it and keep it within bounds It is like fire a good Servant but a bad Master if it once get head it consumes and devours all before it and the great danger and mischief of it is that it is most commonly found where it should not be and possesses those most who are least fit to govern it and most frequently employed about what it should not be and ten to one but it is either mistaken in the Object or in the Measure and Degree of it and even when it is a Virtue it is a nice and dangerous one for the wisest Men are apt to mingle their own Passions and Interests with their Zeal for God and Religion So that it is not enough that Men are acted by a zeal for God and do sincerely follow the dictates of their Consciences but they must be careful to inform their Consciences and not suffer themselves to be violently transported and hurried on by their own Passions and Prejudice and by a blind and furious zeal without knowledge But what then Would we have Men not follow their own Consciences or act contrary to them No by no means For tho' Conscience be not our Rule yet it is our immediate Guide and he does ill who does act against his Conscience But Men must be careful how they settle their Practical Judgment of things and conclude things to be Lawful or Unlawful Duties or Sins without Reason and good Ground God hath given us Understandings to try and examine things and the light of his Word to direct us in this tryal and if we will judge rashly and suffer our selves to be hurried by Prejudice or Passion the Errours of our Judgment become Faults of our Lives For God expects from us that we should weigh and consider what we do and when he hath afforded us light enough to discern betwixt Good and Evil that we should carefully follow the direction of it that we should be suspicious of our selves when our Zeal carries us to do things that are furious and cruel false and treacherous and have a horrid appearance even to the light of Nature we should question that zeal which is so contrary to Christian Goodness and Meekness to Peace and Charity and which tends to Confusion and every Evil Work I will conclude all with that excellent Passage of St. James which will shew us how little regard is to be had to many Mens Pretences of Zeal for Religion Jam. 3.13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge amongst you Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom But if ye have bitter zeal and strife in your hearts glory not and lye not against the truth This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish For where zeal and strife is there is confusion and every evil work But the wisdom which is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace SERMON XIV The best Men liable to the worst Treatment from Mistaken Zealots Preached on November 5. 1686. JOHN XVI 2. They shall put you out of the Synagogues Yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service THESE words were spoken by our Blessed Saviour when he was about to leave the World at the thoughts whereof finding his Disciples to be exceedingly troubled VOL. II. he comforts them by the Consideration of the great Benefit and Advantage which from thence would accrue to them he tells them that he was going to Heaven to interceed for them and to make way for their admission there and withall promiseth that his Father would send the Holy Ghost who should abundantly supply the want of his Presence with them but he tells them at the same time that they should meet with very ill Entertainment and Usage from the World but so had He Ch. 15.18 If the world hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you and why should they expect to be better treated than He was v. 20. Remember the word that I said unto you the servant is not greater than the Lord if they have persecuted me they will also persecute you And at the beginning of this Chapter he tells them that he did on purpose forewarn them of these things to prepare their Minds beforehand and to arm them against the worst that might happen v. 1. These things have I I have spoken to you Serm. XIV that ye should not be offended And then he declares more particularly how far the Rage and Malice of Men should proceed against them and in what kind they should suffer They shall put you out of the Synagogues Yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service So that our Saviour here fortells Two sorts of Persecution which his Disciples should be Exercised withal Excommunication they shall put you out of their Synagogues And Excision Yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will thinks that he doth God service And these perhaps were but several Kinds and Degrees of Excomunication for the clearer understanding whereof it will be requisite briefly to explain the Three Degrees of Excommunication among the Jews The First call'd Niddui is that which our Saviour here means by putting out of the Synagogue and which he elsewhere expresseth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or separation Luke 6.22 Blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate yon from their company And the Effect of this Excommunication was to exclude Men from the Communion of the Church and People of God and from his Service which was a great disgrace because after this Sentence none of the Jews were to converse with them but to look upon them as Heathens and Publicans The Second Degree of this Censure was called Cherem which included the first but extended farther to the Confiscation of Goods into the Sacred Treasury and devoting them to God after which there was no Redemption of them And of this we find express mention Ezra 10.7 8. where it is said That they made Proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem and that whosoever would not come within three days according to the Counsel of the Princes and Elders all his substance should be devoted and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carriied away The Third Degree ws Shammatha when the Rebellious and Contumacious Person was Anathematiz'd and Devoted and as some conceive according to the Law Levit. 27.29 was to be put to death tho' other very konwing Men in the Jewish Learning think it amounted to no more than a final Sentence whereby they were left to the Judgment of God by some remarkable Judgment of his to be cut off from
