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
HENRY WHARTON A.M. ONE and TWENTY SERMONS Preach'd in LAMBETH CHAPEL BEFORE The most Reverend Father in God Dr. WILLIAM SANCROFT late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury In the Years MDCLXXXIX MDCXC By the Learned HENRY WHARTON M. A. Chaplain to His Grace Being the Second and Last VOLUME LONDON Printed for â—i Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church Yard MDCXCVIII THE CONTENTS SERMON I. JOhn XVI 8. And when he the Comforter is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment Pag. 1 SERMON II. 1 Cor. II. 11. The things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God p. 25 SERMON III. Esther V. 13. Yet all this availeth me nothing p. 51 SERMON IV. Job XXXVII 23 24. Touching the Almighty we cannot find him out He is excellent in power and in judgment and in plenty of justice he will not afflict Men do therefore fear him p. 76 SERMON V. Rom. XII 3. For I say unto you through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think p. 99 SERMON VI and VII 1 Pet. V. 8 9. Your Adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour Whom resist stedfast in the Faith p. 124 150 SERMON VIII S. Mark VIII 36. For what shall it profit Man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own Soul p. 181 SERMON IX S. Luk. XVI 31. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead p. 220 SERMON X. S. John VIII 12. I am the Light of the world He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the Light of Life p. 243 SERMON XI 1 Pet. IV. 18. And if the Righteous sourcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the Sinner appear p. 266 SERMON XII Matth. XI 30. For my Yoke is easie and my Burthen is light p. 291 SERMON XIII Rom. XII 19. Dearly beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath For it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. p. 318 SERMON XIV Acts X. 24. Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it p. 352 SERMON XV XVI XVII 1 Tim. II. 8. I will therefore that Men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting p. 380 411 431 SERMON XVIII Acts X. 40 41. Him God raised up the third day and shewed him openly Not to all the People but to Witnesses chosen before of God p. 466 SERMON XIX Mark XVI 19. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right of God p. 494 SERMON XX. Matth. V. 16. Let your light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorify your Father which is Heaven p. 521 SERMON XXI Luk. II. 14. Glory to God in the highest and on Earth Peace Good-will towards Men. p. 567 The First SERMON ON WHIT SUNDAY 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL John XVI 8. And when he the Comforter is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment THE Mission of the Holy Ghost which we this day commemorate was the Final Confirmation and Completion of the Christian Religion which perfected the Mystery of the Redemption of Mankind and at the same time set the last Seal to the truth of it Our Saviour had indeed long before gathered a Select number of faithful Apostles and Disciples but can scarce be said to have founded a Church till he poured out the Holy Ghost upon them Till then their Notions of the intention of Christ's coming into the World were dark and obscure their apprehensions of the Nature and Constitution of the Kingdom to be founded by him false and frivolous and as they certainly knew not what form of Faith to profess so they dared not profess it openly Their religious Meetings were yet in secret and no Attempts yet made to form a Church by Conversion of Jews and Gentiles Their thoughts were not so much fixed upon the remembrance of what their Master had done and suffered as upon the Expectation of somewhat more to be done by him that is upon the hopes of the Comforter which he promised to them They wanted yet those Perfections of mind which might qualifie them for the Execution of their designed Office that Zeal and Charity which might animate and direct all the Members of the Church that Knowledge and Understanding which might fit them for Pastors and Teachers in the absence of their Master All these Advantages were abundantly conferr'd these Necessities supplied by the sending of the Holy Ghost as upon this day Then they received internal light a full understanding of the Mysteries of the Messias a clear Knowledge of all that had been delivered to them then they obtained Abilities to execute the Office of Preaching to which they were designed and Courage to undertake it Then they began as to possess an assured and rational Belief of Christ so to profess and declare their Belief in him So that the Reception of the Holy Ghost was to them what Baptism is to us an entrance into the Church of Christ according to what our Saviour had foretold to them after his Resurrection Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence These were the Advantages conferred upon the Faithful by the coming of the Holy Ghost but these were not all The chief design of his coming was to lay the Foundations of propagating the Belief of Christ through the whole World and to offer the benefits of his Death and Passion to all the Members of Mankind to assert the Divinity of Christ to manifest the truth of his Doctrine to vindicate the Honour of God to convince the World of their Obligation to believe in him and to confound the opposition of his Adversaries To this grand Design the aforementioned Gifts bestowed upon the Apostles were subservient being such as enabled them to Preach the Word and confirm the Truth of it to all Nations under Heaven The Publication of the Gospel had hitherto been reserved shut up in dark Speeches and Parabolical Expressions confined to an Hundred and twenty Disciples which we read to have been the number of them in the First of the Acts. But from this day it was to be set in a clear Light communicated to all without obscurity or reserve and propagated to all parts of the habitable World The Person of our Saviour Christ had hitherto appeared mean and contemptible no Signs or Tokens of his glorious Kingdom were yet to be found but now he was to be rescued from that Imputation by visible and undeniable Effects of Divine Power his Kingdom was to commence in the hearts of Men and become Glorious both from the Number and Piety of his Followers The Jews had
