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authority_n	book_n	church_n	faith_n	2,919	5	5.3557	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62634	Several discourses viz. Proving Jesus to be the Messias. The prejudices against Jesus and his religion consider'd. Jesus the Son of God, proved by his Resurrection. The danger of apostacy from Christianity. Christ the author: obedience the condition of salvation. The possibility and necessity of gospel obedience, and its consistence with free grace. The authority of Jesus Christ, with the commission and promise which he gave to his apostles. The difficulties of a Christian life consider'd. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Children of this world wiser than the children of light. By the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury. Being the fifth volume; published from the originals, by Ralph Barker, D.D. chaplain to his Grace.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708,	1698 (1698)	Wing T1262A; ESTC R222204	187,258	485

shall be revealed in us The consideration whereof was that which made the Primitive Christians to triumph in their Sufferings and in the midst of all their Tribulations to rejoyce in the hopes of the Glory of God because their Sufferings did really prepare and make way for their Glory So the same Apostle tells us 2 Cor. 4. 17. 18. Our light Afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory whilst we look not at the things which are seen for the things which are seen are Temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal 3dly and lastly The assurance of our future Reward is a mighty Encouragement to Obedience and a Holy Life What greater Encouragement can we have than this that all the good which we do in this World will accompany us into the other That when we rest from our labours our works will follow us That when we shall be stript of other things and parted from them these will still remain with us and bear us company Our Riches and Honours our sensual Pleasures and Enjoyments will all take their leave of us when we leave this World nay many times they do not accompany us so far as the Grave but take occasion to forsake us when we have the greatest need and use of them but Piety and Virtue are that better part which cannot be taken from us All the good actions which we do in this World will go along with us into the other and through the Merits of our Redeemer procure for us at the hands of a Gracious and Merciful God a Glorious and Eternal Reward not according to the meanness of our Services but according to the Bounty of his Mind and the vastness of his Treasures and Estate Now what an encouragement is this to Holiness and Obedience to consider that it will all be our own another day to be assured that whoever serves God faithfully and does suffer for him patiently does lay up so much Treasure for himself in another World and provides lasting Comforts for himself and faithful and constant Companions that will never leave him nor forsake him Let us then do all the good we can while we have opportunity and serve God with all our might knowing that no good action that we do shall be lost and fall to the ground that every Grace and Virtue that we exercise in this life and every degree of them shall receive their full recompence at the Resurrection of the Just How should this inspire us with Resolution and Zeal and Industry in the Service of God to have such a Reward continually in our Eye how should it tempt us to our Duty to have a Crown and a Kingdom offered to us Joys unspeakable and full of Glory such things as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man And such are the things which God hath laid up for them who love him heartily and serve him faithfully in this World SERMON V. The danger of Apostacy from Christianity HEB. VI. 4 5 6. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the holy-Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come If they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance seeing they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame THESE words are full of difficulties and the misunderstanding of them hath not only been an occasion of a great deal of trouble and even despair to particular persons but one of the chief Reasons why the Church of Rome did for a long time reject the Authority of this Book which by the way I cannot but take notice of as a demonstrative Instance both of the fallible Judgment of that Church and of the fallibility of Oral Tradition for St. Jerome more than once expresly tells us that in his time which was about 400 years after Christ the Church of Rome did not receive this Epistle for Canonical But it is plain that since that time whether moved by the Evidence of the thing or which is more probable by the Consent and Authority of other Churches they have received it and do at this day acknowledge it for Canonical from whence one of these two things will necessarily follow either that they were in an error for 400 years together while they rejected it or that they have since erred for a longer time in receiving it One of these is unavoidable for if the Book be Canonical now it was so from the beginning for Bellarmine himself confesseth and if he had not confessed it it is nevertheless true and certain that the Church cannot make a Book Canonical which was not so before if it was not Canonical at first it cannot be made so afterward so that let them chuse which part they will