the great Propitiatory Sacrifice depended upon its being presented by the High Priest in the Holy of Holies the place where God was pleased to Promise his immediate Presence How much more Efficacious then must be conceived to be the Intercession of our High Priest who not once a year but continually not with the Blood of Bulls or Goats but with his own Blood not in an Earthly Tabernacle but in the highest Heaven maketh Intercession for us If the Mediation of the Jewish High Priest could avert temporal Punishments due to the Sins of the People much more will the Mediation of our High Priest free Mankind from eternal Punishments If their Priest being cloathed with the same Nature could more sensibly commiserate the Unhappiness of his People our's for the same Purpose took our Nature on him But whereas their Priest was subject to the Guilt of the same Sins for which he interceded our's knew no Sin their 's was admitted no farther than to the Symbols of God's Presence to the Cherubims and the Mercy Seat our's to the very Throne of his Majesty where he continually pleadeth his Sufferings on our behalf diffuseth his Graces to us and prepareth Mansions for us Lastly if we consider Christ as the great exemplar of humane Life his Ascension will upon that Account also be of great use to us teaching us with him to exalt our Affections to withdraw them from the Earth and to place them in Heaven This Inference the Apostle draweth from his Resurrection and Ascension Colos. III. 1. If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Christ died to the World to instruct us that we ought to mortifie our worldly Lusts to restrain and subdue to Reason the use of Carnal Pleasures He left the World and Ascended into Heaven to teach us that there our Affections ought principally to be fixed that there our chief Interest is placed and there only perfect Happiness to be expected Could the Pleasures the Power and the Prosperity of this World have given the most complete Happiness our Lord who deserved it by the most complete Obedience which was ever paid who was more dear to God than all the Sons of Men who was himself heir of all things and Lord of all would have fixed his abode here and not removed it into Heaven But when immediately after his Exaltation as soon as he began to receive the Reward of his Obedience and Sufferings he forsook the Earth and returned unto the Bosom of his Father he hath thereby instructed us that in vain is true Felicity to be sought here below that this World can afford no adequate recompence for Vertue and Piety that we are indeed but Strangers and Pilgrims upon the Earth and that as many as pursue the end of their Creation and study to be truly Happy ought to seek a better Countrey even that into which Christ the forerunner is entred for us that so where he is there we may be also receive the same Reward and be Crowned with the same Happiness that so as we have imitated his Ascension we may share in his Glory Which God of his infinite Mercy Grant The Twentieth SERMON Preach'd on July 13th 1690 At LAMBETH CHAPEL Matth. V. 16. Let your light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven THESE words are part of our Lord's Sermon upon the Mount which was directed to a mixed multitude of Auditors and treats altogether of universal Duties incumbent upon all who receive the Doctrine and acknowledge the Authority of him who spoke it Upon which Account we have just reason to reject the Opinion of those who would restrain to the Apostles only and their Successors the Preachers of the Gospel the Duty prescribed in this and the three foregoing Verses which requireth the Professors of Christianity not to confine the exercise of their Duty to their single Breasts or rest satisfied in having discharged the Office of Piety in secret but to perform such eminent Acts of Devotion Temperance and Charity and so to direct them as may promote the Glory of God and Instruction of Men. The whole preceding part of this Sermon was directed to all Christians in General delivering the Promise of those Beatitudes in which all the Disciples of Christ are equally concerned What follows treats concerning the general Laws of Justice Temperance and Charity so that with no good Reason can these intermediate Verses be restrained to the Apostles only If they are here called the Salt of the Earth Verse 13. our Lord addressed himself in the same words to great multitudes as we read Luk. XIV 25. If they are stiled the light of the World in the 14th Verse St Paul applieth the same Expression to the Philipians II. 15. exhorting them to be without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation shining among them as Lights in the World It must be acknowledged indeed that the Apostles were and their Successors in the ministerial Office ought to be more eminently the Salt and Light of the World purging away the Corruptions removing the darkness of Mankind by Example and Instruction To effect this by their Doctrine is peculiar to them not common to other Christians to promote it by their Example is a Duty common to them with all other Christians It is my present Purpose to treat of it as an universal Duty to which my Text directs me by placing the Light of this Exemplariness which is commanded not in verbal Instructions but in good Works which are acknowledged to be the Duty of all Christians Of this then I will Discourse under these four Heads I. The Duty imposed such an exemplary Conduct as may become a Light of the World II. The manner of being thus Exemplary by good Works III. The end to which it ought to be directed the Glory of God IV. The good Effects of it the Instruction of Men and Promotion of the same good Works in others I. Concerning the Duty which is that of an illustrious Example to the practice of which our Lord hath directed us both by his Laws and by his own Example He stiles himself and truly was the Light of the World he was foretold under the Figure of the Sun of righteousness who should enlighten the World with his Doctrines and demonstrate the Possibility of performing them by his own Example His Precepts chiefly concern Moral Duties which he restored first to their Primitive Notions and Purity and then urged the Practice of them upon his Followers in a more strict manner than had ever before been done What before was esteemed an attempt fit only for great and noble Minds he made the Duty of all the Members of Mankind what others thought a sufficient Glory to practise singly to excell in this or that single Vertue he required to be performed conjunctly without the Omission of any thing which is
HENRY WHARTON A.M. ONE and TWENTY SERMONS Preach'd in LAMBETH CHAPEL BEFORE The most Reverend Father in God Dr. WILLIAM SANCROFT late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury In the Years MDCLXXXIX MDCXC By the Learned HENRY WHARTON M. A. Chaplain to His Grace Being the Second and Last VOLUME LONDON Printed for â—i Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church Yard MDCXCVIII THE CONTENTS SERMON I. JOhn XVI 8. And when he the Comforter is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment Pag. 1 SERMON II. 1 Cor. II. 11. The things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God p. 25 SERMON III. Esther V. 13. Yet all this availeth me nothing p. 51 SERMON IV. Job XXXVII 23 24. Touching the Almighty we cannot find him out He is excellent in power and in judgment and in plenty of justice he will not afflict Men do therefore fear him p. 76 SERMON V. Rom. XII 3. For I say unto you through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think p. 99 SERMON VI and VII 1 Pet. V. 8 9. Your Adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour Whom resist stedfast in the Faith p. 124 150 SERMON VIII S. Mark VIII 36. For what shall it profit Man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own Soul p. 181 SERMON IX S. Luk. XVI 31. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead p. 220 SERMON X. S. John VIII 12. I am the Light of the world He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the Light of Life p. 243 SERMON XI 1 Pet. IV. 18. And if the Righteous sourcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the Sinner appear p. 266 SERMON XII Matth. XI 30. For my Yoke is easie and my Burthen is light p. 291 SERMON XIII Rom. XII 19. Dearly beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath For it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. p. 318 SERMON XIV Acts X. 24. Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it p. 352 SERMON XV XVI XVII 1 Tim. II. 8. I will therefore that Men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting p. 380 411 431 SERMON XVIII Acts X. 40 41. Him God raised up the third day and shewed him openly Not to all the People but to Witnesses chosen before of God p. 466 SERMON XIX Mark XVI 19. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right of God p. 494 SERMON XX. Matth. V. 16. Let your light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorify your Father which is Heaven p. 521 SERMON XXI Luk. II. 14. Glory to God in the highest and on Earth Peace Good-will towards Men. p. 567 The First SERMON ON WHIT SUNDAY 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL John XVI 8. And when he the Comforter is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment THE Mission of the Holy Ghost which we this day commemorate was the Final Confirmation and Completion of the Christian Religion which perfected the Mystery of the Redemption of Mankind and at the same time set the last Seal to the truth of it Our Saviour had indeed long before gathered a Select number of faithful Apostles and Disciples but can scarce be said to have founded a Church till he poured out the Holy Ghost upon them Till then their Notions of the intention of Christ's coming into the World were dark and obscure their apprehensions of the Nature and Constitution of the Kingdom to be founded by him false and frivolous and as they certainly knew not what form of Faith to profess so they dared not profess it openly Their religious Meetings were yet in secret and no Attempts yet made to form a Church by Conversion of Jews and Gentiles Their thoughts were not so much fixed upon the remembrance of what their Master had done and suffered as upon the Expectation of somewhat more to be done by him that is upon the hopes of the Comforter which he promised to them They wanted yet those Perfections of mind which might qualifie them for the Execution of their designed Office that Zeal and Charity which might animate and direct all the Members of the Church that Knowledge and Understanding which might fit them for Pastors and Teachers in the absence of their Master All these Advantages were abundantly conferr'd these Necessities supplied by the sending of the Holy Ghost as upon this day Then they received internal light a full understanding of the Mysteries of the Messias a clear Knowledge of all that had been delivered to them then they obtained Abilities to execute the Office of Preaching to which they were designed and Courage to undertake it Then they began as to possess an assured and rational Belief of Christ so to profess and declare their Belief in him So that the Reception of the Holy Ghost was to them what Baptism is to us an entrance into the Church of Christ according to what our Saviour had foretold to them after his Resurrection Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence These were the Advantages conferred upon the Faithful by the coming of the Holy Ghost but these were not all The chief design of his coming was to lay the Foundations of propagating the Belief of Christ through the whole World and to offer the benefits of his Death and Passion to all the Members of Mankind to assert the Divinity of Christ to manifest the truth of his Doctrine to vindicate the Honour of God to convince the World of their Obligation to believe in him and to confound the opposition of his Adversaries To this grand Design the aforementioned Gifts bestowed upon the Apostles were subservient being such as enabled them to Preach the Word and confirm the Truth of it to all Nations under Heaven The Publication of the Gospel had hitherto been reserved shut up in dark Speeches and Parabolical Expressions confined to an Hundred and twenty Disciples which we read to have been the number of them in the First of the Acts. But from this day it was to be set in a clear Light communicated to all without obscurity or reserve and propagated to all parts of the habitable World The Person of our Saviour Christ had hitherto appeared mean and contemptible no Signs or Tokens of his glorious Kingdom were yet to be found but now he was to be rescued from that Imputation by visible and undeniable Effects of Divine Power his Kingdom was to commence in the hearts of Men and become Glorious both from the Number and Piety of his Followers The Jews had
and never taking possession of them Secondly by the Fruition of temporal Pleasures no provision is made for the Happiness of the Soul the far nobler part of Man which ought therefore to be satisfied in the first place The want of real Happiness in the Soul may for a time be stifled by powerful impressions of Sense but when those Motions cease the Soul cannot but be conscious of and bewail the want of true Happiness To obtain this a Happiness agreeable to her Nature which is spiritual and to her Duration which is immortal must befound out This can never be placed in sensual Enjoyments which expire with the perception of Sense and while continuing affect not the Soul unless with weariness in attending the violent motions of Sense It is the reflex thoughts of the Soul alone which render it Happy when it can reflect upon its own State without Remorse or Sorrow when it can view all its past Actions and present Condition with a sweet Complacency when it considers it self united to God by executing his Commands and by a similitude of Holiness None of all these Conditions can be found in temporal Enjoyments For what satisfaction is it to a Man after the Enjoyment is passed to have gratified this or that Sense Do we applaud our good Fortune for having once enjoyed a Pleasure the Sense of which is long since expired Or shall we receive any Comfort after Death in the remembrance of having possessed Riches and Pleasures when alive And all this although our use of those Pleasures and Riches were moderate and lawful whereas if it was immoderate the stings and remorse of Conscience will perpetually afflict the Soul when reflecting on it And in that State it cannot but reflect continually when it shall not be diverted by rapid Motions of the Body drowned by Sleep or stupified by Sense when the sole Object of her thoughts will be her past Behaviour and the consequences of it her present Condition From this Consideration it will manifestly appear how much more conducing Piety and Vertue are to solid Happiness than temporal Prosperity even altho no Rewards or Punishments should attend the Soul in another Life For altho' Heaven and Earth should conspire together to render any Man externally Happy in this World let an uninterrupted Possession of Riches and Pleasure of Health and Vigour of Honour and Power be bestowed on him No one Act of Pleasure none of all these Blessings will be of advantage to him after the Cessation of the actual Enjoyment of them Whereas the Satisfaction and Happiness arising from the Exercise of Piety Justice and Charity will continue to all Ages The same Complacency which the Soul received when it first exerted any one of these Actions the same it shall receive for ever as often as Reflection shall be made upon it nay much greater after Death when all the Faculties of the Soul will be enlarged and that which is now a simple Act of Complacency will then be advanced into an Extasie of Joy Thirdly Altho' Haman when he spoke these words had no Apprehension of being actually deprived of his Riches and Greatness yet could not he nor any other in the like condition deny but that the Deprivation and loss of all their temporal Advantages is at least possible The knowledge of this possibility alone defeats all the Pleasure which may arise from the Fruition of temporal Happiness at least suffers it not to become such as may satisfie the Soul of Man For all must acknowledge in the midst of their Enjoyments that they want at least this satisfaction to compleat their Happiness the assurance of the continuance of it The Possessors of it are continually distracted with Fears of losing it with Cares of preserving it and that very solicitude proclaims the imperfection of their Happiness This Consideration might abundantly convince Mankind that true Felicity consists not in the Pleasures of Sense or secular Enjoyments For can we believe that God hath proposed such a supreme end to Man as the greatest part of Men shall never be able to obtain such as is placed beyond their Power not possible to be attained by them All other parts of the Creation infallibly fulfil their end and shall Man alone be rendred incapable to arrive at that end which God and Nature proposed to him Or shall such an Happiness be assigned to him which a Sickness may defeat the Malice of an Enemy may ruin a petty Accident may overthrow Let us not entertain such mean Conceptions of our own Nature If worldly Men will pretend to know no other Happiness than what ariseth from Sense they must at least Confess the imperfection of their Happiness from the possibility of Deprivation And what is possible in this cannot but be always feared by them since they have no hope left beyond it Lastly Let the continuance of their present Happiness be assured to them yet can it never be hoped but little Crosses will intervene that all their Passions will not always be gratified and then even the least Cross or the Disappointment of any single Passion will be sufficient to interrupt their whole satisfaction and spoil their Pleasure Haman enjoyed all which his Sense or most extravagant Lusts could crave and had reason to hope the continuance of it yet a petty Affront put upon him by Mordecai afflicted him beyond measure took away the satisfaction of his Riches and Honour and forced him amidst them all to conclude himself unhappy Temporal Felicity depends upon a complication of so many Causes that it never can arrive at Perfection since it is impossible that some of those Causes should not miscarry and the miscarriage of any one will render the Operation of all the rest ineffectual It will not in that case be sufficient to compensate for the loss of one by the possession of all other temporal Advantages rather Man will conclude himself more unhappy in the absence of that than in the Presence of all these Nay the greater share he obtains of other Benefits of fortune the more he will afflict himself for the want of what he in vain Desires since the concurrence of so many Gifts of fortune most frequently produces a Haughtiness of mind which flatters it self with a fond Opinion of its own worth and Greatness and cannot bear the least Disappointment If then Men devoted to the Pleasures of this World have concluded themselves unhappy amidst the affluence of all worldly Enjoyments if temporal Felicity be unable to satisfie the Desires of the Soul to fill its Capacities or perfect its Nature if it be attended with perpetual Cares and Distractions if often impossible to be obtained by us and always possible to be taken from us if it may be defeated by petty Accidents and Crosses and that such should happen cannot be avoided If for these Reasons and many others which we cannot now insist upon they are unable to render any Man truly happy what remains but that
