least it cannot be denied that the assurance of God in the latter part of the Text Vengeance is mine I will repay hath taken from them that common pretence before mentioned of Zeal for the satisfaction of Justice least if Revenge should not be inflicted the Guilt of any sin should escape unpunished This therefore God hath fully provided for who as he is the supreme Lord of all and Judge of the whole World cannot be supposed to fall so far in the Distribution of Justice as to permit any sin to pass unobserved by him neither expiated by Repentance nor attended with Punishment and hath moreover obliged himself by Promise to revenge the Injuries offered to his faithful Servants and that as our Lord saith he will do although he bears long with them Luk. XVIII 25. It would be unreasonable to expect that his Punishments should always be inflicted on the unjust Aggressor in this Life nor hath he promised any such thing The place in Deuteronomy referred to in the Text in the Original runs thus To me belongeth Vengeance or Recompence in time or to be executed in due time It cannot be expected that his Punishments should always immediately follow the Commission of every Crime or Injury unless we desire the World should be in a manner dispeopled and become a Theatre of dreadful Tragedies It is sufficient that he hath ordinarily secured us from the more disquieting Injuries of unjust Men by the Commission which he hath given to the Civil Magistrate to revenge them in his stead And if he should fail in the Execution of his entrusted Office we are not so considerable as singly to deserve an extraordinary Interposition of Providence in behalf of us If we desire this Revenge should be extended yet farther and should punish in this Life and for our Sakes even the Guilt of Injuries offered to us we manifest an inhumane Disposition of Mind delighting in the Miseries of other Men. God hath promised indeed as a benefit to his faithful Servants that he will revenge the Injuries offered to them But if this Revenge be taken in this Life the benefit consisteth not in the Pleasure arising from the suffering of Enemies but either in the Enjoyment of temporal Peace secured thereby or in the perswasion which good Men may thence conceive that they are beloved by God If the Revenge be taken in another Life the benefit consisteth wholly in the latter For far be it from the Spirits of good Men now in Heaven who were injured by bad Men when alive to take delight in the Torments of the Damned because they were once their Enemies and far be it from us to enhance the Joys of Heaven by such unworthy Considerations Complacency in the Sufferings of other Men which is to be found in all Revenge properly so called can find no place in Heaven and that it may find no place on Barth may this Discourse conduce The Fourteenth SERMON Preach'd on easter-Easter-Day 1690. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Acts XI 24. Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it HOW Glorious the Resurrection of our Lord was which we this day Commemorate how undeniable at that time how powerful an assurance of all his precedent Promises and Revelations what effect it had both in the Mind of his Disciples and his Crucifiers how effectually it demonstrated to the whole World the Divinity both of his Mission and his Person as the whole Series of their Actions immediately subsequent to it do demonstrate so this Declaration made by them in the Text doth evince They who before had fled upon his apprehension had lost all their hopes at his Crucifixion had either denied or forsaken him who began to doubt whether it were he that should have redeemed Israel and gave up all for lost resumed their Courage and their Faith at the news and assurance of his Resurrection They now saw that Salvation wrought which before they had even ceased to hope for The most incredulous of them could now say to him My Lord and my God nor did they henceforward admit any doubt of those glorious Promises of which they had herein received so great a Testimony They feared not to profess their belief in him openly to Arraign the Impiety of the Jews in Crucifying an innocent Person and him no other than their own Messias the Lord of Life to denounce to them the certainty of their Destruction without belief in him not only to testifie his Resurrection in that great Concourse of the Jews met together at the Feast of Pentecost but also to declare it impossible that he should not have risen again as in these words Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it which present us with I. The Affirmation of the Resurrection of Christ. Whom God hath raised up II. The manner of it Having loosed the pains of death III. The Reason of it Because it was not possible c. 1. The words assure us of the Truth of Christ's Resurrection a Truth both well known to the Apostles who did then relate it and attested by many infallible proofs as it is in the foregoing Chapter Verse 3. so that it could not be denied by those who should only hear it Let us take a view of these Proofs both for the Confirmation of our Faith and to amplifie the Glory of that Mystery to the Memory of which this day is Sacred In relating then the Resurrection of our Lord the Holy Penmen have been very exact in relating all the Circumstances and the Proofs of it manifesting that he was really dead after his Crucifixion and as truly alive again after his Resurrection that this was known to his Enemies