it is evident beyond all denyal that the Church of Rome hath actually erred in her Judgment concerning the Authority of this Book and one error of this kind is enough to destroy her Infallibility there being no greater Evidence that a Church is not Infallible than if it plainly appear that she hath been deceived And this also is a convincing instance of the Fallibility of Oral Tradition For if that be Infallible in delivering down to us the Canonical Books of Scripture it necessarily follows that whatever Books were delivered down to us for Canonical in one Age must have been so in all Ages and whatever was rejected in any Age must always have been rejected but we plainly see the contrary from the instance of this Epistle concerning which the Church of Rome which pretends to be the great and faithful Preserver of Tradition hath in several Ages deliver'd several things This is a peremptory instance both of the Fallibility of the Roman Church and of her Oral Tradition Having observed this by the way which I could not well pass by upon so fair an occasion I shall betake my self to the explication of these words towards which it will be no small advantage to consider the particular Phrases and Expressions in the Text. It is impossible for those who were once enlightned that is were solemnly admitted into the Church by Baptism and embraced the profession of Christianity Nothing was more frequent among the Ancients than to call Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Illumination and those who were baptized were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enlightned Persons because of that Divine Illumination which was convey'd to the minds of Men by the knowledge of Christianity the Doctrine whereof they made Profession of at their Baptism And therefore Justin Martyr tells us that by calling upon God the Father and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the name of the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the enlightned Person is washed and again more expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Laver

to us Pardon of Sin in the Blood of his Son and Eternal Life and Happiness in another World This is a short Sum and Abridgment of the Christian Religion and there is nothing of all this that can reasonably be excepted against 4. God considering the Prejudice of the Heathen against Christianity by reason of their Education in a contrary Religion was strong and violent was pleased to give such Evidence of the Truth of Christianity as was of proportionable Strength and Force to remove and conquer this Prejudice He was pleased to give Testimony to the first Founder of this Religion by mighty Miracles and particularly by his Resurrection from the Dead But because the Report of these things was only brought to the Heathen World and they had not seen these things themselves therefore he enabled those who were the Witnesses of these Things to the World to work as great Miracles as he had done And when they saw those who gave Testimony to our Saviour's Miracles do as great and strange things themselves as they testified of him there was no Reason any longer to doubt of the Truth of their Testimony So that though the Prejudice of the Heathen against Christianity was very great yet the Evidence which God gave to it was strong enough to remove it The Doctrine of Christianity was such as might have recommended it self to impartial Men by its own Reasonableness But meeting with violent Prejudices in those to whom it was offer'd God was pleased to give such a Confirmation to it as was sufficient to bear down those Prejudices Secondly Another Objection against Christianity was the Plainness and Simplicity of the Doctrine They expected some deep Speculations in Natural or Moral Philosophy they made full Account a Teacher sent from Heaven would have instructed them in the profoundest Points and discoursed to them about the first Principles of things and the Nature of the Soul and the chief end of Man with a Subtilty and Eloquence infinitely beyond that of their greatest Sophisters and able to bear down all Opposition and Contradiction But instead of this they are told a plain Story of the Life and Miracles of Jesus Christ and of his dying upon the Cross and rising from the Dead and ascending into Heaven and a few plain Precepts of Life and all this deliver'd without any Ornaments of Art or Insinuation of Eloquence to gain the Favour and Applause of those to whom they related these Things But now this truly considered is so far from being any real Objection against the Christian Doctrine that it is one of the greatest Commendations that can be given of it For matter of Fact ought to be related in the most plain and simple and unaffected manner and the less Art and Eloquence is used in the telling of a Story the more likely it is to gain Belief And as for our Saviour's Precepts how plain soever they might be I am sure they are a Collection of the most excellent and reasonable Rules of a good Life and the freest from all Vanity and Folly that are to be met with in any Book in the World And can any thing be more worthy of God and more likely to proceed from him than so plain and useful a Doctrine as this The Language of Law is not wont to be fine and perswasive but short and plain and full of Authority Thus it is among Men And surely it is much fitter for God to speak thus to Men than for Men to one another Thirdly It is objected that the Doctrine of our Saviour and his Apostles wanted Demonstration they seemed to impose too much upon the Understandings of Men and to deliver things too Magisterially not demonstrating Things from Intrinsical Arguments but requiring Belief and Assent without Proof This the Apostle St. Paul readily acknowledgeth that in preaching the Gospel to the World they did not proceed in the way of the Heathen Orators and Philosophers 1 Cor. 4. 