his Kingdom Thus far Reason will direct us but then Revelation giveth us greater assurance of the constant and immediate Protection of God even in this Life We have the Promises of this Life and of that which is to come we are told That all things shall work together for good to us That whatsoever we shall ask of God with Faith excluding doubt he will do it and that he will never leave us nor forsake us All these and many more such Arguments include an extraordinary influence of God whereby he Administers the Government of the World satisfies his Justice and declares his Goodness Thus all the Attributes of God naturally lead us to the Worship of him thus we cannot conceive his Nature without adoring it cannot consider his Judgments and Justice without fearing his Displeasure and obeying his Commands thus are we on every side surrounded with Arguments of our Duty May God by his Grace improve the Efficacy of these Arguments to every one of us for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. The Fifth SERMON Preach'd on the 4th of August 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Rom. XII 3. For I say unto you through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think AMONG all the miscarriages of Mankind none are more fatal and at the same time more ordinary than those which proceed from a mistaken Opinion of their own Nature or Merits It is a deplorable misfortune indeed that Man should be subject to Mistakes in a Matter so nearly concerning himself that he who pretends to Fathom Heaven and Earth to discover the Properties of invisible Beings and extend his Knowledge both to precedent and future Times should remain in the dark as to his own Condition and entertain erroneous Opinions of his own either natural or acquired Merits Not to comprehend perfectly the Nature of God is no wonder the infinity of his Essence surpasseth the Capacity of our finite Understandings Not to conceive accurately the Properties of immaterial Beings whether Angels or separate Souls may be excusable immateriality may easily confound an Apprehension inured only to sensible Objects but to be mistaken in the Nature the Dignity the Capacities of our selves might be justly admired if the frequency of such Mistakes did not take off the Admiration of them If they extended no farther than Speculation they might perhaps be pardoned and befit the Consideration of Philosophers only and thinking Men but when they reach to almost all the Actions of the Soul introduce false Principles of Practice which at last become fatal to the real Interest of Mankind it will concern all Men to take notice of them and to acquire more just Conceptions To this purpose Reason invites us the Scripture directs us to enter into the serious Consideration of our selves to contract our Thoughts and not carry them beyond our Merits to form a just Esteem of our Perfections and not in an over-weening Confidence of them enlarge our Pretensions beyond the Rules of Justice and Sobriety Which is the sum of the Exhortation delivered by the Apostle in the words of the Text being directed indeed more particularly to those Christians of his time who upon pretence of extraordinary Gifts whether of Knowledge Miracles or other Graces despised their Fellow Christians who were less gifted became proud and arrogant invaded the Offices of their Superiors and violated the publick Order of the Church but delivered in such general Terms as equally oppose all other Errors of Men concerning the Dignity of their Nature or the Greatness of their Merits recommended by a peculiar Preface of Divine Authority For I say unto you through the Grace given unto me directed to all Christians To every Man that is among you altho' all cannot be supposed to have been guilty of that particular Exorbitance and proposed in such a general Precept as will obviate all the aforementioned Mistakes and Inconveniencies Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think I shall consider it then as such a general Precept and shew I. The Reasonableness of it II. The Usefulness of it I. The Reasonableness of it will appear by comparing the fond and exorbitant Pretensions of Men with the Imperfections of their Nature Man is apt falâ—ly to perswade himself that he is a greater and more noble sort of Being than he really is He pleaseth himself with vast Conceptions of his own Dignity and upon Confidence of them raiseth his Pretensions to Matters beyond his Capacity at least beyond his Merit This was the Original of all the misfortunes of Mankind from hence was derived the Fall of our first Parents to this we are to ascribe our present and future Misery The wicked Angels had led the way who were no sooner created but reflecting on the Excellency of their Nature the Dignity of their Order and the Capacity of their Understandings became Proud and Insolent rebelled against God and attempted an Independency on the Crown of Heaven Man soon followed the Example of those wicked Spirits who reflecting on the Faculties of his own Soul which were then intire and vigorous exalted with the Happiness of his present Condition which was then free from Cares and Crosses entertained a foolish Ambition of improving his Nature to somewhat yet greater even of making himself like to God himself and so being falsely perswaded by the Serpent that the way to Compass his Designs was to eat of the forbidden Fruit he fell from his former Happiness and entailed Misery upon all his Posterity whose Happiness was from thence abated their Faculties enervated and their Perfections lessened Yet could not the dreadful Example of their first Parents nor the Conscience of their much greater Imperfections divert succeeding Mankind from engaging themselves in the same Mistakes They lost the Dignity but retained the Pride of their Forefathers keep up their Pretensions and flatter themselves with an over-great Opinion of their own Perfections For not to mention the Impiety of Atheists who pretend to be wholly independent from God and deny to have received their Existence from him to omit the Profaness of ancient Epicureans and many modern Deists who disown his Government of the World and imagine themselves to be freed absolutely from his Dominion even those who own the Existence of God his Government of the World and their own Dependance on him still continue extravagant Pretences to greater Perfections than were designed for them We commonly imagine our selves to be the top of the Creation and that all other Beings Heaven and Earth Angels and Animals were created merely for our Service Hence we form a lofty Conceit of our own Excellence and look down upon other Creatures with disdain we grow angry if Heaven and Earth do not continually conspire to advance our Interests we think our selves injured if the general Laws of Providence be not violated for the Promotion of our Concerns we project extraordinary Schemes
to the Soul We believe indeed That our Bodies shall be hereafter invested with Immortality and made Partakers of the Glories of Heaven but then they shall be changed into a spiritual Nature devested of these gross Senses which now accompany us and are the great Instruments of our Worldly and admired Pleasures For then There will be neither eating nor drinking marrying nor giving in marriage but we shall be like the Angels of heaven in the Fruition of purely spiritual Delights Which is an invincible Argument of the Vanity and Vileness of earthly and carnal Enjoyments that we cannot be made happy without the loss of them If they had been indeed of any real worth God would have continued them to us in another Life But since he hath made way to the Consummation of humane Happiness by the Abolishment of all gross and sensual Pleasures and despoils the Body to enrich the Soul We cannot but conclude these transitory Enjoyments are light and trifling incompatible with real Happiness and unworthy the Spirits of just men made perfect I come next to consider the Excellency of those peculiar Perfections and Rewards which the Soul is capable of beyond the Body Those Pleasures of which alone our Body is capable and which we are apt so much to admire here below consist only in the Gratification of our Senses Delights which are so far beneath true Happiness that they are common to Beasts finite short and contemptible The frequent Repetition of them may be thought to increase their worth but then this very Repetition becomes nauseous and is nothing else but the Reiteration of the same thing The desire of them is commonly produced by an irregular Appetite but always by the infirmity of our Nature and when performed they leave no Satisfaction behind them They cloy the Appetite and by their frequency become troublesome and even odious to us are finished in a few moments and then leave nothing grateful behind them But which is chiefly to be considered end with our Life and even in Life may be obstructed by Diseases and Calamities An eminent Instance of this we have in Solomon in whom all the Greatness and â—leasures of the World were joyned He presided over a mighty and powerful People and that in greater Glory than all the Kings before or after him So that if Ambition worldly Honour and Pomp could make him Happy he possessed them all in great abundance If the Fame of Wisdom and a profound Veneration among neighbour Nations could increase this Happiness it was not wanting to him to whom the Queen of Sheba came from the farthest parts of the East to hear the wisdom of his mouth If Riches can confer any thing to this desired Perfection none can put in a better Claim for it than he in whose time Gold was esteemed no more than Iron and Silver as stones for the abundance of it Lastly if the Pleasures of Sense can compleat our Happiness none had greater Advantages than he at whose Command was the most fruitful part of the World and who was Blessed with a profound and uninterrupted Peace all his Life And least we should imagine that he made no use of all these Advantages and supposed means of Happiness he assureth us Eccles. II. 10. That whatsoever his eyes desired he kept not from them nor with-held his heart from any joy Nay by a strange kind of Curiosity that he might leave nothing unattempted he tells us That he gave his heart to know madness and folly Eccles. I. 17. One who had all these Advantages had run thro' all the Scenes of Pleasure and could by his exquisite Wisdom and Knowledge of the Nature of things heighten and refine these Pleasures must be allowed to be a competent Judge of the worth and value of them Yet after all he gives this Verdict of them Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity If then no real Happiness if no solid Pleasure can be had from the Enjoyments of Sense from Riches and the outward Pomp of the World we must recurr to the Faculties of the Mind where we shall find an Happiness truly solid and which is more eternal None but a vast and infinite Good can satisfie the unbounded Desires of our Mind nothing less than Eternity it self can satiate an immortal Being For however our Souls be finite as all other Creatures are yet our Wills have no limits but continually desire somewhat more unless that Good which they already possess can receive no farther Additions This Good is no other than God who alone can fix our restless Wills and by his infinite Perfections ravish them with Wonder and Pleasure at the same time This is a Happiness truly peculiar to spiritual Beings who alone can contemplate the Majesty and inimitable Goodness of their Creator and by so doing secure to themselves an Happiness infinite in it self not inferior to the vast Desires of the Will which surviveth all the changes of Fortune Malice of Men and even Death it self If we cannot or will not believe the Greatness of these spiritual Pleasures their convenience to the Nature of our Souls and the infinite duration of them 't is because we are unacquainted with them immersed in gross and earthly Delights so far that we are neither willing nor perhaps able to receive these greater and more real Enjoyments by attending so much to the things of this World we have even changed the Nature and Nobleness of our Souls and from Guides and Directors made them mere Instruments to our Bodies devested them of all remembrance of their Divine Original degraded them into a servile Condition and were we not sometimes put in mind of the interest of another World should perhaps forget that we were created in a Condition little lower than the Angels Thus far Reason teacheth us That the interests of the Soul are to be preferred to those of the Body Revelation doth the same no less fully This was the great end of the Christian Religion to wean our Affections from worldly Pleasures and fix them upon things above to withdraw us by degrees from the Earth and seat us at last in Heaven To this the whole Genius and Temper of our Religion plainly tends commanding us to be ready at all times to take up the Cross undergo Persecutions embrace Afflictions and even suffer Death when the interest of our Souls requireth us to do it Thus our Saviour tells us He who loveth Father and Mother Wife or Possessions beyond him is not fit to be his Disciple and among other Precepts commands that his Followers should deny themselves that is be ready to part with all the Pleasures of the World and imaginary Delights of Nature when they stand in Competition with the interests of another Life This Duty is so strict that for the Observation of the most minute Precept all Considerations of wordly Profit and Pleasure must be foregone and the whole Body destroyed rather than the Soul in the least be injured Our
Saviour gave us an eminent Example of this in himself who in that Life which he was pleased to lead on Earth for the Salvation of a miserable and wretched World used none of all those Pleasures which we so much admire and greedily hunt after denied to himself even the Conveniencies of Nature and therein put his Body to greater Hardships than the very Beasts For the Foxes have holes and the Birds of the Air have nests but the Son of Man had not whereon to lay his head As for Pains and Torments which we so much dread and are certainly the greatest Calamities which can attend the Body he willingly underwent them suffered himself to be Crucified as a Malefactor chiefly indeed to appease the Divine Anger and atone for our Sins but in the second place to give us an Example with how great readiness and Patience we ought to submit to all Afflictions and even Death it self when they tend to promote the interests of the Soul If then the Commands of God and the Example of Christ can perswade us if Divine Revelation and the remembrance of the Holy Jesus can move us there is no doubt to be made of this great Truth so plainly taught and revealed in Scripture that I will not any longer insist upon it I pass to the second Proposition that the Interests of the Soul are destroyed by Sin or Disobedience to the Laws of God These Laws were at first given to direct the Soul in the way to Happiness and when complyed with fail not to obtain their End No wonder then if when we neglect these means we miss the End and by pursuing contrary Methods render our selves miserable That ye may the better be convinced of this I will speak of the Effects of Sin upon the Soul in general and of this Sin of Apostacy to which our Text more peculiarly relates in particular As to the first then we may observe That sin is contrary to the very Nature of the Soul which is a rational Being and as such ought to govern and direct its Actions according to the Laws of Reason Otherwise it would be worse than insensible Beings which all perform the several ends of their Creation and by so doing perform the Commands of their Creatour Whereas the Soul in contracting Habits of sin violates the Laws of Reason debases its own Nature rebels against God and overthrows the end of its Creation For for this very end our Souls were created that they should Act as spiritual Beings and govern themselves by the Principles of Reason inserted in them For this Purpose God gave us an understanding to distinguish between good and evil that we might be able to imitate the Perfections of our Creatour in Vertue and Holiness and by a strict Observation of the Rules of Life formed by our Reason at least maintain if not advance our Nature When afterwards through the Ignorance and Degeneracy of Men these Rules were corrupted and our Judgments blinded God gave us a standing Revelation to ascertain to us our Duty and let us know what we have to do The performance of this was the end for which we were sent into the World had Reason given us and a Soul assigned to us To neglect our Duty then or violate it by the Commission of Sin is no other than to deny and disclaim our Nature defeat the ends of our Creation and degenerate into a miserable sort of Beings For as Sin turn'd Angels into Devils so it doth the Souls of Men into somewhat worse than Devils 'T is true they will still continue Souls but that doth but augment their Misery because being immortal they will never cease to be miserable always gnawed with the Conscience of their degenerous Actions and the Horror of their own depraved Natures Secondly Sin destroyeth the very formal Happiness of the Soul which consists in the Love of God the Contemplation of his Attributes and the Admiration of his Perfections as we before proved And in these will consist the Joys of Heaven in a constant and serene Meditation upon the unparallel'd Perfections of our Creatour in an ardent and perpetual Love of him and Conscience of being loved by him Now Sin sets a Man at Enmity with God makes him unworthy his Favour and hinders all such Contemplation For how can we think on him with delight whom we account our Enemy Or how can we not esteem him our Enemy whose Laws we violate and whose Precepts we contemn The Conscience of this Divine Anger alone is a greater unhappiness than can be easily imagined When a Soul is forced to say God hath created me and doth now preserve me but thinks me unworthy of his Benefits and esteems me as the worst of his Creatures 'T is true he gave me Reason and Understanding but they are to my Destruction and Misery I acknowledge him to be an infinite Being worthy of all love and dread but he denieth to me the influences of his Favour doth not indeed annihilate me but 't is because he reserveth greater Punishments for me He put me here into a State of Probation on Earth that I might fit my self to be his Attendant in Heaven but now he hath excluded me from all Hopes of his Favour and destined me to be a Companion of Devils Such melancholly Thoughts will render the Soul truly miserable and not only unhappy but uncapable of Happiness For a Soul corrupted with Sin is no more capable of the Joys of Heaven than is a blind Man of seeing the Light of the Sun They are Delights of a purely spiritual Nature and consist in an intire Conformity to the Will of God so that if Heaven should by an unaccountable Miracle be bestowed upon wicked Men the Pleasures of it would neither relish with them nor be grateful to them Lastly Sin defeats the future Interests of the Soul by excluding it from its intended Reward and engaging it in eternal Punishments For in this Life the Soul is no more than Probationer for another being a Being of it self capable of Perfection and by the singular Mercy of God to be endowed with it So that it Acts here only in order to the Attainment of that great Perfection which we hope for hereafter and by a prudent use of this World gaineth Admittance into the next where it shall be received to the immediate Presence of God and him whom it now views darkly and imperfectly shall then see face to face This will give the last Perfection to our Natures and raise them to the highest pitch to which they can be advanced But Sin depriveth the Soul of this Happiness and thereby permits it not to obtain its end A Loss much greater than Thought can imagine or Tongue express but still greater when considered not only as a bare loss of the Joys of Heaven but a fall into the bottom of Hell where such Punishments will be inflicted as will make the Soul desirous of Annihilation And then the Excellency of its
