seek to recommend the Laws of God concerning Revenge by an Argument so far inferior to the weight of Divine Authority To Christians and in this place I presume my Speech doth reach no other it ought to be a sufficient Confutation of the pretence of Honour in Revenge that our Lord hath forbidden the practice of it For since his Religion tends to advance the Perfection of humane Nature and to restore right Notions of all Moral Actions it is impossible that true Honour or Valour should promote the exercise of Revenge which he hath forbidden The pretence of Honour in the Execution of Revenge is vain indeed yet not so Criminal as that other ordinary pretence of satisfying Justice therein When Men prosecute their Revenge against others under pretence of Zeal for Justice and least the guilt of any sin should escape unpunished This those are wont to alledge in defence of their Revenge whose Revenge is founded upon a Principle of Malice not of mistaken Honour To Confess openly that they take Revenge because they hate their Neighbours would be too shameless an Acknowledgment of their own baseness and might also overthrow those Artifices by which such Men commonly work their Revenge For which they strain their Wits to find out plausible Pretences for the visible Effects of
his Enemies as well as Friends at that time The Soldiers sent to break his Legs while hanging on the Cross that so they might hasten his Death whom they supposed not yet to have expired found him already dead Joseph of Arimathea and the devout Women which followed him taking him down from the Cross laid him in his Grave being well assured that he was then Dead His Disciples who if any shew of Reason might be offered would not easily believe him dead from whom they then expected a temporal Kingdom yet were so far perswaded of it that at his first appearing to them they were affrighted and supposed they had seen a Spirit To these Proofs nothing more could be added to Evince the reality of his Death an Evidence which is wanting to all the Relations of Men raised from the Dead opposed by the Heathens to the Resurrection of our Lord. They alledged from Plato the Story of Eris lying for many days among the dead Bodies and after that recovering Life again and pretended that Apollonius Tyaneus whom they set up in opposition to Christ had raised a certain Person to Life But the first was not related by any for more than a thousand years after the Fact was pretended to be done and in the second Case the Heathen Historian confesseth that he dare not affirm that the Person was truly Dead Nor after his Resurrection was it less evident that Christ was truly alive invested with Soul and Body All the Actions of Life and Arguments of a real Body met in his He was seen by a great number of his Disciples who judged it to be such He eat and drank with them which proved his Body not to have been a meer Phantasm or Aerial Apparition He talked and reasoned with them out of the Scriptures which demonstrated that Body to be indued with a rational Soul He appealed to their Sense of feeling commanded them to handle him said to unbelieving Thomas reach hither thy finger and behold my hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side which manifests that the Body which he then offered to that Tryal was that very Body which had suffered on the Cross and still retained the Print of the Nails and the Impression of the Spear That this same Body and Soul reunited was also joyned to the Divinity as before his Passion appeared from his many Miracles wrought after his Resurrection Thus we have a true proper and real Resurrection And that all these things were so we have the Testimony first of his own Disciples the Faith of whom although so nearly related to him cannot be called in question since they laid down their Lives in Confirmation of it Nor can it be imagined that any Men should die for the Testimony of what they knew to be false Of these the pious Women were first Blessed with the sight of him whether it were in Reward of their maintaining their Love and Fidelity to him when his Apostles had forsaken him or that they came into the Garden where the Sepulchre was immediately after the Resurrection and before he was yet departed out of it They saw him knew him and saluted him held him by the feet and worshipt him The Apostles being advertised of it by them hasted to see their Master and received not only a transient view of him but conversed with him for forty days together and by many infallible proofs were assured of the truth of it Afterwards he appeared to more than five hundred at once and at last ascended up to Heaven in the presence of them all To the witness of Friends we will add the Testimony of his Enemies which in all Cases is allowed to be of great weight The Soldiers who were employed by the Jews to watch his Sepulchre plainly saw the Effects of Divine Power which accompanied his Resurrection although being astonished and confounded at such unusual Prodigies they did not well perceive it or perhaps were not suffered by their Fears to stay till Christ should proceed out of the Sepulchre They felt the Earthquake which removed the stone rolled to the mouth of the Sepulchre they saw the countenance of an Angel like lightning and his raiment white as snow upon which they did shake and became as dead Men and coming into the City shewed to the chief Priests all the things that were done as we read Matth. XXVIII II. The Angels and heavenly Hosts had before joyned with Men in celebrating the Nativity of Christ and they here concurred in witnessing his Resurrection The Women coming to the Sepulchre betimes in the Morning presently after the Resurrection and looking for the Body of their beloved Lord in the Sepulchre found there two Angels in white sitting one at the head the other at the feet where the Body of Jesus had lain who said to them why seek ye the dead among the living he is not here he is risen come see the place where the Lord lay Lastly If we should imagine both his Friends and Enemies the report