Scythians fierce Germans the proud Romans and soft Grecians and Persians renounc'd their peculiar Idols and calmly surrender'd their Necks to His easie Yoke according to the Prophecy of Zachary that the names of the Idols should be cut off and were no more to be remembred WE may safely affirm that no Religion did ever spread its Wings so wide as the Christian which made the South and the North East and West meet together in their acknowledgments of the Blessed Jesus When the Languages of the old World were divided Mankind was scattered but the Gift of Tongues poured upon the Apostles united all Nations into the most harmonious Society THE Meditation of this ought to enlarge our Souls with generous inclinations towards the recovery of all Mankind unto the acknowledgment of the Truth How ought we to pray that God would be pleas'd to make his wayes known unto all sorts and conditions of men and his saving health unto all Nations There are no Charities so noble nor so well plac'd as when we convert a sinner from the error of his way The Gospel is a sovereign remedy to remove the blindness and stupidity of the whole World if we were zealous enough to promote it how shameful is it for such as have large Dominions and great Power upon Earth that they are not more busied in contriving Methods how the sound of the Gospel may reach the utmost ends of the Earth How few of them that are born without the inclosure of the Church come over to our Religion now a days And this is not to be imputed to our Religion it self but to our coldness and indifferency about it and that we do not live up to the height and purity of its Rules the mighty success that it had in the Primitive Ages in defiance of all malice and opposition sufficiently proves that it came from Heaven And this leads me to the consideration of the next word that follows 2. IT came from heaven We are told by the Psalmist that God bringeth the wind out of his treasuries but this wind that came from heaven hath a nearer claim to Gods peculiar Treasury than those Winds that are stor'd up in the dark Caverns of the Earth This was the breath of God it did not blow from the Earth nor from Humane Counsels nor from the highest Regions of the Air but from Heaven it self from the Throne of the Most High A Wind it was that blew with Majesty rather than Fury Strength rather than Boisterousness they felt some heavenly Charm in the noise that filled the room it rais'd their attention and their ears to something high and extraordinary and the surprize of its swiftness could not hinder a secret joy a mighty elevation of Spirit which cannot be named and which strongly convinc'd the Apostles that this wind came from heaven and that it was the mighty voice of God And this may appear if we consider 1. THE things that they utter'd when they were filled with it A heavenly Doctrine full of Light and Majesty a Doctrine that not only assured us of Immortality but taught us also the infallible Methods to arrive at it a Doctrine that filled our ears with new sublime unheard of Mysteries God manifested in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up into Glory How far were these great Truths beyond the Speculations of Plato and the little Metaphysical Subtilties of the Peripateticks 2. THIS may appear if we consider the Change and Affections that this Doctrine wrought in its Proselytes this wind did not blow them up into airy and fantastick apprehensions into proud and supercilious thoughts it taught no arts of gathering treasures nor of making themselves great in the World but it lifted their Souls above it to the place whence it came and it taught them to trample upon its glories to despise its fears and overlook all its splendor and to set their affections upon the things that are above where Jesus is inthroned in the highest Power and Majesty Now 't is evident that no such change could be wrought by Natural Causes for men acted by Natural Principles can go no higher than such Maxims can carry them but to love God to crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof to forgive injuries to despise the World all the things that our appetites formerly did headlong run into must proceed from some Supernatural and Divine force it carries us above our own level and makes us to feel that He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world This Argument is frequently insisted on by first Apologists for our Religion 3. IT appears to have been from Heaven in its Method and Operation and immediate Effects upon the Apostles which exceeded all Art and Nature that men illiterate and without education most of them come to a considerable Age that they should speak the Languages of all Nations who a little before understood but one Language and that the rudest Dialect of their own Nation This wonderful matter must needs be referr'd to some supernatural Cause 3. LET us take notice where this sound was heard and the Text saith that it filled the house where they were The Inspirations of the Holy Ghost are not casual and fortuitous but ordered by Infinite Counsel and Wisdom This is the wind that bloweth where it listeth in the strictest sense it filled that house it blew by discretion and election upon the house where the Apostles resided to let us it may be understand that the Holy Ghost to the end of the World is to be received in the fellowship of the Apostles and their Successors it is the precious Ointment first poured upon their heads and from them to the skirts of the Church in all Ages There are many Spirits gone forth into the World with a boisterous noise and they pretend their descent from Heaven but if they have forsaken the fellowship of the Apostles and broken the ligaments of peace and order by which the Catholick Church as a Spiritual Society is knit together if they run cross to the Spirit of Unity by which we are oblig'd to believe the Communion of Saints in that case we are quickly undeceiv'd they are certainly from below they are not directed by the Wisdom that is from above nor have they their rise from Heaven but from the Earth and are blown up by some subterraneous Vapours that end in nothing but in a little vain glory faction and popular applause THE Holy Ghost in its most plentiful Effusions came down upon the Apostles according to the nature of their high and difficult employment and the circumstances of the Church at that time and it was to fall in lesser drops to the end of the World upon all that are sent by God for the services of the Altar who have their Mission from the Apostles by regular conveyance and succession 2.
for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created And again chap. 5. v. 13. And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne and unto the Lamb for ever 4. 'T is the Voice of universal Nature Vide Psal 148. 5. THIS is it that keeps us sobet and humble and makes us refer our prosperous Successes to their true Original and by this frame of Spirit we engage the divine Aid we are apt to idolize our own Strength Wisdom and Contrivance when any thing answers our Expectations we are ready to erect Statues and Memorials to our own Conduct as if we our selves had brought the affair to its desirable period Thus the ungrateful Person is said by the Prophet Habbakuk c. 1.16 to sacrifice to his net and burn incense to his dray how elegantly does the Royal Psalmist trace his Mercies to their true Original how pathetically does he summon our Thoughts towards Heaven Psal 44. v. 3. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword neither did their own arm save them but thy right hand and thine arm and the light of thy countenance v. 7. I will not trust in my bow neither shall my sword save me in God we boast all the day long and praise thy name for ever and ever This Conclusion is laid down by Solomon long ago Eccles 9.11 The race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong nor bread to the wise nor riches to men of understanding nor favour to men of skill 'T IS neither the Strength of thy Body nor the Wisdom of thy Mind nor tne Favour of thy Friends can accomplish thy business without the Aids of divine Providence how chearfully then should we adore and acknowledge this Providence that twists it self with and secretly moves the most intricate affairs Psal 115. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy name give glory So we find Job elegantly vindicate himself that he did not put his confidence in any thing but in God only Job 31.26 27. Psal 108.3 4. I will praise thee O Lord amidst the people I will sing unto thee among the Nations for thy mercy is great unto the heavens and thy faithfulness unto the clouds and Psal 139.17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me O God! how great is the sum of them if I should count them they are moe in number than the sand when I awake I am still with thee But 6. THIS is the only Theme which cannot be exhausted Psal 139. If I ascend up into heaven thou art there c. Heaven Earth Sea and Air proclaim his infinite Goodness and the thought of every thing perishes but in its relation to God for if you view it under any other relation it is but vanity and vexation of Spirit and hath not solidity enough to abide the porings and contemplations of an intellectual Being WHAT employment more proper for us than that of the glorious Hosts of heaven the invincible Legions who have Crowns on their heads and Palms in their hands and the glorious company of the Apostles the goodly fellowship of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs the Seraphims and the Cherubims who are thus employed what exercise more proper for us who breath for heaven than to say with the Psalmist Psal 45. I will extol thee my God O King and I will bless thy name for ever and ever v. 2. every day will I bless thee and I will praise thy name for ever and ever v. 3. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable v. 4. One Generation shall praise thy works to another To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Praise and Dominion for ever Amen A SERMON ON 1 PET. 2. V. 11. Dearly Beloved I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the Soul FROM the ninth Verse the Apostle sets off the Dignity of the Christian State the Honour and Prerogative of that high relation Ye are a chosen generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar people They were thus advanc'd that they might shew forth the praises of him that had called them out of darkness into his marvellous light They could not but with the highest contentment and joy call to mind the difference between their present and their former condition IT is upon this foundation that S. Peter makes his address with so much love and zeal that he may provoke them to a life pure and heavenly and becoming that relation into which they were lately adopted IN the Verse that I have read he alludes unto the Phrase that he made use of in the first Verse of the first Chapter of this Epistle which is address'd to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bythinia remov'd far from the Country and Habitation of their Ancestors It was easie for them from the consideration of their Earthly Pilgrimage to remember that they were not only strangers with regard to that Country but in a higher sense strangers upon Earth a people distinguished from the World And not only so but quite contrary unto it and far above it in their aims studies and desires THAT which takes up the thoughts the talk and the admiration of Mankind was so little valued by our Saviour that when he cloth'd himself with our flesh he drew up a System of Religion that ruin'd the esteem that such things had got in our affections the lusts of the eys the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life did in a manner command the Adorations of Jew and Gentile He stript those Idols of that meretricious varnish and paint that had for a long time inveigled Mankind and he made himself of no reputation that he might trample upon human glories and raise our affections to that honor which is solid and durable He exemplify'd his Precepts in his own practice and by a new Philosophy raised mens Spirits to a clear sight of God to a just value of themselves and consequently to the highest contempt of the World in all its pomps and fantastick appearances THE Exhortation that I have read is so essential to the Christian Religion that it is enforc'd by its strongest arguments every one may see it to be the natural result and consequence of such heavenly Premisses that we should abstain from fleshly lusts because they war or set themselves in battel array against the Soul BY Fleshly Lusts I understand those passions lusts and desires that unregenerate men do pursue with all the strength and vigor of their Soul whether they pröceed from covetousness ambition or sensuality And though I understand the words in this extent and latitude yet I design to level the most part of
chide them with any bitterness and reproach but only expostulates with S. Peter Couldst not thou watch with me one hour Here are words strong enough to break the hardest heart able to melt the most obstinate the most inflexible disposition Words so sweet and so full of tenderness and yet so keen and piercing that they may awaken the most stupid and inconsiderate AND now we may follow him from the Garden to Mount Calvary and behold his behaviour there and because we are not able to speak of his sufferings but very faintly and far below their astonishing Nature we may in the History of the Passion fix our attention on some Particulars that are most conspicuous And Divines generally take notice of these three 1. THE Shame of it 2. THE Pain of it 3. THE Curse of it 1. I SAY the Shame of it God hath for wise and great ends planted in our Nature a deep sense of honour there is nothing that we feel more tenderly than the wounds that are made in our esteem All generous Souls expose every thing to hazard rather than make shipwrack of their reputation It could not then but be very bitter and uneasie to the innocent Soul of our blessed Saviour to be carried in triumph by his enemies to be expos'd to the affronts and indignities of the rude and tumultuous Rabble to be flouted and abus'd by a prophane and inconsiderate multitude to be sent from one Hall to another and hear the blasphemies and scoffs of a sacrilegious heady Crew He was treated with all the indignities that were due to the vilest Malefactors and at last that he might make good in himself the Type of the Brazen Serpent he was lifted upon the Cross A punishment so odious to mankind that when the Roman Orator accus'd Varres for having crucified a Citizen he said it was a nameless wickedness a crime of so high a nature that it could not be express'd by words This shameful punishment this Servile supplicium was the punishment our Saviour chose to expiate our sins by So that the Prophecy of the Psalmist was truly verified in him I am a Worm and no Man a reproach of Men and despised of the People All they that see me laugh me to scorn they shoot out the lip they shake the head saying he trusted in the Lord let him deliver seeing he delighted in him THE same persons who formerly admir'd his glorious works who were ravish'd with his excellent Discourses who preferr'd him to the Scribes and Pharisees and were convinc'd that he taught as one having authority even they beheld him with contempt and disdain So much was prophesied by the Psalmist They look upon me and stare upon me And so we find the event accomplish'd in S. Luke's Gospel And the people stood and gazed on him HOW vain and empty are the transient Hosanna's of the multitude The plaudites of the Croud are much more uncertain than the Weather For this is govern'd by Natural Causes that are steady in their operations but the same Causes produce contrary Effects frequently amongst the people There is no true honour but in doing that which is just generous and equal though by doing so we should pull down upon our selves the Pillars upon which Heaven and Earth do stand There is so much of God in a resolute mind that it stands proof against the shakings and commotions of all foreign violence for he that is in us is stronger than he that is in the World CAN we view our Saviour thus run down with cruelty and rudeness and not trample upon the fantastick shadows of honour that mankind so much admire He was thus expos'd to the abuses and mockings of the multitude that he might suffer in those capacities that are most tender and delicate He suffer'd these wounds that enter the fancy and pierce to the bottom of the Soul that which all men feel most afflictive and grievous He endur'd the contradiction of sinners against himself He endured the Cross and despised the shame not through a Stoical apathy or a stupid carelessness but the highest magnanimity For he had in his view the glory that was set before him the honour of God the Conquest of the Devil and the purchase of Souls He despised all vain applause and being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the death of the Cross THUS to be treated in this Theatrical manner when his sufferings were heightened by all the Solemnities of Disgrace could not but be very afflictive to the blessed Soul of our Lord Jesus He was endued with that natural Passion our abhorrence of Disgrace and he felt the smart of this shameful usage yet he despised it and all its consequences in view of the accomplishment of our Redemption What is it then that we see in Human glory when He chose to be thus despis'd by Men What do we take our selves to be when our hearts recoil with so much impatience and bitterness against the least surmise of Contempt How come we to be so delicate when our Lord and Master was so roughly handled But it was not only the shame But secondly THE pain that we are to take notice of in this Punishment His pure and Virginal Constitution heightened his Pain the Nails were fastened in those parts that are most feeling his hands and his feet HOW terrible is this truth to all the Sons of softness idleness and luxury who swim in Pleasures as the Leviathan doth in the Ocean When we consider our Saviours pains how may we be astonish'd that we should with so much care and anxiety look after these bodies of ours these receptacles of Impurities these sinks of Uncleanness When we remember that our Saviour spent whole Nights in Prayer and sometimes sat wearied by the Well of Samaria and asked a poor Woman a little Water and upon the day of his greatest Triumph when he came into Jerusalem he rode upon an Ass and that Ass was not his own why should we caress with so much fondness those heaps of Dust and Ashes that shall shortly crumble into rottenness and dishonour whether we will or not Did He with so much resolution and courage suffer the whole Combination of disasters in his Mind in his Reputation and in his Body And do we think to dwell for ever with that King of Sufferings and yet suffer no degrees of Martyrdom never undergo any part of the Cross Thirdly NEXT to the Shame and Pain let us consider the Curse belonging to it St. Paul tells us That he was made a Curse for us i. e. He was devoted to publick Infamy and Malediction and seemed to be deserted of God himself We esteemed him smitten of