as well as his Disciples and attested from Heaven by the Ministry of Angels and by God himself In a matter of so great Concern it was necessary that all the Points of it should be clearly proved and none remain liable to the least Exception In the first place it was required that assurance should be given of his having been really dead An Article which is fully expressed in the Creed the common Profession of our Faith wherein we declare him to have been dead and buried and to have descended into Hell that his Soul was truly separated from his Body the places being therein assigned wherein each were contained from the time of his Burial to that of his Resurrection His Body remained in the Grave His Soul was in the state of other separated Souls in Hell whether we understand thereby either the ordinary Condition of departed Souls or the place of damned Souls I will not now engage in that Controversie it is sufficient to say That either Opinion placeth his Soul in that interval of time among other Souls separated from the Body That the Soul of Christ was thus truly separated appeareth from the concurrent Judgment of
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
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
another hath injured us and are not we in every Sin injurious to God Thy Fellow-Servant hath perhaps injured thee once or twice but thou hast injured God the Lord of both very often perhaps every day of thy Life and then what equality is there between injuring a Fellow-Servant and a Master He perhaps was provoked nay first injured by thee before he committed any Acts of Hatred or Malice against thee But thou hast offended thy Lord from whom thou never receivedst any Injuries by whom thou hast been obliged with the greatest Benefits by whose Favour thou livest and from whom thou expectest all that can make thee Happy Consider that if God should examine strictly and immediately revenge all thy Offences against him thou hast not one day to live For if thou Lord shouldst be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it So said a better Man than thou art and much more must thou confess if thou either dissemblest not with others or deceivest not thy self For to pass by all those secret Sins which are known only to every Man's Conscience and have no witness but God alone if we should be required to give an account of those open and manifest ones which we daily commit what Pardon could we expect If God should take a severe Account of our Negligence and want of attention in Prayer of all the idle Speeches proceeding from our Mouth and the rash Judgments which we make and such other Sins and Inadvertencies committed but in any one day we should have just Reason to despair of Pardon But if he ransacks our Souls and brings forth into Judgment all the secret Sins of it the evil Desires and unclean Thoughts the unlawful Motions and vain Imaginations we should then have no hope left And if the Sins of one day bring inevitable Destruction upon us without the Mercy and the Pardon of God what an Abyss of Mercy will the Sins of a whole Life require Yet all these Sins he condescends to pardon all this Mercy he extends to Man with this single Condition that he pardon the Offences of his Fellow-Christian For this is an Argument against Revenge peculiar to the Christian Religion To the Jews the Promises of Divine Pardon were neither so full nor so clear and therefore God in giving Laws to them thought it convenient to wink at their exercise of Revenge in some Cases I will not reckon as such that Law of giving an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth For however it was afterwards most grosly mis-interpreted by the Jews it included not any thing of Revenge in the first Institution and Design of it But certainly that Law cannot be excused from Revenge which alloweth to the Kindred of any Man slain unadvisedly to retaliate his Death upon the Author of it if they overtook him before he entred into any City of refuge It is our Happiness that as we have a better Religion and greater Promises so we have stronger Arguments to perswade us to our Duty And in this Case he who gave us both hath forbidden the Execution of Revenge to us and appropriated it to himself So that not only upon account of the Nature of the thing but also of the Divine Command Revenge is made injurious to God and unlawful to us Further not only do we want that Authority which Revenge pre-supposeth not only are we precluded by the express Prohibition of God but we also want other qualifications absolutely necessary to us before it be convenient that we be intrusted with the Execution of Revenge I will instance but in two First Knowledge of the true Guilt of the Crime which we would revenge It must be acknowledged that the Merits of a Cause ought to be known before any Judgment be passed on it In Humane Judicatures the Peace of the World and Interest of publick Societies require that probable Evidence be accepted that Judgment be given according to the appearance of things But if Men pretend to judge the Consciences of others to define the Hainousness of the Guilt of their Offences and to execute the Punishment upon it which is the Proper work of Revenge they ought exactly to know the most private thoughts of the Soul by what steps and arguments the Will was induced to commit that Injury what Judgment the Understanding formed of it when it was committed Otherwise Men may grosly mistake they may