should be the instruments of unrighteousness To this purpose the Apostle exhorts Rom. 10 v. 1. I beseech you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service And again 1 Cor. 6. v. 15. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ How clear and solid is the Consquence v. 20. You are bought with a price wherefore glorifie God in your bodies and in your spirits which are Gods It was on this Consideration again that he exhorts the Thessalonians 1 Epist 4. v. 4. That every one should know how to possess his vessel the Tabernacle where the Soul dwells in sanctification and honour THE Nimbleness and strength of the body is not to be prostituted to Sloath Idleness and Luxury those Vices thwart the design of God cross the purposes of our Creator baffle and affront the kindness of our great Benefactor Therefore we are taught by the curious Fabrick of our Bodies to remember that God takes special notice how we employ them Psal 494.9 Vnderstand O ye brutish among the people and ye fools when will ye be wise he that planted the ear shall he not hear and he that formed the eye shall he not see LET me add to this that God is to be worshipped with the Body as with the Mind For he made both redeemed both and will glorifie both I need not prove this it were a reflection on the Gravity of my Hearers to offer at any proof of that nature But there are amongst us who have banished the Worship of the Body out of our Churches to bow their knees or to stand upright at some of the more solemn pieces of Worship is thought Superstition and they measure the Purity of Religion by its Rusticities and Undecencies and think that they are never got far enough from Rome unless they oppose all the decent Customs of the civilized World As if the Eternal Majesty of Heaven were to be approached contrary to the Custom of all Nations the Devotion of all Churches and the common Sense of all Mankind THE Devotion of such resembles the Superstition of those Pagans that Strabo mentions that offered none of the Flesh of their sacrifices unto their Gods but affirmed that the Gods were contented with the Blood only as if they had no regard to the Externals of their Worship The behaviour of some of us in the time of God's worship would not become us in the presence of our Governours But customary and universal Faults are not so easily reformed and some of them the more they are reproved the more incurable they become Secondly IS the Body so curiously framed Is this brittle and mortal Edifice so artificially reared Are there such prints of the Finger of God on this Tabernacle even whilst we are here then judge what it will be when it is raised from the dust when it shakes of the dishonours of the grave and appears with its Robes of Light when this unwieldy clog of Flesh and Blood is made pure and aerial nimble enough to vie with the swiftest Angels and fly with ease in the regions of Glory when we shall be all Life Light Spirit and Wing fellow sharers of Angelical Pleasure Now the earthly Tabernacle drags and pulls down the Soul to low and despicable Enjoyments then the Body is made strong and refined to comply with the highest Capacities and Inclinations of the Mind WE shall mount aloft from the Earth unto the Air where his imperial Throne is erected We shall shine ass the brightness of the firmament and as the stars for ever and ever when we are got loose from the Prisons of the Grave and the Fetters of Corruption knockt off but now in our present state how hard is it for us to raise our thoughts to the Liberties of the Sons of God! WHEN we have our feet upon the top of Mount Zion when we see the Glories and Empires of this little Globe below us and we our selves beyond Danger and Temptation far above its frowns and flatteries How will our Souls be transported to find their Garments lighter and our selves encircled in the arms of Divine Love and instead of this lumpish Clay this load that damps and depresses our Spirits the weight that holds them in fetters and captivity we shall then be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven when mortality shall be swallowed up of life and the shackles of our bondage broken to pieces THE very thoughts of this pure and Angelick state if they dwelt seriously upon our spirits might crack the strings that tie our Souls to our Bodies to think that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is WE cannot express the glory of the Body after the Resurrection better than in the language of the Scriptures There is one glory of the sun another of the moon and another glory of the stars so also is the Resurrection of the dead it is sown in corruption raised in incorruption 't is sown in dishonour raised in glory 't is sown in weakness raised in power 't is sown a natural body raised a spiritual body Thus we are told by the same Apostle to the Philippians that he shall change our vile bodies that they may be fashioned like his glorious body by the power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself With what confidence then may we lay them down in their grave since we are sure to receive them again pure and incorruptible beyond the Weaknesses and Indispositions of their former Captivity The hour is coming when all that are in their graves shall hear his voice we may triumphantly apply to our selves that place in the book of Job 19.25 I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God Thirdly ARE our Bodies such curious Representations of his Wisdom and Skill then we should treat them honourably and decently after the Soul is departed The first Christians had a great care that the poorest of their number should be handsomly interr'd and many times did they dress the bodies of the meanest Christians with costly Ointments and odoriferous Spices that they might do honour to the human Nature and testifie their hope of the Resurrection that the dear Companions of the Soul might be decently treated and laid in their graves as in their safe repositories until the general summons of the Arch-Angel awakened them WHEN their Enemies observed their great care of the Bodies of the Martyrs to do the Christians despite they burnt the Bodies of their dead and scatter'd their Ashes in the Sea lest the Christians might have the satisfaction of doing the common offices of humanity to their deceas'd Relations Certainly the Bodies of the dead should be preserved from all rude Affronts and
to them which made the holy Patriarchs command their Children to transport their bodies from one place to another that their ashes might sleep with their Ancestors How boldly did the first Christians venture their Lives to procure the bodies of the Martyrs which the cruelty of their Persecutors left unburied And S. Cyprian tells us how dangerous it is to omit it and that we should expose our selves to all hazards rather than leave it undone Neither did the Piety of the ancient Christians confine it self to those of their own Religion but frequently did bury the Pagans deserted by their Relations and they thought it not enough to inshrine the remains of their fellow Christians in Tombs and Sepulchres but also prepared their Bodies for their Funeral with the richest odours spices and perfumes the best drugs and ointments they thought but too mean to express their tender regard to their deceased Friends So Tertullian in his Apology tells us that the most curious Spiceries the Sabeans could afford were employed this way When Mary Magdalen poured Ointment on our Saviour's Head he approved it as done to anoint his body to the burial And the good women mentioned by S. Luke prepared their ointments and sweet odours to embalm his body All this was done because they looked upon the body as the expectant of a joyful Resurrection And hence we commit it unto the earth in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection For when they have varyed all forms and figures they are again built up immortal and more delicate habitations for our Spirits 3. LET the thoughts of the Resurrection comfort us concerning our departed Friends and Relations It s S. Paul's own inference But I would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them that are asleep that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope Vers 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first wherefore comfort one another with these sayings 4. LET the thoughts of the Resurrection comfort us in our present troubles O happy day when we are brought again into the light after so many nights of darkness and solitude when our bodies appear with their brighter robes when flesh and blood are Spiritualised and invigorated with the warmth of the Sun of Righteousness and our heavy Earth is calcined and purified for its true Imployment that it may serve the Soul in its swiftest thoughts and vye with the Seraphims of Light and Zeal in their attendance on their Creator Now the Earthly Tabernacle drags and pulls down the Soul to low and despicable Enjoyments then the Body is made strong and refined to comply with the highest Capacities and Inclinations of the Mind We shall mount aloft from the Earth into the Air we shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and as the stars for ever and ever when we are got loose from the Prisons of Darkness and the Fetters of Corruption are broken off When we see the Glories and Empires of this little Globe below us and we our selves beyond danger and temptation far above its frowns and flatteries HOW strongly do we then feel our selves united to our true and immovable Happiness and assimilated to the Blessed Temper and Imployment of the Hosts of Heaven and the Spirits of just men made perfect When instead of this load of clay the uneasie weight that holds our Spirits in Captivity we shall then be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven when mortality shall be swallowed up of life The very thoughts of this Elevation and Purity to think that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is might fill our Souls with the strongest Ardors and Impatience to be with Christ to be above the Clouds and the vicissitudes of this unquiet World WE cannot express the glory of the Body after the Resurrection better than in the language of the Scripture There is one glory of the Sun another of the Moon and another of the stars so also is the resurrection of the dead it is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption it is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory it is sown in weakness it is raised in power it is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body And thus we are told by the same Apostle to the Philippians That he shall change our vile bodies that they may be fashioned like unto his glorious body by the power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself What a mighty support is it for us at the approach of death to reason our selves out of our fear and diffidence to get above the terrour and the thought of our dissolution and strengthen our selves in view of the Glory that is to come Let us say in the words of the Psalmist Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my Countenance and my God The Meditation of this joyful Day puts us beyond all Calamities sets our feet upon a Rock and makes us look down with Magnanimity on all the changes of this lower World for when our Eyes are fix'd upon those purer Pleasures what can disturb the peace and tranquillity of our Spirits For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet our inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory The prospect of that state and felicity makes us forget this foolish World and trample on all its glories with a generous disdain and contempt when we remember that we are heirs of God and coheirs with Christ of that inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away 5. But fifthly THE belief of the Resurrection arms us more immediately against the terrours of Death Thus St. Paul discourses in the fifteenth Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians and 54. verse So when this corruptible hath put on incorruption and this mortal hath put on immortality then shall be brought to pass this saying that 's written Death is swallowed up of victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The King of terrours is rifled his Forces are broken we have an Antidote against his Poison Let him come in his blackest dress in his most dismal Robes of darkness and fear Let him appear with all the Solemnities of terrour and sadness yet the Christian in the midst of all this meets him with undaunted Courage He is like mount Zion which cannot be moved he sees beyond those Clouds he defies all those frowns he strengthens himself in the death of Jesus and his Resurrection from the dead and the belief of both makes us more than Conquerours This is