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
Sackcloth in their publick Confessions and Humiliations to signifie their deep sincere and unfeigned remorse and contrition And is not this a significant Ceremony and of human appointment too and in the publick Worship of God Let them turn the batteries of all their Arguments by which they endeavour to overthrow all the decent and universally received usages of the Church against this their own practice and if after all they conclude their practice to be just and reasonable they must in the same breath infer that all their former Arguments against Rites and Ceremonies impos'd by lawful Ecclesiastical Authority are all of them Nonsense and Enthusiasm 3. WHAT was it that might have been said to prove any order of Men schismatick from the first plantations of Christianity which may not with greater reason be levell'd against them and what is it that can be pleaded in their Defence that may not more plausibly be alledged in behalf of the most notorious Schismaticks that are known to be such in the publick Records of the Church And 4. IF we should quit our ground and leave the Field open to their Pride and Vanity can they in that case upon their own Principles secure themselves against infinite fractions and subdivisions But I remember this is not the thing I design to speak to but to recommend Uniformity as the ligament of that inward Peace and true Order that Christ design'd should flourish in his Church 3. HERE I take notice of their Faith and Patience from the first moment that they laid hold on the Promise until the accomplishment of it The Hellenist Jews did not understand by the day of Pentecost the very last day but the whole period of fifty days from the Passover for the last day of those seven weeks was the day of the Promulgation of the Law as may be probably gathered from Exod. 19. v. 11. And for this very reason was called the feast of the Law Upon that day began the New Law to be solemnly published in the most Royal and Magnificent manner The former Law was proclaim'd by Earthquakes Fire and Thunderclaps Smoak and Terrour that shook the courage of Moses himself as we are told by the Author to the Hebrews But the New Law by a Method more heavenly and mysterious the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit The Gospel appear'd with Light and Majesty to revive not to terrifie the World that was sunk in corruption ALL this time I say from the Passover to Pentecost the Apostles waited for the accomplishment of the Promise by which we see their Patience and unshaken Constancy The Miracles that our Saviour had wrought in their presence and his Resurrection from the dead did arm them against all doubts of his Promise they rested securely on his Word and though they felt not as yet the accomplishment of it yet were they rais'd in their hopes to a certainty beyond all diffidence and Unbelief if we then but consider the Unity and composure of their Mind the Beauty Order and Uniformity of their Worship and Society the patience and stedfastness of their Faith until the Promise was accomplished we may easily perceive in what an excellent disposition they were in to receive the Holy Ghost in that plentiful measure and for those ends that it was design'd for And now we go forward to Consider 2. THE sensible Emblem of the Holy Ghost as it struck upon two of their noblest and most perceptive Senses their hearing and their seeing the one the sense of Faith the other the sense of Love 1. I SAY the sense of Faith in these words suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind and it filled all the House where they were sitting And this is a very proper Emblem of the Holy Ghost when we consider 1. The strength force and activity of it it came suddenly as of a mighty rushing wind 2. From whence it came it came from Heaven 3. Where it lighted it filled that House where they were sitting 1. CONSIDER the strength swiftness and loudness of this sound so loud that the sound of the Apostolical Preaching went out into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world a Sound that began with the first Ages of the World in the days of Noah and in time of the succeeding Prophets until the Messias appear'd but was never so loud nor so distinct until the Apostles were inspir'd How unaccountable is it that Twelve poor Men most of them Fishers should spread the news of Christianity all the World over in so short a time That the Worship and Adoration of one ignominiously crucified at Jerusalem should within the compass of a few years run down the Rites and Sacrifices of all Nations How quickly did God make good his Promise I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession It was of one greater than Solomon of whom the Psalmist prophesied All Kings shall fall down before him all Nations shall serve him and the Prophecy of Isaiah runs that the Mountain of the Lords house was to be established on the top of the Mountains and above the Hills How magnificent is that Prophecy of Malachy from the rising of the Sun even to the going down of the same thy Name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the heathen These Promises were effectually fulfilled when the Apostles were endued with Power from on High by the plentiful effusion of the Holy Ghost The very first day there was an accession of three thousand Souls Immediately after many of them which heard the word believed and the number of the men was about five thousand And believers were the more added to the Lord multitudes both of men and women and multitudes out of the Cities round about Jerusalem And the more they were persecuted the more was the Gospel propagated Upon the persecution at Jerusalem the Gospel spread over the Regions of Judea Galilee and Samaria Thus we find St. James Bishop of Jerusalem speaking to St. Paul Thou seest brother how many thousands of Jews there are which believe And the Epistles of St. Peter St. James and St. John inform us how many Strangers were converted to the Christian Church how many were brought over by S. Paul alone and yet all this nothing to the fulness of the Gentiles that came afterward if we look down a little further how incredible is the number of the Christians So quickly the sound of the Gospel did over-run the World almost the remotest corners of the Earth Isaiah prophecy'd that the Isles should wait for his Law And was not this Promise quickly made good when the Gospel flew over the Seas and came to us in Britain scarcely visited by the Sun The cold
hands of the Apostles against Infidelity and Atheism by such plentiful effusions of the Holy Ghost the Cataracts of Heaven seem'd to be opened and the Apostles were made to speak with irresistible Wisdom and the same Spirit is given unto the Church in proportionable measures as her necessities require to the end of the World especially to the immediate Servants of the Sanctuary if they do not wickedly shut their Eyes against its light and beauty The garments of the Church are of Needlework variegated with the manifold Excellencies of the Spirit the interchangeable appearances of those gifts that in different Figures make up the decorum of the whole were not so entirely confin'd to the Primitive Ages but that his more immediate Servants are furnished in all periods of the Church according to the nature and difficulty of their undertaking He doth not give all gifts to every one but parcels them out with that heavenly discretion that no man may say to his Brtoher I have no need of thee therefore the Spirit of Love scattereth his Donatives so as at once to supply our Necessities and advance our Charity that all of us might hang upon one another in the closest Relations and dependencies the mystical Body of the Church being knit together by Joints and Bands as is the Natural NOW when we add unto the former considerations that the gifts of the Spirit did not only seal our Religion by all possible external evidence in the Apostolical Ages but that now the very same Spirit by its sanctifying power and Vertues unites us to Christ What reason have we to rejoice in God our Saviour It is the Spirit that breaks our bonds and fetters and makes us run the Race that is set before us with joy and alacrity it is by this that we crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof by this we become the Temples of the living God resolute against Temptations humble chast sober heavenly minded in a word it is the earnest of our inheritance the Spirit by which we cry Abba Father the Spirit that helpeth our infirmities and makes us more than Conquerors through Jesus Christ that loved us Can there be any more ample matter of Praise What is it can loose our Tongues unto the most joyful acknowledgments if this does not Let us say with the Psalmist when we view the whole Oeconomy of our Redemption I will extol thee my God O King and I will bless thy Name for ever and ever And let us conclude that we cannot escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto others by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own Will To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be Glory Dominion and Power for ever and ever Amen A SERMON ON PSALM xxvi v. 6. I will wash mine hands in innocence so will I compass thine Altar O Lord. THIS Psalm is David's Appeal to the Omniscience of God as to his own Innocence and Integrity and it seems tacitly to refer to the Calumnies and Slanders propagated against him during the Reign of Saul and therefore he puts his trust in the strength of the Almighty that he should never be shaken by the fury and malice of his Enemies THE Verse that I have read is but a part of that Appeal and though our English Version reads it in the future yet the scope of the Context the Analogy and coherence of the whole allow the reading of it in the preterit as may appear easily to the attentive Reader but whether the one or the other is not so much my business to enquire This is certain that the custom of Washing before Sacrifices both amongst the Jews and the Gentiles had this Moral in its bosom that all our approaches to the Divine Majesty especially our most solemn and extraordinary ought to be performed with the most accurate Preparation purity of Mind and recollection of Spirit therefore the Psalmist as a part of hiâ— Appeal made use of this Argument in his Defence that he walked in his Integrity constantly and when he brought his Sacrifices to the Altar he viewed his Soul with the most accurate search and enquiry to see if there was any thing that might indispose him to come so near the divine Presence THESE words have in them no remarkable difficulty they are a plain allusion to that known Custom of Washing before Sacrificing both amongst the Jews and the Gentiles All the Eastern Nations were very frequent in their Washings especially before they approached their most solemn and sacred Mysteries and therefore I may the more safely apply this Text to the highest Mystery amongst the Christians which is the Sacrament of the Lords Supper which now requires in a peculiar manner our Attention and Meditation IT is in it self by the confession of all Christians the highest Mystery of our Religion nay all the Mysteries of it gathered together in one and therefore all the Graces of the Spirit ought to adorn our Souls when we come so near unto God they meet together at this Solemnity all of them in their highest slight and Exaltation I shall confine my Discourse at present to two Particulars 1. OUR Duty and Obligation of coming to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper 2. I will direct the manner of our coming and how we must attempt it 1. LET us consider our Obligations to attend this Solemn and Magnificent Entertainment and there is nothing more clear if we consider the Authority of him who enjoins it God upbraided his People of old that the Nazarites were more careful and observant of the original Rules and directions of their founder than his People were of his Laws who was the Creator of Heaven and Earth All the Sects of Philosophers up and down the World thought it their honour and their interest to propagate the Opinions of the first of their Order AND will our dearest Lord and Master give us a Command of the highest consequence and dare we refuse to obey it This is an indignity to his Authority an immediate affront to his Sovereignty and Power How highly would an earthly Prince resent an injury of this nature Here is a Feast prepared noble and plentiful and design'd to express the highest kindness and respect This Metaphor is used by Solomon and by a greater than Solomon mystically to set off the ingratitude of such as refuse and trample upon the inestimable offers of his Love and Favour WHEN we remember who invites us to this Feast the Author and finisher of our Faith whose dominion is from everlasting to everlasting who came from the bosom of the Father to rescue us from the bottomless Abyss of our miseries is it not the highest impudence the rudest affront to the Majesty of Heaven the most daring violation of
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
SERMONS Preached upon Several Occasions Most of them Before the MAGISTRATES and JUDGES in the North-East-Auditory of S. Gile's Church EDINBURGH BY AL. MONRO D.D. Then PRINCIPAL of the COLLEGE of EDINBURGH LONDON Printed for Joseph Hindmarsh at the Golden Ball over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil M DC XCIII Imprimatur May 3. 1693. Guil. Lancaster To my Friends and Acquaintances in the North-East Parish of S. Giles in Edinburgh Much Honoured and Well Beloved IF I had any other design to serve by this Address than what was in my view when I preached the following Sermons I would perhaps recommend them to the favour of some particular Patron but I rather lay hold of this opportunity that I may acknowedge in as publick a manner as is possible for me the many kindnesses that I received amongst you when I was allowed to preach the Gospel in my Native Country I was unanimously and cheerfully nam'd to the Government of the College of Edinburgh without my knowledge or interposal by the Lord Provost and Town Council I retain a grateful sense of it And this is the principal reason why these Discourses do now appear I am not so extravagantly foolish as to think that the present Age needs any of my Composures if they are innocent and well meant though attended with many other imperfections they may promote good thoughts in some who heard them with Piety and Attention They are only calculated for their Meridian Most men have different Tasts for Books as well as for other things and what is sincerely intended may sometimes be read with greater success than more accurate Treatises The World is very vain and changes its Faces and Figures every moment yet true Religion is invariable as the Author of it and therefore we are to steer our course towards Heaven by those great Truths that are uniformly received amongst all Christians and to take heed that we do not separate from the Catholick Church of Christ her antient Rules and Constitutions by which she was preserved in the Primitive Ages For it is certain that God did not suffer the Universal Church to deviate from the Apostolical Discipline when as yet she was furnished with no other Weapons to pull down Idolatry and Superstition than her Unity Prayers and Universal Charity There is nothing more opposite to Piety and Devotion than Pride and Vanity and to despise the Wisdom of all our Predecessors is not only arrogant but impious The multitude and variety of later Sectaries especially in the Isle of Britain have advanced Atheism to a prodigious Impudence and it is impossible to recover the World now sunk in Folly and Irreligion but by the extraordinary Zeal of good Men. The decays of Piety in our days appear openly amongst all Ranks and Orders and this must be imputed in a great part to that Itch after Novelties which hath so fatally overrun these Nations Ambition and Faction hath almost remov'd the distinction between things Sacred and Prophane yet it is certain that the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God and those pretended Reformations that are managed with Noise and Tumult have ordinarily no other effects than Sacrilege and Confusion We are very apt to have other thoughts of God and of our selves when we approach the Gates of Death from those which we have entertained in the days of health and prosperity and if then we have the least sense of the World to come we cannot but distinguish true Zeal to advance the Power of Godliness from the insidious arts of grasping Earthly Dominion the first is pure calm and humble merciful and compassionate the other being from the Earth is agreeable to that Spirit that prevails in the World OUR Saviour founded the Church a distinct Society from the World and therefore armed it with Spiritual Laws and Censures that she might be preserved by those Divine Helps though all Earthly Powers should endeavour to crush her and experience witnesses that she hath been more Victorious over Lewdness and Infidelity by her Patience and Sufferings than by all her Secular Intrigues and Political Methods When she stands upon the immoveable Pillars of her first foundation her outward Splendor may be eclipsed but her inward strength is made more firm and lasting by the Counterbatteries that are raised against her Peace and Prosperity Truth is not ashamed and therefore it is Weakness and Pusillanimity to deny it in the face of Danger and Persecution especially when the most Sacred Foundations are daringly invaded and trampled upon and though Ecclesiastical Politie be thought now a-days as mutable as are the inclinations of the people yet they who consider things more maturely must see that the antient Faith cannot be preserved amongst men but in its Original Vehicles of Primitive Order and Constitution and when the Apostolical Government of the Church is overthrown a multitude of Errors and Delusions creep into the World that destroy the inward Power of Godliness as well as the outward Beauty of Publick Worship I AM heartily sorry that our Country should be the Theatre of so many Complaints and Disorders and that the immediate Servants of the Sanctuary both Bishops and Presbyters should be run down with Clamour and Violence for no other reason that I know but because they are separated from the World to the peculiar Services of the Living God notwithstanding of all this we ought to possess our Souls in Patience and to believe that not a hair of our head falls to the ground without our heavenly Father And this one Truth may compose our Spirits against all Storms and Disasters and teach us to resign our selves without struggling to the disposal of Heaven When we are sincerely humbled for our Sins both National and Personal he will visit us again in the multitude of his tender Mercies and therefore it is more our duty to look unto him that smites us than complain of our Oppressors It may be that they themselves who have been most active in our Calamities are somewhat sensible of their Cruelty and if not we heartily pray that God would bring into the way of Truth all such as have erred and are deceived The present Desolations of our Church may be palliated with many little Excuses but all the Rhetorical Colours imaginable can never hide the Consequences of so monstrous a Change WHEN we are surrounded with Difficulties on the right and left hand we must make our requests known unto God by Prayer for he is a present help in time of trouble We may meet with Crosses from the smallest things and occurrences and perhaps our Afflictions are frequently multiplied that we may be taught to run unto God who can either mitigate or remove them or by them exercise our Patience and Magnanimity God knows all things but he seems to take notice more particularly of such things as we feel and recommend to his Infinite Goodness and Compassion so willing He is to have us depend on Him
