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earth_n	body_n	heaven_n	soul_n	16,244	5	5.2792	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51916	Sermons preach'd on several occasions by John March ..., the last of which was preach'd the twenty seventh of November, 1692, being the Sunday before he died ; with a preface by Dr. John Scot ; to which is added, A sermon preach'd at the assizes, in New-Castle upon Tine, in the reign of the late King James.	March, John, 1640-1692.; Scott, John, 1639-1695.	1699 (1699)	Wing M583; ESTC R18158	123,796	330

shines the brighter when others are unsettled by the turn of the Times or by the crafty subtilties of Schismaticks and Hereticks And the honourableness of such stedfastness will appear more at large by these few Particulars 1. This Steadfastness is an Argument that men have formerly taken just pains to inform themselves about matters of Religion As Ignorance is a Stain to Human Nature so Knowledge on the contrary must be the Honour and Glory of it This is one of the greatest perfections of the Soul without which as Solomon tells us the Mind cannot be good and as Knowledge in the General is thus honourable so no Knowledge is so Honourable as the Knowledge of Religion Religion is the chiefest concern of Mankind and consequently ignorance of this is the most shameful brand and yet such ignorance as this for the most part are they guilty of who prove unfaithful to the Church of God Hence St. Paul 2 Tim. 3. 6 7. speaking of some who suffered themselves to be perverted by Seducers he calls the silly Women such as are ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth Nay elsewhere he styles them Children in understanding who are tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrin For a man therefore to be steadfast in the Truth must needs be Honourable because it argues him to be a Knowing Man and that in matters of the highest importance 2. Stedfastness in Religion must needs be honourable because it is an Argument of the greatest Wisdom To be accounted wise is a piece of Honour men have always been covetous and ambitious of and there are none think they have a better title to it than such as change their Religion to serve their Temporal Interests Indeed our Saviour tells us That the Children of this World are in their Generation wiser than the Children of Light It must be acknowledged they are wiser as as to worldly Affairs and by renouncing their Religion they may make better provisions for the remainder of their Life here But alas What is a man profited if he gain the whole World and lose his own Soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul Esau in the judgment of St. Paul was a very prophane Person when he sold his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage and Iudas made but a sorry Bargain when for thirty pieces of Silver he betrayed his Saviour and his Soul together such worldly Policy is not the best sort of Wisdom He is truly the wisest man who prefers his Soul before his Body Heaven before Earth and Eternity before a Moment Now none is such a Wise Man as this but he who adheres stedfastly to the Church of God and values his Religion above Estate Life and all the fading Enjoyments of this transitory World 3. Stedfastness in Religion must needs be Honourable because such shall be honoured by Christ in an especial manner at the day of Judgment God has promised that those that honour him he will honour Now we have no better way to honour God than by owning his Truth and adhering to his Church Religion is the great concern God has in the World for the Honour and Advancement of which all those Miracles were wrought which are recorded in the Bible It is not therefore possible to please God more than by being true and faithful to Religion Hear what Honour our Saviour promises to put upon such at the day of Judgment Whosoever shall confess me before men saith Christ him shall the Son of Man confess before the Angels of God Luke 12. 8. However sincere Christians may be reviled and evil intreated by a wicked World it seems they will be own'd and honour'd by their Dearest Saviour and if there be one Crown of Glory larger than another he will bestow it on such as are faithful to the death I might if the time and your patience would permit add several other Arguments to shew the Honourableness of those Persons who continue stedfast in the Communion of God's Church but these I am confident will suffice at present I shall therefore conclude with a word of Exhortation beseeching you to continue stedfast in the Communion of the Church of England It will not be prudence in me to make any Reflections on other Churches but this I hope may be said without offence that I know not any Church this day upon Earth with which we may more safely Communicate than with the Church of England The Church of Rome is deservedly reckoned one of the Ancientest Churches in Christendom and yet if we may believe Baronius one of the best of their Historians the Church of England is Senior to it more than five years The Government