of Sense oft-times repeated to have been deceived in the Opinion of his Resurrection God hath been pleased to confirm the Truth of it and to set his Seal to it This he hath done not only by his Holy Spirit comforting enabling and encouraging the Apostles in Preaching the Mystery of Christ's Refurrection but also in confirming their Testimony with concurrent Miracles As it is Acts IV. 33. With great power gave the Apostles witness of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus They openly affirmed it upon their own Knowledge and then in Proof of the truth of their Affirmation wrought Signs and Miracles which to the Spectators did as fully evince the Truth of the Relation as if they had seen it done with their own Eyes since it was impossible that God should exert his omnipotent Power in working Miracles for the Attestation of a Lye Thus much for the reality I proceed in the second place to the II. Manner of the Resurrection expressed in those words having loosed the pains of death which are variously interpreted some maintaining that they imply only a Deliverance from Death and rescue from the Grave others that they point out the dolorous Sufferings by which our Lord was brought to the Grave and raising him up to a state opposite to that Humiliation a third sort understanding by them a Destruction of the Power and Dominion of Death All these Opinions are supported with great Reasons nor will it here be proper to enter into a strict Examination which of them rather is to be embraced They are all rational Consonant to the Design of the Apostle and Significative of the manner of Christ's Resurrection I will therefore apply them all The first Opinion includeth only a Deliverance from Death that is a reunion of Soul and Body separated by Death In which Sense it chiefly referreth to the words of David and the Promises made to him here alledged by the Apostle David had been often brought
Prayer which maketh this whole Observation concerning the Veneration due to Churches not improper in a Discourse concerning the place of Prayer III. I pass now to the third Branch 〈◊〉 the Text that is the Posture that is 〈◊〉 be used in Prayer which is expressed in those Words Lifting up holy Hands Nor is the Posture of Prayer a Matter so indifferent as deserveth not our Enquiry It is indeed the Error of some that all external Modes of Worship are indifferent but to them who are no professed Enemies to Order and Decency it appears far otherwise For since God is the Creator both of Body and Soul since the Existence of both is derived from him and continued by him since he hath provided for the Body as well as Soul both in this Life and in the next it follows that both ought to make Returns of Praise and Worship to God This the Soul the sole Fountain of Reason doth by loving honouring obeying and submitting to him The Body indeed is not capable of such noble Operations yet is it enabled to give Praise and Glory to God by Gestures implying Adoration Submission and Subjection to him To worship God only with the Body were to make no returns of Gratitude for the Faculties of the Soul received from him and to worship him only with the Mind were to deny the Subjection of the Body to him Both thereâ—â—â— are alike necessary The Worship 〈◊〉 the Soul is indeed more acceptable because the Faculties of it are far more noble but the Worship of the Body is no less the Duty of Man and that especially in publick Worship where the chief Design being the Glory of God the Worship of the Body is the only visible Testimony of the internal Honour pay'd by the Soul to God and that not only because the Words of publick praise and adoration are expressed by the Organs of the Body but also in that the very Gesture of the Body is a Mark of Subjection paid to God since such Gestures used in sacred Places and to an invisible Being are notoriously known to be intended in Honour of God Bodily Worship therefore is absolutely necessary and that such as may express the greatest Submission and deepest Humility The most intense Operations of the Soul are due to God and so are the most significative Humiliations of the Body That posture therefore which expresseth the most humble Submission ought to be employed in Prayer the principal Act of Worship and is indeed an essential Part of Worship Only the particular posture is not determined in Scripture because the Expressions of Civility Honour and Subjection vary in several Ages and Countries So that it was impossible to determine any one Gesture since what was very expressive of Worship in one Nation might be contrary in another The external Mode of Worship therefore was left indifferent to the whole Church because such Modes varied in the several parts of it but in any particular Church it is not indifferent but that it be esteemed absolutely necessary essential and commanded by God which according to the received Customs of that Nation is most expressive of Humility Submission and Subjection If Kneeling be the most humble posture of Respect which obtains in any Nation that ought to be employed in the Worship of God and in that Case to pretend to pray to God standing is not only indecent but unlawful a detaining from God the Honour due to him and offering to him an inferiour degree of Worship when a more exalted degree is possible If by the Custom of the Country Prostration be the most significative posture of Humility that then becomes necessary in Divine Worship If neither Prostration nor Kneeling be in use neither ought it to be employed in Prayer but the same infallible Rule is always to obtain that whatsoever Posture by Custom Institution or Prescription is most significative of Honour and Subjection that ought to be made use of in adoring God and in Prayer which is always accompanied with Adoration To apply this Rule to our own practice It is notorious and undeniable that in the Nation wherein we live Kneeling is the most humble posture that whereof we should make use were we to do Homage to our Prince or to beg his Pardon This posture therefore