Nature will be so far from helping it that it will infinitely aggravate the sharpness of its Pains For its Immortality will render them eternal and its Understanding will heighten the sense and feeling of them In this Life Sinners often are pleased with their own miserable Condition and Fancy themselves seated in Paradise when environed with Pleasures and glutted with Enjoyments They can stifle the Dictates of their Consciences and securely make use of their imaginary Happiness But in Hell their fire is not quenched and their worm dieth not The Sharpness of their Torments will not suffer them to rest And if those should be extinguished yet will they still be tormented with an inward Fire so much the more violent because then they will be certainly convinced in Judgment that they acted against their own Interests and the plain Rules of Reason in running the Danger of eternal Punishments for the sake of a few gross and trifling Pleasures We may next consider the peculiar influence of that Sin which our Saviour here chiefly intends This is the Sin of Apostacy or denial of the true Religion against which Christ fore-arms his Followers by inculcating this necessary truth of preferring the goods of the Soul to those of the Body For this foul Sin is ever committed for some temporal End being too odious to recommend it self without some outward Advantages Men deny not their God out of a dislike or disbelief of him but to secure to themselves a Fortune in the World prevent some Inconveniencies or gratifie some Lusts. This is a Crime of the same Nature and Contagion with Idolatry under the old Law For to worship a false God is the same thing as to deny the true one and the first cannot be done without the latter How heinous God accounted this appeareth from the whole Tenour of the Mosaick Law which is chiefly directed against this Sin alone All the Writings of the Prophets are employed against it and all the Judgments which God ever inflicted upon his People of Israel are solely owing to this Cause Insomuch as there is no Record left in sacred History of any Pardon ever granted to the Commission of this Sin And indeed a wilful Apostacy from the true Religion dissolves the very Union between God and Man and leaves no place for Pardon Such a Person openly by his Act proclaims to the World that he will have nothing to do with God bids defiance to him and disclaims his Pardon It would prostitute the Divine Mercy and make it cheap and easie to bestow it upon such execrable Villanies which do violence to Heaven and are the very last Efforts of Impiety This cannot but degrade the Soul from its Affinity to God and debar it from all nearer approach to his Presence We cannot hope to have any Interest left in God after a denial of him nor can without Horror entertain any remembrance of him How then shall we make our Souls happy with the continual Meditation of his Perfections or please our selves with the Hopes of the future Fruition of him In that Case it will be our Interest to banish all thoughts of God and remove from our selves as far as possible all Considerations of a future State that so we may not be alarmed with the dread of an angry God and the Terrors of future Torments Thus a denial of God against the Light of our own Consciences doth not only render us unhappy but causeth us to endeavour to become yet more unhappy by a total and wilful stifling of all Thoughts and Meditations of God in which alone true Happiness consists And this is true not only in the Case of notorious Apostacy when any one openly renounceth his Religion and denieth his belief of the true God which Case in these peaceable times of the Church doth not often happen but also in the Commission of every deliberate Sin which in truth is a no less formal Apostacy from God than that before-mentioned where the Sinner puts in the Scale the present Pleasure and Convenience of the Sin with the future Consequence and Divine Prohibition of it and after having weighed each rejects the Command of God of which he is very Conscious and prefers the present Satisfaction of the Sin This is done in every deliberate Sin and this is indeed a no less true Apostacy than an open denial of God For this we may be assured that whosoever upon a deliberate Choice prefers the seeming Pleasures of any sin to the Command of God would never foregoe all the Pleasures of this Life and even Life it self in obedience to the Will of God It remains that I make some Application of what hath been said First then if the Interests of the Soul be much greater than those of the Body and the Happiness of the Soul consists only in the due Contemplation of God and the possession of Piety and Vertue let us endeavour to render our Soul even in this Life as Happy as we possibly can It is not reasonable that all the Cares of our Life should be employed in providing Necessaries or rather Superfluities to the Body or attending to the Pleasures of it That no farther use should be made of the Soul than to serve as a Slave to the Body to heighten its Enjoyments and refine its Pleasures Let us remember that we carry about with us a more noble Being which deserveth our Care in the first place and cannot be neglected without the loss of Happiness May not God justly say to Mankind I have given to you great and Celestial Souls endued with wonderful Perfections and capable of much greater when rightly cultivated your Bodies I formed from the Clay of the Earth but your Souls I sent down from Heaven the one I permit to return to Corruption but the other I have invested with Immortality How justly might I expect that you would have valued these two according to their several worth and Dignity That you should not indeed starve the Body nor Tyrannize over it but however attend chiefly to the Concerns of the Soul that it might not fall short of that Happiness which I intended for it nor be deprived of those spiritual Enjoyments which it is capable of But alas Man is turned back and grown foolish employeth himself with all his Diligence to procure Pleasures for his Body rises early sits up late and eats the bread of carefulness to heap up Riches for the Continuation of these Bodily Enjoyments makes this the only Business of his Life and thinks of nothing else As for his Soul he makes it a Slave to his Body refuseth to receive Directions from it and sometimes forgets that he hath any What shall we answer to these Expostulations of God I fear we cannot plead Innocence Our Actions and the whole Course of our Lives demonstrate the contrary We are continually busie about enlarging our petty Acquisitions in the World we trouble and turmoil our selves about the Conveniencies of the Body but
of Gratitude from the Jews for Deliverance from a temporal corporeal Bondage and leave us without any Obligation of rendring publick and solemn Honour to him for freeing us from a spiritual and eternal Slavery The Redemption wrought by Christ is to us what the Deliverance out of Egypt was to the Jews The Feast of Easter instituted in the remembrance of the Completion of that Redemption is to us what the Feast of the Passover was to them appointed in Memory of their Deliverance Christ is our Passover as we heard this Morning from 1 Cor. V. Let us therefore keep the Feast The Determination of our Christian Festivals is to be taken from the most illustrious Actions of Christ our Redeemer and when they are determined they are to be celebrated with no less Religion than were the Festivals of the Jews nay rather with greater Expressions of Joy Gratitude and Devotion because they Commemorate far greater Benefits That this Festival therefore was particularly instituted by the Apostles those words of St. Paul do not obscurely intimate but the Practice of the universal Church immediately after their times do most evidently manifest it Scarce was St. John the last Liver of the Apostles Dead when the Eastern and Western Churches began to divide about the time of Solemnizing Easter not whether it should be solemnized but whether it should be a fixed or a moveable Feast both contending for their own Custom as for an essential Point of Religon in that indeed straining a Circumstance too far but clearly proving thereby that the solemn Observation of Easter was then by all Christians accounted an essential Institution of Religion in that they esteemed it unlawful to vary the least Circumstance formerly received in the Observation of it And as this Festival hath succeeded instead of the Jewish Passover which did prefigure the whole Mystery of our Redemption so the due manner of our Celebration of it was typified by the Ceremonies prescribed by God to them in eating the Paschal Lamb. As they were commanded to remove all Leaven out of their Houses so we are to put away the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness in the words of St. Paul As they then sung Hymns of Thanksgiving to God for their Deliverance out of Egypt so we ought to give Praise and Glory to God for consummating our Redemption by the Resurrection of our Lord upon this day As they eat the Paschal Lamb with bitter Herbs in a Habit and Posture expressing their readiness to go out of Egypt with great Testimonies of rejoycing and mutual Kindness So we should receive the Elements of Bread and Wine representing the Sacrifice of Christ the Lamb of God once offered upon the Cross for the sins of the whole World which is the chief and most solemn Act of our Worship to be paid upon this day with a bitter Repentance and Sorrow for past sins with a stedfast reliance upon the Promises of God with a perfect Submission to his Will and readiness to go wherever he shall lead us with a sincere Charity towards one another and to all the Members of Mankind for whom Christ died that is for all Men without Exception and with the most intense Thanksgiving that our Souls can form for all the Benefits of our Redemption but more particularly for raising to Life as upon this day him who died for our sins and rose again for our Justification So by worthily Celebrating here on Earth the Memory of the glorious Resurrection of our Lord we shall obtain to be hereafter admitted to follow the Example of his Resurrection and share in the Glory which he now enjoys in Heaven Which God of his infinite Mercy grant for the sake of him who died and rose again our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom with the Father c. The Fifteenth SERMON Preach'd on April 5th 1690. At LAMBETH CHAPEL 1 Tim. II. 8. I will therefore that Men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting PRAYER being one of the greatest Duties of a Christian Life that whereby we chiefly pay our Adoration to God whereby we obtain the Remission of our Sins and the Relief of our Necessities to which so many Promises are annexed and so frequent Exhortation to the Practice of it to be found in Scripture we ought to be well instructed in the Nature the Necessity and the Conditions of it To effect this was the chief Intention of the Apostle in this whole Chapter in which this Verse being more comprehensive than the rest I have chosen it for the Subject of my intended Discourse of Prayer In it the words easily direct me to insist on these Four Heads I. The Duty of Prayer I will that Men pray II. The Place of it Every where III. The posture of Prayer Lifting up their hands IV. The Conditions required to make it acceptable and effectual Lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting I. The Duty of Prayer is expresly commanded in the first words I will c. To inforce the Authority of which Command the Apostle saith in the former Verse that he was ordained a Preacher an Apostle and Teacher of the Gentiles acted herein by Divine Commission And surely it was no light Matter when the Apostle whose Authority was long since received in all the Churches founded by him thought fit to produce his Commission before he imposed the Command a Command not first introduced by him but often repeated by our Lord himself who taught his Disciples a Form of Prayer and injoyned them to watch and pray But since none as I suppose will dispute the Command or deny the Authority of it it will be of more advantage to shew the reasonableness and the use of Prayer Which I proceed to do First then Prayer is the principal Act of Adoration paid by Man to God and upon that account becomes necessary to us Man being the Creature of God at first produced out of nothing by his Almighty Power and afterward all his Life long depending on his Providence and maintained by him oweth to God all that Service which he is capable to pay and that is no other than to adore his Majesty to acknowledge his Power to celebrate his Praises to admire his infinite Perfections in all things to own his dependence on him to profess himself the Creature the Servant the Subject of God and to behave himself as such This is all which Man can pay to God for those infinite Benefits which he hath received from him God hath no Interests of his own to be promoted by us The Infinity of his Nature hath set him beyond all want of external Aids and even beyond all increase of Happiness even that Glory which he receiveth from our Worship is of no advantage to him yet is it not the less required of us since it declares our Conviction of that Gratitude Subjection and Obedience which are due to his Benefits and his Power that Honour Worship and Reverence which belong
more having more largely treated of it in my Discourse upon Easter-day which I will not repeat The Nineteenth SERMON Preach'd on June 1st 1690. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Mark XVI 19. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right hand of God WE lately celebrated the Memory of the Ascension of our Lord and the Offices of our Church direct us to employ our thoughts upon it in this intermediate time between that and Whitsunday To do this we are not only induced by that near Relation which it bears to Christ who by it took his last Farewel of his Disciples and entred upon the Possession of his Kingdom but also by those eminent Benefits which the whole Church received from it the Gift of the Holy Ghost the Confirmation of Faith and the increase of Hope In Discoursing of it I will confine my self to these three Considerations I. The necessity and convenience of the Ascension of Christ. II. The Truth of it III. The Advantages and Benefits which we receive by it I. That it was necessary our Lord should leave the Earth and ascend into Heaven himself often declared and in Joh. XVI 7. gives the Primary Reason of it Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is convenient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you The Mission of the Comforter that is the Holy Ghost was absolutely necessary and the necessity of it confessed by the Disciples of Christ yet could not this be effected untill Christ should ascend into Heaven It was convenient for the Apostles that the Comforter should be sent as by whom they received a most invincible Confirmation of their Faith and their Hopes What greater Consolation can be imagined to Disciples afflicted for the Departure of their beloved Lord than to receive such an infallible Assurance of his Being placed in Power and Glory in Heaven as did arise from the eminent Operations of Divine Power brought down by the Holy Ghost at his Intercession What stronger Confirmation of their Faith could they receive than that the Promises of their Master concerning a Comforter were effected which demonstrated the Truth of all he had said the actual Possession of that Glory which was vailed in the Infirmities of his humane Nature while he conversed upon Earth and the Prevalency of his Intercession with God the Father in their behalf What more could be desired to assure them of the continuance of their Masters Love after his Departure or to enable them successfully to discharge that Office of converting an unbelieving World which was imposed on them than that such Gifts should be conferred on them as were never before vouchsafed unto Mankind the knowledge of all Tongues the Faculty of speaking Eloquently and Boldly and the Power of working Miracles All these Reasons made it convenient and desirable to the Apostles that the Comforter should be sent unto them To the whole Church this was much more necessary which without that Mission could never have had Existence being founded and maintained by those Divine Gifts and Influences which were derived from thence Yet neither could the Apostles nor the Church have been Blessed with this so necessary so often Promised and so much to be desired Mission