to the infinite perfection of his Nature Adoration then consists as well in acknowledging and reverencing the Perfections of the Divine Nature absolutely considered as in professing our Subjection to God considered as the Author of our Being and all those Benefits which we either do already enjoy or hope hereafter to receive In both these Respects Prayer is the most natural and significant manner of Adoration For by it we profess our Wants of which we desire relief We thereby confess our selves finite and imperfect Creatures We proclaim our selves the Dependants of God from whom we beg the Supply of our Wants we confess our Belief of his All-sufficiency from whom we expect the relief of all our Necessities of his infinite Goodness whence we raise our Hopes that he will grant our Petitions of his Almighty Power by which we are assured that he can effect our Desires All these Acknowledgments are necessarily included in all Petitions for supply of Wants which are the most ordinary subject of Prayer For he who addresseth himself to another for the relief of any Wants therein confesseth there is somewhat wanting to his own Perfection that the Person to whom he maketh this Address is not only in being for otherwise all address to him would be frivolous but also able to relieve him If in all Cases and Wants he betakes himself to that Remedy he plainly supposeth that Being from whence he hopeth relief to be All-sufficient and the Fountain of all Good In Confessions of sin and Supplications of pardon which among Persons especially professing revealed Religions are wont to constitute no small part of Prayer the Power and Government of God and the subjection of Man to him is more eminently acknowledged For from whence can this Confession and intreaty of Pardon proceed but from a Sense that every sin is a violation of that Subjection which is due to God that the Sinner is hereby subject to the execution of the Divine Revenge and that it will certainly follow unless it be averted by obtaining of Pardon Further it supposeth God to be indued with infinite Goodness and Mercy otherwise all such Intreaties would be but vain since it can be no less than an infinite Mercy which can Pardon an offence against an infinite Majesty In both Cases and in all other Forms of Prayer Man owneth himself to be the Creature and Dependant of God even by making Application to him But that which chiefly manifests that Conviction which all Supplicants have of the Majesty and infinity of God is that they direct their Prayers to him altho' invisible and with the same assurance of being heard in all places Whence they evidently declare that they believe God to be Omnipresent and to know all things And since the natural reason of Men tells them that none but God possesses those Perfections they thereby testifie their belief that he to whom they direct their Prayers is no other than God that he is endued with all possible Perfections that he is the supreme Lord of all and extendeth the influences and efficacy of his Attributes such as Power Knowledge Goodness and the like to all places at the same time that is that he is Omnipresent And this alone if nothing else were to be considered will make all manner of Prayer to be a true and proper Act of Adoration such as is due to none but God nor can be paid to any Being without supposing it to possess truly the Divine Attributes that is without supposing it to be truly God For it is unreasonable to imagine that any Man directing his Prayers to any Being should not believe at the same time that he is heard by it nor do any pretend to it They who address their Prayers to Saints and Angels acknowledge themselves to believe that they are heard by them Which since it cannot be without beleiving at the same time that they know all things and are present in all places Attributes peculiar to God alone it cannot be avoided but that in praying to them they must be supposed to own them to be so many Gods and every Petition is a true and proper Act of Divine Adoration given to them Justly therefore doth the Psalmist say Thou that hearest the Prayers unto thee shall all flesh come Thou only O God hearest the Prayers of Men therefore to thee only shall they direct their Prayers Thus Prayer in the very Nature of it is an Act of Adoration and an Acknowledgment of the infinite Perfections of God and our dependance on him altho' no such explicit Acknowledgment be made in it This will be more evident if we consider the general Form of Prayers received in all Ages and in all Religions Not only in the Christian Religion and in those excellent Forms of Prayer of which the Liturgy of our Church is composed but among all Nations among the Jews and Heathens Men have been wont in the beginning of their Prayers at least in some part of them to confess the Authority of God and their own Subjection to him and more especially to magnifie those Attributes the benefit of which they then implored If they desired Pardon they magnified the Greatness of his Mercy and the guilt of their own Sins committed in contempt of his Authority If they begged extraordinary Relief and Assistance in any Emergencies they declared their Opinion of his unlimited Power and Goodness if in general any Favours they confessed at the same time their dependance on him Nor is it easie to find either in the Old Testament or in the Writings of Heathens in both which a great number of Prayers is to be found any wherein such express words of Adoration are omitted The first formal Prayer which we find in the Old Testament is that of Abraham in Gen. XVIII for the Deliverance of Sodom from the Destruction intended by God And therein the Supplicant doth more than once acknowledge his own unworthiness and the Power and Justice of God that himself was but dust and ashes that God was the Judge of the whole earth and could not Act any otherwise than justly The Prayers of the Heathens generally began with what in our Language is O Almighty God and O most merciful God And that most excellent Form of Prayer which our Lord gave his Disciples and intended as well for a Pattern as for a Form to us both beginneth and endeth with an express Adoration of God In the beginning we confess him to be our Father the Author of our Life and Fountain of our Happiness that he dwells in the highest Heavens and from thence doth govern the Earth In the end we profess that to him belongeth the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever that he is the supreme Governor of the World and of all Mankind that he possesses infinite Power that Glory belongeth to him and ought to be rendred to him that all these Perfections are eternal in him Further if every Supplicant to God doth
more having more largely treated of it in my Discourse upon Easter-day which I will not repeat The Nineteenth SERMON Preach'd on June 1st 1690. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Mark XVI 19. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right hand of God WE lately celebrated the Memory of the Ascension of our Lord and the Offices of our Church direct us to employ our thoughts upon it in this intermediate time between that and Whitsunday To do this we are not only induced by that near Relation which it bears to Christ who by it took his last Farewel of his Disciples and entred upon the Possession of his Kingdom but also by those eminent Benefits which the whole Church received from it the Gift of the Holy Ghost the Confirmation of Faith and the increase of Hope In Discoursing of it I will confine my self to these three Considerations I. The necessity and convenience of the Ascension of Christ. II. The Truth of it III. The Advantages and Benefits which we receive by it I. That it was necessary our Lord should leave the Earth and ascend into Heaven himself often declared and in Joh. XVI 7. gives the Primary Reason of it Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is convenient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you The Mission of the Comforter that is the Holy Ghost was absolutely necessary and the necessity of it confessed by the Disciples of Christ yet could not this be effected untill Christ should ascend into Heaven It was convenient for the Apostles that the Comforter should be sent as by whom they received a most invincible Confirmation of their Faith and their Hopes What greater Consolation can be imagined to Disciples afflicted for the Departure of their beloved Lord than to receive such an infallible Assurance of his Being placed in Power and Glory in Heaven as did arise from the eminent Operations of Divine Power brought down by the Holy Ghost at his Intercession What stronger Confirmation of their Faith could they receive than that the Promises of their Master concerning a Comforter were effected which demonstrated the Truth of all he had said the actual Possession of that Glory which was vailed in the Infirmities of his humane Nature while he conversed upon Earth and the Prevalency of his Intercession with God the Father in their behalf What more could be desired to assure them of the continuance of their Masters Love after his Departure or to enable them successfully to discharge that Office of converting an unbelieving World which was imposed on them than that such Gifts should be conferred on them as were never before vouchsafed unto Mankind the knowledge of all Tongues the Faculty of speaking Eloquently and Boldly and the Power of working Miracles All these Reasons made it convenient and desirable to the Apostles that the Comforter should be sent unto them To the whole Church this was much more necessary which without that Mission could never have had Existence being founded and maintained by those Divine Gifts and Influences which were derived from thence Yet neither could the Apostles nor the Church have been Blessed with this so necessary so often Promised and so much to be desired Mission of the Holy Ghost had not our Lord first ascended into Heaven and there by his Power and Intercession have procured it The Comforter as he was to be the Advocate the Deputy to plead the Cause of Christ on Earth could not naturally take place but in his Absence and the very Mission of him as it was an Act of Regal Power could not be administred by Christ until he had taken Possession of his Kingdom which commenced at his Ascension into Heaven Nor is this the only Reason which made it convenient for the Church that our Lord should remove his visible Presence from us but the Possibility at least the increase of Man's Reward did depend upon it The Design of the coming of the Messias so long expected was known and confessed to be to restore the lost Happiness of Mankind to redeem them from their former Misery and to advance them to a State of Glory In prosecution of this Design if we consider either the Wisdom of God or the Nature of Man it could not but be expected that this Happiness should be affixed to certain Rules consequent to certain Conditions to be performed by Man not indifferently bestowed on all nor yet on any without Respect to their peculiar Merits The Application of it was to be directed and determined according to the right use of Reason and Free-will in every Man The whole of this consists in Obedience to the Laws of God and one great Branch of it in assenting to his Authority and believing all his Revelations And as an Assent to all the Revelations of God made at all times was the Duty of Man so more especially an Assent to those last and most considerable Revelations made by his own Son incarnate was required of Man and was farther intended to qualifie him for the Reception of that super-natural Happiness which was by him to be conveyed unto the World Since no greater Evidence of a right use of Reason and Veneration of the Divine Majesty could be offered than to inquire after to Assent to and obey the Revelations communicated by him It would be tedious and unnecessary to repeat those great Commendations of this eminent Act of right Reason call'd Faith and those many Promises of Reward annexed to it which may be found in the Scripture But from the whole it appeareth that this was to be the principal Condition of the Justification and therein of the Happiness of Man That this Act therefore might be the more Illustrious and might be Crowned with a more noble Reward it was convenient that Christ should withdraw his visible Presence from the World and therein give way to the Operation of Faith which is the Evidence of things not seen Had Christ continued for ever upon Earth in that glorious Majesty which was to take place after his Resurrection had he presented to the Senses of every Man sensible Demonstrations of his Divine Power in that Case to have believed on him would have been no more praise worthy no more meritorious than to assent to the ordinary Reports of Sense Who ever pretended to have acquired Merit by believing an Axiom of Mathematical Demonstrations Or who ever thought it an Argument of a true and just â—anagement of the Will and Understanding to believe that one Colour differeth from another or that the Sun doth shine These things strike our Senses and force a Belief whether we will or no in this Case to offend while the Soul enjoys its Reason and the Body the Organs of Sense is not so much as possible To have believed the Divinity of Christ while the Sense of an illustrious
Salvation of Men which was to be procured thereby Those excellent Spirits are inclined by their own Goodness and Benignity to wish well to their Fellow-creatures to be concerned at their welfare and rejoyce in it Especially for those who are endued if not with equal yet with like Reason who possess Souls of the same spiritual Nature and alike immortal By these if by any means the number of the heavenly Host formerly diminished by the fall of Lucifer and his Associates was to be repaired All which would not permit them to be unconcerned in the Felicity of Mankind and that although the Divine Dispoposition had not obliged them to have a peculiar regard of it But when by the Order of God They are all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation as we read Hebr. I. 14. there was abundant Reason for this their Exultation since without the Incarnation of Christ their Labour had been wholly vain and the condition of Man not capable of relief But after they saw this at once made both possible and easie in a Rapture of Joy they broke forth into this Hymn of Praise For if there be joy among the Angels of Heaven over one Sinner that repenteth and is saved How much more when the whole Mass of Mankind was redeemed and made capable of Salvation Even the Angels themselves altho' not in the same Degree with Mankind received signal Benefits from the Manifestation of this Mystery And therefore had reason to rejoyce upon the Completion of it Their Happiness consists in contemplating and praising the Nature the Attributes and the Effects of God Their knowledge of all these things is Finite as is their Nature and therefore every addition of Knowledge is an encrease of Happiness and the Manifestation of this great Mystery of Heaven was the greatest Benefit which in their State they could receive Of the Mysteries of the Gospel St. Peter saith 1 Pet. I. 12. that the Angels desired to look into them and that before this they were ignorant of it appears from those words of Christ Matth. XXIV 36. But of that day and hour knoweth no Man no not the Angels of Heaven but my Father only When therefore the Son of God took Flesh upon him and thereby began to complete the wonderful Mystery of Man's Salvation Then clearly appeared to these Blessed Spirits what was before obscure to them the Reasons of the Divine Conduct in relation to Man in all preceding Ages the Mysterious Secrets of his Providence the Signification of Prophesies which went before the purport of the Divine Decrees concerning the future State of other rational Beings This new Knowledge administred to them fresh Reasons of admiring the Goodness and the Wisdom of God and thereby increased their Happiness Thus we find the Angels moved by great Reasons to joyn in the Solemnity of this Day But why they chose to do it audibly so as to be heard of the Shepherds as St. Luke relateth we are still to enquire That Angel which was peculiarly designed to this Office had newly finished his Message of the Birth of Christ and that Happiness which would thence ensue to all Mankind when immediately a multitude of the heavenly Host was present with him and sang this Hymn This without doubt was to convince those who heard it and others who should know by their Relation of the Greatness and importance of the Message of the Excellency of the Benefits to be derived to the World from the Incarnation of Christ of the Dignity of his Person whose Birth was celebrated by the whole Host of Heaven that he could be no other than the Son of God on whom the Angels so attended We find not that the entrance of any Prophet was ushered in by the Ministry of Angels On the other side we read not of the immediate Presence of God on Earth as on Mount Sina to Moses on Mount Horeb to Elias but it was still attended with some other visible Sign as in both those places by extraordinary Commotions in the Air which also represented the severity of the old Law And in this Mystery of the Incarnation of our Lord by which God descended upon Earth was made Flesh and dwelt among us we find it foretold by one Angel proclaimed by another and celebrated 〈◊〉 the whole Host of Heaven This declared his Majesty and was an evident Proof of the Divinity if not of his Person yet at least of his Mission Now least we should imagine our selves unconcerned in the Reasons of the Angels praising God upon this occasion and make no use of what hath been hitherto said I will shew that all those Reasons which might induce the Angels to break forth into this Hymn of Praise are common to Men and ought to be much more perswasive to them If the Angels were affected with the increase of Divine Glory wrought hereby And are not we obliged to magnifie the glorious Attributes of God and the several Emanations of them both as we are his Creatures and as we are endued with rational Souls If the Angels so far rejoyced in the Benefit and Salvation of others how much doth it become us to be thankful who reap the advantage upon whom the Benefit is bestowed If the Angels were glad to see the Salvation of Mankind accomplished much more surely should Men esteem themselves obliged who enjoy it So that upon all Accounts if the Angels had Reason Men have much more to celebrate the Incarnation of Christ with this Hymn Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth Peace Good-will towards Men. I will consider the several parts of this Hymn singly And first Glory to God in the Highest which is not so much a desire of what hath not as an Approbation of what hath happened towards the Exaltation of the Divine Glory The addition of in the Highest signifieth either in Heaven and so is opposed to what followeth Peace on Earth being a Completion of those Prophesies of Isaiah sing O Heaven and rejoyce O Earth for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob c. or more naturally it is 〈◊〉 rendred Glory to God in the higheâ—â—â—â—gree in which Sense this Phrase is â—ost frequently understood in Scripture as in Psal. XCIII 4. where the same Phrase is used in the Septuagint The Lord is mighty in the Highest that is mighty above all And surely with great Reason we are directed to give the highest Glory to God which can be conceived by reason of the Incarnation of his Son wherein the Perfection of his eternal Attributes is more conspicuous than in any other effect whatsoever and from whence he received the greatest Glory which was ever paid by Mankind to God To pursue this in particular Considerations The Love of God towards Mankind did never appear so eminently as in the completion of this Mystery Truly did St. John say 1 Joh. IV. 9. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent
