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A56704
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A sermon preached at St. Paul's Covent-garden on the first Sunday in Lent being the second part of the sermon preached before the Prince of Orange / by Symon Patrick ...
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Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing P851; ESTC R31758
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23,908
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44
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in their mutual Charity for in one word former things such as we now see shall be so banished from the Christian World that they shall be known only by hear-say I cannot now further enlarge upon this because I have one thing more to add for the Explication of this Prophecy which as it will answer the most literal sense of it so is very suitable to the present season IV. The grosser sort of Jews I told you in the beginning of this Discourse would have us understand by Wolves Leopards and Lyons c. the very Beasts that bear these Names which in the days of Christ they fansy shall become tame and made as gentle and familiar as those we call Oxen Calves and Lambs There is great reason I shewed you against this Interpretation but if any be so stubborn as to stick to it and will not believe unless we shew him when this was done I think it is not difficult to give him satisfaction For St. Mark tells us That when our blessed Saviour was in the Wilderness forty days tempted of the Devil of which St. Matthew gives us a larger Account in the Gospel for this day he was with the wild Beasts and the Angels ministred unto him Mark 1. 13. The Devil that is attempted to affright him with such terrible Creatures as the Lyons Wolves and Tygers which are greedy of Man's Flesh as well as of other Creatures But none of these had any power to annoy him Quite contrary they all lickt his Feet as I may speak and were as innocent and as gentle as the Lambs For that must be the sense of these words He was with the wild Beasts he was in the midst of them and that without any harm at all they being as mild in his presence as those we count the meekest Creatures In this the power of our Saviour began to discover it self to the Devil who saw this Prophecy literally fulfilled in him The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb c. and that of the Psalmist in Psal 91. 13. Thou shalt tread upon the Lyon and the Adder the young Lyon and the Dragon shalt thou trample under thy feet Yet such is the bold and restless nature of the Tempter when he could not terrifie him by this horrid company of wild Beasts he had the confidence to hope for an advantage from hence another way For he imagined our Saviour himself would take the confidence by this Authority and Power which he found he could exercise over those fierce Creatures to presume to do some other strange thing without the same reason Especially when Scripture might seem to encourage to it even that very Scripture which I now named Accordingly the Devil takes our Saviour into the holy City and sets him on a Pinnacle of the Temple and saith If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down for it is written He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone Mat. 4. 6. If you enquire where this is written the Answer to it will acquaint you with a thing very remarkable For it is written in the same Psalm where you find the other words I now alledged Thou shalt tread upon the Lyon and the Adder c. and the truth is goes immediately before them in this manner For he shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways they shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone Thou shalt tread upon the Lyon and Adder the young Lyon and the Dragon shalt thou trample under thy feet Now they being thus connected and knit together our Saviour durst not separate them as Men in these days are bold to do with the holy Scriptures Which he understood so perfectly that he could not be cheated with the Devil's Sophistry For he knew the Psalmist was to be thus expounded as an Doctor Jackson eminent Divine of ours hath long ago observed That the Angels should keep him if he trod upon a Lyon or an Adder as they came in his way in the Wilderness as well as bear him up that he should not dâ—sh his foot against a stone And so they did for the Angels ministred unto him while he was with the wild Beasts upon whom if he had trod it had been no tempting of God because he had promised to send his Angels to guard him from harm in that action But they had no such Commission that he could find to keep him if he cast himself headlong from the pinnacle of the temple For it was no part of his way as it was to be in the Wilderness whither the Spirit carried him Nor was it a thing included in this Promise which signifies only thus much That all Creatures should be obedient unto him and though never so fierce and virulent in their own nature should lose their Power and their Poison in his presence Thus I think the words of Isaiah were in the most literal sense of them made good to the full And it may be observable perhaps that as this Prophecy in my Text immediately follows a Prediction That Christ the branch of the stock of Jesse should be filled with the Spirit ver 2 3. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel c. So our Saviour's being with the wild Beasts immediately followed after the descent of the Holy Ghost upon him at his Baptism as the three first Evangelists tell us who write about this matter particularly St. Mark in the place before named saith Immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness that is as soon as ever he was Baptized and the Holy Spirit with a Voice from Heaven was come down upon him he was led by the Spirit into desart places and there he was with the wild Beasts Mark 1. 12 13. And then came to pass what Isaiah had foretold That there was no difference between a Lyon and a Lamb a Leopard and a Kid an Asp and a sucking Child but they were all alike subject to our blessed Lord and Saviour There is one Objection that may be made against what I have said which seems to lye against the very intention of our Saviour Which was not may some fansy to make Peace in the World but he himself saith I came not to send peace but a sword I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother c. Mat. 10. 34 35 36. Or as St. Luke's words are Luk. 12. 51. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth I tell you Nay but rather division This I thought good to mention though such Passages I hope are now so well understood that a short Answer will serve to it For First It is evident from plainer places That our Lord did come to send Peace and he was