Neighbours He brought honour to the preferments he possess'd and valued none but such as naturally fell to him in the true channel of Merit 3. LOOK upon him as a Counsellor to his Prince he never suggested in publick or in private but what was for the honour of the King the Peace and Tranquillity of the Subjects the regular administration of Justice and the safety of His Majesties Dominions on all hands His advice was always temper'd with Prudence Caution and Foresight he understood Mankind exactly and the particular genius of this Nation so all his Counsels were even calm and moderate never surpriz'd or hurry'd unto any thing precipitate or indeliberate No Man ever had the resolution of a Great Captain and the gravity of a Senator more happily contemper'd 4. WHAT need I mention his affability and candor his charming inoffensive and pleasant Conversation Nothing tempestuous nothing rough nothing disorderly in his Behaviour he was of easie access to all ranks of Men and knew that Men in high Places cannot live without their Inferiors And if at any time his Anger broke forth into any appearances of Indignation it was to chastise and drive from him what is base unjust ungentile mean and vicious Will you consider him in his more familiar Relations as a Neighbour as a Husband as a Father as a Friend how amiable in all of them did he appear Friendship seemed to be his very Element and his proper Air And as none knew better how to make a choice so none more stedfast to that sacred tye The last words he spoke distinctly were expressions of Friendship to a Person of Quality with what gratitude was he wont to acknowledge acts of Kindness and Civility done him in the time of his Imprisonment in England Take him altogether he was a proper standard of Vertue fit for the imitation of the present Age and the commendation of Posterity Would God there were but many such in our Nation who truly needed so little the artifice of Flattery and despised it as much as our Deceased General BUT my Lords and Gentlemen when I have said this if I had no more to say perhaps I had said nothing All that is splendid and glorious in the Eye of Mortals is nothing in compare with the Spirit of true Religion In all his Life-time and in all the different Occurrences and Periods of his Troubles he had deep impressions of the Divinity Religion in him was not an idle speculation but broke forth and shined in all his Actions his devotions to God were fervent sincere and constant The expressions of his Charity to his Neighbours were full of affection love and sincerity He took his Characters of a Religious Man not from the dreams and fooleries of Enthusiasm but from the plain words of S. James Who is a wise man and endow'd with knowledge amongst you Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom And that other of the same Apostle Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world The instances of his Charity have been many and liberal and seasonably conveyed some of them visible great and lasting Let us follow him to his Death Bed and see his behaviour there BEING of a vigorous and cleanly Constitution he lived to the Age of Seventy notwithstanding of the constant fatigue of his Life When he felt that his Disease was like to prove stubborn and that it resisted the skill and care of the learnedst Physicians he sent for a pious and grave Divine of our Church with whom he took sweet Counsel how to order his Soul for its last flight to the other World And in this interval gave all evidences of the greatness and goodness of his Spirit ONE of the Physicians that waited on him did with all modesty and discretion insinuate that their endeavours were like to have no success He received the news of Death with all composure and equality of Spirit he never knew what fear meant and he met the King of Terrors not with that resolute sullenness and stupidity that is sometimes observable in the most profligate but with all calmness and resolution as became the strength of Faith the hopes of Immortality and the Majesty of Christian Religion THE frequent attacques of a lingring Disease had now brought him upon the coasts of Eternity he ordered his worldly Affairs with that speed and discretion that was always visible in all his actions he gave his Fatherly Advice and Blessing in the most Christian and composed manner to his dearest Relatives and marks of his Favour and Bounty to all his Servants And all this with that exactness of Memory and undisturb'd Judgment that ever attended him he omitted nothing that was to be done And then he beseeched such as were about him in the Bowels of Jesus Christ to give him no more trouble about worldly Affairs so be left the World in his Thoughts and Meditations and looked stedfastly to the things that are above and by frequent flights and ejaculations to Heaven was loosed from the Body from all the interests and concerns of it before he left his earthly habitation How weak are the strongest Chains that tye us to the Earth when we are thus illuminated when we are near our heavenly Country when the Soul begins to tast of the rivers of pleasure that are at Gods right hand Then she gathers together her spiritual Forces and the World becomes so insipid that she can relish nothing but the Fruits of the Tree of Life O happy day when we have run thorow the difficult stages of a wearisom World we then can say in the Apostles Language We know that if this our earthly house were broken down we have houses with God not made with hands eternal in the heavens LET us enter into the Grave before we are carried thither and from thence view the various tossings of mens thoughts to scramble together the heaviest pieces of the Earth how soon do the glories of it vanish into a shadow and the painted nothings that we foolishly admire are found empty and unsatisfying Are those the things we are to hunt after Are we made for them Have not we vast appetites and inclinations beyond them Can they serve us in our greatest extremities Let us remember then wherefore we are made For here we are but Pilgrims and Strangers Should not we pray with the Psalmist Lord teach me to know mine end and the measure of my days that I may know how frail I am Those dark habitations in which we live will shortly crumble to dust Upon this occasion we are to lift our Eyes from the Coffin where his earthly remains are laid to the place and company and employment of his Soul where we shall be cloathed with Light as the Angels of God and encompassed with the beams of
Dishonours and Churchyards that are the Seminaries of the Resurrection should not be places of pasturage for all kind of Animals And would to God that the Laity only were to be blam'd for this impious Prophanation BUT Fourthly Are our Bodies so curiously built Judge what the Soul must be that Lamp of Light that Candle of the Lord the invisible Jewel that 's laid up in that Casement 't is no less than the Breath of God it bears the Image of the Deity in legible Characters How active and indefatigable is it in the the search of Truth How much above the Enjoyments of Sense and feculent Pleasures of the Body With what transport doth it embrace Conclusions drawn from their Principles How fond is it of its own Contemplations that are raised on the immoveable Pillars of Reason How swifts in its Thoughts How easily does it fly round the Earth climb the Heavens and view the Creation 'T is a divine Spark of Light from the Father of Spirits that glances in those prisons of flesh for a while it 's true Pleasures are pure and Angelical it grasps Truth for the sake of Truth with Order and Complacency and makes to it self Ladders of true Consequences from the visible Creatures to ascend to Heaven BUT let us dwell a while longer on this Meditation Did God furnish our Minds with such noble Powers only to till the Ground and make provision for the flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof No certainly This vast and capacious Spirit that than lodge so many Truths together without Confusion or Disorder was design'd to enjoy God any thing else falls short of its Height and Grandeur WHENCE is this Appetite of Immortality that we feel within our selves Is it altogether in vain Did God place it within our Souls purely to vex us Was there nothing design'd to satisfie it Yes certainly else Mankind had been a phantastick Impertinence the vainest and the silliest nothing in the Creation For if in this life only we had hope we were of all men the most miserable confined to the Earth when our Souls fly far beyond it and immured in the Walls of Flesh when their Capacities dispose them for the Life and Enjoyment of Angels ALL the rest of the Creatures have Objects proper for their Appetites shall Man alone have Inclinations beyond the Earth and yet die like the Beasts that perish Let no such thought enter our Souls for we shall see him as he is LET me add to this If the Soul be so vivacious in its Walls of Flesh when 't is chained in this dark Tabernacle that as Quintilian observes it flies in a trace from one Object to another nothing can engross its power and strength how large and comprehensive must it be when we come to our Countrey above when we are united to the original Wisdom Light and Truth What a foolish violence doe we offer to our Souls when we bend and bow them to earthly Enjoyments Why did we not rather let them fly to the place of their rest and tranquility Their natural motion is towards Heaven and Christian Religion designs no more than their Primitive Liberty WHEN we would persuade Men to be religious we need not borrow our Arguments from foreign Topicks let them only look inwards let them view the frame of their own Souls their Knowledge Will and Memory the uneasie Reflections