without controul dared to reject his Doctrine vilifie his Person and put him to an ignominious Death but now they were to be convinced by uncontestable Proofs from Heaven that his Person was more than Humane his Doctrine Divine and themselves guilty of the most Enormous wickedness in crucifying the Lord of Life The Justice of God the Father had suffered Aspersions in not revenging the Sufferings and rewarding the Labours of his Son But now this was to be cleared and the Jews convinced that neither their Wickedness should pass unpunished nor his Merits unrewarded The Devil had triumphed in his supposed Conquest over Christ and his imagination of having baffled the Design of the Redemption of Mankind by procuring the Author of it to be put to Death but his arrogant Pretensions were henceforth to be checked his Hopes to be defeated his Empire to be dissolved All these Advantages were to flow from the Mission of the Holy Ghost and all these our Lord sums up and Promises in the words of my Text And when he is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment In which words we may enquire I. In what Sense all these Effects and Advantages are to be ascribed to the Mission of the Holy Ghost II. How far these promised Effects and Advantages of his Mission were performed As to the First the word reproving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is used in the Text in the Original is taken from judicial Proceedings and signifieth a Confutation of the adverse Party by such Proofs and Testimonies as by an impartial Judge should be allowed to be valid The Office therefore of the Holy Ghost was to be the Paraclet the Advocate of our Saviour upon Earth to plead his Cause to produce these Proofs to urge and propose them to the World There were indeed abundant Proofs before in the Nature of the thing but Proofs are not convictive till laid open declared and proposed This was the Office of the Holy Ghost in this he was to be the Advocate of our Saviour and this he performed by pouring extraordinary Gifts upon the Apostles as on this day which might enable them with Power and Eloquence with Courage and Success to propose those Proofs and convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment They were to be the Instruments of this Reproof this Conviction not only by their Gifts received and Labours performed as upon this day but by all their Miracles Sermons and Preaching performed in the whole Course of their Ministry All these Actions were equally directed to the same end the conviction of the World yet all in vertue of those Abilities which they received upon this day All their Gifts and Labours were solely owing to his power and derived from his Grant their Knowledge to his Inspiration their Courage and Constancy to his Support their Speaking to his Impulse their Miracles to his Power their Success to his Blessing So that all which they performed ought truly and properly to be ascribed to him All the Miracles Actions and Prophesies of their Lord before the Mission of the Holy Ghost all the Miracles and Labours of themselves after it were to contribute to the Conviction of the World but all the Efficacy the Application of this Conviction was to proceed solely from the Abilities conferred on them at the time of his Mission And thus the Holy Ghost continueth his Office of Advocate not only during the Apostles times but in all Ages of the Church since those Gifts which he then began to dispense to the Apostles he still continueth to diffuse to the Faithful and by the Efficacy of these Gifts it is that the Church is maintained the Faithful enlivened the Conviction continued He then convinced the World by the Preaching of the Apostles and he now convinceth it by the Preaching of their Successors acted with the same Spirit and by the reading of the Holy Scriptures written by them through his assistance and direction His Gifts indeed conferred on them were far more eminent because more necessary his Administration of the Church in their time more remarkable because manifesting the Completion of many particular Prophesies of our Saviour Upon which account the Promises of this Text were then more eminently fulfilled And that they were so I come next in Order to consider First then the Holy Ghost by his coming reproved or convinced the World of Sin because they believed not on Christ as it follows in the 9. Verse By the World we are here primarily to understand the Jews who notwithstanding all the mighty Signs and Miracles performed by Christ denied Assent to his Doctrine This disbelief of theirs before the Mission of the Holy Ghost our Saviour in many places seems to excuse and pardon and St. Pet. in the III. of the Acts V. 17. extenuates their crucifying the Lord of Life by their Ignorance Which Plea would have been but trifling had not their Ignorance in some measure been excusable but after the Mission of the Holy Spirit to stand out against those manifold Convictions that were then offer'd could be no other than an inexcusable Perverseness and Incredulity Of this we may assign two several Reasons First that although our Lord had in his own Person performed many and those stupendious Miracles yet these affected no other than the Spectators of them For while alive he never blazoned abroad his Miracles nor employed his Disciples in spreading the Report and testifying the Truth of them So that however many particular Persons who were Eye-witnesses of his Miracles could not but be abundantly convinced of his Divinity yet the universal Conviction of the whole Nation of the Jews was to be reserved to the Mission of the Holy Ghost When the Apostles were to be endued with Courage and Power from on high to proclaim his Actions and Doctrines to all Men and if need were to assert the Truth of them by other no less extraordinary Miracles Secondly the chief Note affixed by God whereby to judge of the Truth of any Prophet and particularly of the Messias was the Completion of his Prophesies Thus in Deut. XVIII when Moses assureth the Children of Israel That God should raise them up in the latter days a Prophet like unto himself whom they should be obliged to hear in all things he gives them this Token whereby to judge between the true and any false Messias If the Predictions of him who took upon him the Name and Character of the Messias did really come to pass then they should acknowledge him to be the true Messias The most eminent and almost only Predictions of our Lord which could serve as Signs of this nature to the Jews of that Age were the Mission of the Holy Ghost the Resurrection of himself after three days Imprisonment in the Grave and the Final destruction of Jerusalem before that Generation should pass away The first was happily accomplished upon this day when the Gifts of the Holy Ghost
were poured out upon the Apostles in so illustrious a manner as the Jews could not but take notice of the exact Completion of his Promise of sending the Comforter not many days after his Ascension in such a manner as drew the eyes of all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem both Jews and Strangers upon them and tended no less to demonstrate the Power than the Truth of Christ. The second Prediction indeed that of his Resurrection was fulfilled fifty days before but became not an Argument of Conviction to the Jews till now as being not till now publickly attested by the Apostles who were the Witnesses of it The Report of his Resurrection had been indeed rumoured in Jerusalem which put the Sanhedrim upon that shameful Device of corrupting the Soldiers who guarded his Sepulchre but the certain and publick Knowledge of it was not delivered till the Apostles were enabled and enboldened to proclaim and testifie it to the whole World by those Gifts which they received upon this day After the exact Completion of these Prophesies and the authentick attestation of them no excuse remained to the Jews whereby to extenuate their unbelief according to the Rules laid down by Moses they were now obliged to acknowledge Christ to have been a true Prophet and the true Messias and were convinced of their hainous Sin before commited by them in the Rejection of his Doctrine and Crucifixion of his Person the horror of which Sin might induce them the more readily to believe in Christ and lay hold of his Merits that so they might obtain Remission of it Otherwise they were to expect the most severe Execution of Divine Vengeance for their wilful obstinacy and disbelief as Moses had assured them in the same place Deut. XVIII 19. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him This Sentence and therein the Prophesie of Christ was in a most eminent manner executed and fulfilled in the Destruction and intire Desolation of the whole Nation of the Jews about forty years after the Ascension of our Lord whereby the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord then alive acted by the Holy Ghost were farther enabled invincibly to plead his Cause against the opposition of the unbelieving World both Jews and Gentiles For however the Mission of the Holy Ghost and the Consequences of it did more especially convince of Sin the Jews who were then alive and had been guilty either of rejecting the Preaching or contriving the Death of our Lord yet it contributed no less effectually to manifest the Unreasonableness of all both Jews and Gentiles who either in that or in all Ages to come should reject the Faith of Christ when proposed to them For the Belief of him was to be proposed to all Creatures under Heaven and confirmed by Arguments drawn from hence which were so rational and convictive so clear and demonstrative that they could not be rejected without the most extream Perverseness and if rejected the Holy Ghost should hereby plead the cause of Christ against them and convince the whole World and their own Consciences also if rightly judging that in rejecting the Gospel they had sinned against their own Souls and that nothing remained to them but a certain fearful Expectation of the fiery Judgment to be most justly inflicted on them The second point of which the Comforter was to reprove or convince the World was of Righteousness the reason of which is assigned in the 10th Verse Because I go to my Father and ye see me no more The Justice of God had to the eyes of Men been clouded when he permitted his only begotten Son to be delivered up and crucified by wicked Men when he abandoned him to the Rage of his Enemies and rescued him not from the Insults of the Jews by an extraordinary Interposition from Heaven The Majesty of the Deity seemed then to be eclipsed and suffer diminution when subjected to the Contradiction and Affronts of unreasonable Men. Men naturally expect that God should even in this World declare in behalf of oppressed Innocence either by rescuing it from the Malice of its Enemies or taking a severe Revenge upon the Oppressors of it And even Christians who have a better and more certain Knowledge of the Methods of Providence cannot but expect and are allowed so to do that if no Discrimination be made between the Good and the Bad in this life yet at least that it shall be in the next when Innocence shall be crowned with Rewards which shall be enhanced by Patience in Sufferings and Violence chastised with Punishments which shall be so much the sharper if reserved intire to another World if no part of them be inflicted in this This a faithful Christian expects from the Justice of God and this the Scripture assureth them Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest 2 Thess. I. 6. And God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour Heb. VI. 10. If then this Justice may be securely hoped for from God by all the Members of Mankind how much more by the Son of God whose Person was of infinite Dignity his Sufferings fraught with the highest Aggravations of Misery and his Persecutors guilty of the most enormous Wickedness That the Justice of God might be therefore vindicated herein that Sin might no longer triumph and Innocence pass unregarded God exalted his Son to his own right hand seated him in the Heavens gave him Dominion over all things crowned him with glory and worship The knowledge of this was published to the World by the Mission of the Holy Ghost by whose Direction and Assistance the Apostles openly testified the Ascension of their Lord and by which all might be convinced what Place and Power Christ now obtained in Heaven who could showre down such glorious Gifts and Priviledges upon his Followers on Earth These were so many undeniable Testimonies that the Malice of his Enemies was defeated that our Lord was yet alive set above their reach and Insults and not only so but invested with supreme Majesty and Dominion able to protect his Church and punish his Enemies that his former Sufferings had not been then more calamitous than his present State was now glorious that if God had for a time withdrawn in appearance his Favour and Protection from his Humane Nature he had now in recompence exalted it to an eternal Throne in Heaven The last thing of which the Comforter was to reprove or convince the World was of Judgment and that for this reason Ver. 11. Because the prince of this world is judged It is a Principle even of Natural Religion that God is the supreme Judge of the World and that of invisible as well as visible Beings The Devil who is frequently in Scripture called the prince of this world had now for many Ages exercised an
thy Mind can affright thee from performing what is displeasing to it if thou darest not resist its Commands and quietly submitest to it how much more art thou obliged to revere the Omnipotence of God where Power and Goodness are sweetly joyned together where no Limitations can be found nothing excluded from the reach of it no Cessation to be expected If thou pretendest not to know this Power consider the Nature of God and judge whether Omnipotence be not a necessary Attribute of a most perfect Being If thou appealest to Sense view the Fabrick of the World pass through Heaven and Earth thou shalt discover the Footsteps of Omnipotence in every part of it If thou pretendest yet not to see what is most evident reflect upon the Faculties of thy own Soul and say who gave them to thee consider the Fabrick of thy Body who formed it for thee These are undeniable Marks of thy Subjection to an Almighty Power which even if thou dost deny it is by Faculties of Soul and Body created by him that thou canst deny it Thus we perceive that the Power of God is uncontroulable and infinite that he is able to inflict whatsoever Punishment he pleaseth on his disobedient Creatures And then lest we should vainly imagine this Power to be useless in respect of us and like antiquated Laws never put in execution we are told in the next place that God is excellent in Judgment also that he will most certainly judge Manking and punish them for the Omission of their Duty For so Judgment doth almost every where signifie in Scripture the infliction of Punishment upon Delinquents This is the chief Mark of the Divine Government of the World to take a Survey of the Actions of Men and punish them for the Violation of those publick Laws which are fixed to Mankind and prescribed for their direction Nothing but the most extreme stupidity can defeat the Success of this Argument of Divine Worship since this equally affects both the Wife and Foolish by striking their Imaginations with the fear of Misery A Fear which will affect the Mind of Man when no other Argument can prevail The Perfections of God may be slighted the Infinity of his Nature may be neglected his Power may be derided when not put in execution but the belief of Judgment to be inflicted upon Sinners will awaken the Consciences and affright the Thoughts of Men And that even altho' the manner of the Execution of this Judgment should be unknown to them as in natural Religion For let the Punishments be uncertain as to their quality let the time of their Execution be hid from Sinners yet this they cannot but know that God is the Supreme Governour of the World that as such he will exercise Judgment and that as his Power exceeds that of the most formidable Judicature on Earth so his Punishments will be correspondent exceeding what Man can inflict And herein appears the excellence of this Judgment mentioned in the Text. Humane Judicatures can take hold only of the external Actions of Men and even these may sometimes be hid from them the Power of the Offender may set him above the reach of Punishments they may be evaded by crafty Defences may be hindred by the Interposition of some greater Power may be avoided by Death and will certainly be finished by it But in the Execution of the Divine Judgment it is far otherwise There the most secret Actions of Men are call'd in question even their Thoughts cannot escape discovery The Judge cannot be blinded by crafty Insinuations nor diverted from his Resolution by extraneous Causes Nothing can rescue us out of his hands not even Death it self his Dominion extends beyond the Grave reaches the Soul of Man and surmounts the resistance of all created Beings If then Fear can affect Men if Punishments can deter them if Power can awe them if the certainty of all these can convince them they do all combine to secure the Worship of God and continue Religion in Mankind But then lest we should seem Slaves to God and Servants through Fear only he dispenseth Rewards as well as Punishments to Men. He is excellent in plenty of Justice in the words of the Text. He rewards the Obedience of Men to his Precepts not because any Reward was due to them but because he delighteth in dispensing his Benefits and then his Justice will require that he dispense them to the most worthy We are not ignorant how powerful an Argument Interest is in moving the Hearts of Men. What draweth Attendants to Princes or Servants to Great Men but the Power of rewarding them and the prospect of Preferment to be attain'd by their Favours This seldom fails to secure to them those Duties which are due from Dependants Honour and Service And if we would but raise our Souls from the Earth and carry them beyond the Objects of Sense it would no less effectually secure what is due to God from us Adoration of his Majesty and Obedience to his Laws The Rewards to be attained are far greater such as the Donor will not and such as all the other Powers of the World cannot take away from us such as shall not be determined by Time nor restrained by any Limitation The assurance also of obtaining them is far more certain being founded on the Promise of him who can give what he pleaseth and will give what he Promiseth whereas the Favours expected from Men may be defeated by Forgetfulness by Unfaithfulness may be intercepted by others may become impossible to be bestowed If then God by his Infinite and most certain Rewards cannot procure what Men obtain by their Petty and uncertain Favours Fear and Reverence we must deplore the Ingratitude and obstinate Perverseness of Men who refusing to hearken to the Arguments of obedience propos'd by God yield to those proposed by Men which yet affect the same Passion that of Desire but in a much lower Degree Lastly to secure in our Minds such Thoughts of God as are befitting his Majesty and Holiness lest our Adoration of him should be corrupted with any Suspicions of Injustice entertained at the same time it is added in the end of the Verse He will not afflict In this Life the Rules and Method whereby God dispenseth his Rewards and Punishments may be very obscure to us He may suffer the righteous to be afflicted he may permit the wicked to Prosper he may in appearance cut off the Hopes of good Men by present Miseries and encourage the Disobedience of bad Men by temporal Felicity His ways may be unsearchable and his judgments past finding out But from hence we must not conceive any Opinion of Injustice in God or Imperfection in the Administration of his Government Although the Secrets of Providence be unknown to us this we are assured of that he is infinitely Just and Holy and that being such he will not afflict The Mysterious Obscurity of Providence herein was the occasion of the