becometh our indispensable Duty in Prayer wherein we adore God and implore his Mercy In this Nation therefore or in any other where Kneeling is the most submissive Gesture to practise Standing in publick Prayer is in truth to deny that the supream Honour is due to God to refuse to pay that Homage to him which Men are content to pay to earthly Princes as if either he were not worthy of it or themselves were too great and noble to condescend to it In many Eastern Countries Prostration hath been in use and there it was necessary in the Worship of God for the same Reason In others Standing with either spreading forth the Hands or gently inclining the Body and laying the Hand upon the Breast In all these Cases the Custom of the Country was to give Directions to the posture of Religious Worship To enquire which of these is the best and most significative posture is wholly vain since no posture signifieth any Respect in that Country where it is not used and what in one place includeth the highest Honour and Reverence in another may signifie none at all Among the Jews Kneeling with Hands lifted up or spread abroad was the most reverential Gesture as might be proved from innumerable places of Scripture Psal. CXLI 2. Dan. VI. 10. Luk. XXII 41. Acts IX 40. XXI 5 c. and so also among the Grecians St. Paul therefore writing to both of them joyned in one Church in Corinth expressed in this place the posture of Prayer to be lifting up of Hands because that Custom did prevail among them not that he intended to oblige us to the same posture in Prayer who for the same Reason are left to be directed by the Custom of our particular Nation amongst whom the most submiss and at the same time most civil posture is Kneeling with clasped Hands and that if I be not mistaken was always the most received Gesture in the Western World but most certainly was in use from the very beginning of Christianity in the Western Church vid. Tertul. Cypr. It hath been indeed received in all Ages and in all Countries as far as we can find that in Sacrifices the Priest who offers them up should do it standing In Compliance with this universal Custom our Church hath most certainly directed that the Prayers presented to God from the Altar where the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ the great Sacrifice of the Christian Religion is celebrated should be offered up by the Priest in a standing Posture which I would not omit to observe to you lest that Practice should be any Objection against the necessity of Kneeling in time of Prayer since it is founded
Efficacy of it with an unjust Judge It had been sufficient to have introduced the Person of a just and benign Man that so his Justice if compared with the Divine Clemency might demonstate the force of Prayer For if a good Man receives those kindly who address themselves to him how much more will God the Greatness of whose Bounty exceeds our comprehension It had been enough as I before said to have proposed the Person of a just Judge but to represent a cruel impious inhumane Judge unmerciful to others but kind and easie to Supplicants instructeth us that even a wicked Nature may be by Prayer inclined to Lenity and Mercy This therefore our Lord chose to do more lively to express the force fo Prayer When in the next place he carrieth us from the Consideration of this severe Judge cruel by Nature but mollified by Prayer to the Consideration of God the Father most good kind gentle merciful slow to anger and forgiving sins bearing with insuperable Patience the daily Affronts of Men the Honours paid to his Adversary the Devil and the Contumelies therein offered to his own Son what Success may we not then hope to our Prayers made to him if they be presented with a due Reverence and necessary Preparation The unjust Judge although he feared not God nor regarded Man yet did Justice to the Widow for her importunity What Fear could not do Prayer obtained Neither Threats nor the Fear of Punishment could incline the Man to Justice yet the Cries and Supplications of a poor Widow softned his Nature and made him tractable If she could obtain so much from a rough ill-natur'd Man how much greater Kindness Goodness and Love may we not expect from God who always desires to shew Mercy but never to exercise Severity whose very Threats and Punishments are intended for our good and directed to deterr us from Disobedience Let us once more review the effect of Prayer upon this unjust Judge that we may the better discover the infinite kindness and love of God to Men. If he who never willingly and of his own accord did any good changed on the sudden by the Petitions of a poor Supplicant and was moved to Compassion much more will the importunate Prayers of Men be prevalent with him whose Nature includeth an infinity of Goodness and who dispenseth the Emanations of that Goodness in vast and constant Benefits even without intreaty For who doth not see that the Light of the Sun the influences of Heaven the Fruits of the Earth Riches Life and Health are given by God to all Men to the good and to the bad and that only for his immense Kindness to Mankind but if he so favours cherisheth and maintaineth those who ask him not and are not perhaps so much as sensible that the Benefit proceedeth from him what will he not bestow on those who spend a considerable part of their Lives in Prayer and Supplication The last Reason of doubting in Prayer is the Conscience of unworthiness in the Supplicant which Conscience is either founded in the natural unworthiness of Man or arises from the Sense of his want of these Qualifications of Prayer which are required to make it acceptable The former falls in with that doubt which I last spoke of and the latter is in the Power of every Man to remove and to perswade the necessity and convenience of that removal hath been the Subject of this days Discourse I shall therefore add no more upon this Head Upon the whole it doth appear that the Duty of Prayer is necessary the place of it to be regarded the posture not to be neglected the Conditions indispensable and the Success certain The Eighteenth SERMON Preach'd on May 4. 