of their Consciences when they do amiss it makes them taste whether they will or not the fears of an impartial Tribunal that drags them in the midst of their Jollities before that Judge that can neither be deceived nor be imposed upon HEAR then the calm Reasonings of your own Spirits you may shift the force of our Arguments when we have urged them with all Zeal and Sincerity but you cannot hide your selves from that invisible Judge your own Souls IT were Folly in the highest degree to feed a hungry Stomach with wise Sayings excellent Diagrams or if such things were offered for the cure of a Man in a raging Fever this is the Folly we transcribe when we endeavour to satisfie our Souls with any thing short of God himself the Satisfaction and Happiness that we look after is higher than the Earth The Earth says it is not in me and the Sea says it 's not in me and the Treasures of both the Indies have nothing in them to feed the strong Desires of Immortality or to fill the Appetite of Reason BUT Fifthly Are our Souls and Bodies such Monuments of the Divine Wisdom should we not then frequently view and consider our own Frame and Composition Why are we such Strangers to our selves When the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the great deep the rest of the Creatures were formed in their order as they were commanded to appear by his word that commanded things which are not as if they were they were inded the more negligent strokes of Omnipotence but MAN appears by his deliberate Method and set off with the Characters of his Image in Wisdom Purity Liberty Immortality What Majesty in these Words Come let us make Man in our own Image And if the very rubbish of this Edifice the ruines of him in his lapsed Condition be so magnificent what was he when but a little lower than the Angels crowned with glory and dignity Especially when we remember that still he is capable of such Improvements Recover him by Education from his childish Vanities from his untamed Lust and Passions furnish him with Health Strength all Wisdom divine and humane invest him with publick Honour and Attendance and then he is but some degrees below the Angels of God And yet all this is but a shadow and a dream in compare with what Improvements he is capable of when regenerate to the Image of God and the hope of Glory ARE not we our selves then worthy of our most serious thoughts True Religion teaches a Man to converse with himself in the noblest manner to covet the highest Improvements of his own Nature to observe his own Failings Seneca tells us in one of his Epistles that it was his custom every Night when the candle was out calmly to examine himself and look narrowly into the Retirements of his own Conscience this often and seriously performed begat Calmness and Serenity in his Bosom which he compares to the Regions above the Moon where there are no Clouds no Vapours no Exhalations BUT a wicked Man is afraid to look within himself the violent Earthquakes and shakings of his Spirit make those Reflections intolerable Did we thus take our selves more accurately to task we would not have so much spare time to descant on the Actions of others we should be more merciful in our Censures less severe in our Reflections more equitable and just in all our Proceedings When Pausanias the Lacedemonian desired Simonides the Poet to bestow some memorable Saying upon him he gave him this Remember that you are a man AND indeed this contained a Compend
excellent beginnings that we shall be made more than Conquerours through Jesus Christ that loved us and we resign our selves to his conduct and goodness and by them we put to silence all our fears and anxieties Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my Countenance and my God To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Praise Power and Dominion for evermore Amen A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL Of the Right Honourable WILLIAM Viscount of Strathallan Lieutenant-General of all His MAJESTIES Forces within the Kingdom of SCOTLAND At Inverpeffray April 4. 1688. LONDON Printed for Joseph Hindmarsh at the Golden Ball over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1693. A SERMON ON JOHN xi 25. Jesus said unto her I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live Compared with 1 Cor. 15.12 13 14. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead how say some among you that there is no resurrection from the dead But if there be no resurrection of the dead then is Christ not not risen and if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain THE first Sentence that I have read is placed in the Frontispiece of the Office for the Burial of the Dead the clear foresight we have of our after subsistence being the only and the strongest Antidote against the Terrors of Death and the Solemnities of our Entrance into the Grave What more proper to be told the Sisters of Lazarus than that which rais'd their thoughts from the Corruptions of the Earth to that State of Celestial Vigour to which we shall arrive one day when we shake off the Dishonours of Weakness and Mortality The Article of the Resurrection is the great Pillar of the Christian Faith the Corner-stone of our Religion our Hope is founded on it and as the Apostle reasons our Belief without it is but one continued Fable and Imposture This alone hath in it the Strength and Quintescence of all Consolation and there is no remedy against our present Trouble but to believe our condition shall be changed into a better Humane Nature feels it self relieved by no other thought than the sure prospect of our happiness to come The wise sayings and pretty knacks of the Philosophers who had no view of the Resurrection did avail but little to support the Mind against Grief and Sorrow So S. Paul concludes that if in this life only we had hope we were of all men the most miserable There was indeed a general Tradition of the Immortality of the Soul that had overspread Mankind and so much we might gather from the Writings of Cicero and Seneca But to believe that the dispers'd parts of a Mans Body shall be rang'd and dispos'd into their true order and situation after they have been scatter'd thorough all the Corners of the Earth that they shall be reduc'd unto a temper fit to serve the Soul in all its Vital Functions that those Atoms shall be joyn'd to that Spirit from whom they have been separated was and is the peculiar Belief of the True Church WE cannot think of our utter Dissolution without horror and amazement we are naturally enemies to Sadducism and death in its strictest Notion The most barbarous Nations have something in their Rites and Religious Ceremonies that carry their thoughts beyond the Grave The very Phrase by which the ancient Romans did express Death let us see that they could not with patience think of being entirely extinct and annihilated when their Souls left their earthly habitations As for the Jews they could not but be fully acquainted with the Doctrine of the Resurrection though not from the Law of Moses yet the sayings of their Wise Men the Comments and Predictions of their Prophets the Traditions of the Patriarchs did establish them fully in the Belief of the Resurrection As we are informed by the Prophecies of Daniel and Job And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt and they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever Could any of the Christians prophesie with greater assurance of the Resurrection than Job I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me It s the Observation of S. Hierom upon these words that none spoke so clearly of our Saviours Resurrection and his own as Job before the Incarnation did And the following Prophets teach the same Doctrine Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise Awake and sing ye that dwell in dust for the dew is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead But the Doctrine of the Resurrection hath received much Evidence and Certainty from our Lord Jesus Christ himself who brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel who not only asserts it frequently but proves it convincingly from the Books of Moses by the clearest and most undeniable consequence I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living IT is needless for me or my design to trouble you with the more accurate inquiry of the order and coherence of those Words that I have read either out of the Gospel or the Epistle though we should disjoin them from their neighbour places yet they are entire in themselves full of light and comfort Martha told our Saviour her Faith now being almost overcome with Grief that he was highly in favour with God and so probably might prevail with him and obtain any thing he desired Our Saviour assures her that her Brother shall rise again this puts some life into her expectations and she seemed artificially to wave what she hoped and did insinuate that she understood him of the general Resurrection But he quickly saw into the darkest recesses of her mind and told her plainly that there was no necessity to let her thoughts fly so far off as the general Resurrection He who was the first efficient cause of the Resurrection and the Author of Life was himself present and so might when he pleas'd raise his subjects and followers from the captivity and dishonours of the Grave FROM both the places that I have read I invite your attention to Meditate First On the Resurrection of our Saviour as the Author and finisher of our Faith Secondly Our Resurrection who
stoop so low as to take notice of man or the highest amongst the sons of men who dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust THIS Contemplation is so just and so natural to the Souls of Men that it appeared frequently beyond the bounds of the Church Tully argues pertinently from this Consideration that it were the grossest Stupidity the most unaccountable Folly the most unreasonable Madness to admit that we our selves are endued with a Principle of Wisdom and free Election that our Actions are managed by counsel and choice and yet think that the vast Machine of the World the Harmony of all its parts the Beauty Order and Variety of all its wonderful productions should be destitute of some supreme and infinitely wise Contriver to regulate its Motions and order all its Revolutions And this may be discovered in the whole and through every part of it the divine Providence displays its Artifice in the works of Nature to the conviction of the most stubborn and the observation of the most ignorant THE Lillies of the field do exceed the glory of Solomon and the little Flowers that we overlook preach the unimitable Wisdom of their Creator The Beauty of Nature and its Productions infinitely surpasses the faint Endeavours of human Skill and Invention In the best polish'd Steel we discern remarkable protuberances but when we view the works of Nature whether by our eyes immediately or by the interposal of Microscopes we are forc'd to say with the Psalmist Marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well AND yet no part of the visible frame of Nature points more significantly to the Deity than the Body of Man which made the devout Psalmist retire into himself as into the Abstract and Epitome of the World the