his Kingdom Thus far Reason will direct us but then Revelation giveth us greater assurance of the constant and immediate Protection of God even in this Life We have the Promises of this Life and of that which is to come we are told That all things shall work together for good to us That whatsoever we shall ask of God with Faith excluding doubt he will do it and that he will never leave us nor forsake us All these and many more such Arguments include an extraordinary influence of God whereby he Administers the Government of the World satisfies his Justice and declares his Goodness Thus all the Attributes of God naturally lead us to the Worship of him thus we cannot conceive his Nature without adoring it cannot consider his Judgments and Justice without fearing his Displeasure and obeying his Commands thus are we on every side surrounded with Arguments of our Duty May God by his Grace improve the Efficacy of these Arguments to every one of us for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. The Fifth SERMON Preach'd on the 4th of August 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Rom. XII 3. For I say unto you through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think AMONG all the miscarriages of Mankind none are more fatal and at the same time more ordinary than those which proceed from a mistaken Opinion of their own Nature or Merits It is a deplorable misfortune indeed that Man should be subject to Mistakes in a Matter so nearly concerning himself that he who pretends to Fathom Heaven and Earth to discover the Properties of invisible Beings and extend his Knowledge both to precedent and future Times should remain in the dark as to his own Condition and entertain erroneous Opinions of his own either natural or acquired Merits Not to comprehend perfectly the Nature of God is no wonder the infinity of his Essence surpasseth the Capacity of our finite Understandings Not to conceive accurately the Properties of immaterial Beings whether Angels or separate Souls may be excusable immateriality may easily confound an Apprehension inured only to sensible Objects but to be mistaken in the Nature the Dignity the Capacities of our selves might be justly admired if the frequency of such Mistakes did not take off the Admiration of them If they extended no farther than Speculation they might perhaps be pardoned and befit the Consideration of Philosophers only and thinking Men but when they reach to almost all the Actions of the Soul introduce false Principles of Practice which at last become fatal to the real Interest of Mankind it will concern all Men to take notice of them and to acquire more just Conceptions To this purpose Reason invites us the Scripture directs us to enter into the serious Consideration of our selves to contract our Thoughts and not carry them beyond our Merits to form a just Esteem of our Perfections and not in an over-weening Confidence of them enlarge our Pretensions beyond the Rules of Justice and Sobriety Which is the sum of the Exhortation delivered by the Apostle in the words of the Text being directed indeed more particularly to those Christians of his time who upon pretence of extraordinary Gifts whether of Knowledge Miracles or other Graces despised their Fellow Christians who were less gifted became proud and arrogant invaded the Offices of their Superiors and violated the publick Order of the Church but delivered in such general Terms as equally oppose all other Errors of Men concerning the Dignity of their Nature or the Greatness of their Merits recommended by a peculiar Preface of Divine Authority For I say unto you through the Grace given unto me directed to all Christians To every Man that is among you altho' all cannot be supposed to have been guilty of that particular Exorbitance and proposed in such a general Precept as will obviate all the aforementioned Mistakes and Inconveniencies Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think I shall consider it then as such a general Precept and shew I. The Reasonableness of it II. The Usefulness of it I. The Reasonableness of it will appear by comparing the fond and exorbitant Pretensions of Men with the Imperfections of their Nature Man is apt falâ—ly to perswade himself that he is a greater and more noble sort of Being than he really is He pleaseth himself with vast Conceptions of his own Dignity and upon Confidence of them raiseth his Pretensions to Matters beyond his Capacity at least beyond his Merit This was the Original of all the misfortunes of Mankind from hence was derived the Fall of our first Parents to this we are to ascribe our present and future Misery The wicked Angels had led the way who were no sooner created but reflecting on the Excellency of their Nature the Dignity of their Order and the Capacity of their Understandings became Proud and Insolent rebelled against God and attempted an Independency on the Crown of Heaven Man soon followed the Example of those wicked Spirits who reflecting on the Faculties of his own Soul which were then intire and vigorous exalted with the Happiness of his present Condition which was then free from Cares and Crosses entertained a foolish Ambition of improving his Nature to somewhat yet greater even of making himself like to God himself and so being falsely perswaded by the Serpent that the way to Compass his Designs was to eat of the forbidden Fruit he fell from his former Happiness and entailed Misery upon all his Posterity whose Happiness was from thence abated their Faculties enervated and their Perfections lessened Yet could not the dreadful Example of their first Parents nor the Conscience of their much greater Imperfections divert succeeding Mankind from engaging themselves in the same Mistakes They lost the Dignity but retained the Pride of their Forefathers keep up their Pretensions and flatter themselves with an over-great Opinion of their own Perfections For not to mention the Impiety of Atheists who pretend to be wholly independent from God and deny to have received their Existence from him to omit the Profaness of ancient Epicureans and many modern Deists who disown his Government of the World and imagine themselves to be freed absolutely from his Dominion even those who own the Existence of God his Government of the World and their own Dependance on him still continue extravagant Pretences to greater Perfections than were designed for them We commonly imagine our selves to be the top of the Creation and that all other Beings Heaven and Earth Angels and Animals were created merely for our Service Hence we form a lofty Conceit of our own Excellence and look down upon other Creatures with disdain we grow angry if Heaven and Earth do not continually conspire to advance our Interests we think our selves injured if the general Laws of Providence be not violated for the Promotion of our Concerns we project extraordinary Schemes
therein than he did before Scarce any Man however having plentifully enjoyed all the satisfactions of this Life if his Life could be renewed to him upon Condition of living again in the same and in no other manner than he did before would esteem it any great Benefit He might perhaps accept it through fear of Death because he knows not what it is to die but for the intrinsick Merit of it he would hardly judge it to be desirable Such is the Condition of humane Life considered in a natural State and what great Excellency can be discovered in all this which may nourish our Pride or enlarge our Pretences So inconsiderable a part of the Universe is Mankind And then shall so mean a Being vie with God require the general Laws of Providence to be over-ruled for his sake become swoln with Pride think himself more worthy than all the rest of the Creation and continually aspire to greater Priviledges than were at first assigned to him Alas poor Mortal however thou mayst advance thy Pretences and flatter thy self with a fond Opinion of thy own Greatness that Body which thou carriest about with thee and canst not shake off that very Body upon which and the dependances of it thou so much valuest thy self proclaim thy Imperfection If I should call thee Dust and Ashes thy end will manifest thee to be no more but this will only express thy Infirmity I want a word to express the Vanity of thy mind If I should call thee nothing thy self hast often confessed thy self to be worse than nothing when amidst the Crosses of fortune or torments of Diseases thou hast often wished to become nothing for to avoid them and wilt once again wish it after Death if thou dost not correct thy foolish Arrogance So little Reason hath Man in general to value himself upon the Excellency of his Nature and as to the divers Pretentions before-mentioned hath yet much less If Atheists pretend an independent Existence from God let them demonstrate it by continuing their Existence for ever If they could at first bestow Existence upon themselves they may by the same Power always continue it if this exceeds their Ability much more will the other If Deists assert the Actions of Man to be uncontrouled by God and the Government of the World to be wholly neglected by him let them reconcile to such stupid Negligence the eternal Attributes of Justice Wisdom and Goodness which they allow to be in God let them stifle if they can the Checks of their Conscience for Sins committed in secret and solve the undeniable Characters of extraordinary Providence interposing in the World These impious Opinions indeed cannot be received by the followers of any revealed Religion but the others may As first That all other parts of the Creation were made for the sake and the service of Man alone An Opinion which however generally taken up by Men and in some measure Useful to excite their Gratitude to their Creator yet seems to have proceeded from too great an esteem of humane Nature and tendeth directly to â—oment its Pride It is certain indeed that almost all parts of the visible World are subservient to the use of Man that God hath not denied to us the use of any one of them in which sense it may indeed be said that all things were created for the use of Man as it is said in Scripture Man was created for the Woman and the Woman for the Man that is not for that end alone but for that among other Reasons And thus even the Angels are subservient to Man being sent forth as Ministring Spirits to such as are heirs of Salvation But to imagine that all things were Created only for the use and the sake of Man hath no appearance of Truth To affirm that of the blessed Angels who are so far superiour to us in Dignity would be an intolerable Arrogance and to assert it even of other created Beings would be a vain Presumption Perhaps not the thousandth part of the Universe is visible to us And then what are we concerned in so many vast Orbs as are beyond our Heavens I know many have imagined them to have been created for the Seat of God and the Reception of our glorified Bodies after the Resurrection but that is too gross a Conceit to need any Refutation Even in the visible World no small part of the Creation lays undiscovered and not a little of what we know is wholly unuseful to us It becomes us rather with Reverence to reflect upon our Subjection to God our common Creatour than endeavour to set our selves before the rest of the Creation and flatter our selves into an ambitious Opinion of an Universal Monarchy In the next place to ascribe so much Excellency to our Nature as to imagine that the general Laws of Providence ought to be violated for the Convenience of it is a Pride exceeding all Comparison as if the petty Interests of Man in this Life were of greater moment than the Preservation of the publick Order and therein the Harmony of the World Is it not sufficient to have received from God the benefit of Existence to enjoy all the Blessings of Earth and Heaven which the ordinary course of Nature directed by the Author of it bestoweth on us but the Fabrick of the World must be overturned and the general Laws of its Government be reversed for us Yet this unreasonable Expectation generally seizeth Men in Afflictions when all the hard Words which they heap upon adverse Fortune are directed against the Divine Government of the World the impartial Execution of which without respect to the little Interests of private Men produceth that diversity of Accidents which is generally called Fortune Farther to murmur at the Divine Administration of the World because no more excellent or more certain Happiness is assigned to Men in this Life is an effect of the same unreasonable Ambition of being more noble Creatures than we really are For while we are a compound of Soul and Body endued with gross Organs of Sense and subject to the publick Order of the World it is impossible that our Pleasures should be other than gross and adapted to the Organ of their Reception that is our Sense We may tire our selves in hunting after new Methods of Happiness and afflict our selves in the Disappointment of them but while our Natures continue to be what they are and the same Order is preferved in the World it is impossible that the Pleasures of Life should be any other than what they are that is mean in their own Nature and uncertain in their Duration To propose the acquisition of a compleat Knowledge of all things in this Life of an absolute imperturbation of Mind and constant Infallibility is no less Vain and to boast of such Perfections as some have done little less than Madness Our present Nature admitteth no such Improvements which while we are content to own we must also own those
Stone Lastly by the Merits or Guilt of the Soul the Body will be hereafter either saved or condemned If then all the Blessings of Heaven be primarily bestowed upon the Soul if this be the only receptacle of moral Vertues and Divine Graces if the Son of God vouchsafed to do and suffer so much for the Salvation of it if all the future Happiness of the Body depends upon the well-doing of the Soul certainly this Soul deserveth our greatest Regard and Consideration as by which alone we obtain the Favour of God and are made like unto him by imitating his Perfections as far as our finite Nature will permit us in the Practice of Vertue and Holiness of Life In the next place 't is the Excellency of our Souls alone which distinguisheth one Man from another and maketh any Person more excellent than his Neighbour It is a childish mistake of Men to imagine that Riches or Honour or temporal Greatness gives a real Excellency to Mankind or confers a true Dignity upon the Possessors of them since all these outward Advantages are common to the worst and most profligate of Men who as they are most miserable in themselves so they deserve no other than the Slight and Contempt of all who know them Not to say that all these things are frail and momentany of which a Man may be bereaved in an hour either by the inconstancy of Fortune or the Malice of others But we cannot imagine that our Wise Creatour should assign that to be our chief Perfection of which we might either be deprived or defrauded and that our Happiness should be in the Power and at the Mercy of another Man In that Case we should have been more miserable than all the rest of the Creation if it were not in every Man's Power to become Happy So true is it that all the Excellency of Man consists in the great and eminent Endowments of his Soul which the poorest of Men may obtain and when obtained can by no Art or Fraud be taken from him Thus the Scripture giving an account of the eminent Perfections of Daniel the Honour and Reverence paid to him and Dignities conferr'd upon him gives this as the Reason of it Because an excellent Spirit was in him Dan. VI. 3. It was that alone which caused him to surpass the ordinary Rank of Men and made him the Favourite of Heaven Not that a more excellent and perfect Soul was infused at first into him than into the rest of Men for all Souls are created equal and are capable of the same Improvements but that he had adorned it with all the Perfections of Reason and Religion and thereby rendred it worthy the Favour of God and Esteem of Men. And herein clearly appears both the Goodness of God and the Happiness of Men that all these Improvements and Cultivations of the Soul are equally possible to the Poorest as well as the richest Men. Poverty and temporal Calamity cannot exclude us from the utmost Perfection and in that from the greatest Happiness It is in the Power of the meanest Person to be truly more Excellent than his rich Neighbours and to ensure to himself the Favours of Heaven although not the Riches of the Earth Thus God hath in Truth made an equal Distribution to all Men by assigning to all Souls an equal Capacity For as for the Goods of Fortune when put in the Scale with Piety and the interests of Religion they deserve not the least Consideration There are some Endowments of the mind indeed which are not common and