before mentioned that is unless we rise from Sin to die again Lastly the Justice of God and the incomparable Humility and Patience of Christ manifested in his Sufferings rendred it not possible not fit that he should be holden of Death He died not for his own but for the Sins of others and to demonstrate that his own Guilt drew not that Punishment upon him it was agreeable to the Justice of God to raise him up to relieve the Cause of oppressed Innocence and not suffer his Persecutors any longer to triumph in their wickedness Further by his exact Obedience by his inimitable Patience in suffering the Pains and his admirable Humility in undergoing the Shame of the Cross he did deserve to be raised up that as he had humbled himself in so extraordinary a manner so he should be exalted to a no less illustrious Glory And therefore the Sufferings and Humility of Christ are frequently assigned as the meritorious Cause of his Exaltation It was long before Prophesied of him Psal. CX 7. He shall drink of the brook in the way therefore shall he lift up his head And after his Passion and Ascension it is said of him by St. Paul Philip. II. He humbled himself and became obedient to death even the deash of the Cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him The first step of his Exaltation was his Resurrection which therefore was to relate to both those parts of his Humane Nature which had undergone that meritorious Humiliation Not only his Soul had suffered Agonies and the Contradiction of sinners had resigned it self intirely into the hands of God and submitted quietly to the Execution of that bitter Sentence which was inflicted on him as the Representative of sinful Men had endured the Shame of the Cross the insults of his Enemies a violent Separation from the Body with invincible Patience and Charity But also his Body had partaken in his Agony had sweat drops of Blood had endured Scourgings and Buffettings Crucifixion and the wound of the Spear Both Soul and Body therefore were to share in the Reward of all these Sufferings which began to be bestowed on him in his Resurrection His Body was to be raised from the Grave and his Soul being in no other Sense capable of Resurrection was to be reunited to the Body and both to continue for ever joyned since by his Death and Resurrection he is become the Mediator of a new and eternal Covenant Thus I have passed through the several parts of the Text and from the whole I shall make but one Inference proper to the Solemnity of this day If the Resurrection of Christ be the great and ultimate Confirmation of the Christian Religion that upon which our Faith is founded our hopes are raised that by which the Mystery of our Redemption is compleated the Author of it Crowned and advanced to be the Head of all the faithful who look for the same Resurrection it becomes us to celebrate this Festival Dedicated to the Memory of it with a suitable Religion We are not to account it an Arbitrary institution or the invention of the Church that this day is accounted Sacred beyond all others of the Year Our Lord hath made it so by rising from the Dead and compleating the Redemption of Mankind on it No revealed Religion was yet ever professed in the World which did not celebrate some certain and solemn Festivals at fixed times of the year and to cast off the publick Solemnization of those Festivals upon which the most illustrious Acts of the Life of our Saviour were performed is no other than in Fact to deny all belief in him and relation to him It is not enough to say that he hath declared he will be worshipped in Spirit and Truth He was himself then going up to Jerusalem to celebrate a solemn Festival when he spake those words And surely unless there be solemn times and places of worshipping him in Spirit and Truth it will never appear that he is so worshipped nor is he worshipped in Truth when Men pay no external Acknowledgments of those eminent Benefits which he hath truly obtained to them Himself hath consecrated this day by his rising from the Grave on it The Apostles have Dedicated it to this sacred Use by their own and by Divine Authority The Jews had before celebrated one day in seven in Recognition of their adoring that God who had created the World in Six days and rested on the Seventh and that Seventh day which they celebrated rather than any other of the Week was sanctified in Memory of their Deliverance out of Egypt wrought upon that day as it is Deut. V. 15. Remember that thou wast a Servant in the Land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day As the Jews therefore dated their Seventh day for ever from that day of their Deliverance out of Egypt so the Apostles began and the Church hath to this day continued to date their Seventh day from the day upon which their Redemption was compleated A Redemption so far greater than that given to the Jews from the Bondage of Egypt that well might the day instituted in remembrance of their Deliverance give