Neighbours He brought honour to the preferments he possess'd and valued none but such as naturally fell to him in the true channel of Merit 3. LOOK upon him as a Counsellor to his Prince he never suggested in publick or in private but what was for the honour of the King the Peace and Tranquillity of the Subjects the regular administration of Justice and the safety of His Majesties Dominions on all hands His advice was always temper'd with Prudence Caution and Foresight he understood Mankind exactly and the particular genius of this Nation so all his Counsels were even calm and moderate never surpriz'd or hurry'd unto any thing precipitate or indeliberate No Man ever had the resolution of a Great Captain and the gravity of a Senator more happily contemper'd 4. WHAT need I mention his affability and candor his charming inoffensive and pleasant Conversation Nothing tempestuous nothing rough nothing disorderly in his Behaviour he was of easie access to all ranks of Men and knew that Men in high Places cannot live without their Inferiors And if at any time his Anger broke forth into any appearances of Indignation it was to chastise and drive from him what is base unjust ungentile mean and vicious Will you consider him in his more familiar Relations as a Neighbour as a Husband as a Father as a Friend how amiable in all of them did he appear Friendship seemed to be his very Element and his proper Air And as none knew better how to make a choice so none more stedfast to that sacred tye The last words he spoke distinctly were expressions of Friendship to a Person of Quality with what gratitude was he wont to acknowledge acts of Kindness and Civility done him in the time of his Imprisonment in England Take him altogether he was a proper standard of Vertue fit for the imitation of the present Age and the commendation of Posterity Would God there were but many such in our Nation who truly needed so little the artifice of Flattery and despised it as much as our Deceased General BUT my Lords and Gentlemen when I have said this if I had no more to say perhaps I had said nothing All that is splendid and glorious in the Eye of Mortals is nothing in compare with the Spirit of true Religion In all his Life-time and in all the different Occurrences and Periods of his Troubles he had deep impressions of the Divinity Religion in him was not an idle speculation but broke forth and shined in all his Actions his devotions to God were fervent sincere and constant The expressions of his Charity to his Neighbours were full of affection love and sincerity He took his Characters of a Religious Man not from the dreams and fooleries of Enthusiasm but from the plain words of S. James Who is a wise man and endow'd with knowledge amongst you Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom And that other of the same Apostle Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world The instances of his Charity have been many and liberal and seasonably conveyed some of them visible great and lasting Let us follow him to his Death Bed and see his behaviour there BEING of a vigorous and cleanly Constitution he lived to the Age of Seventy notwithstanding of the constant fatigue of his Life When he felt that his Disease was like to prove stubborn and that it resisted the skill and care of the learnedst Physicians he sent for a pious and grave Divine of our Church with whom he took sweet Counsel how to order his Soul for its last flight to the other World And in this interval gave all evidences of the greatness and goodness of his Spirit ONE of the Physicians that waited on him did with all modesty and discretion insinuate that their endeavours were like to have no success He received the news of Death with all composure and equality of Spirit he never knew what fear meant and he met the King of Terrors not with that resolute sullenness and stupidity that is sometimes observable in the most profligate but with all calmness and resolution as became the strength of Faith the hopes of Immortality and the Majesty of Christian Religion THE frequent attacques of a lingring Disease had now brought him upon the coasts of Eternity he ordered his worldly Affairs with that speed and discretion that was always visible in all his actions he gave his Fatherly Advice and Blessing in the most Christian and composed manner to his dearest Relatives and marks of his Favour and Bounty to all his Servants And all this with that exactness of Memory and undisturb'd Judgment that ever attended him he omitted nothing that was to be done And then he beseeched such as were about him in the Bowels of Jesus Christ to give him no more trouble about worldly Affairs so be left the World in his Thoughts and Meditations and looked stedfastly to the things that are above and by frequent flights and ejaculations to Heaven was loosed from the Body from all the interests and concerns of it before he left his earthly habitation How weak are the strongest Chains that tye us to the Earth when we are thus illuminated when we are near our heavenly Country when the Soul begins to tast of the rivers of pleasure that are at Gods right hand Then she gathers together her spiritual Forces and the World becomes so insipid that she can relish nothing but the Fruits of the Tree of Life O happy day when we have run thorow the difficult stages of a wearisom World we then can say in the Apostles Language We know that if this our earthly house were broken down we have houses with God not made with hands eternal in the heavens LET us enter into the Grave before we are carried thither and from thence view the various tossings of mens thoughts to scramble together the heaviest pieces of the Earth how soon do the glories of it vanish into a shadow and the painted nothings that we foolishly admire are found empty and unsatisfying Are those the things we are to hunt after Are we made for them Have not we vast appetites and inclinations beyond them Can they serve us in our greatest extremities Let us remember then wherefore we are made For here we are but Pilgrims and Strangers Should not we pray with the Psalmist Lord teach me to know mine end and the measure of my days that I may know how frail I am Those dark habitations in which we live will shortly crumble to dust Upon this occasion we are to lift our Eyes from the Coffin where his earthly remains are laid to the place and company and employment of his Soul where we shall be cloathed with Light as the Angels of God and encompassed with the beams of
Dishonours and Churchyards that are the Seminaries of the Resurrection should not be places of pasturage for all kind of Animals And would to God that the Laity only were to be blam'd for this impious Prophanation BUT Fourthly Are our Bodies so curiously built Judge what the Soul must be that Lamp of Light that Candle of the Lord the invisible Jewel that 's laid up in that Casement 't is no less than the Breath of God it bears the Image of the Deity in legible Characters How active and indefatigable is it in the the search of Truth How much above the Enjoyments of Sense and feculent Pleasures of the Body With what transport doth it embrace Conclusions drawn from their Principles How fond is it of its own Contemplations that are raised on the immoveable Pillars of Reason How swifts in its Thoughts How easily does it fly round the Earth climb the Heavens and view the Creation 'T is a divine Spark of Light from the Father of Spirits that glances in those prisons of flesh for a while it 's true Pleasures are pure and Angelical it grasps Truth for the sake of Truth with Order and Complacency and makes to it self Ladders of true Consequences from the visible Creatures to ascend to Heaven BUT let us dwell a while longer on this Meditation Did God furnish our Minds with such noble Powers only to till the Ground and make provision for the flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof No certainly This vast and capacious Spirit that than lodge so many Truths together without Confusion or Disorder was design'd to enjoy God any thing else falls short of its Height and Grandeur WHENCE is this Appetite of Immortality that we feel within our selves Is it altogether in vain Did God place it within our Souls purely to vex us Was there nothing design'd to satisfie it Yes certainly else Mankind had been a phantastick Impertinence the vainest and the silliest nothing in the Creation For if in this life only we had hope we were of all men the most miserable confined to the Earth when our Souls fly far beyond it and immured in the Walls of Flesh when their Capacities dispose them for the Life and Enjoyment of Angels ALL the rest of the Creatures have Objects proper for their Appetites shall Man alone have Inclinations beyond the Earth and yet die like the Beasts that perish Let no such thought enter our Souls for we shall see him as he is LET me add to this If the Soul be so vivacious in its Walls of Flesh when 't is chained in this dark Tabernacle that as Quintilian observes it flies in a trace from one Object to another nothing can engross its power and strength how large and comprehensive must it be when we come to our Countrey above when we are united to the original Wisdom Light and Truth What a foolish violence doe we offer to our Souls when we bend and bow them to earthly Enjoyments Why did we not rather let them fly to the place of their rest and tranquility Their natural motion is towards Heaven and Christian Religion designs no more than their Primitive Liberty WHEN we would persuade Men to be religious we need not borrow our Arguments from foreign Topicks let them only look inwards let them view the frame of their own Souls their Knowledge Will and Memory the uneasie Reflections of their Consciences when they do amiss it makes them taste whether they will or not the fears of an impartial Tribunal that drags them in the midst of their Jollities before that Judge that can neither be deceived nor be imposed upon HEAR then the calm Reasonings of your own Spirits you may shift the force of our Arguments when we have urged them with all Zeal and Sincerity but you cannot hide your selves from that invisible Judge your own Souls IT were Folly in the highest degree to feed a hungry Stomach with wise Sayings excellent Diagrams or if such things were offered for the cure of a Man in a raging Fever this is the Folly we transcribe when we endeavour to satisfie our Souls with any thing short of God himself the Satisfaction and Happiness that we look after is higher than the Earth The Earth says it is not in me and the Sea says it 's not in me and the Treasures of both the Indies have nothing in them to feed the strong Desires of Immortality or to fill the Appetite of Reason BUT Fifthly Are our Souls and Bodies such Monuments of the Divine Wisdom should we not then frequently view and consider our own Frame and Composition Why are we such Strangers to our selves When the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the great deep the rest of the Creatures were formed in their order as they were commanded to appear by his word that commanded things which are not as if they were they were inded the more negligent strokes of Omnipotence but MAN appears by his deliberate Method and set off with the Characters of his Image in Wisdom Purity Liberty Immortality What Majesty in these Words Come let us make Man in our own Image And if the very rubbish of this Edifice the ruines of him in his lapsed Condition be so magnificent what was he when but a little lower than the Angels crowned with glory and dignity Especially when we remember that still he is capable of such Improvements Recover him by Education from his childish Vanities from his untamed Lust and Passions furnish him with Health Strength all Wisdom divine and humane invest him with publick Honour and Attendance and then he is but some degrees below the Angels of God And yet all this is but a shadow and a dream in compare with what Improvements he is capable of when regenerate to the Image of God and the hope of Glory ARE not we our selves then worthy of our most serious thoughts True Religion teaches a Man to converse with himself in the noblest manner to covet the highest Improvements of his own Nature to observe his own Failings Seneca tells us in one of his Epistles that it was his custom every Night when the candle was out calmly to examine himself and look narrowly into the Retirements of his own Conscience this often and seriously performed begat Calmness and Serenity in his Bosom which he compares to the Regions above the Moon where there are no Clouds no Vapours no Exhalations BUT a wicked Man is afraid to look within himself the violent Earthquakes and shakings of his Spirit make those Reflections intolerable Did we thus take our selves more accurately to task we would not have so much spare time to descant on the Actions of others we should be more merciful in our Censures less severe in our Reflections more equitable and just in all our Proceedings When Pausanias the Lacedemonian desired Simonides the Poet to bestow some memorable Saying upon him he gave him this Remember that you are a man AND indeed this contained a Compend
believe in him Thirdly The Interest that we have in his purchase by our adherence to him and dependence on him He that believes on me though he were dead yet shall he live First THAT our Saviour did raise himself from the dead is certain else our Religion is but a fable and a lying vanity It is S. Paul's own Inference to the Corinthians If Christ be not risen then our faith is in vain and we are yet in our sins And so our Saviour tells the Disciples that Christ must needs suffer and rise from the dead the third day The Spirit of Prophecy did enlighten the Jewish Church and foretold the success glories and triumphs of the Messias He shall drink of the brook in the way therefore shall he lift his head And Isa 53.10 That when he made his Soul an offering for sin he should prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand That because he had poured out his Soul unto death God would divide him a portion with the Great and he should divide the Spoils with the strong All those Predictions have the Resurrection of our Saviour in their bosom and without it they are nothing When he was declared to be the Son of God by the Resurrection from the dead the suspicions concerning his Person were remov'd he appear'd then to be the Christ of God the Lord of all things the Judge of the world And his mean equipage bitter pains and shameful disgraces did but heighten and inflame the Zeal and Devotion of Jew and Gentile How mysterious was the stratagem of his Love to hide the Glories of his Divinity to obscure the brightness of his Majesty by the interposal of human Nature to cloath himself with our flesh that he might die that through death he might overcome him that had the power of death and by his omnipotence raise himself from death and the grave For though he was Crucified through weakness yet he liveth by the power of God He was put to death as a notorious Malefactor exposed to the reproach and contempt of all Nations treated as an Enemy to God and to true Religion his adversaries insulted over him as one stricken smitten of God But when it appear'd that he was the mighty Favorite of Heaven by his Resurrection from the Dead how did this confute their Reasoning How did it baffle their Accusations How did it upbraid their Ignorance and scatter their vain Surmises and aggravate their incurable Malice Since he must needs be acknowledged to be the Messias in defiance of all spite and contradiction The stone which the builders refus'd became the head-corner-stone of the building Being found in fashion as a man be humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every Tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father Now the human Nature is rais'd above the Angelical in the Person of our Saviour And the hosts of heaven fall down before him that was dead and is alive and dies no more and every creature which is in heaven and in earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea say with a loud voice Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessings The very thought of it delivers us from all our fears as the value and merit from our offences This is the Triumphant Song of the Christian Church the strong Tower we flie to in all our straits and difficulties the immovable Author of our Faith Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us The meditation of it is the strongest inducement to a holy life for he was rais'd to bless us in turning every one of us from our iniquities For as he was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father Even so we also should walk in newness of life And if you be present with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God Do we worship him that is risen from the dead and brake thorow the Iron barrs of death and yet remain captive our selves under the tyranny and bondage of our sins Let it appear by our heavenly Conversation that we are acted by a Spirit superior to the World that we are born of God that he that is in us is stronger than he that is in the world for in this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother Do we believe that our Saviour is victorious over Death and the Grave and yet shall we remain slaves to our Lusts and Passions Let the contrary appear that we are united to him in the closest manner encouraged by his Promises and enliven'd by his Spirit Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise think on these things And this is the most proper method to prove to the World the Resurrection of our Saviour and the divinity of our Religion and this was the Argument that the first Christians made frequently use of to confound their Adversaries For how can we be made partakers of the Divine Nature but by the Divine Power Shall we live a Life more pure and heavenly than the rest of Mankind if we are not inspir'd with a Spirit not only opposite to but above the maxims principles and genius of the World Shall the Scythians Persians and Romans forsake their fierceness lasciviousness and pride and become calm and chast and humble if they have no other rule to direct them than the glimmerings of Nature and weak essays of Philosophy Is it possible that we can overcome the Inclinations of Nature Lust Passion and Revenge but by a Spirit higher than Nature Can evil Habits be so soon removed Or can the Ethiopian change his Skin If we are then changed from what we were to the true use of our Reason and the acknowledgments of the Deity and the practice of all Vertue To what cause can this change be imputed but to the Divine Spirit of Jesus whose powerful intercecession prevails to Redeem us from under the dominion of all Error Darkness and Prejudice Do we then believe in Christ risen from the dead Let us live no more to sin but unto him that died for us and