cannot be obtained by all Men as Learning and an exquisite Knowledge These may put in a fair Plea for an intrinsick Worth and Excellency as being inseparable from the Soul when once acquired of infinite use in this Life and perhaps greater in the next But then there are disadvantages attending such acquired Knowledge which may justly take off the immoderate Desire of it and make it become no reasonable Object of Envy to a pious unlearned Christian. As that it renders the way to Heaven infinitely more difficult to the Possessors of it exposeth them to many and great Temptations not common to all other Persons but chiefly because more and greater Duties are required of them greater and more severe Punishments attend the neglect of them In the more unlearned sort God requireth no more than a hearty Sincerity Belief and sure Trust in the Merits of a Crucified Saviour and living up to the great Truths of Religion and Principles of common Honesty In them he willingly over-seeth small and trivial Faults and imputes not Errors to them unless they influence and corrupt their Practice But of the more learned sort of Christians he requireth right Notions of Religion and worthy Conceptions of the Divine Majesty employing their knowledge to the good of others the Edification of the Church and after all an exact Observation of the most minute Punctilios of the Divine Laws In them mistakes are dangerous and Pardon not so easie to be obtained If indeed at last they be thought worthy of the Joys of Heaven they will shine there in a more eminent Station and brighter Glory But then even the lowest Degree in Heaven is a greater Happiness than we can either imagine or conceive Thus all the truly desirable Perfections of the Soul are possible to all and debarr'd from none Those are no other than an ardent Love of God an active Zeal to his Service a strict Sobriety in our selves and a fervent Charity to all our Neighbours How far these will advance the Dignity of our Souls appears hence that these only make us capable of the Joys of Heaven that 't is the perfect and uninterrupted Possession of these which maketh Angels and the want of these which maketh Devils Lastly Our Body when considered alone hath nothing excellent beyond other material Creatures nor is capable of any Improvements It is taken out of the same Mass of Matter with other Bodies and after the Separation of the Soul by Death is resolved into the same Corruption becomes Filth and Rottenness and in Truth the most odious of all things Nay even in this Life it would be subject to the same miserable Condition with the Beasts of the Field if it were not actuated by a noble and generous Soul which rescues it from the common Calamity of dull and vile Matter and giveth it the Honour to be joyned to and be the Companion of a most excellent and immortal Spirit And so far is this Body from receiving new Perfections in this Life that it continually decays till it be laid in Ashes and become as the Dung of the Earth None yet with the greatest Care and Diligence could give Beauty to their Bodies or as our Saviour expresseth it add one cubit to their stature None with the greatest Art and Industry can make their Senses more quick and accurate But certainly not any can procure immortality to their Bodies a Priviledge which naturally belongs
Saviour gave us an eminent Example of this in himself who in that Life which he was pleased to lead on Earth for the Salvation of a miserable and wretched World used none of all those Pleasures which we so much admire and greedily hunt after denied to himself even the Conveniencies of Nature and therein put his Body to greater Hardships than the very Beasts For the Foxes have holes and the Birds of the Air have nests but the Son of Man had not whereon to lay his head As for Pains and Torments which we so much dread and are certainly the greatest Calamities which can attend the Body he willingly underwent them suffered himself to be Crucified as a Malefactor chiefly indeed to appease the Divine Anger and atone for our Sins but in the second place to give us an Example with how great readiness and Patience we ought to submit to all Afflictions and even Death it self when they tend to promote the interests of the Soul If then the Commands of God and the Example of Christ can perswade us if Divine Revelation and the remembrance of the Holy Jesus can move us there is no doubt to be made of this great Truth so plainly taught and revealed in Scripture that I will not any longer insist upon it I pass to the second Proposition that the Interests of the Soul are destroyed by Sin or Disobedience to the Laws of God These Laws were at first given to direct the Soul in the way to Happiness and when complyed with fail not to obtain their End No wonder then if when we neglect these means we miss the End and by pursuing contrary Methods render our selves miserable That ye may the better be convinced of this I will speak of the Effects of Sin upon the Soul in general and of this Sin of Apostacy to which our Text more peculiarly relates in particular As to the first then we may observe That sin is contrary to the very Nature of the Soul which is a rational Being and as such ought to govern and direct its Actions according to the Laws of Reason Otherwise it would be worse than insensible Beings which all perform the several ends of their Creation and by so doing perform the Commands of their Creatour Whereas the Soul in contracting Habits of sin violates the Laws of Reason debases its own Nature rebels against God and overthrows the end of its Creation For for this very end our Souls were created that they should Act as spiritual Beings and govern themselves by the Principles of Reason inserted in them For this Purpose God gave us an understanding to distinguish between good and evil that we might be able to imitate the Perfections of our Creatour in Vertue and Holiness and by a strict Observation of the Rules of Life formed by our Reason at least maintain if not advance our Nature When afterwards through the Ignorance and Degeneracy of Men these Rules were corrupted and our Judgments blinded God gave us a standing Revelation to ascertain to us our Duty and let us know what we have to do The performance of this was the end for which we were sent into the World had Reason given us and a Soul assigned to us To neglect our Duty then or violate it by the Commission of Sin is no other than to deny and disclaim our Nature defeat the ends of our Creation and degenerate into a miserable sort of Beings For as Sin turn'd Angels into Devils so it doth the Souls of Men into somewhat worse than Devils 'T is true they will still continue Souls but that doth but augment their Misery because being immortal they will never cease to be miserable always gnawed with the Conscience of their degenerous Actions and the Horror of their own depraved Natures Secondly Sin destroyeth the very formal Happiness of the Soul which consists in the Love of God the Contemplation of his Attributes and the Admiration of his Perfections as we before proved And in these will consist the Joys of Heaven in a constant and serene Meditation upon the unparallel'd Perfections of our Creatour in an ardent and perpetual Love of him and Conscience of being loved by him Now Sin sets a Man at Enmity with God makes him unworthy his Favour and hinders all such Contemplation For how can we think on him with delight whom we account our Enemy Or how can we not esteem him our Enemy whose Laws we violate and whose Precepts we contemn The Conscience of this Divine Anger alone is a greater unhappiness than can be easily imagined When a Soul is forced to say God hath created me and doth now preserve me but thinks me unworthy of his Benefits and esteems me as the worst of his Creatures 'T is true he gave me Reason and Understanding but they are to my Destruction and Misery I acknowledge him to be an infinite Being worthy of all love and dread but he denieth to me the influences of his Favour doth not indeed annihilate me but 't is because he reserveth greater Punishments for me He put me here into a State of Probation on Earth that I might fit my self to be his Attendant in Heaven but now he hath excluded me from all Hopes of his Favour and destined me to be a Companion of Devils Such melancholly Thoughts will render the Soul truly miserable and not only unhappy but uncapable of Happiness For a Soul corrupted with Sin is no more capable of the Joys of Heaven than is a blind Man of seeing the Light of the Sun They are Delights of a purely spiritual Nature and consist in an intire Conformity to the Will of God so that if Heaven should by an unaccountable Miracle be bestowed upon wicked Men the Pleasures of it would neither relish with them nor be grateful to them Lastly Sin defeats the future Interests of the Soul by excluding it from its intended Reward and engaging it in eternal Punishments For in this Life the Soul is no more than Probationer for another being a Being of it self capable of Perfection and by the singular Mercy of God to be endowed with it So that it Acts here only in order to the Attainment of that great Perfection which we hope for hereafter and by a prudent use of this World gaineth Admittance into the next where it shall be received to the immediate Presence of God and him whom it now views darkly and imperfectly shall then see face to face This will give the last Perfection to our Natures and raise them to the highest pitch to which they can be advanced But Sin depriveth the Soul of this Happiness and thereby permits it not to obtain its end A Loss much greater than Thought can imagine or Tongue express but still greater when considered not only as a bare loss of the Joys of Heaven but a fall into the bottom of Hell where such Punishments will be inflicted as will make the Soul desirous of Annihilation And then the Excellency of its
brightness shall the Moon give Light unto thee but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting Light and thy God the Glory And as the Effect of all this IX 2. The people which sate in darkness saw great Light and to them which sate in the region and shadow of death Light is sprung up Which Prophecy St. Matthew observeth to have been exactly fulfilled by our Saviour in the IV. 16. of his Gospel After so many Magnificent Prophesies concerning the extraordinary Light to be brought into the World by the Messias we cannot but raise our Apprehensions and expect somewhat more than humane Knowledge to be communicated by him to the World somewhat more than humane Light to be dispensed by him Nor shall we be deceived in our Expectations the Light communicated by our Lord to the World is so universal in the extent so resplendent in the Nature so constant in the Duration of it that it in no ways falls short of those Glorious Predictions which went before concerning it and justly gives to our Lord the Author and Conveyer of it the Title of the Light of the World This will appear evidently if we consider either I. The Doctrine Or II. The Example of Christ Upon both which Accounts he was the Light of the World I. Then the Doctrine of Christ gave Light unto the World by removing the Errors of it and teaching it the Rules of Truth which might point out the way to Happiness To conceive the better the happy Effects of the Doctrines of Christ let us take a view of the state of the World at that time and we shall find as in the beginning Darkness to have over-spread the face of the Earth A very small part of Mankind enjoyed the benefit of Revelation and even they had corrupted and almost effaced the Divine Truths revealed to them by false Glosses and gross Interpretations they had forsaken the weightier Matters of the Law and even those who were most Conscientious among them busied themselves wholly in observing such trivial Ceremonies as themselves had for the most part formed by mistaken Interpretations But the infinitely greater part of Mankind lived as without God in the Word They had intirely lost those revealed Notions which were delivered to their Fore-fathers immediately after the Deluge and the natural Notions of Religion they had so far corrupted that their Worship was downright Impiety and all their religious Actions so many gross Superstitions In the far greater part of the World all Notions of Morality and a Natural Law were intirely lost and it was a brutish Fear only which kept up any sort of Religion among them Which after all was such a Religion as was their greatest Crime being no other than a most stupid Idolatry In the more polite part of the World which retained Civility and pretended to Letters the natural Law indeed was kept up among the more Learned of them but even by them so mistaken and corrupted that they allowed as lawful the Practice of some enormous Vices which to convince of unlawfulness needed no more than to consult the common Reason of Mankind as Fornication Sodomy practising the idolatrous Worship of the Country although at the same time convinced of the Folly of it Self-murder and many other Vices which the most refined of their Philosophers defended to be lawful As for the common People their Notions of God were such as the publick Religion of the Country infused into them the most vile and unworthy of a Deity which can be imagined such as patronized all the Crimes they could commit provided they violated not the Laws of their Country For by these Corruptions no Notion of Morality was left among them nor any other distinction of Good and Evil than what the Laws of their Country imprinted in them They could not but imagine that such Actions were good in their own Nature which their chief Gods had practised altho' their inconvenience to the publick had caused them to be forbidden In a word conceive a People ignorant both of God and their own Nature desirous of Happiness but knowing not where to find it and pursuing methods directly contrary to it groping in Darkness without the least ray of Light and such was the state of the World at that time To rescue the World from this miserable Darkness to restore Light to the minds of Men was a noble undertaking and worthy the Son of God an undertaking which as it could be performed by none but the Son of God so was it most happily effected by him He saith of himself that he came a Light into the World that whosoever believeth on him should not abide in darkness John XII 46. His Design was to deliver us from the power of darkness as the Apostle assures us Coloss. I. 13. A Design first begun by himself in Person and afterwards carried on by the Apostles and their Successors to this day by his Command and through his Power whom he sent as St. Paul describes his Commission Acts XXVI 18. To open the eyes of the Gentiles or the ignorant and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God Himself while conversant on Earth busied himself in nothing more than in detecting the false Explications of the Moral part of the Jewish Law which was of equal Obligation to all Mankind in discovering the Corruptions of it and restoring it to its Primitive Integrity And not content only to discover the Errors of the World as it was commonly objected to the Heathen Philosophers that they could easily overthrow the Opinions of one another but could establish no Truth in the room of them he plainly revealed their whole Duty to them taught them even the Principles of the Moral Law that so Men might no more be subject to mistake in it To this he added the Revelation of the whole Will of God which concerns either the Rewards or Punishments annexed to this Law which might reinforce the Practice of it or the future Felicity of Man to be obtained by the Observation of it or the means of Pardon in Case of the Violation of it Nor was this Light to be confined to a Corner to be appropriated to a few it was to be made truly the Light of the World to be communicated to all to be continued to the end of the World The easiness and simplicity of it adapted to the Capacity and Practice of all Men fitted it for such an universal Communicaon And that it should be actually communicated he abundantly provided by proclaiming it himself to all while on Earth by establishing a numerous Order of Disciples who should propagate it successively to the end of the World by inspiring Holy Writers to commit it plainly and intirely to writing by founding a Church the Members of which should by certain solemn Rites or Sacraments oblige themselves to the Practice of it by contriving the Discipline and Government of this Church in such a manner as might