Quintessence of the Creation he had for a while ranged abroad his thoughts ran the circuit of the Heavens and saw as it were the Deity tuning the Spheres ruling the Orbs ordering the course of the Sun when he perceived that secret and universal spring of Motion the wheel within the wheels his unfathomable Wisdom his unlimited Goodness his irresistible Power his active Providence his unsearchable Omniscience his Eyes that pierce to the secrets that are buried in darkness then he comes home fully satisfied fraughted as it were with the purchase of his Enquiry I will praise thee O God c. Galen in his Book De Vsu Partium which some say he wrote in a kind of divine Enthusiasm the more he viewed the Skill that is transparent in the structures of human Bodies the Wisdom and Art that shines in the formation of all the parts the more clearly did he discover the Author of Nature And tho he was no great Friend to Religion yet his Philosophy constrained him to acknowledge that there was some divine Skill some invisible Hand that guided the motions of Nature and presided over all its actings they appear to be ordered pondere numero mensura every grain weight weighed in the balance of infinite Wisdom WE cannot look abroad either below or above but all things preach the One Great Numen whose Power and Presence runs to and again without whose Government and Conduct the Elements would break their mutual league and correspondence they would quickly jumble themselves into their original Chaos and break all the Laws of Order and Beauty THIS is the voice of universal Nature but made more loud and audible in the structure of Man's Body So one of the Ancients reasons against that acute Heathen Cecilius after he had considered the Heavens and the Earth the the four Seasons of the Year the Hills Valleys Trees Mountains the Stars and their influence he then as it were to strengthen his Argument to give it the last stroke that he might force his Adversary to yield considers the structure of human Bodies he invites him to admire the stately House that God built for the Soul the five Senses plac'd in the higher rooms to view and watch over the concerns of the body his Eye full of Life and Majesty most useful and yet most beautiful his erect Countenance the convenient habitation of his Brain his Veins like so many channels wherein the Blood regularly circulates his Nervs and Arteries his Stature Proportion and Features his Arms and Limbs the Distance Use and Situation of all his parts undeniably prove the Wisdom of God that displays it self more visibly in Man than any where else So that as that excellent Author reasons 't is hard to know whether the Use or Ornament exceed one the other but to be sure both are undeniable Monuments of infinite Wisdom and Omniscience IT was then a blind Fancy in Epicurus and his Followers to affirm That there was no design in the contrivance of Man's Body As if so beautiful a Fabrick had been rais'd by chance as if the Materials had leapt together without counsel or foresight as if they had started into this order without the direction of some wise and powerful Being as if blind Chance which is no cause at all had been the Parent of Proportion and Order But Tully affirms There is nothing so absurd but some of the Philosophers did own and defend it I leave this Contemplation and let us see how far we may improve the Psalmists Philosophy for the Government of our Lives And The Text offers two things to our Consideration I. The Psalmist's Acknowledgment and Resolution II. The Foundation and Ground of his Acknowledgment I consider the last particular in the first place which tho it be last in the order of the Words is yet first in order of Nature I mean the Ground and Foundation of his Acknowledgment Marvellous are thy works and c. GOD placed Man among his fellow Creatures as Superintendent of the lower World He is the Image of God and in him some rays of the Divinity appear and until such time as he fell from his Obedience by Folly and Presumption all the lower Animals did acknowledge him as their Governour He was plac'd upon the Theatre of the World to hold intelligence with Heaven to be the Mouth and publick Orator of the Creation to admire the works of God And he that was thus taught to admire is himself one of the greatest Miracles in Nature But let us improve this Theory to direct our Christian Practice and Morals And First ARE our Bodies thus curiously fram'd then certainly they ought not to be abus'd to the vilest drudgeries of Sin Why did God build such beautiful Tabernacles Did he design this stately Habitation to be the receptacle of wild and furious Passions and unbridled Appetites to be the dwelling-house of unclean Spirits Is it usual with wise and considerate Men to bestow so much cost and pains in building Houses for keeping the filthiest Creatures Do Men erect stately Palaces for the meanest uses No certainly No more did God design that our Bodies that are so wonderfully made
converse with God and with our own Souls That we who see Motes in our Neighbours eyes may at last pull out the beam out of our own WHEN we read of the strict Diet of the Apostles to which they were tied by the common Law of Christianity and withal remember their ordinary Entertainment from the World a Catalogue whereof we have in 2 Cor. 6. v. 4 5 6 7. In all things approving your selves as the ministers of God in much patience afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in watchings in fastings I say when we call to mind that this was their entertainment one would think there needed no more to keep their flesh within bounds and under the perfect command of Religion And yet we find that the same Apostle last cited did use voluntary chastisements and restraints towards himself that he might be wholly disengaged from all fleshly solicitations 1 Cor. 9.26 27. I therefore so run not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beateth the air but I keep under my body and bring it unto subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast away AND it is most certain the reason why we are not so successful in our resolutions against vice and folly is that we are not so particular in our choice of particular means and methods against particular sins When we beat the air in the language of the Apostle and never aim our strokes at particular sins we hover and are bewilder'd in the midst of many indefinite projects and fancies if we resolutely fight against the body of death we must wound it in some particular limb before the strength of the whole be taken down And therefore I would heartily advise all serious men in their retirements to single out some particular sin to which they find themselves more inclin'd for the object of their special resistance And this method hath this advantage also that not one sin falls without the ruin of many others to which it is nearly related And to close this advice in one word young and robust people that are healthful and vigorous where there is no danger of sickness infirmity or old age should frequently fast and pray that they may be strengthened against temptations that their Spirits being recollected they may with greater security venture abroad in the midst and hurry of secular incumbrances So far have I discours'd against Fleshly Lusts in their restrain'd signification as they proceed from wantonness and lasciviousness But I see no necessity why we may not understand the Fleshly Lusts in this place in their full extent as they signifie all those unruly passions and desires that act the unregenerate part of Mankind and drive them forward upon innumerable Precipices of error folly and mischief all of them reduc'd by S. John to three heads the lusts of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life All those gilded nothings and hurtful Idols that Mankind gaze upon with so much dotage and fondness all of them whether singly considered or in the bulk are contrary to the Nature and Genius of Christianity inconsistent with true peace and tranquility of mind and wholly set against the welfare of our Souls We have a Catalogue of them in the Epistle to the Galatians Chap. 5. v. 19. In which Catalogue the Lusts of the Flesh strictly so called are placed in the front Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies V. 21. Envyings Murthers Drunkenness Revellings and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God THE Apostle then bids us abstain from those Lusts that are so directly opposite in their nature and tendencies to the beauty and just interest of our Souls AND this leads me to the second Particular that I design to speak to and that is the Apostle's first argument against those Fleshly Lusts taken from their opposition to the Soul They are drawn up in battel array against the natural life as well as the mind And that I may make this apparent in a few words 'T is easie to observe that they war against the Soul in its purest and highest excellencies and though they cannot commit a direct rape and violence upon its Spiritual Nature yet do they combine all their force and strength to entice and allure it unto unworthy compliances And this is so much likely to succeed in that we are plac'd in the confines of Heaven and Earth Our Souls hang between the pleasures of the Body and its own Speculations and these objects that our Bodies feel make such impressions upon us by their neighbourhood that it is with great difficulty that the Soul is victorious over their importunity and frequent assaults Now all the prejudice that the Soul can suffer may be reduc'd to these three Heads 1. IT may be sullied in its natural perfections and operations 2. IN its moral endowments and accomplishments 3. IT may be depriv'd of its supernatural rewards and carnal Lusts do war against the Soul in all these regards 1. I SAY they war against it in its natural perfections and excellencies Now the true perfection of the Soul is to be united unto God This is its natural element the contemplation of truth is its true and proper employment and if by the enchantment of our Senses we have forgot our selves yet the accusations of our Consciences the pricking reproofs and regrets of our mind amidst the noise and hurry of external avocations sufficiently inform us that our Souls are violated against their original tendency when they are made to worship the Creature instead of the Creator We were originally design'd to view the Creation but not to rest upon it not to dwell in its embraces but so far to consider it that by those Ladders we might climb unto the Author of our Being HEAR then the reasonings of our own mind How have we enslaved them to those mean and abject drudgeries that are unworthy of their Nature and Original Now those Spirits that are Sisters to Cherubims and Seraphims by complying too much with their Senses are become feeble flat and unweildy for their more genuine and spiritual operations Had we nothing else to do but to make provision for the Flesh and fulfil the Lusts thereof we needed not such Souls as now we are furnished with Souls that can grasp so many truths together and lodge them without confusion or disorder that search into the Secrets of Nature and feel pleasures wherein the Body can have no share Why ought we to have such intellectual furniture if we had nothing else to do but to move above the surface of the ground for some few Months or Years and then lye down in eternal silence in