the true Philosophy that animates against the pale fears and gloomy apprehensions of the Grave The merry Atheist that braved Death at a distance begins to tremble when it makes its approaches nearer then his Jests and his wanton Efforts of Fancy vanish into fearful expectations He flies to his desperate Complaints uneffectual Wishes and fruitless Prayers for the time of Prayer is over but the Christian gathers his Forces and strengthens himself in the Victory and Sacrifice and Power of our Lord Jesus Christ O how sad is it to delay the examination of our Consciences the confession of our Sins the amendment of our Lives until we have no more time than the few moments that just enter us into the Grave 6. WHEN we think of the Resurrection it should spiritualize our Souls and teach us in our desires and designs to fly above this terrestrial feculent Globe How come we to be so unwilling to leave those Habitations of sin and misery How come we to admire nothing and vanity when we are Candidates for a heavenly Kingdom If ye be risen with Christ set your affections on the things that are above c. Let the belief of the Resurrection put us in mind of the future Judgment For he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Can we think of that solemn Appearance without fear And if we call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth every man according to his works Let us pass the time of our sojourning here in fear Let our zeal appear more and more in trimming and preparing our Souls for Eternity That we may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if by any means we may attain unto the resurrection of the dead THE third thing I proposed to speak to is the Interest that our faith gives us in a happy Resurrection I mean such a lively faith as is recommended to us in the Gospel Not every one that saith Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven I mean the faith that purifies the heart and overcomes the World and assimilates us to the temper and Spirit of the blessed Inhabitants above and makes us more than Conquerors through Jesus Christ that loved us MY Lords and Gentlemen so far have I discours'd of this Consolatory Argument to ease our mind upon this sorrowful occasion But you see another Text viz. the earthly remains of the noble Viscount of Strathallan When I remember his true Vertues I despair to say any thing proportionable to his worth the naming of him once suggests greater thoughts than ordinarily occur When we form to our selves the most perfect Idea's of Valour and honour and generosity then we have the best Notion of that great Soul that once lodged in that Tabernacle All the Projects of his Mind were beyond the common Level The generous Inclinations he derived from his Ancestors began to appear very early A Family too well known in Britain for every thing that is great ancient loyal and generous to need any particular descants of mine I am not to act the part of a Herauld from this place there is none capable to be my Hearer but knows already how needless it is to tell Scotchmen of the noble Atchievments and many Illustrious branches of that Cedar of which our deceased General is descended He began to bear Arms when as yet he had not strength enough to manage them the vigour and alacrity of his Spirit out running the growth of his body He then when but a Child lodged no thought in his Breast but such as were daring great and difficult When he was a Boy at St. Leonard's College he gave all the proof of a docile and capacious Spirit far above any of his School-fellows but his Mind that always entertain'd extraordinary Enterprises began to be weary of an unactive life Then it was that he was made Captain in that Regiment that went to Ireland against the Rebels under the Command of an old and experienced Officer In that expedition he behaved with so much life and resolution as drew upon him the eyes of all men and every body concluded the young Captain was calculated for the greatest actions There are no words so proper for this period of his life as those we meet with in the life of Agricola Nec Agricola licenter more juvenum qui militiam in lasciviam vertunt neque segniter ad voluptates Commeatus titulum tribunatus inscitiam retulit Sed noscere provinciam nosci exercitui discere à peritis sequi optimos nihil appetere jactatione nihil ob formidinem recusare simulque anxius intentus agere And this without the change of one word was his deserved Character when first he appeared in the Fields HE came over from Ireland some years after and assisted those Forces that beat the Rebels once at Stirling and all those Loyal Gentlemen engaged in that Expedition upon all occasions bestow'd upon him the most ample Applause and unforced Commendations that were truly due to his skill conduct and fidelity AFTER this General Drummond and all his Associates became so odious to the prevailing Faction of the Covenanters that until the Mock-repentance after Dunbar fight he was not suffered to engage in his Majesties Service Mean while he went to London and the Forces commanded by his Friend were disbanded And there he was a Spectator of that Tragedy that pierced his Soul with the most exquisit grief I mean the Martyrdom of King Charles the First The Scene he saw and the preparations to the fatal blow but more he could not endure He himself could not afterwards give an account of that consternation that seized his Spirits All that 's black and terrible invaded his Soul at once the most dismal Passions struggled within his Breast confusion and indignation possest his Heart and nothing but the force of Christian Religion and the belief of Providence could have preserved his Mind from sinking How can his great Soul but burst forth into all expressions of Sadness to see prosperous Villany lift up its head withy so much rage and insolence and defie the Justice of the Almighty and pull down his Image upon earth and sacrifice the best of Men the best of Kings to the fury and hypocrisie of the Rabble O Heavens Let not the Plagues due to the Cry of that sacred Blood fall upon Britain Next day after with all speed he went to Holland to the Prince and there he was the first that saluted him King He came over with his late Majesty and commanded a Brigade of that Army that went to Worcester where his Courage and Magnanimity appear'd to the highest
stoop so low as to take notice of man or the highest amongst the sons of men who dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust THIS Contemplation is so just and so natural to the Souls of Men that it appeared frequently beyond the bounds of the Church Tully argues pertinently from this Consideration that it were the grossest Stupidity the most unaccountable Folly the most unreasonable Madness to admit that we our selves are endued with a Principle of Wisdom and free Election that our Actions are managed by counsel and choice and yet think that the vast Machine of the World the Harmony of all its parts the Beauty Order and Variety of all its wonderful productions should be destitute of some supreme and infinitely wise Contriver to regulate its Motions and order all its Revolutions And this may be discovered in the whole and through every part of it the divine Providence displays its Artifice in the works of Nature to the conviction of the most stubborn and the observation of the most ignorant THE Lillies of the field do exceed the glory of Solomon and the little Flowers that we overlook preach the unimitable Wisdom of their Creator The Beauty of Nature and its Productions infinitely surpasses the faint Endeavours of human Skill and Invention In the best polish'd Steel we discern remarkable protuberances but when we view the works of Nature whether by our eyes immediately or by the interposal of Microscopes we are forc'd to say with the Psalmist Marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well AND yet no part of the visible frame of Nature points more significantly to the Deity than the Body of Man which made the devout Psalmist retire into himself as into the Abstract and Epitome of the World the Quintessence of the Creation he had for a while ranged abroad his thoughts ran the circuit of the Heavens and saw as it were the Deity tuning the Spheres ruling the Orbs ordering the course of the Sun when he perceived that secret and universal spring of Motion the wheel within the wheels his unfathomable Wisdom his unlimited Goodness his irresistible Power his active Providence his unsearchable Omniscience his Eyes that pierce to the secrets that are buried in darkness then he comes home fully satisfied fraughted as it were with the purchase of his Enquiry I will praise thee O God c. Galen in his Book De Vsu Partium which some say he wrote in a kind of divine Enthusiasm the more he viewed the Skill that is transparent in the structures of human Bodies the Wisdom and Art that shines in the formation of all the parts the more clearly did he discover the Author of Nature And tho he was no great Friend to Religion yet his Philosophy constrained him to acknowledge that there was some divine Skill some invisible Hand that guided the motions of Nature and presided over all its actings they appear to be ordered pondere numero mensura every grain weight weighed in the balance of infinite Wisdom WE cannot look abroad either below or above but all things preach the One Great Numen whose Power and Presence runs to and again without whose Government and Conduct the Elements would break their mutual league and correspondence they would quickly jumble themselves into their original Chaos and break all the Laws of Order and Beauty THIS is the voice of universal Nature but made more loud and audible in the structure of Man's Body So one of the Ancients reasons against that acute Heathen Cecilius after he had considered the Heavens and the Earth the the four Seasons of the Year the Hills Valleys Trees Mountains the Stars and their influence he then as it were to strengthen his Argument to give it the last stroke that he might force his Adversary to yield considers the structure of human Bodies he invites him to admire the stately House that God built for the Soul the five Senses plac'd in the higher rooms to view and watch over the concerns of the body his Eye full of Life and Majesty most useful and yet most beautiful his erect Countenance the convenient habitation of his Brain his Veins like so many channels wherein the Blood regularly circulates his Nervs and Arteries his Stature Proportion and Features his Arms and Limbs the Distance Use and Situation of all his parts undeniably prove the Wisdom of God that displays it self more visibly in Man than any where else So that as that excellent Author reasons 't is hard to know whether the Use or Ornament exceed one the other but to be sure both are undeniable Monuments of infinite Wisdom and Omniscience IT was then a blind Fancy in Epicurus and his Followers to affirm That there was no design in the contrivance of Man's Body As if so beautiful a Fabrick had been rais'd by chance as if the Materials had leapt together without counsel or foresight as if they had started into this order without the direction of some wise and powerful Being as if blind Chance which is no cause at all had been the Parent of Proportion and Order But Tully affirms There is nothing so absurd but some of the Philosophers did own and defend it I leave this Contemplation and let us see how far we may improve the Psalmists Philosophy for the Government of our Lives And The Text offers two things to our Consideration I. The Psalmist's Acknowledgment and Resolution II. The Foundation and Ground of his Acknowledgment I consider the last particular in the first place which tho it be last in the order of the Words is yet first in order of Nature I mean the Ground and Foundation of his Acknowledgment Marvellous are thy works and c. GOD placed Man among his fellow Creatures as Superintendent of the lower World He is the Image of God and in him some rays of the Divinity appear and until such time as he fell from his Obedience by Folly and Presumption all the lower Animals did acknowledge him as their Governour He was plac'd upon the Theatre of the World to hold intelligence with Heaven to be the Mouth and publick Orator of the Creation to admire the works of God And he that was thus taught to admire is himself one of the greatest Miracles in Nature But let us improve this Theory to direct our Christian Practice and Morals And First ARE our Bodies thus curiously fram'd then certainly they ought not to be abus'd to the vilest drudgeries of Sin Why did God build such beautiful Tabernacles Did he design this stately Habitation to be the receptacle of wild and furious Passions and unbridled Appetites to be the dwelling-house of unclean Spirits Is it usual with wise and considerate Men to bestow so much cost and pains in building Houses for keeping the filthiest Creatures Do Men erect stately Palaces for the meanest uses No certainly No more did God design that our Bodies that are so wonderfully made
