THE BISHOP OF CHICHESTER's SERMON Before the KING JANVARY 30. 1696. A SERMON Preach'd before the KING At WHITEHALL ON JANVARY 30. 1696. BY JOHN Lord Bishop of CHICHESTER Published by His Majesty's Special Command LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell and Tho. Cockerill At the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard and at the Corner of Warwick-Lane in Pater-Noster-Row M DC XC VII MATTH XXIII 34 35 36. Behold I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes and some of them ye shall kill and crucify and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias Son of Barachias whom ye slew between the Temple and the Altar Verily I say unto you All these things shall come upon this generation IN this Chapter our Blessed Saviour pronounces no less than Eight dreadful Woes against the Scribes and Pharisees for their gross Hypocrisy and amongst the rest for the pretended Reverence they bore to the Memory of the Ancient Prophets whom their fore-fathers wickedly Abused Persecuted and Killed so that they said If we had been in the days of our fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets v. 30. But our Saviour shews that if they had lived in those Days they would have acted in the same way since the same temper was existent in them as had been heretofore in their Fathers So v. 31. Ye are witnesses unto your selves that ye are the children of them which killed the Prophets Fill ye up then the measure of your Fathers for that ye are now in the way to Wherefore behold I send unto you prophets c. and ye will do unto them as your Fathers heretofore did unto those Prophets whose Sepulchres ye now Garnish and whose Praises ye Celebrate So that in the Event upon you will come the sorest Judgments and it will be as if all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias c. were required of this Generation There is some doubt to be made concerning the Zachariah referred to in the Text for there were several of that Name in Scripture as also in Josephus the Jewish Historian But this we may observe that whoever he was he was Slain before the time that our Saviour here so sharply inveighs against the Jews for it is by him charged upon them as a thing past whom ye slew Again it was a story well known to that People and a case very notorious and if so as there was no case more notorious than that of Zachariah the Son of Jehoiada so there was none that this Character could agree to but to him who was slain in the court of the house of the Lord or as it is here between the Temple and the Altar But then there are Two or Three difficulties remaining one of which is That Zachariah who is here called the Son of Barachias is in the Regal Story said to be the Son of Jehoiada In answer to which We may observe from Scripture That it was common among the Jews as among many other Nations to give several Names to the same Person as Solomon was called Lemuel and Jedidiah and especially where those Names were of the same signification as Jehojakim and Eliakim And thus it is with Jehoiadah and Barachiah 2. It was usual to give or to have Names given upon some Eminent Service done by them or some Eminent Blessing that befel them So Gideon had the Name of Jerubbaal given to him by his Father Joash upon his breaking down the Altar of Baal And Jacob was called Israel because as a prince he had power with God and men Thus Zacharias is here called the Son of Barachias or as that Name signifies the blessed of the Lord which was among them a term of Honour and Respect And a Name without doubt as it was due so was given to Jehoiada in a more especial manner because of his eminent Piety and of his Zeal in advancing Joash to the Throne and for restoring the Liberties and Religion of that People after they had both been invaded by the Infamous Practices of the Idolatrous Athaliah He may for this reason well deserve the Name of Barachias or the blessed of the Lord. And then the Aggravation of the Sin was That this Zachariah martyr'd by them was the Son of that brave Jehoiada that Patriot of their Countrey and whom without any regard to his Ancestor to his own Quality his Message or the Place they furiously rushed upon and stoned him the Punishment of Blasphemers in the Court of the Lord's House or Court of the Priests A Fact so heinous that the Jews say his Blood continully bubbled up and was not expiated till the Babylonish Captivity which was about Two hundred and fifty years after But if it was at this distance from the time of our Saviour how comes this Instance of Zacharias to be the last as that of Abel was the first I answer Because that Blood was supposed to lye upon that Nation till the Captivity after which they were as averse to Idolatry as ever they were before addicted to it and therefore that sort of Persecution ended with it But if it were so that Zacharias was the Son of that Jehoiadah it seems very hard and unjust that this Blood and much more the Blood of Abel and all the Righteous Blood shed upon the Earth should be required of that Generation as our Saviour here affirms For what was the blood of Abel to them who was Killed by his Brother Cain all of whose Posterity perished in the Deluge Or how were they concerned in the Blood of such Righteous Persons as were slain in other parts of the Earth or even in that of Zacharias who though killed by their Ancestors was slain above Seven hundred years before I grant this Blood could no more literally be charged upon that Generation than they could be said to have been Cotemporaries with those Ages of Abel or Zacharias But it is here thus represented partly because they were of the same Temper and were acted by the like spirit of Envy and Hatred as the Murtherers of Abel and Zacharias c. Partly it was as to Zacharias because the course of impiety in former Ages was carried along though in a different way even to that Age and lastly because that what they were now agitating and would shortly accomplish would be a Crime of such malignity as would fill up the measure of their fathers and would determine in their Ruin ver 37 38. O Jerusalem c. behold your house is left unto you desolate And it is as if he had said Ye think your selves clear of your Fathers Iniquity forasmuch as ye Garnish the Sepulchres of those Prophets whom they