of the Holy Ghost had not our Lord first ascended into Heaven and there by his Power and Intercession have procured it The Comforter as he was to be the Advocate the Deputy to plead the Cause of Christ on Earth could not naturally take place but in his Absence and the very Mission of him as it was an Act of Regal Power could not be administred by Christ until he had taken Possession of his Kingdom which commenced at his Ascension into Heaven Nor is this the only Reason which made it convenient for the Church that our Lord should remove his visible Presence from us but the Possibility at least the increase of Man's Reward did depend upon it The Design of the coming of the Messias so long expected was known and confessed to be to restore the lost Happiness of Mankind to redeem them from their former Misery and to advance them to a State of Glory In prosecution of this Design if we consider either the Wisdom of God or the Nature of Man it could not but be expected that this Happiness should be affixed to certain Rules consequent to certain Conditions to be performed by Man not indifferently bestowed on all nor yet on any without Respect to their peculiar Merits The Application of it was to be directed and determined according to the right use of Reason and Free-will in every Man The whole of this consists in Obedience to the Laws of God and one great Branch of it in assenting to his Authority and believing all his Revelations And as an Assent to all the Revelations of God made at all times was the Duty of Man so more especially an Assent to those last and most considerable Revelations made by his own Son incarnate was required of Man and was farther intended to qualifie him for the Reception of that super-natural Happiness which was by him to be conveyed unto the World Since no greater Evidence of a right use of Reason and Veneration of the Divine Majesty could be offered than to inquire after to Assent to and obey the Revelations communicated by him It would be tedious and unnecessary to repeat those great Commendations of this eminent Act of right Reason call'd Faith and those many Promises of Reward annexed to it which may be found in the Scripture But from the whole it appeareth that this was to be the principal Condition of the Justification and therein of the Happiness of Man That this Act therefore might be the more Illustrious and might be Crowned with a more noble Reward it was convenient that Christ should withdraw his visible Presence from the World and therein give way to the Operation of Faith which is the Evidence of things not seen Had Christ continued for ever upon Earth in that glorious Majesty which was to take place after his Resurrection had he presented to the Senses of every Man sensible Demonstrations of his Divine Power in that Case to have believed on him would have been no more praise worthy no more meritorious than to assent to the ordinary Reports of Sense Who ever pretended to have acquired Merit by believing an Axiom of Mathematical Demonstrations Or who ever thought it an Argument of a true and just â—anagement of the Will and Understanding to believe that one Colour differeth from another or that the Sun doth shine These things strike our Senses and force a Belief whether we will or no in this Case to offend while the Soul enjoys its Reason and the Body the Organs of Sense is not so much as possible To have believed the Divinity of Christ while the Sense of an illustrious
Miracle wrought by him was yet present to confess he came in the Flesh while his Body was yet visible to acknowledge his Resurrection from the Dead when the Senses of every Man proclaimed no less all this would have been so slight an Argument of the right use of Reason so little deserving any Commendation or Reward that it would be no more than the necessary result of the Faculties and even not in the Power of the Will to avoid But when the Object is removed from the Sense and yet discovered by Reason when the Eye doth not see what the Affections still embrace when the Soul ceaseth not to hope upon probable and just Motives what it never received by Demonstration of Sense this is indeed a noble Act of right Reason worthy of a spiritual Being and worthy of a Divine Reward And such a Reward hath our Lord annexed to it pronouncing Joh. XX. 29. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed This Blessedness Christ by his Ascension hath communicated to the whole Church which without that had wanted the Qualification of a rational and well grounded Faith to acquire the Favour of God Further the Ascension of our Lord and therein his Exaltation to the supreme Degree of Glory was in Justice due to his precedent meritorious Sufferings which are therefore assigned as the cause of his Exaltation by St. Paul Phil. II. He made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant c. wherefore God also hath highly exalted him c. The Humility manifested by him in his Incarnation in the whole Course of his Life and in his Passion infinitely surpassed all the Examples of former times That the Son of God should vouchsafe to descend from his Seat of Glory in Heaven to leave the Bosom of the Father and cloath himself with the Infirmities of humane Nature that in this Nature he should not take upon him the Majesty of a Prince nor so much as allow himself the ordinary Satisfactions and Pleasures of it but live an afflicted Life and die a shameful Death and all this for his own Creatures who far from deserving such a Favour from him had rebelled against him from their Creation would lay violent hands upon themselves and continue their Contempt of his Authority till the Dissolution of all things this was such an extraordinary Humiliation that none other but the Son of God could have effected And therefore was in Justice to be Crowned with such a Reward as none but the Son of God could receive namely that that Body which had been thus depressed should be raised above all Creatures should be placed above Angels and Archangels should be advanced to the immediate Presence of God should for ever remain united to the Divine Nature and therewith be translated into the principal Seat and Throne of the Deity that is into Heaven Lastly To name no more Reasons it was necessary for Christ to ascend into Heaven that so he might fulfill all righteousness perform all which the ancient Prophets had foretold of the Messias or he had denounced of himself It was long since Typified by the Ceremonies used by the High Priest among the Jews in the Day of Propitiation which represented the Final Attonement to be made by Christ for the Sins of the World It was commanded by God that the High Priest should enter but once every year into the Holy of Holies that is upon that Day when with the Blood of the Sacrifice he passed thro' the Tabernacle and the parts of it into that place It was a received Opinion among the Jews that the Holy of Holies represented the Heaven of Heavens and the Tabernacle this visible World From which Opinion joyned with the legal Ceremonies of that day it appeared as the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews argueth IX 11 12. That the High Priest of the good things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands was to enter into the holy place having obtained eternal Redemption for us That he should lay down his Life as an Expiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the People and being slain should pass thro' all the Stages of this World here below and ascending into the highest Heavens the Throne of the Divine Majesty should there present his Blood Blood of that inestimable value as need not be shed and presented every year but as he once appeared in the lower World to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself so once for all he ascended into the higher Heavens not to appear again until he shall come in the Clouds with Majesty and great Glory to judge the quick and Dead The same was fortold by the Prophet David Psal. LXVIII 18. and from thence urged by St. Paul Ephes. IV. 8. Thou hast ascended up on high into Heaven as it is in the common Acceptation of the Original word thou hast led Captivity Captive thou hast received Gifts for Men. A Prophesie which notwithstanding all the Pretences of the Jews can neither be applied to Moses nor to Joshua nor to David himself nor to any illustrious Conqueror of that Nation who never ascended into Heaven but to Christ alone who really and bodily ascended into the highest Heaven unto the Throne of the Majesty of God By his Death and Resurrection he subdued Sin Death Hell and the Devil and in his Ascension visibly triumphed over them and led them Captive When that Body which by the Sacrifice of it self had destroyed Sin was in Reward of that meritorious Suffering advanced into Heaven there to be continually present with God when that Body which had been subjected to Death and afterwards was raised from it received now a certain Proof of its Immortality was raised into Heaven where is no place of Corruption left when the Captain of Man's Salvation visibly ascended unto the eternal Place of Happiness having first Promised to draw all his faithful Followers after him and from whence he dispensed the precious and glorious Gifts of the Holy Ghost to the Sons of Men. If these Prophesies and Types foretelling and prefiguring the Ascension of the Messias should seem obscure yet it cannot be denied that the Messias was to receive a glorious Kingdom This we are well assured the Nature of our Lords Office the Design of his Coming the Dignity of his Person permitted him not to receive on Earth and therefore it was necessary he should ascend into Heaven there to take Possession of it It had been a mean Reward to his Humility Patience and Sufferings preceding his Resurrection to have been advanced to a temporal Kingdom to be dignified with a Reward common oft-times to the worst of Men. The greatness of this World was inconsistent with his Design the Pleasures of it were contemned by him and that Divinity which was no longer to be clouded or depressed but to shine forth in its full Lustre could find no fit Habitation upon Earth which in
the brightness of the Sun the Example of wise and holy Men to the fixed Stars which however far inferior to the Glory of the Sun yet are seated in Heaven and communicate to the Earth a Light never to be extinguished and that at a great distance The nearer we approach to these luminous Bodies the greater Light we shall receive from them The Examples of holy Men while alive are so many shining and burning Lights in their several Generations and even after their Deaths will derive exceeding influence to succeeding Ages so long as the Memory of their eminent Piety and good Works shall be continued Those excellent Graces wherewith they were endued those noble Testimonies of Vertue and Holiness which they gave tended no less to the benefit of the whole Church and the instruction of other Christians than to their own Salvation and if they be not equally beneficial to us at this distance of time it is because we either take no Care to obtain the knowledge of them or suffer the remembrance of them to slip out of our Minds It is undeniable indeed that in this present Age and among us especially the Memory of these things is almost lost which is not the least cause of the prevailing wickedness of the Age and present Examples of equal Lustre are very rare or indeed scarce any yet for all that those Holy Persons cease not to retain their glorious Seat in Heaven and there as the Prophet saith To shine as the brightness of the Firmament as the fixed Stars always maintain their Stations and preserve their Light altho' at any time not seen by us To this glorious Station in Heaven our Lord hath promised to advance all those who by extraordinary Piety and the eminent Exercise of good Works shall endeavour not only to save their own Souls but also to Profit the Church in general and to promote the Salvation of any other in particular May the hope of this glorious Reward excite every one of you to the performance of this Duty of Exemplariness And may God of his infinite Mercy accept and Crown your Endeavours for the sake and Merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom c. The One and Twentieth SERMON Preach'd on Decemb. 25th 1690. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Luk. II. 14. Glory to God in the highest and on Earth Peace Good-will towards Men WHAT the Patriarchs saw afar off and desired what the Prophets foretold and just Men in all preceding Ages did assuredly expect the Manifestation of God in the Flesh and the Salvation of Mankind to be wrought thereby did this Day receive its Final accomplishment by the Birth of our Lord and Saviour the Commemoration of which is the occasion of this present Solemnity Nor can we more fitly commemorate it than by this admirable Hymn which the Angels and heavenly Host upon this occasion sang before us and the Church hath in all Ages since retained in her most Sacred Offices Glory be to God in the highest and on Earth Peace Good-will towards Men. This Hymn seems to have been a part of the publick Service of the Jews and to have been employed by them to express and celebrate the most illustrious Instances of the Divine Goodness to them For we find Acclamations very like to it in several places of Scripture and particularly upon the triumphant Entry of Christ into Jerusalem The Jews being perswaded that their long-looked for Messias was now come and all the temporal Advantages which they fancied would attend his Coming cryed out Peace in Heaven and Glory in the Highest But surely upon no occasion was it ever so justly used as by the Angels upon this Day in which the Divine Glory did so eminently shine forth and the eternal Happiness of Mankind did commence For from the Angels we receive this Hymn and are taught to sing it by their Example which is related in the Verse preceding the Text And suddenly there was with the Angels a multitude of the heavenly Host praising God and saying c. One Angel declared to the Shepherds the glad Tidings of great joy which should be to all People the Birth of Christ but the whole Quire of Angels the Host of Heaven joyned to sing Praise to God and celebrate those Benefits which were that day derived down upon all Mankind Themselves received not like Benefits to Men from the Incarnation of the Son of God yet returned Glory to God for it The Reasons of which it may not be amiss to lay down before I proceed to consider the parts of this Hymn singly First then the Angels were moved to give Thanks to God by the increase of the Divine Glory among Men which they foresaw would be consequent to this Incarnation Their Office is to attend continually before the Throne of God and sing Praises without Intermission to him so that every new increase of the Divine Glory inflames their Zeal in this Holy Office The primary Reasons indeed of that Glory and Praise which they continually yield to God are eternal being drawn from his immutable Attributes of supreme Power Wisdom Goodness and Majesty Yet every illustrious Manifestation of any of these glorious Attributes by external Effects becometh also the Subject of their Praise Thus in in Revel IV. 8. we find the Angels celebrating the eternal Attributes of God in that Hymn Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come And in many other places celebrating the Effects of these Attributes as Rev. XV. 3. Great and marvellous are thy Works Lord God Almighty and XIX 7. Let us be glad and rejoyce and give Honour to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come Nay as it should seem by comparing the several forms of Doxology to be found in the Book of Revelations the Angels since the Manifestation of the Mystery of God incarnate have in a manner changed the Subject of their Doxologies and confined themselves almost wholly to the Contemplation of this Mystery and the glorious Effects of it For in the beginning of that Book while the secrets of Heaven are still supposed to be Sealed up the wonderful Effects of this Mystery not yet to be fully disclosed all their Doxologies insist upon the general Attributes of the Divine Nature But after the full Declaration and Completion of those glorious Events and Effects of this Mystery which are there described the Argument of the heavenly Hymns is altered and imployed in the celebrating the Victories of the Lamb the overthrow of Satan and the Happiness of the Kingdom of the Messias That is so eminent and admirable is the Mystery of this Day so much conducing to the Divine Glory that since the Completion of it it is become the chief Subject of the Contemplation of those Holy Spirits who hereby best of all discern and are enabled to celebrate that Power Wisdom and Goodness which they before admired in God Farther the Angels celebrated the Birth of Christ as rejoycing at the