were poured out upon the Apostles in so illustrious a manner as the Jews could not but take notice of the exact Completion of his Promise of sending the Comforter not many days after his Ascension in such a manner as drew the eyes of all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem both Jews and Strangers upon them and tended no less to demonstrate the Power than the Truth of Christ. The second Prediction indeed that of his Resurrection was fulfilled fifty days before but became not an Argument of Conviction to the Jews till now as being not till now publickly attested by the Apostles who were the Witnesses of it The Report of his Resurrection had been indeed rumoured in Jerusalem which put the Sanhedrim upon that shameful Device of corrupting the Soldiers who guarded his Sepulchre but the certain and publick Knowledge of it was not delivered till the Apostles were enabled and enboldened to proclaim and testifie it to the whole World by those Gifts which they received upon this day After the exact Completion of these Prophesies and the authentick attestation of them no excuse remained to the Jews whereby to extenuate their unbelief according to the Rules laid down by Moses they were now obliged to acknowledge Christ to have been a true Prophet and the true Messias and were convinced of their hainous Sin before commited by them in the Rejection of his Doctrine and Crucifixion of his Person the horror of which Sin might induce them the more readily to believe in Christ and lay hold of his Merits that so they might obtain Remission of it Otherwise they were to expect the most severe Execution of Divine Vengeance for their wilful obstinacy and disbelief as Moses had assured them in the same place Deut. XVIII 19. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him This Sentence and therein the Prophesie of Christ was in a most eminent manner executed and fulfilled in the Destruction and intire Desolation of the whole Nation of the Jews about forty years after the Ascension of our Lord whereby the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord then alive acted by the Holy Ghost were farther enabled invincibly to plead his Cause against the opposition of the unbelieving World both Jews and Gentiles For however the Mission of the Holy Ghost and the Consequences of it did more especially convince of Sin the Jews who were then alive and had been guilty either of rejecting the Preaching or contriving the Death of our Lord yet it contributed no less effectually to manifest the Unreasonableness of all both Jews and Gentiles who either in that or in all Ages to come should reject the Faith of Christ when proposed to them For the Belief of him was to be proposed to all Creatures under Heaven and confirmed by Arguments drawn from hence which were so rational and convictive so clear and demonstrative that they could not be rejected without the most extream Perverseness and if rejected the Holy Ghost should hereby plead the cause of Christ against them and convince the whole World and their own Consciences also if rightly judging that in rejecting the Gospel they had sinned against their own Souls and that nothing remained to them but a certain fearful Expectation of the fiery Judgment to be most justly inflicted on them The second point of which the Comforter was to reprove or convince the World was of Righteousness the reason of which is assigned in the 10th Verse Because I go to my Father and ye see me no more The Justice of God had to the eyes of Men been clouded when he permitted his only begotten Son to be delivered up and crucified by wicked Men when he abandoned him to the Rage of his Enemies and rescued him not from the Insults of the Jews by an extraordinary Interposition from Heaven The Majesty of the Deity seemed then to be eclipsed and suffer diminution when subjected to the Contradiction and Affronts of unreasonable Men. Men naturally expect that God should even in this World declare in behalf of oppressed Innocence either by rescuing it from the Malice of its Enemies or taking a severe Revenge upon the Oppressors of it And even Christians who have a better and more certain Knowledge of the Methods of Providence cannot but expect and are allowed so to do that if no Discrimination be made between the Good and the Bad in this life yet at least that it shall be in the next when Innocence shall be crowned with Rewards which shall be enhanced by Patience in Sufferings and Violence chastised with Punishments which shall be so much the sharper if reserved intire to another World if no part of them be inflicted in this This a faithful Christian expects from the Justice of God and this the Scripture assureth them Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest 2 Thess. I. 6. And God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour Heb. VI. 10. If then this Justice may be securely hoped for from God by all the Members of Mankind how much more by the Son of God whose Person was of infinite Dignity his Sufferings fraught with the highest Aggravations of Misery and his Persecutors guilty of the most enormous Wickedness That the Justice of God might be therefore vindicated herein that Sin might no longer triumph and Innocence pass unregarded God exalted his Son to his own