way to the day celebrated in Honour of our Redemption This change therefore was made by the Apostles immediately upon the Resurrection of our Lord and even before his Ascension and so no doubt by his personal Direction and Approbation For all the religious Assemblies we find of them both before and after his Ascension were upon the first day of the Week That so as the Jews acknowledged their belief in God the Creator of the World by celebrating one day in seven and manifested their Worship of that God who brought them out of Egypt by Solemnizing for ever that Seventh day in which he brought them out So we Christians should declare that we worship the same God the Creator of the World by celebrating one day in seven and also manifest that we worship him in and through Jesus Christ by Sanctifying for ever that Seventh day upon which the great and last Act of our Redemption wrought by him was performed which is therefore in Scripture called the Lords Day Rev. I. 10. Farther as the particular Day of the weekly Festival of the Jews was determined by their Deliverance out of Egypt wrought upon the Seventh day so the far greatest of their Annual Solemnities was instituted in Commemoration of that Deliverance effected in the first Month of the year This God did institute by a special Command which was at large repeated to you in the first Lesson of this day And exacted the Observation of it with so great Rigour that he declared That Soul which did not keep this annual Feast should be cut off from Israel And can we imagine that God should require such eminent external Testimonies
HENRY WHARTON A.M. ONE and TWENTY SERMONS Preach'd in LAMBETH CHAPEL BEFORE The most Reverend Father in God Dr. WILLIAM SANCROFT late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury In the Years MDCLXXXIX MDCXC By the Learned HENRY WHARTON M. A. Chaplain to His Grace Being the Second and Last VOLUME LONDON Printed for â—i Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church Yard MDCXCVIII THE CONTENTS SERMON I. JOhn XVI 8. And when he the Comforter is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment Pag. 1 SERMON II. 1 Cor. II. 11. The things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God p. 25 SERMON III. Esther V. 13. Yet all this availeth me nothing p. 51 SERMON IV. Job XXXVII 23 24. Touching the Almighty we cannot find him out He is excellent in power and in judgment and in plenty of justice he will not afflict Men do therefore fear him p. 76 SERMON V. Rom. XII 3. For I say unto you through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think p. 99 SERMON VI and VII 1 Pet. V. 8 9. Your Adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour Whom resist stedfast in the Faith p. 124 150 SERMON VIII S. Mark VIII 36. For what shall it profit Man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own Soul p. 181 SERMON IX S. Luk. XVI 31. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead p. 220 SERMON X. S. John VIII 12. I am the Light of the world He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the Light of Life p. 243 SERMON XI 1 Pet. IV. 18. And if the Righteous sourcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the Sinner appear p. 266 SERMON XII Matth. XI 30. For my Yoke is easie and my Burthen is light p. 291 SERMON XIII Rom. XII 19. Dearly beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath For it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. p. 318 SERMON XIV Acts X. 24. Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it p. 352 SERMON XV XVI XVII 1 Tim. II. 8. I will therefore that Men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting p. 380 411 431 SERMON XVIII 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 p. 466 SERMON XIX Mark XVI 19. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right of God p. 494 SERMON XX. Matth. V. 16. Let your light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorify your Father which is Heaven p. 521 SERMON XXI Luk. II. 14. Glory to God in the highest and on Earth Peace Good-will towards Men. p. 567 The First SERMON ON WHIT SUNDAY 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL John XVI 8. And when he the Comforter is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment THE Mission of the Holy Ghost which we this day commemorate was the Final Confirmation and Completion of the Christian Religion which perfected the Mystery of the Redemption of Mankind and at the same time set the last Seal to the truth of it Our Saviour had indeed long before gathered a Select number of faithful Apostles and Disciples but can scarce be said to have founded a Church till he poured out the Holy Ghost upon them Till then their Notions of the intention of Christ's coming into the World were dark and obscure their apprehensions of the Nature and Constitution of the Kingdom to be founded by him false and frivolous and as they certainly knew not what form of Faith to profess so they dared not