the Aids and Difficulties of Christianity to be equal I wish I could add that the Effects were also equal And as we admire the Wisdom of God herein so must we acknowledge his Justice also It may perhaps seem too severe that Salvation the supreme Happiness of Man should be rendred thus difficult to him that God should invite us to it and then by so many Difficulties exclude us from it To this it is easie to reply that Salvation is purely the Gift of God which as such he might bestow upon whatsoever Conditions himself pleased Nor in requiring so many such laborious and difficult Duties of us hath he raised the Price I mean the Conditions above the worth of it It is the supreme end of Man the utmost Improvement of his Felicity Now look into the Writings of all Philosophers consult the common Voice of Mankind they do all confess that the supreme end of Man not only ought to be his chief Design but also can be obtained at no less Expence than his utmost Diligence the constant and most exquisite Operations of all the Faculties of his Mind that it must be the business of his whole Life Look into your own Actions and daily Experience and see whether any thing desirable in this Life even as your selves value it be not attended with a proportionable Difficulty And then Confess that God hath done no more than what the Nature of things required when he annexed so many Difficulties to the Acquisition of Salvation The second Part of my proposed Design I mean the Consequence raised in the Text If the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear is so evident that I need say little to it For if after the Conquest of so many Difficulties so many Afflictions endured and Labours employed a righteous Man doth but very hardly obtain Salvation surely no hopes can be left for him who affrighted by these Difficulties gives himself to the Conduct of his own unruly Lusts to the practice of Vices directly contrary to the means proposed to obtain this ultimate Happiness This Reason assureth and the common Notions of the Divine Justice confirmeth to us not only that the ungodly and the Sinner shall miss of that excellent Reward which shall be rendred to the Labour and Diligence of the Righteous but also shall draw upon himself the Wrath of God and the consequence of it extreme Misery in Punishment of his Sin Which is more clearly expressed in the Proverbs XI 31. from whence these words of St. Peter are word for word taken according to the Septuagint Translation But in the Original according to our Translation they run thus Behold the righteous shall be recompenced in the earth much more the wicked and the sinner That is since God suffers not the failings of the Righteous to pass unpunished but corrects and chastiseth them in this World with sensible Afflictions much more hath he reserved the extremity of Torment for the wicked and the sinner As in this place of St. Peter God thought fit to chastise the former Sins of the convert Christians with a fierce and terrible Persecution from whence the Apostle draweth a like Consequence in the 17th Verse And if judgment first begin at the house of God what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God And as the Doctrine so the Examples also of the Old and New Testament agree herein Wherein we find that God inflicted temporal Calamities upon his most beloved Servants in Punishment of their Sins even of inadvertency that he might teach us not to expect any Pardon for a wilful obstinacy and continuance in Impiety Thus Moses who had this Testimony from God himself that he was faithful in all his house yet for some slight appearance only of distrust of the Divine Power in bringing forth waters out of the Rock was excluded the Enjoyment of the Promised Land altho' an ancient Writer aggravates the sin of Moses from hence that in all that frequent and familiar Converse which he afterwards had with God he is never found to have begged Pardon for his Sin But however that be we must all Confess that the best of us have far exceeded Moses both in the number and the weight of our sins and ought therefore much more to fear the Execution of the Divine Justice Afterwards we read that God proposed to David the Man after his own heart the choice of three Signal Calamities only in Punishment of a light Vain-Glory manifested in his Design of numbring his Subjects For the same failure he threatned good King Hezekiah with the deprivation and carrying away of his Treasures and sent the great Apostle St. Paul a thorn in the flesh some bodily Infirmity the Messenger of Satan to buffet him And if God excused not these great and excellent Persons from Punishment for such small Offences with what reason can we promise Impunity to our selves Do we Fancy our selves more dear to God or more righteous than they were Surely no. Rather if they were not saved without some Difficulty we shall not without the most extreme hazard and this altho' we did with earnest Study and sincere Endeavours apply our selves to attain Salvation altho' we were worthy which be it far from us to arrogate to our selves to be ranged among those who in the Text are call'd Righteous But of the ungodly and the sinners what shall I say But that if the Righteous scarcely be admitted to Mercy they are wholly excluded from it To them as the Author to the Hebrews saith Chapter X. 27. There remaineth only a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation Yet we find that the most profligate Christians do flatter themselves with the hopes of Salvation and upon Confidence of it proceed securely in a vicious Course of Life For I am perswaded that there are very few Christians who are not convinced of the truth of the Religion they profess whensoever they give their Minds leave to reflect upon it Only they put the Thoughts of it far from them and whensoever either the workings of their own Minds or the admonition of others represent to them the Obligation of it they render both unsuccessful through a vain Hope which they took up upon they know not what Reasons that they are in the number of the saved To this foolish Perswasion many Causes may contribute a constant and happy Success in the World too great an Opinion of the Endowments either of Body or Mind or whatsoever may raise in Man a Conceit of his own worth a strong Imagination a false Notion of the Mercy and the Justice of God or an unhappy illusion derived from the Teachers of absolute Predestination All these and many other Causes may contribute to this fatal Error notwithstanding the Scripture hath particularly provided against it notwithstanding the meanest Capacity cannot but conclude that if God taketh so severe an account of the Actions of the
to learn how to worship him and to be excited to it The chief Design of your meeting in this holy Place is that you may worship God herein But how can you be said to worship him who place your selves in no Posture of Worship who express no Concern at the words of publick Prayer joyn not in them nor add an Amen to them Can you really believe standing or sitting to be a posture of Worship Or will you not confess kneeling to be really the most humble Posture And if so surely the Creator of Heaven and Earth the Lord of Life and Death is to be approached in the most humble and most devout manner Be not ashamed to correct an ill Custom study to offer up to God a compleat Service to be present at the beginning of Prayers to attend diligently to them to joyn devoutly in them to worship God both with Body and Soul since both were created by him So shall you truly worship God so shall you Entitle your selves to all those glorious Promises which are annexed to true Piety and Devotion obtain your Desires and save your Souls The Sixteenth SERMON PREACH'D 1690. At LAMBETH CHAPEL 1 Tim. II. 8. I will therefore that Men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting IN my last Discourse upon these words I treated largely of the Duty of Prayer enjoyned in the former part of the Verse I will that Men pray and urged the Obligation of this Duty from these two Conâ—iderations especially that Prayer is a principal Act of Adoration and the most essential part of the positive Worship of God which being a Duty incumbent upon all Men and at all times maketh the Duty and the frequency of Prayer to be no less necessary In the Second place I laid open the Advantages to be received from Prayer and the Promises annexed to it that so if the Sense of Duty could not engage yet at least that of Interest might perswade I then proceeded to apply all this to publick Prayer having first proved to you that the Apostle in this place treateth of that especially and therein manifested how much greater the Obligation is to publick Prayer how more expressive of our Subjection to God what greater Advantages it bringeth to devout Supplicants and what more noble Promises are annexed to it It remaineth now to pass through the other parts of the Text which are these three I. The place of Prayer Every where II. The posture of Prayer Lifting up holy hands III. The Conditions of Prayer required to make it acceptable and effectual Lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting I. The place of Prayer the Apostle teacheth to be every where that is not in all places alike but in all parts of the World wherever any Members of the Christian Church are to be found Herein he distinguisheth the publick Worship of Christians from that of the Jews among whom the more solemn parts of Divine Worship nay all the parts of the positive Worship of God instituted by himself were affixed to one certain place where the Priests daily offered Sacrifices and performed the other Offices of Legal Worship and adult Males among the Jews thrice every year gave their Attendance This was both easie to the Jews by reason of the small Dimensions of their Country and also necessary to preserve them from relapsing into Idolatry and Superstition which would not have been avoided in that stiff-necked People had the publick Worship of God been permitted to them in many separate places where the High Priest had not the immediate over-sight of them as they did actually fall into Idolatry and corrupted their Religion whensoever quitting the Temple at Jerusalem they began to worship God upon every high Hill and under every green Tree To this Temple therefore after the full Settlement of the Jews in the promised Land the publick Worship of God was wholly affixed out of which it was not lawful to offer Sacrafice nor was any Expiation of sin provided To it many glorious Promises were appropriated as that God would hear the Prayers offered up in it and be gracious to his People for the sake of it But in the Christian Religion which was not to be contained in one Family or Nation but to be propagated to all the Members of Mankind the Observation of this Institution became both impossible and unnecessary and was therefore abolished by God The publick Worship of him was thenceforward commanded to be alike celebrated in all places that is in all parts of the Church His Presence was not confined nor his Promises annexed to one place he is equally present in all Congregations of devout Believers and receiveth their Petitions with equal Favour Upon this account the Apostle distinguishing the Christian from the Jewish Worship directeth publick Prayers to be offered up every where as he had before distinguished it upon another respect in the first Verse of this Chapter there commanding that Supplications Prayers and Intercessions be made for all Men whereas the Jews never prayed for any but those of their own Nation and Communion This Enlargement of the place of Worship could not indeed but be extremely surprizing to the Jews who had been brought up in a profound Veneration of the Sanctity of the Temple of Jerusalem to which the publick Worship of the true God had been now appropriated for near twelve hundred Years And therefore the Divine Wisdom which from all Ages determined to enlarge his limits of the Church and gather into it as many of the Jews as by a right use of their Reason should be brought to believe in Christ had both by precedent and subsequent Facts provided abundant Reasons to convince the Jews that the publick Worship of himself should not always be confined to the Temple of Jerusalem but after the coming of the Messias should be extended into the whole Earth Thus Zeph. II. 11. it is foretold That when God should found the glorious Kingdom of the Messias then Men shall worship him every one from his place even all the Isles of the Heathen And in Mal. I. 11. For from the rising of the Sun even unto the going down of the same my 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 saith the Lord of hosts Which Prophesies did clearly instruct the Jews that when the Gentiles should be gathered into the Church that is at the coming of the Messias he should be worshipped alike in all places of the Earth and even those Acts of publick Worship which were more peculiar to the Temple of Jerusalem that is Incense and Sacrifice should be then offered up from the rising up of the Sun to the going down of the same although in a more spiritual manner This Doctrine and Institution therefore ought not to have appeared strange unto the Jews whose Minds God had prepared for
them For however the external Circumstances of place and time are required but in Conjunction with the more essential Conditions of Prayer yet they are still required The necessity of publick Worship whereof Prayer is the principal part was in the former Discourse largely treated of This Worship cannot be reduced into Practice unless it be determined to certain places and times To speak of the times of Worship is not my present Purpose And if the places of it be not fixed no publick Worship can well consist The Apostle therefore in commanding Prayers to be offered up every where hath not therein taught that all places are equally fitted in which Prayers may be made He hath taken away the Singularity of one place and the Appropriation of all publick Worship to that alone but continued the necessity of fixing some certain places in all parts of the Believing World for that Purpose not left it indifferent whether Men pray to God in a place dedicated to religious Uses or in a place made common to all the ordinary Uses of Life The Christian Religion hath taken away whatsoever was merely Ceremonial in the Jewish Religion but retained all which was derived from the Law of Nature or the light of Reason And that the Consecration of certain places to the worship of God and appropriating them to that use alone is such will be useful to manifest since there are not wanting some who decry all difference between sacred and prophane places First then it was not in the Institution of the Jewish Religion that God began to be a God of order and Decency those Attributes were eternal in him and evidently appear in that most beautiful and harmonious Order of the World and all the parts of it which himself hath fixed in the Creation of it Which is contrived with the most exact Symmetry disposed in a most beautiful Order and continued in it The Worship which Man pays to God being founded upon his Attributes and the knowledge of those Attrributes chiefly appearing by the Effects of them it is Consonant to Reason that Man should direct his Worship with respect to them If then in the visible Operations of God such a decent Order be every where Conspicuous in the publick Worship of him the same Order ought also to be maintained otherwise no Acknowledgment is made no Homage paid to that divine Perfection which was the Principle of that Order and Decency which we see and admire in the Creation God hath not only formed what was absolutely necessary for the Life of Man but also added infinite variety of Lights Minerals Plants and Animals for his Delight and for the Ornament of Life Since therefore the Rules of Divine Worship are to be taken from the Divine Perfections manifested by their Operations this conduct of God in creating and governing the World doth not only warrant the Addition of Ceremonies and many Circumstances to the more essential Parts of Worship but also makes it to become a Duty And to accuse such Additions and external Ceremonies of Superstition is no less unreasonable than to question the Wisdom of God who hath added to the Creation many things not necessary yet ornamental to it How incongruous would it be to worship the God of Order and Decency in an irregular and slovenly manner how improper a return for the additional yet unnecessary Conveniences of humane Life to adore the Author of them without any Order or external Decency The Sense of this induced men before the Institution of the Jewish Religion to dedicate certain Places to the Worship of God and set them apart for that use only The Monuments of those times are few being all comprized in the Book of Genesis yet therein we find evident Footsteps of such Dedications more particularly in Gen. xxviii 16. where Jacob enjoying a Vision at Bethel because it was a Mark of the Divine Presence immediately concluded that the Place was dedicated to his Service And he said surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not How dreadful is this Place this is none other but the House of God and this is the Gate of Heaven Which Reflection of Jacob proveth it to have been the Custom of the Patriarchs to Dedicate certain Places to be the Houses of God and to have been their Belief that in those places God was more peculiarly present And to manifest that his Notion of the House of God was no other than of a Place of Worship he immediately addressed himself to worship God in it as it follows in the 18th Verse I might add that the Dedicating certain Places to this use was not the Practice of the Patriarchs alone but of all Ages and Men professing any Religion whether true or false which general Practice and Perswasion is in all other Cases allowed to be a certain indication of the Voice of Nature But I proceed to observe the Reason of it where it may be considered that as God is the Author of Soul and Body of Heaven and Earth of Life and all the Conveniencies of it so he requireth as a just and necessary Act of Adoration that some part of every one of these should be dedicated to himself as an Acknowledgment of his Dominion over the whole Thus the Operations of the Soul pay Homage to him in the more essential parts of Worship the Body in the Concomitant Parts of it that is in the external Gestures of Adoration we acknowledge to have received our Goods and Wealth from him by offering up some part of it to himself to be employed as he shall direct which in the Jewish Religion consisted chiefly in Sacrifices and Oblations in the Christian Religion in Acts of Charity We confess him the Author of Life by dedicating certain times of it to his Service and we confess him the Lord of the whole Earth by appropriating and submitting some parts of it to his immediate Service By this his Right and Title to the whole Earth is eminently acknowledged and the Vassallage of Man the Inhabitant of it is declared Further the Erection and Dedication of Churches to the Worship and the Honour of God is an illustrious Testimony of the publick Religion of any Nation or Country and upon that Account is both useful and necessary It is our Duty to proclaim our Subjection to God and Belief in him by all significative Expressions to testifie it to the whole World and if it be possible perpetuate the Memory of this our Profession to all Ages and communicate the Knowledge of it to all men This Fabricks dedicated to the Service of God do most naturally signifie which are so many standing and lasting Monuments of our Belief in that God to whose Service they were appropriated For this Reason we often find in the Book of Genesis that the Patriarchs erected Pillars and Heaps of Stones to be so many lasting Monuments of their Belief in God and Subjection to him And how graciously God accepted such visible