of this Church is known to be Episcopal That Government which was instituted by Christ and was the only Government in the Church for fifteen hundred years after the Times of the Apostles And as this Church is governed by Bishops so we have had a continued Succession of them from the very beginning to this present day as may be learned from Godwins Catalogue of Bishops and Parkers Antiquitates Britannicae The Faith which our Church professes may be found in her Creeds which are the Apostles the Nicene and the Athanasian Creeds the only Creeds which were owned by the Primitive Church so that if we may be saved by that Faith which was thought sufficient by the Apostles and the best of Christians we need not seek a new one from any Church in Christendom No Church can pretend to more Loyal Principles or recommend it Self more to the Favour of Princes by the constant Fidelity of its Members than the Church of England This also is that Church which enjoyed Lucius the First Christian King and had the honour to have born in it the First Christian Emperor and Empress namely Constantine the Great and the most Religious Helena These are great and signal Honours such as no other Church is able to boast of and I shall add one greater than them all namely that the Religion of our Church was sealed by the Blood of King Charles I. the first Royal Martyr that ever was in the World This certainly is a Church none of us have the least reason to be ashamed of and as little reason to be afraid to own since we are so well assured of their present Majesties Gracious Protection I shall therefore conclude this Discourse as St. Paul does the 15th Chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians VVherefore my Beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the VVork of the Lord for asmuch as you know that your Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. To God the Father c. SERMON VI. Luke xxiii 39 43. And one of the Malefactors which were hanged railed on him saying If thou be Christ save thy self and us But the other answering rebuked him saying Dost thou not fear God seeing thou art in the same condemnation And we indeed

Gold the Walls and Foundations all of Precious Stones Such incredible lustre and glory is in it that the Sun shall not need to give his Light nor the Moon to shine in it for the Glory of God shall inlighten it and the Lamb shall be the light thereof for ever Thus happy shall the Godly be after they depart this Life they shall be with Christ and which is more they shall be with Christ in Paradise I come now to draw some practical Inferences from what has been delivered Application 1st Has the Holy Ghost in Scripture made such discoveries of Paradise and our future happiness then certainly they ought to fill our Souls with earnest Longings and vehement Pursuits after them When King Hezekiah had shewn to the Ambassador of Baladan King of Babylon the House of his Precious things his Silver and his Gold and all his Treasures we read these finite perishing Treasures proved Load-stones powerful enough to draw these Babylonians to War against Iudah How much more ought the infinite Glories of Heaven which God has revealed in the Scripture raise such violent Desires in us as may make us resemble the Spouse in the Canticles who is compared to a Pillar of Smoak mounting continually towards Heaven or them who lived in the dayes of Iohn the Baptist who are said to have taken the Kingdom of Heaven by violence Such a temper of Spirit as this we find in the Saints of God My Soul fainteth for thy Salvation I have longed for it saith Holy David Psal. 119. 81 It is a remarkable Passage of Cornelius a Lapide upon Gen. 47. where enquiring why the Patriarchs of old were so passionately desirous to have their bones buried in the Land of Canaan he gives this Reason God saith he had revealed unto these Holy men the Day of Christ they all as well as Abraham saw Christ Day and rejoyced Not only the Day of his Nativity but that more glorious Day of his Resurrection In which not only Christ himself should rise but others that slept should rise with him and attend upon him into Heaven at his Ascension These hopes of Rising with Christ and getting sooner to Heaven both in their Bodies and Souls than others made them thus careful and solicitous to be buried near the place where Christ was to rise How unlike these Holy Patriarchs are many amongst us whose heavy Souls move down to Earth as to their Center Neither God nor Heaven does ever so much trouble their Thoughts as to make them breath forth their desires after them But such as are true Believers and sincere Christians are in Scripture described by this known Periphrasis of being such as love the appearing of Christ such as desire to be dissolved that they may be with him such as earnestly groan to be cloathed upon with their House which is from Heaven and therefore pray often with the Bride in the Revelations Come Lord Iesus come quickly 2dly If we do earnestly and seriously desire this exceeding great happiness of Paradise we must be