1690. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Acts X. 40 41. Him God raised up the third day and shewed him openly Not to all the People but to Witnesses chosen before of God THE Resurrection of our Lord from the Dead being so illustrious a Confirmation of the Truth of that Religion which he taught so undeniable an Argument of the Divinity and Authority of his Person so firm an Assurance of those Hopes which we conceive of our own Resurrection deserveth at this Season more than a single Consideration It is the knowledge and conviction of that which chiefly Establisheth the Faith of a Christian continueth his Expectations of enjoying hereafter a better State and after a serious Meditation of the Actions of his Saviour here on Earth wrought for his sake compleats his Joy In the ancient Church therefore all the time between Easter and Whitsunday was dedicated to the Memory of this wonderful Mystery as was manifest by the particular expressions of Joy during that whole Season in the publick Offices and Ceremonies of the Church And as the benefit of Christs Resurrection doth no less extend to the Christians of these Times than to those of more ancient Ages so our Gratitude and Rejoycing in Memory of it ought to be no less intense It may be pretended that those ancient Christians living nearer to the time of Christ had more certain assurance of the Truth of the Fact related than we now have at so great a distance and that the Will of Man always acting agreeably to the perswasions of the Understanding cannot now be so much affected by the consideration of an uncertain Interest as they were then when the Experience of frequent Miracles rendred it most certain Or that however the Apostles and those Five hundred Disciples who were blessed with the presence of Christ after his Resurrection had no less just Cause of Joy than Admiration Yet that others who were not convinced of the same Truth by the report of their own Senses could not but be less concerned at the relation by how much the less they were ascertained of the reality of it And as the Mind of Man is fruitful in inventing Arguments opposing the Obligation of Religion some have been brought to doubt of and others even to deny the Resurrection of Christ upon this consideration that after he is said to be risen from the Dead he appeared not in Publick conversed not in solemn Places and among the Multitude as before but only shew himself to some few Disciples of his own whom he had chosen for that purpose To take off this Objection and assert the Truth of our Lord's Resurrection I will endeavour to manifest the reasonableness of that conduct of Christ related in the Text Whom God raised up and shewed openly not to all the People but to Witnesses chosen before of God To this purpose I will divide my designed Discourse into these three parts I. That to have shewed Christ after his Resurrection to the whole unbelieving Multitude of the Jews was unbecoming the Majesty Justice and Wisdom of God II. That it would have failed of creating an universal Conviction III. That God hath notwithstanding offered to Mankind sufficient Arguments of reasonable Conviction First then neither the Wisdom Justice and Honour
would gladly be esteemed to act Reasonably in shaking off this encumbrance from them and therefore pretend they cannot believe the Divinity of that Religion which lays it on them Whereas in truth they seldom consider the Arguments recommending the Truth of any Religion least the Obligation of it also should return into their Minds Or if they cannot avoid the Thoughts of it yet their Wills struggle against their Understanding They would esteem it the greatest Unhappiness which can befal them to be thoroughly convinced of that Truth which if obeyed would deprive them of all their darling Pleasures For the Truth of what I here advance I appeal to your own Experience View all these Scepticks in Religion and see if you can find any in all your Knowledge who make any Conscience of observing moral Vertues of being Chast Temperate and Just. It is the Imposition and enforcing of these Vertues which hath made the Christian Religion grievous and distasteful to such Men not the want of Evidence of the Truth of it These Pretenders are seldom of such raised Capacities as to discern between true and false reasoning with greater accuracy than other Men or to discover the weakness of an Argument which before their Sagacious Enquiry was universally allowed They wilfully betray their Judgment or rather the Pretence of it to the depraved inclination of their Wills which that they may enjoy they are content to undergo the Ignominy of groping at Noon-day and not discovering a Truth set in so great a Light But this Consideration being more general I dismis it only reminding you how unjustly an Objection is raised by these Men from Christ's not publickly appearing after his Resurrection since if he had so done the Evidence of his Resurrection at this distance of time could have been no more than now it is Farther not only would the publick appearance of our Lord after his Resurrection have been of no advantage to us but would even have failed of convincing at least converting the Jews who should have been Spectators of it The Jews had continued their Infidelity notwithstanding so many hundred Miracles that it could not be hoped the Addition of one Miracle more should create a Belief among them They had rejected all those many undeniable Proofs which our Lord was pleased to offer to them in Testimony of his Divine Mission and after the long Experience of such a strange Perverseness it is scarce credible that the Resurrection alone should effect what all other Arguments and Proofs joyned together could not perform In the first Place the Prophesies contained in the Old Testament to the Divine Authority of which the Jews did own Submission all the Predictions and Descriptions concerning the Messias delivered in it were to them the most cogent