Efficacy of it with an unjust Judge It had been sufficient to have introduced the Person of a just and benign Man that so his Justice if compared with the Divine Clemency might demonstate the force of Prayer For if a good Man receives those kindly who address themselves to him how much more will God the Greatness of whose Bounty exceeds our comprehension It had been enough as I before said to have proposed the Person of a just Judge but to represent a cruel impious inhumane Judge unmerciful to others but kind and easie to Supplicants instructeth us that even a wicked Nature may be by Prayer inclined to Lenity and Mercy This therefore our Lord chose to do more lively to express the force fo Prayer When in the next place he carrieth us from the Consideration of this severe Judge cruel by Nature but mollified by Prayer to the Consideration of God the Father most good kind gentle merciful slow to anger and forgiving sins bearing with insuperable Patience the daily Affronts of Men the Honours paid to his Adversary the Devil and the Contumelies therein offered to his own Son what Success may we not then hope to our Prayers made to him if they be presented with a due Reverence and necessary Preparation The unjust Judge although he feared not God nor regarded Man yet did Justice to the Widow for her importunity What Fear could not do Prayer obtained Neither Threats nor the Fear of Punishment could incline the Man to Justice yet the Cries and Supplications of a poor Widow softned his Nature and made him tractable If she could obtain so much from a rough ill-natur'd Man how much greater Kindness Goodness and Love may we not expect from God who always desires to shew Mercy but never to exercise Severity whose very Threats and Punishments are intended for our good and directed to deterr us from Disobedience Let us once more review the effect of Prayer upon this unjust Judge that we may the better discover the infinite kindness and love of God to Men. If he who never willingly and of his own accord did any good changed on the sudden by the Petitions of a poor Supplicant and was moved to Compassion much more will the importunate Prayers of Men be prevalent with him whose Nature includeth an infinity of Goodness and who dispenseth the Emanations of that Goodness in vast and constant Benefits even without intreaty For who doth not see that the Light of the Sun the influences of Heaven the Fruits of the Earth Riches Life and Health are given by God to all Men to the good and to the bad and that only for his immense Kindness to Mankind but if he so favours cherisheth and maintaineth those who ask him not and are not perhaps so much as sensible that the Benefit proceedeth from him what will he not bestow on those who spend a considerable part of their Lives in Prayer and Supplication The last Reason of doubting in Prayer is the Conscience of unworthiness in the Supplicant which Conscience is either founded in the natural unworthiness of Man or arises from the Sense of his want of these Qualifications of Prayer which are required to make it acceptable The former falls in with that doubt which I last spoke of and the latter is in the Power of every Man to remove and to perswade the necessity and convenience of that removal hath been the Subject of this days Discourse I shall therefore add no more upon this Head Upon the whole it doth appear that the Duty of Prayer is necessary the place of it to be regarded the posture not to be neglected the Conditions indispensable and the Success certain The Eighteenth SERMON Preach'd on May 4. 1690. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Acts X. 40 41. Him God raised up the third day and shewed him openly Not to all the People but to Witnesses chosen before of God THE Resurrection of our Lord from the Dead being so illustrious a Confirmation of the Truth of that Religion which he taught so undeniable an Argument of the Divinity and Authority of his Person so firm an Assurance of those Hopes which we conceive of our own Resurrection deserveth at this Season more than a single Consideration It is the knowledge and conviction of that which chiefly Establisheth the Faith of a Christian continueth his Expectations of enjoying hereafter a better State and after a serious Meditation of the Actions of his Saviour here on Earth wrought for his sake compleats his Joy In the ancient Church therefore all the time between Easter and Whitsunday was dedicated to the Memory of this wonderful Mystery as was manifest by the particular expressions of Joy during that whole Season in the publick Offices and Ceremonies of the Church And as the benefit of Christs Resurrection doth no less extend to the Christians of these Times than to those of more ancient Ages so our Gratitude and Rejoycing in Memory of it ought to be no less intense It may be pretended that those ancient Christians living nearer to the time of Christ had more certain assurance of the Truth of the Fact related than we now have at so great a distance and that the Will of Man always acting agreeably to the perswasions of the Understanding cannot now be so much affected by the consideration of an uncertain Interest as they were then when the Experience of frequent Miracles rendred it most certain Or that however the Apostles and those Five hundred Disciples who were blessed with the presence of Christ after his Resurrection had no less just Cause of Joy than Admiration Yet that others who were not convinced of the same Truth by the report of their own Senses could not but be less concerned at the relation by how much the less they were ascertained of the reality of it And as the Mind of Man is fruitful in inventing Arguments opposing the Obligation of Religion some have been brought to doubt of and others even to deny the Resurrection of Christ upon this consideration that after he is said to be risen from the Dead he appeared not in Publick conversed not in solemn Places and among the Multitude as before but only shew himself to some few Disciples of his own whom he had chosen for that purpose To take off this Objection and assert the Truth of our Lord's Resurrection I will endeavour to manifest the reasonableness of that conduct of Christ related in the Text Whom God raised up and shewed openly not to all the People but to Witnesses chosen before of God To this purpose I will divide my designed Discourse into these three parts I. That to have shewed Christ after his Resurrection to the whole unbelieving Multitude of the Jews was unbecoming the Majesty Justice and Wisdom of God II. That it would have failed of creating an universal Conviction III. That God hath notwithstanding offered to Mankind sufficient Arguments of reasonable Conviction First then neither the Wisdom Justice and Honour
of God nor the design of Christs Ministerial Office here on Earth would permit him to expose himself after his Resurrection to the publick View of the unbelieving World As God is the Fountain of all Wisdom it is impossible he should act any thing without just Cause and Reason It is not in the ordinary direction alone of created Beings that he exerts not his Power without just occasion upon which account it hath been long since received as an Axiom in Philosophy that Nature works nothing in vain but also in the dispensation of Spiritual Concerns in founding Methods for the Salvation of Mankind he proceeds by just and adequate Rules exactly fitted to produce the effect intended Fitted I mean to produce that effect if the Will of Man which is herein the Subject of the Divine Operation rejects not wilfully what is intended for its benefit In that case God seeks not other Remedies exceeds not the ordinary Rules of Salvation fix'd by him nor employeth new and more powerful Engines to effect his Design Those he before employed were sufficient and that they should fail of their end is to be ascribed not to their want of Force but to the Wickedness of Man hardening his Mind against receiving the effects of them Thus God giveth to every Man a Power of Acting according to the dictates of Reason of overcoming the violent Motions of his sensual Appetite of resisting all Temptations offered to him If notwithstanding this Man useth not his Free-will aright if he yieldeth to his Passions and embraceth sinful Temptations God doth not by his Almighty Power restrain these sinful Actions or violently over-rule the inordinate Motions of the Will of Man When the Serpent tempted our first Parents God if he had pleased might as well have interposed before their consent to the suggestion of the Serpent in eating the forbidden Fruit as he did afterwards denounce their Punishment and had he done so it is scarce possible to be imagined that they would have dared to transgress yet would it be unreasonable to have required that God should have interposed in such a manner He had given them sufficient strength of Will to maintain their Innocence and having done that justly left them to their own choice Thus also after the Fall of Man God hath granted to Man in vertue of particular Promises and Covenants such a Measure of assisting Grace as may repair the weakness of the Will enervated by that Fall and fully enable him to discharge the several Duties required of him But if neither with this the Will of Man directs if self aright God doth not double treble or multiply his Grace or put a force upon the Will That were not to deal with Man as with a rational Being and to over-rule or force the Will would be to take away the very essence of Good and Bad which consists in the free determination of the Will And as God directs his most wise Methods in relation to the Will of Man so also he acts in relation to his Understanding He hath proposed sufficient Motives of Conviction to every point which he requireth to be believed by Man If he gaineth not assent he proceeds no farther heapeth not one demonstration upon another To apply this to the case of the Resurrection Our Lord in his triennial Preaching before his Crucifixion had offered to the Jews abundant reason to perswade them of the Authority of his Mission by almost daily Miracles by proving that the ancient Prophesies concerning the Messias did clearly belong to his Person by visible declarations from Heaven by his own incomparable Perswasions by the Preaching of John Baptist and his Apostles After so many and evident Arguments produced in vain and rendred ineffectual by the perverseness and unreasonable Prejudices of the Jews Can we think it just to require that God should change his Methods and propose other yet more forcible Arguments Or must we not confess that God had done enough and that to go yet farther were to exceed the bounds of Reason and depress the Majesty of God He had before the Deluge when no such extraordinary Methods of Conviction were employed justly resolved My Spirit shall not always strive with Man And after so many Miracles wrought by Christ so many Revelations conferred on the unbelieving Jews to have still strove with their unbelief by the publick Manifestation of Christ after his Resurrection would have been unnecessary and unreasonable Thus the Wisdom of God was concerned to deny to the unbelieving Jews the personal Conversation of Christ raised from the dead His Justice also may well be thought to have inclined him to the same That People in rejecting the Messias in opposing the evidence of his Doctrine in withstanding the force of his Miracles had committed as great a Sin as the Soul of Man is even capable of had offered as great an affront to the Majesty of God as can possibly be conceived So signal an Impiety deserved a no less eminent Punishment from the Hands of God The visible Execution of which Punishment might be deferred as it was for near forty Years till the total Destruction of their Nation yet other Punishments less visible but no less grievous the Justice of God did immediately inflict and that was In giving them up to their own Hearts Lusts and letting them follow their own Imaginations not offering to them the most undeniable Argument of the Truth of their Messias the Conviction of his Resurrection by their own Senses when they had rejected all those precedent Arguments which would more than have sufficed to convince and inform them if their wicked perverseness had not prevented the Conviction They had by denying belief to the Doctrine of Christ confirmed by so many and such evident Arguments declared themselves to be given up to a reprobate Mind and far from deserving so great a Blessing as the Conversation of the Son of God now raised from the Dead That was a Favour than which a greater could not be granted to the Apostles And then what was given by Christ to his beloved Disciples as a reward of their Faith and Patience could not in Justice be communicated to the worst of Men. Nor doth it extenuate the Guilt of the Jews therein that they proceeded according to their present Judgment and acted upon the Direction of a mistaken Conscience For first it is manifest that many of them opposed him even while inwardly convinced of the Truth of his Mission and the Arguments of it as those did to whom he upbraided the Commission of the Sin against the Holy Ghost And then Conscience simply is not the Rule and Warrant of humane Actions but Conscience directed by right Reason God hath given to Man a faculty of Understanding as well as Will full Power of judging right in all Matters absolutely Necessary as well as of following the report of this Judgment when made He requireth a like right use of both these Faculties and punisheth equally
Scripture is faid to be the footstool of God Upon all these Reasons it was necessary just and convenient that Christ should ascend into Heaven II. And that he really did ascend thither which was the 2d Head proposed evidently appeared from the History of his Ascension recorded in the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles That Body of Christ which the Apostles had felt and handled that with which they had conversed for forty days together that whereof they were assured by many infallible Proofs that it was no other than the material Body of Christ which hung upon the Cross and was laid in the Grave which was united to the Soul again and had performed all manner of vital Actions that very Body they saw ascend into Heaven For that Jesus who had rose again and conversed with them who had led them out of Jerusalem and was visible and present to them till the very moment of his Ascension as he was yet speaking with them was parted from them and carried up into Heaven as we read Luk. XXIV Which refutes the Opinion of those ancient Hereticks who taught that Christ ascended in Spirit only having first put off and returned to the several Elements that Body which he had received from them Again that Body which the Apostles saw and felt to be locally present with them upon Earth they saw soon after to be really removed from the Earth and carried into Heaven For as it is related in the sacred History When he had spoken unto the Disciples and blessed them which being performed by laying his hands upon them testified his real and corporeal Presence with them in that moment in the next moment even while he blessed them he parted from them and while they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight Which proved his Ascension to have been a true proper and local Translation from the parts here below to those above and that at that moment he was indued with a perfectly humane Body whatever glorious Changes it underwent after its Reception into Heaven the Seat of Immortality and Spiritual Beings Other Circumstances deserve to be observed in the History of this Ascension And First Our Lord at his Ascension was pleased to call together many if not all his Disciples and admit them to the sight of it a Favour which was not vouchsafed to them at his Resurrection The Conduct indeed was different but the Reason not unlike in both Cases Both the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ were thenceforth to pass into necessary Articles of Belief to the principal supports of the Faith and Hopes of Mankind both therefore was to be placed beyond all doubt and contradiction by the Attestation of many and credible Witnesses To effect this at his Resurrection it was not necessary that any witnesses should be present since the Actions of Life visibly and in the Presence of many performed by him after his known Crucifixion and Burial abundantly and even demonstratively proved that he was really risen from the Dead They were well assured that some few days before he was truly Dead their Senses assured them that he was now truly alive Whence they might as certainly conclude that he was risen from the Dead as if they had actually seen his Resurrection Whereas in the Case of his Ascension he was to be taken from them no more to be seen by them in this Life no Mortal was thenceforward to see his State of Glory or testifie his Station in Heaven upon which account it was absolutely necessary that his Disciples should be present at his Ascension and be Eye-witnesses of that Action which afterwards they were to testifie and preach to others In the second Place it deserveth to be observed that the Testimony of Angels was added to that of the Apostles Those blessed Spirits far from repining that the Nature of Man in Christ was by his Ascension exalted to a superior Degree of Glory descended from Heaven to bear the glad Tidings of his Arrival there as at his Nativity they had done to proclaim the Descent of the Deity upon Earth For it follows Acts I. 10. Behold two Men stood by them in white Apparel which also said Ye Men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven Nor was this Apparition of Angels an empty Pageant or an unnecessary Addition to the Glory of our Lords Ascension By their Ministry and Attendance they demonstrated the Divinity and Dignity of his Person by their Testimony concerning his Ascension they proved the truth of it The Apostles indeed saw him received upon the Clouds they looked up and followed him with their Eyes as far as their sight could reach but that being terminated in the lower Regions and not able to penetrate into the highest Heavens their Sense could not assure them that their Lord was carried thither To evidence therefore the truth of it it remained that God by these ministerial Spirits should declare it to the Disciples These Angels were wont to Minister before and see the face of God in Heaven they were known to come down from thence They testified that Christ had ascended thither from whence they had descended and thereby perfected the Testimony of the Disciples concerning the Ascension of Christ into Heaven whose sight could not reach so far Farther these blessed Spirits not only brought Evidence to the Disciples of the real Ascension of their Master into Heaven but also gave them Comfort and alleviated their sorrow conceiv'd for his Departure by adding those words This same Jesus which ye have seen taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven Elisha had seen his Master Elijah carried up into Heaven yet knowing not certainly how the Divine Goodness would dispose of him and despairing of ever seeing him again he entertained the sight with Grief and in Testimony of it rent his Clothes Nor had the Disciples been free from the same Anxiety without the present Consolations of these Angels When their Lord had before his Death declared to them his Resolution of returning to the Father John XVI they could not dissemble their Grief as himself observeth Verse 6. Because I have said these things unto you sorrow hath filled your heart And immediately before his Ascension still retaining their erroneous Opinion of a temporal Kingdom to be founded by him they had asked him whether he would not at that time restore the Kingdom unto Israel which hopes were totally defeated by his Departure into Heaven Both these occasions of Sorrow therefore the Angels happily do remove in these words They assure them that the Presence of their Master shall not be for ever taken from them but themselves should see him return in the last of days and that they may not imagine his Kingdom to be abolished they