profess it openly Their religious Meetings were yet in secret and no Attempts yet made to form a Church by Conversion of Jews and Gentiles Their thoughts were not so much fixed upon the remembrance of what their Master had done and suffered as upon the Expectation of somewhat more to be done by him that is upon the hopes of the Comforter which he promised to them They wanted yet those Perfections of mind which might qualifie them for the Execution of their designed Office that Zeal and Charity which might animate and direct all the Members of the Church that Knowledge and Understanding which might fit them for Pastors and Teachers in the absence of their Master All these Advantages were abundantly conferr'd these Necessities supplied by the sending of the Holy Ghost as upon this day Then they received internal light a full understanding of the Mysteries of the Messias a clear Knowledge of all that had been delivered to them then they obtained Abilities to execute the Office of Preaching to which they were designed and Courage to undertake it Then they began as to possess an assured and rational Belief of Christ so to profess and declare their Belief in him So that the Reception of the Holy Ghost was to them what Baptism is to us an entrance into the Church of Christ according to what our Saviour had foretold to them after his Resurrection Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence These were the Advantages conferred upon the Faithful by the coming of the Holy Ghost but these were not all The chief design of his coming was to lay the Foundations of propagating the Belief of Christ through the whole World and to offer the benefits of his Death and Passion to all the Members of Mankind to assert the Divinity of Christ to manifest the truth of his Doctrine to vindicate the Honour of God to convince the World of their Obligation to believe in him and to confound the opposition of his Adversaries To this grand Design the aforementioned Gifts bestowed upon the Apostles were subservient being such as enabled them to Preach the Word and confirm the Truth of it to all Nations under Heaven The Publication of the Gospel had hitherto been reserved shut up in dark Speeches and Parabolical Expressions confined to an Hundred and twenty Disciples which we read to have been the number of them in the First of the Acts. But from this day it was to be set in a clear Light communicated to all without obscurity or reserve and propagated to all parts of the habitable World The Person of our Saviour Christ had hitherto appeared mean and contemptible no Signs or Tokens of his glorious Kingdom were yet to be found but now he was to be rescued from that Imputation by visible and undeniable Effects of Divine Power his Kingdom was to commence in the hearts of Men and become Glorious both from the Number and Piety of his Followers The Jews had
the far greater part of those to whom he writ For it was written in the Prophet Isaiah Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him So that it is undeniable that the Will of God and the Mysteries of Heaven may be unknown to Men acting by the sole Light of Reason but to Men acquainted with the Divine Revelations concerning them may be certainly known Now this is the case of Christianity For as it followeth in the tenth Verse God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit that is by his Son acting by the Spirit and Commission of God and by his Holy Spirit instructing the Apostles in the knowledge of them and confirming them by Signs following And that such Revelation is infallible none can deny for that it proceedeth from one who infallibly knew the Truth of what he taught even the Spirit of God For the Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God And least any one should except to these Revelations and deny assent to them because they are things which he never thought of before and which even when revealed to him he cannot well conceive The Apostle shews us that we have no reason to wonder or stumble at this from the obvious Example of the Soul of Man in the 11th Verse The Nature of which cannot be conceived by any Being inferiour to it nor the Secrets or the secret Thoughts of it found out by any Being equal to it For what Man knoweth the things of a Man save the Spirit of Man which is in him Yet would it be unreasonable for an inferiour Being if it could speak and argue to deny that the Soul of Man is endued with noble Faculties because it cannot conceive the Nature of them or for one Man to deny that there are any secret Thoughts in the Soul of another because he cannot attain to the knowledge of them And if things be so then we must allow the Conclusion drawn in the Text Even so the things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God and not unreasonably doubt of the truth of them because we cannot conceive the manner and nature of them So then all Objections drawn from the difficulty of the Conception cease and it remains