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
of the best Philosophy did we remember that we are the Offspring of God could we prostitute so noble a Nature to serve the Devil could we debase our selves so far as to truckle under the Violence and Servitude of our Passions Tully hath an admirable Saying to this purpose Put the case saith he that we should carry any thing so privately as that neither God nor man should discover us yet we should have such a reverence for our selves as not to suffer any thing that is immodest unjust or unclean to escape us So terrible is the witness of Conscience and so infallible is its decision in the great branches of our Duty THEN Sixthly Is Man such a curious piece of workmanship he must be under the peculiar Eye of Providence Thus reasons St. Paul Doth God take care of Oxen yes the very Law thou shalt not muzzle the Ox that treadeth out the corn prove sufficiently that they are under his care and the eye of his Providence BUT the care that is extended to those poor Animals that feed upon hay and corn is far below the special care that he hath of Mankind His delight is with the Sons of Men there is a peculiar eye of Favour that watches over the human Race and yet a higher degree of Love and Providence over good and holy Men. Psal 33.13 The Lord looketh from heaven he beholdeth all the sons of men v 14. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon the inhabitants of the earth v. 18. Behold the eye of the Lord is on them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy Psal 34.7 The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them But his Love towards Mankind is so strong that it cannot fall under Words He gave us his Son and if he gave us his Son how shall he not with him also give us all things He did not take hold of the nature of Angels but of the seed of Abraham It was his Love to us that engaged him to take upon him the form of a servant and humble himself unto death even the death of the cross Seventhly IF God hath put such Marks of Beauty and Honour on the human Nature Let us love one another So the Apostle enjoins Honour all men Love the brotherhood There is something due to our Nature under the cloud of the meanest Circumstances As the Philosopher alleged when he dispensed his Alms to an unworthy Person Non homini sed humanitati Our Love must resemble the Benignity of God that maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and the good and sendeth down Rain on the just and unjust LOVE is the life of Heaven whence all Bitterness and Unkindness is banished as far as Hell 't is planted in our Nature we are enclined to it by our original Constitution it is the Livery of the Christian Religion and the Badge of our Profession The Vices opposite to it make up the Devil's Nature and his Torture too Anger Bitterness Envy and Revenge create those Storms that continually ruffle the composure of our Spirits whereas the Practice of Christian Charity hath in it the Fore-tastes of Heaven and the Life of the Blessed THERE is no injury done to us can loose us from this Obligation no Error in Opinion no Enormity in Practice no Disaster of Fortune for our Brother is of our kind and however sullied and defac't retains still the Image of God The more frequently we consider this the more we are obliged to the Psalmist's resolution I will praise thee Which leads me to the Second Particular that I mentioned viz. The Psalmist's Gratitude and Acknowledgment Now in speaking to this I shall First Mention some of those Inducements that oblige us to it And then Secondly press the Practice of it 1. GOD is to be praised because he is the only Object of Praise Love and Admiration nothing else can love us again but God or some other Creature that resembles God Therefore St. John exhorts Love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him AND if he is to be praised because of the Works of Nature how much more because of his inestimable Love in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ Let the purest Spirits in their Robes of Light and Innocence admire it and veil their Faces with their Wings and stand at a distance and behold what manner of Love this is wherewith the Father hath loved us that we should be called the Sons of God If we cannot fly about the World with that Swiftness and Rapidity as the Angels do in Heaven yet what hinders our Souls to center themselves in his Love by the most unquenchable Ardors when we contemplate his Love to Mankind manifested in Jesus Christ 2. THE true exercise of our Reason requires it What is that you admire or what is it you pursue The Principles of Reason are everlasting and they are never so duly placed as on God who is invariable and without shadow of turning for the world passeth away and the fashion thereof doth perish but a Mind refined by the Principles of Christian Philosophy endures for ever Do but call to mind as M. Antoninus hath it such as have been in eminent Glory the Hero's and Captains of former Ages or such as have been tumbled down by Disgrace or run down with Misery such as have engaged to talk of all Men in every Condition of Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What 's become of all those things now And should our Reason spend its strength in the chase of such Shadows it cannot be duly employed in such transient Vanities had we but a view of the Impertinencies and Vanities that pass in one City but for one day how vain should we find the World to be 3. To praise God is the Enjoyment of Heaven The vision of God is nothing but the Light of Reason duly six'd on its true Object and advanc'd to its true Elevation when the Soul is dilated and enlarged and expatiates on its proper Theme Have you seen the Cedars or the Fir-trees that rise so high and spread their Branches so wide from a little Seed just so is the Soul how infinitely beyond its present self are its Operations then found to be Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Thus the Inhabitants of Heaven are frequently represented in the book of the Revelations c. 4.10 11. and elsewhere adoring the Excellencies of their great Creator The four and twenty Elders fall down before him that sat on the throne and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory honour and power
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
the Emperour because of his Jealousie lest any of them should aspire to the Crown they told him plainly that our Saviour was a King but his Kingdom was not of this World and for themselves all the possessions they had was a few Acres out of which they paid a good Tribute to him and maintain'd themselves with the rest through their hard labour and great temperance The Laws then and the designs and aims of this Kingdom are different from the Laws the Principles and the Maxims by which worldly men are govern'd 3. WE know they are strangers by their entertainment from the World The World does not treat and entertain those strangers with that kindness and familiarity they shew to their own Children When the Samaritans perceiv'd that our Saviour's face was toward Jerusalem they persecuted him with all the expressions of rudeness and disdain We must not think that the World should caress and flatter us if we are the followers of Jesus for the Kingdom and Inheritance that support us are of an invisible Nature And our Saviour told so much plainly to his Disciples when he was about to leave them John 15.18 19. If the World hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you if ye were of the World the World would love his own but because ye are not of the World but I have chosen you out of the World therefore the World hateth you And again Fear not for I have overcome the World 4. We know strangers by their behaviour by their way of living and conversation If they differ in their habit their air their manner of life we find that they are persons of another Climate This is visible in the Christians though they live in the World yet they are not of the World they are govern'd by the Laws of another Kingdom We are told by the Ancients that the Pagans brought this accusation against the Christians that they differ'd in their Laws and way of living from all Nations under Heaven Thus the Apostle exhorts Phil. 2.15 That ye may be blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation among whom ye shine as lights in the World And the Apostle Peter exhorts them by their heavenly conversation to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men The light and beauty of Christianity is a constant reproach to the Atheism and Irreligion of the World there is so much of true Majesty and Innocence to be seen in their behaviour they wear his Livery in defiance of all opposition they are known to be of another Kingdom 5. THEY are Pilgrims and Strangers by their motion flight and journey from the World their rest and habitation is not here they are on wing to their Country which is above their designs and thoughts are there their biass tendencies and breathings lead thither they vilifie all the glory pomp and magnificence of this vain World and the Idols that the most part of Mankind worship are no more in their esteem than the toys and rattles of our Childhood The Children of this World dwell here with pleasure the thoughts of their removal are grievous and bitter but we must have the other World constantly in our view and by that prospect order and direct the whole course of our actions And it is easie to improve this truth to our spiritual advantage And 1. Are we strangers upon Earth then let us frequently think upon our Countrey whilst we are almost frozen here in the regions of the shadow of death 'T is comfortable to look above where it is a perpetual Sun-shine This lower Country is overcast with clouds and vapours and thick darkness round about us we hear nothing but scrieches groans and complaints and though we had no share in those infelicities yet it is uneasie to any man that is not utterly void of pity and compassion to behold the lamentable miseries of others OH when shall we be above this hurry and noise this disorder and vexation Can there be any Cordial so strong to support us as the thoughts of those many Mansions that are in our Fathers house Let us with the Psalmist Take his Statutes to be our songs in the house of our pilgrimage When we think of our Country above we sigh as the Babylonian Captives upon the banks of Euphrates and hang our Harps upon the Willows since we are not at liberty to sing the Songs of Zion with that harmony and delight we aim at 'T is said of Cain that he built a City when he went from the presence of God he meant as one glosseth it to fix his residence here But Abraham Isaac and Jacob went from place to place and dwelt in Tents and saw the promises afar off and confessed that they were but Pilgrims and Strangers upon Earth Wo is me saith the Psalmist that I sojourn in Mesech and dwell in the Tents of Kedar How frequently should we mount aloft in our thoughts and meditations Such frequent flights from the Earth would secure us against the flatteries of sensuality nay they provoke us to the most vigorous endeavors after the happiness of another life They teach us to despise this World with all its pageantry and vanity and with magnanimity to bear all the crosses incident to this state They quiet our solicitudes and raise our designs to the most noble and generous undertakings They fill our hearts with joy and peace in believing and amidst all our anxieties and fears teach us to possess our Souls in Patience 2. IF we are strangers here we ought to study the dispositions that prepare us for the happiness reserved for us That Kingdom above is govern'd by other Laws and the inhabitants of that place are at liberty from their sins their fetters are knocked off and they wear Crowns and Diadems more bright than that of the mightiest oppressors 'T is our business to enquire how near we are to that blessed temper of love and tranquillity that prevail in the Regions of Light The general notion of happiness is pleasant to our imaginations but that life and immortality which is promis'd in the Gospel cannot be possess'd but by such whose Souls are of a piece with it self 3. Since we are strangers we must patiently bear the uneasiness of our present condition We must with zeal and courage undergo the roughest accidents of this Life We are not to be caress'd with the delights and pleasures of this World we must fight manfully under the Cross of Christ We are not to meddle with the affairs of the World with that concern and application of mind that the Natives do for we are strangers and it is the highest impertinence for such to engage too far in other mens business Let us not be startled too much with the variety of events here below Let us remain unsolicitous and fixt in our choice for the Skreen is shortly to be drawn and we shall have a
thee We may say of this Conflict with the World as the Royal Psalmist said of his frequent Combats with his enemies 't is he that teacheth my fingers to fight and without doubt the Divine Wisdom is apparent in our Conquest over the World else how could poor Creatures all made up of error darkness and precipitance venture on Tentations of all sorts without his special Conduct and Presence How quietly doth the Psalmist rejoice in the Meditation of his fatherly Care and Assistance He maketh me to lye down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the quiet waters he restoreth my Soul he guideth me in the paths of righteousness for his names sake thy rod and thy staff they comfort me 'T is through God alone we shall do valiantly The weapons of our warfare are mighty through him he not only treads Satan under our feet but the World also which is the Devils great Confederate against the Saints 2. WE are assured of the Victory through the Triumph and Victory and Jesus Christ He hath bidden us himself be of good cheer for he hath overcome the World He is the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah he marcheth upon the Head of his Disciples with displayed Banners against the Legions of Darkness the World Hell and the Grave are hauled at the Wheels of his triumphant Chariot Therefore the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews bids us consider the cloud of witnesses but most of all Jesus Christ himself the Author and Finisher of our Faith When we are like to faint when our fears grow thick and dark then consider the Captain of our Salvation who hath already broke the force of our enemies and is set down on the right hand of the Throne of God and there employes his Power in Heaven and Earth for the conduct safety and success of his followers Let us believe with the Apostle S. Paul that we shall be able to do all things through Christ that strengthens us 3. WE are assured of the Victory by the Strength and Energy of the Divine Nature So we are told in the Text that that which is born of God overcometh the World and in Chap. 4. He that is in us is stronger than he that is in the World If we were to grapple with the World by equal strength we could not promise to our selves the Victory but we are partakers of the Divine Nature we are carried above our selves God is in us in a truer and higher sense than the Poet meant it THE Divine Nature is full of Life and Power it grows unto perfection unto the stature of a perfect Man in Christ Jesus until it lodge us at last in the bosom of God 'T is a Coal from the Altar that inflames the Soul and consumes the Body of Death to nothing What is not the Christian Religion able to do in conjunction with Omnipotence THIS is it that wrought such incredible Changes in the World and if others have been so successful and victorious in their Conflicts with the World why ought we to despair Had not the Luminaries of the Church the same flesh to mortifie the same passions to overcome the same World to contend with and if they overcame the World why may not we be victorious also BUT let us improve this Meditation for our practice If we are thus assured of the Victory if we do not wilfully desert our Stations then let us not be discouraged with the Terrors of the World nor with those imaginary difficulties by which Men frequently fright themselves from their duty But in the midst of our fears and objections let us strengthen our selves in God and debate the matter with our own Consciences in the Language of the Psalmist Why art thou cast down O my Soul hope in God remember and call to mind the Victory that Men of like Passions