Judge that to be an Injury which was intended by the other for a Kindness in which Case there is rather Merit than Guilt in the Offender And if his intended Benefit doth really turn to the Detriment of the other it will be a misfortune to them both yet the Merit of the Benefit ought not to be esteemed less Thus a passionate Revenge may be employed against its own Benefactors and inverting the Course of Justice punish the Well-doers In other Cases Men may interpret Acts of inadvertency to proceed from a formed Malice and punish what is indeed but a venial Injury as a Mortal offence They may prosecute the Execution of revenge even after the other hath repented of the Injury in his mind and resolved if possible to make Reparation for it and thereby hath expiated the guilt of the Offence In all these and many other Cases Men may err most grosly in passing their Judgment upon the enormity of Injuries offered to them which must be supposed to precede all Revenge And how dangerous such Errors are our Lord acquaints us when he assureth us Matth. VII 2. With what Judgment ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again This Reason makes it impossible for Man to execute Revenge aright if it should be permitted to him and dangerous to be desired and for this Reason it ought to be taken out of the hands of Man and be committed to him alone who is the Searcher of all Spirits Again if it were possible for Man to form a right Judgment of the guilt of every Offence and the quantity of the Punishment to be inflicted he would still commit fatal Miscarriages in the Execution of it His Passions are so violent that he would far exceed the Limits of the prescribed Punishment add weight and sharpness to it in Complyance with his own Hatred and imagine that his Anger ought to be indulged therein Nay I fear that in all Cases of Revenge it will be found that the Punishment is inflicted not out of abhorrence to the sin committed but out of Malice and Hatred to the Person of the other not to reform the irregularity of the other but to gratifie his own Passion not to oppose sin but to harm a supposed Enemy And thus not only the Danger of incurring the guilt of Injustice Hatred and Malice would ensue but also the Peace of the World would be wholly over-turned Mankind would be involved in continual War while he who were first injured carried his Revenge beyond the
by his Enemies into extreme danger of Death which he commonly expresseth by the same or the like words as Psal. XVIII 4. The sorrows of death compassed me and Verse 5. The sorrows of hell compassed me about and Psal. CXVI 3. The sorrows of death compassed me the pains of Hell gat hold upon me Yet trusting in the Promises of God amidst all these Calamities he rested assured of Deliverance and expresseth his Confidence of it in the words cited by the Apostle in the following Verses My flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see Corruption It was a Matter at that time received and on all hands granted by the Jews that David was a Type of the Messias that his Actions Sufferings and Deliverance prefigured the Office the Death and Resurrection of Christ who should descend from him and particularly the Apostle sheweth how this Passage was much more evidently and literally fulfilled in Christ than in David He indeed was delivered from his Enemies and died in Peace yet die he did and after Death his soul was left in hell that is among the Dead or in the place of departed Souls and his Body did see Corruption having been buried many hundred years But as for Christ he died indeed yet his soul was not left in hell neither did his Body see Corruption His Soul was presently reunited to the Body and even during the Separation not left by the Divine Nature which still continued to be joyned to it neither was his Body corrupted but raised up and united to the Soul in less than forty hours in which time the Bodies of deceased Men are wont to be corrupted According to the second Interpretation Christ was raised from a painful Death to an opposite State to a condition of Glory Happiness Power and Immortality The Sufferings of our Lord so lively described to us in the Holy Offices of the last week we cannot forget and over all these he eminently triumphed in his Resurrection upon this day He was then made subject to Death but is now become the Lord of life and set above the reach of Death For Christ being raised from the Dead dieth no more Death hath no more Dominion over him Rom. VI. 9. He then bore the wrath of God for the sake of Man He now dispenseth the Favours of God granted to Men. He was then subjected to the Contradiction of Sinners to the Will of his own Creatures appeared as the vilest of Men suffered as a Malefactor he is now entred upon his Kingdom raised above the Earth seated at the right hand of God Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject unto him 1 Pet. III. 22. The words explained in their third Sense infer the overthrow of the Power and Dominion of Death effected by the Resurrection of Christ. The whole Design of our Lords Incarnation of his Death Burial and Resurrection was as it is expressed Hebr. II. 14. That he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil To do this all the parts of his Life contributed He converted Sinners from the Error of their way He confuted the Mistakes of the seduced World He founded a Church wherein open Enmity should be professed to the Devil He took upon himself the