other terms than of denying ungodliness and worldly lusts and of living soberly righteously and godly in this present world And besides this Consideration we have the best Testimony in the World of their Unblameable Lives viz. the Testimony of their profest Enemies who did not persecute them for any personal Crimes which they charged particular Persons withal but only for their Religion acknowledging them otherwise to be very innocent and good People Particulary Pliny in his Letter to Trajan the Emperor who had given him in Charge to make particular Enquiry concerning the Christians gives this honourable Report of them That there was no fault to be found in them besides their obstinate refusal to Sacrifice to the Gods that at their Religious Meetings it was an essential part of their Worship to oblige themselves by a solemn Sacrament against Murder and Theft and Adultery and all manner of Wickedness and Vice No Christian Historian could have given a better Character of them than this Heathen Writer does But 3. The Success of the Gospel will appear yet more strange if we consider the Weakness and Meanness of the Instruments that were employed in this great Work A company of plain and illiterate Men most of them destitute of the advantages of Education went forth upon this great Design weak and unarmed unassisted by any worldy interest having no Secular Force and Power on their side to give countenance and authority to them and this not only at their first setting out but they remained under these Disadvantages for three Ages together The first Publishers of the Christian Religion offered Violence to no Man did not go about to compel any by Force to entertain the Doctrine which they Preached and to list themselves of their number they were not attended with Legions of armed Men to dispose Men for the reception of their Doctrine by Plunder and Free-Quarter by Violence and Tortures this Modern Method of Conversion was not then thought of nor did they go about to tempt and allure Men to their Way by the Promises of Temporal Rewards and by the Hopes of Riches and Honours nor did they use any artificial insinuations of Wit and Eloquence to gain upon the Minds of Men and steal their Doctrines into them but delivered themselves with the greatest plainness and simplicity and without any studied Ornaments of Speech or fine Arts of Perswasion declared plainly to them the Doctrine and Miracles the Life and Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ promising Life and Immortality to them that did believe and obey his Doctrine and threatning Eternal Wo and Misery in another World to the despisers of it And yet these contemptible Instruments notwithstanding all these disadvantages did their work effectually and by the Power of God going along with them gained numbers every day to their Religion and in a short space drew the world after them Nor did they only win over the Common People but also several Persons considerable for their Dignity and Eminent for their Learning who afterwards became zealous Assertors of Christianity and were not ashamed to be Instructed in the Saving Knowledge of the Gospel by such mean and unlearned Persons as the Apostles were for they saw something in them more Divine and which carried with it a greater Power and Perswasion than Humane Learning and Eloquence 4. We will consider the mighty Opposition that was raised against the Gospel At its first appearance it could not be otherwise but that it must meet with a great deal of difficulty and opposition from the Lusts and Vices of Men which it did so plainly and so severely declare against and likewise from the Prejudices of Men that had been brought up in a contrary Religion no Prejudice being so strong as that which is founded in Education and of all Prejudices of Education none so obstinate and hard to be removed as those about Religion yea tho' they be never so absurd and unreasonable Hath a Nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods Men are very hardly brought off from the Religion which they have been brought up in how little Ground and Reason soever there be for it the being trained up in it and having a reverence for it implanted in them in their tender Years supplies all other defects Had Men been free and indifferent in Religion when Christianity first appeared in the World and had they not had their Minds prepossest with other apprehensions of God and Religion and been inured to Rites and Superstitions of a quite different Nature from the Christian Religion or had they at that time been weary of the Superstitions of their Idolatrous Worship and been enquiring after a better way of Religion then indeed the Christian Religion had appeared with great advantage and would in all probability have been entertained with a readiness of Mind proportionable to the Reasonableness of it But this was not the Case When the Doctrine of the Gospel was first Publisht in the World the whole World both Jews and Gentiles were violently