only to consider whether the alledged Revelation be truly Divine This therefore the Apostle asserts in the 12th Verse declaring his Preaching of it to be founded not upon bare Conjectures and nice Conclusions as were the Systems of Philosophy then received and applauded in the World from which he distinguisheth the Christian Faith by these two Characters that this proceeded from the Revelation of God that from the Invention of Men Now we have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God And that whereas the Gentile Philosophy the Wisdom of this World contributed nothing to promote the Happiness of Man and secure to him the Favour of God The other effected both the end of it being no other than that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God Further these Matters when once Revealed and come to our Knowledge as we propose not to others with Artificial Sophistry and Rhetorick so we judge not of the truth of them by pure Arguments of Natural Reason and Logical Inferences Which things also we speak not in the Words which Man's Wisdom teacheth Ver. 13. But as we teach them with that plainness and simplicity which God directeth and confirm the truth of them with those Miracles which he effecteth so we judge of the truth of them no otherwise than by comparing the Nature of the Things revealed with the general Motives of Christian Faith as it followeth But with the Wisdom which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual Now the necessity of this Method in our Enquiry herein the Apostle demonstrates in the 14th Ver. But the natural Man He who judgeth these Revelations only according to his Preconceived Notions taken up from natural Reason and refuseth to believe any thing which he receiveth not from them who weigheth not the external Motives of Credibility reinforcing these Revelations He receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God believeth not these revealed Truths which surmount the reach of naked reason For which reason also They are foolishness unto him because he considers only the difficulty of them and regardeth not the external Arguments of Revelation by which they are recommended So that while he acteth in this irrational Method he cannot know them it is impossible to be convinced of them because they are spiritually discerned not to be found out by the sole Light of Reason but to be received only upon the account of Divine Revelation Whereas he who understandeth well the Motives of Christian Faith and compareth the weight of them with the difficulty of the things Revealed He that is Spiritual Ver. 15. judgeth all things may safely and without Error pronounce of this Matter And in doing so he is not justly to be over-ruled with the Objections of those who consider the thing absolutely in it self and not compared with its Motives of Credibility Yet he himself is judged of no Man Since plain Reason directeth that if the Motives be found weightier than the Difficulties he should declare in favour of the thing Revealed and not be startled at the Difficulties as concerning a subject exceeding the natural Understanding of Man and to be known no otherwise than by the Revelation of God who best knew the truth of it which Revelation we have as it follows in the last Verse For who hath known the Mind of the Lord that he may Instruct him But we have the Mind of Christ. From all that hath been laid down by the Apostle in the Context thus explained we may form these two Considerations whereby to determine the Truth of this Matter I. That we ought not to reject any Articles of Revelation nor be offended at them meerly because we cannot fully conceive the manner of them II. That in judging of the Truth of these Matters we must not consider their internal Probability so much as their external Motives of Credibility First then we ought not to reject any Articles of Faith nor be scandalized at them because we cannot fully conceive the Nature or manner of them For this we cannot rationally do unless we were assured that we fully knew all things and were able to conceive the nature of all Objects Which that we are not we may be convinced if we consider either the Imperfection of our own Understanding or the excellency of many Objects exceeding the Capacity of it 1. The Imperfection of our Understanding appears both from the Consideration of our Nature and from manifold Experience The nature of the Soul of Man is finite and so must the Faculties of it also be One of these is the Understanding which if it were infinite