habitation above the Clouds where no Vapour can ascend to disturb the Air. THE Contemplations of God and of that Pure and Angelical Life makes us quite leave the body and fasten our eyes on that Celestial Inheritance where the Stars of Light mutually glance Light to one another and are all of them enlightened and warmed by that Original Light that dwells himself in light inaccessible So S. Paul tells the Corinthians 2 Ep. c. 4. v. 5. While we look not at the things that are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things that are seen are temporary but the things that are not seen are eternal To this purpose the 11th of the Hebrews is spent Abraham saw the Promise afar off the Patriarchs confessed themselves Pilgrims and Strangers on the Earth S. Stephen saw the heavens opened how little did he value the Mutinies and Cruelties of his Country-men MOSES Heb. 11.24 despised the Court of Pharaoh and the pleasures of sin for a season because he had an eye to the recompence of reward There was nothing charming or desirable in all the glory of Aegypt when he saw the invisible Crown of Glory How could one bred in the Court of Pharaoh and in all the Wisdom of the Aegyptians amidst the pleasures and divertisements of the Court refuse the Government and Sovereignty of so vast an Empire The World could not see into the reason of it they could not but conclude him a fool by their Maxims but Faith gave him a view of a Kingdom above the most radiant Diadems and the brightest Thrones on Earth and a Victory more noble than the Conquest of so many Provinces O the greatness and divine force of those mighty Souls whose appetites and desires are enlarged by Faith The World cannot fill their thoughts and therefore they by Faith overcame it and all its terrors and flatteries as the Martyrs mention'd in the Book of the Maccabees waiting for a better resurrection SEE into what an holy Agony S. Paul did put himself when the heavenly Crown was in his view Phil. 3. v. 14. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus I see the Crowns which are prepared for the victorious for the unwearied and resolute Disciples of the Cross when I bend my Soul to its full force and activity to lay hold on eternal life such a sight cannot but overcome the World and such a sight is only had by Faith BUT for improvement of all these thoughts Let us remember that the World can never be to us a quiet habitation since the opposition between it our Religion is endless and incurable when we have overcome one difficulty we must look for another here we are like the Israelites in the Wilderness tossed from one hardship to another though the World should promise us fair yet its promises are deceitful and its friendship is a violation of our obedience to our Saviour LET us therefore gird our loins and watch against its subtilties and snares as they that wait for the return of their Master if we intermit but for a little while we lose more ground than we are able to recover for many days Let us not therefore be slothful and negligent lest our Master should surprize us and we be found unprepared to make our accounts Let the World feel that we are Christians and consequently not only taught to despise it but enabled to overcome it that when we leave it we may come off the Field with the applause of our Master and so with joy and confidence we may give up our Souls to his hands as unto the hands of our most faithful Creator To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Power Praise and Dominion World without end Amen A SERMON ON PHILIP iii. 14. I press toward the Mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus IT is usual with most Hearers when the Text is plain when there is nothing in it to invite their Curiosity nothing beyond the common and great Truths of Christianity then to unbend their attention As if the substantial Truths of our Religion that in their Nature Scope and Tendency are design'd to beget preserve and maintain the life vigor and devotion of our Souls were only to be preach'd to the Pagans and Infidels But this Disease of the Mind is as dangerous as common therefore my design from those words is to leave upon your Memories a common Truth acknowledg'd by all and considered and digested by very few AND as the Truth contain'd under these words is obvious and plain so are all the Allusions and Metaphors under which it is deliver'd very familiar and easie Those publick Games of Greece mention'd almost by all Authors do naturally represent the fervour activity and zeal of Christian Life frequently compar'd in the Scriptures to a Race And therefore all Interpreters do agree that these Verses are Agonistical and that they carry in them an immediate relation to those Games in which publick applause generosity courage and emulation prompted the Competitors to the most accurate care caution and activity WHEN we remember what an Age we live in how far Atheism Lukewarmness and Stupidity hath eaten out the vigour and zeal of Primitive Devotion should we not cast back our eyes on those glorious Combatants of the first Age whose examples are able even at this distance to put some Life and Spirit unto us THIS being the design and the Text being plain without changing the natural Position of the Words three things offer themselves to our consideration 1. The vigour strength and activity of the Apostles motion 2. The straight and unbyass'd Line in which he moved 3. The end scope and prize he had in his view and that is the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus In one word the Reward of Christianity Of these in order 1. GOD is to be serv'd now under the New Testament with a holy awe fear care and diligence Though this be acknowledg'd by all yet how few are there that digest the Principles upon which it is founded and by which it may be rivetted into their Souls I SHALL endeavour then to provoke you to this extraordinary Care by such Arguments as do equally enforce it and chastise the Lukewarmness and Carelesness Inconsideration and detestable Neutrality of the present Age. And this will appear necessary if we consider 1. Either the Nature of God 2. The Spirituality and extent of his Law 3. The Vivacity and Strength of our own Souls Or 4. The Practice of the best of Men. 5. The Opposition that we meet with in our Christian Course 6. The Miscarriages of the former part of our Life 7. The peculiar Obligations of Christianity viz. that we are bought by the blood of Jesus 8. Consider the miserable Toil and Slavery of a Life of Sin And then we cannot but acknowledge that hitherto we have little considered our
when shall I come and appear before God 2. To make the Sacrifice Acceptable it must needs be offered unto God without retractation with a chearful liberal Soul And this no doubt was the Essential difference between the Sacrifice of Cain and Abel Abel gave his Sacrifice with a bountiful benign Soul Cain gave his with a penurious unwilling Miâ—d And therefore the Author to the Hebrews tells us that Abel offering unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more plentiful Sacrifice he gave it with a Soul as vast aâ— the whole Universe he came to the Altar with a heart fir'd with Love to the divine Honour But Cain drew a black Picture of God in his own Mind aâ—d therefore he came with affections as â—ark as the Vaults of Hell a mean and knavish Soul who measur'd the Almigâ—ty by no other Standard than that of hiâ— own angry and troubled Mind God is the God of Love nay he is Love it self Let all our Sacrifices thereore be enflam'd with true Love this nakes the Incense burn on the Altar with a sweet smelling savour this unites â—s to that blessed Company above whosâ— very Life is made up of chearfulness hâ—rmony and alacrity of Spirit 3. â—f the Sacrifice be Acceptable it must â—e offered of such things as the Law allowed to be sacrific'd Hence that known distinction of things clean and unclean What we sacrifice unto God under the New Testament must be something within the Circle of his Commandment It is a wild fancy and Enthusiastick madness for men to think that for the glory of God we nay turn sanguinary Rebels and barbarous Murderers as if the glory of God could be advanc'd by violating his Laws and renversing the boundaries between Good and Evil. True Religion grows upon the Foundation of Reason and is so congenial to our Nature that the one cannot act regularly without the other Do not we think that the Almighty is infinitely Wise and powerful to act for his Church Why do these unreasonable Men officiously interpose by their unhallowed Sacrifices and strange Fire They pretend to serve God zeaously when they let loose those Passions the suppressing whereof is the most acceptable Sacrifice NOW I have sufficiently demonstrated what was intended by the â—ncient Sacrifices and what the Christia Sacrifices ought to be And that is no other than this which is recommended in the Text. The first Christians were derided because of the simplicity of their Religion and their Apologists unanimously declar'd that God respected no Man for any external Excellencies or Advantages it was the pure and holy Soul that he delighted in He stands not in need of Blood Smoak Perfumes or Incense the best Sacrifice is to offer up a Mind truly devoted to his fear and this is certainly our most reasonable service And this leads me to enquire IN the third and last Place into the Motive whereby he enforces his Exhortation and that is It is your reasonable Service It is the Rational Worship opposite to the foolish Pageantry of the Pagan Ceremonies and the cumbersom Yoke of the Jewish Law It is that rational Adoration of God that is founded upon the Eternal Rules of immutable Reason and not oâ— variable Constitutions This Sacrifice then may be call'd in the strictest sense the Rational Worship I. BECAUSE our Reason was given us for this very end that we might converse with God This is the End that God had in his view in our first Creation Let us make man in our Image There is nothing capable of conversing with God but that which hath some resemblances of himself Society is for Delight and therefore we cannot converse but with such as are like our selves In our first Creation God made us after his own Image that he might converse with us 2. THIS is Reason in its highest Elevation It cannot be rais'd higher than thus to sacrifice it self to God For here we converse with the most perfect Object and in the noblest manner and with the purest Delight True Reason is a Beam of the Divinity a Ray of that first Light that enlivens all things and the nearer it draws to the Center the more it is itself If Truth and Light and clear Perception be the Life of the Soul then no doubt the nearer we draw unto the Original Truth the more we are our selves the more we act according to Reason and the Primitive Excellency of our Souls THIS is the true Life of the Soul the nearer approaches that it makes to matter in all its Appetites the nearer it is to Death it self and therefore our present state when we wrestle with the Tentations that assault us from the lower World is but a state of Misery Anxiety and Darkness