prejudiced against it and fixt in their several Religions The Jews indeed in former times had been very prone to relinquish the Worship of the True God and to fall into the Heathen Idolatry But after God had Punisht them severely for that Sin by a long Captivity they continued ever after very strict and firm to the Worship of the True God and never were they more tenacious of their Religion and Law than at that very time when our Saviour appeared in the World And though He was foretold in their Law and most particularly described in the authentick Books of their Religion the Prophets of the Old Testament yet by reason of certain groundless Traditions which they had received from the Interpreters of their Law That their Messias was to be a great Temporal Prince they conceived an invincible Prejudice against our Saviour upon account of the Mean Circumstances in which he appeared and upon this Prejudice they rejected him and put him to death and persecuted his Followers And though their Religion was much nearer to the Christian than any of the Heathen Idolatries yet upon this account of our Saviour's Mean Appearance they were much more averse to the Entertainment of it than the grossest Idolaters among the Nations Not but that their Prejudice also was very great the common People being strongly addicted to the Idolatry and Superstitions of their several Countries and the Wiser and more Learned whom they call'd their Philosophers were so puft up with a conceit of their own Knowledge and Eloquence that they despised the rudeness and simplicity of the Apostles and look'd upon their Doctrine of a Crucified Saviour as ridiculous and the Story of his Resurrection from the dead as absurd and impossible So St. Paul tells us that the Cross of Christ was to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness But besides the Opposition which the Gospel met withal from the Lusts and Prejudices of Men
Joash was the Son of Jehoiada And tho' it be very considerable which St. Jerome observes that in the Hebrew or Nazarene Gospel it is Zacharias the Son of Jehoiada yet it is hard to rely upon that against all the Greek Copies But a more difficult Objection in my opinion is that our Saviour seems to design to mention the Two Extreams the First and Last Righteous Man that was shin and between them two comprehended the Good Men of all Ages that were Persecuted and Slain and if so then that Zacharias in the Chronicles who was slain so long before can by no means be the Person There is yet a Fourth Zacharias mention'd by Josephus Lib. 4. the Son of Baruch which is probably enough the the same Name with Barachias who was the last remarkable Good Man that was slain immediately before the Siege of Jerusalem and that as Josephus tells us in the midst of the Temple which agrees with our Saviour's description of it between the Altar and the Temple not the Altar of Incense but of Burnt Offerings which was in the outward Court before the ascent to the Temple So that Grotius thinks this was the Man intended by our Saviour yet so that he does both allude to the History of the former Zacharias and foretell the Death of this And there is but one Objection against this that our Saviour speaks of this as already past whom you have slain whereas this Zacharias was not slain till after our Saviour's Death But I think that a satisfactory Answer may be given to this viz. that our Saviour foretelling those future Persecutions which should fill up the Measure of their Sins and bring final Destruction upon them he speaks of this as already past because before that Destruction should come upon them it would be true they had slain him So that speaking of the Vengeance coming upon them well might he say that upon them should come the blood of all the righteous men from Abel to Zacharias whom they had slain c. III. The Third Difficulty remains III. and that is in what Sense and with what Reason and Justice it is here threatned that the blood of all the Prophets and Righteous Men shed from the foundation of the World should be required of that Generation Some understand this more strictly they should be charged with it and formally punisht for it because in imitating their cruel Predecessors they should be guilty of all their Cruelty But there is no necessity of this All that our Saviour seems to intend is this that their Punishment in the Destruction of Jerusalem should be so horrible as if God had once for all Arraigned them of all the Righteous Blood that ever had been shed in the World and brought the Punishment of it upon them tho' in Truth the Punishment did not exceed the desert of their own Sins And if this be the meaning of it there is nothing Harsh and Unreasonable in it And thus I have explain'd as well as I can the several Difficulties in the Text. I shall make Two or Three Observations from the main Scope and Design of it and so conclude I. That it hath been the Lot of Holy and Righteous Men in most Ages of the World to meet with very bad usage to be Persecuted and Slain The Devil began this Work early When there were but Three Men in all the World and Two of them Brethren the one slew the other because he was more righteous and served God better than he did And this trade hath continued and been practised more or less in most Ages and Generations of the World as might be deduced through the History of the Old and New Testament and of most Ages since though the rod of the wicked hath not always abode upon the back of the righteous lest at last Piety should be quite discouraged and the faithful fail from among the Children of men The People and the Church of God have had many Intervals of Peace and Prosperity