have attained why do you thus sit down hanging your head as if the World were invincible WHY do we suffer our selves so tamely to be carried down the Stream Let us bear up against it and remember that we have to do with a broken and conquered Enemy and if we do not shamefully yield God will stand by us at our right hand and make Vs more than Conquerors through Jesus Christ It is unbecoming the Goodness of God to leave us when we are engaged with such formidable Enemies If he be for Vs who can be against Vs Here we are but Pilgrims and Strangers and since we have renounced the World so solemnly why do we look back upon it with so much fondness and delight why are we diffident of the Victory For the Captain of our Salvation looks on and suffers us to be surrounded with Tentations that he may make proof of our Courage Constancy Fidelity Loyalty and Patience God looks on the Conflicts of his people with delight and by their tryals and hard encounters he fortifies their Souls for Immortality which is the prize IT was the glimmering of this Meditation made so many of the antient Philosophers think that a Man without suffering was without reputation for honour by the esteem and vote of all Mankind belongs to them that have suffered and striven resolutely in the midst of all disasters against Vice and its insinuations To this purpose Seneca in his Book de Providentia says That a Man bearing up resolutely against disadvantages and disasters was a spectacle worthy Jupiter himself to look on SINCE then we are furnished with better Principles and a clearer Light let us under the Conduct of our High Priest face all Tentations and keep our consciences void of offence towards God and towards Men for the things that are terrible to Mans eyes are but Scare-Crows and Apparitions to the eyes of Faith AND this leads me to the third and last Particular that is The Mean by which this Victory is obtained the Apostle saith Faith is our Victory THE Figure is obvious enough this is the Mean and Weapon by which we trample under foot the World and all its glittering vanities and soar above it We are by our Laws Citizens of another Kingdom we are neither intangled with its snares nor blinded with its foolish hopes nor govern'd by its pernicious Maxims nor dazled with its false lights while we keep our eyes open to the light of Faith and the Glories that our Jesus hath manifested to us in the Gospel then we grow too big for this World and the sight of that Inheritance enlarges our Souls and the Earth becomes contemptible in our eyes BUT that I may make this the more clear I shall endeavour to give light unto it by the Nature and Excellency of Faith it self which when we have considered this Conquest will appear to be the most necessary result of Faith AND 1. Consider that by Faith we are furnished with new Principles we have a Spirit giv'n us stronger than the World opposite to it far above it this is frequently asserted by S. John
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
Christianity 1. I SAY Let us consider the Nature of that God whom we serve NOTHING purifies and enlarges the Mind more than the true account of the Divine Nature And therefore our Saviour when he came to accomplish the great Reformation did in the first place establish the true Notion of Almighty God and reveal the Father unto us No wonder then if the Heathen World was miserably sunk and buried in their Lusts and Impieties when the very History of their Gods and the Fables of their Poets did represent them under the Tyranny of their Passion Lust Jealousie Rapine and Revenge acting all the Extravagancies that make our Nature miserable and infamous How could they think it but honourable to be like their Gods could they be induc'd to reform what was heroically virtuous BUT blessed be God we have no such subterfuge and pretence for our wickedness God hath manifested himself clearly unto us we have such Notions of the Deity as are adequate to the Reason and Spirituality of our Souls fix'd in the Gospel THE Holy Scriptures every where represent him as the first Original and Self sufficient Being at an eternal distance from all weakness mixture change or composition the only Center of all Life Power Goodness and Omniscience WILL you consider his Power See how elegantly the Prophet Isaiah confutes from his Power the folly of Idolatry The Nations are as a drop of a bucket they are counted as the small dust of the ballance He taketh up the Isles as a very little thing all Nations are as nothing and they are less than nothing and vanity It is he hath sitteth on the circle of the Earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers he stretches out the heavens as a Curtain and spreads them out as a Tent to dwell in THE Armies of Heaven wait his call the brightest Seraphims stand ready to fly his errands up and down the Creation to whom then will ye liken God what likeness will ye compare him to When we think of his Power the very first thoughts of it should allay the pride and swellings of Vanity How soon were the passionate complaints of Job run down with the mention of his ineffable Power and his heart struck with Silence and Reverence IF you consider his Wisdom O Lord how manifold are thy works In wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full of thy Riches The Lord of Hosts is wonderful in Council and excellent in working Great in Council and mighty in works who from the darkest Labyrinths and Intricacies of Providence makes the event beautiful and comely IF you consider his Goodness it endures for ever He is the Center and the Fountain of it If his Justice it is inviolable The Scepter of his Kingdom is a Scepter of Righteousness If his Holiness He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity If his Knowledge and Omniscience He is light it self and dwells in light inaccessible and with him is no darkness at all LET us then but a little more feriously reflect upon the Nature of God and warm our Soul at this fire Let us ask Is this God whose Majesty fills the Heavens and the Earth to be indeed approach'd with flat and tepid Devotions Did the Heathens worship their Idols with so much Lukewarmness as is too too visible among the Christians Nay but their sacrifices prostrations vain repetitions their superstitious Pageantry and Ceremonies requir'd a great deal of attention and application The very Devils if they were worshipped would not be satisfied with the careless behaviour of the Christians in our days and shall we approach the Invisible Immortal God with less regard than the Pagans did their dumb idols Our God is a Spirit saith our Saviour and must be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth And if you would allow me to speak a little more plainly nothing casts greater contempt upon the God that we adore or the Religion that we espouse than the manner of our Worship When we approach our Patrons and Benefactors on Earth we meet their smiles with the lowest submissions and acknowledgements But when we come unto the Altar we offer the blind and the lame in the language of the Prophet Offer it now unto thy Governour saith the Prophet The Living God must be worshipped with life and serv'd with vigour and ador'd with devotion He is all Perfection and cannot be serv'd with the cold and faint essays of half conviction and lame consideration I ask then when we dwell on the Nature of God whether or no the whole Soul ought to be employed in his Worship and Service BUT had we to do with such a Deity as the Epicureans fancied one that had eternally locked up himself within the Imperial Heavens If our actions and affairs came not at all under his cognizance then we might approach him with that remissness coldness and unconcernedness that is visible in our addresses But our God is all pure Life intent upon the Government of the World all things are open and naked before him with whom we have to do His eyes pierce into the Secrets that are buried in darkness He look'd down to see if any did seek after God He humbles himself to behold the things that are done in Heaven and in Earth There passes nothing unobserved Whether shall I fly from his presence If we ascend into the Heavens he is there in his Majesty and Power and his glorious Troops attend his pleasure He worketh all things after the Council of his own Will Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he both in heaven and in earth in the sea and in all deep places The most casual and apparently fortuitous actions are ordered by his Wisdom Nothing so little but it falls under his care He is not a little Prince confin'd to the Hills and Mountains as the Aramites profanely imagin'd but the valleys also are his The young Lions roar and seek their meat from God the Lillies of the field are adorned not a Sparrow falls to the ground without your Father your very hairs are all numbered But 2 LET me press this from the Nature of his Law the sum whereof obliges us to love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our soul with all our strength and our neighbour as our selves The Laws of Men restrain our hands and determine our outward motions but the Laws of God set bounds to our very thoughts He that gave Man understanding sees the very first risings of our inventions and there is nothing appears irregular without but what was formed within for out of the heart proceed murders adulteries c. And therefore the Divine Law reaches the inside as well as the outside it makes a very exact Anatomy of the whole Soul and opens up our hearts unto our selves and discovers what we knew not before and yet now we know to be exactly true The most intricate cases are comprehended under
have no relish to the Soul illuminated with the knowledge of Christ The eye of Faith discovers their emptiness they are but shadows and appearances of things attended in their most flattering dress with vanity and vexation of Spirit Let us awake then and see what is it that thus inchants us into folly and sin What are those pleasures that we doat so much upon if once compar'd to the pure rivers of pleasure that are at his right hand 4. SOME plead the severity of Christianity to excuse them from the practice of it The Precepts of humility meekness and self-denyal are intolerable to such but I must tell them that such Precepts appear only terrible to strangers and such as have no mind to come under any yoke or discipline at all The experience of the best men puts it beyond all debate that there is no rest or tranquillity of Spirit but in the practice of such Commandments Nay the pleasures that attend a pious life are pure and unmixt they are sweeter than the honey or the honey-comb With what transports and exstatic elevations did the Psalmist long to appear in the place of God's presence O when shall I come and appear before God! We are not acquainted with the ravishing satisfactions of Religion because we keep at a distance and therefore we are terrified by our first conflicts but if we struggled vigorously until the noisome rubbish of our corruptions were remov'd then our Souls might become a clean habitation for the Spirit of God and where the Spirit of God dwells there is also peace light and tranquillity joy unspeakable and full of glory What an impregnable Garrison against calumny and disaster is a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards man How vain is it to endeavour the painting of it by rhetorical colours Words cannot reach it the bold Metaphors of Poets are faint in comparison of it It receives comforts immediately from the hand of God and such as cannot be taken away from us so strong are the pleasures that do attend the practice of true Religion WHY then are we frighted with Mormo's and apparitions of our own invention Let us believe our Saviour who hath expresly told us that his yoke is easie and his burden is light The more we plead in favour of our bondage the more entangled we are by our corruption and the more miserable is our condition This Corruption may be escaped and reform'd and whatever is usually pleaded in its defence is vain and unreasonable Let me ask then how this Contagion that has so universally over-run Mankind may be cured And the Text makes answer to this that this Corruption is escaped by the great and the precious promises AND this leads me to the third Particular that I am oblig'd to speak to The Gospel in it self is the great and last Engine of God's Goodness and Wisdom for the recovery of the World and the Promises of the Gospel are the Wheels upon which it moves So much Spirit and Life did go alongst with the first preaching of the Gospel that it shook the Pillars of the Kingdom of Darkness threw open the Prisons of Satan and loos'd whole Societies of Men from their bondage The Apostles did open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God The Promises of the Gospel are the counterpoise that God hath laid in the other Scale against sin He principally designs to deliver from sin and from the Love of the World because it leads unto sin and the Promises of the Gospel have a peculiar energy to save us from the one and to deter us from the other If we believ'd the Promises of the Gospel without fear and hypocrisie we would immediately turn our backs upon our sins especially when we remember that these very Promises are environ'd about with the most terrible denunciations of the wrath of God against the disobedient The Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Can there be any thing so powerful to alienate our affections from the World as the Promises of the Gospel How far was the glory of the Court of Egypt below the Spirit of Moses when he saw him that is invisible and had respect unto the recompence of reward We are expresly told by S. John that if any man love this world the love of the Father is not in him And again that the friendship of this world is enmity with God And S. Paul tells us that the Christians must not set their affections on the things on Earth for their life is hid with God in Christ THE brightness of our Inheritance obscures the glory of the World This is the promise that he hath promised us eternal life And now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but this we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Did we weigh the Gospel Promises as they deserve and think of them with love and application how powerful are they to disengage us from the entanglements of this present life and to promote the reformation that the Gospel enjoins 1. LET us heartily believe the Promises Eternity seriously and frequently pondered exhausts all our strength and all our thoughts It fortifies our Souls against the flatteries of the World and alienates our affections from the Earth The Patriarchs saw the promises afar off and embraced them and confessed that they were but strangers and pilgrims upon the earth And if the dark view that the Patriarchs had was so mighty to support their Spirits under the old Oeconomy what may not we do who are animated by the clear and glorious Promises of the Gospel 2. LET us lean on these Promises in our most difficult circumstances For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the 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 While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal We rejoyce says the same Apostle in our tribulations Patience under sufferings is the peculiar ornament of our Saviour's Disciples for they only have the surest Antidote against despondency The Devil that can transform himself into an Angel of Light cannot counterfeit Christian Meekness and Patience It is no stupidity but a rational submission to the Will of our Father they that are Martyrs for the World or their own Pride may for a while put on a resolute sullenness but true Christian calmness and magnanimity springs from the hope of glory and