if we compare it with that state of pure and unmixt Light where our Souls are made free from these unwieldy Tabernacles Now they are confin'd in their operations to some few and dull Senses but when we are got above this little Globe of Earth we may reasonably presume that our Souls will then display new Powers and Faculties upon new Objects which could not be exerc'd in its state of Union to this corruptible Body and will feel themselves more at liberty and uncon-fin'd and loos'd from that manner of Operation that their Kindred to an earthly Body did oblige them to nay the Philosophy of Plato gave noble Ideas of the state of Separation but our Blessed Saviour alone hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel 'T is He that hath revealed by the Father unto us and taught us to approach him with that rational and manly Worship that became the true Sons of God and the Heirs of eternal Life The more therefore that we are purified from Sensuality and the nearer we draw to the Life of the Blessed Jesus and the accurate Rules of his Gospel the more dispos'd and the more ripe we are for the felicities of the World to come and the Life of the Spirits of just men made perfect 3. THIS Religious Reason is the Characteristick difference of our Nature So that Man is better defin'd by Religion than by Reason without Religion The inferiour Creatures have some dark Vestiges of Reason Sagacity and Conduct but no shadow of Religion then may not we venture to say that Reason separately considered without Religion will not make up the Essential difference of our Nature The Philosophick Orator informs us that there is no Nation so savage and unpolished but that they had their Religious Solemnities their Gods and their Sacrifices And tho Cesar tells us of some of the old Germans that they had neither Priests nor Sacrifices yet they worshipped the Moon and the Fire Thus Religion seems to be the hereditary Ingredient of our Nature we must shake off what is most intimate to our Souls unless we employ our Reason in the Worship of God 4. THIS is a Reasonable Service because there
Religion so worthy of God to reveal so proper for us to be taught in as that system of true Piety and unaffected Morality that he has brought to Light WHEN I say Morality I do not understand Morality in the usual lame and defective signification of it as it regards our outward behaviour towards Man But rather the whole of our profound submission and obedience to the first and second Table of the Law And in this true and comprehensive notion I affirm that it was our Saviour's design to advance it unto practice and reputation amongst Mankind THE Jewish Religion take it all together was rather Gods indulgence and toleration than his law and commandment And tho it had the Seal of his Authority yet it was not in it self the best Religion but the best that they could bear When they returned from Aegypt the impressions of their servitude were not so soon worn off but that their proneness to Idolatry and former slavish dispositions remain'd And ever and anon upon all occasions for a long time after they relapse into their superstitions and Aegyptian Ceremonies IF we view them in the best periods of the Jewish Oeconomy their Religion was defective Many things were plainly permitted or tacitely conniv'd at as Polygamy and Divorce and some degrees of uncharitableness and revenge which natural and uncorrupted reason dislikes and condemns But when Our Saviour appear'd it was then high time to recover the World from their beggarly elements and to give us the true notions of Almighty God the spirituallity of his Worship and the extent of his universal Empire over Jew and Gentile and to form our manners by that accurate rule of his Doctrine and Example By which we were not only assured of Eternal Life but partly in a manner put in the possession of it A scheme of Christian Morals is given us in the Sermon on the Mount so pure and angelical that at first view we are forc'd to acknowledge that it came down from the Father of lights We are exhorted to whatsoever things are true honest just pure lovely and of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise to think on these things TO advance and facilitate the practice of this Morality was the design of our Saviour's undertaking when we consider the Gospel in its uniform strength and vigour as also to calm the consciences of men to remove our fears and to teach us to approach the Throne of God with a generous assurance of mind to bind us in the strongest bonds of Society amongst our selves and to liberate us from the yoke of Moses Law This was our Saviour 's business when he took upon him our Nature when we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth 1. I SAY one great part of his design was to form us into true Morals This is the comprehensive character by which good men are distinguished in the Holy Scriptures In this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother Thus runs the description of Job that he was a man perfect and upright one that feared God and eschewed evil AND David's religious man walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart The great character of Moses was that he was very meek above all the men upon the face of the Earth And Cornelius the Centurion is said to be a devout man and one that feared God with all his house which gave much alms to the People and prayed to God alway BUT all along the New Testament the Pharisees are stigmatiz'd that they were cold and indifferent in the great Morals of Religion while they were very zealous and pragmatick to advance the rituals of it They were blind guides who strain'd at a Gnat and swallowed a Camel They tithed Mint Annise and Cummin and neglected the weightier matters of the Law WHEN the whole of Religion is summ'd up in the most compendious manner there is nothing else nam'd but the love of God and our neighbour Or the most ingenuous expressions of both What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And our Saviour tells us that on the Love of God and our neighbour hangs all the Law and Prophets And this is the same Doctrine that is preached by S. Paul for Love is the fullfiling of the Law And therefore we find that the Prophets upon all occasions did endeavour to withdraw the thoughts of the Jews from the External drudgery of their Religion to that Immortal Deity that was Worshiped and to convince them that if their Sacrifices were not attended with the Love of God and their Neighbour they could not be acceptable The blood of Bulls and of Goats was no entertainment for him that made Heaven and Earth A Soul disengaged from the corruptions of Life and animated in all its actions with true zeal and sincerity was the only acceptable Sacrifice AND the Rituals of Christianity if they are destitute of their true Spirit and Life are of no greater value Our Faith without works is dead in the language of S. James And S. Peter compares our Baptism if separated from Purity of Manners to the washing of Swine And our Communicating without Devotion is by S. Paul said to be our coming together to condemnation It is the pure heart and clean hands the modest and ingenuous temper of Spirit that perfume our Faith our Prayers and our Assemblies When we look into the New Testament this Doctrine runs through all its parts and breaths almost in every Line the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all Men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works And for this very purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil IN all ages men have endeavoured to cross and oppose this part of our Saviour's design and to reconcile by little distinctions plausible and artificial tricks their Religion to their Lusts Some Religion they must have and that which renders them truly acceptable unto God penetrates too deep into the Soul searches the Hearts and Reins and teaches them to live in opposition to the corrupt Spirit of the World and to lead captive secret thoughts and imaginations unto the obedience of Christ The impressions of the Divinity are folded up in the Soul of Man the apprehensions and fears of an after reckoning haunt us whether we will or not
Love in the first Epistle of St. John give us to understand that the Love of God and his Neighbour did actuate and enliven his Soul to the highest warmth and Charity WHEN we look upon the Apostles in this interval between Christs Ascension and the effusion of the Holy Ghost before they proclaim'd boldly and openly the wonderful things of God in the name of Jesus before they came forth with displayed Banners against the Kingdom of darkness then it was that their Unity did miraculously support ' them and what degrees of chearfulness and courage were found in any of them came seasonably to the relief of every one upon all occasions Their Unity first strengthened their Prayers they went up to Heaven as the Evening Sacrifice and with united force prevailed The Prayers of those Souls that are knit in Charity soon fly to the Ears of God they are raised above the Skies on the wings of servent Love the Devotions that are harmoniously poured forth on Earth resound with an Eccho in the Heavens as if the Inhabitants of the upper and the lower World had begun already the most intimate friendship and familiar Converse 2. THEIR Unity among themselves filled their Souls with great Tranquillity and though they were not yet actually inspired as afterwards they were with the gifts of the Holy Ghost yet by their unanimity they were so prepared for them and thirsted after them as the parched and gasping Earth thirsts for the showers of the latter Rain 3. THIS Unity had with it also some foretasts of the joys of Heaven Those triumphant Spirits that are above are twisted together in the mutual Embraces of Love it is their Element where they move it is the life of their Soul they cannot live without it either here or hereafter 4. THIS Unity dispos'd the Apostles and the Disciples to a clearer understanding of the truths of the Kingdom of Heaven Truth is the true nourishment of the Mind and this Truth enters not in its force and influence unless the Soul is first alienated from all harsh rugged and ill-natured Passions Proud and unmortified Men may make a great ostentation of Wisdom and Knowledge but the truth all this time is not successfully united to the essence of the Mind and the retirements of the Conscience though the words that convey it to our Ears may be lodg'd in the memory and imagination when we come to know the Truth in its divine energy and strength then are we made free from sin and hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments Now the Apostles locked themselves up from the noise of the World and felt those invisible supports of Faith and Love when as yet they had not courage enough to venture abroad but Unity cannot long be preserved without uniformity and therefore they are said not only to be of one accord but also in one place THE Order and Discipline of the Catholick Church into which we are received by Baptism oblige not only to inward peace but also to an outward Decorum and visible Uniformity The Church in the language of Solomon is beautiful as Tirzah comely as Jerusalem terrible as an Army with banners The comprehensive