Imprimatur March 26. 1689. Hen. Wharton RR. in Christo P. ac D. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. Ã Sacris Domest A SERMON PREACHED At St. Paul's Covent-Garden On the First Sunday in Lent BEING A Second Part of the Sermon Preached before the Prince of Orange By SYMON PATRICK D. D. Dean of Peterborough LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXIX ISAIAH XI 6. The Wolf also shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid and the Calf and the young Lion and the Fatling together and a little Child shall lead them c. I Have already explained the Prophet's meaning in these words which is That Christ should come to make those Men who were at as great odds as the Wolf and the Lamb live in perfect Love and Peace together Of this there is no question but only concerning the Truth of this Prophecy which may seem not to have been fulfilled in our blessed Saviour because we see as bitter Enmities and as bloody Contentions among Christians as among other People But though this be true yet it is as true that our Saviour is the Christ in whom this Prophecy was accomplished as I undertook to demonstrate from these Three Considerations I. That it was the manifest design of our Saviour's appearing to make such Peace and Reconciliation among Mankind as is here described II. That the nature of his Religion is such as is apt to produce this effect which he designed And III. That it was actually produced in the first Converts to Christianity who heartily embraced his Religion Of the two first of these I have largely discoursed especially of the second Wherein I shewed That such are the Principles of his Religion which he requires us to believe Such the Precepts which he recommends to our practice and such the Obligations he lays upon us to believe these Principles and practise these Precepts That they could not fail of this End to make Peace among Men were they seriously considered and heartily entertain'd And that is said in Scripture-language to be done by God which he uses sufficient Means and gives us sufficient Power to bring to pass though the things should not be actually effected For God doth not intend to keep us in order and peace like a Herd of Beasts by penning us up and imprisoning us as we do Lions and Tygers so that it shall be out of our power to destroy and worry others but he orders and governs us as reasonable Creatures who are to be restrained from doing hurt by the knowledge of the Lord as the Prophet explains himself Ver. 9. If this enter into our Minds and be rooted in our Hearts it will alter our bruitish Natures and chain up our furious Passions nay so mortifie and subdue them to the Obedience of Christ that we shall become new Creatures transformed into the likeness of our Lord and Master by whose Name we are called This is enough to verifie what the Prophet saith as I could shew by many unanswerable Arguments if it would not take up too much room in this Discourse But to give a fuller and more evident Satisfaction I added the third Consideration which I could but lightly touch in the former Sermon but shall now more largely explain and in conclusion add a fourth which will expound this Prophecy in the most literal sense that can be imagined To put it then out of all doubt that our blessed Lord is the Christ who was to make the Wolf and the Lamb dwell together let it be considered That as it was his Intention to bring Men to Unity and Peace and as the Nature of his Religion is such as is apt to produce this effect so this effect was actually produced in the first Converts to his Religion All that were throughly indued with his Divine Knowledge became the most loveing Creatures in the World and embraced one another with the most tender and sincere Affection And here it will be fit to consider in the first place I. How John Baptist the Fore-runner of our Saviour who came as I told you to prepare his way and to turn the hearts of the Fathers to the Children began to work this happy Reconciliation among Men and make ready as the Angel said he should a People prepared for the Lord. For he preaching the Baptism of Repentance for the remission of Sins Luk. 3. 3. great multitudes of all sorts of People resorted to him and with a common consent obeyed his Summons even they who were as disagreeing in their natures and dispositions as those Creatures that are here mentioned in the Prophet The Publicans for instance who were infamous for Extortion and cruel Oppression being as ravenous as evening Wolves for that 's the Character Zeno the Comedian gives of them All Publicans are Harpyes were taught by him to be as innocent as Lambs by exacting no more than that which was appointed them in the publick Tables of Rates Unto which all that received his Baptism gave their consent and engaged themselves For he admitted them unto Remission of Sins upon no other terms being far from flattering them with a false hope of finding Mercy with God if they did not cease their rapine and unmerciful dealings with Men. The Soldiers likewise Men as fierce as Leopards and as rough as Bears were disciplin'd by him into a gentler Nature like that of the Oxe and the Cow. For by receiving his Baptism they submitted their Necks to that Yoke which he laid upon them in this comprehensive Precept Do violence to no man neither acouse any falsely and be content with your wages Where he cautions them against their usual Pillages in extorting Money from the People either by Threats and Terrors as the first words signifie or as the next import by pretended Reasons which though never so false and absurd it is in vain to dispute as is wittily represented by Aesop in the Fable of the Wolf and the Lamb by which Grotius illustrates this passage who came to drink at the same River Where the cruel Beast accused the harmless Creature for spoiling his draught by troubling the Water when he drank his fill at the top of the stream before it came down to the innocent Lamb who stood below c. The People also were taught this Lesson when they came to his Baptism He that hath two coats let him impart to him that hath none and he that hath meat let him do likewise that is let not others perish by want when you have more than needs A most admirable and easie measure of Charity to help others without harting our selves to providef or their extreme Necessities out of our Superfluities Unto which it is to be supposed they also consented when they were Baptized that is made Profession of Repentance as vast numbers of them were Insomuch that many of the Pharisees and the Sadduces came to his Baptism against whom he cries out as a