Salvation of Men which was to be procured thereby Those excellent Spirits are inclined by their own Goodness and Benignity to wish well to their Fellow-creatures to be concerned at their welfare and rejoyce in it Especially for those who are endued if not with equal yet with like Reason who possess Souls of the same spiritual Nature and alike immortal By these if by any means the number of the heavenly Host formerly diminished by the fall of Lucifer and his Associates was to be repaired All which would not permit them to be unconcerned in the Felicity of Mankind and that although the Divine Dispoposition had not obliged them to have a peculiar regard of it But when by the Order of God They are all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation as we read Hebr. I. 14. there was abundant Reason for this their Exultation since without the Incarnation of Christ their Labour had been wholly vain and the condition of Man not capable of relief But after they saw this at once made both possible and easie in a Rapture of Joy they broke forth into this Hymn of Praise For if there be joy among the Angels of Heaven over one Sinner that repenteth and is saved How much more when the whole Mass of Mankind was redeemed and made capable of Salvation Even the Angels themselves altho' not in the same Degree with Mankind received signal Benefits from the Manifestation of this Mystery And therefore had reason to rejoyce upon the Completion of it Their Happiness consists in contemplating and praising the Nature the Attributes and the Effects of God Their knowledge of all these things is Finite as is their Nature and therefore every addition of Knowledge is an encrease of Happiness and the Manifestation of this great Mystery of Heaven was the greatest Benefit which in their State they could receive Of the Mysteries of the Gospel St. Peter saith 1 Pet. I. 12. that the Angels desired to look into them and that before this they were ignorant of it appears from those words of Christ Matth. XXIV 36. But of that day and hour knoweth no Man no not the Angels of Heaven but my Father only When therefore the Son of God took Flesh upon him and thereby began to complete the wonderful Mystery of Man's Salvation Then clearly appeared to these Blessed Spirits what was before obscure to them the Reasons of the Divine Conduct in relation to Man in all preceding Ages the Mysterious Secrets of his Providence the Signification of Prophesies which went before the purport of the Divine Decrees concerning the future State of other rational Beings This new Knowledge administred to them fresh Reasons of admiring the Goodness and the Wisdom of God and thereby increased their Happiness Thus we find the Angels moved by great Reasons to joyn in the Solemnity of this Day But why they chose to do it audibly so as to be heard of the Shepherds as St. Luke relateth we are still to enquire That Angel which was peculiarly designed to this Office had newly finished his Message of the Birth of Christ and that Happiness which would thence ensue to all Mankind when immediately a multitude of the heavenly Host was present with him and sang this Hymn This without doubt was to convince those who heard it and others who should know by their Relation of the Greatness and importance of the Message of the Excellency of the Benefits to be derived to the World from the Incarnation of Christ of the Dignity of his Person whose Birth was celebrated by the whole Host of Heaven that he could be no other than the Son of God on whom the Angels so attended We find not that the entrance of any Prophet was ushered in by the Ministry of Angels On the other side we read not of the immediate Presence of God on Earth as on Mount Sina to Moses on Mount Horeb to Elias but it was still attended with some other visible Sign as in both those places by extraordinary Commotions in the Air which also represented the severity of the old Law And in this Mystery of the Incarnation of our Lord by which God descended upon Earth was made Flesh and dwelt among us we find it foretold by one Angel proclaimed by another and celebrated 〈◊〉 the whole Host of Heaven This declared his Majesty and was an evident Proof of the Divinity if not of his Person yet at least of his Mission Now least we should imagine our selves unconcerned in the Reasons of the Angels praising God upon this occasion and make no use of what hath been hitherto said I will shew that all those Reasons which might induce the Angels to break forth into this Hymn of Praise are common to Men and ought to be much more perswasive to them If the Angels were affected with the increase of Divine Glory wrought hereby And are not we obliged to magnifie the glorious Attributes of God and the several Emanations of them both as we are his Creatures and as we are endued with rational Souls If the Angels so far rejoyced in the Benefit and Salvation of others how much doth it become us to be thankful who reap the advantage upon whom the Benefit is bestowed If the Angels were glad to see the Salvation of Mankind accomplished much more surely should Men esteem themselves obliged who enjoy it So that upon all Accounts if the Angels had Reason Men have much more to celebrate the Incarnation of Christ with this Hymn Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth Peace Good-will towards Men. I will consider the several parts of this Hymn singly And first Glory to God in the Highest which is not so much a desire of what hath not as an Approbation of what hath happened towards the Exaltation of the Divine Glory The addition of in the Highest signifieth either in Heaven and so is opposed to what followeth Peace on Earth being a Completion of those Prophesies of Isaiah sing O Heaven and rejoyce O Earth for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob c. or more naturally it is 〈◊〉 rendred Glory to God in the higheâ—â—â—â—gree in which Sense this Phrase is â—ost frequently understood in Scripture as in Psal. XCIII 4. where the same Phrase is used in the Septuagint The Lord is mighty in the Highest that is mighty above all And surely with great Reason we are directed to give the highest Glory to God which can be conceived by reason of the Incarnation of his Son wherein the Perfection of his eternal Attributes is more conspicuous than in any other effect whatsoever and from whence he received the greatest Glory which was ever paid by Mankind to God To pursue this in particular Considerations The Love of God towards Mankind did never appear so eminently as in the completion of this Mystery Truly did St. John say 1 Joh. IV. 9. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent
it may be useful to us I will proceed upon these two Heads I. The Example of Haman confessing that all the Satisfactions of this Life availed him nothing II. The Reasons why they did not avail him nor will avail any others who with Haman placeth his Happiness in the fruition of them I. The Example of Haman is very remarkable and instructive a most evident Argument of that Truth for which we now contend which will appear if we view the several Circumstances of his Life and Greatness He enjoyed all those Advantages which could enhance the Opinion of his own Happiness Among these none of the least is that he rose to this Grandeur from a mean Estate which set a better relish upon his Happiness and made it the more valuable to him To one who had all his Life long enjoy'd the uninterrupted course of Prosperity these Honours might appear of lesser value A Satiety of Pleasures might in such have extinguished an esteem of them He might not know how to prize them because he never knew the want of them To be brought up in a constant Plenty of all that Sense can desire will oft-times produce a Greatness of Mind surmounting at last those petty Objects For the desire of Man in this Life is restless so that what he hath always possest he will scarce think desirable 'T is Novelty which recommendeth Temporal Enjoyments The want of them first raised a desire of them and their absence ministers an esteem of their Greatness Haman had no doubt while yet in a mean Condition before he was taken notice of or advanced by his Prince admir'd the Honour and Riches of other Men envied their Happiness and bounded his Hopes in the Acquisition of a like Fortune He had often imagined he should be truly Happy when he should have obtained what he so much desired The opinion of this Happiness had taken deep root in his Mind had filled his thoughts and possest his Soul And now after his Desires were accomplished his Hope 's fulfilled when he was raised to a greater Dignity than himself before had even dared to hope when he was far advanced above all those whose Happiness he had so long both envied and admired when he was newly entred upon the Possession of his Hopes and had not so long enjoyed the Pleasures of them as to be glutted by them yet notwithstanding all these Advantages he declares this availed him nothing Again if such a Confession should proceed from the mouth of a Philosopher it might possibly be attributed to somewhat else than Conviction of Judgment It might arise from Vain-glory and the Desire of being reputed Superior to all the Satisfactions of sense and the vanity of this Life It might be thought to be spoken with design of raising an Opinion of his own extraordinary Wisdom or Mortification As it was usually objected to the Heathen Philosophers that they secretly entertained the love of those Vices against which they so furiously declaimed and directed their Discourse rather for applause than conviction Or if such a saying should proceed from a firm Perswasion in them it still deserved not to be admired because they knew or pretended to know a more real and desirable Happiness so that to depress the Pleasures of Sense and exaggerate those of the Mind was no more than their Profession did require of them Or if a Christian should make such a Declaration after a serious Meditation of the vanity of this Life and the Rewards proposed to him in another we should much less be moved at it In him that would be but natural He professeth himself a Citizen of another world a Pilgrim and Stranger upon the Earth whose Hopes and Expectations are placed in Heaven But when a professed Worlding who knows no Happiness but what is to be received in this Life who never considered or conceived a spiritual Felicity who greedily seeks after secular Advantages and makes those the only Objects of his desire If such an one in the midst of his Fruition declares his unsatisfaction this is an unanswerable Evidence which nothing but the force of truth can extort which cannot be denied And such was Haman a stranger to the Promises of God an Enemy to Religion a Slave to his Passions a Votary to Lust and Pleasure and yet even he in the Fruition of all which he had hitherto so ardently desired confest that it availed him nothing Further this Speech of Haman was not the effect of any sudden Motion but of mature Deliberation A worldly Man perhaps may be driven by some Disappointment or unwelcome Accident to blaspheme his Mammon and in a hasty Concession to declare the Vanity of all sublunary Enjoyments to renounce his part in them and pretend that he doth not value them yet would be unwilling to be taken at his word and stript of all Such Sallies of Passion declare not the fixed Judgment of a Man and not proceeding from Deliberation carry no Authority with them But the resolution of Haman in my Text was far otherwise He pronounced this in a sedate Disposition after long Consultation He sent for his Friends to acquaint them with it and when they were met did not immediately break out into a transport of Passion and bewail his misfortune He recounted and amplified the Benefits of fortune to him took a full Prospect of all his imaginary Happiness as it is in the 11. Verse And Haman told them of the glory of his riches and the multitude of his children and all the things wherein the King had promoted him and how he had advanced him above the Princes and Servants of the King He gave its due weight to every Circumstance of his present Fortune insisted upon all the Topicks which might amplifie the greatness of it magnified it in a set harangue and yet after all at last concluded that all this availed him nothing A strange Conclusion for an Haman to make which yet will carry greater weight along with it if we consider that this proceeded not from any Representation made to him by his Friends whom he had called together of the vanity of his riches the mutability of his Fortune or the mortality of his Nature Such Suggestions might possibly have diverted his Vain-glorious humour for a while to a melancholy Consideration of them and in that Disposition have forced him to make this Concession As Solon did to Craesus making a pompous shew of his Treasurâ—s and Magnificence and the Prophet reduced King Hezekiah to more humble thoughts after he had in Ostentation exposed his riches to the view of the Embassadours of Babylon by telling him that they should be carried away to Babylon In that case to restrain the love of worldly Pleasure and for a while seem weary of it may easily be accountable But here the Friends of Haman far from performing such an Office sought rather to congratulate his Fortunes to flatter his Passions to foment his Pride and Ambition by concurring in an
Opinion of his extraordinary Happiness Himself in order recounted his Dignities and they admired them He reported the Favours of his Prince and they extolled them He boasted of his Grandeur and Riches and they proclaim'd him Happy Yet himself who best knew what Happiness he received from thence declared himself unhappy and all this to avail him nothing Lastly this was spoken by Haman whilst yet in full Favour with his Prince and expecting to receive greater Demonstrations of it He suffered no Apprehensions of losing his present Enjoyment Such thoughts indeed distract a worldly Man imbitter all his Pleasures and suffer him not to rest contented It would be impossible to him to relish any delight while afflicted with Fears and Doubts while despairing to retain his present Happiness He would grow Pale at the Prospect of an approaching Storm and instead of receiving any Complacency from his present Prosperity distract his thoughts with the fear of future Misery In such Circumstances an Epicure might well Confess that all the outward Advantages of his Life profited him nothing while he suffered inward Distraction from the Apprehension of his Fall which would render him so much more miserable by how much it deprived him of a greater Prosperity Haman at this time had no such Fears he had yet received no repulse at Court his Favour daily increased he had that very day received eminent Marks of his Princes affection and was the day after to receive yet more All this he was sensible of and all this he acknowledged in the close of his Speech Ver. 12. For he said moreover Yea Esther the Queen did let no man come in with the King unto the banquet that she had prepared but my self and to morrow am I invited unto her also with the King Far from fearing the loss of his present Greatness he probably hoped the increase of it and yet concluded that all this availed him nothing If then Haman under all these Circumstances missed of his desired end of being made Happy by worldly Enjoyments we may reasonably suspect some defect to be in the Nature of them upon the account of which neither Haman could nor any other can receive any real Happiness from thence And this I proceed in the Second place to treat of in some few Considerations First then nothing on this side Heaven is able to satiate the Soul of Man and however temporal Benefits may at a distance ravish the Imagination and create extraordinary Conceptions of their own Excellency yet when obtained they are found to be empty and trifling unable to satisfie the Desires of the Soul and fill its Capacity They are like the Fruit of Sodom which by their external Beauty attract the Eye but when touched crumble into Ashes While they are yet only Objects of Desire Men frame to themselves as it were Systems of Happiness to be enjoyed in them No sooner do they become Objects of Fruition but the meanness of them is discovered and after a full Enjoyment of them Man is forced to Confess this is not that he desired that which he proposed to himself He is never enabled by the Possession of them to say I am now completely Happy I here terminate my Desires He is forced to carry his Desires yet farther and seek true Felicity somewhere else which while constant to his Principle he can place no where else than in a greater Degree of the same Happiness This therefore he earnestly pursues yet never attains that Degree If he fixeth the measure of the Degree he may indeed arrive at that but when arrived finds himself as far as ever removed from true Happiness He turmoils and distracts himself experienceth the Vanity of former Projects invents new Methods of Happiness until Death puts an end to his Life and Designs together The greatest of these worldly Enjoyments are generally supposed to be Riches and sensual Pleasures The latter are common even to Beasts who are endued with Senses no less strong and lively than Men. And then surely none will so far debase his Nature as to level himself with Beasts by proposing to himself a Felicity of which they are no less capable It cannot be denied indeed that as we consist of Soul and Body God intended Happiness to each part that he put us into this World to make our selves Happy even in this Life but then as Soul and Body together constitute but one Person the Pleasures of either must be such as consist with the Nature of both As the Soul ought not to tyrannize over the Body by imposing on it unnecessary Rigours and Mortifications so the Excellency of the Soul ought not to be debased for the satisfaction of the Body A limitted use of Pleasures is not to be denied to the Body but then that very Limitation supposeth a better and more noble end of Man for the sake of which they are limited And after all the real Happiness of such limited Pleasures consists not so much in the report of the Senses enjoying them as in the reflex thoughts of the Soul forming to its self an Act of Complacency for having limited them according to the Laws of God The unlimited use of these Pleasures instead of conferring a real Benefit involves Men in Troubles and Anxieties in Cares and Dangers and when enjoyed endures but for a Moment no longer than the impression of Sense continueth when expired leaves only a Weariness and Nauseousness behind them So then sensual Pleasures conduce little to the Supreme end of Man unless we should be so foolish as to imagine that to be the utmost Happiness of Man which renders him happy but for a few moments And then as to Riches the natural use of them is subordinated to sensual Pleasures and the Conveniencies of Life and therefore can bestow nothing beyond them If any imagine as it cannot be denied that too many do that the very satisfaction of possessing Riches without any respect to the use of them bears any part in the Happiness of Man this is so gross and unmanly a Conception as nothing can exceed the wickedness of it nothing can equal the Folly of it This is a greater Depravation of Nature than all the Villanies of Sense or Sins of violence and if no Punishment attended it hereafter would rather deserve our Scorn than Envy The Acquisition of Riches is generally indeed at least indirectly referred to the Enjoyment of sensual Pleasures to be procured by them and as such can carry the Happiness of them no farther than the Nature of them will permit which we before considered Not to say that it is an invincible Argument of the unsatisfactoriness of Riches that those who seek after them seldom or never set bounds to their Desires and although in the acquiring of them they generally please themselves with the thoughts of commanding all sensual Pleasures when they shall have obtain'd them yet they seldom begin in earnest a Fruition of them ever proposing an end to themselves