Apostolick Canon is that all things be done with decency and in order and therefore are we exhorted by the Author to the Hebrews not to forsake the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is i. e. We are not to erect Altar against Altar but to continue in the Communion of the Christian Church observing those Laws and Rules by which the spiritual Society of Christs Family has been best preserved in the times of greatest danger and persecution If we cut our selves off from Christs mystical Body the consequences are fatal and dreadful THE publick Worship of the Sanctuary is Christs Trophy over his Enemies his Standard erected and set up in those very places where the Devil had his Altars are not his Oracles now silenced and his Sacrifices deserted where our Saviour is acknowledged King and Sovereign Is not the publick Worship the very joy of our hearts as the Prophet foretold Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths See with what fervour the best of Gods Servants pray for it and with what satisfaction they speak of it Pity saith Daniel thy Sanctuary that is desolate for the Lords sake And the Psalmist Thy servants take pleasure in her very stones and favour the dust thereof And again I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord our feet shall stand within thy gate O Jerusalem HOW hateful then are they to God and how contrary to the Spirit and design of the Gospel who destroy the publick Worship and the uniform Meetings of Christs Family upon Earth by Faction Mutiny Tumult Schism or Disobedience Is it not sad to consider how implacably Schismaticks are set to destroy the peace and order of the Sanctuary 'T is true as we shall have occasion to consider within a little the Holy Ghost came upon the Apostles in cloven tongues of fire but all fiery Tongues are not from the Holy Ghost A Sect there is of unquiet and restless Spirits who have no Principles but what tend to destruction and though it be no part of my design or inclination to rake into that Puddle of little Cavils and Exceptions that have been boisterously vented against the beauty and order of our National Church yet I would offer to the consideration of the meanest Hearer these four Particulars and then let them declare their thoughts of the present Schism and Wall of Partition that the Presbyterians have rais'd between themselves and the Catholick Church 1. CONSIDER that they and their Practices are disclaim'd by all Protestant Churches With what face do they alledge that they themselves are the strictest Patrons of the Reformation who have deserted all other Churches and by their Principles now think it unlawful to keep the Communion of any setled Church in Europe 2. ARE they not Nonconformists to themselves Their former Confessions of Faith and their Ringleaders as well as to the present Church the windings and turnings of Errour are infinite it leads them to a thousand absurdities it hath no solid Basis to rest upon but the present crasis of the Imagination and as that changes its Figure the Errour shifts its appearance and comes forth with further improvements And yet such is the unlucky fate of all Schismaticks that after all their refinings and Reformations they still retain some one thing or other that baffles and confounds all their childish and whiffling Objections against the Church I will instance but in one Particular which to this day is practised by the Presbyterians and that is they appoint Adulterers and such as are most eminently scandalous to wear
and comfort to the truly penitent Indeed when we look narrowly to the nature of it it is one of the surest Pillars of our Faith for this we do in remembrance of his Death and Passion and his blood that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel is still of the same force and value with God Let us not therefore entertain narrow Notions of the Almighty as if he delighted in the death of sinners as if he took pleasure in their miseries for God is Love and it is below his infinite Majesty to crush to ruin and destruction such as appeal to his Mercy If thou hatest thy sins if thou perceivest how vile they make thee and how miserable if thou implore the goodness of God to deliver thee thy freedom is already begun and God will advance it into a full Victory 5. COME unto this Sacrament reconciled to thy Brother Peace and Love are the dispositions that make our Souls fit Mansions for the Holy Ghost the vapours and smoak of Contention drive him from our Habitations This is one of our Saviours great directions in his Sermon on the Mount therefore if thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift If the Sacrament of the Altar be not here strictly meant yet by the nearest Analogy and consequence it is intended and the most judicious Interpreters think that our Saviour gave this direction with a special Eye to that Sacrament which he was afterwards to appoint And the same direction for the matter is repeated If you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you The unreasonable rigidity of the Bankrupt-servant towards his fellow is loathsom in the Eyes of God and of all good men We are exhorted by St. Peter to lay aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings And we are inform'd by St. Paul that Love is the fulfilling of the Law and that the works of the flesh are manifest among which are reckon'd hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance When we consider the nature of our Religion the whole tendency and design of the Gospel we must conclude that there is nothing more opposite unto its harmonious and blessed temper than malice and revenge and therefore we must be ruled by other measures than those that prevail most in the World He is thought mean-spirited low and abject that is ready to forgive an injury yet it is the height of true Courage and Magnanimity if we consider the whole Scheme of our Religion how much it is twisted with meekness gentleness and charity or the supreme Authority of God to whom Vengeance doth belong our own in inward Peace and Tranquility or the order and settlement of publick Societies we cannot refuse to comply with our Saviour's direction and therefore St. Paul commands us that as we desire to approve our selves the Elect of God holy and beloved that we put on bowels of compassion kindness humbleness of mind meekness long suffering forbearing one another if any man have a quarrel against any and that above all we put on Charity which is the bond of perfectness True and universal Charity is the great glory and perfection of our Religion in which Christians ought to outshine all others It is that by which we resemble our Father above and prove our selves to be his off-spring in the highest and truest sense Our blessed Saviour after He had commanded us to love our Enemies concludes with this Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect The Jews themselves who were indulged or rather connived at to be more rugged and untractable than the Christians were yet obliged to shew many acts of benevolence to their Enemies of their own Nation and Profession And many of the Philosophers did look upon the forgiving of injuries as an instance of true Valour and Fortitude NEXT Let us consider that Hatred and Variance and Strife make us unfit for any particular act of Worship and therefore are we commanded in our Prayers to lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting And secondly Contention and Enmity exclude us from all hopes of Pardon as oft as we say the Lords Prayer we appeal to the Omniscience of God that we desire to be pardoned no otherwise than we heartily pardon and forgive the lesser injuries of our Brethren done to us and if we retain in our hearts the seeds of Rancour and Malice against our Brethren we pronounce sentence against our selves we change our Prayers into imprecations and instead of the great blessings of Peace and Pardon we are consign'd over to the saddest doom and horrour Then let us consider that if we are commanded to lay aside our prejudices and evil designs against such as have provoked us how much more ought we to forbear affronting of them who were never injurious to us and therefore we must recompence evil for evil to no Man we must be tender-hearted and charitable to the poor and necessitous Alms and Fasting are said to be the two Wings by which our Prayers fly to the Throne of God the Providence and Promise the Power and Goodness of God are all engaged in defence of the charitable Man this is the universal Voice of the New and Old Testament the language of Nature and Religion Jew and Gentile do acknowledge it from all the ties of Virtue and Humanity Let us therefore remember the hardships of them who are indigent their sad groans and lamentable sighs and according to our ability relieve them not scrupulously weighing our own strength so much as their straits and calamity Let us not lay up treasure upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt but in heaven where they are not expos'd to any danger or decay still remembring that he that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly When we are thus far prepar'd we cannot but feel the sharpest hunger after this spiritual Food our Souls are then inflam'd with the strongest desires we breath after God in the affections and language of the Psalmist As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God my soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God When shall I converse with him in the most intimate manner that this state of frailties and weaknesses can allow of The Solemnities of Religion recruit our strength against our Lusts and corruptions we are made more chearful and resolute to grapple with our Enemies when we feel the influences of his Spirit uniting us to God and exposing to our view all our former sins in all their deformities we conclude from such