learn That there is nothing so amiable as true Religion Nothing else resembles the Divine Nature He that is born of God committeth no sin he that committeth sin is of the Devil and the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil The Text that I have hitherto discours'd of is the abridgement of the Gospel Let us remember our miserable condition by Nature and enquire what effectual remedies there may be to knock off our fetters to procure unto us the Liberty of the Sons of God to restore us to his Image and how glorious our Victory must make us when we are made partakers of the Divine Nature when we live in a purer Air and feed our Souls with the prospect of Immortality when we are got above the Enchantments of Sense when by our comfortable experience we taste and see that God is good and in the meditation of such things let us commit our souls unto him as into the hands of a faithful Creator To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Glory Power and Dominion for ever Amen A SERMON Preach'd before the Bishop and Synod April 1687. in S. Giles's Church Edinburgh ON CANTICLES iv V. 15. A Fountain of Gardens a Well of Living Waters and Streams from Lebanon THE Song of Solomon that is the most Elegant and Divine Composure of all his Poems the Song of Songs by an usual Hebraism the most Excellent and Seraphick Poem of all that Solomon ever wrote and deserves to be so called as Grotius hath it ob multas elegantias quae in alium sermonem translatae non idem sapiunt they are like Aromatick Spirits that cannot so easily be conveyed from one vessel to another 'T IS in its kind a Dramatic Poem full of art and delicious harmony that under the Chast and Sacred Metaphor of Marriage sets off the Love of Christ to his Church in the most ravishing strains and flourishes And this is laid down as the first foundation of expounding this Book by the best Interpreters both Antient and Modern and the Jews themselves most unanimously conclude that it hath an immediate reference to the glories and felicities of the Messias and this Metaphor of Marriage to express the Mystical Vnion of Christ to his Church is frequent in the Writings of the Prophets Hosea 2.19 I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment And it is no less usual to the Apostles when we look into the New Testament Ephes 5. and 32. This is a great Mysterie but I speak concerning Christ and his Church 2 Cor. 11 and 2. I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chast Virgin to Christ Revel 19.7 and 9. For the marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linnen clean and white for the fine linnen is the righteousness of the Saints NOW when we apply to the Church the Characters of Beauty and the Passions of Sacred Love that are scattered up and down through this Book we but follow and trace the footsteps of the Prophets and the Apostles S. Bernard in his first Sermon on the Canticles gives this Epitome of the Works of Solomon that are extant In the Book of the Proverbs superfluous self love is banished in the Book of Ecclesiastes the vain love of the World is rejected but in Cantico Canticorum praescribitur castus Amor Dei the whole Book being nothing else but the strongest efforts of the Divine Love to be united in the closest Bonds to Christ our Head AND this Chapter out of which I have read this Verse breaths the same air and is wholly taken up in commending the incomparable Beauty of the Spouse Behold thou art fair my Love behold thou art fair i. e. thou art fair beyond thought or expression And again thou art all fair my Love there is no spot in thee The fifteenth Verse is but the repetition of or a further Paraphrase upon the twelfth A Garden inclosed is my Sister a Spring shut up a Fountain sealed and here a Fountain of Gardens a Well of Living Waters and Streams from Lebanon How fitly this gradation of Epithets becomes the Church I shall endeavour to explain as I go forward Fons Hortorum qui multis hortis rigandis sufficiat And by those Waters we are to understand the pure and heavenly Doctrine of the Church that waters the withered and parch'd Inhabitants of the Earth with its streams without which they had been long e're now burnt up with the fire of Gods wrath and indignation 'T is usual with the Prophets to express the heavenly Oracles under the Notion of Dew and Rain and Living Waters Deut. 32. 2. My Doctrine shall drop as the Rain my speech shall distil as the Dew as the small Rain upon the tender Herb and as the Showers upon the Grass and our Saviour himself in his Conference with the Woman of Samaria tells that the Waters that he shall give shall be in him to whom they are given a Well of Waters springing up unto eternal life The highest pitch of temporal prosperity is expressed in Holy Scriptures by Dew God give thee of the Dew of Heaven and Fatness of the Earth And Psal 133. and 3. David compareth the Unity of Brethren dwelling together in love to the Dew of Hermon and that which descended on the Mountains of Sion as a token that there the Lord commanded his blessing and Prov. 10. 12. the Kings favour is likened to Dew on the Grass SINCE then what is most excellent and desireable is expressed by it and that in the Old and New Testament the Sacred Oracles are particularly signified by Streams and Living Waters we offer no violence to the Jewish Idiom and Prophetical Phrase when we expound this Verse and its parallel places of the Church under the Messias especially diffusing the streams of their heavenly Oracles over the habitable World and converting men from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to the living God In speaking to these words I shall confine my self to three particulars following the natural order and position of the Words and Metaphors as they lye before us First WE have the use of those Waters a Fountain of Gardens Secondly THE Purity of them a Well of Living Waters Thirdly THE first Rise and Origine of these Waters they are Streams from Lebanon First I SAY We have the use of those Waters Fons hortorum a Fountain of Gardens so conveniently situated in the middle that by its Conduits and Canals it may water and refresh the neighbouring Gardens The Church looks with tenderness and compassion on the right and on the left hand as our Saviour looked upon Jerusalem before her approaching ruine and says in his very words How often would I have gathered you She wisely and
force of Errors to the end of the World When he ascended up on high he led Captivity captive and gave gifts unto men He made the illiterate Gallileans baffle the Infidelity of the Jews confound the Philosophy of the Athenians and expose the Worship of Demons The Donatives that he scattered amongst his followers overcame the little Reasonings and Sophistry of Carnal Wisdom and made both Jew and Gentile stoop to receive the Yoke of the Crucified Messias The Prophecy of Joel was fulfilled and his Spirit powred out on all flesh in such plentiful effusions that it broke down all opposition it carried all before it and defied all obstacles that were invented by human Counsel and though this be meant in its most eminent sense of the Apostolical Age yet the same Spirit supplies the Church in all Ages out of the same fulness But Thirdly IN this Metaphor is implied the strength of its Inclosure The Church is a Society formed and combined by Spiritual Laws and Ligaments for Jerusalem is a City that is compact together Psal 122. Accordingly the Psalmist prays Peace be within thy Walls and Prosperity within thy Palaces The Church is a foreign Colony a Kingdom not of this World fortified with Spiritual Power Laws and Arguments to overawe the Consciences of Men to reclaim the stubborn to establish the Authority of Jesus by the Promises and Threatnings of an Invisible Kingdom for his Kingdom is not of this World it forms no designs against the Temporalities of Princes it gives no disturbance to their Possessions it lives in the profoundest peace and the most absolute tranquillity AND until Ease Luxury Riches and Idleness had debauch'd the Morals and Intellectuals of the Western Church there was no disturbance given to the Powers of the Earth the Church indeed is a Society but a Society whose Laws Maxims and Methods are wholly different from Secular Policy The Nature and Genius of our Religion abstracts Mens Minds from the World and the Laws of it are Pure Heavenly and Spiritual and the natural tendency of them is to alienate our affections from the Earth HAVE you observed any Society of Men under the Name of a Church grasping at Earthly Power and by Secular Intrigues and Contrivances levelling all opposition it is no more acted by the Spirit of Jesus Yet notwithstanding of this Innocence the Church is a Fountain of Gardens a peculiar Inclosure that neither Wolves nor Bears can break through neither Persecutors nor Hereticks can destroy it the gates of Hell cannot prevail against it the Storms may indeed rise very high but Christ is in the Ship and he can reprove the Winds and Storms Psal 129. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth may Israel say yet have they not prevailed the Plowers plowed upon my back and made long their furrows WHEN we remember that the whole World lies in wickedness and the Spirit that prevails most among Mankind is opposite to the designs of the Gospel what a Miracle of the Divine Goodness is it that the Hedge of the Church is not quite broke down And sometimes the violent attempts of the Kingdom of Darkness may so far prevail by the permission of God as utterly to deface and ruine particular Churches They have all their Intervals Eclipses and several Periods of Light and Darkness for no particular Church by any Promise Grant or Privilege of our Saviour is secured from a possibility of falling by Error Defection and Heresie but the preservation of the Church is owing wholly to the Divine Arm his Love Care and Tenderness reaches the Church in all her conditions and members He shall feed his flock like a Shepherd he shall gather the Lambs with his Arm and carry them in his Bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young HIS Ambassadors must be such as by their Seriousness Gravity and Innocence may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men we must resolutely encounter the hard Censures and Obloquies of a perverse World and when we have done our utmost to oblige them to entertain the Gospel and us for the Gospels sake we may chance to be treated with all the marks of ignominy contempt and disdain If it be so difficult then to preserve the Church and our own Reputation from the attempts and malice of wicked men I think in Prudence Honour and Conscience we ought to be very kind to the Reputation of one another To bespatter ones Reputation is the greatest wound you can give his Character and it is all one whether you do it by a direct blow or slantingly by cunning and slie insinuations Indeed we can do little by our selves to defend the inclosure of the Church we are but weak and feeble and the wickedness of Men makes us more and more so yet if every one made his Brothers Reputation dear to him as his own we might do very much to vindicate the Innocence to extenuate the Infirmities to remove the reproaches that are Atheistically cast upon Men of our Order and the Church might appear unto our enemies to be in the language of the Bridegroom Cant. 6.4 beautiful as Tirzah and comely as Jerusalem and terrible as an Army with banners THE weakest things knit together make a strong resistance for though we fight not with carnal weapons yet those we make use of are mighty to break and shatter the Kingdom of Darkness and all its retinue THIS Metaphor implyes Fourthly The Propriety of Christ in his Spouse The Church is said in the twelfth Verse to be Fons signatus a Fountain sealed She carries the visible Badge and Livery of her dearest Lord and Redeemer She is the chast Spouse of Jesus Christ hence you find whenever the Jews made defection from the Worship of the true God the Prophets did upbraid them with their going a whoring after their Idols The Church is married unto him in Truth and Righteousness his Mystical Body bought with his Blood Silver and Gold could not redeem her the Love of Christ to the Church is incomprehensible the height the breadth and the depth of it goes beyond our imaginations and much more all our expressions He loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob and Psal 78.68 He chused Mount Zion which he loved he built his Sanctuary like the Earth which he hath established for ever his love to the Church is prima regula amoris Eph. 5.25 Husbands love your Wives even as Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it The Church hath but one Husband one Mediator one Sacrifice the Purity Value and Propitiation of which defends her for ever against all the efforts and assaults of Hell We see by what is said that this Metaphor in its true intent most naturally agrees to the Organick Church established in the true Faith and guarded with its true Pastors BUT I go forward to the second Particular that I promised to speak to the Purity of these Waters the Church is a
of true Devotion more than wrong notions of Almighty God The great reason why the Heathens were over-run with Idolatry and Superstition was because the Histories of their Gods were stuff'd with folly and wickedness and they could not pretend to greater heights of Purity than the Deities that they worshipped To adore God is to bestow upon him the highest Love Veneration and esteem of our Souls His Eyes pierce to the secrets that are buried in darkness and to the Centre of our Spirits and if our Sacrifices are sullied and defil'd in their first springs and principles they are an abomination unto him No Worship can be pleasing unto God unless what is offer'd by Love Pray what do we take him to be when we endeavour to put him off with any thing less than the flower and strength of our Reason Thus our Saviour instructs the Woman of Samaria in the Nature of true Worship but the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him How gross must their apprehensions be who think that he is delighted with carnal Oblations for he is a Spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth If I were hungry I would not tell thee for the World is mine and the fulness thereof Will I eat the flesh of Bulls or drink the blood of Goats offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most High THE Philosophers discover'd the reasonableness of this Doctrine without Revelation and the best of them undervalu'd outward services and Sacrifices in comparison of a chast Mind and a pure Soul Do ye think saith Seneca that God is pleas'd with many Sacrifices and much Blood high Temples and magnificent Structures nay rather in suo cuique consecrandus est pectore The breast of a good Man is the most lovely Temple for the Divinity the place of his peculiar residence and Habitation And this is but the language of the Prophet Isay a little varied Thus saith the Lord the Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my footstool where is the house that ye build unto me and where is the place of my rest For all those things hath mine hand made and all those things have been saith the Lord But to this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word He that killeth an Ox is as if he slew a man c. The Sacrifices of Gods own institution were not regarded unless they were subservient to this more excellent Oblation THIS Evangelical Sacrifice is the only and most proper mean to attain the true ends of Worship freedom from sin the favour of God and peace of Conscience are the great ends of all Religion and these things are not attain'd by the most pompous shew and parade of Ceremonies unless the Soul and Will be first sacrificed to his Obedience When ye come to appear before me who hath requir'd this at your hand to tread my Courts bring no more vain Oblations Incense is an abomination unto me the new Moons and Sabbaths the calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even the solemn meeting How loathsom in the eyes of God are all our publick services when the Soul is left behind He hath shewed thee O! man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God THIS is the Sacrifice that is peculiar to the New Testament when we approach the Throne of God with filial confidence like Children of the free woman disingaged from the servile incumbrances that held the Jews in bondage When we offer our selves unto God with true alacrity strong desires and a mind purified from the World and feculent adherences that stick to us from the neighbourhood of sensible Objects when we come with that masculine and chearful Devotion that becomes them that are set at liberty from the weak and dark shadows of the Law By St. Peter we are said to be a spiritual Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices And we are told by S. Paul that we have access to the Throne and liberty to cry Abba Father And commanded in our Prayers to lift up holy hands without wrath or doubting This is the Worship of the new Testament the foundation of that ingenuous Converse that is between us and Heaven Therefore do we with so much elevation of spirit magnifie the goodness of God that gave us his Son Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen THIS is true Evangelical Sacrifice and it alone affords the most solid delight and satisfaction to the Votary Outward Services when they are separated from this inward dedication have nothing in them but toil and bodily labour we are told by the Author to the Hebrews that the Jewish Religion did consist in Meats and Drinks and divers Ordinances And we find in the Prophecy of Amos that such of the Jews as did not see further than the letter of the Law thought their attendance on the Temple-service the most intolerable weariness But when we sacrifice our very Souls unto his obedience his Presence fills our hearts with joy and gladness the purest rapture and contentment Thou hast put more gladness in my heart than in the time when their wine and their oil did increase True joy arises in the Soul from an Union with God when the light of his Countenance shines upon us by its clear beams and irradiations the clouds of darkness and disasters cannot approach us we are then secure against fear and despondency we feel our selves encircled in the arms of divine Love and made strong against the assaults of anxiety God is the source of all Felicity and the nearer we draw unto him the more happy we are and rational happiness must be felt and necessarily must dilate it self in all the faculties of the Soul A Conscience void of offence towards God and towards Man is a house built upon the Rock it may be batter'd but it cannot be shaken And God loves to pour into our hearts such degrees of joy when we are purified from all filthiness of the flesh and of the Spirit when we offer our selves without reserve to his service and obedience when we sacrifice our hearts unto God when Charity consumes the Oblation and true zeal inflames the Victim I had rather said the Psalmist be one day in thy Courts than a thousand elsewhere And again O! How love I thy Law it is my meditation night and day They are strangers to true Peace and satisfaction that are unacquainted with the pure and unmixt pleasures of Religion 2. LET us consider the value that God did set upon