right hand seated him in the Heavens gave him Dominion over all things crowned him with glory and worship The knowledge of this was published to the World by the Mission of the Holy Ghost by whose Direction and Assistance the Apostles openly testified the Ascension of their Lord and by which all might be convinced what Place and Power Christ now obtained in Heaven who could showre down such glorious Gifts and Priviledges upon his Followers on Earth These were so many undeniable Testimonies that the Malice of his Enemies was defeated that our Lord was yet alive set above their reach and Insults and not only so but invested with supreme Majesty and Dominion able to protect his Church and punish his Enemies that his former Sufferings had not been then more calamitous than his present State was now glorious that if God had for a time withdrawn in appearance his Favour and Protection from his Humane Nature he had now in recompence exalted it to an eternal Throne in Heaven The last thing of which the Comforter was to reprove or convince the World was of Judgment and that for this reason Ver. 11. Because the prince of this world is judged It is a Principle even of Natural Religion that God is the supreme Judge of the World and that of invisible as well as visible Beings The Devil who is frequently in Scripture called the prince of this world had now for many Ages exercised an
the far greater part of those to whom he writ For it was written in the Prophet Isaiah Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him So that it is undeniable that the Will of God and the Mysteries of Heaven may be unknown to Men acting by the sole Light of Reason but to Men acquainted with the Divine Revelations concerning them may be certainly known Now this is the case of Christianity For as it followeth in the tenth Verse God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit that is by his Son acting by the Spirit and Commission of God and by his Holy Spirit instructing the Apostles in the knowledge of them and confirming them by Signs following And that such Revelation is infallible none can deny for that it proceedeth from one who infallibly knew the Truth of what he taught even the Spirit of God For the Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God And least any one should except to these Revelations and deny assent to them because they are things which he never thought of before and which even when revealed to him he cannot well conceive The Apostle shews us that we have no reason to wonder or stumble at this from the obvious Example of the Soul of Man in the 11th Verse The Nature of which cannot be conceived by any Being inferiour to it nor the Secrets or the secret Thoughts of it found out by any Being equal to it For what Man knoweth the things of a Man save the Spirit of Man which is in him Yet would it be unreasonable for an inferiour Being if it could speak and argue to deny that the Soul of Man is endued with noble Faculties because it cannot conceive the Nature of them or for one Man to deny that there are any secret Thoughts in the Soul of another because he cannot attain to the knowledge of them And if things be so then we must allow the Conclusion drawn in the Text Even so the things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God and not unreasonably doubt of the truth of them because we cannot conceive the manner and nature of them So then all Objections drawn from the difficulty of the Conception cease and it remains only to consider whether the alledged Revelation be truly Divine This therefore the Apostle asserts in the 12th Verse declaring his Preaching of it to be founded not upon bare Conjectures and nice Conclusions as were the Systems of Philosophy then received and applauded in the World from which he distinguisheth the Christian Faith by these two Characters that this proceeded from the Revelation of God that from the Invention of Men Now we have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God And that whereas the Gentile Philosophy the Wisdom of this World contributed nothing to promote the Happiness of Man and secure to him the Favour of God The other effected both the end of it being no other than that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God Further these Matters when once Revealed and come to our Knowledge as we propose not to others with Artificial Sophistry and Rhetorick so we judge not of the truth of them by pure Arguments of Natural Reason and Logical Inferences Which things also we speak not in the Words which Man's Wisdom teacheth Ver. 13. But as we teach them with that plainness and simplicity which God directeth and confirm the truth of them with those Miracles which he effecteth so we judge of the truth of them no otherwise than by comparing the Nature of the Things revealed with the general Motives of Christian Faith as it followeth But with the Wisdom which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual Now the necessity of this Method in our Enquiry herein the Apostle demonstrates in the 14th Ver. But the natural Man He who judgeth these Revelations only according to his Preconceived Notions taken up from natural Reason and refuseth to believe any thing which he receiveth not from them who weigheth not the external Motives of Credibility reinforcing these Revelations He receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God believeth not these revealed Truths which surmount the reach of naked reason For which reason also They are foolishness unto him because he considers only the difficulty of them and regardeth not the external Arguments of Revelation by which they are recommended So that while he acteth in this irrational Method he cannot know them it is impossible to be convinced of them because they are spiritually discerned not to be found out