rose again that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living THE Meditation of our Saviour's Resurrection puts us beyond all doubt and hesitation as to our own Resurrection for he rose again as our Captain our Head our Mediator and in our Name And this leads me to the Second particular I proposed to speak to 2. THAT though we sleep in the dust of the Earth we shall be raised again by his Power He is risen as the first born from the dead and the first fruits of them that sleep as our forerunner and advocate He went unto the Heavens to prepare a place for us that where he is there we may be also And we shall follow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in due rank and season as the younger Sons of the Resurrection we shall be raised under his standard and conduct so reasons the Apostle S. Paul If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us he that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us And again If we have been planted with him in the likeness of his death we shall also grow up in the likeness of his Resurrection And the same Apostle to the Thessalonians assures us that if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep through Jesus will God bring with him Our Resurrection from the Dead stands in our Creed as one of the great Articles of our Faith the Revelation of it is clear and I need not prove it by a particular allegation of places for S. Paul concludes that if the dead rise not our Faith and all our Hopes that depend upon it are wholly vain and impertinent It 's true the Carnal World did struggle against the belief of the Resurrection And the Athenians could not forbear to laugh at S. Paul when he advanced this new Doctrine And Minutius Faelix in his excellent Dialogue proves how reasonable it is for us to believe it though the external Evidences for it were not so undeniable when once we come to have true notions of the Deity Did he Create us from nothing And is it so difficult to him to make us up when we are broken and scattered Can any particle of our dust and ashes be hid from the eyes of his omniscience And this is the current Argument of the Fathers Or as the same Author reasons though we are dryed into dust or dissolved into water or scattered into ashes can we be removed from the sight of him that weighs the Mountains in scales and numbers the sands upon the Sea shore And then he goes forward to prove the Resurrection from congruities in Nature and the vicissitude of Things Vide adeo quà m insolatium nostri resurrectionem futuram omnis natura meditetur The Sun goes down and rises again and the frame of Nature seems to die in the winter and when the spring returns they put on their garments of life and joy So universally is the Doctrine of the Resurrection preach'd by every Creaure under Heaven But I will not insist on this I 'll rather endeavour to lead your thoughts into the inferences that naturally arise from it And first are we raised again Is the fabrick of our bodies rebuilt by infinite Wisdom Then with what peace and assurance with what quietness and serenity may we lay them down in the Grave It was no wonder that the stourest Philosophers amidst all their speculations could not reason themselves into this composure of Spirit at the aproach of Death for the strength of all their Arguments was but of little value to calm the tempests and the fears that arose in their Brests when this Enemy of Nature drew near them Nothing can allay those commotions but the stedfast belief of the Resurrection and the hopes of Immortality Then may we say in the language of the Psalmist Yea though I walk thorow the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me And is not this enough to make thee quiet and resigned that thou art assured when thy Soul goes to the invisible regions of Light and Purity thy Body also however scatter'd divided and dispers'd shall again be rejoyned to thy Spirit And ought we to doubt of the Divine Power to accomplish this Since the forming of our Bodies in the Womb from so small a beginning unto such a beautiful structure furnished with so many exact Proportions and Features was no less the effect of Divine Power than the raising it again when reduced to dust and ashes How chearfully did the first Martyrs sacrifice their Bodies for the love of Jesus The Executioners might divide Soul and Body but they could destroy neither they might cut and pierce and launce and throw their flesh to the wild-beasts but still they were within the Territories of their great Creator And when the voice of the Arch-Angel sounds the dead are made to hear it and the Sea must give an account of its dead and the Earth must open her dark vaults and cayerns and thrust up her Inhabitants to appear at the publick Rendesvouze of the Resurrection to receive according to what they have done in the Body ARE we raised from the dead We ought to treat the bodies of our dead with care and honour All civiliz'd Nations agree in this nor can there be a piece of greater barbarism and inhumanity than to deny the rites of Sepulture even to our very Enemies The Poet could not express the height of cruelty and rudness otherways than to say that the honour of Burial was denyed hominemque cruentus Exuit tenuem caesis invidet arenam Though the methods of particular Countries vary yet all agree to perform Funerals with great solemnity The most natural way is to bury them in the Earth and it is the most ancient of all others as we see in the Holy Oracles Gen. 23.4 And though the Persians did burn the bodies of the dead yet Herodot tells us that the method of Inhumation was more ancient among the Egyptians and the Persians And when the Roman Empire became Christian the old custom was resumed and the bodies of the dead were committed to the Earth Diodorus Siculus informs us how critically nice the Egyptians were in performing the Funeral Rites that the persons imployed about the dead were divided in so many ranks and orders and to each their proper part was assign'd And the Greeks and Romans were no less careful about their dead And no doubt our most holy Religion strengthens the obligation and the Scriptures remark the Funerals of the Patriarchs and the care of their Relations in that matter S. Augustin discourses at length to this purpose that our bodies are a part of us and though they are laid aside yet we have not lost all relation
Glory where we shall have the palms of victory put into our hands crowns upon our heads and in our mouths the songs of the blessed where we shall sit with the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and Martyrs when we enter the City of Peace and of everlasting Rest in the New Jerusalem How can we but sigh and groan for our deliverance from our present Bondage When shall we be set at liberty from Corruption and Vanity and satisfi'd with his Divine Likness when we shall for ever solemnize the Nuptials of the Lamb and behold God face to face and shall be changed unto his Glorious Image when we are admitted to the Company of those Seraphims that fly round about the Throne and sing to all Ages of Eternity Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Does not the view of this Glory overcome our Spirits and disengage us from the Earth Why should the trifling interests of vanity ingross our thoughts and the little apparitions and dreams of the Earth enchant us O Christians think more frequently of your Country and of the incomprehensible Love of God that sent his Son to redeem you of the whole tendency of that excellent Religion of the excellency of our own Souls and the light of his Countenance that is better than Life Let us steal frequently out of the hurry and noise and impertinence of our little business unto those Regions of Light and Peace and Purity unto Mount Zion and unto the City of the Living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable Company of Angels to the general assembly and Church of the first born to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of just men made perfect To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Praise Power and Dominion for ever and ever Amen FINIS * Sr. Thomas Kennedy Mat. 6.23 Lord Verulam Rom. 1. Psal 19. Psal 8.3 The inconceivable distance between original Purity and Perfection and humane Misery De Nat. Deor. â—in Foelix p. mihi 135. Nihil in homine membrorum quod non necessitatis causa sit decoris quod magis mirum est eadem figura omnibus sed quaedam unicuique lineamenta deflexa sic similes universi videmur inter se singuli dissimiles invenimur 2 Cor. 5.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 15.41 Joh. 5.28 Psal 8.5 L. 3. Off. Rom. 8. Cap. ult 1 Joh. 3.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John Matth. Galat. 5. Psal 119. v. 34. Psal 137. Heb. 11. Psal 120. v. 5. Fortior est qui se quam qui fortissima vincit Moenia Coloss 3.2 Cor. Mat. 5.11 Heb. Psal 144.1 Est Deus in nobis agitante calescicimus illo Psalm 56. Maxim Tyr. Heb 12.14 Mat. 5.8 Phil. Acts. Isa 40.13 v. 22. v. 13. Ps 1â— 44. Isa 28.29 Jer. 39.19 Mal. 1.8 Psal 139. Ephes Psal 13.5 6. Matth. Psal 119. Psal Psal 19. Psal 69.9 Psal 119.111 Psal v. 127 Psal 40.1 Psal 4. 1 Cor. 16.13 Eph. 6.11 Eccl. 9.10 St. John Tit. 3.3 2 Cor. 7.11 Proverbs Jeremiah Luke 9.62 1 Cor. 9.24 1 John 2. Coloss 3.1 Vid. Grot. in alterquae dicitur Sancti Petri Epist 1 Epist S. John * Isa 48. v. 8. †Psal 51. * Rom. 11 †Eph. 2.1 Job 15.14 v. 15. Rom. 1. Isa 1.18 Jer. 2.5 v. 10 11. Ezek. 18.25 Jer. 13.27 Vid. Orig. cont Cels Mat. 22.5 Psalm Psalm Acts 26.18 2 Thess 1.7 8. Heb. 11. 1 John 2.14 Coloss 3. 1 John 2. 1 Joh. 3.2 Heb. 11.13 2 Cor. 4.16 17 18. 2 Cor. 7.1 1 Joh. 3.3 Matth. 5. Heb. 4.1 Psal 106.12 13 c Hoseah Heb. 1.3 Phil. 2.6 7 8. Matth. Heb. 2.3 Heb. 10.28 29. Rev. 5.18 1 Pet. 1.18 Heb. 9.13 14. Jer. 31.35 36. Rom. 9. Heb. 6.17 18 19. 1 John 2.25 1 Pet. 1.3 4. 2 Cor. 5.1 Hierocl 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 1.12 ver 13. 1 Joh. 3.1 Matth. 10.37 v. 38. Heb. 12.14 1 Joh. 3.3 Isa 1.11 v. 17. James Ezek. 18.21 Mic. 6.8 Mat. 3.8 Mat. 7.21 2 Tim. 2.19 Vid. Alcibiad Plat. Matthew Psal 18.1 2. 1 Phil. 2.15 †Rom. 3.13 * 2 Pet. 2.20 Matth. 5.44 45 46. 1 John Dilherus Isa 35.6 Gen. 27.28 29. Hosea 14. Romans Pope Pius IV. his Creed 2 Tim. 2.25 Rom. 11.33 Psalm 2. Isaiah 2 Cor. 4.4 Dilherus Virg. Psal 45. Corinth * Jacob. Vitriac apud Carolum Maria Du Viel Dâ—n Non donum sed donantis animus Psal 136. Rom. 9.3 Exod. Psal 14.2 3 4. Luke 15. Psal 51.1 Dan. 9.19 Phil. 2.1 Heb. 2.3 Chap. 10.28 29. Joh. 3.19 Cor. Luke 20.13 †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lactant. Hic verus est cultus in quo mens colentis seipsam Deo victimam immaculatam sistit John 4.23 24. John 4. Psalm 50.12 13 14. Isa 66.1 2 3. Isa 1.11 16. Micah 6.6 7 8. Rev. 1 5. Psalm 4. Res severa est verum gandium Psal 119. Jerem. 7.22 Joh. 4.21 22 23 24. Lev. 2.13 Mar. 9.49 1 Pet. 2.1 John 1.47 Mat. 5.23 24 25. Isa 11.6 7 8 9. v. 9. Col. 4.6 Mal. 1.8 Phil. 2.15 Eccl. 5.1 Lev. 2.11 Mat. 16.6 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Isa 65.5 Psal 139.7 8 9 10. v. 11. Heb. 4.12 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Ham. in loc Psal 139.23 24. Vid. Valer Maxim L. 1. De Relig. Cornel. Cetheg Claud. Flaminio abire jussi sunt propter exta parum curiose Deorum immortalium aris admota Philo de Animal Sacrific pur Col. 3.1 2. Psal 130.6 Lev. 22.8 2 Pet. 15 6 7. Rom. 6.4 Vid. Mr. Mede 's Discourse on Hallowed be thy Name †2 Cor. 6.17 Verse 16. Dan. 5.3 4. 1 Cor. 6.15 1 John 2.15 1 Pet. 2.9 Vid. Spencer de Legib. Hebâ—aeor 1 Cor. 10.14.15 c. Verse 21. Heb. 10.23 Cant. 1.7 Psal 112.1 Psal 137.6 Psal 42.1 2. Heb. 11.4 1 John 4. * The Murder of the Arch-Bishop of Saint Andrews Clem. Alexandr Arnob. Orig. contr Cels Lact. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 1. Gen. 1. Illic Postquam se lumine vero Implevit stellasque vagas miratur astra Fixa polis vidit quanta sub nocte jaceret Nostra dies risitque sui ludibria trunci * Luc Tull. de Nat Deor. Nulla Gens tam barbara c. * Caesar de Bello Gallico Vid. Grot. ad Matth. c. 20. v. 22. * Isay 53. †Heb. 13. Lam. 1. v. 12. Psal 129. v. 3. Matth. 26.39 Matth. 26.37 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 16.13 14 15 16 17. v. 16. Psal 22. Seneca Psal 40.7 * Cic. de offic Nam negligere quid de se quisque sentiat non solum arrogantis est sed omnino dissoluti Facinus est vincire civem Romanum scelus est verberare prope parricidium necare quid dicam in crucem tollere Verbo quidem satis digno tam nefaria res appellari nullo modo potest Psal 22.6 7 8. Psal 22.17 Chap. 23. Heb. 12.4 Phil. 2.6 7 8. Heb. 9 25 26 28. * 1 Pet. 2.24 * Liturg. Graec. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