Conviction would be no less unuseful and unsuccessful than are the ordinary means And that will appear either if we reflect on the Reasons which defeat the Success of the ordinary means or the force of those Objections to which both Methods are liable The true Cause which renders the ordinary means unsuccessful is not the want of Evidence but the opposition of it to the Lusts and Passions of Men. It finds no welcome Reception in World because contrary to the Genius the of it it abridgeth the Sensuality the corrupt Desires and inclinations of Mankind A covetous Man will not obey it least he should forgoe the immoderate Love of Riches A carnal Man will not receive it least he be obliged to restrain his admired Enjoyments It forbiddeth Revenge Envy and Malice and therefore Minds possessed with these Vices cannot bear it These are the Impediments which defeat the Efficacy of the Christian Religion they plead more strongly and perswade more effectually than the Arguments which recommend that excellent Religion Few or none who enter into the Consideration of it perceive not the just Motives of its Credibility They acknowledge it reasonable to Assent to it but then comparing the Pleasure of sin forbidden by it with the certainty of those Promises and Threats which are annexed to it they willingly over see and reject the latter that they may not forego the former And while Men act thus against the Dictates of Reason no Evidence of Miracles will be able to reform them If any such were performed for their satisfaction it could have no other Effect than to convince them of the reasonableness and truth of that Religion in Confirmation of which they were wrought and this Conviction is already sufficiently performed by the ordinary means So that in both Cases Reason directs them to embrace and obey this Divine Revelation and if in one Case the direction of reason be rejected it can scarce be hoped that in another it will be admitted For all true Piety and Religion proceeds upon this Principle a Resolution of performing whatsoever Reason shall direct And if this Principle be once violated it is no matter whether the Evidence of Reason be greater or less since the Man is resolved not to obey it any farther than it shall agree with his own Lusts. For Miracles affect the understanding only they reform not the Will of Man They induce him indeed to look up to the Author of them from whom he is to receive direction but remove not those Lusts and Passions which oppose the performance of that Divine Direction The same irregular Desires continue the same Affections possess his Soul and will infallibly render the greatest Evidence of Duty unsuccessful until a firm Resolution be formed by him of performing whatsoever shall appear to be his Duty of submitting to whatsoever Reason shall direct of Assenting to whatsoever it shall recommend And when this Resolution is once formed the ordinary means setled for the Conveyance of Religion will obtain equal Success with any extraordinary methods whatsoever since even in that sufficient Evidence may be found to convince Mankind of the truth of it and therefore Reason directs and requires Obedience and Assent to it No wonder then that the Jews even under the Government of Moses while they enjoyed the sight of frequent Miracles nay for Forty years together were fed by a constant Miracle continued still no less disobedient made frequent Apostacies from God rebelled against his Prophet by whose Ministration those Miracles were performed and could never be brought to any tolerable sense or practice of Religion In departing out of Egypt they had not left their vicious Inclinations behind them but retained the same Sensuality and Perverseness of mind In which Case it was not possible that the clearest Demonstration of Divine Revelation could make any impression on them It was all one whether God wrought one or ten thousand Miracles for their satisfaction since one alone might convince them and all together could do no more as a blind Man receives no more advantage from the light of the Sun than from a single Star Our Lord indeed saith in Matth. XI 21. That if the mighty works which were done in Bethsaida among the Jews had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes But this may well be supposed to have been said rather to exaggerate the Impenitence and Perverseness of the Jews than to declare what would have been the certain Event if those Miracles had really been performed in Tyre and Sidon Besides the Case was infinitely different between the Jews and the Tyrians The former had a standing Rule of Faith whereby to receive the Knowledge of the Will of God in the Writings of Moses and the Prophets the others wanted that advantage The Tradition of the first Patriarchs whence they also descended had been worn out by a long Succession of time and the Notions of natural Religion had been defaced by long disuse so that Miracles were even necessary to supply that defect and restore the Knowledge of true Religion among them and had they seen the mighty works of the blessed Jesus it is not improbable but that they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes Farther if we consider the common Objections to which the ordinary method of conveying Religion long since setled without Miracles and the extraordinary method by Miracles are subject we shall find them equal on both sides The general Objection