and sometimes for a long continuance the favour and countenance of Authority and the Powers of the World and the Laws of Nations on their side But yet there is a continual enmity between the Seed of the Woman and the Serpent between the Righteous and the Wicked between those that serve God and those that serve him not because their ways are contrary one to another and quite of another fashion their Principles and Practices do contradict and clash with one another the Virtues of good Men are a continual upbraiding of the bad a living reproof and reproach to them so that it is no wonder that evil Men do so violently hate and persecute the good and do by all means endeavour to remove out of the way those who are so opposite and offensive to them II. We may observe likewise hence how great a Sin they are guilty of who persecute the Righteous and how terrible a Vengeance from God waits on them Particular Examples of this have been in all Ages But as the guilt of this Sin never went higher than at this time foretold by our Saviour when God sent to the Jews such Prophets and Wise-men and Scribes and such a Number of them as never upon any occasion were sent unto the World and they used them in that bloody and barbarous manner no wonder if the Vengeance that came upon them was such as never had been before and if after they had filled up the measure of their Sins by crucifying the Lord Jesus and persecuting his Apostles and stoning and killing all the Prophets that were sent unto them the wrath of God came upon them to the utmost and such a terrible Destruction from the Lord as never befel any People insomuch that our Saviour upon the foresight and mention of it Forty Years before it happen'd could not but weep over them and express himself in those compassionate Words O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Pro phets and stonest them which are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thee as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings but ye would not Behold your house is left unto you desolate III. From this whole Passage of our Saviour which I have been explaining to you we may learn how vain it is for Men to pretend to Honour the dead Saints when they Persecute the living This was the great Hypocrisie of the Scribes and Pharisees among the Jews in our Saviour's time and is at this Day of the Rulers and Governor's of the Roman Church among us Christians Nay they exceed the Scribes and Pharisees not only in their Veneration of the ancient Saints and righteous Men but also if it be possible in their malice and cruelty towards the living For they not only build costly Monuments to their Memory which was the utmost the Scribes and Pharisees did but they honour them with Shrines and rich Offerings with Prayers and Vows to them more frequent than to Almighty God
We may sit down every man under his own Vine and under his own Fig-tree and that there shall be none to make us afraid So that if Security is necessary to the Comfort and Happiness of Mankind then Government is so too For without this the Societies of Men would presently dissolve and fall in pieces and all things would run into Confusion and Disorder 2. Another great Benefit which may reasonably be expected from Government tho' it does always so happen is that Men are protected by it in the free Exercise and Practice of Religion and Virtue Therefore we should pray for Kings and for all that are in authority says the Apostle that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty that is in the Practice of Piety and Devotion towards God of Sobriety and Temperance in regard to our selves and of Justice and Charity toward all Men. It 's true indeed and so the Apostles and first Christians found it by experience that the Edg and Authority of Laws may be and sometimes is turned upon the true Religion and the sincere Professors of it But even then tho' Good Men may receive great harms and injuries from Persecuting Princes and Governors as the Primitive Christians did from several of the Roman Emperors yet then it so happens that Good Men have some considerable Benefit and Protection from the Civil Government and Laws being for the most part preserved from the fury and rage of the Multitude so that tho' particular Persons undergo the Tryal of Cruel Sufferings yet much greater Numbers do escape and are preserved And which is very considerable in this Matter against several of the main and essential Parts of Religion there never was any Humane Laws made as against the inward Love Honour and Reverence of Almighty God and the Worshipping him in our Hearts and in Secret of this Part of Religion Humane Laws can take no cognizance Nay farther yet against Humility and Meekness against Modesty and Patience against Temperance and Chastity against Peaceableness and obedience to Government against Justice and Gratitude against Charity and Forgiveness of Injuries against these and such like Virtues the Apostle has told us there is no Law Against the Practice of these without some of which Government could not possibly subsist no Perfection was ever raised no not by the worst of Governors On the contrary in the Practice of these Virtues Good Men have been in all Ages and Times protected by Law 'T is true indeed that Good Men have many times been grievously Perfected by the Civil Government and Authority for the external Profession of revealed Religion which was the case of the Christians at that Time when the Apostle commanded them to pray for Kings and for all that were in Authority that under their protection they might lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty St. Paul knew very