acknowledgment of that particular Deity to whom they were offered 1. I SAY they were separate from common Use And this is the true Notion of all Relative Holiness It is in Allusion to this that we are exhorted by St. Paul to be separate and not to touch the unclean thing for the Temple of God hath no agreement with Idols Ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my People Let us call to mind our New and heavenly Relation by the solemnity of our Baptism We are built up a spiritual House an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ Let us remember that we are bought with a price we are not our own therefore ought we to glorifie God in our bodies and in our spirits which are Gods The Prophanation of things Holy and dedicated was looked upon as an extraordinary Crime We must not take the Vessels of the Sanctuary and profane them to common Use This is the Argument that St. Paul made use of to the Corinthians against Fornication Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an Harlot And this Reason may be extended without any violence against all sin and impurity we are confederate with Jesus Christ we are listed under his Banners we are separated from the World therefore all compliance with it as far as it is opposed to the Kingdom of Christ is utterly unlawful therefore Love not the World neither the things that are in the World if any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him We are sacred Persons we are dedicated to his service in our Baptism we must not run into the same excess of Riot with others a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People that we should shew forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light 2. SACRIFICES were not only separated from common use but were also the badge and Tessera of the Votaries and the peculiar Worship of that Deity to whom they were offered This made it so highly criminal for the first Christians to be present at the Sacrifices of their Pagan Relations they were frequently invited to these Idolatrous Ceremonies And though they might pretend that they came to gratifie their Friends without any further design of Religion yet their very presence at those Solemnities of the Pagans did confute this Pretext For the Sacrifices were the peculiarties and Bonds that did oblige to the Worship of that Deity to whom they were offered and both among the Jews and the Pagans there was some one Ceremony or other that pointed to that Deity that was worshipped and acknowledged The Sacrifices of the Jewish Religion and religious Ceremonies were most of them diametrically opposite to the customs of the neighbour Nations that they might remain marks of distinction between the Idolatrous Nations and the Jews who worshipped the Creator of Heaven and Earth It is most certain that the Sacrifices in all Religions have this in them that they unite the Votary and the Deity to whom they are offered And therefore the Ancient Church was so severe not only against the Thurificati and such as did sacrifice in the time of Persecution but also against such as were present at these Sacrifices So much we gather from St. Pauls reasonings The Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the blood of Christ i. e. Is it not the Characteristick of the Christian Worship Compare this with the 20 th verse following the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to Devils and not to God I would not that ye should have fellowship with Devils Ye cannot be partakers of the Lords Table and of the Table of Devils therefore you ought with all care to flee those Idolatrous meetings NOW when we sacrifice our selves with allusion to this Practice we must remember the peculiar Laws of our Religion the Laws that erect a Wall of Partition between the Christians and the rest of Mankind where then are our peculiar Obligations We are told of them in the fifth of St. Matth. Gospel Those graces of Humility Calmness Goodness and Charity that are levell'd against the prevailing Vices of Mankind This is our Religion in its heighth in its Flower in its mark of Excellency and distinction This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Christianity by which we know our selves to be the Disciples of the Crucified Jesus There was always in all Religions some proportion or analogy between the Sacrifice and the Deity Let our Sacrifices therefore prove that we are the Children of the most High God and his Son Jesus Christ whom to know is life eternal And because we have the best Religion we must do more than others that they seeing our good works may glorifie our Father which is in Heaven 3. THE third Epithet that St. Paul mentions is that the Sacrifice must be Acceptable And this also in allusion to what made the Sacrifices acceptable according to the letter of the Law and to make it acceptable thus it ought 1. to be offered at Gods own Altar at Jerusalem The Solemnities of publick Worship were always ordered by God himself immediately or by them to whom he did intrust by regular conveyance the management of Sacred things LET us not then as the Author to the Hebrews exhorts forsake the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is who forsake the Communion of the Catholick Church and erect Altar against Altar and to justifie their prophane Schism must pretend the very forms of the Church that distinguish us and our Religion from Pagans Infidels and Hereticks Why should I be says the Spouse as one that turneth aside by the Flocks of thy Companions Tell me where thou makest thy flocks to rest at noon There is no shelter against the heat of Gods indignation to be had but in the Society of the Church When we are dazled with Singularities and Novelties and forsake the Communion of the Church we venture without the Line of his Covenant and Promise and 't is needless to aggravate the danger of so doing HOW joyfully does the Psamist tune his Harp when they spake to him of the meetings at Jerusalem I was glad when they said unto me Let us go into the house of the Lord our feet shall stand within thy gates O Jerusalem Let us say with the mournful Captives in Babylon If I do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mâ—uth if I prefer not Jerusalem to my chiefest joy With what impatience did the Psalmist sigh for the Sanctuary 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
no other Business or Employment can exhaust the strength and activity of our Spirits The Soul ranges thorow the Creation like the Bee that tasts every Flower but quickly goes off to another Thus our Spirits after their most diligent enquiries into all things that the World hath sit down meagre and discontented they feel something within them still thirsty and unsatisfied there is no fixed peace to our Spirits until we fix the eye of our Soul upon that Original Beauty and Light that dwells in Light inaccessible This is Employment proper for our Spirits here they rest as in their true Center and Element To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Praise Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen A SERMON Preached on Good-Friday ON JOHN xviii V. 11. Then said Jesus unto Peter Put up thy Sword into the sheath the Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it I NEED not the help of a Preface to reconcile this Text to this Day it being a part of that Gospel which the Church appoints to be read on this Solemn Fast when the Vniversal Church puts on Mourning and beholds her Redeemer dying in the Arms of Love THE Verse that I have now read contains our Saviour's fixt resolution to act the last part himself with true Magnanimity so he stood like an impregnable Rock not only against the treachery tumult and rage of his Enemies but also the timorous and faint Counsels and insinuations of his dearest Companions I suppose the Church appointed the Gospel for this day to be taken out of St. John because he was an Eye-witness of the whole Tragedy from first to last THE beginning of this Verse is a Command to St. Peter to forbear these Methods and Weapons of humane Violence that his ill-plac'd but well meant zeal did suggest unto him The Kingdom Scepter and Laws of the Messias needed not those Weapons of Iron and Steel but they were to be advanc'd to their height by Patience by Humility by Sufferings and by the Cross And this Philosophy the Sophies of the World did despise THE latter part of the Verse to which I invite your Meditation more closely is our Saviour's resolution to go through his most formidable sufferings with a chearful and undaunted Spirit inflam'd with Love Fortitude and invincible Zeal Here we have not his sufferings divided in several parcels but a full view of them in gross and in their solemn Circumstances and all of them made bitter and terrible by the most exquisite aggravations THUS the Captain of our Salvation considered his Enemies drawn up against him in battel array He saw all the Powers of Hell combin'd and all their Malice skrew'd up to the highest Pin and this Malice vented against himself with all the marks of affront and indignity All the suffering Capacities of his human Nature were at once assaulted and the terrour of the Roman Power the sullen hypocrisie of the Pharisees and the Clamours of the Rabble were all in their united force muster'd against him Yet he stood like a Rock of Brass to receive their blows and he tells S. Peter with design to cool his fervour That the Son of God must suffer THE Cup which my Father giveth me c. It was usual amongst the Jews to express the happy or adverse Lot of a Mans Condition under the notion and phrase of a Cup. Psalm 11. v. 6. Vpon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their Cup. Psalm 16. v. 5. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my Cup thou mantainest my lot The meaning then is this That Cup which is mixt by human Malice and filled with Gall and Vinegar is nevertheless ordered by my Father He superintends all things and not a hair of our head falls to the ground without his watchful providence This is a Cup indeed that hath in it all degrees of terrour and poison and such as may fright and daunt the courage of the whole Creation Yet I will drink it to the bottom for it is prepared by my Father nay I will drink it chearfully even when my flesh shrinks at it and by its innocent reluctances testifies its fear THUS we see what is folded up in those words but because our Eyes are not strong enough to view them all at once let us fix our attention on them in this Method 1. His bloody sufferings and more particularly the last Scene of them 2. Let us consider by whom this Cup was ordered and prepared It was the Cup that his Father gave him 3. With what courage and resolution he drank it 1. WE have his sufferings under the notion of a Cup especially the last and most Tragical Scene of them by the nature of his glorious Office and the determinate Counsel of God He was a Man of sorrow and acquainted with grief He endured the contradiction of sinners and the Cross was the very Character of his Kingdom Let us but view the preparations to this Tagedy and secondly the last act of it First I SAY the preparations towards it And here we may stop and go no further for we are not able to fathom the very beginnings of his sorrow they are too deep at the entry Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto his sorrow He was plowed upon and they made long furrows upon his back Take but a view of him in his Agony in Gethsemany when the arrows of God stuck fast in his Soul when the warm and celestial influences of Heaven seem'd to be suspended when he was left alone to contend with the malice of Earth and the fury of Hell Who can conceive the weight of this pressure How astonishing is it in the very beginning of those Agonies to consider the very outward posture of his Body He went a little further and fell on his face and prayed saying O my Father If it be possible let this Cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt AND must his face kiss the ground who supports the whole Creation Are his arms become feeble that is the strength of Men and Angels Shall fear and darkness take hold of Him that is the Light of the World Shall the Sun of Righteousness be thus eclips'd and the Fountain of Innocence and Purity thus grapple with misery and disaster What Consternation is this What Complication of Mysteries Yet we see but little when we view no more than the outward posture of his Body Dare we enter at a distance into his Soul Is that undefil'd Temple of the Divinity become the habitation of grief and fear Is Light it self become Darkness And are the original Notions of Things confounded Is the Wisdom of the Father put to this What shall I say Are all the Laws of the Creation broken at once and innocence it self made the only Theatre of Calamity WE are not
able to conceive the height of his sorrow if we call to mind the Phrases that the Evangelists make use of to signifie his Agony He began to be sorrowful He began to be sore amazed saith S. Mark and to be very heavy say both of them And S. Matthew's Phrase is very significant a little after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Soul is encompass'd with grief as an Island is with Water in the midst of the Ocean I am surrounded with fears and clouds on all hands I see such plentiful showers of indignation and violence ready to discharge themselves against me that I am reduc'd to the last extremities The complaints of Job are most applicable to me for his Archers compass me round about he cleaveth my reins asunder and doth not spare he poureth out my gall upon the ground He breaketh me with breach upon breach he runneth upon me like a Giant I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin and defiled my horn in the dust My face is foul with weeping and on my eye lids is the shadow of death not for any injustice in mine hands also my prayer is pure AND this sorrow was not only express'd by his Lips his Eyes his Prayers and strong Cries to the Father but every Pore in his Body spoke it out in great drops of blood as the Psalmist prophesied of him I am poured out like Water all my bones are out of joint My heart is like wax melted in the midst of my bowels And if the Prologue to his Sufferings hath all this in it our apprehensions of them must fall short of their extent and latitude especially that part of them that were transacted in the inward Regions of the Mind when he offer'd himself a Victim for the Sins of the World when he was made a curse for us who knew no sin when he stood in our room and sustain'd the weight of our sins as our High-Priest OH how terrible was this Cup that made the Prince of Courage and Resolution the original Spring of Strength and Constancy all shiver and tremble into Tears Cries and Prayers He betook him to his strong hold his Father whom he never had offended and he prayed in the strength of the most powerful Arguments that bind up the hands of the Divine Justice from inflicting punishments on lesser persons I mean those Arguments from Love Compassion and the Relation of a Father O Father let this Cup pass from me BUT as if the Eternal Fountain of Pity had been dryed up as if boundless Mercy and Compassion had forgot their Nature and necessary Emanations he is suffered to contend with all those terrors alone The Hosts of Heaven seem to joyn with him in this prayer having their Wings ready trimm'd to fly down to the Earth for his rescue yet they are commanded to stand aloof and behold this combat without interposing in their Masters quarrel and that one of their number that was sent to comfort him was allowed to do no more than to afford him strength enough to drink that Cup to the bottom THE Philosophers do tell us That a virtuous Man fighting with difficulties and disasters and by his conduct keeping his mind free from vice is most beloved of God But how soon would all the Heroes of Philosophy be confounded with the least share of these dismal sufferings The Seraphims of Glory stand amazed to see the Humane Nature in the midst of all sinless infirmities give such proofs of valour and magnanimity And the Father took pleasure to baffle the Devil i. e. the pride and arrogance of the World by the patience and resignation of his only begotten Son and he design'd to teach Mankind by his submission that patience and suffering is the way to the highest glory And though this truth be despis'd by the carnal World yet the Morals of the Gospel are built upon it We must cut off our right hands and pull out our right eyes if we enter into the Kingdom of Heaven IF we consider more particularly his behaviour under these first Skirmishes in the Garden we may observe 1. His Reluctancies Let this Cup pass from me But was not his Cross and Sufferings the constant Theme of his Sermons Did not all the Sacrifices of the Law of Moses represent his Passion at a distance And the Prophecies of former Ages prepare all men to receive this great Truth that the just was to dye for the unjust And did not Moses and Elias treat of his Sufferings on the Mount of Transfiguration Whence then is this trouble of mind this extraordinary Agony Whence all those appearances of fear and surprize All is true yet the sinless Humane Nature meeting at once with every thing that is odious terrible and disgraceful shrinks and recoils And herein is his Victory that he so perfectly resign'd himself to the Will of his Father that he rejoices in the midst of his sorrows to sacrifice his feelings and infirmities to the Conduct and Wisdom of God O Miracle of Patience O invincible Resolution folded up in that one word Not my Will but thy Will be done Thus verifying himself to be the Messias prophesied of by the Psalmist Then said I Lo I come in the volume of thy Book it is written of me I delight to do thy Will O my God yea thy Law is within my heart It was his Meat and his Drink to do the Will of his Father through the whole tract of his Life in lesser instances but now when the last period of it drew nigh when the Sacrifice was ready to be laid upon the Altar then it was all burnt and consum'd with Love It mounted the Heavens in a Fiery Chariot of pure and unmixt Zeal and by one perfect act of Oblation sacrific'd his Will to the Will of his Father without reserve or limitation WE shall best discover how comprehensive this surrender was when we read the History of the Gospel and see with what triumph and insolence his enemies insulted over him Even in Jerusalem where his Miracles made him famous there they prepared their Whips and their Scourges their Buffets and their Thorns to afflict him and a Mock Purple to make him ridiculous And thus arrayed he is brought forth to divert the great crouds of People that flocked to Jerusalem about this time and they were to tell the shameful story of his Sufferings over the habitable World yet there was no shaking of his Courage and Resignation AND to let the World see that his Love to Mankind was more than heroick and beyond the Fictions of Poets and truly becoming the Son of God and the designs of our Redemption when the Paroxisms of his Agony gave him the least respite he returns to his Disciples When Heaven and Earth seem'd to be made up of anger and indignation against him yet does he not forget them and though they became stupid and unsolicitous for him their supreme Lord and Benefactor he does not