willing to use the Means which will bring us to it It is a known Maxim in the Schools Qui vult finem vult media ad finem He that effectually desires the End desires also the Means which lead unto that End If with the Thief upon the Cross we expect after Death to enjoy Christ in Paradise we must labour to imitate him and give such demonstrations of our Humility Faith in Christ and sincere Repentance as he did Our Saviour tells us that the wise Merchant in the Gospel had no sooner found a Pearl of great Price but he presently sold all he had and purchas'd it It is reported of Camillus that Famous French Commander that when he had tasted some of the pleasant Grapes of Italy he could never be at rest till he had raised a great Army and Conquer'd that pleasant Country God has been pleased in Scripture to present us with some of the Grapes of Canaan to give us some taste of the Heavenly gift and the Powers of the World to come How should this make us restless and unquiet till we arrive at this happy Country Should we not now raise all the Forces that we can to fight our Spiritual Enemies and conquer those Lusts which oppose our happiness Should we now spare any Sin tho' it were as dear to us as a beloved Ionathan Sure Heaven will recompence the loss of a right Eye and a right Hand should we pluck them off and sacrifice them to our Saviour And indeed we must thus forsake sin every sin the most darling sin if ever we hope to get to Paradise The Young man in the Gospel lacked but one thing and yet fell short of Heaven And if thou wilt still indulge thy self in thy Covetousness Uncleanness Swearing Drunkenness or any other known sin thou canst never expect to be with Christ in Paradise For Christ has told us plainly Mat. 19. 17. that if we will enter into Life we must keep the Commandments Which that we may all do God of his Infinite Mercy grant c. SERMON X. Matt. xxiv 3● And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven and then shall all the Tribes of the Earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and great Glory THE Office of our Blessed Saviours Mediatorship consists chiefly in three Parts his Satisfaction Intercession and Judging the World at the Last Day The First of these he performed here on Earth the Second he is still performing in Heaven and the Third he will perform in the Air When he shall come in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and great Glory We know he satisfied infinite Justice when he offered up himself a propitiatory Sacrifice on the Cross and he is still interceeding in Heaven at the Right Hand of God As he purchased Salvation for sinners by dying for them so he interceeds that this Salvation may be applied unto such as repent sincerely of their sins and believe on his Name The third part of his Mediatorship is still to be performed for he is not as Mediator to judge the World till the time appointed by his Father and then he will for certain Judge both the Quick and the Dead Indeed the Father himself Iudgeth no Man but hath committed all Iudgment unto the Son as our Saviour speaks Iohn 5. 22. and he gives the reason of it vers 27. because he is the Son of Man As he became the Son of Man that he might be in a capacity to save the Penitent So God has appointed the same Son of Man to judge the World that he may be able to punish the Impenitent Such as before would not accept him for a Saviour will now be forced to admit him as a Judge Hence we are told Act. 17. 31. That God has appointed a Day in which he will Iudge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath

come now Fourthly In the fourth place to shew you what Reasons and Encouragements we have to endeavour after the highest degrees of Grace And 1st Our serious endeavours after the highest degrees of Grace will be an excellent means to preserve that saving growth in Grace the pious Christian has already attain'd to There is a dangerous Opinion in the World that a man cannot totally and finally fall away from Grace According to these mens sentiments he that is once sincerely Righteous will infallibly hold on and persevere unto the end Now if this Opinion were true this exhortation would be vain But certainly nothing can be more contrary to the plain Doctrine of the Scripture Hear what St. Peter saith Chap. 1. of this Epistle vers 10. Give all dilligence saith he to make your Calling and Election sure for if you do these things you shall never fall You see he puts an if in the case such as fairly implies that we may neglect our Duty and fall from our own stedfastness For the same reason St. Paul gives this necessary Caution Rom. 11. 20. c. Be not high-minded but fear for if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not thee Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fall severity but towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off But a fuller confutation of this dangerous Opinion we cannot desire than what may be gathered from the words of the Prophet Ezek. 18. 