by the sole Light of Reason but to be received only upon the account of Divine Revelation Whereas he who understandeth well the Motives of Christian Faith and compareth the weight of them with the difficulty of the things Revealed He that is Spiritual Ver. 15. judgeth all things may safely and without Error pronounce of this Matter And in doing so he is not justly to be over-ruled with the Objections of those who consider the thing absolutely in it self and not compared with its Motives of Credibility Yet he himself is judged of no Man Since plain Reason directeth that if the Motives be found weightier than the Difficulties he should declare in favour of the thing Revealed and not be startled at the Difficulties as concerning a subject exceeding the natural Understanding of Man and to be known no otherwise than by the Revelation of God who best knew the truth of it which Revelation we have as it follows in the last Verse For who hath known the Mind of the Lord that he may Instruct him But we have the Mind of Christ. From all that hath been laid down by the Apostle in the Context thus explained we may form these two Considerations whereby to determine the Truth of this Matter I. That we ought not to reject any Articles of Revelation nor be offended at them meerly because we cannot fully conceive the manner of them II. That in judging of the Truth of these Matters we must not consider their internal Probability so much as their external Motives of Credibility First then we ought not to reject any Articles of Faith nor be scandalized at them because we cannot fully conceive the Nature or manner of them For this we cannot rationally do unless we were assured that we fully knew all things and were able to conceive the nature of all Objects Which that we are not we may be convinced if we consider either the Imperfection of our own Understanding or the excellency of many Objects exceeding the Capacity of it 1. The Imperfection of our Understanding appears both from the Consideration of our Nature and from manifold Experience The nature of the Soul of Man is finite and so must the Faculties of it also be One of these is the Understanding which if it were infinite
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
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
his Enemies as well as Friends at that time The Soldiers sent to break his Legs while hanging on the Cross that so they might hasten his Death whom they supposed not yet to have expired found him already dead Joseph of Arimathea and the devout Women which followed him taking him down from the Cross laid him in his Grave being well assured that he was then Dead His Disciples who if any shew of Reason might be offered would not easily believe him dead from whom they then expected a temporal Kingdom yet were so far perswaded of it that at his first appearing to them they were affrighted and supposed they had seen a Spirit To these Proofs nothing more could be added to Evince the reality of his Death an Evidence which is wanting to all the Relations of Men raised from the Dead opposed by the Heathens to the Resurrection of our Lord. They alledged from Plato the Story of Eris lying for many days among the dead Bodies and after that recovering Life again and pretended that Apollonius Tyaneus whom they set up in opposition to Christ had raised a certain Person to Life But the first was not related by any for more than a thousand years after the Fact was pretended to be done and in the second Case the Heathen Historian confesseth that he dare not affirm that the Person was truly Dead Nor after his Resurrection was it less evident that Christ was truly alive invested with Soul and Body All the Actions of Life and Arguments of a real Body met in his He was seen by a great number of his Disciples who judged it to be such He eat and drank with them which proved his Body not to have been a meer Phantasm or Aerial Apparition He talked and reasoned with them out of the Scriptures which demonstrated that Body to be indued with a rational Soul He appealed to their Sense of feeling commanded them to handle him said to unbelieving Thomas reach hither thy finger and behold my hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side which manifests that the Body which he then offered to that Tryal was that very Body which had suffered on the Cross and still retained the Print of the Nails and the Impression of the Spear That this same Body and Soul reunited was also joyned to the Divinity as before his Passion appeared from his many Miracles wrought after his Resurrection Thus we have a true proper and real Resurrection And that all these things were so we have the Testimony first of his own Disciples the Faith of whom although so nearly related to him cannot be called in question since they laid down their Lives in Confirmation of it Nor can it be imagined that any Men should die for the Testimony of what they knew to be false Of these the pious Women were first Blessed with the sight of him whether it were in Reward of their maintaining their Love and Fidelity to him when his Apostles had forsaken him or that they came into the Garden where the Sepulchre was immediately after the Resurrection and before he was yet departed out of it They saw him knew him and saluted him held him by the feet and worshipt him The Apostles being advertised of it by them hasted to see their Master and received not only a transient view of him but conversed with him for forty days together and by many infallible proofs were assured of the truth of it Afterwards he appeared to more than five hundred at once and at last ascended up to Heaven in the presence of them all To the witness of Friends we will add the Testimony of his Enemies which in all Cases is allowed to be of great weight The Soldiers who were employed