well when he gave this injunction to them that Supplications and prayers be made for Kings and for all that are in authority that the Powers of the World did not at that Time favour Christianity But he knew likewise that Government was necessary to the Happiness of Mankind and that Christians even in that State of Perfection did enjoy many considerable Benefits and Advantages by it so that they were not perpetually exposed to popular Rage and Cruelty and the Violence of Wicked and Vnreasonable Men Which would not only have hindred the progress of Christianity but would in a short time have endangered the extinguishing of it Besides that by the favour and protection of Government the Christians had many considerable Intervals of Peace and Ease which gave Christianity a breathing time and opportunity to recover it self and tho' the Secular Authority did for a long time discountenance Christianity and keep it under Hatches that was but an accidental effect and abuse of Government and Obedience was still due and Prayers for it so much the more necessary yea and Thanksgivings to God for it very reasonable upon account of the common Benefits and Advantages of it to Humane Society Besides that Christians did hope and believe that the Civil Government might in time be gained to give its countenance and assistance to Christianity and that Kings and Princes might become nursing Fathers to the Church as was expresly foretold by the Prophets and afterwards in God's due time was remarkably accomplisht In the mean time Christians were patiently to Obey and Suffer in expectation of those Glorious Rewards in another World which were promised to their Faith and Patience and to pray for the Powers that Persecuted them that they also might be brought to the acknowledgment of the Truth and might use that Power which God had committed to them for the protection of Truth and Innocency and for the Continuance and Support of the true Religion which blessed be God was afterwards the Case of Christianity for several Ages I proceed in the Second Place to shew what Obligation the Consideration of the mighty Benefits and Advantages of Government lays upon us both to pray to God on the behalf of Princes and Governors and likewise to praise God for them Because in their Welfare and Prosperity the Publick Peace and Happiness doth chiefly consist and in the Publick Good consists the Good of particular Persons and above all the Piety and Goodness of Princes and Magistrates especially those who are in highest Place of Authority have a general good influence upon the Manners of Men both for the discountenancing of Wickedness and Vice and for the encouragement of Religion and Virtue which are the main Pillars and Foundation of publick Peace and Prosperity A King sitting in the Throne of Judgment saith Solomon Prov. 20.8 scattereth away all evil with his eyes The Pattern of a Religious and good Prince is a living Law to his Subjects and more than the Example of Ten thousand others to Mould and Fashion the Manners of the People to a Conformity to it Besides that there is as one expresseth a kind of Moral Connexion and Communication of Evil and of Guilt betwixt Princes and People so that they are many times mutually Rewarded for the Virtues and good Actions and Punished for the Sins and Faults of one another Of which proceedings of the Divine Justice towards the People of Israel there are many remarkable instances in Scripture where God Rewarded the Piety of Good Princes with great Blessings upon their People and Punisht the Personal Faults of their Kings with publick Judgments upon the whole Nation So that in Truth it is the greatest Kindness and Charity to our selves to pray for our Princes and Governors because our welfare is involved in theirs and we suffer not only in all the Misfortunes and Calamities which befal them but many times upon account of their Personal Faults and Miscarriages Quicquid delirant Reges plectuntur Achivi the Extravagances of Princes are punisht in the Misfortunes of their Subjects Thus David
I know that thou fearest God says the Angel since thou hast not with-held thy Son thine only Son from me This is a demonstration that God loved us at a stupendous rate when he would send his only-begotten Son into the World for us Before this God had tryed several Ways with Mankind and employed several Messengers to us sometimes he sent his Angels and many times his Servants the Prophets But in these last Days he hath sent his Son He had many more Servants to have employed upon this Message but he had but one Son and rather than Mankind should be ruined and lost he would send him Such was the Love of God towards us that rather than our Recovery should not be effected he would employ in this Work the greatest and dearest Person to him both in Heaven and Earth his only begotten Son in this was the Love of God manifested that he sent his only-begotten Son that we might live through him 2. Let us consider how much this Clorious and Excellent Person was abased in order to the effecting and accomplishing of this Design which is here exprest by sending him into the World and this comprehends his Incarnation with all the mean and abasing Circumstances of it This the Apostle declares fully to us Phil. 2.6 7. tho' he was in the Form of God that is truly and really God yet he made himself of no Reputation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he empty'd himself was contented to be strangely lessen'd and diminish'd and took upon him the Form of a Servant or Slave and was made in the likeness of Men that is did really assume Humane Nature Here was an Abasement indeed for God to become Man for