24. VVhen the righteous man turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall he live saith the Lord No All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his trespass that he hath trespassed and in his sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die Thus plain it is that a Christian may fall away from that saving state of Grace he has attained to And what I pray is more likely to secure his steadfastness than serious endeavours after the highest degrees of Holiness Our Apostle it seems thought so for having in the foregoing Verse given this necessary Caution Beware Brethren lest you fall from your own steadfastness he presently subjoins in the Text as the properest means to secure them from falling but grow in Grace It is the same in spiritual growths that it is in naturals For as a man by eating and drinking and other natural Actions preserves his natural Life so the Christian by serious endeavours after higher degrees of Holiness preserves his spiritual Life The Musician screws up his Peg to an higher pitch that he may be sure it will not fall lower than the true Note Even so the higher degrees of Perfection we aspire to the less danger shall we be in of falling lower than what is absolutely necessary And this certainly is sufficient encouragement to continue these our serious endeavours 2ly These serious endeavours after a further growth in Grace than what is absolutely necessary to Salvation will give the pious Christian a more comfortable assurance of Eternal Happiness It is no doubt a kind of Heaven upon Earth to be assured of Heaven whilst we are here upon Earth This is that hidden Manna mentioned in the Revelations which fills the Soul with all variety of Delights Now nothing besides a particular Revelation from Heaven can be more likely to create this full assurance in the Soul than these Heroick attainments of Grace and Vertue Grace is that Seal of the Spirit by which we are marked and sealed unto the day of Redemption And certainly the brighter and more evident that Grace is the more evident will it be to our own selves and the fuller our assurance of Heaven and Eternal Happiness Many good Christians are in a safe condition and yet their condition is not so comfortable by reason of those fears and doubtings which do often accompany these lower degrees of Grace But the more we abound in good Works and the more eminently our Graces shine the more comfortable will our Assurance be and the clearer our Title to Heaven and Eternal Happiness Read St. Paul's 11 Chap. to the Hebrews where he sets down a large Calendar of God's eminent Saints such as advanc't into the highest form of Piety and Vertue and you 'l find their Faith as great as was their growth in Grace and their assurance of Heaven bearing a just proportion to their improvements in Holiness For St. Paul describing their Faith ver 1. calls it the substance or subsistence of things hoped for the evidence or clear demonstration of things not seen 3ly These serious endeavours after the highest degrees of Grace as they will secure our Title to Heaven and give us a more comfortable assurance of it for the present so they will hereafter advance us to higher degrees of Glory in Heaven We know there are different degrees of Glory in Heaven even as one Star differeth from another Star in Glory so also saith St. Paul shall be the Resurrection of the Iust As St. Austin speaks Splendor dispar Caelum commune the Saints shall dwell together in the same Heaven but yet like Stars they shall shine with different Rays of Glory Now these higher degrees of Glory will be conferred on such who arrived at higher degrees of Grace Hence when our Saviour tells his Disciples John 14. 2. In my Fathers House are many Mansions Tertullian remarks thus upon the place Quomodo multae Mansiones si non pro varietate Meritorum Wherefore saith he should our Saviour mention many Mansions in his Fathers House if there were not several Rooms of different Size and Glory provided for his Saints according to the variety of their deserts Indeed Heaven has room enough to lodge all the Godly but as in other Magnificent Palaces so in this of Heaven there are higher and lower larger and lesser Mansions in which God's Saints shall be disposed of according to those Services they have performed upon Earth Their Rewards hereafter shall be answerable to their Obedience here See then what incouragement there is to endeavour after the highest degrees of Glory These it seems will create an Heaven in our Souls whilst we live here on Earth These will at our Deaths carry our Souls as high as Heaven nay which is more they will lodge them in the best Mansions there Hence is that of our Apostle Chap. 1. 11. If these things be in you and abound then shall an entrance be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ. Having therefore these Promises Dearly Beloved let us cleanse our selves from all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of the Lord. Let us go from Strength to Strength and grow from one degree of Grace unto another until we appear before our God in Sion I shall conclude all with St. Pauls Exhortation