those who give way to this kind of sensuality are become stupid and irrecoverable Prov. 23.27 A whore is a deep ditch and a strange woman is a narrow pit Such as are immerst in and deluded with this enchantment may be compar'd unto the Companions of Vlysses who could not be brought back to their Ships but by Whips and Rods when once intoxicated with the juice of that Herb amongst the Lotophagi We are told by Solomon Prov. 27.22 That though you should bray a fool in a Morter yet will not his folly depart from him So apposite is the similitude that he makes use of to express the folly and sottishness of the Man that is entangled by the artifice and insinuations of a Whore Prov. 7.22 He goeth after her as an Ox goeth to the slaughter the one sees not his danger no more than the other and as a fool to the correction of the stocks Such is his stupidity he marches fast forward unto the fatal period of irrecoverable Impenitence whence there is no returning Matth. 12.43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a Man he walketh through dry places seeking rest and finding none c. The Devil hath the character of the unclean Spirit fastned upon him by special propriety I might add to this that though by our Nature we are a little lower than the Angels set over the inferiour Creatures yet those fleshly lusts do sink us below the beasts that perish BUT in the second place I promised from the Holy Scriptures to offer those Remedies that are most effectual to restrain and cure those vicious Inclinations And 1. LET us maintain a lively sense of Gods universal presence to whose eyes all things are naked and open for the night and the light are both alike to him Did we dwell on the thoughts of his Nature with stedfastness and reverence how easily would these Meditations quench and dissipate the fiery darts of the Devil Did we keep the eye of our Soul fixt on his Purity those impure Spirits durst not lodg within our bosoms 'T was this that kept the modest and generous Soul of Joseph free and untainted Gen. 39.9 amidst the caresses and solicitations of an imperious whorish Woman This sense of his presence is like the Angel that with a flaming sword guarded Paradise Our hearts thereby become what Solomon says of the Church Cant. 4.12 A garden inclosed and a fountain sealed This is it that banishes vain thoughts idle musings and lustful fancies from the mind Prov. 4.23 Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life And Matth. 23.26 Cleanse first that which is within the Cup and Platter that the outside of them may be clean also If this fire be not smother'd and quench'd within it will break out upon all occasions unto unhandsom significations of that distemper that the Soul is sick of Therefore that we may attain a masculine and a solid habit of Spirit proof against those temptations that shake and disturb silly Souls Let us maintain a constant Conversation in heaven Let us dwell with God until we feel him and the beams of his Majesty and Power suppressing all inordinate motions within us By this our Souls are taught to fly aloft above those feculent Exhalations that blindfold the more unwary and vagrant Spirits AND next to this let me 2. advise the keeping a strict guard over our senses It was the resolution of Job He made a Covenant with his eyes and the Prayer of David Psal 119.37 Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity And our Saviour insinuates how soon the Soul is fired by those windows Add to this that we should be careful of our company Can a man saith Solomon carry fire in his bosom and not be burnt We are to shun the Discourses and filthy Communications of men of corrupt minds It was generously done of Alexander the Great to reject the overture made to him by some of his Flatterers of visiting the Wife and Daughters of Darius when taken Captive in the War because so much commended for their exquisite Beauty He said it was very unbecoming and disgraceful that he so famous a Conqueror who had overcome so many men should expose himself to the hazard of being overcome by Women In this he was truly more triumphant than in all his Victories besides and Solomon proves that he that overcomes himself is more generously victorious than he that taketh a City the Conquest of the one lies much in the Valour of Souldiers Conduct of Captains Strength of Armies and all these things may be in the possession of one remarkable for Vice and Folly but the Victory over a Man himself proceeds certainly from his more divine half gaining ground of his earthly and sensual part Here then lies the true Excellency of our Nature that we are recovered from under the Dominion of Sensuality to that Soveraignty over the Senses which is the Birth-right of the Soul 3. THE most apposite Remedy that we can advise men to for the restraint of fleshly Lusts is Fasting and Prayer And to tell freely what I think in this matter most of all the carnal Vices ow their beginning and growth to the neglect of this Duty of Fasting which I cannot so properly call a particular Duty as a safe and sure Antidote against all Vice especially when it is attended with fervent Prayer and Devotion Our Saviour seems to join them both together in S. Matthew 26.41 Watch and Pray that ye enter not into temptation And 't is most certain that a full Belly is not proper for Watching and as improper for fervent Prayer This is acknowledged by the light of Nature the Pagans at all times when any thing extraordinary threatened their Peace and Happiness betook them to Fasting and Prayer so severe was the Fast enjoin'd by the King of Nineve And therefore our Saviour made Fasting no new Precept of his Religion but only gives Directions about it that the performance of it may be kept safe from Hypocrisie Ostentation and Superstition All Philosophers that endeavoured to advance Morality to any degree of Reputation judg'd it very worthy of their Practice not only for the Sobriety of the Mind but also for the Health of the Body even Epicurus himself had his fasting days Tho we had not immortal Souls to save tho we had not the View of so glorious a Crown and Prize yet when we remember how many are the Errors of our daily Conversation how apt we are to miscarry in the conduct of our ordinary business and how fond we are of our Mirth Friends and our ordinary Delights and how readily our most accurate Reasonings may deceive us how quickly our Tongues pour out those things that are dishonourable to God hurtful to our Neighbours nauseous to our Friends and disgraceful to the Christian Religion I should think that we have more than ordinary Inducements to oblige us to set apart some Portions of our time to
the cold embraces of the Grave 'T is inconsistent with the Goodness and Wisdom of God to make so noble a Creature and assign him no higher end than what may be attain'd with greater advantages by the Beasts that perish But those carnal lusts do not only weaken and blunt the edge and vigor of our Spirits in their natural perfections BUT 2. They do sully darken and defile them in their moral endowments See with what solemnity and magnificence the History of our Creation is introduc'd Gen. 1. Let us make man in our Image 'T was a design truly becoming the Majesty of God to repair the breaches made in this Image We are fallen from our Original Life and Purity that beauty and light that adorn'd our Nature is become almost deformity and darkness and so incurable is this bruise and wound that all the Rules of human Philosophy cannot remove the distemper God was manifested in our flesh that he might heal our Nature and restore his own Image upon our Souls he awakens us to fix our eye on this as our highest honour to be renewed again to the Image of him that created us And when he disparages the things that chiefly take up the thoughts of Mankind and endeavours to remove our mistakes concerning them he does it by this ponderous motive that ye may be like your Father which is in heaven To be like God is the highest beauty and the most glorious ornament of rational Souls The Image of God consists in light power love universal benevolence unconfin'd Goodness Charity Patience Greatness of Spirit Now where those Graces are there heaven is begun and the Soul is made strong and impregnated with divine force is more than Conqueror through Jesus Christ that loved us WE have heard the Catalogue of the Works of the Flesh out of the Epistle to the Galatians Let us view next the Fruits of the Spirit that are reckoned v. 22. Love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no Law When we confront the one with the other the Fruits of the Spirit with the Lusts of the Flesh there is no doubt to be made but that by the last our Souls are much sullied and defiled in their moral endowments 3. THOSE Fleshly Lusts rob us of our supernatural rewards not only by their merit but by their natural causality they indispose us for that place and employment where nothing enters that is impure Let us then awake and ask our selves if no consideration no argument be strong enough or great enough to startle us out of our sleep and lethargy Must those Souls of ours that have been made to serve God and to converse with him in the noblest manner be suffered to grovel in the dust to look no higher than the entertainments of Goats and Swine and Worms O! what an indignity is this to our Nature what a reproach to our Manhood what a dishonour to the Author of our Being how disgraceful is it to be accus'd of such follies as tne most part of Mankind are engaged in before the Throne of God! THERE is a second Argument to alienate our affections from fleshly lusts and that is taken from the consideration of our state and condition We are Pilgrims and Strangers Men cut off by their Religion from the Earth whose aims and designs are for another Kingdom and a life more pure and immovable more fixt and serene We are told by the Author to the Hebrews that here we have no continuing City THAT I may make this a little more clear let us enquire in what sense Christians are said to be Strangers upon Earth and Secondly What improvement we are to make of it 1. THEY are strangers in their language It is the most infallible character of a stranger so the Maid that accus'd S. Peter she thought she was very sure he was a Gallilean The Christian breaths in a heavenly air his heart and consequently his tongue is perfum'd with the odors of heaven S. James exhorts us Chap. 2. v. 12. So speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the Law of Liberty And the same S. James in Chap. 1. v. 26. assures us That if any man seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue he deceiveth his own heart his Religion is vain And again He that offendeth not in word is a perfect Man THE faults of the tongue are innumerable that glibe slippery and nimble Member that is certainly the glory of our Nature is frequently abus'd to the dishonour of God S. James Chap. 3. excellently paints its unruliness and extravagance v. 6. And the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity so is the tongue amongst our members that it setteth the course of nature on fire and it is set on fire of hell We are exhorted by the Apostle to have our speech seasoned with salt that we may know how to answer every man with Christian discretion modesty and charity free of all filthiness error levity slander detraction or evil surmisings Let us by our tongues discover the language of our Country of that heavenly Jerusalem that is above where the tongues of the Inhabitants are wholly taken up in the praises and acknowledgments of the Divine Goodness 2. THEY are strangers with regard to their Laws Matth. 5. v. ult Love your enemies do good to them that hate you pray for them that despitefully use you bless them that curse you Can there be any thing devis'd or thought of that runs more directly opposite to the Spirit and Genius that prevails in the World the treachery rapine revenge fraud and ambition that fill all places with noise and tumult They that fight under the Worlds standard look upon those pure Laws of Christian innocence humility and patience as the Romantic follies of imagination Their lust revenge and passion give them Laws they disdain to stoop to those Laws that are so different from the Statutes of the Kingdom of darkness and therefore the serious Christian is judg'd a fool by the World when this undefil'd Religion becomes the rule of his actions Our Saviour in the forming of his Laws had an eye to lessen and disparage all those things that the World most admires present and sharp revenge satisfies the carnal man to the highest degree and nothing so precious and gallant in his eyes But the Christian Religion restrains the very first motions towards anger it stifles those flames before they break out into malice passion and revenge In a word it was the design of our Saviour to strip the World bare of that painted glory which it had from our deluded imaginations He came to rectifie our judgments and inform us that to make us meet partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light we must be rul'd by other Laws than the Laws and Threatnings of this World When such as were left of the Race of David relations of our Saviour were brought before Domitian
one earthly the other heavenly Secondly THIS opposition appears if we will consider the things that the World most admires loves and preserves We are exhorted by S. John 1 Ep. ch 2. v. 15. Love not the world nor the things that are in the world for all that is in the world the Lust of the Eyes the Lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life THE Lust of the Eyes tempts out Covetousness the Lusts of the Flesh set on fire those appetites that deserve that name in the strictest notion of the phrase The Pride of Life are honors preferments and glories that men pursue with so much concern and eagerness But How poor and despicable are these things to the enlightned eye of a Christian that sees by the eye of Faith How thin are they how unworthy of our choice how disproportionate to the Soul of Man how feculent and paultry are the pleasures of Sense attended with so much toil in the purchase vanity in their enjoyment uncertainty in their continuance And if the World had nothing else to make it vain beyond all expression but this one thing that those who have admired it most and sought those satisfactions from it have been forced at length to acknowledge that there was nothing in it but vexation of Spirit This I say might convince us that the things the World most admires are very unsuitable to the Soul of Man BUT instead of such things the Christian Religion offers to our view and choice the pure and masculine pleasures of Devotion the savour of God the peace and tranquillity of our Consciences the victory and dominion over our lusts and passions and those riches that are at Gods right hand in the Heavens The chast and solid satisfaction of having overcome our vices brings more true honour than the atchievments that are proclaimed by the loudest fame 'T is more glorious to overcome evil habits and inveterate diseases of the mind than to surprize or take by open force a City IN a word let us but remember what are the conquests glories and triumphs that are exposed to our view by the Christian Religion and we shall find that they move in a far higher Sphere than the little things that take up the time talk business and thoughts of worldly men THE voluptuous Man sacrifices his Soul to the appetites of the flesh as if it had been given him to make provision for the lust thereof The rich Miser pierces himself through with so many cares and fears lest his Angels should take wings to themselves and fly The Ambitious is filled with a Phantom of honour which he hath painted in his own fancy that he forgets his sleep and all things else to place himself where he would be BUT the Christian Religion teacheth us not only to neglect but despise such fantastic apparitions such dreams such nothings that the blind World adores with so much pageantry and folly We are taught by it to recollect our selves from this hurry and madness to strip those things naked of their borrowed lustre to pierce into their very essence and feel that we are not made for such mean things as human fancy and opinion hath magnified beyond their true size when we come up close to them and consider them then their paint falls off and we must acknowledge that we were fools to the greatest degree So intangled are the Labyrinths of the World which made Augustus Cesar wish so frequently for his retreat and ended many of his Discourses to the Senate with the pleasant hope of his retirement that now bore up his Spirit under the load of so many affairs He had so many Armies at his command the Roman Empire to maintain them he enjoyed the applause of the Wisest Senate yet how did he sigh after the advantages of enjoying himself WE are in the truest sense the off-spring of God why then should our affections be mean Why should we so much admire what is despicable for the world passeth away and the fashion thereof but our Spirits and thoughts run parallel with eternity nothing less can satisfie the immortal Spirit of Man THEREFORE are we exhorted so frequently in the New Testament to place our affections on things alove and not on the things of the Earth to remember that here we have no continuing City that here we are Pilgrims and Strangers that when this tabernacle is broken down we have a house with God not made with hands eternal in the heavens These and such treasures are the things that we are taught to admire by our Religion these are the things we are commanded to pursue since we are Heirs and Co-heirs with Christ HE holds forth to us a Crown of immortal happiness that the sight of it might provoke us to the most heroick efforts of virtue piety self-denyal mortification patience and humility Now it is most evident that the World and the Spirit of Christianity pursue and admire things of a different nature But this opposition will more fully appear if we consider Thirdly THE rewards by which the World allures to its friendship and those proposed by our Saviour what do men expect from the World when they have sold themselves to serve it when they have sacrificed their time and strength to court its honours and follow its genius Such as have prostituted their very Souls to comply with its folly and wickedness how miserable is their gain or rather how infinite is their loss how emphatick is the Interrogation of our Saviour What hath a man gained when he hath lost his own Soul We find the World cannot relieve a Man when he hath most need of help and consolation LET him but put the friendship of the World to the Test when he groans under the terror of Conscience or when his Soul is ready to leave his body and then let him sincerely declare what weak and brittle reeds these things are that he most admired to support him against his own fears WERE we so wise as in our fancy to go down into the Grave before we are carried thither to converse with the dead that are gone before us to live a while under ground to wrap our selves in our Winding sheets and then from that place of silence and darkness to view the things that keep the Men of the World so much in agitation WOULD not we be astonished to see Men made after the Image of God so much enslaved to those Idols of fancy to those shadows that vanish so quickly to such trifles that are the object of childish appetites Did we but call to mind the present regrets and tortures of the damned Were we allowed to see Dives turned down from his sumptuous Table his stately Palace his numerous attendants and fine linnen into the scorching flames of Hell And on the other side could we see the Martyrs that have gone through the flames of persecutions and disasters now seated above malice and misery in the Regions of peace