against the ordinary method is the want of absolute Demonstration and even altho' Miracles should be always continu'd that still would be wanting Men desirous to retain their Vices in Contradiction to the Precepts of Religion would still alledge That those Miracles were no other than Illusions that their Senses deceived them or were imposed on by Tricks and Impostures Particularly that sort of method which the rich Man in the Text desired might be employed for the Conversion of his Brethren would be of all others the most exceptionable I mean the Apparition of the Spirits of deceased Men assuring the living of the reality of another Life It would be impossible to form Rules whereby to distinguish true from imaginary Apparitions the appearance of humane Souls from Illusion of evil Spirits Or if such Rules could be formed Men could never be assured of the Truth of what they should reveal since the Souls of Men put not off their Vices with the Body and may still retain such Sins as may be Exercised without the assistance of corporeal Organs such as Envy Malice Lying and Fraud Or if all these Difficulties were removed the Terror and Affrightment attending such Apparitions would infallibly hinder all clear Perception either of the reality of the Apparition or of the Matters revealed in it If then there be any here as it is a Prejudice common to many Christians who imagines that if he had lived in the time of Christ and his Apostles and had seen with
their secret Malice assigning the Cause of all to be their Love of Justice of their Religion or of their Countrey And such is the Credulity of Mankind that these Pretences seldom want Success covering the Malice and Rancor of a canker'd Soul and giving the most easie and secure Opportunities of Revenge All are apt to censure and condemn Revenge when proceeding from the Principle of false Honour which was before mentioned because the Motive of it is not and cannot be dissembled yet in Truth this sort of Revenge is infinitely less Criminal than the former arising from Hatred and Malice however dissembled and assuming to it self more specious Names This is formed by a violent Commotion of Mind which lasteth not many hours but that by an hardned Malice which worketh secretly for many years together This is commonly effected in the heat of Blood when the Soul hath scarce time to recollect it self or command the unruly Passions of the Body but that is raised and carried on by deliberate thought and resolution which is the utmost Aggravation that any sin can receive This may sometime fall even upon a good Man who through the heat of Passion and from a violent Indignation of receiving unworthy Injuries may suddenly be betrayed to the Desire or the Execution of Revenge but of the other a good Man can never be guilty since it is impossible that Hatred and Malice which are habitual sins should consist with the least degree of Goodness In all habitual sins the Mind cannot but many times reflect upon its own Diseases and be as often convinced of the unlawfulness of those Vices which it nourisheth The Divine Prohibition of those sins often recurs to the Memory and the Soul cannot but be conscious of her own Diseases yet in spight of all these Considerations the Man resolveth to retain his Hatred and Malice towards others And in this Resolution is encouraged from the Consideration that these sins being close and secret will consist with the pretence of Sanctity and may be serviceable to him in his base Designs against his Neighbours And of this sort are all the sins of Hypocrites fixed and determinate Resolutions of persevering in opposition to the Laws of God and still making use of his glorious Name to carry on private Designs No wonder then that in Scripture the most severe Punishments are still denounced against Hypocrites since theirs are all deliberate sins such as Oppression Covetousness Injustice Lying Slandering Perfidiousness Hatred and Malice all sins of the most enormous Guilt and heightened by this farther Consideration that the specious pretences of Piety Religion and Zeal are made use of to execute the several Designs of them Particularly in the Case of malicious Revenge nothing is more ordinary than to pretend a zealous Concern for the Punishment of Evil doers as if they would supply the defect of the Divine Justice or of the Laws of their Countrey and punish the Guilt of sins for which God hath ordinarily provided no Punishment in this Life reserving it to another Yet oftentimes the sins of others which these Men would pretend to punish are indeed nothing else but opposition to their Humours Fancies and Designs it being in the account of some Men an unpardonable Crime to be of a contrary or another Party to have crossed or opposed a Design of the others altho' never so unreasonable or perhaps to have once performed their Duty without Partiality and corrupt Favour to others when the Laws of their Countrey did require it Certainly if the Guilt of sins