4. My Speech and my Preaching was not in the enticing Words of Man's Wisdom but in Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power that is they did not go in the way of Human Eloquence and Demonstration but yet their Doctrine did not want its Evidence and Demonstration though of another kind They did not go about to bewitch Men by Eloquence nor to entangle their Minds by subtil Reasonings the Force of which very few are capable of But they offer'd to Men a sensible Proof and Demonstration of the Truth of what they delivered in those strange and miraculous Operations to which they were enabled by the Holy Ghost And this was a sensible Evidence even to the meanest Capacity of a Divine Assistance going along with them and giving Testimony to them I appeal to any Man whether the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead and his Ascending into Heaven be not a clearer Demonstration of another Life after this and more level to the Capacities of all Mankind than the finest and subtilest Arguments that can be drawn from the immaterial Nature of the Soul its power of Reflection upon it self and Independency upon the Body as to some of its Operations which yet are some of the chiefest Arguments that Philosophy affords to prove the Immortality of our Souls Fourthly The Heathens objected that the low and mean Condition of our Saviour was unsuitable to one who pretended to be the Son of God and to be appointed by God to be a Teacher and Reformer of the World This to the Heathen Philosophers did not only appear unreasonable but even ridiculous So St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 1. 23. We preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks Foolishness To think that a Man who appeared in such mean Circumstances should be fit to reform the World and one who himself was put to Death should be relyed upon for Life and Immortality This Objection I have heretofore considered at large and therefore shall now speak but very briefly to it Besides those excellent Reasons and Ends which the Scripture assigns of our Saviour's Humiliation as that he might be a Teacher and Example to us that he might make Expiation for our Sins that by suffering himself he might learn to commiserate us that by Death he might destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil and might deliver those who through fear of Death were all their lives subject to Bondage I say besides these it was of great use that he should live in so mean and afflicted Condition to confront the Pride and Vanity and Fantastry of the World and to convince Men of these two great Truths that God may love those whom he afflicts and that Men may be innocent and virtuous and contented in the midst of Poverty and Reproach and Suffering Had our Blessed Saviour been a great Temporal Prince his Influence and Example might possibly have made more Hypocrites and servile Converts but would not have perswaded Men one jot more

unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth But see the strange power of Prejudice to blind the Eyes even of good Men in the plainest matters The Disciples of our Saviour for all they had entertained a new Religion yet they retained the old Pride and Prejudice of their Nation against the rest of the World as if none but themselves had any share in the favour of God or were to have any part in the Salvation of the Messias Our Saviour did so far consider this Prejudice of theirs that he never in his life time acquainted them with this matter so as to make them fully to understand it because they were not able to bear it And it is very probable that this is one of those things which our Saviour meant John 16. 12 13. I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now Howbeit when the Spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth That is he should lead them into the knowledge of those Truths of which they were not then capable And tho' our Saviour after his Resurrection seems to have declared this sufficiently to them yet by their practice after his Ascension it appears that they understood all this only of the Jews namely that they were to preach the Gospel first to the Jews that were at Jerusalem and in Judea and then to those that were dispersed in other Nations for 't is clear from the History of their first Preaching recorded in the Acts that they preached to none but to the Jews and the Proselytes of the Jewish Religion So strong was their Prejudice that they had not the least suspicion that this Blessing of the Gospel was intended for the Heathen World nor were they convinced to the contrary 'till St. Peter had a special Vision and Revelation to this purpose and the holy Ghost came upon the Gentiles in miraculous gifts as he had done before upon the Jews that were converted to Christianity And thus the Spirit of God led them into this Truth and then they understood this Command of our Saviour's in a larger Sense And to this St. Peter plainly refers Acts 10. 42. where he tells us how that Christ after his Resurrection appeared to them and commanded them to preach unto the People So likewise do Paul and Barnabas Acts 13. 