God saith Isaiah In all publick Sacrifices there was some Ceremony to signifie the translation of the punishment from the People to the Sacrifice Thus the Person among the Heathens that was appointed for a publick Sacrifice had all the Imprecations of the People heaped upon him as he went along the streets But our Saviour did not only expiate the sins of one City Kingdom or Family but the sins of the whole World past present and to come in their most heinous Nature and numberless Aggravations He made Atonement for them all by that one peculiar Sacrifice which needs not again be repeated because it had no imperfection He himself alone bore our sins in his own body on the Tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness And our sins are thus for ever buried if we do not reinflame the Wrath of God by our impenitence Now when we remember the Love of Jesus in dying for us and all the circumstances of his Disgrace and the variety of these peculiar Vertues that appeared in him under his saddest Torture may not we pray in the words of the Greek Church By thy unknown sufferings Lord have mercy upon us NOW I go forward to the second Particular that I propos'd to speak to and that is by whom this Cup was ordered and prepared And our Saviour tells S. Peâ—er that it was the Cup his Father gave him to drink The sufferings of our Saviour were not casual and fortuitous but duly weigh'd by infinite Wisdom So much the Apostles St. Peter and St. John in their Scraphick Prayer acknowledge Of a truth against thy Holy Child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy Counsel determined before to be done I might illustrate this Truth 1. From the signification of Ceremonies under the Law particularly that of the Scape-Goat and the Red Heifer 2. From the Prediction of Prophets especially the Prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel 3. From the nature of his Undertaking whether 1. the Sacrifice that he offer'd or 2. the Religion that he planted I say from all those Heads I might demonstrate this great Truth viz. that the sufferings of our Saviour were weighed and ordered in the Divine Counsel But I must leave this and the third Particular also which was the alacrity and readiness of his Soul to drink this Cup insinuated in the Question propos'd to St. Peter Shall I not drink the Cup that my Father giveth me And those things I leave at present that I may make some Application of what I have already insisted on And 1. CAN we read the History of his Passion without any Concern Are we made of Flint Marble or Adamant O stupid and inconsiderate Sinner Wilt thou look upon him whom thou hast pierced by thy sins We find that when this Tragedy was acted universal Nature seem'd to groan The Sun did hide his head the Earth blush'd to be the Theatre of so much Villany and have we no sense at all When we remember that we were principally accessory to his grievous Torments He was bruis'd for our iniquities he was wounded for our transgressions the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes are we healed Shall we again crucifie him afresh by our treacherous and perfidious impenitence This is a higher outrage than that other committed by the Jews As for his Crucifiers many of them were converted but this obstinate contempt of his Love sets us without the bounds of Mercy tho his mercy be above the heavens and over all his works To provoke him again by our sins is a downright affront to his Love but after such undeniable proofs of his kindness to disbelieve the Gospel is utterly inexcusable Infidelity makes the nearest approaches to the sin against the holy Ghost which I take to be the malicious opposition of that Light and Evidence which God offers for our Conviction When the Messias came he proved his Mission and Authority by the most convincing Miracles and Signs more glorious than ever Moses wrought nor was it reasonable to expect that he should bring with him fairer Credentials to recommend himself and his Doctrine than those he displayed before his Country-men But his Countrymen shut their Eyes against the Light He came unto his own and his own received him not And we are guilty of the very same sin if we trample upon the Gospel which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed by them that heard him He seal'd the Truth by his Death confirm'd it by his Resurrection and by the various Gifts of the holy Ghost proves beyond all contradiction that He is at the right hand of God the Father Secondly DID our Saviour thus die for us Then we ought to treat our selves with greater regard than to be inslav'd to our former sin Did he hide the glory of his Divinity that he might redeem us from misery and despair by his own Blood Was it for this that he took flesh of our Flesh that we might be made partakers of the divine Nature Why do we live like so many mean sordid abject Creatures as if we were confin'd by the frame of our Nature to the Earth only As if we could look no higher than the trifling interests of this World So sadly have we forgot our selves and though very frequently our Pride makes us hateful to God and odious to one another yet do we truckle under the meanest Vices We were not redeem'd with corruptible things such as silver and gold but with the precious blood of the Son of God This is the Argument that St. Paul makes use of to heighten our esteem of our Brethren Wilt thou make thy Brother perish for whom Christ died And the Argument of St. Peter to aggravate the folly and wickedness of the Hereticks that they deny'd the Lord that bought them To be bought by the blood of the Son of God is the powerful Argument of the Gospel against Sin and if we resist this we may justly fear to be delivered up to a Reprobate Sense Our sins set us at the greatest distance from God he is Light Beauty Strength and Perfection and Sin is folly weakness error and deformity Let us therefore fly from it because so horrid in its Nature so dismal in its consequences that nothing could attone it but the Blood of the Son of God Thirdly HERE is the true remedy against despair So reasons S. Paul He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things And a little after Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died This is the powerful Oratory that prevails before the Throne of God nay it is irresistible in the mouth of a penitent sinner Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord
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
Heavens By which Gifts and Graces the Apostles were enabled to assert the Truth of our Religion boldly and proclaim the glad tidings of Salvation to all Nations and the Literal Judaism was to give place to the Mystical and the Messias was not only to be the Glory of his people Israel but a Light to lighten the Gentiles OUR Saviour after his Resurrection gave all assurance to the Apostles that he would send them another Comforter when He was gone unto the Father an Advocate to plead his Cause successfully one who should inspire them with strength and skill to defie and resist all the Calumnies and Slanders of Infidelity and therefore they ought not to give way either to grief sorrow or despondency For all Power in Heaven and in Earth was given to their Lord and Master He was highest in the Glory of the Father He was not only declared to be the Son of God by his Resurrection from the dead but God did highly exalt him and gave him a Name which is above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth He instructed them formerly in the Spiritual Oeconomy of his Kingdom that they needed not be ashamed of the Doctrine of the Cross that it behov'd Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day to the end that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his Name throughout all Nations beginning at Jerusalem and withal that He was not unmindful of his Promise that He made before He was crucified now that he was risen from the dead but He assured them He would send the Promise of the Father upon them so much to their comfort success and satisfaction that the whole World should take notice of it In the mean time they were to remain quiet and knit together at Jerusalem until this Promise was fulfilled HE had before at their Ordination and formal Admission into the highest Order of the Church breathed on them and bad them receive the Holy Ghost By the which they were invested with a Legal and Authoritative Title to act as the Ambassadors of Jesus Christ to proclaim his Laws to require the Obedience of all Nations to convey this Power unto others to erect a new Society distinct from all Secular Incorporations to bind and loose by the Censures of the Church but still notwithstanding of their Authority they remain'd without strength until the solemn and magnificent Effusion of the Holy Ghost by which their Tongues being fired from Heaven their opposers were not able to resist the Wisdom by which they spake Now was the Prophecy of Joel fulfilled in the highest sense and so S. Peter applies it to this astonishing and heavenly manifestation And it shall come to pass in the last days saith God I will poure out of my Spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesie and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams THERE are who distinguish in the Writings of the New Testament between the Holy Ghost and the Spirit and that the Spirit signifies the Power of Miracles healing the Sick casting out of Devils restoring sight to the Blind raising the Dead by all which our Saviour proved himself to be the true Messias And by the Holy Ghost they think we ought to understand the wonderful Gifts of Utterance of Languages of Interpretation of Mysteries by which the Apostles were enabled in a moment to confound all the arts and oppositions of their enemies to run down with evidence all the calumnies and reproaches invented either by Jew or Gentile against the Person Life Doctrine or Miracles of our blessed Saviour BUT we shall have a better view of this when we fix our Meditations on that part of Scripture that I have read and consider it in all its mutual aspects and relations then I will endeavour to gather the several Branches of it together again in the Application WE find that the Apostles did exactly obey the Command of our Saviour they tarried at Jerusalem waiting for the promise of the Father The Text hath in it the accomplishment of this Promise and because it is so peculiar to this day to commemorate the Effusion of the Holy Ghost with the highest Joy and Gratitude I will invite your attention to these three Particulars in the words that I have read 1. THE disposition that the Apostles were in to receive the Holy Ghost they were all with one accord in one place 2. THE sensible Emblem of it manifested 1. To their Ears in the second Verse and to their Eyes in the third Verse And 3. HERE is the Accomplishment of the Promise the success and the appearance of it they were all filled with the Holy Ghost they began to speak with other Tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance 1. Consider the Disposition that they were in to receive it They were all with one accord in one place The Holy Spirit cannot dwell in those Breasts that are gangreen'd with discords jars and animosities All our wild passions and unfriendly humours must be hush'd into silence at the approach of this heavenly Guest he chuses for his residence habitation those pure and innocent Souls that breath nothing but love candor simplicity and meekness the secret retirements of the Mind where he dwells must be made smooth even and regular the rugged and intricate circuits of Hypocrisie Hatred and Envy are inconsistent with his Presence He loves to fix his residence where there are some beautiful Lineaments of himself The peaceableness the charity the mutual love and zeal of promoting the welfare of one another was so remarkable in the first Christians that we must needs confess they were acted by a Spirit beyond the World this peace and love and unanimity is so essential to the Christian Religion that our Saviour made it the badge and Character of his Disciples hereby shall all men know that you are my disciples if ye love one another It is the fulfilling of the Law without it there is no access for our Prayers We are commanded when we bring our gift to the Altar to leave it there unoffered until we are reconciled to our brother And we are directed by the Apostle St. Paul to lift up holy hands without wrath or doubting In a word the wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie And a little before he telleth us that bitter envyings and strife are the Companions of that wisdom that is earthly sensual and devilish Nay this Hatred and Enmity makes up the very nature of the Devil and if you could divide him and his Malice he were no more a Devil nor opposite to God for God is Love and they that dwell in God dwell in Love and the frequent repetitions of
as were most unlikely to bring them to pass Must rude and illiterate Mechanicks grapple with the Rabbies and Philosophers of East and West By what Armies by what deep Contrivances must this Design be set on foot How ridiculous is the very thought of it to a man that stands no higher than on the level of Humane Maxims Yet this Divine Fire in their Tongues burnt up and consum'd the Worship of the Devil and silenc'd his most famous Oracles and brought the whole World in a manner under new Laws and as a rapid and violent flame devours combustible matter without mercy without resistance so the Christian Religion pulled down the Rites Customs and Solemnities of Superstition even then when the Learning Zeal and Power of all Mankind were engag'd to support it S. Paul tells us that the foolishness of God is wiser than men i. e. the most unlikely means seconded by his assistance produce the most wonderful and astonishing effects the methods that seem comtemptible to humane eyes overcome the wisest and the most subtile contrivances the meanest and weakest arrow in his quiver the clownish Fishers of Gallilee will baffle and confound all the Sons of Wit and Speculation the most accurate amongst them who had been train'd from their infancy in the Arts of Sophistry and Eloquence stood mute and stupid before those new Philosophers who came to discover unto us life and immortality The Topicks and the Methods of the Athenian Schools were swept down like thin Cobwebs when this true Light appear'd their curious Schemes were all rejected and a higher Doctrine than any that was formerly taught was establish'd upon no lower Principles than the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit the little knacks of the Philosophers that consisted most in the shufflings and turnings of Words and Phrases vanish'd like aery Phantoms when Truth it self in its Meridian Splendor inspir'd those frail men can we attribute this their Victory to any thing short of God himself His word is like a fire and as a hammer that breaketh the rocks in pieces So the Apostles forc'd their way through Rocks and pierc'd to the Center of mens Souls and gain'd to the obedience of Christ those hearts that one would think were altogether inaccessible they pulled down strong holds and lofty imaginations and by their swift and universal success at such a Time and against such Mountains of Opposition they gave the World to understand that their Mission was from above And here are the Trophies and Triumphs of Christianity the wonderful Propagation of our Religion made it evident that this Fire that came down upon the Apostles in Cloven Tongues was not a flitting and vagrant Meteor unfixt and moveable but a solid and durable Light which was to continue in the Church until the consummation of all things 3. HERE we may consider the accomplishment of the Promise contain'd in the fourth Verse They were all filled with the holy Ghost That the Apostles were inspir'd by God is beyond all contradiction and they who impute their Progress in the Conversion of Nations their Languages and Miracles their divine Reasonings and Revelations to any ordinary Cause subvert the Principles upon which our Religion stands All Civiliz'd Nations ancient and modern do acknowledge the possibility of a Divine Revelation nay that it is reasonable for Mankind to expect it in some extraordinary Cases and most people plead it in favours of some one Custom or other received amongst themselves and if all men agree in this that it is reasonable to look for it and that by the strength of Reason we may distinguish a true Revelation from what is counterfeit What should harden men against the Christian Religion for the miraculous Inspiration which the Church commemorates this Day hath stampt upon it all the Characters of Divinity that our Souls can think of even when they examine things most calmly and accurately LET us therefore thank Almighty God that he gave us the highest assurances of our Religion that he made our hope so sixt that it cannot be battered for when we read that the Holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles in this manner we may conclude infallibly that our Lord is not only risen from the dead but invested also with the highest Power at the right hand of God the Father The Gifts and magnificent Donatives that he scattered amongst his Subjects when he enter'd into the Heavens sufficiently convince us that all power in heaven and in earth is given unto him To his Ascension may be applied that of the Psalmist Thou hast ascended up on high thou hast led captivity captive thou hast received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them Let us say then as the Psalmist invites I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his Name together This Effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles is so full a proof of his Victory that now we lean on his Promise with the greatest tranquillity and assurance He hath ridden prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness his right hand hath taught him terrible things the enemies of his Kingdom fall before him he hath broken them as with a rod of iron he hath dasht them in pieces like a potters vessel he is established for ever King in Zion The meditation of this fills our hearts with joy and gladness that our Redeemer who is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh hath trodden all our enemies under his feet We have this hope as an anchor of the Soul both sure and steadfast and which entreth unto that within the Veil whither the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus made an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck NOR are we to think that because now he is encircled with Glory and Majesty that he can be unmindful of us no more than he was when he was compass'd with our Infirmities and as he made good his Promise to the Apostles and sent upon them the Holy Ghost to plead his cause against Infidelity so we may rely on his Word that he will raise us again unto life and immortality tho our dust stould mingle with all the scattered Atoms of the Creation he will change our vile bodies that they may be fashion'd like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself And the same Apostle assures us that if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us Thus from the fulfilling of what is past we may reason our selves into the belief and certainty of what is to come AND let us thank our heavenly Father that so early strengthen'd the