Argument which could be offered By the Concurrence and Completion of all these Prophesies in the Person of Jesus it did so evidently appear that he was the Christ that they could not deny it without proclaiming at the same time their disbelief of those sacred Oracles And then as our Lord truly said in a not unlike Case If they would not believe Moses and the Prophets neither would they have been perswaded though one rose from the dead although himself had rose from the Grave in the sight of the whole Nation If the greatest Argument had no effect upon their Minds lesser Proofs would certainly lose their Force However because it may with some shew of Reason be alledged that however the Concurrence of the ancient Prophesies in his Person were in the Nature of things the better Argument yet that Miracles as being more surprizing and more affecting the Mind of Man were the more effectual Demonstration let us compare the Miracles of Christ wrought before his Crucifixion with the Evidence which would have been produced by his Resurrection if he had been pleased visibly to manifest it to the whole Nation of the Jews The number of Miracles which we find recorded in the Evangelists is very great and yet St. John assureth us That what is written contains but a small part of the Actions of Christ. Every one of these Miracles gave as full a Proof of that Divine Power by which they were wrought as the Resurrection could have done The Resurrection indeed is infinitely more considerable to us Christians than any other Miracle because it is the assurance of our own Resurrection the entrance of our Lord upon his state of Glory But to Unbelievers it is of no more Efficacy than the many other Miracles wrought by him What could be more admirable than that he commanded the Elements the winds and the seas and they obeyed him That he removed Infirmities and cured all manner of Diseases immediately and by a single Command What greater Proof could be offered of his own Divinity than that he did this by his own Authority without invoking the name of God or intreating his Presence If stupendious Acts were required what more wonderful than his feeding whole multitudes with a few Loaves If nothing less than the sensible Experience of his raising the Dead to Life could convince them what more notorious than the raising of Lazarus known to the whole City of Jerusalem than the raising of the Widows Son of Naim performed in Presence of the whole City attending him to his Grave than the Bodies of Saints departed arising at his Crucifixion entring into Jerusalem and appearing unto many If in all his Miracles precedent to his Death the Jews not able to deny the Fact pretended they were done by a Diabolick Power a Pretence more than once alledged in their own Talmud extant at this day and published by themselves the same Pretence would with equal Reason have been retained after his Resurrection For if the absolute disposal of Life and Death were to them the only confessed Proof of a truly Divine Power it was offered to them in raising those to Life whom I before mentioned Although by other Arguments he had given abundant Demonstration that he acted not by any Commission from infernal Spirits The whole Design of his Doctrine tended to overthrow the Power and Dominion of the Devil to root out Idolatry and Sin whereby Mankind was held Captive to the Devil to establish Truth and Piety than which nothing could be more contrary to the interest of Hell His Miracles consisted chiefly in casting out Devils from the Bodies of unhappy Persons whom they had possessed than which nothing could be more ungrateful to them in relieving the Wants and curing the Infirmities of Mankind than which nothing could be more opposite to their Practice and Inclinations who always endeavoured the Destruction but never the benefit of Mankind This same Power of working Miracles he communicated to his Disciples long before his Crucifixion which refuteth the idle Pretence of the Jews in the Talmud that his miraculous Power was a personal Quality obtained by unfolding a Spell placed of old by Solomon in the Temple All these Proofs of
add that he shall return in like manner as they saw him go that is in Power and great Glory as our Lord describeth his coming to Judgment Matth. XIII 26. It will be of little use to inquire into what part of the Heavens the Body of our Lord was translated yet not unfit to observe that our Lord is said to have ascended into those Heavens by which the most glorious Presence of the Divine Majesty is in Scripture expressed Thus it is said of him Ephes. IV. 10. He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all Heavens and Hebr. VII 10. That he was higher than the Heavens and Heb. IX 12. passing into the holy place even into Heaven it self to appear before the Presence of God that is he was advanced to the same state of Glory with God the Father his Body was translated to the place of his more immediate Presence in Heaven which is fully expressed by his sitting at the right hand of God To determine the place whether in the third in the fourth or above the Heavens is rash and unwarrantable But this we may be assured that whatsoever part of Heaven is the immediate residence of the Divine Majesty whatsoever Region is most Holy whatsoever Place is of greatest Dignity in those Celestial Orbs thither Christ ascended and there now Reigns in Glory III. The Advantages which the Church and all the Members of it received from the Ascension of Christ are many and great The first and most eminent Benefit derived from it was the Mission of the Holy Ghost of which I spoke before A Benefit which was indeed more sensible in the Apostolick times when it communicated to many the gift of Tongues the power of working Miracles or a prophetick Spirit but is at this day no less advantageous since by the Influences and Operations of the Holy Ghost the Church is still maintained the Faithful are enabled to perform their Duty and the unfaithful are converted Thus the Ascension of Christ became a lasting Benefit to all