by the Jews to watch his Sepulchre plainly saw the Effects of Divine Power which accompanied his Resurrection although being astonished and confounded at such unusual Prodigies they did not well perceive it or perhaps were not suffered by their Fears to stay till Christ should proceed out of the Sepulchre They felt the Earthquake which removed the stone rolled to the mouth of the Sepulchre they saw the countenance of an Angel like lightning and his raiment white as snow upon which they did shake and became as dead Men and coming into the City shewed to the chief Priests all the things that were done as we read Matth. XXVIII II. The Angels and heavenly Hosts had before joyned with Men in celebrating the Nativity of Christ and they here concurred in witnessing his Resurrection The Women coming to the Sepulchre betimes in the Morning presently after the Resurrection and looking for the Body of their beloved Lord in the Sepulchre found there two Angels in white sitting one at the head the other at the feet where the Body of Jesus had lain who said to them why seek ye the dead among the living he is not here he is risen come see the place where the Lord lay Lastly If we should imagine both his Friends and Enemies the report of Sense oft-times repeated to have been deceived in the Opinion of his Resurrection God hath been pleased to confirm the Truth of it and to set his Seal to it This he hath done not only by his Holy Spirit comforting enabling and encouraging the Apostles in Preaching the Mystery of Christ's Refurrection but also in confirming their Testimony with concurrent Miracles As it is Acts IV. 33. With great power gave the Apostles witness of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus They openly affirmed it upon their own Knowledge and then in Proof of the truth of their Affirmation wrought Signs and Miracles which to the Spectators did as fully evince the Truth of the Relation as if they had seen it done with their own Eyes since it was impossible that God should exert his omnipotent Power in working Miracles for the Attestation of a Lye Thus much for the reality I proceed in the second place to the II. Manner of the Resurrection expressed in those words having loosed the pains of death which are variously interpreted some maintaining that they imply only a Deliverance from Death and rescue from the Grave others that they point out the dolorous Sufferings by which our Lord was brought to the Grave and raising him up to a state opposite to that Humiliation a third sort understanding by them a Destruction of the Power and Dominion of Death All these Opinions are supported with great Reasons nor will it here be proper to enter into a strict Examination which of them rather is to be embraced They are all rational Consonant to the Design of the Apostle and Significative of the manner of Christ's Resurrection I will therefore apply them all The first Opinion includeth only a Deliverance from Death that is a reunion of Soul and Body separated by Death In which Sense it chiefly referreth to the words of David and the Promises made to him here alledged by the Apostle David had been often brought
add that he shall return in like manner as they saw him go that is in Power and great Glory as our Lord describeth his coming to Judgment Matth. XIII 26. It will be of little use to inquire into what part of the Heavens the Body of our Lord was translated yet not unfit to observe that our Lord is said to have ascended into those Heavens by which the most glorious Presence of the Divine Majesty is in Scripture expressed Thus it is said of him Ephes. IV. 10. He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all Heavens and Hebr. VII 10. That he was higher than the Heavens and Heb. IX 12. passing into the holy place even into Heaven it self to appear before the Presence of God that is he was advanced to the same state of Glory with God the Father his Body was translated to the place of his more immediate Presence in Heaven which is fully expressed by his sitting at the right hand of God To determine the place whether in the third in the fourth or above the Heavens is rash and unwarrantable But this we may be assured that whatsoever part of Heaven is the immediate residence of the Divine Majesty whatsoever Region is most Holy whatsoever Place is of greatest Dignity in those Celestial Orbs thither Christ ascended and there now Reigns in Glory III. The Advantages which the Church and all the Members of it received from the Ascension of Christ are many and great The first and most eminent Benefit derived from it was the Mission of the Holy Ghost of which I spoke before A Benefit which was indeed more sensible in the Apostolick times when it communicated to many the gift of Tongues the power of working Miracles or a prophetick Spirit but is at this day no less advantageous since by the Influences and Operations of the Holy Ghost the Church is still maintained the Faithful are enabled to perform their Duty and the unfaithful are converted Thus the Ascension of Christ became a lasting Benefit to all his Followers procuring to them those Graces which otherwise could never have been obtained The Ascension of Elijah made one Elisha left a double Portion of his Spirit with one Disciple to be communicated to no other but the Ascension of Christ was of universal Benefit producing blessed Effects which should extend to all Believers and to all Ages A second Benefit of the Ascension of our Lord is the Confirmation of our Faith which from thence received firm Assurance of the truth of his Doctrine and the Divinity of his Person He had proclaimed to the unbelieving Jews as well as to his own Disciples in the VI. of St. John that he would ascend into Heaven What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before After his Resurrection