and love Might we from thence clearly see the irreconcilable opposition between Christ and the World in their rewards But Fourthly THIS appears in the manner by which the World acts its malice against Christ and his Disciples 1. It acts this malice by slander and calumny Our Saviour told his Disciples that reproach and infamy must needs be their patrimony if they zealously adhered to the doctrine and discipline of the Cross nay 't is made so essential to Christianity that to be reproached for the name of Jesus makes up one of its great Beatitudes Blessed are you when all men speak all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake He tells them plainly in another place that they ought not to be discouraged with the calumnies and reproaches of the world for if they call the Master of the house Beelzebub the disciples should not think themselves above their Master THERE is nothing in human Nature more tender and delicate than the sense of honour God hath planted it in our Nature to be a spur to virtuous and great atchievments The first Christians did sacrifice even this to the love of Jesus So S. Paul tells us that the Apostles were made the off scouring of all things and our Saviour intimates in S. Matthew that it was impossible for Christ and his doctrine to appear but he must needs meet with slanders libels and reproaches John the Baptist came neither eating nor drinking and yet he is said to have a Devil Our Saviour came eating and drinking went to their feasts and entertainments to teach them that are engaged in such meetings the highest innocence and purity yet he is represented a friend of publicans and sinners THE Spirit of the World is so perverse and humoursom that it finds faults with the Christians at every turn for every thing that affronts their wickedness WE are to persist as S. Peter exhorts in well doing and by it to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men Let us live like the Disciples of Jesus leaving our reputation and what else is dear to us to his disposal for we shall one day be vindicated from the foolish and impertinent censures of Men in the view of Angels and Companies of just Men made perfect The hope of this bore up the Spirit of S. Paul as an invincible Rock against the most violent storms Rom. 8.33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again from the dead Secondly THE World manifests its hatred by violent persecutions of the persons and interests of the Christians Did not the whole World arm it self with rage and indignation against the light of the Gospel when it began first to shine and the Noble Army of Martyrs forced their way to Heaven by patience and invincible magnanimity How undaunted and fearless did they stand out against the powers of darkness even when they appeared above ground in their blackest and most terrible dress They withstood their fury like so many Walls of Brass resisting unto blood and striving against Sin How inveterate is the malice of the Serpent against the seed of the Woman The Spirit of Persecution smoaks from the bottomless pit and our Saviour told his Disciples no less than that they were to be driven from their Synagogues that they were to be brought before Judges that they should be hated of all men for his sake And this is not so peculiar to the first Ages of Christianity but that all good men have their share of it in all Ages For S. Paul tells us that they must suffer persecution But this is not the only way that the World discovers its opposition to Christianity But Thirdly By its Tentations by its soft sly insinuations by which frequently it trips up the heels of the greatest Saints it lays snares for us in every circumstance of our life what it cannot do by open force it ventures to compass by subtilty and artifice The World is one great Trap and how great a Miracle is it that we should escape the flatteries and allurements of it Since its most plausible offers beat constantly upon our Senses and we lye open to all its assaults on all quarters we are so near a kin to the Earth that it makes easily impressions on us unless we are assured of the victory how could we encounter so formidable an enemy such Armies of Tentations on the right and left hand WE had need to listen to the Apostles exhortation Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall Our ground is so slippery our weaknesses so many our strength so small our enemies so active and malicious and the insinuations of Sense so deceitful From what is said we shall clearly see the opposition between the World and the Spirit of Christianity and therefore let us shortly improve this Meditation for our practice First ARE they so opposite one to the other then let us not love the world Rom. 12.2 Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed in the Spirit of your mind Let us not be moulded into the frame and fashion of this World but let us remember we have a more heavenly calling higher nature a more Seraphick Discipline in a word we are to steer our course against the tyde and current of the wicked practices of this World for even in this sense the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force Secondly ARE they so opposite the one to the other Let us remember that no man can serve two Masters you cannot serve God and Mammon If you are the servants of Christ you must renounce the World for it is a part of our Baptismal Engagement to do so Where the heart is there the treasure is also if it be glued to the World you must bid farewel to that inheritance incorruptible undefiled eternal in the heavens Thirdly IS the World so opposite to the designs of our Religion Let us fly beyond it in our thoughts and meditations Let us frequently steal out of the noise and hurry of its incumbrances and confusions and dwell in those Regions where there is nothing but peace and harmony where the Celestial Choiristers tune their Harps and run divisions in the joyful Praises of their Maker and to be sure nothing hath a greater tendency to make us victorious over the World than the frequent flights from its noise and cares And this leads me to the Second Particular that I design to speak to which is That the Saints shall certainly overcome the World notwithstanding of its bitterness and oppositions against them and this I will make good if we consider 1. The Promise of God for our conduct and direction 2. The Victory and Triumph of Jesus Christ as our Head and Mediator 3. The Strength and Energy of the Divine Nature 1. THE Promise of God for our Conduct and Assistance He hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee We may say of this Conflict with the World as the Royal Psalmist said of his frequent Combats with his enemies 't is he that teacheth my fingers to fight and without doubt the Divine Wisdom is apparent in our Conquest over the World else how could poor Creatures all made up of error darkness and precipitance venture on Tentations of all sorts without his special Conduct and Presence How quietly doth the Psalmist rejoice in the Meditation of his fatherly Care and Assistance He maketh me to lye down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the quiet waters he restoreth my Soul he guideth me in the paths of righteousness for his names sake thy rod and thy staff they comfort me 'T is through God alone we shall do valiantly The weapons of our warfare are mighty through him he not only treads Satan under our feet but the World also which is the Devils great Confederate against the Saints 2. WE are assured of the Victory through the Triumph and Victory and Jesus Christ He hath bidden us himself be of good cheer for he hath overcome the World He is the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah he marcheth upon the Head of his Disciples with displayed Banners against the Legions of Darkness the World Hell and the Grave are hauled at the Wheels of his triumphant Chariot Therefore the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews bids us consider the cloud of witnesses but most of all Jesus Christ himself the Author and Finisher of our Faith When we are like to faint when our fears grow thick and dark then consider the Captain of our Salvation who hath already broke the force of our enemies and is set down on the right hand of the Throne of God and there employes his Power in Heaven and Earth for the conduct safety and success of his followers Let us believe with the Apostle S. Paul that we shall be able to do all things through Christ that strengthens us 3. WE are assured of the Victory by the Strength and Energy of the Divine Nature So we are told in the Text that that which is born of God overcometh the World and in Chap. 4. He that is in us is stronger than he that is in the World If we were to grapple with the World by equal strength we could not promise to our selves the Victory but we are partakers of the Divine Nature we are carried above our selves God is in us in a truer and higher sense than the Poet meant it THE Divine Nature is full of Life and Power it grows unto perfection unto the stature of a perfect Man in Christ Jesus until it lodge us at last in the bosom of God 'T is a Coal from the Altar that inflames the Soul and consumes the Body of Death to nothing What is not the Christian Religion able to do in conjunction with Omnipotence THIS is it that wrought such incredible Changes in the World and if others have been so successful and victorious in their Conflicts with the World why ought we to despair Had not the Luminaries of the Church the same flesh to mortifie the same passions to overcome the same World to contend with and if they overcame the World why may not we be victorious also BUT let us improve this Meditation for our practice If we are thus assured of the Victory if we do not wilfully desert our Stations then let us not be discouraged with the Terrors of the World nor with those imaginary difficulties by which Men frequently fright themselves from their duty But in the midst of our fears and objections let us strengthen our selves in God and debate the matter with our own Consciences in the Language of the Psalmist Why art thou cast down O my Soul hope in God remember and call to mind the Victory that Men of like Passions have attained why do you thus sit down hanging your head as if the World were invincible WHY do we suffer our selves so tamely to be carried down the Stream Let us bear up against it and remember that we have to do with a broken and conquered Enemy and if we do not shamefully yield God will stand by us at our right hand and make Vs more than Conquerors through Jesus Christ It is unbecoming the Goodness of God to leave us when we are engaged with such formidable Enemies If he be for Vs who can be against Vs Here we are but Pilgrims and Strangers and since we have renounced the World so solemnly why do we look back upon it with so much fondness and delight why are we diffident of the Victory For the Captain of our Salvation looks on and suffers us to be surrounded with Tentations that he may make proof of our Courage Constancy Fidelity Loyalty and Patience God looks on the Conflicts of his people with delight and by their tryals and hard encounters he fortifies their Souls for Immortality which is the prize IT was the glimmering of this Meditation made so many of the antient Philosophers think that a Man without suffering was without reputation for honour by the esteem and vote of all Mankind belongs to them that have suffered and striven resolutely in the midst of all disasters against Vice and its insinuations To this purpose Seneca in his Book de Providentia says That a Man bearing up resolutely against disadvantages and disasters was a spectacle worthy Jupiter himself to look on SINCE then we are furnished with better Principles and a clearer Light let us under the Conduct of our High Priest face all Tentations and keep our consciences void of offence towards God and towards Men for the things that are terrible to Mans eyes are but Scare-Crows and Apparitions to the eyes of Faith AND this leads me to the third and last Particular that is The Mean by which this Victory is obtained the Apostle saith Faith is our Victory THE Figure is obvious enough this is the Mean and Weapon by which we trample under foot the World and all its glittering vanities and soar above it We are by our Laws Citizens of another Kingdom we are neither intangled with its snares nor blinded with its foolish hopes nor govern'd by its pernicious Maxims nor dazled with its false lights while we keep our eyes open to the light of Faith and the Glories that our Jesus hath manifested to us in the Gospel then we grow too big for this World and the sight of that Inheritance enlarges our Souls and the Earth becomes contemptible in our eyes BUT that I may make this the more clear I shall endeavour to give light unto it by the Nature and Excellency of Faith it self which when we have considered this Conquest will appear to be the most necessary result of Faith AND 1. Consider that by Faith we are furnished with new Principles we have a Spirit giv'n us stronger than the World opposite to it far above it this is frequently asserted by S. John
habitation above the Clouds where no Vapour can ascend to disturb the Air. THE Contemplations of God and of that Pure and Angelical Life makes us quite leave the body and fasten our eyes on that Celestial Inheritance where the Stars of Light mutually glance Light to one another and are all of them enlightened and warmed by that Original Light that dwells himself in light inaccessible So S. Paul tells the Corinthians 2 Ep. c. 4. v. 5. While we look not at the things that are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things that are seen are temporary but the things that are not seen are eternal To this purpose the 11th of the Hebrews is spent Abraham saw the Promise afar off the Patriarchs confessed themselves Pilgrims and Strangers on the Earth S. Stephen saw the heavens opened how little did he value the Mutinies and Cruelties of his Country-men MOSES Heb. 11.24 despised the Court of Pharaoh and the pleasures of sin for a season because he had an eye to the recompence of reward There was nothing charming or desirable in all the glory of Aegypt when he saw the invisible Crown of Glory How could one bred in the Court of Pharaoh and in all the Wisdom of the Aegyptians amidst the pleasures and divertisements of the Court refuse the Government and Sovereignty of so vast an Empire The World could not see into the reason of it they could not but conclude him a fool by their Maxims but Faith gave him a view of a Kingdom above the most radiant Diadems and the brightest Thrones on Earth and a Victory more noble than the Conquest of so many Provinces O the greatness and divine force of those mighty Souls whose appetites and desires are enlarged by Faith The World cannot fill their thoughts and therefore they by Faith overcame it and all its terrors and flatteries as the Martyrs mention'd in the Book of the Maccabees waiting for a better resurrection SEE into what an holy Agony S. Paul did put himself when the heavenly Crown was in his view Phil. 3. v. 14. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus I see the Crowns which are prepared for the victorious for the unwearied and resolute Disciples of the Cross when I bend my Soul to its full force and activity to lay hold on eternal life such a sight cannot but overcome the World and such a sight is only had by Faith BUT for improvement of all these thoughts Let us remember that the World can never be to us a quiet habitation since the opposition between it our Religion is endless and incurable when we have overcome one difficulty we must look for another here we are like the Israelites in the Wilderness tossed from one hardship to another though the World should promise us fair yet its promises are deceitful and its friendship is a violation of our obedience to our Saviour LET us therefore gird our loins and watch against its subtilties and snares as they that wait for the return of their Master if we intermit but for a little while we lose more ground than we are able to recover for many days Let us not therefore be slothful and negligent lest our Master should surprize us and we be found unprepared to make our accounts Let the World feel that we are Christians and consequently not only taught to despise it but enabled to overcome it that when we leave it we may come off the Field with the applause of our Master and so with joy and confidence we may give up our Souls to his hands as unto the hands of our most faithful Creator To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Power Praise and Dominion World without end Amen A SERMON ON PHILIP iii. 14. I press toward the Mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus IT is usual with most Hearers when the Text is plain when there is nothing in it to invite their Curiosity nothing beyond the common and great Truths of Christianity then to unbend their attention As if the substantial Truths of our Religion that in their Nature Scope and Tendency are design'd to beget preserve and maintain the life vigor and devotion of our Souls were only to be preach'd to the Pagans and Infidels But this Disease of the Mind is as dangerous as common therefore my design from those words is to leave upon your Memories a common Truth acknowledg'd by all and considered and digested by very few AND as the Truth contain'd under these words is obvious and plain so are all the Allusions and Metaphors under which it is deliver'd very familiar and easie Those publick Games of Greece mention'd almost by all Authors do naturally represent the fervour activity and zeal of Christian Life frequently compar'd in the Scriptures to a Race And therefore all Interpreters do agree that these Verses are Agonistical and that they carry in them an immediate relation to those Games in which publick applause generosity courage and emulation prompted the Competitors to the most accurate care caution and activity WHEN we remember what an Age we live in how far Atheism Lukewarmness and Stupidity hath eaten out the vigour and zeal of Primitive Devotion should we not cast back our eyes on those glorious Combatants of the first Age whose examples are able even at this distance to put some Life and Spirit unto us THIS being the design and the Text being plain without changing the natural Position of the Words three things offer themselves to our consideration 1. The vigour strength and activity of the Apostles motion 2. The straight and unbyass'd Line in which he moved 3. The end scope and prize he had in his view and that is the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus In one word the Reward of Christianity Of these in order 1. GOD is to be serv'd now under the New Testament with a holy awe fear care and diligence Though this be acknowledg'd by all yet how few are there that digest the Principles upon which it is founded and by which it may be rivetted into their Souls I SHALL endeavour then to provoke you to this extraordinary Care by such Arguments as do equally enforce it and chastise the Lukewarmness and Carelesness Inconsideration and detestable Neutrality of the present Age. And this will appear necessary if we consider 1. Either the Nature of God 2. The Spirituality and extent of his Law 3. The Vivacity and Strength of our own Souls Or 4. The Practice of the best of Men. 5. The Opposition that we meet with in our Christian Course 6. The Miscarriages of the former part of our Life 7. The peculiar Obligations of Christianity viz. that we are bought by the blood of Jesus 8. Consider the miserable Toil and Slavery of a Life of Sin And then we cannot but acknowledge that hitherto we have little considered our
Christianity 1. I SAY Let us consider the Nature of that God whom we serve NOTHING purifies and enlarges the Mind more than the true account of the Divine Nature And therefore our Saviour when he came to accomplish the great Reformation did in the first place establish the true Notion of Almighty God and reveal the Father unto us No wonder then if the Heathen World was miserably sunk and buried in their Lusts and Impieties when the very History of their Gods and the Fables of their Poets did represent them under the Tyranny of their Passion Lust Jealousie Rapine and Revenge acting all the Extravagancies that make our Nature miserable and infamous How could they think it but honourable to be like their Gods could they be induc'd to reform what was heroically virtuous BUT blessed be God we have no such subterfuge and pretence for our wickedness God hath manifested himself clearly unto us we have such Notions of the Deity as are adequate to the Reason and Spirituality of our Souls fix'd in the Gospel THE Holy Scriptures every where represent him as the first Original and Self sufficient Being at an eternal distance from all weakness mixture change or composition the only Center of all Life Power Goodness and Omniscience WILL you consider his Power See how elegantly the Prophet Isaiah confutes from his Power the folly of Idolatry The Nations are as a drop of a bucket they are counted as the small dust of the ballance He taketh up the Isles as a very little thing all Nations are as nothing and they are less than nothing and vanity It is he hath sitteth on the circle of the Earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers he stretches out the heavens as a Curtain and spreads them out as a Tent to dwell in THE Armies of Heaven wait his call the brightest Seraphims stand ready to fly his errands up and down the Creation to whom then will ye liken God what likeness will ye compare him to When we think of his Power the very first thoughts of it should allay the pride and swellings of Vanity How soon were the passionate complaints of Job run down with the mention of his ineffable Power and his heart struck with Silence and Reverence IF you consider his Wisdom O Lord how manifold are thy works In wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full of thy Riches The Lord of Hosts is wonderful in Council and excellent in working Great in Council and mighty in works who from the darkest Labyrinths and Intricacies of Providence makes the event beautiful and comely IF you consider his Goodness it endures for ever He is the Center and the Fountain of it If his Justice it is inviolable The Scepter of his Kingdom is a Scepter of Righteousness If his Holiness He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity If his Knowledge and Omniscience He is light it self and dwells in light inaccessible and with him is no darkness at all LET us then but a little more feriously reflect upon the Nature of God and warm our Soul at this fire Let us ask Is this God whose Majesty fills the Heavens and the Earth to be indeed approach'd with flat and tepid Devotions Did the Heathens worship their Idols with so much Lukewarmness as is too too visible among the Christians Nay but their sacrifices prostrations vain repetitions their superstitious Pageantry and Ceremonies requir'd a great deal of attention and application The very Devils if they were worshipped would not be satisfied with the careless behaviour of the Christians in our days and shall we approach the Invisible Immortal God with less regard than the Pagans did their dumb idols Our God is a Spirit saith our Saviour and must be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth And if you would allow me to speak a little more plainly nothing casts greater contempt upon the God that we adore or the Religion that we espouse than the manner of our Worship When we approach our Patrons and Benefactors on Earth we meet their smiles with the lowest submissions and acknowledgements But when we come unto the Altar we offer the blind and the lame in the language of the Prophet Offer it now unto thy Governour saith the Prophet The Living God must be worshipped with life and serv'd with vigour and ador'd with devotion He is all Perfection and cannot be serv'd with the cold and faint essays of half conviction and lame consideration I ask then when we dwell on the Nature of God whether or no the whole Soul ought to be employed in his Worship and Service BUT had we to do with such a Deity as the Epicureans fancied one that had eternally locked up himself within the Imperial Heavens If our actions and affairs came not at all under his cognizance then we might approach him with that remissness coldness and unconcernedness that is visible in our addresses But our God is all pure Life intent upon the Government of the World all things are open and naked before him with whom we have to do His eyes pierce into the Secrets that are buried in darkness He look'd down to see if any did seek after God He humbles himself to behold the things that are done in Heaven and in Earth There passes nothing unobserved Whether shall I fly from his presence If we ascend into the Heavens he is there in his Majesty and Power and his glorious Troops attend his pleasure He worketh all things after the Council of his own Will Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he both in heaven and in earth in the sea and in all deep places The most casual and apparently fortuitous actions are ordered by his Wisdom Nothing so little but it falls under his care He is not a little Prince confin'd to the Hills and Mountains as the Aramites profanely imagin'd but the valleys also are his The young Lions roar and seek their meat from God the Lillies of the field are adorned not a Sparrow falls to the ground without your Father your very hairs are all numbered But 2 LET me press this from the Nature of his Law the sum whereof obliges us to love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our soul with all our strength and our neighbour as our selves The Laws of Men restrain our hands and determine our outward motions but the Laws of God set bounds to our very thoughts He that gave Man understanding sees the very first risings of our inventions and there is nothing appears irregular without but what was formed within for out of the heart proceed murders adulteries c. And therefore the Divine Law reaches the inside as well as the outside it makes a very exact Anatomy of the whole Soul and opens up our hearts unto our selves and discovers what we knew not before and yet now we know to be exactly true The most intricate cases are comprehended under
its rules and directions if the grosser acts of impiety and wickedness were only forbidden and our Souls were left at liberty to entertain mischievous designs within then we should want the most effectual mean to heal the distemper of our Nature But he that perfectly knows what is in Man the whole frame of his Soul the contrivance first risings manifold circumstances and design of all his actions hath encircled him with such a perfect Law a Law that divides between the Soul and the Spirit and is a discerner of the thoughts of the heart THIS Rule is so exact and authoritative that it reaches all the windings and the turnings of the Soul the most artificial excuses cannot hide our inventions from that piercing Light that shines in it it enters into the closest retirements and sees into the secret imaginations It s authority sits so close to the mind of Man that it can no more shake its force than divest it self of its own Nature AND this effectually proveth a Supreme Dominion of our Law-giver this invisible Authority of him who sees our hearts and hath armed our Consciences with light and power sufficient to accuse us and to chastise us with its sharp reproofs for our inward failings as well as for our outward miscarriages AND if the Divine Law that is folded up in the very constitution of the Soul be so powerful and piercing God cannot but abhor those services and complemental submissions of such as approach him with their lips but leave their hearts behind them especially when we consider under the New Testament how clearly the Law of Nature was explain'd and improv'd beyond the Standard of Moses by our Lord and Saviour its high and generous Principles by which we are acted beyond the common level of Mankind and rais'd to a participation of the Divine Nature This is it that enters the Soul with its divine power and efficacy and strikes down its pride under the Authority of God and Christ It leads every thought captive to its obedience we are more than Conquerours through Jesus Christ that loved us So far from being captive to the Law of Sin that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us The Disciples of Moses Law did vindicate themselves to the people that they had not taken either Ox or Ass by violence or oppression but S. Paul protests he did not so much as covet any mans silver or gold WHEN we then sufficiently digest this Meditation of the Perfection of his Law we must remember he is not to be served in a trifling indifferent manner but we must meditate in his Law night and day So the Psalmist O how love I thy Law it is my meditation night and day sweeter than the honey and the honey comb Those testimonies were more delicious unto him than all the pleasures of Gold and Silver In the glass of this Law he saw all the blemishes of his Soul and then he was transported with the beauty and purity of it The Law of the Lord is perfect 3. I URGE this Truth from the Nature and consideration of our own Souls their force and activity How curious is it in its enquiries how fond of its contemplations Its pleasures are refin'd pure and Angelical how swift in its thoughts from East to West it flies through the Earth it makes to it self Ladders of the visible Creatures to climb to Heaven that it may see the face of God Now if it dwell with so much vigour and complacency on lesser objects how vigorously should it adore God himself the first and original beauty DID God furnish our Minds with such noble Powers only to till the ground or make provision for the Flesh and bestow some transient thoughts on his service and obedience No certainly This Soul of ours that can grasp so many Truths and lodge them together without confusion that is all Life and Motion must bestow its noblest and strongest desires on God there needed not such intellectual furniture to feed our bellies and feast our senses The Beast enjoys those objects more feelingly and with greater satisfaction they want the uneasie alarms of Conscience to awaken them to higher things therefore they enjoy them without disturbance and interruption But Poor Man when he forgets himself and hearkens to the enchantments and flatteries of Sense cannot so far unite with those despicable things but that still the regrets and uneasie reflections of his mind call him higher and reproach him when he forgets his parentage and original IF we then in some measure understand our selves know but the frame and constitution of our own Soul observe its motions and activity if we feel the manner of its operations and reflections its aspiring strength and vivacity we must conclude that God did not give us this Soul to serve him negligently and carelesly but to bestow upon him our highest adorations our most profound submissions our deepest acknowledgments our most joyful thanksgivings Nay never to rest satisfied with our selves until we attain to that habitual delight in his Worship that the Angels have in Heaven who wait with their Wings stretch'd ready to fly when he commands OUR Souls are so near a kin to those bright favourites of Heaven that though we cannot run so nimbly yet ought we to come as near to them as may be Though their present posture hath set them incomparably beyond us yet we feel that our Souls claim their kindred and acquaintance 'T is true our incumbrances are many but frequently may we gain ground and let our Souls know their heavenly nature and activity that they needed not be oppress'd with the weight of the Body nor confin'd to those Walls of Flesh but that at some time or other nay frequently we may converse with God himself DID we feel the honour and satisfaction of those flights to Heaven how they fortifie the mind how much they lessen the World how much they establish the Soul in its choice how they advance our Victory and confirm our hopes We would grow more bold in repelling temptations more ardent in our prayers more watchful upon our guard nay more than Conquerours through Jesus Christ that loved us Let us remember then that whether we consider God or his Law or our own Souls We must serve him with zeal and devotion with our strength and affection No man can serve two Masters 4. LET me urge this from the Practice of the best of Men. The zeal of thy house saith the Psalmist hath eaten me up Thy Testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the rejoicing of my heart I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments I love thy commandments above gold yea above fine gold Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because men keep not thy Law O how love I thy Law It is my meditation all the day at midnight will I rise to give thanks unto thee