46. where they speak thus to the Jews It was necessary that the word should first he preached to you but seeing you put it from you lo we turn to the Gentiles for so hath the Lord commanded us Now he no where commanded this but in this Commission which he gave them before his Ascension Secondly You have here a particular declaration how they were to manage this work of making Disciples to the Christian Religion 1. By baptizing them into the Christian Faith 2. By instructing them in the Precepts and Practices of a Christian Life 1. By baptizing them into the Christian Faith which is here call'd baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Baptism is a solemn Rite appointed by our Saviour for the initiating of Persons into the Christian Religion But it was a Ceremony in use before both among the Jews and Gentiles The Heathen observed it at the initiating Persons into their Religious Mysteries and the Jews when they admitted Proselytes to their Religion at which time the Males as Maimonides tells us were both circumcised and baptized the Women were only baptized One Circumstance of the Baptism of grown Persons was that standing in the Water up to the Neck they recited several Precepts of the Law And as the Jewish Writers further tell us this Ceremony did not only belong to them that were of grown Years but to the Children of Proselytes if it were desired upon condition that when they came to Years they should continue in that Religion Now tho' this was a religious Ceremony used both by Jews and Gentiles and without any Divine Institution that we know of our blessed Saviour who in none of his Institutions seems to have favour'd unnecessary Innovations was so far from the superstition of declining it upon this account that it had been in religious use both among Jews and Gentiles that he seems the rather to have chosen it for that very reason For seeing it was a common Rite of all Religions and in it self very significant of that Purity which is the great design of all Religion it was the more likely to find the easier Acceptance and to be most suitable to that which he intended to be the universal Religion of the World As for the form of Baptism into the name of the Father of the Son and of the holy Ghost it plainly refers to that short Creed or Profession of Faith which was required of those that were to be baptized answerable to the reciting of the Precepts of the Law at the baptizing of Proselytes among the Jews now the Articles of this Creed were reduced to these three Heads of the Father Son and holy Ghost and contains what was necessary to be believed concerning each of these And this probably is that which the Apostle calls the Doctrine of Baptism Heb. 6. 2. viz. a short Summary of the Christian Faith the Profession whereof was to be made at Baptism of which the most ancient Fathers make so frequent mention calling it the rule of Faith It was a great while indeed before Christians tied themselves strictly to that very form of Words which we now call the Apostles Creed but the Sense was the same tho' every one exprest it in his own Words nay the same Father reciting it upon several Occasions does not confine himself to the very same Expressions A plain indication that they were not then strictly bound up to any form of Words but retaining the sense and substance of the Articles every one exprest them as he pleased So that to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost is to perform this Rite or Sacrament by the Authority of and with special Relation to the three Persons of the blessed Trinity Father Son and holy Ghost as the chief Objects of the Christian Faith whereof solemn Profession was then made So that upon this form in Baptism appointed by our Saviour compared with what is elsewhere said in Scripture concerning the Divinity of the Son and the holy Ghost is principally founded the Doctrine of the blessed Trinity I mean in that simplicity in which the Scripture hath delivered it and not as it hath been since confounded and entangled in the Cobwebs and Niceties of the Schools The Scripture indeed no where calls them Persons but speaks of them as we do of several Persons and therefore that word is not unfitly used to express the difference between them or at least we do not know a fitter word for that purpose By baptizing then

of it This Book of the Scriptures may with ordinary human Care be transmitted intire and free from any material Error to all succeeding Ages But Revelations unwritten if they have any lasting and considerable Effect they must at least in every Age be renewed and repeated otherwise in a very short space either through the unfaithfulness or carelessness and frailty of Men they will either be quite lost or so corrupted and depraved that they will signifie nothing From all which it appears that we have so little cause to murmur and repine at the Providence of God which in these later Ages of the World does not make those more immediate Discoveries and Manifestations of himself to us that he did to former Ages that we have rather great reason to admire the Wisdom and Goodness of God's Providence which hath privileged us with this standing Revelation of his written Word which hath so many ways the Advantage of frequent and extraordinary Revelation and in respect of the generality of Mankind is much more useful and effectual to its end I know there are some that have endeavour'd to perswade the