he said unto the Women Go to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father It was not therefore unexpected to the Apostles they were acquainted with his Resolutions herein and when they faw effected what he had before foretold them they could no longer doubt that he was the true Messias Thus although the prophetical Office of our Lord expired upon the Cross all his subsequent Actions offered convincing Arguments to Mankind of the truth of his Mission and the certainty of those things he taught No greater Proof of either could be imagined than his Resurrection from the Dead and when to this was added his Ascension into Heaven there was no more place left for doubt Thus the Faith of the Apostles was confirmed by the Ascension of Christ but their Hopes were much more exalted By this glorious Triumph they saw him put into Possession of that ample Power which they so long wished to be assumed by him which might enable him to reward his Followers and effect those Promises which he had made to them In John XIV he had told them there were many Mansions in his Fathers house and that he went before to prepare a place for them intending to receive them afterwards to himself that where he was there they might be also The former part of the Promise they saw to be effected in his Ascension and thence conceived assured Hope that the latter would be accomplished There can be no greater Motive to believe the truth of Prophecies or Promises than to consider the performance of those which went before The same foreknowledge of our Lord which foresaw the Exaltation of himself could as easily foresee the like Reward to be given to his Followers and the same Power which advanced him to the right hand of God could exalt whomsoever he pleased into Heaven So that his Power could not be questioned and his Will therein he had often declared assuring them Joh. XII 32. When I am lifted up from the Earth I will draw all Men unto me Herein the Hopes of all Mankind received increase and strength They had all impatiently wished for Immortality it was easie to believe that their Souls should still exist but their Bodies were equally parts of themselves They were equally concerned for the future Happiness of both yet that either should be hereafter Happy they were assured only by the Revelation of Christ. He affirmed it he promised it he confirmed it by wonderful Signs and Miracles yet it could not but seem strange that Flesh and Blood should inherit the Kingdom of God that such a gross corporeal Being should be admitted to the Society of Angels that Man who was excluded from an Earthly Paradise should be taken up to the immediate Presence of God All this did seem incredible till they saw an Example of it in the Body of Christ which consisting of the same Flesh and Blood partaking of the same Nature was visibly received into Heaven and placed in eternal Happiness By this they were convinced that the like Immortality of their own Bodies was not impossible and while they considered the Promises of Christ and their own Relation to him that he was the first Fruits of humane Nature their forerunner which is entred into Heaven for them the Captain of their Salvation and the Head of their Society they were fully satisfied that it should in time be granted to them since what he foretold of his own Ascension they saw effected since it was but natural to follow their Captain their Head and their Forerunner and with him to be received into the place of their desired Happiness Farther as Christ is our King and our Priest the Benefits which we hope to receive from either of those his Offices received increase by his Ascension into Heaven As King he is thereby invested in the actual Dominion of his Church enabled to bestow upon her all those Graces and extraordinary Assistances which are necessary for her Well-being As our Priest his Intercessions with God the Father in our behalf are made much more prevalent by his personal Presence with him Under the Law the Efficacy of
justly to be accounted laudable For if we consider the great Lines and main Parts of the Doctrine of Christ they will be found to direct the Practice of those Actions which by all the World must be acknowledged to be good and excellent to be laudable and divine such as are Justice Sobriety Devotion and Charity It is not among Christians alone that such Actions are esteemed Praise-worthy All Parties of sober Men as well Heathens as those professing revealed Religions have agreed in this common Sentiment in the Veneration and Praise of all such Vertues From hence it was that even when the Heathens derided the Faith of the Cross they still acknowledged the Excellency of those Persons who professed it They also were convinced that all those moral Vertues were the Perfection of Mankind only in this they disagreed that whereas they accounted the uniform Practice of them to be an undertaking possible only to more exalted Minds Christ had made it the Duty of all his Followers Although even this difference of Opinion could not but raise their Thoughts to an extreme Veneration of that Divine Person who formed these Laws and even forced from them a Confession of that Praise which was due to such an Institution and the Author of it Thus the very Nature of a Christian Life as it is directed by the Precepts of our Lord fitteth it to be an eminent Example to others He distinguished his Religion from all others by the Excellency of his Laws and Precepts so that whosoever should observe them must distinguish themselves from the rest of the World by a more perfect exercise of Vertue and Holiness And hence it is that he naturally infers in the twentieth Verse Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no Case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was the exact performance of all the Legal