Malice or swell with Pride and Vanity as the Pharisees who blew their Trumpets to convene the Spectators rather than the Poor You find this humour sharply reprov'd by the Prophet Isaiah Stand by thy self come not near to me for I am holier than thou these are a smoak in my nose a fire that burneth all the day 4. THE Fat and the Kidneys of all Burnt-offerings were consum'd upon the Altar to the honour of God And this Ceremony was the direct Type of the Sacrifice in the Text that the strength and vigour the superiour faculties of the Soul should be sacrific'd unto God So we are told by our Saviour in the Gospel that upon this Commandment Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart hang all the Law and the Prophets MOREOVER when the Sacrifice was cut down the Skin was taken off off entirely We must offer our Sacrifices under the New Testament without disguise hypocrisie or covering Whether shall I stee from thy presence If I ascend up unto heaven thou art there If I make my bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea If I say surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light about me yea the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darkness and the light are both alike to thee We must not think to palliate our deformities by arts and subterfuges for all things are naked and open to his eyes Nothing must be offered unto him but what is pure and unmixt Therefore the Sacrifice was carefully inspected and narrowly examin'd And the Pagans borrowed this Ceremony from the Patriarchs When we appear before God we should come with purity and simplicity of Spirit that we may be bold to appeal to God himself in the language of the Psalmist Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting With what innocence and decency ought we to approach the Most High God! The High-Priest Licinius among the Romans thought that the Vestal Virgin that kept the Holy Fire carelesly ought to be publickly scourg'd Sulpitius was deprived of his Priesthood because the Crest of his Mitre through his carelessness fell to the ground in the time of sacrificing Cornelius Cethegus and Claudius were deprived of their Dignity because they brought the Entrails of the Sacrifices somewhat negligently to the Altars The Story of Alexander's Boy that suffered his hand to be burnt rather than disturb the Sacrifice is very well known I MIGHT also put you in mind that the Guts and the Feet were to be wash'd We are certainly to be divided from what is more feculent gross and putrid and Philo finds this Mysterie in it that we must not converse too much with the Earth nay that in a manner we must be wholly above it when we approach his Altars And this agrees harmonimoniously with the Christian Sacrifice If ye are risen with Christ seek the things that are above where Christ fitteth on the right hand of God Set your affection on things above and not on things on the Earth This heavenly temper fortifies against temptations and makes us resolute against Death cheerful under afflictions watchful against sin and ready when our Master calleth And since here we are but Pilgrims and Strangers Let our conversation be in heaven from whence we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ YOU know that the Morning and the Evening Sacrifices were offered in their season without delays or intermission To this Custom the Psalmist alludes My Soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the Morning I say more than they that watch for the Morning The Priests in the Temple by turns did watch for the first appearance of the Day that they might offer the Morning Sacrifice We are to remember our Creator in the days of our youth and not delay our Repentance Our evil habits grow strong our time is uncertain the exercise of our Reason depends upon a thousand Contingencies and all our opportunities are slippery God is provoked by our delays his Spirit is resisted and our Convictions are stifled How dangerous is it then to delay the Sacrifice one moment longer lest God should judicially harden us and confine us to perpetual slavery To day then if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts but speedily break off thy sins by Repentance for the next moment may put thee under the final state of Impenitence BY what I have said you may easily see that the Caution and care that the Jews were tied to in their Sacrifices did not so much concern the Levitical Oblations as typifie the great Sacrifice of the New Testament God is to be worshipped agreeably to his Nature Our most solemn attendance on his Worship is but an abomination if at any time it is divided from a chearful and ingenuous surrender of our Souls to his Will This is the Sacrifice that S. Paul exhorts to with so much Rapture and Concern Fourthly and lastly LET us consider the Epithets bestowed upon this Sacrifice in the Text and these are three 1. It must be Living 2. Holy 3. Acceptable 1. I SAY it must be a Living Sacrifice And this in allusion to that Command under the Levitical Law that forbad any thing to be offer'd in Sacrifice which died of it self they were not so much as to eat of it far less could they sacrifice it The Sacrifices of the living God must be offered with Life he is the original Fountain of Life and it is Life that converses with Life This Meditation may justly startle the inconsiderate World who serve God with so much coldness and indifferency as if he were not the living God Let us prove My Brethren that we are living Christians by Actions and Motions suitable to that Life which we have from above Giving all diligence add to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly-kindness Charity We must prove by a steady and uniform practice of Christian Vertue that we are not the Votaries of some dead Idol but the Disciples of the living Jesus that as he was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life 2. THE next Epithet is the Sacrifice must be holy I do not design to discourse here of Holiness in the general nor of that Holiness that must run through all our Actions as we are Christians but of that special Holiness that is related to Sacrifices And therefore we must observe that all Sacrifices were holy in a twofold regard 1. They were separate from common use And 2. They were an
able to conceive the height of his sorrow if we call to mind the Phrases that the Evangelists make use of to signifie his Agony He began to be sorrowful He began to be sore amazed saith S. Mark and to be very heavy say both of them And S. Matthew's Phrase is very significant a little after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Soul is encompass'd with grief as an Island is with Water in the midst of the Ocean I am surrounded with fears and clouds on all hands I see such plentiful showers of indignation and violence ready to discharge themselves against me that I am reduc'd to the last extremities The complaints of Job are most applicable to me for his Archers compass me round about he cleaveth my reins asunder and doth not spare he poureth out my gall upon the ground He breaketh me with breach upon breach he runneth upon me like a Giant I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin and defiled my horn in the dust My face is foul with weeping and on my eye lids is the shadow of death not for any injustice in mine hands also my prayer is pure AND this sorrow was not only express'd by his Lips his Eyes his Prayers and strong Cries to the Father but every Pore in his Body spoke it out in great drops of blood as the Psalmist prophesied of him I am poured out like Water all my bones are out of joint My heart is like wax melted in the midst of my bowels And if the Prologue to his Sufferings hath all this in it our apprehensions of them must fall short of their extent and latitude especially that part of them that were transacted in the inward Regions of the Mind when he offer'd himself a Victim for the Sins of the World when he was made a curse for us who knew no sin when he stood in our room and sustain'd the weight of our sins as our High-Priest OH how terrible was this Cup that made the Prince of Courage and Resolution the original Spring of Strength and Constancy all shiver and tremble into Tears Cries and Prayers He betook him to his strong hold his Father whom he never had offended and he prayed in the strength of the most powerful Arguments that bind up the hands of the Divine Justice from inflicting punishments on lesser persons I mean those Arguments from Love Compassion and the Relation of a Father O Father let this Cup pass from me BUT as if the Eternal Fountain of Pity had been dryed up as if boundless Mercy and Compassion had forgot their Nature and necessary Emanations he is suffered to contend with all those terrors alone The Hosts of Heaven seem to joyn with him in this prayer having their Wings ready trimm'd to fly down to the Earth for his rescue yet they are commanded to stand aloof and behold this combat without interposing in their Masters quarrel and that one of their number that was sent to comfort him was allowed to do no more than to afford him strength enough to drink that Cup to the bottom THE Philosophers do tell us That a virtuous Man fighting with difficulties and disasters and by his conduct keeping his mind free from vice is most beloved of God But how soon would all the Heroes of Philosophy be confounded with the least share of these dismal sufferings The Seraphims of Glory stand amazed to see the Humane Nature in the midst of all sinless infirmities give such proofs of valour and magnanimity And the Father took pleasure to baffle the Devil i. e. the pride and arrogance of the World by the patience and resignation of his only begotten Son and he design'd to teach Mankind by his submission that patience and suffering is the way to the highest glory And though this truth be despis'd by the carnal World yet the Morals of the Gospel are built upon it We must cut off our right hands and pull out our right eyes if we enter into the Kingdom of Heaven IF we consider more particularly his behaviour under these first Skirmishes in the Garden we may observe 1. His Reluctancies Let this Cup pass from me But was not his Cross and Sufferings the constant Theme of his Sermons Did not all the Sacrifices of the Law of Moses represent his Passion at a distance And the Prophecies of former Ages prepare all men to receive this great Truth that the just was to dye for the unjust And did not Moses and Elias treat of his Sufferings on the Mount of Transfiguration Whence then is this trouble of mind this extraordinary Agony Whence all those appearances of fear and surprize All is true yet the sinless Humane Nature meeting at once with every thing that is odious terrible and disgraceful shrinks and recoils And herein is his Victory that he so perfectly resign'd himself to the Will of his Father that he rejoices in the midst of his sorrows to sacrifice his feelings and infirmities to the Conduct and Wisdom of God O Miracle of Patience O invincible Resolution folded up in that one word Not my Will but thy Will be done Thus verifying himself to be the Messias prophesied of by the Psalmist Then said I Lo I come in the volume of thy Book it is written of me I delight to do thy Will O my God yea thy Law is within my heart It was his Meat and his Drink to do the Will of his Father through the whole tract of his Life in lesser instances but now when the last period of it drew nigh when the Sacrifice was ready to be laid upon the Altar then it was all burnt and consum'd with Love It mounted the Heavens in a Fiery Chariot of pure and unmixt Zeal and by one perfect act of Oblation sacrific'd his Will to the Will of his Father without reserve or limitation WE shall best discover how comprehensive this surrender was when we read the History of the Gospel and see with what triumph and insolence his enemies insulted over him Even in Jerusalem where his Miracles made him famous there they prepared their Whips and their Scourges their Buffets and their Thorns to afflict him and a Mock Purple to make him ridiculous And thus arrayed he is brought forth to divert the great crouds of People that flocked to Jerusalem about this time and they were to tell the shameful story of his Sufferings over the habitable World yet there was no shaking of his Courage and Resignation AND to let the World see that his Love to Mankind was more than heroick and beyond the Fictions of Poets and truly becoming the Son of God and the designs of our Redemption when the Paroxisms of his Agony gave him the least respite he returns to his Disciples When Heaven and Earth seem'd to be made up of anger and indignation against him yet does he not forget them and though they became stupid and unsolicitous for him their supreme Lord and Benefactor he does not
Love in the first Epistle of St. John give us to understand that the Love of God and his Neighbour did actuate and enliven his Soul to the highest warmth and Charity WHEN we look upon the Apostles in this interval between Christs Ascension and the effusion of the Holy Ghost before they proclaim'd boldly and openly the wonderful things of God in the name of Jesus before they came forth with displayed Banners against the Kingdom of darkness then it was that their Unity did miraculously support ' them and what degrees of chearfulness and courage were found in any of them came seasonably to the relief of every one upon all occasions Their Unity first strengthened their Prayers they went up to Heaven as the Evening Sacrifice and with united force prevailed The Prayers of those Souls that are knit in Charity soon fly to the Ears of God they are raised above the Skies on the wings of servent Love the Devotions that are harmoniously poured forth on Earth resound with an Eccho in the Heavens as if the Inhabitants of the upper and the lower World had begun already the most intimate friendship and familiar Converse 2. THEIR Unity among themselves filled their Souls with great Tranquillity and though they were not yet actually inspired as afterwards they were with the gifts of the Holy Ghost yet by their unanimity they were so prepared for them and thirsted after them as the parched and gasping Earth thirsts for the showers of the latter Rain 3. THIS Unity had with it also some foretasts of the joys of Heaven Those triumphant Spirits that are above are twisted together in the mutual Embraces of Love it is their Element where they move it is the life of their Soul they cannot live without it either here or hereafter 4. THIS Unity dispos'd the Apostles and the Disciples to a clearer understanding of the truths of the Kingdom of Heaven Truth is the true nourishment of the Mind and this Truth enters not in its force and influence unless the Soul is first alienated from all harsh rugged and ill-natured Passions Proud and unmortified Men may make a great ostentation of Wisdom and Knowledge but the truth all this time is not successfully united to the essence of the Mind and the retirements of the Conscience though the words that convey it to our Ears may be lodg'd in the memory and imagination when we come to know the Truth in its divine energy and strength then are we made free from sin and hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments Now the Apostles locked themselves up from the noise of the World and felt those invisible supports of Faith and Love when as yet they had not courage enough to venture abroad but Unity cannot long be preserved without uniformity and therefore they are said not only to be of one accord but also in one place THE Order and Discipline of the Catholick Church into which we are received by Baptism oblige not only to inward peace but also to an outward Decorum and visible Uniformity The Church in the language of Solomon is beautiful as Tirzah comely as Jerusalem terrible as an Army with banners The comprehensive Apostolick Canon is that all things be done with decency and in order and therefore are we exhorted by the Author to the Hebrews not to forsake the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is i. e. We are not to erect Altar against Altar but to continue in the Communion of the Christian Church observing those Laws and Rules by which the spiritual Society of Christs Family has been best preserved in the times of greatest danger and persecution If we cut our selves off from Christs mystical Body the consequences are fatal and dreadful THE publick Worship of the Sanctuary is Christs Trophy over his Enemies his Standard erected and set up in those very places where the Devil had his Altars are not his Oracles now silenced and his Sacrifices deserted where our Saviour is acknowledged King and Sovereign Is not the publick Worship the very joy of our hearts as the Prophet foretold Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths See with what fervour the best of Gods Servants pray for it and with what satisfaction they speak of it Pity saith Daniel thy Sanctuary that is desolate for the Lords sake And the Psalmist Thy servants take pleasure in her very stones and favour the dust thereof And again I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord our feet shall stand within thy gate O Jerusalem HOW hateful then are they to God and how contrary to the Spirit and design of the Gospel who destroy the publick Worship and the uniform Meetings of Christs Family upon Earth by Faction Mutiny Tumult Schism or Disobedience Is it not sad to consider how implacably Schismaticks are set to destroy the peace and order of the Sanctuary 'T is true as we shall have occasion to consider within a little the Holy Ghost came upon the Apostles in cloven tongues of fire but all fiery Tongues are not from the Holy Ghost A Sect there is of unquiet and restless Spirits who have no Principles but what tend to destruction and though it be no part of my design or inclination to rake into that Puddle of little Cavils and Exceptions that have been boisterously vented against the beauty and order of our National Church yet I would offer to the consideration of the meanest Hearer these four Particulars and then let them declare their thoughts of the present Schism and Wall of Partition that the Presbyterians have rais'd between themselves and the Catholick Church 1. CONSIDER that they and their Practices are disclaim'd by all Protestant Churches With what face do they alledge that they themselves are the strictest Patrons of the Reformation who have deserted all other Churches and by their Principles now think it unlawful to keep the Communion of any setled Church in Europe 2. ARE they not Nonconformists to themselves Their former Confessions of Faith and their Ringleaders as well as to the present Church the windings and turnings of Errour are infinite it leads them to a thousand absurdities it hath no solid Basis to rest upon but the present crasis of the Imagination and as that changes its Figure the Errour shifts its appearance and comes forth with further improvements And yet such is the unlucky fate of all Schismaticks that after all their refinings and Reformations they still retain some one thing or other that baffles and confounds all their childish and whiffling Objections against the Church I will instance but in one Particular which to this day is practised by the Presbyterians and that is they appoint Adulterers and such as are most eminently scandalous to wear
