Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A56694
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A sermon preached before the King, on St. Stephen's-day by Sy. Patrick ...
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Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.
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1676
(1676)
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Wing P839; ESTC R23416
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11,988
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37
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more than any thing else the force and vertue of any mans mind As Complaints continual Repinings and violent Commotions argue weakness and infirmity so silent Meekness chearful Submission and quiet composed Patience when we suffer wrongfully speak an Heart indued with strength and fortitude The World indeed thinks those most powerful who can do wrong and not be punished for it they that can irresistably overpower and oppress others have gained the Titles of Mighty Illustrious and Magnanimous but in a right estimation of things these Titles belong to such Souls as can suffer all the evil that those men do with an humble constancy and meek resignation of themselves to the Will of God These are the truly Great and Unconquerable Spirits these ought most to be admired and renowned for they remain Victorious even over their insulting Enemies they triumph over those that lead them captive Who find a stop put to the course of their Conquests when they meet with such Spirits as cannot be subdued nay are in pain and inwardly grieved to see men suffer chearfully more than they can lay upon them Jacuit inter poenas poenis suis fortior Epist XXXIV c. says S. Cyprian of Celerinus He lay tormented stronger than the torments he indured freer in prison than they that shut him in higher when flat upon the ground than they that trampled on him more at liberty in chains than they that bound him sublimer by far when condemned than they that sate on the Bench and judged him It was a sublime Spirit indeed that posssed these mens Breasts for it raised them by these means not only above the common rank of mankind and above all those who had astonished the World with their Greatness and Power but far above those gods whom the Nations worshipped Most of which had left no Records but of their Amours their Pleasures and Volupteous Enjoyments and none of which had made themselves remarkable for patient Innocence and pious Passing by injuries without any thought or desire of revenge This was a thing proper to the Christian Hero's as the Martyrs and Confessors may be justly called who became hereby more than Men and as some of the Ancients ventured to say more than Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Agonies and Conflicts they endured in their bodies excelling those Natures which have no bodies and consequently no such pains and miseries to contend withal as those Souls incumbred with Flesh overcame Which proclaimed so loudly the Power of the Ineffable Father in them as Justin one of these Martyrs speaks that they won the hearts of sober Pagans to the Service of that God who inspired his worshippers with such meek and humble but resolved and undaunted Spirits Which is the second thing II. That Christianity was hereby marvellously promoted and made a great progress in the World though this seemed to be the ready way to extinguish it Celsus himself as great an enemy as he was to Christianity was put to his shifts and forced to quit his former Principles when he came to consider the sufferings of the Martyrs Though he was an Epicuraean in his other Writings Lib. 1. contra Cels as Origen tells us yet when he set himself to dispute against Christian Religion he could not but confess that it was a Generous and Worthy thing to lay down their Lives in the Defence of it and that nothing was more base than for a Man to flinch from a true Opinion for fear of danger For he goes on to acknowledg when he was in this good mood that there is in Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something better than his earthy part which is says he of kin to God And therefore all well-bred Souls desire to be near to their Original and would willingly know more of him A worthy Confession which the power of Truth sometimes extorts from its greatest Enemies And it was eminently verified in this holy Martyr of whom we may speak truly in his words that being well bred in the School of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he desired by all means to be with his Heavenly Kindred Which he knew would not lessen the Family of Christ here on earth but rather increase it and make it more numerous For as skilful Wrestlers says S. Greg. Nyss by yielding a little and bowing their bodies under those that contend with them more easily overthrow them and lay them flat on the ground So did this grrat Stephen bruise the mighty Adversary the Devil by falling to the earth himself Then it was that the Apostles were driven away from Jerusalem and began to run throughout the World This was the occasion of the Publishing of the Word every where to the ruine of the Devil's Kingdom And besides this his wonderful Piety and compassionate Kindness even to his Persecutors we may rationally think touch'd some of their Hearts and made them relent and turn to God For at that very time when they were murdering him he like a Spiritual Priest as the fore-named Father speaks whose blood was sprinkled against their will before God interceded with great charity for them saying Lord lay not this sin to their charge When their brutish fury was a little over and they reflected on what had passed with some coolness they could not sure but some of them be melted with such ardent love as well as astonished at such rare courage For in succeeding times it is certain Christian Patience had such effect upon many hearts that it gave a great stroke to their conversion unto Christ Justin whom I mentioned before professes That the first thing that inclined him to the faith of Christ was the devout constancy which he beheld in those who suffered for it And Tertullian avows in his Apology to all the Pagan world that Cicero Seneca Pyrrho Callinicus with all the rest of their great Writers who had exhorted men to indure pain and death could never make so many Disciples by their Eloquent words as simple Christians had done by their deeds Illa ipsa obstinatio quam ex probatis Magistra est That very obstinate Resolution which you upbraid us withal is a Mistress that instructs the world Who is there that beholds it and is not moved to enquire into the cause And who is there that takes the pains to enquire into the cause and doth not become a Proselyte to this Religion and who is there that becomes a Proselyte to it and is not ready also to lose his life for it that he may obtain the favour of God with the expence of his blood And indeed it may be questioned whether the Apostles and their followers did more amaze the world by the wonder of their Miracles or by their stupendious patience under the most cruel Torments This I think is certain That the Divine manner of their suffering was a thing less controverted than their prodigious astonishing works They I mean who disputed the last could not but admire and