thy Mind can affright thee from performing what is displeasing to it if thou darest not resist its Commands and quietly submitest to it how much more art thou obliged to revere the Omnipotence of God where Power and Goodness are sweetly joyned together where no Limitations can be found nothing excluded from the reach of it no Cessation to be expected If thou pretendest not to know this Power consider the Nature of God and judge whether Omnipotence be not a necessary Attribute of a most perfect Being If thou appealest to Sense view the Fabrick of the World pass through Heaven and Earth thou shalt discover the Footsteps of Omnipotence in every part of it If thou pretendest yet not to see what is most evident reflect upon the Faculties of thy own Soul and say who gave them to thee consider the Fabrick of thy Body who formed it for thee These are undeniable Marks of thy Subjection to an Almighty Power which even if thou dost deny it is by Faculties of Soul and Body created by him that thou canst deny it Thus we perceive that the Power of God is uncontroulable and infinite that he is able to inflict whatsoever Punishment he pleaseth on his disobedient Creatures And then lest we should vainly imagine this Power to be useless in respect of us and like antiquated Laws never put in execution we are told in the next place that God is excellent in Judgment also that he will most certainly judge Manking and punish them for the Omission of their Duty For so Judgment doth almost every where signifie in Scripture the infliction of Punishment upon Delinquents This is the chief Mark of the Divine Government of the World to take a Survey of the Actions of Men and punish them for the Violation of those publick Laws which are fixed to Mankind and prescribed for their direction Nothing but the most extreme stupidity can defeat the Success of this Argument of Divine Worship since this equally affects both the Wife and Foolish by striking their Imaginations with the fear of Misery A Fear which will affect the Mind of Man when no other Argument can prevail The Perfections of God may be slighted the Infinity of his Nature may be neglected his Power may be derided when not put in execution but the belief of Judgment to be inflicted upon Sinners will awaken the Consciences and affright the Thoughts of Men And that even altho' the manner of the Execution of this Judgment should be unknown to them as in natural Religion For let the Punishments be uncertain as to their quality let the time of their Execution be hid from Sinners yet this they cannot but know that God is the Supreme Governour of the World that as such he will exercise Judgment and that as his Power exceeds that of the most formidable Judicature on Earth so his Punishments will be correspondent exceeding what Man can inflict And herein appears the excellence of this Judgment mentioned in the Text. Humane Judicatures can take hold only of the external Actions of Men and even these may sometimes be hid from them the Power of the Offender may set him above the reach of Punishments they may be evaded by crafty Defences may be hindred by the Interposition of some greater Power may be avoided by Death and will certainly be finished by it But in the Execution of the Divine Judgment it is far otherwise There the most secret Actions of Men are call'd in question even their Thoughts cannot escape discovery The Judge cannot be blinded by crafty Insinuations nor diverted from his Resolution by extraneous Causes Nothing can rescue us out of his hands not even Death it self his Dominion extends beyond the Grave reaches the Soul of Man and surmounts the resistance of all created Beings If then Fear can affect Men if Punishments can deter them if Power can awe them if the certainty of all these can convince them they do all combine to secure the Worship of God and continue Religion in Mankind But then lest we should seem Slaves to God and Servants through Fear only he dispenseth Rewards as well as Punishments to Men. He is excellent in plenty of Justice in the words of the Text. He rewards the Obedience of Men to his Precepts not because any Reward was due to them but because he delighteth in dispensing his Benefits and then his Justice will require that he dispense them to the most worthy We are not ignorant how powerful an Argument Interest is in moving the Hearts of Men. What draweth Attendants to Princes or Servants to Great Men but the Power of rewarding them and the prospect of Preferment to be attain'd by their Favours This seldom fails to secure to them those Duties which are due from Dependants Honour and Service And if we would but raise our Souls from the Earth and carry them beyond the Objects of Sense it would no less effectually secure what is due to God from us Adoration of his Majesty and Obedience to his Laws The Rewards to be attained are far greater such as the Donor will not and such as all the other Powers of the World cannot take away from us such as shall not be determined by Time nor restrained by any Limitation The assurance also of obtaining them is far more certain being founded on the Promise of him who can give what he pleaseth and will give what he Promiseth whereas the Favours expected from Men may be defeated by Forgetfulness by Unfaithfulness may be intercepted by others may become impossible to be bestowed If then God by his Infinite and most certain Rewards cannot procure what Men obtain by their Petty and uncertain Favours Fear and Reverence we must deplore the Ingratitude and obstinate Perverseness of Men who refusing to hearken to the Arguments of obedience propos'd by God yield to those proposed by Men which yet affect the same Passion that of Desire but in a much lower Degree Lastly to secure in our Minds such Thoughts of God as are befitting his Majesty and Holiness lest our Adoration of him should be corrupted with any Suspicions of Injustice entertained at the same time it is added in the end of the Verse He will not afflict In this Life the Rules and Method whereby God dispenseth his Rewards and Punishments may be very obscure to us He may suffer the righteous to be afflicted he may permit the wicked to Prosper he may in appearance cut off the Hopes of good Men by present Miseries and encourage the Disobedience of bad Men by temporal Felicity His ways may be unsearchable and his judgments past finding out But from hence we must not conceive any Opinion of Injustice in God or Imperfection in the Administration of his Government Although the Secrets of Providence be unknown to us this we are assured of that he is infinitely Just and Holy and that being such he will not afflict The Mysterious Obscurity of Providence herein was the occasion of the
therein than he did before Scarce any Man however having plentifully enjoyed all the satisfactions of this Life if his Life could be renewed to him upon Condition of living again in the same and in no other manner than he did before would esteem it any great Benefit He might perhaps accept it through fear of Death because he knows not what it is to die but for the intrinsick Merit of it he would hardly judge it to be desirable Such is the Condition of humane Life considered in a natural State and what great Excellency can be discovered in all this which may nourish our Pride or enlarge our Pretences So inconsiderable a part of the Universe is Mankind And then shall so mean a Being vie with God require the general Laws of Providence to be over-ruled for his sake become swoln with Pride think himself more worthy than all the rest of the Creation and continually aspire to greater Priviledges than were at first assigned to him Alas poor Mortal however thou mayst advance thy Pretences and flatter thy self with a fond Opinion of thy own Greatness that Body which thou carriest about with thee and canst not shake off that very Body upon which and the dependances of it thou so much valuest thy self proclaim thy Imperfection If I should call thee Dust and Ashes thy end will manifest thee to be no more but this will only express thy Infirmity I want a word to express the Vanity of thy mind If I should call thee nothing thy self hast often confessed thy self to be worse than nothing when amidst the Crosses of fortune or torments of Diseases thou hast often wished to become nothing for to avoid them and wilt once again wish it after Death if thou dost not correct thy foolish Arrogance So little Reason hath Man in general to value himself upon the Excellency of his Nature and as to the divers Pretentions before-mentioned hath yet much less If Atheists pretend an independent Existence from God let them demonstrate it by continuing their Existence for ever If they could at first bestow Existence upon themselves they may by the same Power always continue it if this exceeds their Ability much more will the other If Deists assert the Actions of Man to be uncontrouled by God and the Government of the World to be wholly neglected by him let them reconcile to such stupid Negligence the eternal Attributes of Justice Wisdom and Goodness which they allow to be in God let them stifle if they can the Checks of their Conscience for Sins committed in secret and solve the undeniable Characters of extraordinary Providence interposing in the World These impious Opinions indeed cannot be received by the followers of any revealed Religion but the others may As first That all other parts of the Creation were made for the sake and the service of Man alone An Opinion which however generally taken up by Men and in some measure Useful to excite their Gratitude to their Creator yet seems to have proceeded from too great an esteem of humane Nature and tendeth directly to â—oment its Pride It is certain indeed that almost all parts of the visible World are subservient to the use of Man that God hath not denied to us the use of any one of them in which sense it may indeed be said that all things were created for the use of Man as it is said in Scripture Man was created for the Woman and the Woman for the Man that is not for that end alone but for that among other Reasons And thus even the Angels are subservient to Man being sent forth as Ministring Spirits to such as are heirs of Salvation But to imagine that all things were Created only for the use and the sake of Man hath no appearance of Truth To affirm that of the blessed Angels who are so far superiour to us in Dignity would be an intolerable Arrogance and to assert it even of other created Beings would be a vain Presumption Perhaps not the thousandth part of the Universe is visible to us And then what are we concerned in so many vast Orbs as are beyond our Heavens I know many have imagined them to have been created for the Seat of God and the Reception of our glorified Bodies after the Resurrection but that is too gross a Conceit to need any Refutation Even in the visible World no small part of the Creation lays undiscovered and not a little of what we know is wholly unuseful to us It becomes us rather with Reverence to reflect upon our Subjection to God our common Creatour than endeavour to set our selves before the rest of the Creation and flatter our selves into an ambitious Opinion of an Universal Monarchy In the next place to ascribe so much Excellency to our Nature as to imagine that the general Laws of Providence ought to be violated for the Convenience of it is a Pride exceeding all Comparison as if the petty Interests of Man in this Life were of greater moment than the Preservation of the publick Order and therein the Harmony of the World Is it not sufficient to have received from God the benefit of Existence to enjoy all the Blessings of Earth and Heaven which the ordinary course of Nature directed by the Author of it bestoweth on us but the Fabrick of the World must be overturned and the general Laws of its Government be reversed for us Yet this unreasonable Expectation generally seizeth Men in Afflictions when all the hard Words which they heap upon adverse Fortune are directed against the Divine Government of the World the impartial Execution of which without respect to the little Interests of private Men produceth that diversity of Accidents which is generally called Fortune Farther to murmur at the Divine Administration of the World because no more excellent or more certain Happiness is assigned to Men in this Life is an effect of the same unreasonable Ambition of being more noble Creatures than we really are For while we are a compound of Soul and Body endued with gross Organs of Sense and subject to the publick Order of the World it is impossible that our Pleasures should be other than gross and adapted to the Organ of their Reception that is our Sense We may tire our selves in hunting after new Methods of Happiness and afflict our selves in the Disappointment of them but while our Natures continue to be what they are and the same Order is preferved in the World it is impossible that the Pleasures of Life should be any other than what they are that is mean in their own Nature and uncertain in their Duration To propose the acquisition of a compleat Knowledge of all things in this Life of an absolute imperturbation of Mind and constant Infallibility is no less Vain and to boast of such Perfections as some have done little less than Madness Our present Nature admitteth no such Improvements which while we are content to own we must also own those
Imperfections which necessarily do attend it Errors of this nature in matters of Religion are yet much more Dangerous and at the same time more unreasonable because not founded in internal Perfections of our Nature but in extraneous Advantages such as the extraordinary and unaccountable Favour of God whereby he prefers some Men before others without any respect to the Merits or Demerits of either An easie way indeed of gaining Heaven and as what flatters the Ambition of Men is commonly acceptable to them a pleasing Delusion But such Men are to know that altho' themselves proceed herein without any other Principles than a strong Imagination prompted by a vehement Pride yet that the most wise God never Acts without sufficient Reason is not to be swayed by any Partiality and Dispenseth his Favours with the most exact Justice If they believe God will oversee Faults in them which he will not pass by in others they prefer themselves to the inestimable Blood of the Son of God which being shed to purchase a particular Covenant of Remission of Sins they fondly imagine that the Conditions of it shall be Dispensed with for their sake Lastly If any imagine themselves to lay an Obligation upon God by their own Acts of Piety and Obedience this indeed will be a strong Perswasion of extraordinary Dignity since it implies an absolute Independency from God But as this is Blasphemous so the Belief of that is highly Criminal If we performed an exact and unsining Obedience we should still do no more than our Duty it is what we owed to God in Right of our Creation and Dependence on him And then surely even in Affairs of this Life we do not believe our selves to have obliged any Person when we pay a just Debt to him But if we reflect upon our many Sins more numerous than our Acts of Obedience and consider that the first is the sole Act of our own Will the latter the effect of the Grace of God enabling us and working with us that the first is always perfect the latter even when best still imperfect we shall find abundant Arguments of Humility but none of Arrogance II. The usefulness of this Exhortation of the Apostle and what hath been Discoursed by me in the Prosecution of it appears not only in preventing these fatal Errors which have been markt out and opposed by us but also extends to many Actions of Life and Duties of Religion As first This will secure to us constant Peace and Satisfaction of Mind amidst all the inconveniences of Life Whatsoever is wont to render the Mind of Man uneasie may be reduced either to the want of some desired Good or the presence of some vexarious Evil. And herein Men put no Bounds to their Desires or Resentments They passionately desire the acquisition of some Good or removal of some Evil which is sometimes impossible in Nature and ofttimes denied them by the ordinary Providence of God Hereupon they grow Discontented many times repine against God and think themselves injured and all upon a mistaken supposal of their deserving whatsoever they shall desire Whereas if they would contract their ambitious Desires and think Soberly as the Apostle adviseth they would soon be convinced that Man is no such excellent Creature for whose sake the ordinary course of the World should be changed or God work Miracles to please his Fancy That if Infirmities and Diseases attend his Body it is no more than the natural Consequence of the Constitution of it If adverse Fortune doth afflict him it is an effect of the steady Continuation of the same general Laws of Providence in the Universe whereof himself is but an inconsiderable Member If the grant of his Desires be denied to him it is no Wonder his Merits are too small to require the Performance of all his Wishes If all these together trouble him he hath no injury done unto him he cannot accuse Heaven of Injustice All these Inconveniences are the necessary Consequences of his Nature and then if he be willing to continue his Existence it is no less than absurd to desire to change the Properties of it If he murmurs against God because his Nature is not more Excellent he shews himself yet more Unreasonable since all proceeds from the free Gift of our Creator to whom we ought rather to be thankful that we are raised above the Order of Beasts than repine because we are set beneath the Dignity of Angels Secondly this will teach us Humility which is nothing else but a sobriety of Thought or just esteem of our own Merits And that first with our fellow Christians which was the peculiar design of the Apostle when he laid down this general Precept directing it against those who upon supposal of their extraordinary Merits above other Men boasted of a particular Favour with God despised their Brethren as Carnal and perhaps Reprobate made Ostentation of those Graces which were the free Gift of God or pretended to those which really they did not possess And in Confidence of either invaded those Offices in the Church which were not committed to them violated the Rules of Ecclesiastical Discipline and presumed to exempt themselves from the Obligation of it Such Spiritual Pride hath in all Ages continued to infest the Church and still continues to molest it But since I have hitherto waved the Prosecution of this particular Design of the Apostle I will return to the more general Use of his Exhortation and observe in the last place That 3. This will teach us Humility towards God and give us a just Idea of our relation to him It is almost impossible to form any rational Act of Adoration to him without obtaining a true Notion of the infinite Distance betwixt him and us That there is nothing in our Nature which could attract his Love that our most perfect Obedience can confer no Benefit upon him that neither our celebrating him on Earth nor our Society in Heaven will add to the infinity of his present Happiness It will demonstrate the inconceivable Greatness of the Divine Mercy towards us in sending his Son to dye for us in proclaiming Pardon to our Sins in offering terms of Salvation to us when nothing could be found in us which could deserve so great a Favor It will add to the Love of Christ that he was content to lay down his Life for such inconsiderable Creatures and thereby not only bestow upon us one full Pardon of all precedent Sins but renew his Pardons as often as Men should sincerely renew their Repentance in giving assurances to us of all this by the Participation of his own precious Body and Blood which for that purpose should be for ever continued and often celebrated in the Church To this whosoever approacheth with Humility Faith and Repentance will assuredly receive Remission of his Sins past and Grace to avoid them for the future But without these preparative Dispositions of Mind it is vain to expect the Benefit upon a