wickedly Killed and that ye are not Idolaters and Persecutors as they and say If we had been in the days of our fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets but you will so far outdo them that ye will Kill and Crucify those whom I shall send and reject the last tender of Divine Mercy and thereby bring upon your selves ruin as inexpressible as irreversible For think of all the Blood of Pious and Just Men that has been shed through all Ages of the World think of that of Abel and of Zacharias and all that ye can think of and yet the case will hold no comparison with what ye will do in Persecuting Killing and Crucifying the Prophets and Wise Men that shall be sent to you and also Him that sends them And if the Blood of Abel cried for vengeance and that of Zacharias was required of your Progenitors Then what will not fall upon this Generation It will be such as was not from the beginning of the creation It will be such as if all the Blood of the Prophets and of Righteous Men from Abel downward to that of Zacharias were required of you Behold I send unto you prophets and wise men c. that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth verily these things shall come upon this generation In Discoursing upon which Argument I shall shew I. That it often happens to the Best of Men to be Opposed and Persecuted and Despitefully used in this World II. That this is consistent with the Providence of God and his Government of the World III. That in the sequel God doth right to his Providence and to their Piety and Virtue by extraordinary Events I. It often happens to the best of Men to be Opposed and Evil-Treated I shall not go about to prove that which is matter of Fact and has been the constant Observation of all Ages more or less We need not go farther for the confirmation of it than the Instances of the Text Abel and Zacharias and the rest of the Righteous Men upon Record Or than the sad Instance which this Day sets before us when a Person as Eminent for his Piety as his Character and Dignity was treated as if he had been the Off-scouring of all things and was as many of the Righteous Men of Old Persecuted and Slain And the Causes are as observable as the Fact and of which there are as many as there are Prejudices and Misunderstandings contrary Passions and Interests As long as there are Ambition and Pride Envy and Malice Covetousness on one hand or expensive Vices on another As long as there are contrary Habits which are the Principles that rule in all Mankind there will be Enmities and Oppositions and if Virtue and Religion and the Best of Men are against Persons in these Circumstances they will then retaliate the Injury and be against Virtue and Religion and the best of Men. For then it is not what the thing is in it self but what it is as to them and it often is not because it is Religion or Virtue or the Best of Men that they thus Despitefully use them but because they are opposite to their Interest or their Inclination or sometimes are to their Reproach Then it is that the Pharisees are for condemning our Saviour when they thought that the Romans would come and take away both their place and nation And especially is this of the more fatal and pernicious consequence if this Spirit be edged on by a false and mistaken Zeal and Religion is pretended to by some to face an evil design and is believed by others to be concerned in it and is in danger to suffer For then this doth as they will have it justify and establish the Contention and make it to be necessary Then they think it laudable and meritorious even to kill when in their Opinion it is to do God service It is then a Cause fit to venture their own life in and a Cause that will oblige them to take away that of another Nay it will even serve to break through the Laws of Nature it self and will have them to put those to Death whom Nature would otherwise teach to Preserve and with the hazard of their own Life to save from it Thus it was foretold by our Saviour The brother shall deliver up the brother to death and the father the child c. By these and the like means the Best of Men too often fall under the heavy hand of Violence and Oppression and if we were then to judge of them by the usage they meet with they must have been the worst of Mankind A case which hath tempted some to question and others to deny a Providence But this without reason if there be nothing in these Proceedings and Events but what is consistent with the Divine Oversight and Government of the World II. Which is the next thing to be Discoursed of The Providence of God is seen in Preserving all things in the same State and Order as at the first establishment And as he ordinarily leaves Natural Causes and necessary Agents to act according to their proper Nature and to keep to the Law and the Season at the first appointed and prescribed so he generally leaves voluntary and intelligent Beings to follow their own Inclinations and to Chuse and Resolve and Act as they shall see meet And if it happens that such Agents proceed upon wrong Principles or mistaken Measures it is no more than if in meer Natural Causes there are some Preternatural Accidents happen through the concourse of different parts of Matter together And if sometimes Good Men are left to their own Precipitance as Josiah when he was not to be disswaded from Attacking Pharaoh-Necho and Wicked Men are left to their own Perverseness and Obstinacy as Pharaoh or to their Pride as the Haughty Assyrian and they perish in it This in the Voluntary World is no more extraordinary than when there is Seed-time and Harvest in the Natural World that is that each acts according to the Nature they are of and the Condition they are in And it is no imputation upon Providence if in this way Good Men or the Best of Men fall sometimes into hard Circumstances when Causes are left to their own tendency and are as it were in their own Power For Nature is but Nature and to keep Nature in its course is an Act of Providence to keep Stated and Permanent Beings in their Station and Order and Transient in a continued Succession and Voluntary in their own Power and Liberty is a special Fruit of the Divine Providence But I confess if there were no more and that Providence were a meer Supervisor it would not be the Providence worthy of so Divine a Power nor so worthy of that Veneration we owe to it There is therefore a more noble part of it behind and that is That