his Laws to slight his Invitation When we add to this the consideration of those things that are provided for us in this Feast we may easily see the folly of slighting it the pardon of our Sins is sealed the peace and tranquillity of our Consciences are confirmed our spiritual strength and fortitude are recruited and we are enabled to grapple with all our Enemies more successfully we are strengthened beyond our frailties to run the Race that is set before us ARE not we by our baptismal Vows already listed under his Standard Are not we confederated with him when we are received into the Christian Church How inconsistent is it with our spiritual Allegiance to reject the offers of his Love and trample under foot his most solemn Commands This is treachery and perfidiousness in the highest degree 2. CONSIDER the circumstances of his Love wherewith this Institution was appointed He lived with his Disciples for a considerable time in the full exercise of Patience Meekness and Humility He gave them an Example that they should follow his steps He train'd them up by his Sermons and by his Miracles in the discipline and knowledg of his Kingdom and Scepter He frequently to their own conviction baffled the contradictions of the Jews and endeavour'd to remove their prejudices by all the Methods that the highest Wisdom and Goodness thought proper for their cure He proved himself to be the true Messias by many infallible Signs and now at last when he had run out the course of his publick Ministry and solemnized the last Passeover and was ready to offer himself a publick Propitiatory Sacrifice for the sins of the World he appointed this Sacrament as the highest the last and the most solemn Seal and Pledge of his Love to the Church the Abstract and Memorial of all that he did upon Earth and of all that he taught and of all that he promised in the World to come the conveyance of those great and rich Blessings that are procured by his Death and Passion when we remember I say such a confluence of endearing circumstances how can we refuse our presence and obedience How strong are the Charms of his Love What heighth of Courage what degrees of Constancy were necessary to support him against the shock of so many Affronts and Indignities Who can read the History of his Passion and not see the inconceivable condescensions of God Who can view the progress of that Tragedy and not be astonished when we consider the incomprehensible Love of God that he who was God took upon him the form of a servant with no other design than to accomplish the work of our Redemption and that he drew the Map of his life and sufferings in this ravishing Ordinance that the Church might remember the glorious Adventures of his Love by this Eucharistical Sacrifice how monstrous is the ingratitude if we seem to neglect it IN that Night wherein he was betrayed how Emphatick and how full of Love are these words the fury of his Enemies the rage and malice of the Jews the treachery of one of his Disciples the faintness and weakness of all of them could not so divert his thoughts but that our greatest concerns were next his very heart and lest we should forget such glorious things he abridged the History of all the Gospel in this one plain Rite and Institution His Life and Doctrine and all the proofs of our Religion he sums up in one easie Ceremony so that this Sacrament is the Compend of all Religion the very Holy of Holies and the top of all Christian joy and comfort if we consider such circumstances so engaging in the first Institution of this Sacrament we cannot refuse our attendance if we break not thorough all the bonds of Piety and Humanity and renverse all the Laws of gratitude and good nature 3. WE may easily discern our Obligation to it from the practice of the first Christians and the value put upon it by the whole Church The Apostles and their Successors for the first three hundred years were very frequent in the celebration of this Sacrament it was a part of their daily Worship when the devotion of the Christian Church was vigorous and servent they could not live without the daily commemoration of the Love of Jesus This Sacrament was the most substantial and highest Cordial that he left for the support of the Church until his second coming again therefore the Christians of all Ages looked upon it with so much veneration and regard that as they judged themselves obliged to come unto it so they approached it with the strictest preparations with all the solemnities and care of Fasting Prayer and Humility The universal deluge of Atheism and prophanity that overflows the whole Island in which we live is much to be imputed to the contempt and neglect ot this Sacrament 4. WE are obliged to this Attendance because it is the peculiar Character of Christianity the badge of our Religion and the livery of the Crucified Jesus The Rites of all Religions had something in them to distinguish both the Deity that was worshipped and the Votary from all others The whole System of the Levitical Oeconomy was but a distinction of the Jews from all other Nations and all the Rites of that ancient Law were either opposite to the Zabian Customs or directly tended to preserve them from Idolatry The Pagan Sacrifices every where had some one significant Ceremony or other by which they were distinguish'd from the Worship of other Idols and the Christians by this Mystery are separated from the rest of Mankind who are without the houshold of Faith This Ordinance in the Church is the most solemn of all our Mysteries or rather the concatenation of all of them together it hath no foundation in nor directions from the light of Nature and therefore it derives its dignity and obligation from the pure Institution of our Lord and Saviour Hence it is that when Men are guilty of sins against the Moral Law their Consciences do accuse them and the remembrance of their folly proves uneasie to them but they live in the wilful neglect of this Sacrament for many years and yet they are as quiet and undisturbed in their omissions as if they were the most innocent the reason is because natural Conscience prompts not to it it hath its original immediately from our Saviour's Authority and this consideration alone makes us inexcusable if we neglect it because by it we are distinguished from the rest of mankind it is so peculiar to our Religion that we seem to renounce it unless we shew the highest zeal for it and affection to it Do it said he in remembrance of me There is no Order of Men have any such Institution it is our Characteristick that wherein we triumph that wherewith we are reproach'd by the Pagans that whereby we express our love to our Blessed Saviour and avow our selves to be his Disciples in the face of all danger
and disgrace This very consideration should move us the rather since by it we express the purest love and affection to his immediate Worship and Obedience therefore St. Paul tells us that by this we shew forth the Lords death till he come i. e. we openly display it we are not at all ashamed of it we flee unto it in our greatest difficulties and at the hour of death as to our safest Sanctuary and Refuge This is the strong Tower that defends us from the wrath of God the accusations of Devils and the remorse of our own Consciences We are in this Sacrament to shew forth the Lords death 1. To God as our Atonement 2. To Men as our Profession 3. To Devils as our strongest Refuge and Defiance 1. WE shew it forth unto God as our Atonement We come unto God the Father under the covert of his Mediation Having therefore such a high Priest we may come boldly unto the Throne of Grace a high Priest who is holy harmless and undefiled to whom all power in Heaven and in Earth is given who is now returned from the Grave victorious and by his Blood makes Intercession for us in the Holy of Holies he lives for ever at the right hand of God it is by this Blood and Sacrifice that we plead successfully for mercy and compassion This is the argument that God himself cannot resist if urg'd by Faith and Charity Our Saviour is the great favourite of Heaven and interposes in in all our necessities we lean on the Merit of his Sacrifice as on the surest Pillar of our hope and confidence and therefore we come unto God by him as by our Surety and our Advocate and if he gave us his Son how shall he not with him also give us all things we need 2. WE shew it forth unto Men we openly proclaim that we will not desert his Standard that we are not ashamed of Christ crucified that we are Disciples of the Cross in the strictest sense that we glory in it as our most honourable Character that we are resolved to Let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorifie our Father which is in heaven and not to deny him before Men either in our profession or in our practices for he that nameth the name of Jesus must depart from all iniquity 3. WE shew forth his Death and Sacrifice in open defiance of all the Powers of Hell Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us By the Death of Jesus our mouths are opened unto Songs of Triumph and Defiance and filled with joy and gladness the Devils may tremble unto fear and despair when they see us listed under the Standard of so great a Captain so famous a Warriour so stedfast and resolute a Friend who for us and for our Salvation came down from Heaven All their objections are silenced we have our feet upon a Rock and all the Armies of darkness cannot reach us the Legions of Hell may cloath themselves in their most terrible appearances and tell over all the sad stories of our miscarriages and aggravate them to the highest and declare how often we have sinned and in what instances we have provoked the Majesty of God against what Light what Reproofs what Illuminations and what checks of Conscience we have repelled how long we have neglected our repentance and how much we have abused his Patience against all these formidable accusations the Christian hath one solid answer and that is the Death of Jesus and his triumphant Resurrection from the dead 5. OUR Obligation doth appear from the efficacy and excellency of this very Sacrament It is the great Antidote against the frailties of our Nature the frequent assaults of Temptation and the wiles and stratagems of the Devil There is nothing discourages our Adversaries more than when we resolutely prepare our selves to receive the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper It is the most sovereign Remedy against our most habitual Vices our most inveterate Prejudices our most stubborn evil Habits It is the most significant and sensible representation of the Death and Passion of our Lord and Saviour and therefore all the Graces of the Spirit do meet in their vigour and exaltation at this Sacrament This made some of the Ancients admit such as had fallen in the time of Persecution sooner to the peace and Communion of the Church than their ordinary discipline did allow because there was a Persecution shortly to follow therefore it was not thought fit to leave so many destitute of so strong a Cordial in time of danger but were the rather admitted to this highest act of Communion that they might be strengthened against the next Encounter of the Enemy When we remember how soon our highest zeal grows remiss our Devotion cold and flat our Purposes wavering our evil Habits grow strong and our Enemy gains ground of us and the Spirit of God begins to withdraw from us and we cannot tell how soon we may be judicially hardened against the most effectual Remedies of the Gospel How great need have we then of such a strong Remedy against our faintness and weariness to settle and confirm our resolutions to blow up our zeal into a bright and unquenchable flame to make us one with Christ to make us live no more the life of Nature but the life of the Faith of the Son of God 6. OUR Obligation to frequent this Sacrament doth appear from the nature of the Mystery it self for it resembles in its spiritual tendencies and design the Feast upon the remainders of the Sacrifice by which Feast the Votaries did solemnly resign themselves to the service and worship of that Deity of whose Sacrifices they did eat It is upon this ground that the Apostle proves the unlawfulness of Christians going to the Idol-feasts upon the invitation of their Pagan Friends for by just interpretation suchs as frequented the Idol-feasts were by the solemnities of their Worship oblig'd to adhere to the service of that Idol since they were partakers of the Altar of Idols they had the most solemn fellowship with Devils and therefore the Apostle concludes that they could not be partakers of the Lords table and of the table of Devils When we come to this Sacrament we are in the strictest league and union with Jesus Christ and consequently we proclaim to the World that we are entirely his that we not only renounce all idolatrous Worship but that we adhere to his service and obedience with greater zeal and fidelity 7. And lastly OUR Obligations do appear from the vanity and impertinence of those Excuses that are ordinarily pretended to divert Men from this Ordinance And 1. LET us consider their Excuses from their business and incumbrances as if their worldly Affairs might engross their whole time This
believe in him Thirdly The Interest that we have in his purchase by our adherence to him and dependence on him He that believes on me though he were dead yet shall he live First THAT our Saviour did raise himself from the dead is certain else our Religion is but a fable and a lying vanity It is S. Paul's own Inference to the Corinthians If Christ be not risen then our faith is in vain and we are yet in our sins And so our Saviour tells the Disciples that Christ must needs suffer and rise from the dead the third day The Spirit of Prophecy did enlighten the Jewish Church and foretold the success glories and triumphs of the Messias He shall drink of the brook in the way therefore shall he lift his head And Isa 53.10 That when he made his Soul an offering for sin he should prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand That because he had poured out his Soul unto death God would divide him a portion with the Great and he should divide the Spoils with the strong All those Predictions have the Resurrection of our Saviour in their bosom and without it they are nothing When he was declared to be the Son of God by the Resurrection from the dead the suspicions concerning his Person were remov'd he appear'd then to be the Christ of God the Lord of all things the Judge of the world And his mean equipage bitter pains and shameful disgraces did but heighten and inflame the Zeal and Devotion of Jew and Gentile How mysterious was the stratagem of his Love to hide the Glories of his Divinity to obscure the brightness of his Majesty by the interposal of human Nature to cloath himself with our flesh that he might die that through death he might overcome him that had the power of death and by his omnipotence raise himself from death and the grave For though he was Crucified through weakness yet he liveth by the power of God He was put to death as a notorious Malefactor exposed to the reproach and contempt of all Nations treated as an Enemy to God and to true Religion his adversaries insulted over him as one stricken smitten of God But when it appear'd that he was the mighty Favorite of Heaven by his Resurrection from the Dead how did this confute their Reasoning How did it baffle their Accusations How did it upbraid their Ignorance and scatter their vain Surmises and aggravate their incurable Malice Since he must needs be acknowledged to be the Messias in defiance of all spite and contradiction The stone which the builders refus'd became the head-corner-stone of the building Being found in fashion as a man be humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every Tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father Now the human Nature is rais'd above the Angelical in the Person of our Saviour And the hosts of heaven fall down before him that was dead and is alive and dies no more and every creature which is in heaven and in earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea say with a loud voice Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessings The very thought of it delivers us from all our fears as the value and merit from our offences This is the Triumphant Song of the Christian Church the strong Tower we flie to in all our straits and difficulties the immovable Author of our Faith Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us The meditation of it is the strongest inducement to a holy life for he was rais'd to bless us in turning every one of us from our iniquities For as he was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father Even so we also should walk in newness of life And if you be present with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God Do we worship him that is risen from the dead and brake thorow the Iron barrs of death and yet remain captive our selves under the tyranny and bondage of our sins Let it appear by our heavenly Conversation that we are acted by a Spirit superior to the World that we are born of God that he that is in us is stronger than he that is in the world for 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 Do we believe that our Saviour is victorious over Death and the Grave and yet shall we remain slaves to our Lusts and Passions Let the contrary appear that we are united to him in the closest manner encouraged by his Promises and enliven'd by his Spirit Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise think on these things And this is the most proper method to prove to the World the Resurrection of our Saviour and the divinity of our Religion and this was the Argument that the first Christians made frequently use of to confound their Adversaries For how can we be made partakers of the Divine Nature but by the Divine Power Shall we live a Life more pure and heavenly than the rest of Mankind if we are not inspir'd with a Spirit not only opposite to but above the maxims principles and genius of the World Shall the Scythians Persians and Romans forsake their fierceness lasciviousness and pride and become calm and chast and humble if they have no other rule to direct them than the glimmerings of Nature and weak essays of Philosophy Is it possible that we can overcome the Inclinations of Nature Lust Passion and Revenge but by a Spirit higher than Nature Can evil Habits be so soon removed Or can the Ethiopian change his Skin If we are then changed from what we were to the true use of our Reason and the acknowledgments of the Deity and the practice of all Vertue To what cause can this change be imputed but to the Divine Spirit of Jesus whose powerful intercecession prevails to Redeem us from under the dominion of all Error Darkness and Prejudice Do we then believe in Christ risen from the dead Let us live no more to sin but unto him that died for us and