our Lord and Master The manner of Temptation in each Case was not different being in each Case effected by inward Suggestion For we must not suppose that the Devil visibly appeared to our Lord and spake to him face to face to have proposed his alluring Temptations without any disguise would more have prejudiced the Efficacy of them than all the specious Arguments wherewith he recommended them could have enforced them He tempted Christ by insinuating secretly into his mind such Thoughts as these that since he was Conscious to himself of his Power of working Miracles he had better satisfie his Hunger by turning the Stones into Bread than endure it any longer in awaiting the ordinary Providence of God that to leap off the Pinacle of the Temple and to be seen to be carried safe in the Air would contribute very much to raise his Glory and Fame among Men and that if he would employ that Power of Miracles which he had received from God for the Conversion of the World to the Conquest of it it would be no hard Matter in a short time to gain all the Kingdoms of the Earth and the Glory of them Thus the Devil tempted our Lord and thus he continueth to tempt us with this only difference that our Lord by his excellent Wisdom knew that all those Suggestions proceeded from that wicked Spirit and we when we are tempted by him are wont to ascribe those evil Motions which we then find within our selves to any thing rather than the Suggestion of evil Spirits For since these Suggestions are usually specious Arguments of the extraordinary Pleasure or Profit to be found in sin Men are apt to ascribe all this to the Excellency of their Understanding which as they imagine raiseth them beyond the trifling superstition of religious Fools who are content to forfeit the chief Satisfactions of this Life for fear of offending they know not whom and suffering they know not what or to their own extraordinary Sagacity whereby they alone can discern what is the true Happiness of Man or perhaps reconcile all these sins wherein they delight to their Pretences of future Happiness When indeed pious Men know no less than they what are the specious Arguments recommending sinful Pleasures and by what Methods they may be best enhanced but they will not entertain themselves with such Considerations and if suggested to them presently do remove them not only because by Attention to them they are endangered to be allured or betrayed to Consent to them but also because voluntarily to continue such thoughts in the mind and dwell upon them is a sin since this includes a Connivence of the Will not restraining the Imagination from such impure Ideas and is commonly attended with a sort of Complacency which wanteth nothing but a fit occasion to put the pleasing sin in Practice So then the most secure method of eluding the Temptations of the Devil is to decline his suggestions immediately to remove even the first Thoughts of them and divert the Soul to some lawful Object But because the imagination of Man may be so strongly excited by some violent Object or Impression that it shall not be even in the Power of the Soul to suppress it for some considerable time as we see in violent Passions which can no more be allayed by one Act of Dissent in the Will than a tempestuous Sea be calmed in one minute therefore it will be necessary to provide Remedies against such Adventures And the most effectual is that prescribed by our Saviour Matth. V. 29. 30. If thy right Eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee And if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee c. That is if by the Enjoyment of any otherwise indifferent Object thou find thy self often betrayed to an unlawful use of it or to any other sin deprive thy self even of that lawful Pleasure rather than for the sake of that expose thy Soul to the Danger of total Destruction and thereby forfeit not only that apparent but even all real Satisfactions If by any pleasing Objects of sight thou art apt to be tempted to unlawful Desires by a prudent Caution debar thy self even of those otherwise lawful Pleasures which thou mightest receive from that noble Faculty If grateful Objects of touch do often excite such vehement Passions in thee as cannot be satisfied without the Commission of sin renounce even all lawful Pleasures which thou mightest receive from thence If thou canst not look upon a Woman without lusting after her suffer not thy Eyes to gaze upon her If thou canst not engage in Company without being tempted to Drunkenness deny thy self so dangerous a Satisfaction and so in all other Cases A most Divine Counsel and excellently fitted to defeat the Temptations of the Devil or the Propensity of our own Nature to sin Every Man may discover in himself a Proneness to some particular sin beyond others of which evil Spirits make their advantage and most frequently assault Men by inciting them to the Commission of it Here a Man should be chiefly careful and rather than suffer himself to be led into it dread even the Approaches of it suspect even his lawful Enjoyments of that Object to which the sin relates and if all this Circumspection prevents not the returns of his unlawful Passions as oft as the Object is renewed to renounce even all lawful use of it at least until those Passions can be so far allayed that the Soul can again entertain the Object without any Danger of sin But the most frequent Case remaineth yet to be provided for that is when the Idea produced by the Object or by the suggestion of the Devil is so violent that it cannot be removed by a single Dissent of the Will and notwithstanding all the forementioned rules of Caution is either by our own Negligence or by the subtilty of our Adversary or both actually produced Here it is that the Efficacy of Temptations chiefly appears the Devil is vigilant and unwearied in the prosecution of his Designs attacks us on all sides successively if he be repulsed at one Post he assaults us at another and never gives over till he gaineth entrance Here is the chief Conflict of a Christian when the Suggestion of evils Spirits exciteth his Imagination when his Passions are raised by this Conception when his sensual Appetite grows impetuous opposeth the Directions of Reason and requireth blindly to be satisfied The repugnancy of this to the rational Faculties of the Soul giveth the Devil opportunity to assault us and success in it This proceeds no farther than the bare satisfaction of Sense it lyeth grovelling on the Earth looks not up to Heaven nor discerns any future Hopes therein common with Beasts who pursue the Enjoyment of present Objects without any regard to Futurity This continually inciteth a Man to enjoy the Object which is set before him without enquiring whether it be allowed or forbidden
Stone Lastly by the Merits or Guilt of the Soul the Body will be hereafter either saved or condemned If then all the Blessings of Heaven be primarily bestowed upon the Soul if this be the only receptacle of moral Vertues and Divine Graces if the Son of God vouchsafed to do and suffer so much for the Salvation of it if all the future Happiness of the Body depends upon the well-doing of the Soul certainly this Soul deserveth our greatest Regard and Consideration as by which alone we obtain the Favour of God and are made like unto him by imitating his Perfections as far as our finite Nature will permit us in the Practice of Vertue and Holiness of Life In the next place 't is the Excellency of our Souls alone which distinguisheth one Man from another and maketh any Person more excellent than his Neighbour It is a childish mistake of Men to imagine that Riches or Honour or temporal Greatness gives a real Excellency to Mankind or confers a true Dignity upon the Possessors of them since all these outward Advantages are common to the worst and most profligate of Men who as they are most miserable in themselves so they deserve no other than the Slight and Contempt of all who know them Not to say that all these things are frail and momentany of which a Man may be bereaved in an hour either by the inconstancy of Fortune or the Malice of others But we cannot imagine that our Wise Creatour should assign that to be our chief Perfection of which we might either be deprived or defrauded and that our Happiness should be in the Power and at the Mercy of another Man In that Case we should have been more miserable than all the rest of the Creation if it were not in every Man's Power to become Happy So true is it that all the Excellency of Man consists in the great and eminent Endowments of his Soul which the poorest of Men may obtain and when obtained can by no Art or Fraud be taken from him Thus the Scripture giving an account of the eminent Perfections of Daniel the Honour and Reverence paid to him and Dignities conferr'd upon him gives this as the Reason of it Because an excellent Spirit was in him Dan. VI. 3. It was that alone which caused him to surpass the ordinary Rank of Men and made him the Favourite of Heaven Not that a more excellent and perfect Soul was infused at first into him than into the rest of Men for all Souls are created equal and are capable of the same Improvements but that he had adorned it with all the Perfections of Reason and Religion and thereby rendred it worthy the Favour of God and Esteem of Men. And herein clearly appears both the Goodness of God and the Happiness of Men that all these Improvements and Cultivations of the Soul are equally possible to the Poorest as well as the richest Men. Poverty and temporal Calamity cannot exclude us from the utmost Perfection and in that from the greatest Happiness It is in the Power of the meanest Person to be truly more Excellent than his rich Neighbours and to ensure to himself the Favours of Heaven although not the Riches of the Earth Thus God hath in Truth made an equal Distribution to all Men by assigning to all Souls an equal Capacity For as for the Goods of Fortune when put in the Scale with Piety and the interests of Religion they deserve not the least Consideration There are some Endowments of the mind indeed which are not common and cannot be obtained by all Men as Learning and an exquisite Knowledge These may put in a fair Plea for an intrinsick Worth and Excellency as being inseparable from the Soul when once acquired of infinite use in this Life and perhaps greater in the next But then there are disadvantages attending such acquired Knowledge which may justly take off the immoderate Desire of it and make it become no reasonable Object of Envy to a pious unlearned Christian. As that it renders the way to Heaven infinitely more difficult to the Possessors of it exposeth them to many and great Temptations not common to all other Persons but chiefly because more and greater Duties are required of them greater and more severe Punishments attend the neglect of them In the more unlearned sort God requireth no more than a hearty Sincerity Belief and sure Trust in the Merits of a Crucified Saviour and living up to the great Truths of Religion and Principles of common Honesty In them he willingly over-seeth small and trivial Faults and imputes not Errors to them unless they influence and corrupt their Practice But of the more learned sort of Christians he requireth right Notions of Religion and worthy Conceptions of the Divine Majesty employing their knowledge to the good of others the Edification of the Church and after all an exact Observation of the most minute Punctilios of the Divine Laws In them mistakes are dangerous and Pardon not so easie to be obtained If indeed at last they be thought worthy of the Joys of Heaven they will shine there in a more eminent Station and brighter Glory But then even the lowest Degree in Heaven is a greater Happiness than we can either imagine or conceive Thus all the truly desirable Perfections of the Soul are possible to all and debarr'd from none Those are no other than an ardent Love of God an active Zeal to his Service a strict Sobriety in our selves and a fervent Charity to all our Neighbours How far these will advance the Dignity of our Souls appears hence that these only make us capable of the Joys of Heaven that 't is the perfect and uninterrupted Possession of these which maketh Angels and the want of these which maketh Devils Lastly Our Body when considered alone hath nothing excellent beyond other material Creatures nor is capable of any Improvements It is taken out of the same Mass of Matter with other Bodies and after the Separation of the Soul by Death is resolved into the same Corruption becomes Filth and Rottenness and in Truth the most odious of all things Nay even in this Life it would be subject to the same miserable Condition with the Beasts of the Field if it were not actuated by a noble and generous Soul which rescues it from the common Calamity of dull and vile Matter and giveth it the Honour to be joyned to and be the Companion of a most excellent and immortal Spirit And so far is this Body from receiving new Perfections in this Life that it continually decays till it be laid in Ashes and become as the Dung of the Earth None yet with the greatest Care and Diligence could give Beauty to their Bodies or as our Saviour expresseth it add one cubit to their stature None with the greatest Art and Industry can make their Senses more quick and accurate But certainly not any can procure immortality to their Bodies a Priviledge which naturally belongs
afford no leisure to the Soul to meditate upon the Greatness and Worth of her Creator the necessity of her own Duties and to form these Meditations into Habits of Vertue and thereby procure to our selves that real Happiness even in this Life which is infinitely more valuable than all the Riches and Possessions of the World when joyned in one Again Secondly If the Happiness of the Soul in this Life deserveth our greatest Care much more doth the welfare of it in a future State as being free from all Passions and Infirmities of the Body and which is more eternal This ought to be the Business and Employment of our whole Lives that we fail not of the Consummation of our Hopes and Crown of our Happiness And it would be so if we were throughly perswaded of the Existence and immortality of our Souls of the Greatness and Importance of their Interests and the infinite Preference which is due to these beyond those of our Body For can it be that we are perswaded of the Truths of these things and yet Act as though we had neither Souls nor Reasons that we believe the Existence of another more Glorious and lasting State and yet set up our rest in this that we hope for the appearance of a Judge at the last day and yet never think of making our Accounts ready Let us reflect upon the Nature of our Souls and justly weigh the great Interests of them consider the Vanity of worldly Pleasures and the shortness and inconstancy of this frail Life remember the Glories of Heaven and the inconceivable Happiness of another Life and we must either put off our Reason or employ it in pursuing those Interests which do so greatly and so nearly concern us Let us be so brave and generous as not to think that we die like the beasts that perish that we were made for greater and more noble Ends intended for the Favour of God and Society of Angels that we carry about with us spiritual Beings which cannot die and will receive no Prejudice by the Dissolution of the Body that these Souls were designed by God to receive a Participation of his own Glory and will certainly do so if they be not debarr'd from it by our fatal Stupidity and Neglect and that in providing for this more Excellent part of us we secure likewise a Mansion for the Body which at the general Resurrection shall be received into the same Station and undergoe the same fate with the Soul If we were perfectly perswaded of the Truth of all this we could not consign our selves up to pursue the Vanities of the World and heap up Riches which are of no Service for the Interests of another Life and promote not our real Happiness in this Can you be supposed to believe all this and at the same time imploy your Lives upon the Practice of the contrary Hope for the Perfection designed and make no step towards the Attainment of it rather let us endeavour with our utmost Vigour to maintain that Degree which God hath assigned to us among created Beings and not by our Degeneracy become the vilest and most miserable of all Creatures Let us do nothing unworthy that noble Being which is seated within us nor cloath the Body with the Spoils of it Let us maintain the Dignity and Character of our Natures by a severe and unblemisht Integrity and procure to our selves an assurance of those Perfections which are allotted to us Certainly in worldly Matters we willingly over-see lesser and more trivial Gains for obtaining of a greater and more substantial Profit and should we not slight the impertinent Gayeties and vile Allurements of the World to secure to our selves a treasure which fadeth not eternal in the Heavens Lastly If the benefits of the Soul be ever preferable to the Interests of the Body if all the Glories and Riches of this World be of small account when opposed to the Happiness of the next if the Favour of God and Concerns of Religion be the only true Perfections of Mankind a firm Constancy in the Exercise and Profession of Religion although attended in this Life with the greatest Inconveniences Discouragements and Afflictions will not only be our Duty but our highest Interest This is the natural Consequence of the words of my Text and the Conclusion which our Saviour himself drew from them in the following Verse with which I shall conclude Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels The Ninth SERMON Preach'd on the 20. of Novemb. 