Institutions of the Mosaical Law of Sacrifices Washings and other Ceremonies which abstracting from the positive Command of God had nothing excellent in the Practice of them To see the Jews killing their Sacrificed Beasts washing their Bodies often or Circumcising themselves was no Motive of Holiness or giving Glory to God to those who were not of the same Religion They discerned nothing laudable in all this and were rather prompted to pity the Slavery than to imitate the Devotion of their Service Whereas the Practice of those good Works which Christianity imposeth is amiable and lovely in the sight of all Men ever carrieth along with it the Commendation and Approbation of all Spectators Thus our Lord fitted his Doctrine to be a light to the World and least it should fail of its designed End he hath commanded us to improve it to its right use and therein hath led the way by his own Example He confined not himself to a Desart as did John the Baptist but conversed in their Cities and more frequented Meetings that all Men might see the constant Piety Goodness and Charity which attended all his Actions be instructed by them and drawn to the Imitation of them He indulged his Conversation to Publicans and Sinners that he might gain them first to a love of his Person and then to an imitation of his Vertue He disdained not the Company of any who might receive advantage from his Doctrine or Example And that he might fit his Life for an universal Pattern to all his Followers he engaged not in the constant Practice of extraordinary Austerities as did John the Baptist but amidst the most severe and strict Exercise of all Vertues allowed to himself the innocent Pleasures and Entertainments of the World He refused not to sit down with those who invited him to splendid Entertainments as with Levi and Zacheus nor to be present at the Marriage-Feast At other times he was content to suffer Hunger and Cold Contempt and the vilest Injuries to undergo long watching in Prayer and Fasting For so it behoved him even in this Sense also to perform all Righteousness who was to be the grand Exemplar to all succeeding Ages Not to confine himself to any one method of Life least thereby his Example should become deficient to those who should be engaged in another but to pass through all the more ordinary Actions and Varieties of humane Life that in all Cases we might be able to approve and direct our Actions by conforming them to his Practice and if any doubt should arise concerning them might be able to justifie them by the Authority of his Example Both the Observation therefore of the Precepts and the Imitation of the Practice of Christ which are equally the Duty of every Christian engageth him to be exemplar in his Life and Conduct And thus first the whole Body of Christians will become a light to the rest of the World and then every Member of the Church to each other Our Lord describeth both in this place very lively Ye are the Salt of the Earth Verse 13. The rest of the World will remain in Sin and Corruption but in the numerous Society which I shall found and call by my Name Piety and Vertue and whatsoever is good and excellent shall be maintained Yet not to be confined to that Society alone but to be communicated to all who shall receive Instruction from it Ye are the light of the World Verse 14. The greater part of Mankind remain in Darkness and Ignorance but I have placed my Church as a glorious Light to dispel this Darkness and remove this Ignorance that so all who do but lift up their Eyes have the least inclination to Truth and Goodness may there discover the light and repair to it And this cannot fail to take effect while the brightness of this Light shall remain while the Church shall continue glorious and unspotted while the Members of it shall all or the more part of them perform their Duty For as it followeth a City placed on a Hill or a Light placed in a Room cannot be hid If indeed those Vertues which I command be observed by those who profess my Name if Justice Chastity Beneficence and other Marks of Goodness be indeed so eminently exercised by so numerous a Body of Men it cannot be but the rest of Mankind will take notice of it and as many as desire to be freed from Darkness will approach to this Light Or if thro' sloth and negligence they still continue afar off however they will not be able to deny that they see the Light and must admire both it and the Author of it Thus the meanest Christian may make himself truly Exemplary by performing his Duty conscientiously in the Station in which God hath placed him Although his Understanding and Abilities have not fitted him to be an Example to others singly considered If he well dischargeth his single Station although never so mean in the Church he contributeth to this great Design of Christ of making his Church a
sharpened in Consideration of the unhappy influence which their Actions had to dispose othen Men to sin The Duty of Exemplariness and the excellent Design of our Lord in requiring it of his Followers being thus cleared I pass to the Second Head to consider the manner which he hath fixed whereby to raise this Example that is by good Works Let your Light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works None but these will have any influence upon the Minds of those who are without the Church or who judge rightly and none but these will avail such as are within the Church or make little use of their Judgment To become a light and a glorious Example in the World it is necessary to be eminent in those Actions which are acknowledged by the World to be good excellent and of intrinsick worth Such are all Actions of Moral Vertues but more especially such as are positive as Justice Truth Zeal for the Honour of God Kindness and Charity to Men. Such are in many places of the New Testament and