the only-begotten Son of God to take upon him the Form of a Servant and to become obedient to Death even the Death of the Cross which was the Death of Slaves and famous Malefactors Here was Love indeed that God was willing that his own dear Son should be thus obscured and diminished and become so mean and so miserable for our sakes that he should not only stoop to be made Man and to dwell among us but that he should likewise submit to the Infirmities of our Nature and to be made in all things like unto us Sin only excepted that he should be contented to bear so many Affronts and Indignities from perverse and unthankful Men and to endure such Contradiction of Sinners against himself that he who was the Brightness of his Father's Glory should be despised and rejected of Men a Man of sorrows und acquainted with griefs and rather than we should perish should put himself into our Place and be contented to suffer and die for us and that God should be willing that all this should be done to his only Son to save Sinners What greater Testimony could he give of his Love to us 3. Let us consider farther to whom he was sent which is also implyed in these Words he sent his Son into the World into a wicked World that was altogether unworthy of him and to an Ungrateful World that did most unworthily use him First Into a Wicked World that was altogether unworthy of him that had deserved no such Kindness at his Hands For what were we that God should send such a Person amongst us that he should make his Son stoop so low as to dwell in our Nature and to become one of us We were Rebels and Enemies Enemies to God by evil Works up in Arms against Heaven and at open Defiance with God our Maker When the World was in this Posture of Enmity and Hostility against God then he sent his Son to Treat with us and to offer us Peace What can more commend the Love of God than this that he should shew such Kindness to us when we were Sinners and Enemies Herein God hath commended his Love towards us says the Apostle Rom. 5.8 in that whilst we were yet Sinners Christ died for us Secondly Into an Ungrateful World that did most unworthily use him that gave no becoming Entertainment to him the Foxes had Holes and the Birds of the Air had Nests but the Son of Man had not where to lay his Head that heaped all manner of Contumelies and Indignities upon him that Persecuted him all his Life and at last put him to a most painful and shameful Death in a word that was so far from receiving him as the Son of God that they did not treat him with common Humanity and like one of the Sons of men 4. He did all this voluntarily and freely God sent his Son into the World mero motu of his own meer Grace and Goodness moved by nothing but his own Bowels and the Consideration of our Misery not overpowered by any Force for what could offer Violence to him to whom all Power belongs not constrain'd by any Necessity for he had been Happy tho' we had remained for ever Miserable he might have chosen other Objects of his Love and Pity and have left us involved in that Misery which we had wilfully brought upon our selves Nor was he prevail'd upon by any Application from us or importunity of ours to do this for us Had we been left to have contrived the way of our Recovery this which God hath done for us could never have entred into the Heart of Man to have imagin'd much less to have defir'd it at his Hands If the way of our Salvation had been put into the Hands of our own Counsel and Choice how could we have been so impudent as to have begg'd of God that his only Son might descend from Heaven and become Man be poor despised and miserable for our sakes God may stoop as low as he pleaseth being secure of his own Majesty and Greatness but it had been a Boldness in us not far from Blasphemy to have desired of him to condescend to such a a submission Nor Lastly was he pre-oblig'd by any Kindness or Benefit from us so far from that that we had given him all possible Provocation to the contrary and had Reason to expect the Effect of his heaviest Displeasure And yet though he was the pars laesa the party that had been disoblig'd and injured tho' we were first in the Offence and Provocation he was pleased to make the first Overtures of Peace and Reconciliation and tho' it was wholly our Concernment and not his yet he was pleased to condescend so far to our Perverseness and Obstinacy as to send his Son to us and to beseech us to be reconciled Now herein says the Apostle immediately after the Text herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our Sins Herein is the Love of God manifested that the kindness began on his part and not on ours that being neither obliged nor desired by us he did freely and of his own accord send his only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through him What
Salvation of Mankind I judge nothing more needful to be added to what has fallen in concerning that Subject in my handling the Second Proposition in this and the two former Sermons SERMON V. The general and Effectual Publication of the Gospel by the Apostles Preached on Ascension-Day 1688. Mark XVI 19 20. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right Hand of God And they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with Signs following IN these Words you have these Two great Points of Christian Doctrine I. Our Saviour's Ascension into Heaven and Exaltation at the right hand of God VOL. II. he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right hand of God II. The Effect or Consequence of his Ascension and Exaltation which was the general and effectual Publication of the Gospel they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following And both these are very proper for this Day but I shall at this time handle the latter Point namely the Effect op Consequence of our Saviour's Ascension into Heaven and Exaltation at the right hand of God they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following And these Words contain two things in them I. The general Publication of the Gospel by the Apostles they went forth and preached every where II. The Reason of the great Efficacy and Success of it namely the Divine and Miraculous Power which accompanied the Preaching of it Serm. V. the Lord wrought with them and confirmed the Word with signs following I. The general Publication of the Gospel by the Apostles they went forth and Preached every where And indeed the Industry of the Apostles and the other Disciples in publishing the Gospel was almost incredible What Pains did they take what Hazards did they run what Difficulties and Discouragements did they contend withal in this work and yet their Success was greater than their Industry and beyond all Humane Expectation As will appear if we consider these Five things 1. The vast Spreading of the Gospel in so short a space 2. The wonderful Power and Efficacy of it upon the Lives and Manners of Men. 3. The Weakness and Meanness of the Instruments that were imployed in this great Work 4. The powerful Opposition that was raised against it 5. The great Discouragements to the Embracing the Profession of it I shall speak briefly to each of these 1. The vast Spreading of the Gospel in so short a space This is represented Rev. 14.6 by an Angel flying through the midst of Heaven and preaching the Everlasting Gospel to every nation and kindred and tongue and people No sooner was the Doctrine of the Christian Religion publish'd and made known to the World but it was readily embraced by great numbers almost in all places where it came And indeed so it was foretold in the Prophecies of the Old Testament Gen. 49.10 That when Shiloh that is the Messias should come to him should the gathering of the people be And Isa 2.2 That in the last days the mountains of the house of the Lord should be establisht in the top of the mountain and be exalted above the hills and that all nations should flow unto it Isa 60.8 the Prophet speaking of Mens ready submission to the Gospel and the great number of those that should come in upon the Preaching of it they are said to flie as a Cloud and as the Doves to the windows So quick and strange a Progress did this new Doctrine and Religion make in the World that in the space of about 30 Years after our Saviour's Death it was not only diffused through the greatest part of the Roman Empire but had reached as far as Parthia and India In which we see our Saviour's Prediction fully verified that before the Destruction of Jerusalem the Gospel should be Preached in all the World Math. 24.14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all Nations and then shall the end come But this is not all Men were not only brought in to the Profession of the Gospel but 2. This Doctrine had likewise a wonderful Power and Efficacy upon the Lives and Manners of Men. The generality of those that entertained the Gospel were obedient to it in word and deed as the Apostle tells us concerning the Gentiles that were converted to Christianity Rom. 15.18 Upon the change of their Religion followed also the change of their Manners and of their former course of Life They that took upon them the Profession of Christianity did thenceforth not walk as other Gentiles did in the lusts of the flesh and according to the vicious course of the world but did put off concerning their former conversation the old man which was corrupt according to deceitful lusts and were renewed in the spirit of their mind and did put on the new man which after God was created in righteousness and true holiness So strange an Effect had the Gospel upon the Lives of the generality of the Professors of it that I remember Tertullian in his Apology to the Roman Emperor and Senate challengeth them to instance in any one that bore the Title of Christian that was condemned as a Thief or a Murderer or a Sacrilegious Person or that was guilty of any of those gross Enormities for which so many Pagans were every day made Examples of Publick Justice and Punisht and Executed among them And this certainly was a very admirable and hapy Effect which the Gospel had upon Men to work so great and sudden a Change in the Lives of those who entertained this Doctrine to take them quite off from those vicious Practices which they had been brought up in and accustomed to to change their Spirits and the temper of their Minds and of lewd and dishonest to make them sober and just and holy in all manner of Conversation of proud and fierce contentious and passionate malicious and revengeful to make them humble and meek kind and tender-hearted peaceable and charitable And that the Primitive Christians were generally good Men and of virtuous Lives is credible because their Religion did teach and oblige them to be such which tho' it be not effectual now to make all the Professors of it such as it requires they should be yet it was a very forcible Argument then in the Circumstances in which the Primitive Christians were For Christianity was a hated and persecuted Profession No Man could then have any inducement to embrace it unless he were resolved to practise it and live according to the Rules of it for it offered Men no Rewards and Advantages in this World but on the contrary threatned Men with the greatest Temporal Inconveniences and Sufferings and it promised no Happiness to Men in the other World upon any