A SERMON Preached before the KING ON St Stephen's-day By SY PATRICK D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY Printed By His Majesties Special Command LONDON Printed by A. Maxwell for R. Royston Bookseller to His Most Sacred Majesty at the Angel in Amen-corner 1676. A SERMON Preached before the KING On St. Stephen's day 1675. ACT. VII 59. And they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my Spirit O How beautiful is a Succession of Good things as St. Gregory Nyssen cries out in a Sermon on this Festival How sweet is it when one Pleasure transmits us to another and the end of the present is the beginning of a new Satisfaction Behold here that which we all so much desire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Feast after Feast and Grace upon Grace Yesterday the Lord of all entertained us to day we are invited by the noble Imitator of our Lord. The one feasted us by putting on the Man for us the other by putting off the Man for him the one by coming down into the Dungeon of this Life as he calls it for our sake the other by going out of it for his O happy life of Christians whom their Lord would have to rejoyce alway and in every thing to give thanks first for him and then for those Worthies that followed him For next to the most Blessed Redeemer of Mankind the great Captain of our Salvation those blessed Saints who were the great Champions of his holy Truth challenge our solemn and devout Commemoration The Christian Religion which comforts us with such a blessed Hope was propagated by their means especially by their Sufferings Col. 1.24 which filled up as St. Paul speaks that which was behind or wanting of the afflictions of Christ in their flesh There were no Sufferings wanting indeed to complete Christ's Satisfaction but there did some remain to complete the Testimony which he had begun to give by Blood to the Truth of God These the Apostles and other Great persons filled up and finished in those parts of the World where he had not himself in Person appeared There they published the same Truth for which he died and testified and confirmed it in the same manner that he had done by laying down their Life for it so that in them he still lived and preached and wrought wonders and was persecuted and despised Death and subdued the Nations under his feet He that overcame death once for us says one of these Martyrs overcomes it always in us In us he fights and in us he conquers In these combats which we constantly endure coronat pariter coronatur he both crowns and is likewise crowned They are the words of S. Cyprian Epist VIII Now among all those Triumphant Souls who so honourably witnessed to our Saviour the most Eminent was this Glorious Martyr S. Stephen whose Memory is this day celebrated because he was the first who subscribed the Christian Doctrine and sealed it with his Blood becoming thereby Primicerius Martyrum as S. Aug. calls him the Chief the Prince and Captain of the Martyrs as Christ is the Prince and Captain of their and our Salvation Before he had seen any mere Man leading him the way when there were no footsteps but those of our Saviours wherein to tread he led the way himself in a Bloody path and arrived to the Honour of being the First-born of all those whose Nativities that is Martyrdoms the Church commemorates with her Praises and Thanksgivings And this he did in the very first year as it is most probable after our Lord's Ascension to the Throne of his Glory and when he had but newly received Imposition of Hands Lib. 11. Hist Eccles c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eusebius speaks as if he had been Ordained only for this Ministry to sacrifice his Life for the Testimony of Jesus It is an easie thing as S. Gregory Nazianzen speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be a Christian when there is no danger and when there is all sufferings are the easier when we have many Companions or glorious Examples to encourage us But it is the singular priviledg and peculiar glory of this Saint that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He was the first that opened the passage to the quire of Martyrs Greg. Nyss Eusebius the first that resisted unto blood striving against sin the first that was adorned agreeable to his Name with the crown and diadem of confession It is not my intention nor will the time permit me to relate the whole story of this great mans sufferings together with the occasion of them how he over-powered his Adversaries with the Wisdom and Spirit wherewith he proved Jesus to be the Son of God how he astonished them with the Wonders and Miracles he did among the people how he stopt the mouths of those that disputed with him and how False Witnesses were thereupon suborned to bring in an Accusation against him but shall only note the Invincible Resolution and the Pious Patience of this Blessed Martyr under all that he endured For they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit Stoning was the heaviest Punishment that the Law of Moses enacted against the most grievous Crimes If a man had blasphemed God or made his Children pass through the fire to Moloch or committed villany with a Beast or cursed his Parents to name none of the rest of those XVIII sorts of sinners who were to be thus used they could do no more to shew their detestation of his wickedness than to dash him against the stones and if that did not dispatch him to throw stones at him till he died Now when a whole showre of these came pouring down on this Good-mans head when the blind Multitude ran upon him with such a rage as if he had been the vilest creature on Gods earth it did not move his spirit in the least to any unchristian passion nor extort from him one angry one revengeful one unseemly word He only commended himself to God and prayed for his Persecutors and expressed his hope in Jesus that when they had beaten his Soul out of his Body he would receive it unto himself And great reason he had for such Hope being already advanced by the Faith of Christ to such an Heavenly and God-like nature as to express the greatest love to those who hated him so bitterly and to expose himself to the greatest danger for the sake of Christian Piety which he desired by these means to propagate even among its most deadly enemies And if we rightly consider it we shall not easily find any thing that so much declares the Greatness the Excellency and as I may call it the Divineness of any mans spirit or tends so effectually to promote the Christian Faith as truly pious Patience under the greatest Sufferings upon its account I. First I say it is an argument of a great and noble Spirit it declares