is to be measured from the Evil Consequences of them such malicious Revenge will be found the greatest of all sins Being the Cause and occasion of publick Calamites over-turning the Peace and Prosperity of whole Nations and bringing them to Destruction Great and numerous Societies of Men such as this Nation is cannot easily be dissolved without intestine Divisions and such are always the effect of malicious Revenge In this manner we shall find almost all the great Societies of the World to have been broken when they have divided into two or more Parties and those continually practising upon each other under Pretence of preserving the religious or civil Rights of the Countrey against the Invasion of the other and as each prevail employing their Interest and Power not to the upholding of the Religion or Laws but to the ruin or vexation of the others I will not apply this to our own Nation or bring any Instance from our Times least I should be thought to engage in any Party But if we call to mind the History of the Jews we shall find many Examples of such malicious Revenge covered under such specious pretences Thus when the Jewish Magistrates resolved to take away our Saviour's Life they put on a mighty shew of Zeal for the publick Service and accused him to the Roman Governour as an Enemy unto Cesar Although themselves indeed cared so little for Cesar that they had at that very time formed the design of a general Rebellion against him as appeared shortly after And when this Rebellion broke out and the People unanimously attempted to cast off the Roman Yoke and recover their ancient Liberty the most bloody and wicked part of them took upon them the name of Zealots and under pretence of extraordinary Concern for the publick Interest and punishing the secret Favourers and Friends of the Romans murdered or robbed every Man his private Enemy and by this Division made way to the Arms of the Romans who without this advantage could not easily have overcome that populous and resolute Nation These Considerations ought to divert Men from a resolved Prosecution of Revenge and much more those Arguments which might be drawn from the Scope or Design of the Christian Religion might produce this Effect if we could perswade our selves that Men did in earnest believe the Truth of it and submit to it But when almost every Man pleads an Exemption from the Obligation of it in all Commands which oppose his peculiar Passions when little beside the Pretence of it is left among us and even that pretence continued not out of any Reverence to Religion but because it is serviceable to Secular and mean Designs we cannot but despair of prevailing with the greater part of Men therein However we must declare that nothing is more contrary to the Spirit and Design of Christianity than to study Revenge to continue Hatred and Animosity without end and never to forget and forgive an Injury Such a Conduct is directly opposite to the Doctrine and Example of our Lord and however covered with specious Colours of wonderful Zeal or Purity or Affection to any Party will be no less damnable in a Christian than Idolatry in a Heathen Lastly If neither the Reason of the thing nor the Divine Prohibition nor the regard of publick Security concerned therein nor the direct opposition of Christianity to it can draw Men from the Love of Revenge yet at
least it cannot be denied that the assurance of God in the latter part of the Text Vengeance is mine I will repay hath taken from them that common pretence before mentioned of Zeal for the satisfaction of Justice least if Revenge should not be inflicted the Guilt of any sin should escape unpunished This therefore God hath fully provided for who as he is the supreme Lord of all and Judge of the whole World cannot be supposed to fall so far in the Distribution of Justice as to permit any sin to pass unobserved by him neither expiated by Repentance nor attended with Punishment and hath moreover obliged himself by Promise to revenge the Injuries offered to his faithful Servants and that as our Lord saith he will do although he bears long with them Luk. XVIII 25. It would be unreasonable to expect that his Punishments should always be inflicted on the unjust Aggressor in this Life nor hath he promised any such thing The place in Deuteronomy referred to in the Text in the Original runs thus To me belongeth Vengeance or Recompence in time or to be executed in due time It cannot be expected that his Punishments should always immediately follow the Commission of every Crime or Injury unless we desire the World should be in a manner dispeopled and become a Theatre of dreadful Tragedies It is sufficient that he hath ordinarily secured us from the more disquieting Injuries of unjust Men by the Commission which he hath given to the Civil Magistrate to revenge them in his stead And if he should fail in the Execution of his entrusted Office we are not so considerable as singly to deserve an extraordinary