his Followers procuring to them those Graces which otherwise could never have been obtained The Ascension of Elijah made one Elisha left a double Portion of his Spirit with one Disciple to be communicated to no other but the Ascension of Christ was of universal Benefit producing blessed Effects which should extend to all Believers and to all Ages A second Benefit of the Ascension of our Lord is the Confirmation of our Faith which from thence received firm Assurance of the truth of his Doctrine and the Divinity of his Person He had proclaimed to the unbelieving Jews as well as to his own Disciples in the VI. of St. John that he would ascend into Heaven What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before After his Resurrection he said unto the Women Go to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father It was not therefore unexpected to the Apostles they were acquainted with his Resolutions herein and when they faw effected what he had before foretold them they could no longer doubt that he was the true Messias Thus although the prophetical Office of our Lord expired upon the Cross all his subsequent Actions offered convincing Arguments to Mankind of the truth of his Mission and the certainty of those things he taught No greater Proof of either could be imagined than his Resurrection from the Dead and when to this was added his Ascension into Heaven there was no more place left for doubt Thus the Faith of the Apostles was confirmed by the Ascension of Christ but their Hopes were much more exalted By this glorious Triumph they saw him put into Possession of that ample Power which they so long wished to be assumed by him which might enable him to reward his Followers and effect those Promises which he had made to them In John XIV he had told them there were many Mansions in his Fathers house and that he went before to prepare a place for them intending to receive them afterwards to himself that where he was there they might be also The former part of the Promise they saw to be effected in his Ascension and thence conceived assured Hope that the latter would be accomplished There can be no greater Motive to believe the truth of Prophecies or Promises than to consider the performance of those which went before The same foreknowledge of our Lord which foresaw the Exaltation of himself could as easily foresee the like Reward to be given to his Followers and the same Power which advanced him to the right hand of God could exalt whomsoever he pleased into Heaven So that his Power could not be questioned and his Will therein he had often declared assuring them Joh. XII 32. When I am lifted up from the Earth I will draw all Men unto me Herein the Hopes of all Mankind received increase and strength They had all impatiently wished for Immortality it was easie to believe that their Souls should still exist but their Bodies were equally parts of themselves They were equally concerned for the future Happiness of both yet that either should be hereafter Happy they were assured only by the Revelation of Christ. He affirmed it he promised it he confirmed it by wonderful Signs and Miracles yet it could not but seem strange that Flesh and Blood should inherit the Kingdom of God that such a gross corporeal Being should be admitted to the Society of Angels that Man who was excluded from an Earthly Paradise should be taken up to the immediate Presence of God All this did seem incredible till they saw an Example of it in the Body of Christ which consisting of the same Flesh and Blood partaking of the same Nature was visibly received into Heaven and placed in eternal Happiness By this they were convinced that the like Immortality of their own Bodies was not impossible and while they considered the Promises of Christ and their own Relation to him that he was the first Fruits of humane Nature their forerunner which is entred into Heaven for them the Captain of their Salvation and the Head of their Society they were fully satisfied that it should in time be granted to them since what he foretold of his own Ascension they saw effected since it was but natural to follow their Captain their Head and their Forerunner and with him to be received into the place of their desired Happiness Farther as Christ is our King and our Priest the Benefits which we hope to receive from either of those his Offices received increase by his Ascension into Heaven As King he is thereby invested in the actual Dominion of his Church enabled to bestow upon her all those Graces and extraordinary Assistances which are necessary for her Well-being As our Priest his Intercessions with God the Father in our behalf are made much more prevalent by his personal Presence with him Under the Law the Efficacy of
God if no vain Glory or desire of humane Praise were intermixed therewith but the sole Design was the Advancement and Vindication of the Divine Glory For far be it from us to censure or condemn of Rashness all those noble ancient Martyrs who without any Force confessed the Faith of Christ at the Heathen Tribunals and thereby drew upon themselves Torments and Death that they might give an Example of Constancy to less couragious Christians who could not otherwise withstand the force of Persecution It was found by Experience that such generous Examples did more effectually raise the Courage of other Christians labouring under Persecution than the Sense of their Duty or the hope of all those glorious Rewards proposed by Christ to those who should suffer for his Name And to justifie this proceeding in such extraordinary Cases St Paul himself as we read Acts XXI had resolved to go up to Jerusalem and continued his Resolution although it was foretold to him by Agabus and other Prophets and himself knew by the Spirit that Bonds and Imprisonment did abide him that he should there suffer a grievous Persecution Nor is this the only Case wherein it may be lawful or commendable to perform good Works publickly and with this Design that they may be seen of Men. Many other such Cases may be found I