in common Speech also called good Works which whosoever doth illustriously perform all other Men although of a different or no Religion will bear him Witness that the Lawgiver whose Precepts he therein obeyeth is good and just that his Example deserveth Praise and Imitation And what Effect must we not believe this Example had upon the Jews and Heathens before the brightness of it was obscured by the prevailing wickedness of latter Ages when the Church could challenge her Adversaries to produce from among her Followers an unclean or an injust an intemperate or a prophane Person when their Piety was so undeniable in the constant frequenting of the publick Prayers and Sacraments of the Church even in the midst of Persecutions when their Charity appeared so conspicuous not only in relation to their own Members but now even to their Enemies in feeding the Hungry in clothing the naked in redeeming Captives in communicating to all When an Heathen Governour and he the most Learned Man of his Age employed by his Emperor to examine the Doctrine and Conduct of the Christians made this report to him That they were a sort of men who injured no Man defrauded none abstained from Murder Lust and Perjury gave frequent Demonstrations of admirable Charity and meeting once every Week in the publick Service of God bound themselves by religious Ties and Sacraments to do all this When a Learned Adversary after a full Search could make no other report than this what remained but to conclude that God was indeed among them So wisely Christianity contrived to draw in unbelieving but unprejudiced Spectators by the Beauty of its Example the force of which none could withstand while its greatest Adversaries dared not to deny that the Exercise of good Works was the Primitive Religion of the World and if not the Duty yet at least the Interest and the Ornament of Mankind Our Lord proposed not to form this Example by extreme Austerities and Macerations by Paradoxes in Doctrine or Practice by Raptures or Extasies which might easily raise the Amazement but not the Reverence of other Men. Judicious Men would esteem them Follies if proposed as matters of intrinsick Excellence and entertain them with Scorn and even ignorant Persons might be astonished at them yet could they never discover any real worth in them or the Reason of them It is the unhappiness of latter Ages to have introduced such gross Conceptions instead of what our Lord directed the Practice of good Works and thereby have in a great measure defeated those excellent Ends which he intended Thus the Church of Rome in her latter Saints hath chiefly respected extravagant Austerities and the Report of foolish Miracles and some others have made the Indications or Signs of Saint-ship to be unaccountable Raptures or internal pretended Consolations or union to God and Christ which have no necessary external Effect or cannot be discovered by unbelievers or if discovered would not affect them With them no Example but of such Actions as are universally allowed to be Excellent namely of good Works will be of any Power and therefore our most wise Saviour hath appointed no other and if this be not continued all other means of continuing the Glory of this Light which our Lord proposed will be found wholly ineffectual And as to those without so also to those within the Church but needing the Direction of Example no other will be of any advantage The benefit in relation to them consists in leading the way to such who are inclined to imitate the Actions of those whom they admire or respect or to whom they are subject which Actions if they be such as are here required good Works the Design of our Lord is happily effected the Duty of such Persons promoted their Salvation secured the Reward of those who give the Example increased But if the Actions be of any other Nature they are either unlawful or indifferent not worthy Imitation and without any Promise of reward In the third Place our Lord in the Text proposeth the end towards which these exemplary good Works should be directed which is that others may see them and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven that is in seeing them may glorifie God Least Men should be betrayed into Pride or Arrogance through an Opinion of their own good Works they are commanded to refer all not to their own but to the Divine Glory Least they should swell with the Conceit of being a Light to the World of giving a Rule to the Actions of other Men by their own Conduct they are taught that all this ought not to be employed to promote their own Esteem in the World but to advance the Honour and Worship of God While good Works are indeed directed to this end it is impossible that any thing of Pride should intervene And if notwithstanding peevish and morose Men will detract from them as done for sinister Ends and vain Glory our Lord hath provided for this a Remedy in the 11th Verse of this Chapter immediately preceding this Exhortation to a good Example Blessed are you when Men shall revile you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake Nothing indeed is more odious and distasteful than Ostentation in Religion or more to be avoided This raised the Indignation of our Lord against the Pharisees and still exciteth the Scorn of all judicious Men when Acts of Religion are formed on purpose to be seen by Men when their Praise and Applause is thereby courted and studiously contrived But in this Duty of being exemplary in good Works as there is no Command of contriving the ordinary performance of them in such a manner as may be most taken notice of by other Men so there is for the most part no necessity of it in Order to their being observed by them Many of them are of such a Nature as cannot but be observed whether he who performs
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