Interposition of Providence in behalf of us If we desire this Revenge should be extended yet farther and should punish in this Life and for our Sakes even the Guilt of Injuries offered to us we manifest an inhumane Disposition of Mind delighting in the Miseries of other Men. God hath promised indeed as a benefit to his faithful Servants that he will revenge the Injuries offered to them But if this Revenge be taken in this Life the benefit consisteth not in the Pleasure arising from the suffering of Enemies but either in the Enjoyment of temporal Peace secured thereby or in the perswasion which good Men may thence conceive that they are beloved by God If the Revenge be taken in another Life the benefit consisteth wholly in the latter For far be it from the Spirits of good Men now in Heaven who were injured by bad Men when alive to take delight in the Torments of the Damned because they were once their Enemies and far be it from us to enhance the Joys of Heaven by such unworthy Considerations Complacency in the Sufferings of other Men which is to be found in all Revenge properly so called can find no place in Heaven and that it may find no place on Barth may this Discourse conduce The Fourteenth SERMON Preach'd on Easter-Day 1690. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Acts XI 24. Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it HOW Glorious the Resurrection of our Lord was which we this day Commemorate how undeniable at that time how powerful an assurance of all his precedent Promises and Revelations what effect it had both in the Mind of his Disciples and his Crucifiers how effectually it demonstrated to the whole World the Divinity both of his Mission and his Person as the whole Series of their Actions immediately subsequent to it do demonstrate so this Declaration made by them in the Text doth evince They who before had fled upon his apprehension had lost all their hopes at his Crucifixion had either denied or forsaken him who began to doubt whether it were he that should have redeemed Israel and gave up all for lost resumed their Courage and their Faith at the news and assurance of his Resurrection They now saw that Salvation wrought which before they had even ceased to hope for The most incredulous of them could now say to him My Lord and my God nor did they henceforward admit any doubt of those glorious Promises of which they had herein received so great a Testimony They feared not to profess their belief in him openly to Arraign the Impiety of the Jews in Crucifying an innocent Person and him no other than their own Messias the Lord of Life to denounce to them the certainty of their Destruction without belief in him not only to testifie his Resurrection in that great Concourse of the Jews met together at the Feast of Pentecost but also to declare it impossible that he should not have risen again as in these words Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it which present us with I. The Affirmation of the Resurrection of Christ. Whom God hath raised up II. The manner of it Having loosed the pains of death III. The Reason of it Because it was not possible c. 1. The words assure us of the Truth of Christ's Resurrection a Truth both well known to the Apostles who did then relate it and attested by many infallible proofs as it is in the foregoing Chapter Verse 3. so that it could not be denied by those who should only hear it Let us take a view of these Proofs both for the Confirmation of our Faith and to amplifie the Glory of that Mystery to the Memory of which this day is Sacred In relating then the Resurrection of our Lord the Holy Penmen have been very exact in relating all the Circumstances and the Proofs of it manifesting that he was really dead after his Crucifixion and as truly alive again after his Resurrection that this was known to his Enemies as well as his Disciples and attested from Heaven by the Ministry of Angels and by God himself In a matter of so great Concern it was necessary that all the Points of it should be clearly proved and none remain liable to the least Exception In the first place it was required that assurance should be given of his having been really dead An Article which is fully expressed in the Creed the common Profession of our Faith wherein we declare him to have been dead and buried and to have descended into Hell that his Soul was truly separated from his Body the places being therein assigned wherein each were contained from the time of his Burial to that of his Resurrection His Body remained in the Grave His Soul was in the state of other separated Souls in Hell whether we understand thereby either the ordinary Condition of departed Souls or the place of damned Souls I will not now engage in that Controversie it is sufficient to say That either Opinion placeth his Soul in that interval of time among other Souls separated from the Body That the Soul of Christ was thus truly separated appeareth from the concurrent Judgment of