will instance but in two Pennance and Charity As for the first the Practice of publick Pennance it must be confessed by all who know the State of the ancient and present times of Christianity that the use of it was then the great Preserver of unfeigned Piety among Christians and that the Discontinuance of it now is the chief Cause of the want and coldness of Religion in our times They very well knew formerly as well as we do now that God chiefly regardeth inward Repentance the Contrition of the Soul That Admonition of our Saviour was then as well as now contained in the Gospel But thou when thou fastest anoint thy Head and wash thy Face that thou appear not unto Men to fast but unto thy Father which is in Heaven where what is said of Fasting may be applied to all other Acts and Indications of Repentance Yet the infinite Benefit which the Church received from the publick performance of Pennance required the Institution and the great Advancement of the Glory of God which arose from thence justified the Practice of it Then was Religion and Piety maintained in its full Vigour when Persons guilty of any scandalous Crimes however eminent by Birth or Station were put to open Pennance secluded from the rest of the Faithful placed by themselves in a separate part of the Church and there appearing in Sackcloath or other penitential Dress begged the Pardon of God with Tears and desired Reconciliation and this not only for many days but oftimes for many years together Such Discipline could not but produce in the Minds of all Christians who beheld it an exceeding dread of Sin and Caution in abstaining from such Scandals as would certainly draw upon them either a total Separation from the Church and the Hopes of Salvation or the necessity of undergoing the same Severities The sight of those Penitents was more instructive to ordinary Christians than all the most elaborate Invectives against Sin or Exhortations to Repentance representing to them at once the Guilt the Horror the Shame and the Punishment of Sin Nor was their Repentance to be accounted less real or internal because attended with such outward Professions rather these gave an evident Argument of the reality and sincerity of their Repentance since to take away the Guilt and remove the Scandal of their Sin and reconcile themselves to God and his Church they refused not to undergo the long and strict Severities of publick Pennance and which of all things is most repugnant to the Inclinations of humane Nature to put themselves to open Shame In like manner however ordinarily speaking Charity ought to be done in secret and our Lord hath largely warned us To take heed lest we do our Alms before Men to be seen of them that is for this only Reason that we may be seen and praised by them yet if we do our Alms before Men that they may see them and by seeing them may be excited either to glorifie God or to practice the like Charity then it is not only lawful not only secureth the Rewards promised to Charity but also becometh of excellent advantage to the Church and the Honour of God and entitleth to the Rewards due to the Propagation of Religion and the Divine Glory However it might be in ancient Times or former Ages when almost all Christians exercised Charity even to profuseness certainly in our Age which is chiefly deficient in the practice of this Duty it would be a noble Undertaking in any to restore the Practice of it by the Lustre of any eminent and publick Example And although very great Rewards be promised to secret Charity it is not to be doubted but that to publick Charity exercised in such Cases much greater are reserved if it be not corrupted with any mixture of vain Glory or ignoble Designs because such hath not only all the Effects of secret Charity in relieving the Wants of others but farther also contributeth very much to the Honour of God the common good of the Church and the Edification of other Men. In all these and other like Cases the advantage produced thereby to the Church consists not so much in exciting others by the force of Example to the Imitation and Practice of the same good Works although that be very great as in the Conviction of the truth of Christianity which it invincibly formeth in the Minds of Men. To Persons of ordinary Capacities and Knowledge such as constitute the far greater part of the Church there can be no more certain Argument of the Truth of that Religion which they profess than that the same is professed by so great a number of eminent and excellent Persons If they believe the Profession of others to be sincere and real themselves will Assent without any Scruple if they suspect their reality themselves will be tempted to Infidelity Now the publick and eminent performance of good Works give the only evident Demonstration of the sincerity of the perswasion of other Men since in a Countrey where any Religion prevails by Custom and Education a verbal Profession of it may be only the effect of either and not to contradict it may be due only to common Civility But whoever publickly performeth good Works giveth an undeniable Testimony that he doth in earnest believe the Truth of what he professeth and thereby disposing others to the same belief increaseth the number of the Faithful and advanceth the Glory of God performeth the Duty enjoyned in my Text and shall receive the Reward of it Thus much of the End to which exemplary Piety ought to be directed the Glory of God and that this End will really be