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL St. Luke XVI 31. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead THESE words are the Conclusion of a remarkable Parable of our Saviour and seem to be the Scope to which his whole Discourse was therein directed to shew the Vanity of that Pretence wherewith unreasonable Men have been wont to defend or excuse their Sins the uncertainty of the Rewards and Punishments of another Life arising from the defect of a visible Experience of them or an undeniable Attestation of the Truth of them by constant Miracles It was not for the peculiar Doctrines of Christ alone that the Jews required a Sign to be given to them to demonstrate the Truth of them but also in their ancient and received Doctrines they entertained Scruples because not confirmed by a constant Continuation of the same Miracles which at first established them An incredulity as it should seem Hereditary to the Jews and renewed as often as the Divine Miracles were interrupted No sooner was Joshua dead and that Generation which had seen all the great works of the Lord which he had done for Israel as we are told in Judges II. but the next Generation even lost the knowledge of God they knew not the Lord as it is there expressed and altho' Miracles were continued down among them by the Ministration of the Prophets and Holy Men yet as these could be visible but to a certain Number they produced no universal influence affected not the rest and even in those who saw them they seemed to have produced no other effect than wonder and Amusement They still continued their disbelief of those Promises and Threats which they saw not yet effected and of that future State which they did not yet perceive And it were to be wished that this incredulity of the Jews had been so hereditary to them as to be peculiar to them but it hath found place even among Christians also many of whom have even renounced and denied their Faith because themselves could not see those Miracles upon the Authority of which Christianity was at first founded Others become irresolute and remiss in the Prosecution of their Duty as being upon the same account unsatisfied in the event of it And all pretend
Mankind by a studious Communication of the Knowledge of it For this Purpose it was at first acted in the Cities in the solemn Feasts and in the publick Places of Judea not in a Desert or in a Cell not spent in a solitary Retirement or known to few And after that the History of it was by the wise Direction of the Holy Spirit committed to Writing whereby the knowledge of it might be conveyed to all Ages and Nations and that Light which first arose and shone in a small Corner of the World might be diffused through the Universe and become a general and eternal Standard of Duty to all Mankind The Second thing proposed to be spoken to were the Benefits which this Light should conferr upon the World by the Communication of it Which our Lord expresseth in the latter part of the Verse He that followeth me walketh not in darkness but shall have the Light of Life And this is but a natural Consequence for if the Light which Christ communicated to the World by his Doctrine and Example were so illustrious as we before described it was impossible that any Man who obtained the Knowledge of the one or imitated the other should still continue in Darkness in the same Ignorance and Error in which he was before involved He had thereby his Mistakes removed the measure of his Duty ascertained to him and the Knowledge of saving Truth conveyed to him which was the thing our Lord chiefly intended in these Words where he speaks of the Perfection of all necessary Knowledge of Divine Matters which he would communicate to those who should put themselves under his Discipline But then there is another easie and practical Sense of the words which may be of more use to us Light and Darkness in Scripture do most frequently signifie those two contrary States of Life which ought to be led by the Professors of the Gospel which enjoyed the Benefit of this revealed Light and which was wont to be led by those who formerly lived or still continued in the Darkness of Gentilism Hence in the New Testament the Disciples of the Christian Religion are often called the Children of light and that State of Sin and Error from which they were converted expressed by Darkness as Ephes. V. 8. Ye were sometimes darkness but now are ye light walk as the Children of light and in many other places And all Sin is called the work of Darkness as Rom. XIII 12. Let us cast off the works of Darkness and Ephes. V. 11. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of Darkness Our Lord therefore in this place teacheth us that his true Disciples they who followed the Conduct of his Light walked in the right way cast off the works of Darkness and were directed into and followed the path which leadeth unto Life Many Sins to which they were before subject were the effect of their Ignorance occasioned by the Darkness of their Mind They knew them not to be Sins Their Judgment which is the natural Light of Man could not direct the Will aright or betrayed it to a wrong Choice even when it was disposed aright and as Reason Wills resolved to follow the Direction of the Judgmeâ—t A miserable State indeed when Men were willing to perform their Duty and knew it not The unhappiness of which our Lord fitly describeth Matth. VI. 23. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness if thy Judgment be corrupted with Error or Ignorance of thy Duty how great is that darkness From this unhappiness our Saviour fully freed his Disciples by teaching them all necessary Truth by informing their Judgment by setting their Duty in a full Light whereby if they would use any ordinary Diligence they could not mistake in the Knowledge and Practice of it Further these works of Darknses even among the Gentiles much less among Christians proceeded not always from the defect of Judgment from the Ignorance of Duty but more ordinarily from the Corruption of the Will were acted against the Dictates of Conscience and known to be Sins while acted Yet fitly called the works of Darkness because as our Lord told Nicodemus John III. 20. Every one that doth evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light least his deeds should be reproved There is a natural Detestation of Sin when known to be such in all Men which maketh the most profligate Men desire their Sins may be concealed from the knowledge of others not considering perhaps as they seldom give themselves time to consider that they cannot escape the knowledge of God This Corruption of the Will which occasions such works of Darkness Christ hath also provided for and removed by proposing such Arguments of Reward and Punishment as if seriously reflected on cannot fail to perswade by rectifying the Judgment and thereby influencing the Will For besides the external Arguments of our Obligation to God and our own Interest concerned in it every part of our Duty when rightly understood carrieth internal and powerful Arguments of Perswasion with it Further this Sentence of Christ may be of use to us to the discovering the true Followers of Christ and to the making a right Estimate of our own as well as others Relation to Christ. For as he that followeth this Light cannot walk in Darkness so it is impossible that he who walketh in Darkness should follow this Light It was formerly the Condemnation of the Jews that Light came into the World and Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil They retained their Infidelity and rejected the Doctrine of Christ because contrary to their beloved Lusts and Vices And it is now the Condemnation of as many Christians that professing to follow the Light they still walk in Darkness that in the midst of all that Knowledge which by Christianity is conferred to them they practise the same Vices which the Gentiles and Infidels were guilty of betrayed to them by their Ignorance and Blindness who nevertheless call themselves the Sons of Light pretend to be the Disciples of the Author of it and to have a near Relation to him Of such St. John hath pronounced 1 John I. 6. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth And indeed if the Light of Heaven was not intended only to gaze upon and please the Eyes of Men if much less the Light of the Soul the Doctrine and Truth revealed by Christ was not intended merely to promote the Speculations and gratifie the Fancies of Men if a rational and vertuous Conduct of Life be the natural Effect of a sound Judgment and accurate Knowledge of Duty and the Arguments enforcing it it is but a natural Consequence that this Light wheresoever it is found should exert and discover it self in Actions conformable to it But it is absurd to pretend that Light hath there any influence where the works of Darkness are performed or that two such Contraries
them For however the external Circumstances of place and time are required but in Conjunction with the more essential Conditions of Prayer yet they are still required The necessity of publick Worship whereof Prayer is the principal part was in the former Discourse largely treated of This Worship cannot be reduced into Practice unless it be determined to certain places and times To speak of the times of Worship is not my present Purpose And if the places of it be not fixed no publick Worship can well consist The Apostle therefore in commanding Prayers to be offered up every where hath not therein taught that all places are equally fitted in which Prayers may be made He hath taken away the Singularity of one place and the Appropriation of all publick Worship to that alone but continued the necessity of fixing some certain places in all parts of the Believing World for that Purpose not left it indifferent whether Men pray to God in a place dedicated to religious Uses or in a place made common to all the ordinary Uses of Life The Christian Religion hath taken away whatsoever was merely Ceremonial in the Jewish Religion but retained all which was derived from the Law of Nature or the light of Reason And that the Consecration of certain places to the worship of God and appropriating them to that use alone is such will be useful to manifest since there are not wanting some who decry all difference between sacred and prophane places First then it was not in the Institution of the Jewish Religion that God began to be a God of order and Decency those Attributes were eternal in him and evidently appear in that most beautiful and harmonious Order of the World and all the parts of it which himself hath fixed in the Creation of it Which is contrived with the most exact Symmetry disposed in a most beautiful Order and continued in it The Worship which Man pays to God being founded upon his Attributes and the knowledge of those Attrributes chiefly appearing by the Effects of them it is Consonant to Reason that Man should direct his Worship with respect to them If then in the visible Operations of God such a decent Order be every where Conspicuous in the publick Worship of him the same Order ought also to be maintained otherwise no Acknowledgment is made no Homage paid to that divine Perfection which was the Principle of that Order and Decency which we see and admire in the Creation God hath not only formed what was absolutely necessary for the Life of Man but also added infinite variety of Lights Minerals Plants and Animals for his Delight and for the Ornament of Life Since therefore the Rules of Divine Worship are to be taken from the Divine Perfections manifested by their Operations this conduct of God in creating and governing the World doth not only warrant the Addition of Ceremonies and many Circumstances to the more essential Parts of Worship but also makes it to become a Duty And to accuse such Additions and external Ceremonies of Superstition is no less unreasonable than to question the Wisdom of God who hath added to the Creation many things not necessary yet ornamental to it How incongruous would it be to worship the God of Order and Decency in an irregular and slovenly manner how improper a return for the additional yet unnecessary Conveniences of humane Life to adore the Author of them without any Order or external Decency The Sense of this induced men before the Institution of the Jewish Religion to dedicate certain Places to the Worship of God and set them apart for that use only The Monuments of those times are few being all comprized in the Book of Genesis yet therein we find evident Footsteps of such Dedications more particularly in Gen. xxviii 16. where Jacob enjoying a Vision at Bethel because it was a Mark of the Divine Presence immediately concluded that the Place was dedicated to his Service And he said surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not How dreadful is this Place this is none other but the House of God and this is the Gate of Heaven Which Reflection of Jacob proveth it to have been the Custom of the Patriarchs to Dedicate certain Places to be the Houses of God and to have been their Belief that in those places God was more peculiarly present And to manifest that his Notion of the House of God was no other than of a Place of Worship he immediately addressed himself to worship God in it as it follows in the 18th Verse I might add that the Dedicating certain Places to this use was not the Practice of the Patriarchs alone but of all Ages and Men professing any Religion whether true or false which general Practice and Perswasion is in all other Cases allowed to be a certain indication of the Voice of Nature But I proceed to observe the Reason of it where it may be considered that as God is the Author of Soul and Body of Heaven and Earth of Life and all the Conveniencies of it so he requireth as a just and necessary Act of Adoration that some part of every one of these should be dedicated to himself as an Acknowledgment of his Dominion over the whole Thus the Operations of the Soul pay Homage to him in the more essential parts of Worship the Body in the Concomitant Parts of it that is in the external Gestures of Adoration we acknowledge to have received our Goods and Wealth from him by offering up some part of it to himself to be employed as he shall direct which in the Jewish Religion consisted chiefly in Sacrifices and Oblations in the Christian Religion in Acts of Charity We confess him the Author of Life by dedicating certain times of it to his Service and we confess him the Lord of the whole Earth by appropriating and submitting some parts of it to his immediate Service By this his Right and Title to the whole Earth is eminently acknowledged and the Vassallage of Man the Inhabitant of it is declared Further the Erection and Dedication of Churches to the Worship and the Honour of God is an illustrious Testimony of the publick Religion of any Nation or Country and upon that Account is both useful and necessary It is our Duty to proclaim our Subjection to God and Belief in him by all significative Expressions to testifie it to the whole World and if it be possible perpetuate the Memory of this our Profession to all Ages and communicate the Knowledge of it to all men This Fabricks dedicated to the Service of God do most naturally signifie which are so many standing and lasting Monuments of our Belief in that God to whose Service they were appropriated For this Reason we often find in the Book of Genesis that the Patriarchs erected Pillars and Heaps of Stones to be so many lasting Monuments of their Belief in God and Subjection to him And how graciously God accepted such visible