World that Doctrines may much better be preserved by common Rumor and Report than by Writing and Record but I hope there is no Man so destitute of common Sense as to believe them contrary to the Experience of all Men. I come now to the 4th thing I propos'd to be consider'd namely That there is sufficient Evidence of the Divinity of the Scriptures By the Divinity of the Scriptures I mean that they were revealed by God and that the things contained in them were not invented by Men but discovered to Men by God and that the Pen-men of these Books did not write their own private Conceptions but were inspired by the Holy Ghost Now if we can be satisfied of this we ought to receive the Scriptures with the same Reverence as if an Angel from Heaven should declare these things unto us or as if God should immediately reveal them to our Minds for nothing can come with greater Authority than this that we believe it to be revealed by God and provided we be assured of this it matters not which way the thing hath the same Authority Now that we have sufficient Evidence of the Divinity of the Scriptures will best appear by considering what is sufficient to give Authority to a Book so that no prudent or reasonable Man can question but that the Book was writ by him whose Name it bears For what Evidence we would accept of for the Authority of other Books we must not refuse in this case for the Scriptures if we do we deal unequally and it is a sign that we do not want Evidence for the Authority of the Scriptures but that we have no mind to believe them Now the utmost Authority that any Book is capable of is that it hath been transmitted down to us by the general and uncontroll'd Testimony of all Ages and that the Authority of it was never questioned in that Age wherein it was written nor invalidated ever since And this Evidence we have for the Authority of the Scriptures As for the Old Testament I shall not now labor in the proof of that by Arguments proper to it self but shall take the Divinity of them upon the Authority of the New which if it be proved is sufficient Evidence for it tho' there were no other Now for the Scriptures of the New Testament I desire but these two things to be granted to me at first 1. That all were written by those Persons whose Names they bear and for this we have as much Authority as for any Books in the World and so much as may satisfie Men in other cases and therefore not to be rejected in this 2. That those who wrote those Books were Men of Integrity and did not wilfully falsifie in any thing and this cannot reasonably be denyed because these very Persons gave the utmost Evidence that Men could give of their Integrity The highest Attestation that any Man can give of the Truth of what he relates is to lay down his Life for the Testimony of it and this the Apostles did Now if this be granted that they did not falsifie in their Relations concerning the Miracles of Christ and his Resurrection and the miraculous Gifts which were bestowed upon the Apostles after his Ascension this is as great an Evidence as the World can give and as the thing is capable of that our Saviour was a Teacher come from God and that the Apostles were extraordinarily assisted by the Holy Ghost and if this be granted what can be desired more to prove the Divinity of their Writings But it may be said that tho' the Apostles were granted to be Men of Integrity and that they did not wilfully falsifie in their Relations yet they might be mistaken about those Matters But that they were not we have as much Evidence as can be for any thing of this Nature namely that the things which are related are plain sensible matters of Fact about which no Man need mistake unless he will and they did not write things upon the report of others who might possibly have designs to deceive but upon the surest Evidence in the World their own Knowledge and the Testimony of their Senses the things that we have seen and heard testifie we unto you So that if they were mistaken in these things no Man can be sure of any thing and by the same Reason that we disbelieve the Authority of the Scriptures upon this account we must believe nothing at all This is in short the whole force of the Argument for the Divinity of the Scriptures which I might have enlarged infinitely upon but I design now only briefly to represent to you that we who live at the distance of so many Ages from the time of this Revelation are not destitute of sufficient Evidence for the Authority of the Scriptures and such Evidence as they who reject in other Cases are esteemed unreasonable I should come now to the 5th and last Thing namely that it is unreasonable to expect that God should do more for our Conviction than to afford us a standing Revelation of his Mind and Will such as the Books of the holy Scriptures are But this I shall refer to another Oportunity in a particular Discourse upon the 31 verse which contains the main Design the Sum and Substance of this whole Parable SERMON XII The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Sermon III. Preach'd at Whitehall Anno 1678. LUKE XVI 31. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded tho' one rose from the dead THESE Words are the Conclusion of that excellent Parable of our Saviour concerning the Rich Man and Lazarus and they are the final Answer which Abraham gives to the Rich Man's last Request who being in great Torment and not able to obtain any Ease for himself is represented as concerned for his Relations whom