obtained by it I proceed in the last place to shew The Honour of God is promoted by the Praises and by the Service of Men. The Praise of God is directly promoted by the good Works of his own Servants while other Men viewing the Excellency of their Actions raise their Thoughts to God the Fountain of them and conceive somewhat yet greater and more excellent in him Necessarily concluding that if that imperfect Light which may be discovered in the Soul of Man be yet so glorious the Perfection of the Divine Nature exceedeth all Imagination That if such eminent Acts of Goodness be performed by frail Men in Obedience to his Will in him devoid of Frailty and Imperfection the Fulness of all Goodness dwells if the Actions of his Servants deserve Love and Praise much more will the Operations of him their Lord and Master proclaim him worthy of Honour and Adoration But this manner of reflecting Honour upon God from the good works of his faithful Servants is not so much respected by our Lord in this place as the Instruction and Conversion of other Men who by the good Example of true Christians may be brought to the knowledge of the Truth to the love of Vertue and to the practice of their Duty to effect which eminent Examples have no less force than Reason or Arguments This giveth Authority to Vertue and taketh off the Reproach of being singular It relieveth the Modesty of new Beginners and encourageth to pursue their Course so well begun notwithstanding the Scorn and Derision of prophane Men. To tender and unexperienced Minds there is no greater Obstacle of Goodness than the fear of being singular thereby The natural impressions of Reason may incline to the Exercise of Vertue but yet they have not the Courage to swim against the Stream to oppose their single Example to the prevailling Corruption of a sinful World nor bear up against the Contempt of wicked Men without the Patronage and Assistance of other great and good Examples whose practice they may plead in their own behalf and that defence which the weakness of their Judgment inableth them not to draw from Reason they may draw from their Authority Altho' not only weaker Minds but even more ingenuous and understanding Persons while unexperienced in the World are not able to shock the Power of a general Example If they be convinced of their Duty they yet want Boldness to execute it and dread nothing more than the Suspicion of Affectation or fear of appearing singular Whence it is that youth especially suffers by ill Examples who through a natural Modesty are ever wont to accommodate themselves to the prevailing Fashion Further a good Example instructeth the more ignorant part of Mankind both in the Rules and the Obligation of their Duty Few are enabled at least few take the pains to examine the Grounds of that Religion into which they were baptized to discover the Truth and convince themselves of the Obligation of it They rely herein upon the Judgment of others whom they esteem wiser than themselves whom they find to profess no Religion or which is all one to Act as if they had none they supercede the Labour of any further Enquiry and dismiss all Resolutions of Goodness On the contrary if it be found by them that wise Men or so accounted who by their Learning were fully enabled to discover the truth of things to find out the Cheat of Religion if it were indeed such have after a diligent and accurate search been so fully convinced of the truth of it that they have been content to hazard their Lives to restrain their Pleasures to deny their Passions from the perswasion of it if great and illustrious Persons who had opportunity of improving all the Pleasures of Life to the most exquisite satisfaction yet moderated and limited them in Obedience to the Laws of Religion To a vulgar Mind there can be no greater assurance than the experience of this and if he finds this he there rests satisfied if not he proceeds no farther And from this experience also he draws the Rules of his Conduct even after a general Conviction of his Obligation In all doubtful Actions and Cases of Conscience he consults the example of his Superiours and pursueth the way which they have marked out to him following them as he supposeth them to follow the true Light Nay to generous as well as vulgar Minds example is an effectual Motive of Vertue To such Emulation is the most powerful Argument and a noble disdain of being exceeded in any thing that is Excellent and Praise-worthy To them the preference of any other is a reproach of their own Sloth and when others have gone before with Reward and Praise it is uneasie to stay behind It was this Principle of generosity which kept up Vertue among the Heathens it is this which gave rise and increase to Arts and Sciences and which now maintaineth Valour Our Lord hath improved the use of it and directed it to a yet more noble End proposing the Excellency and the Rewards of Obedience holding out the Crown of Victory and encouraging us to strive for the Mastery He hath in this Precept concerning Exemplariness given to us a yet further Scope for the Exercise of Generosity not only proposing Rewards to the Conquerors to those of a more elevated Vertue but also to such who excited by their illustrious Example should follow them altho' at a distance making them thereby the Instruments of saving others and that possibly in great numbers At least there is scarce any one of us so inconsiderable who may not have so much Influence and Authority upon some one or other as to move and direct him by his Example which if he doth he will for ever enjoy this satisfaction that he hath been the occasion of infinite Happiness to another which to a good and a generous Mind is a strong Argument of the pursuit and practice of those Vertues and Perfections which may make him Exemplary that so he may promote the Reformation of the World and the eternal Happiness of other Men. It may seem indeed past hope that in this degenerate Age when so few endeavour to obtain their own Salvation or are good for their own sake any should attempt it for the sake of other Men. Yet I do not despair that there are yet such generous Minds left in the World who esteem it no small Felicity to themselves to promote the good of other Men and acting upon this perswasion study to be good and excellent that by their Example others may be drawn to the same Practice and thereby secure to themselves a state of Happiness To such exemplary Persons frequent Praise is given and eminent Rewards promised more particularly in Daniel XII 3. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever The Lustre of our Lord's Example is compared to