Scythians fierce Germans the proud Romans and soft Grecians and Persians renounc'd their peculiar Idols and calmly surrender'd their Necks to His easie Yoke according to the Prophecy of Zachary that the names of the Idols should be cut off and were no more to be remembred WE may safely affirm that no Religion did ever spread its Wings so wide as the Christian which made the South and the North East and West meet together in their acknowledgments of the Blessed Jesus When the Languages of the old World were divided Mankind was scattered but the Gift of Tongues poured upon the Apostles united all Nations into the most harmonious Society THE Meditation of this ought to enlarge our Souls with generous inclinations towards the recovery of all Mankind unto the acknowledgment of the Truth How ought we to pray that God would be pleas'd to make his wayes known unto all sorts and conditions of men and his saving health unto all Nations There are no Charities so noble nor so well plac'd as when we convert a sinner from the error of his way The Gospel is a sovereign remedy to remove the blindness and stupidity of the whole World if we were zealous enough to promote it how shameful is it for such as have large Dominions and great Power upon Earth that they are not more busied in contriving Methods how the sound of the Gospel may reach the utmost ends of the Earth How few of them that are born without the inclosure of the Church come over to our Religion now a days And this is not to be imputed to our Religion it self but to our coldness and indifferency about it and that we do not live up to the height and purity of its Rules the mighty success that it had in the Primitive Ages in defiance of all malice and opposition sufficiently proves that it came from Heaven And this leads me to the consideration of the next word that follows 2. IT came from heaven We are told by the Psalmist that God bringeth the wind out of his treasuries but this wind that came from heaven hath a nearer claim to Gods peculiar Treasury than those Winds that are stor'd up in the dark Caverns of the Earth This was the breath of God it did not blow from the Earth nor from Humane Counsels nor from the highest Regions of the Air but from Heaven it self from the Throne of the Most High A Wind it was that blew with Majesty rather than Fury Strength rather than Boisterousness they felt some heavenly Charm in the noise that filled the room it rais'd their attention and their ears to something high and extraordinary and the surprize of its swiftness could not hinder a secret joy a mighty elevation of Spirit which cannot be named and which strongly convinc'd the Apostles that this wind came from heaven and that it was the mighty voice of God And this may appear if we consider 1. THE things that they utter'd when they were filled with it A heavenly Doctrine full of Light and Majesty a Doctrine that not only assured us of Immortality but taught us also the infallible Methods to arrive at it a Doctrine that filled our ears with new sublime unheard of Mysteries God manifested in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up into Glory How far were these great Truths beyond the Speculations of Plato and the little Metaphysical Subtilties of the Peripateticks 2. THIS may appear if we consider the Change and Affections that this Doctrine wrought in its Proselytes this wind did not blow them up into airy and fantastick apprehensions into proud and supercilious thoughts it taught no arts of gathering treasures nor of making themselves great in the World but it lifted their Souls above it to the place whence it came and it taught them to trample upon its glories to despise its fears and overlook all its splendor and to set their affections upon the things that are above where Jesus is inthroned in the highest Power and Majesty Now 't is evident that no such change could be wrought by Natural Causes for men acted by Natural Principles can go no higher than such Maxims can carry them but to love God to crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof to forgive injuries to despise the World all the things that our appetites formerly did headlong run into must proceed from some Supernatural and Divine force it carries us above our own level and makes us to feel that He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world This Argument is frequently insisted on by first Apologists for our Religion 3. IT appears to have been from Heaven in its Method and Operation and immediate Effects upon the Apostles which exceeded all Art and Nature that men illiterate and without education most of them come to a considerable Age that they should speak the Languages of all Nations who a little before understood but one Language and that the rudest Dialect of their own Nation This wonderful matter must needs be referr'd to some supernatural Cause 3. LET us take notice where this sound was heard and the Text saith that it filled the house where they were The Inspirations of the Holy Ghost are not casual and fortuitous but ordered by Infinite Counsel and Wisdom This is the wind that bloweth where it listeth in the strictest sense it filled that house it blew by discretion and election upon the house where the Apostles resided to let us it may be understand that the Holy Ghost to the end of the World is to be received in the fellowship of the Apostles and their Successors it is the precious Ointment first poured upon their heads and from them to the skirts of the Church in all Ages There are many Spirits gone forth into the World with a boisterous noise and they pretend their descent from Heaven but if they have forsaken the fellowship of the Apostles and broken the ligaments of peace and order by which the Catholick Church as a Spiritual Society is knit together if they run cross to the Spirit of Unity by which we are oblig'd to believe the Communion of Saints in that case we are quickly undeceiv'd they are certainly from below they are not directed by the Wisdom that is from above nor have they their rise from Heaven but from the Earth and are blown up by some subterraneous Vapours that end in nothing but in a little vain glory faction and popular applause THE Holy Ghost in its most plentiful Effusions came down upon the Apostles according to the nature of their high and difficult employment and the circumstances of the Church at that time and it was to fall in lesser drops to the end of the World upon all that are sent by God for the services of the Altar who have their Mission from the Apostles by regular conveyance and succession 2.
as were most unlikely to bring them to pass Must rude and illiterate Mechanicks grapple with the Rabbies and Philosophers of East and West By what Armies by what deep Contrivances must this Design be set on foot How ridiculous is the very thought of it to a man that stands no higher than on the level of Humane Maxims Yet this Divine Fire in their Tongues burnt up and consum'd the Worship of the Devil and silenc'd his most famous Oracles and brought the whole World in a manner under new Laws and as a rapid and violent flame devours combustible matter without mercy without resistance so the Christian Religion pulled down the Rites Customs and Solemnities of Superstition even then when the Learning Zeal and Power of all Mankind were engag'd to support it S. Paul tells us that the foolishness of God is wiser than men i. e. the most unlikely means seconded by his assistance produce the most wonderful and astonishing effects the methods that seem comtemptible to humane eyes overcome the wisest and the most subtile contrivances the meanest and weakest arrow in his quiver the clownish Fishers of Gallilee will baffle and confound all the Sons of Wit and Speculation the most accurate amongst them who had been train'd from their infancy in the Arts of Sophistry and Eloquence stood mute and stupid before those new Philosophers who came to discover unto us life and immortality The Topicks and the Methods of the Athenian Schools were swept down like thin Cobwebs when this true Light appear'd their curious Schemes were all rejected and a higher Doctrine than any that was formerly taught was establish'd upon no lower Principles than the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit the little knacks of the Philosophers that consisted most in the shufflings and turnings of Words and Phrases vanish'd like aery Phantoms when Truth it self in its Meridian Splendor inspir'd those frail men can we attribute this their Victory to any thing short of God himself His word is like a fire and as a hammer that breaketh the rocks in pieces So the Apostles forc'd their way through Rocks and pierc'd to the Center of mens Souls and gain'd to the obedience of Christ those hearts that one would think were altogether inaccessible they pulled down strong holds and lofty imaginations and by their swift and universal success at such a Time and against such Mountains of Opposition they gave the World to understand that their Mission was from above And here are the Trophies and Triumphs of Christianity the wonderful Propagation of our Religion made it evident that this Fire that came down upon the Apostles in Cloven Tongues was not a flitting and vagrant Meteor unfixt and moveable but a solid and durable Light which was to continue in the Church until the consummation of all things 3. HERE we may consider the accomplishment of the Promise contain'd in the fourth Verse They were all filled with the holy Ghost That the Apostles were inspir'd by God is beyond all contradiction and they who impute their Progress in the Conversion of Nations their Languages and Miracles their divine Reasonings and Revelations to any ordinary Cause subvert the Principles upon which our Religion stands All Civiliz'd Nations ancient and modern do acknowledge the possibility of a Divine Revelation nay that it is reasonable for Mankind to expect it in some extraordinary Cases and most people plead it in favours of some one Custom or other received amongst themselves and if all men agree in this that it is reasonable to look for it and that by the strength of Reason we may distinguish a true Revelation from what is counterfeit What should harden men against the Christian Religion for the miraculous Inspiration which the Church commemorates this Day hath stampt upon it all the Characters of Divinity that our Souls can think of even when they examine things most calmly and accurately LET us therefore thank Almighty God that he gave us the highest assurances of our Religion that he made our hope so sixt that it cannot be battered for when we read that the Holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles in this manner we may conclude infallibly that our Lord is not only risen from the dead but invested also with the highest Power at the right hand of God the Father The Gifts and magnificent Donatives that he scattered amongst his Subjects when he enter'd into the Heavens sufficiently convince us that all power in heaven and in earth is given unto him To his Ascension may be applied that of the Psalmist Thou hast ascended up on high thou hast led captivity captive thou hast received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them Let us say then as the Psalmist invites I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his Name together This Effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles is so full a proof of his Victory that now we lean on his Promise with the greatest tranquillity and assurance He hath ridden prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness his right hand hath taught him terrible things the enemies of his Kingdom fall before him he hath broken them as with a rod of iron he hath dasht them in pieces like a potters vessel he is established for ever King in Zion The meditation of this fills our hearts with joy and gladness that our Redeemer who is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh hath trodden all our enemies under his feet We have this hope as an anchor of the Soul both sure and steadfast and which entreth unto that within the Veil whither the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus made an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck NOR are we to think that because now he is encircled with Glory and Majesty that he can be unmindful of us no more than he was when he was compass'd with our Infirmities and as he made good his Promise to the Apostles and sent upon them the Holy Ghost to plead his cause against Infidelity so we may rely on his Word that he will raise us again unto life and immortality tho our dust stould mingle with all the scattered Atoms of the Creation he will change our vile bodies that they may be fashion'd like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself And the same Apostle assures us that if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us Thus from the fulfilling of what is past we may reason our selves into the belief and certainty of what is to come AND let us thank our heavenly Father that so early strengthen'd the