though God generally keeps to the Laws he has given and Preserves the World as he made it yet he upon occasion interposes and doth as well Govern the World as Preserve it and as he can when he pleases stop the current of the violent Ocean for a Passage to his People and make the stars in their courses to fight against their Enemies so he doth Govern the Wills and Passions of Men and turns them as the rivers of water to or from their Purpose and Design or promotes or hinders their Design from Success as he thinks fit And if it be asked Why he doth not interpose in cases that seem to us to be of the greatest Consequence and which the Welfare of a Nation the Safety of his People the Good of his Church turn upon Why for example he doth not prevent the Sufferings and Oppressions of Good Men I Answer Because it is for a greater Good sometimes to themselves sometimes to the Publick by making them an Example of Patience Charity and Constancy sometimes for the Advantage of the Church and for the Propagation of Religion and always for his own Honour and Service Need we a greater Instance of this than the Sufferings and Death of our Blessed Saviour with which seemingly the Cause seemed to be lost We trusted that it was he which should have redeemed Israel said the despairing Disciples And his Enemies thought they had prevented all after-growth of that Doctrine he Taught when they had Slain him and made sure the Sepulchre by Sealing the Stone and setting a Watch. But his Resurrection baffled all their endeavours and shewed how consistent this his Crucifixion was with the Divine Providence proceeding from the Hand and Counsel of God Thus it happened in a lower degree with the Enemies of our Government Church and Religion who thought all at an end when they had cut down the Defender of it But we know what the Event was Confusion to themselves and in process of time a Glorious Deliverance and Restoration to our Ancient Government Liberties and Established Religion And if God hath these noble Ends in Prospect and thus brings Good out of Evil the Objection is foreclos'd and the mouth of all Gainsayers must be stopp'd Thus it ordinarily is and if in some cases this be not so evident and the Judgments of God prove a great deep and too deep for us to fathom it is no more an Objection against a Providence than it is an Argument that a Child is not a Rational Creature because at the present we cannot find in it the exercise of a Human Understanding In many cases there is Faith and Expectation and the farther Success and Events of things which we are to defer our Judgment to It is sufficient God doth put forth such acts of a Divine Power in some special Cases and Instances as shall enforce the Perversest the most Inconsiderate and the most Insolent of Mankind the Pharaoh's and Magicians the Adonibezek's and the Nebuchadnezzar's to confess Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth And this will bring us nearer yet to the Subject of this Day in the next Head Which is III. That God doth in very eminent Instances Cases and Events do Right to his Providence and to the Righteous Men that frequently Suffer and meet with the hardest Usage in this World I shall not enlarge upon this Argument but confine my self to what is intimated in the Text when the Punishment of Antecedent Crimes is transferred to and falls upon Successors and an after-Age or Ages suffer for the foregoing whether Personal Domestical or National this is intimated here That upon you may come all the righteous blood c. but more expresly is it in that Clause whom ye slew which the Greek Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being in the Singular refers immediately to Zacharias for it is not said the Blood of Abel and of all other Righteous Men throughout the World which they shed as it is of Zacharias whom ye slew Which shews that it is in another relation that they stood in to Zacharias than they did to Abel and that was because Zacharias was slain by their Fathers and which they owned to have for some Ages been imputed to their Nation before the Captivity as has been beforesaid The imputation of one Man's or one Age's Sin in the Punishment of it to another and that Princes have suffered for the People and People for their Princes and Children for their Fathers and an after-Generation for a fore-going has been owned by all the Heathens are full of it and the Scriptures often appeal to it and therefore this was a part of their solemn Confessions and their Fathers Iniquity as well as their own was either Confessed or Disclaimed But it concerns us to look somewhat further into this Argument for the use it may be of And in Discoursing upon it In prosecution of which I shall consider 1. What those Sins are whose Punishment above others is thus transferr'd 2. The case of Persons or Nations with respect to those Sins 3. What is to be done by way of relief and remedy As to the former there are Two sorts of Sins Personal and Relative Personal are such as in their Effects pass no farther than the Person and respect not others when all the hurt is as to himself bating only what it may be in the Example and then where the Sin rests there rests the Punishment and the soul that sinneth it shall dye the Son shall not bear the iniquity of the father and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself alone as it is said in the Prophet But now where the Sins are Relative and respect others and which they are damnified by then the Punishment is farther dilated and extended and so it falls upon the Person and the Posterity as God the Supreme Lawgiver doth direct I acknowledge that there is one Sin viz. That of Idolatry to which a Threatning of this kind is annexed as we find it in the Second Commandment though it doth not immediately affect others but being it so directly struck at the foundation of all Religion and more especially that of the Jews whose Constitution was a Theocracy immediately under God there was this terrible Sanction added to it to make Persons the more cautious of Offending But otherwise the Sins so Threatned and for which Persons in Succession were Punished were the Sins that the Interests of others or the Publick were concerned in and damnified by as has been said The reason of which seems to be Because as to Personal Vices the Offenders shall answer for them in another World where every Man shall bear his own Burthen and give an Account of himself to God But those Sins which respect others and which the Welfare and Peace of Societies are Prejudiced by they besides the Punishments in reserve in the next Life shall here be Punished for And