Scripture is faid to be the footstool of God Upon all these Reasons it was necessary just and convenient that Christ should ascend into Heaven II. And that he really did ascend thither which was the 2d Head proposed evidently appeared from the History of his Ascension recorded in the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles That Body of Christ which the Apostles had felt and handled that with which they had conversed for forty days together that whereof they were assured by many infallible Proofs that it was no other than the material Body of Christ which hung upon the Cross and was laid in the Grave which was united to the Soul again and had performed all manner of vital Actions that very Body they saw ascend into Heaven For that Jesus who had rose again and conversed with them who had led them out of Jerusalem and was visible and present to them till the very moment of his Ascension as he was yet speaking with them was parted from them and carried up into Heaven as we read Luk. XXIV Which refutes the Opinion of those ancient Hereticks who taught that Christ ascended in Spirit only having first put off and returned to the several Elements that Body which he had received from them Again that Body which the Apostles saw and felt to be locally present with them upon Earth they saw soon after to be really removed from the Earth and carried into Heaven For as it is related in the sacred History When he had spoken unto the Disciples and blessed them which being performed by laying his hands upon them testified his real and corporeal Presence with them in that moment in the next moment even while he blessed them he parted from them and while they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight Which proved his Ascension to have been a true proper and local Translation from the parts here below to those above and that at that moment he was indued with a perfectly humane Body whatever glorious Changes it underwent after its Reception into Heaven the Seat of Immortality and Spiritual Beings Other Circumstances deserve to be observed in the History of this Ascension And First Our Lord at his Ascension was pleased to call together many if not all his Disciples and admit them to the sight of it a Favour which was not vouchsafed to them at his Resurrection The Conduct indeed was different but the Reason not unlike in both Cases Both the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ were thenceforth to pass into necessary Articles of Belief to the principal supports of the Faith and Hopes of Mankind both therefore was to be placed beyond all doubt and contradiction by the Attestation of many and credible Witnesses To effect this at his Resurrection it was not necessary that any witnesses should be present since the Actions of Life visibly and in the Presence of many performed by him after his known Crucifixion and Burial abundantly and even demonstratively proved that he was really risen from the Dead They were well assured that some few days before he was truly Dead their Senses assured them that he was now truly alive Whence they might as certainly conclude that he was risen from the Dead as if they had actually seen his Resurrection Whereas in the Case of his Ascension he was to be taken from them no more to be seen by them in this Life no Mortal was thenceforward to see his State of Glory or testifie his Station in Heaven upon which account it was absolutely necessary that his Disciples should be present at his Ascension and be Eye-witnesses of that Action which afterwards they were to testifie and preach to others In the second Place it deserveth to be observed that the Testimony of Angels was added to that of the Apostles Those blessed Spirits far from repining that the Nature of Man in Christ was by his Ascension exalted to a superior Degree of Glory descended from Heaven to bear the glad Tidings of his Arrival there as at his Nativity they had done to proclaim the Descent of the Deity upon Earth For it follows Acts I. 10. Behold two Men stood by them in white Apparel which also said Ye Men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven Nor was this Apparition of Angels an empty Pageant or an unnecessary Addition to the Glory of our Lords Ascension By their Ministry and Attendance they demonstrated the Divinity and Dignity of his Person by their Testimony concerning his Ascension they proved the truth of it The Apostles indeed saw him received upon the Clouds they looked up and followed him with their Eyes as far as their sight could reach but that being terminated in the lower Regions and not able to penetrate into the highest Heavens their Sense could not assure them that their Lord was carried thither To evidence therefore the truth of it it remained that God by these ministerial Spirits should declare it to the Disciples These Angels were wont to Minister before and see the face of God in Heaven they were known to come down from thence They testified that Christ had ascended thither from whence they had descended and thereby perfected the Testimony of the Disciples concerning the Ascension of Christ into Heaven whose sight could not reach so far Farther these blessed Spirits not only brought Evidence to the Disciples of the real Ascension of their Master into Heaven but also gave them Comfort and alleviated their sorrow conceiv'd for his Departure by adding those words This same Jesus which ye have seen taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven Elisha had seen his Master Elijah carried up into Heaven yet knowing not certainly how the Divine Goodness would dispose of him and despairing of ever seeing him again he entertained the sight with Grief and in Testimony of it rent his Clothes Nor had the Disciples been free from the same Anxiety without the present Consolations of these Angels When their Lord had before his Death declared to them his Resolution of returning to the Father John XVI they could not dissemble their Grief as himself observeth Verse 6. Because I have said these things unto you sorrow hath filled your heart And immediately before his Ascension still retaining their erroneous Opinion of a temporal Kingdom to be founded by him they had asked him whether he would not at that time restore the Kingdom unto Israel which hopes were totally defeated by his Departure into Heaven Both these occasions of Sorrow therefore the Angels happily do remove in these words They assure them that the Presence of their Master shall not be for ever taken from them but themselves should see him return in the last of days and that they may not imagine his Kingdom to be abolished they
the great Propitiatory Sacrifice depended upon its being presented by the High Priest in the Holy of Holies the place where God was pleased to Promise his immediate Presence How much more Efficacious then must be conceived to be the Intercession of our High Priest who not once a year but continually not with the Blood of Bulls or Goats but with his own Blood not in an Earthly Tabernacle but in the highest Heaven maketh Intercession for us If the Mediation of the Jewish High Priest could avert temporal Punishments due to the Sins of the People much more will the Mediation of our High Priest free Mankind from eternal Punishments If their Priest being cloathed with the same Nature could more sensibly commiserate the Unhappiness of his People our's for the same Purpose took our Nature on him But whereas their Priest was subject to the Guilt of the same Sins for which he interceded our's knew no Sin their 's was admitted no farther than to the Symbols of God's Presence to the Cherubims and the Mercy Seat our's to the very Throne of his Majesty where he continually pleadeth his Sufferings on our behalf diffuseth his Graces to us and prepareth Mansions for us Lastly if we consider Christ as the great exemplar of humane Life his Ascension will upon that Account also be of great use to us teaching us with him to exalt our Affections to withdraw them from the Earth and to place them in Heaven This Inference the Apostle draweth from his Resurrection and Ascension Colos. III. 1. If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Christ died to the World to instruct us that we ought to mortifie our worldly Lusts to restrain and subdue to Reason the use of Carnal Pleasures He left the World and Ascended into Heaven to teach us that there our Affections ought principally to be fixed that there our chief Interest is placed and there only perfect Happiness to be expected Could the Pleasures the Power and the Prosperity of this World have given the most complete Happiness our Lord who deserved it by the most complete Obedience which was ever paid who was more dear to God than all the Sons of Men who was himself heir of all things and Lord of all would have fixed his abode here and not removed it into Heaven But when immediately after his Exaltation as soon as he began to receive the Reward of his Obedience and Sufferings he forsook the Earth and returned unto the Bosom of his Father he hath thereby instructed us that in vain is true Felicity to be sought here below that this World can afford no adequate recompence for Vertue and Piety that we are indeed but Strangers and Pilgrims upon the Earth and that as many as pursue the end of their Creation and study to be truly Happy ought to seek a better Countrey even that into which Christ the forerunner is entred for us that so where he is there we may be also receive the same Reward and be Crowned with the same Happiness that so as we have imitated his Ascension we may share in his Glory Which God of his infinite Mercy Grant The Twentieth SERMON Preach'd on July 13th 1690 At LAMBETH CHAPEL Matth. V. 16. Let your light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven THESE words are part of our Lord's Sermon upon the Mount which was directed to a mixed multitude of Auditors and treats altogether of universal Duties incumbent upon all who receive the Doctrine and acknowledge the Authority of him who spoke it Upon which Account we have just reason to reject the Opinion of those who would restrain to the Apostles only and their Successors the Preachers of the Gospel the Duty prescribed in this and the three foregoing Verses which requireth the Professors of Christianity not to confine the exercise of their Duty to their single Breasts or rest satisfied in having discharged the Office of Piety in secret but to perform such eminent Acts of Devotion Temperance and Charity and so to direct them as may promote the Glory of God and Instruction of Men. The whole preceding part of this Sermon was directed to all Christians in General delivering the Promise of those Beatitudes in which all the Disciples of Christ are equally concerned What follows treats concerning the general Laws of Justice Temperance and Charity so that with no good Reason can these intermediate Verses be restrained to the Apostles only If they are here called the Salt of the Earth Verse 13. our Lord addressed himself in the same words to great multitudes as we read Luk. XIV 25. If they are stiled the light of the World in the 14th Verse St Paul applieth the same Expression to the Philipians II. 15. exhorting them to be without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation shining among them as Lights in the World It must be acknowledged indeed that the Apostles were and their Successors in the ministerial Office ought to be more eminently the Salt and Light of the World purging away the Corruptions removing the darkness of Mankind by Example and Instruction To effect this by their Doctrine is peculiar to them not common to other Christians to promote it by their Example is a Duty common to them with all other Christians It is my present Purpose to treat of it as an universal Duty to which my Text directs me by placing the Light of this Exemplariness which is commanded not in verbal Instructions but in good Works which are acknowledged to be the Duty of all Christians Of this then I will Discourse under these four Heads I. The Duty imposed such an exemplary Conduct as may become a Light of the World II. The manner of being thus Exemplary by good Works III. The end to which it ought to be directed the Glory of God IV. The good Effects of it the Instruction of Men and Promotion of the same good Works in others I. Concerning the Duty which is that of an illustrious Example to the practice of which our Lord hath directed us both by his Laws and by his own Example He stiles himself and truly was the Light of the World he was foretold under the Figure of the Sun of righteousness who should enlighten the World with his Doctrines and demonstrate the Possibility of performing them by his own Example His Precepts chiefly concern Moral Duties which he restored first to their Primitive Notions and Purity and then urged the Practice of them upon his Followers in a more strict manner than had ever before been done What before was esteemed an attempt fit only for great and noble Minds he made the Duty of all the Members of Mankind what others thought a sufficient Glory to practise singly to excell in this or that single Vertue he required to be performed conjunctly without the Omission of any thing which is
Holiness and Submission to the Divine Will and thereby to serve the great Ends of our Creation yet the Promise of an eternal Crown and the Consideration of so vast an Interest might enforce us to Obedience This obviates all the Objections even of worldly Men who must needs Confess that in vain do they Labour for the Attainment of Felicity in this Life if it can never truly be found on this side Heaven A thorough perswasion of the Truth of this would banish all sinful Temptations and extravagant Desires of carnal Pleasures For Men would be the most deplorable and irrational of all Creatures if they preferred a present trifle before a future Treasure and voluntarily quitted the Life of Angels to retain those Pleasures which are common to Beasts And not only doth this Truth hold in quitting the momentany Enjoyments of this Life and suffering our selves to be deprived of them for an exchange of future Glory but even in undergoing the greatest Afflictions of this Life and embracing Death it self upon the same Account This our Saviour chiefly aims at in this place For when in the foregoing Verses he had foretold that bearing the Cross should be inseparable from the Profession of the Christian Religion and that he who endeavoured to decline this Cross and save his Life by a denial of his Faith should thereby incurr a much greater Punishment than is the loss of this temporal Life he subjoyns in the words of my Text For what shall it profit a Man if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul As if he should say That System of Religion which I have instituted and recommended to you is not intended to enlarge or satisfie the Pleasures of the Body but to increase the Dignity of the Soul improve its Faculties and procure to it a Happiness commensurate to the Vastness of its Desire and the Liberality of its Creator Whosoever therefore seriously intends to become my Disciple and partake of the Benefits of my Gospel must prepare himself with a firm Resolution to quit all the Interests and Advantages of the World embrace Afflictions and not decline Death whensoever the Malice of wicked Men and the Obligation of my Commands shall require that Tryal and Testimony of his Obedience And in so doing he shall not only perform his Duty but secure and promote his Interest For those who shall basely renounce their Allegiance to me or violate my Commands to save their own Lives and avoid the Malice of their Enemies shall after this Life undergo a much greater Loss and Punishment than that which they so Cowardly fear'd and ungenerously declin'd On the other side they who shall willingly lay down their Lives and slight all the Terrors of Men and Devils to preserve their Obedience to me intire and retain the Profession of my Gospel shall be certainly Crowned with so great a Reward that the loss of this temporal Life will be inconsiderable in respect of that eternal Life which is attained by it This is your Interest as well as my Command your Profit as well as Duty For it is not only reasonable that every Man should quit that particular share and Portion which he hath in the Pleasures and Possessions of this World to secure thereby his Hopes of a future Happiness but even if all the Riches and Possessions of the World were â—â—aped upon one single Man or could be all obtained by denial of my Religion or Violation of my Laws yet would it not be a sufficient Motive for so great a Crime And he that should prevaricate upon such mean Considerations would find in the end when he casts up his Account that he hath gained nothing To evince illustrate and recommend to you this great Truth is the Design of my present Discourse Which therefore I shall divide into these two Heads I. That the Interests of the Soul are infinitely greater and more considerable than those of the Body II. That this Interest is destroyed and the Soul rendred miserable by disobedience to the Laws of God I. That the Interests of the Soul are infinitely greater and more considerable than those of the Body And this appears if we consider either the Reason and Nature of things or the Revelation and Commands of God Under the first Head may be comprised the Nature and Dignity of the Soul and the Excellency of those peculiar Perfections and Rewards which the Soul is capable of First then the Dignity and Precedence of the Soul was ever acknowledged in all Ages by wife and learned Men of all Sects and Perswasions nay even the more rude and illiterate parts of Mankind did ever firmly believe this as an Opinion planted in them by the first Dictates of Nature and arising from the first Principles of Reason That we have an immortal Soul is a thing which ought to be supposed by all who profess the least shew of Religion and cannot be denied without the total Destruction of it All false Religions were invented by Men and the true Religion proposed by God merely for the Improvement and direction of this noble Being It is this only which distinguisheth us from the Rank and Condition of Beasts which likens us to God and makes us little inferiour to the Angels It is this whereby we contemplate the admirable and wonderful Perfections of God understand the Wisdom of his Government and the Greatness of his Works It is this alone whereby we form Habits of Vertue and do any thing grateful to our Creator whereby we receive the Instructions of God and know his Will And therefore Prov. XX. 27. the Spirit of Man is called the candle of the Lord because by that only we receive the Divine Illuminations and are instructed in the way to Happiness This Dignity and Preference of the Soul beyond the Body might be at large demonstrated from many other Considerations but I will insist only upon three which are plain and obvious to the understanding of all Men. As first by the Soul alone we receive the influence and benefits of God Some Divine Benefits indeed belong also to the Body as Creation and Preservation but those are common to all other Creatures and belong equally to the vilest of all created Beings whereas the Favours granted to the Soul are peculiar to it and to infinitely greater value For to pass by the natural Priviledges of Knowledge Desire and a Capacity of improvement all the superadded Happiness of our Nature is intirely bestowed on it alone All Revelation was given for the Instruction of this noble Being that so it might not be inferiour to the Angels in Happiness to whom it is little inferiour in Dignity To rescue this from the Slavery of Sin and Dominion of the Devil the Son of God descended from Heaven lived an afflicted Life and died a shameful Death Into this as into a capacious Treasure are all the Divine Graces conveyed Graces of which the Body is no more capable than a Stock or