and comfort to the truly penitent Indeed when we look narrowly to the nature of it it is one of the surest Pillars of our Faith for this we do in remembrance of his Death and Passion and his blood that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel is still of the same force and value with God Let us not therefore entertain narrow Notions of the Almighty as if he delighted in the death of sinners as if he took pleasure in their miseries for God is Love and it is below his infinite Majesty to crush to ruin and destruction such as appeal to his Mercy If thou hatest thy sins if thou perceivest how vile they make thee and how miserable if thou implore the goodness of God to deliver thee thy freedom is already begun and God will advance it into a full Victory 5. COME unto this Sacrament reconciled to thy Brother Peace and Love are the dispositions that make our Souls fit Mansions for the Holy Ghost the vapours and smoak of Contention drive him from our Habitations This is one of our Saviours great directions in his Sermon on the Mount therefore if thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift If the Sacrament of the Altar be not here strictly meant yet by the nearest Analogy and consequence it is intended and the most judicious Interpreters think that our Saviour gave this direction with a special Eye to that Sacrament which he was afterwards to appoint And the same direction for the matter is repeated If you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you The unreasonable rigidity of the Bankrupt-servant towards his fellow is loathsom in the Eyes of God and of all good men We are exhorted by St. Peter to lay aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings And we are inform'd by St. Paul that Love is the fulfilling of the Law and that the works of the flesh are manifest among which are reckon'd hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance When we consider the nature of our Religion the whole tendency and design of the Gospel we must conclude that there is nothing more opposite unto its harmonious and blessed temper than malice and revenge and therefore we must be ruled by other measures than those that prevail most in the World He is thought mean-spirited low and abject that is ready to forgive an injury yet it is the height of true Courage and Magnanimity if we consider the whole Scheme of our Religion how much it is twisted with meekness gentleness and charity or the supreme Authority of God to whom Vengeance doth belong our own in inward Peace and Tranquility or the order and settlement of publick Societies we cannot refuse to comply with our Saviour's direction and therefore St. Paul commands us that as we desire to approve our selves the Elect of God holy and beloved that we put on bowels of compassion kindness humbleness of mind meekness long suffering forbearing one another if any man have a quarrel against any and that above all we put on Charity which is the bond of perfectness True and universal Charity is the great glory and perfection of our Religion in which Christians ought to outshine all others It is that by which we resemble our Father above and prove our selves to be his off-spring in the highest and truest sense Our blessed Saviour after He had commanded us to love our Enemies concludes with this Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect The Jews themselves who were indulged or rather connived at to be more rugged and untractable than the Christians were yet obliged to shew many acts of benevolence to their Enemies of their own Nation and Profession And many of the Philosophers did look upon the forgiving of injuries as an instance of true Valour and Fortitude NEXT Let us consider that Hatred and Variance and Strife make us unfit for any particular act of Worship and therefore are we commanded in our Prayers to lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting And secondly Contention and Enmity exclude us from all hopes of Pardon as oft as we say the Lords Prayer we appeal to the Omniscience of God that we desire to be pardoned no otherwise than we heartily pardon and forgive the lesser injuries of our Brethren done to us and if we retain in our hearts the seeds of Rancour and Malice against our Brethren we pronounce sentence against our selves we change our Prayers into imprecations and instead of the great blessings of Peace and Pardon we are consign'd over to the saddest doom and horrour Then let us consider that if we are commanded to lay aside our prejudices and evil designs against such as have provoked us how much more ought we to forbear affronting of them who were never injurious to us and therefore we must recompence evil for evil to no Man we must be tender-hearted and charitable to the poor and necessitous Alms and Fasting are said to be the two Wings by which our Prayers fly to the Throne of God the Providence and Promise the Power and Goodness of God are all engaged in defence of the charitable Man this is the universal Voice of the New and Old Testament the language of Nature and Religion Jew and Gentile do acknowledge it from all the ties of Virtue and Humanity Let us therefore remember the hardships of them who are indigent their sad groans and lamentable sighs and according to our ability relieve them not scrupulously weighing our own strength so much as their straits and calamity Let us not lay up treasure upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt but in heaven where they are not expos'd to any danger or decay still remembring that he that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly When we are thus far prepar'd we cannot but feel the sharpest hunger after this spiritual Food our Souls are then inflam'd with the strongest desires we breath after God in the affections and language of the Psalmist As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God my soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God When shall I converse with him in the most intimate manner that this state of frailties and weaknesses can allow of The Solemnities of Religion recruit our strength against our Lusts and corruptions we are made more chearful and resolute to grapple with our Enemies when we feel the influences of his Spirit uniting us to God and exposing to our view all our former sins in all their deformities we conclude from such
rose again that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living THE Meditation of our Saviour's Resurrection puts us beyond all doubt and hesitation as to our own Resurrection for he rose again as our Captain our Head our Mediator and in our Name And this leads me to the Second particular I proposed to speak to 2. THAT though we sleep in the dust of the Earth we shall be raised again by his Power He is risen as the first born from the dead and the first fruits of them that sleep as our forerunner and advocate He went unto the Heavens to prepare a place for us that where he is there we may be also And we shall follow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in due rank and season as the younger Sons of the Resurrection we shall be raised under his standard and conduct so reasons the Apostle S. Paul If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us he that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us And again If we have been planted with him in the likeness of his death we shall also grow up in the likeness of his Resurrection And the same Apostle to the Thessalonians assures us that if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep through Jesus will God bring with him Our Resurrection from the Dead stands in our Creed as one of the great Articles of our Faith the Revelation of it is clear and I need not prove it by a particular allegation of places for S. Paul concludes that if the dead rise not our Faith and all our Hopes that depend upon it are wholly vain and impertinent It 's true the Carnal World did struggle against the belief of the Resurrection And the Athenians could not forbear to laugh at S. Paul when he advanced this new Doctrine And Minutius Faelix in his excellent Dialogue proves how reasonable it is for us to believe it though the external Evidences for it were not so undeniable when once we come to have true notions of the Deity Did he Create us from nothing And is it so difficult to him to make us up when we are broken and scattered Can any particle of our dust and ashes be hid from the eyes of his omniscience And this is the current Argument of the Fathers Or as the same Author reasons though we are dryed into dust or dissolved into water or scattered into ashes can we be removed from the sight of him that weighs the Mountains in scales and numbers the sands upon the Sea shore And then he goes forward to prove the Resurrection from congruities in Nature and the vicissitude of Things Vide adeo quà m insolatium nostri resurrectionem futuram omnis natura meditetur The Sun goes down and rises again and the frame of Nature seems to die in the winter and when the spring returns they put on their garments of life and joy So universally is the Doctrine of the Resurrection preach'd by every Creaure under Heaven But I will not insist on this I 'll rather endeavour to lead your thoughts into the inferences that naturally arise from it And first are we raised again Is the fabrick of our bodies rebuilt by infinite Wisdom Then with what peace and assurance with what quietness and serenity may we lay them down in the Grave It was no wonder that the stourest Philosophers amidst all their speculations could not reason themselves into this composure of Spirit at the aproach of Death for the strength of all their Arguments was but of little value to calm the tempests and the fears that arose in their Brests when this Enemy of Nature drew near them Nothing can allay those commotions but the stedfast belief of the Resurrection and the hopes of Immortality Then may we say in the language of the Psalmist Yea though I walk thorow the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me And is not this enough to make thee quiet and resigned that thou art assured when thy Soul goes to the invisible regions of Light and Purity thy Body also however scatter'd divided and dispers'd shall again be rejoyned to thy Spirit And ought we to doubt of the Divine Power to accomplish this Since the forming of our Bodies in the Womb from so small a beginning unto such a beautiful structure furnished with so many exact Proportions and Features was no less the effect of Divine Power than the raising it again when reduced to dust and ashes How chearfully did the first Martyrs sacrifice their Bodies for the love of Jesus The Executioners might divide Soul and Body but they could destroy neither they might cut and pierce and launce and throw their flesh to the wild-beasts but still they were within the Territories of their great Creator And when the voice of the Arch-Angel sounds the dead are made to hear it and the Sea must give an account of its dead and the Earth must open her dark vaults and cayerns and thrust up her Inhabitants to appear at the publick Rendesvouze of the Resurrection to receive according to what they have done in the Body ARE we raised from the dead We ought to treat the bodies of our dead with care and honour All civiliz'd Nations agree in this nor can there be a piece of greater barbarism and inhumanity than to deny the rites of Sepulture even to our very Enemies The Poet could not express the height of cruelty and rudness otherways than to say that the honour of Burial was denyed hominemque cruentus Exuit tenuem caesis invidet arenam Though the methods of particular Countries vary yet all agree to perform Funerals with great solemnity The most natural way is to bury them in the Earth and it is the most ancient of all others as we see in the Holy Oracles Gen. 23.4 And though the Persians did burn the bodies of the dead yet Herodot tells us that the method of Inhumation was more ancient among the Egyptians and the Persians And when the Roman Empire became Christian the old custom was resumed and the bodies of the dead were committed to the Earth Diodorus Siculus informs us how critically nice the Egyptians were in performing the Funeral Rites that the persons imployed about the dead were divided in so many ranks and orders and to each their proper part was assign'd And the Greeks and Romans were no less careful about their dead And no doubt our most holy Religion strengthens the obligation and the Scriptures remark the Funerals of the Patriarchs and the care of their Relations in that matter S. Augustin discourses at length to this purpose that our bodies are a part of us and though they are laid aside yet we have not lost all relation
to them which made the holy Patriarchs command their Children to transport their bodies from one place to another that their ashes might sleep with their Ancestors How boldly did the first Christians venture their Lives to procure the bodies of the Martyrs which the cruelty of their Persecutors left unburied And S. Cyprian tells us how dangerous it is to omit it and that we should expose our selves to all hazards rather than leave it undone Neither did the Piety of the ancient Christians confine it self to those of their own Religion but frequently did bury the Pagans deserted by their Relations and they thought it not enough to inshrine the remains of their fellow Christians in Tombs and Sepulchres but also prepared their Bodies for their Funeral with the richest odours spices and perfumes the best drugs and ointments they thought but too mean to express their tender regard to their deceased Friends So Tertullian in his Apology tells us that the most curious Spiceries the Sabeans could afford were employed this way When Mary Magdalen poured Ointment on our Saviour's Head he approved it as done to anoint his body to the burial And the good women mentioned by S. Luke prepared their ointments and sweet odours to embalm his body All this was done because they looked upon the body as the expectant of a joyful Resurrection And hence we commit it unto the earth in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection For when they have varyed all forms and figures they are again built up immortal and more delicate habitations for our Spirits 3. LET the thoughts of the Resurrection comfort us concerning our departed Friends and Relations It s S. Paul's own inference But I would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them that are asleep that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope Vers 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first wherefore comfort one another with these sayings 4. LET the thoughts of the Resurrection comfort us in our present troubles O happy day when we are brought again into the light after so many nights of darkness and solitude when our bodies appear with their brighter robes when flesh and blood are Spiritualised and invigorated with the warmth of the Sun of Righteousness and our heavy Earth is calcined and purified for its true Imployment that it may serve the Soul in its swiftest thoughts and vye with the Seraphims of Light and Zeal in their attendance on their Creator Now the Earthly Tabernacle drags and pulls down the Soul to low and despicable Enjoyments then the Body is made strong and refined to comply with the highest Capacities and Inclinations of the Mind We shall mount aloft from the Earth into the Air we shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and as the stars for ever and ever when we are got loose from the Prisons of Darkness and the Fetters of Corruption are broken off When we see the Glories and Empires of this little Globe below us and we our selves beyond danger and temptation far above its frowns and flatteries HOW strongly do we then feel our selves united to our true and immovable Happiness and assimilated to the Blessed Temper and Imployment of the Hosts of Heaven and the Spirits of just men made perfect When instead of this load of clay the uneasie weight that holds our Spirits in Captivity we shall then be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven when mortality shall be swallowed up of life The very thoughts of this Elevation and Purity to think that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is might fill our Souls with the strongest Ardors and Impatience to be with Christ to be above the Clouds and the vicissitudes of this unquiet World WE cannot express the glory of the Body after the Resurrection better than in the language of the Scripture There is one glory of the Sun another of the Moon and another of the stars so also is the resurrection of the dead it is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption it is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory it is sown in weakness it is raised in power it is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body And thus we are told by the same Apostle to the Philippians That he shall change our vile bodies that they may be fashioned like unto his glorious body by the power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself What a mighty support is it for us at the approach of death to reason our selves out of our fear and diffidence to get above the terrour and the thought of our dissolution and strengthen our selves in view of the Glory that is to come Let us say in the words of the Psalmist Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my Countenance and my God The Meditation of this joyful Day puts us beyond all Calamities sets our feet upon a Rock and makes us look down with Magnanimity on all the changes of this lower World for when our Eyes are fix'd upon those purer Pleasures what can disturb the peace and tranquillity of our Spirits For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet our inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory The prospect of that state and felicity makes us forget this foolish World and trample on all its glories with a generous disdain and contempt when we remember that we are heirs of God and coheirs with Christ of that inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away 5. But fifthly THE belief of the Resurrection arms us more immediately against the terrours of Death Thus St. Paul discourses in the fifteenth Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians and 54. verse So when this corruptible hath put on incorruption and this mortal hath put on immortality then shall be brought to pass this saying that 's written Death is swallowed up of victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The King of terrours is rifled his Forces are broken we have an Antidote against his Poison Let him come in his blackest dress in his most dismal Robes of darkness and fear Let him appear with all the Solemnities of terrour and sadness yet the Christian in the midst of all this meets him with undaunted Courage He is like mount Zion which cannot be moved he sees beyond those Clouds he defies all those frowns he strengthens himself in the death of Jesus and his Resurrection from the dead and the belief of both makes us more than Conquerours This is