add that he shall return in like manner as they saw him go that is in Power and great Glory as our Lord describeth his coming to Judgment Matth. XIII 26. It will be of little use to inquire into what part of the Heavens the Body of our Lord was translated yet not unfit to observe that our Lord is said to have ascended into those Heavens by which the most glorious Presence of the Divine Majesty is in Scripture expressed Thus it is said of him Ephes. IV. 10. He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all Heavens and Hebr. VII 10. That he was higher than the Heavens and Heb. IX 12. passing into the holy place even into Heaven it self to appear before the Presence of God that is he was advanced to the same state of Glory with God the Father his Body was translated to the place of his more immediate Presence in Heaven which is fully expressed by his sitting at the right hand of God To determine the place whether in the third in the fourth or above the Heavens is rash and unwarrantable But this we may be assured that whatsoever part of Heaven is the immediate residence of the Divine Majesty whatsoever Region is most Holy whatsoever Place is of greatest Dignity in those Celestial Orbs thither Christ ascended and there now Reigns in Glory III. The Advantages which the Church and all the Members of it received from the Ascension of Christ are many and great The first and most eminent Benefit derived from it was the Mission of the Holy Ghost of which I spoke before A Benefit which was indeed more sensible in the Apostolick times when it communicated to many the gift of Tongues the power of working Miracles or a prophetick Spirit but is at this day no less advantageous since by the Influences and Operations of the Holy Ghost the Church is still maintained the Faithful are enabled to perform their Duty and the unfaithful are converted Thus the Ascension of Christ became a lasting Benefit to all his Followers procuring to them those Graces which otherwise could never have been obtained The Ascension of Elijah made one Elisha left a double Portion of his Spirit with one Disciple to be communicated to no other but the Ascension of Christ was of universal Benefit producing blessed Effects which should extend to all Believers and to all Ages A second Benefit of the Ascension of our Lord is the Confirmation of our Faith which from thence received firm Assurance of the truth of his Doctrine and the Divinity of his Person He had proclaimed to the unbelieving Jews as well as to his own Disciples in the VI. of St. John that he would ascend into Heaven What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before After his Resurrection he said unto the Women Go to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father It was not therefore unexpected to the Apostles they were acquainted with his Resolutions herein and when they faw effected what he had before foretold them they could no longer doubt that he was the true Messias Thus although the prophetical Office of our Lord expired upon the Cross all his subsequent Actions offered convincing Arguments to Mankind of the truth of his Mission and the certainty of those things he taught No greater Proof of either could be imagined than his Resurrection from the Dead and when to this was added his Ascension into Heaven there was no more place left for doubt Thus the Faith of the Apostles was confirmed by the Ascension of Christ but their Hopes were much more exalted By this glorious Triumph they saw him put into Possession of that ample Power which they so long wished to be assumed by him which might enable him to reward his Followers and effect those Promises which he had made to them In John XIV he had told them there were many Mansions in his Fathers house and that he went before to prepare a place for them intending to receive them afterwards to himself that where he was there they might be also The former part of the Promise they saw to be effected in his Ascension and thence conceived assured Hope that the latter would be accomplished There can be no greater Motive to believe the truth of Prophecies or Promises than to consider the performance of those which went before The same foreknowledge of our Lord which foresaw the Exaltation of himself could as easily foresee the like Reward to be given to his Followers and the same Power which advanced him to the right hand of God could exalt whomsoever he pleased into Heaven So that his Power could not be questioned and his Will therein he had often declared assuring them Joh. XII 32. When I am lifted up from the Earth I will draw all Men unto me Herein the Hopes of all Mankind received increase and strength They had all impatiently wished for Immortality it was easie to believe that their Souls should still exist but their Bodies were equally parts of themselves They were equally concerned for the future Happiness of both yet that either should be hereafter Happy they were assured only by the Revelation of Christ. He affirmed it he promised it he confirmed it by wonderful Signs and Miracles yet it could not but seem strange that Flesh and Blood should inherit the Kingdom of God that such a gross corporeal Being should be admitted to the Society of Angels that Man who was excluded from an Earthly Paradise should be taken up to the immediate Presence of God All this did seem incredible till they saw an Example of it in the Body of Christ which consisting of the same Flesh and Blood partaking of the same Nature was visibly received into Heaven and placed in eternal Happiness By this they were convinced that the like Immortality of their own Bodies was not impossible and while they considered the Promises of Christ and their own Relation to him that he was the first Fruits of humane Nature their forerunner which is entred into Heaven for them the Captain of their Salvation and the Head of their Society they were fully satisfied that it should in time be granted to them since what he foretold of his own Ascension they saw effected since it was but natural to follow their Captain their Head and their Forerunner and with him to be received into the place of their desired Happiness Farther as Christ is our King and our Priest the Benefits which we hope to receive from either of those his Offices received increase by his Ascension into Heaven As King he is thereby invested in the actual Dominion of his Church enabled to bestow upon her all those Graces and extraordinary Assistances which are necessary for her Well-being As our Priest his Intercessions with God the Father in our behalf are made much more prevalent by his personal Presence with him Under the Law the Efficacy of
justly to be accounted laudable For if we consider the great Lines and main Parts of the Doctrine of Christ they will be found to direct the Practice of those Actions which by all the World must be acknowledged to be good and excellent to be laudable and divine such as are Justice Sobriety Devotion and Charity It is not among Christians alone that such Actions are esteemed Praise-worthy All Parties of sober Men as well Heathens as those professing revealed Religions have agreed in this common Sentiment in the Veneration and Praise of all such Vertues From hence it was that even when the Heathens derided the Faith of the Cross they still acknowledged the Excellency of those Persons who professed it They also were convinced that all those moral Vertues were the Perfection of Mankind only in this they disagreed that whereas they accounted the uniform Practice of them to be an undertaking possible only to more exalted Minds Christ had made it the Duty of all his Followers Although even this difference of Opinion could not but raise their Thoughts to an extreme Veneration of that Divine Person who formed these Laws and even forced from them a Confession of that Praise which was due to such an Institution and the Author of it Thus the very Nature of a Christian Life as it is directed by the Precepts of our Lord fitteth it to be an eminent Example to others He distinguished his Religion from all others by the Excellency of his Laws and Precepts so that whosoever should observe them must distinguish themselves from the rest of the World by a more perfect exercise of Vertue and Holiness And hence it is that he naturally infers in the twentieth Verse Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no Case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was the exact performance of all the Legal Institutions of the Mosaical Law of Sacrifices Washings and other Ceremonies which abstracting from the positive Command of God had nothing excellent in the Practice of them To see the Jews killing their Sacrificed Beasts washing their Bodies often or Circumcising themselves was no Motive of Holiness or giving Glory to God to those who were not of the same Religion They discerned nothing laudable in all this and were rather prompted to pity the Slavery than to imitate the Devotion of their Service Whereas the Practice of those good Works which Christianity imposeth is amiable and lovely in the sight of all Men ever carrieth along with it the Commendation and Approbation of all Spectators Thus our Lord fitted his Doctrine to be a light to the World and least it should fail of its designed End he hath commanded us to improve it to its right use and therein hath led the way by his own Example He confined not himself to a Desart as did John the Baptist but conversed in their Cities and more frequented Meetings that all Men might see the constant Piety Goodness and Charity which attended all his Actions be instructed by them and drawn to the Imitation of them He indulged his Conversation to Publicans and Sinners that he might gain them first to a love of his Person and then to an imitation of his Vertue He disdained not the Company of any who might receive advantage from his Doctrine or Example And that he might fit his Life for an universal Pattern to all his Followers he engaged not in the constant Practice of extraordinary Austerities as did John the Baptist but amidst the most severe and strict Exercise of all Vertues allowed to himself the innocent Pleasures and Entertainments of the World He refused not to sit down with those who invited him to splendid Entertainments as with Levi and Zacheus nor to be present at the Marriage-Feast At other times he was content to suffer Hunger and Cold Contempt and the vilest Injuries to undergo long watching in Prayer and Fasting For so it behoved him even in this Sense also to perform all Righteousness who was to be the grand Exemplar to all succeeding Ages Not to confine himself to any one method of Life least thereby his Example should become deficient to those who should be engaged in another but to pass through all the more ordinary Actions and Varieties of humane Life that in all Cases we might be able to approve and direct our Actions by conforming them to his Practice and if any doubt should arise concerning them might be able to justifie them by the Authority of his Example Both the Observation therefore of the Precepts and the Imitation of the Practice of Christ which are equally the Duty of every Christian engageth him to be exemplar in his Life and Conduct And thus first the whole Body of Christians will become a light to the rest of the World and then every Member of the Church to each other Our Lord describeth both in this place very lively Ye are the Salt of the Earth Verse 13. The rest of the World will remain in Sin and Corruption but in the numerous Society which I shall found and call by my Name Piety and Vertue and whatsoever is good and excellent shall be maintained Yet not to be confined to that Society alone but to be communicated to all who shall receive Instruction from it Ye are the light of the World Verse 14. The greater part of Mankind remain in Darkness and Ignorance but I have placed my Church as a glorious Light to dispel this Darkness and remove this Ignorance that so all who do but lift up their Eyes have the least inclination to Truth and Goodness may there discover the light and repair to it And this cannot fail to take effect while the brightness of this Light shall remain while the Church shall continue glorious and unspotted while the Members of it shall all or the more part of them perform their Duty For as it followeth a City placed on a Hill or a Light placed in a Room cannot be hid If indeed those Vertues which I command be observed by those who profess my Name if Justice Chastity Beneficence and other Marks of Goodness be indeed so eminently exercised by so numerous a Body of Men it cannot be but the rest of Mankind will take notice of it and as many as desire to be freed from Darkness will approach to this Light Or if thro' sloth and negligence they still continue afar off however they will not be able to deny that they see the Light and must admire both it and the Author of it Thus the meanest Christian may make himself truly Exemplary by performing his Duty conscientiously in the Station in which God hath placed him Although his Understanding and Abilities have not fitted him to be an Example to others singly considered If he well dischargeth his single Station although never so mean in the Church he contributeth to this great Design of Christ of making his Church a
the brightness of the Sun the Example of wise and holy Men to the fixed Stars which however far inferior to the Glory of the Sun yet are seated in Heaven and communicate to the Earth a Light never to be extinguished and that at a great distance The nearer we approach to these luminous Bodies the greater Light we shall receive from them The Examples of holy Men while alive are so many shining and burning Lights in their several Generations and even after their Deaths will derive exceeding influence to succeeding Ages so long as the Memory of their eminent Piety and good Works shall be continued Those excellent Graces wherewith they were endued those noble Testimonies of Vertue and Holiness which they gave tended no less to the benefit of the whole Church and the instruction of other Christians than to their own Salvation and if they be not equally beneficial to us at this distance of time it is because we either take no Care to obtain the knowledge of them or suffer the remembrance of them to slip out of our Minds It is undeniable indeed that in this present Age and among us especially the Memory of these things is almost lost which is not the least cause of the prevailing wickedness of the Age and present Examples of equal Lustre are very rare or indeed scarce any yet for all that those Holy Persons cease not to retain their glorious Seat in Heaven and there as the Prophet saith To shine as the brightness of the Firmament as the fixed Stars always maintain their Stations and preserve their Light altho' at any time not seen by us To this glorious Station in Heaven our Lord hath promised to advance all those who by extraordinary Piety and the eminent Exercise of good Works shall endeavour not only to save their own Souls but also to Profit the Church in general and to promote the Salvation of any other in particular May the hope of this glorious Reward excite every one of you to the performance of this Duty of Exemplariness And may God of his infinite Mercy accept and Crown your Endeavours for the sake and Merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom c. The One and Twentieth SERMON Preach'd on Decemb. 25th 1690. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Luk. II. 14. Glory to God in the highest and on Earth Peace Good-will towards Men WHAT the Patriarchs saw afar off and desired what the Prophets foretold and just Men in all preceding Ages did assuredly expect the Manifestation of God in the Flesh and the Salvation of Mankind to be wrought thereby did this Day receive its Final accomplishment by the Birth of our Lord and Saviour the Commemoration of which is the occasion of this present Solemnity Nor can we more fitly commemorate it than by this admirable Hymn which the Angels and heavenly Host upon this occasion sang before us and the Church hath in all Ages since retained in her most Sacred Offices Glory be to God in the highest and on Earth Peace Good-will towards Men. This Hymn seems to have been a part of the publick Service of the Jews and to have been employed by them to express and celebrate the most illustrious Instances of the Divine Goodness to them For we find Acclamations very like to it in several places of Scripture and particularly upon the triumphant Entry of Christ into Jerusalem The Jews being perswaded that their long-looked for Messias was now come and all the temporal Advantages which they fancied would attend his Coming cryed out Peace in Heaven and Glory in the Highest But surely upon no occasion was it ever so justly used as by the Angels upon this Day in which the Divine Glory did so eminently shine forth and the eternal Happiness of Mankind did commence For from the Angels we receive this Hymn and are taught to sing it by their Example which is related in the Verse preceding the Text And suddenly there was with the Angels a multitude of the heavenly Host praising God and saying c. One Angel declared to the Shepherds the glad Tidings of great joy which should be to all People the Birth of Christ but the whole Quire of Angels the Host of Heaven joyned to sing Praise to God and celebrate those Benefits which were that day derived down upon all Mankind Themselves received not like Benefits to Men from the Incarnation of the Son of God yet returned Glory to God for it The Reasons of which it may not be amiss to lay down before I proceed to consider the parts of this Hymn singly First then the Angels were moved to give Thanks to God by the increase of the Divine Glory among Men which they foresaw would be consequent to this Incarnation Their Office is to attend continually before the Throne of God and sing Praises without Intermission to him so that every new increase of the Divine Glory inflames their Zeal in this Holy Office The primary Reasons indeed of that Glory and Praise which they continually yield to God are eternal being drawn from his immutable Attributes of supreme Power Wisdom Goodness and Majesty Yet every illustrious Manifestation of any of these glorious Attributes by external Effects becometh also the Subject of their Praise Thus in in Revel IV. 8. we find the Angels celebrating the eternal Attributes of God in that Hymn Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come And in many other places celebrating the Effects of these Attributes as Rev. XV. 3. Great and marvellous are thy Works Lord God Almighty and XIX 7. Let us be glad and rejoyce and give Honour to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come Nay as it should seem by comparing the several forms of Doxology to be found in the Book of Revelations the Angels since the Manifestation of the Mystery of God incarnate have in a manner changed the Subject of their Doxologies and confined themselves almost wholly to the Contemplation of this Mystery and the glorious Effects of it For in the beginning of that Book while the secrets of Heaven are still supposed to be Sealed up the wonderful Effects of this Mystery not yet to be fully disclosed all their Doxologies insist upon the general Attributes of the Divine Nature But after the full Declaration and Completion of those glorious Events and Effects of this Mystery which are there described the Argument of the heavenly Hymns is altered and imployed in the celebrating the Victories of the Lamb the overthrow of Satan and the Happiness of the Kingdom of the Messias That is so eminent and admirable is the Mystery of this Day so much conducing to the Divine Glory that since the Completion of it it is become the chief Subject of the Contemplation of those Holy Spirits who hereby best of all discern and are enabled to celebrate that Power Wisdom and Goodness which they before admired in God Farther the Angels celebrated the Birth of Christ as rejoycing at the