guilt of Death due to the sins of Men and all this Dispensation he gloriously finished in his Resurrection Therein he literally broke the bonds of Death he led Captivity Captive baffled the opposition and triumphed over all the Assaults of the Devil who had vainly imagined that by procuring the ever Blessed Jesus to be given up into the hands of wicked Men he had put an end to the Salvation of Mankind But to our eternal Happiness and to the Glory of our Redeemer his Designs and Attempts promoted that very end which he so much dreaded he knew not that it was the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God as it is in the precedent Verse that Christ should both die and rise again to perfect our Salvation that he was for a while to be subject to Death but that it was impossible he should be holden of it III. This was the third thing proposed to Discourse of that it was not possible that Christ should continue in the state of Death The Apostle foundeth the impossibility of it in this place upon the Determination of God to the contrary so that here it was not possible is no more than it was not Consonant to the decree of God it was not fit just or convenient as it is said Matth. IX It is not possible for the Children of the Bride-Chamber to mourn as long as the Bridegroom is with them that is it is not fit or convenient In this Sense then I shall consider it and 1. It was not possible or convenient that Christ should be holden of death because he was both God and Man the Divine was united to his Humane Nature It would have appeared surprizing to our Reason and been an Argument of little affection of God to Mankind if he should have suffered that very Body which had the Honour to be joyned to his own Nature wherein the fullness of the Godhead dwelled bodily to continue in Hell in the common state of Mortality or to see Corruption It was not possible that the Divinity should suffer that Nature to be corrupted or lye neglected among the Dead to which it self continued to be united even in the Grave This we of the Catholick Church do believe and if any should oppose this wonderful Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in the person of Christ his very Resurrection will convince their Error For to raise a dead Body to Life again must be allowed to be no less than the work of Omnipotence that it can be effected by God alone Yet it appeareth from the express words of Scripture that Christ had Power to raise up his own Body He saith of himself to the Jews John II. 19. Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up Speaking of the Temple of his Body as the Evangelist subjoyns And again John X. 18. No Man taketh my Life from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again Our Lord who came into the World to do the Will of his Father and to glorifie him would never have claimed this Power had it not been inherent in himself He therefore by his own Power reunited his Soul to his Body I mean not in Exclusion to the other persons of the Blessed Trinity who all concurred therein For Power being an essential Attribute of the Divine Nature continueth undivided in the Persons of it And therefore it is no Objection against the Truth of this that the Father is said in many places of the New Testament to have raised up his Son since he is the chief Person in that Blessed Trinity
before mentioned that is unless we rise from Sin to die again Lastly the Justice of God and the incomparable Humility and Patience of Christ manifested in his Sufferings rendred it not possible not fit that he should be holden of Death He died not for his own but for the Sins of others and to demonstrate that his own Guilt drew not that Punishment upon him it was agreeable to the Justice of God to raise him up to relieve the Cause of oppressed Innocence and not suffer his Persecutors any longer to triumph in their wickedness Further by his exact Obedience by his inimitable Patience in suffering the Pains and his admirable Humility in undergoing the Shame of the Cross he did deserve to be raised up that as he had humbled himself in so extraordinary a manner so he should be exalted to a no less illustrious Glory And therefore the Sufferings and Humility of Christ are frequently assigned as the meritorious Cause of his Exaltation It was long before Prophesied of him Psal. CX 7. He shall drink of the brook in the way therefore shall he lift up his head And after his Passion and Ascension it is said of him by St. Paul Philip. II. He humbled himself and became obedient to death even the deash of the Cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him The first step of his Exaltation was his Resurrection which therefore was to relate to both those parts of his Humane Nature which had undergone that meritorious Humiliation Not only his Soul had suffered Agonies and the Contradiction of sinners had resigned it self intirely into the hands of God and submitted quietly to the Execution of that bitter Sentence which was inflicted on him as the Representative of sinful Men had endured the Shame of the Cross the insults of his Enemies a violent Separation from the Body with invincible Patience and Charity But also his Body had partaken in his Agony had sweat drops of Blood had endured Scourgings and Buffettings Crucifixion and the wound of the Spear Both Soul and Body therefore were to share in the Reward of all these Sufferings which began to be bestowed on him in his Resurrection His Body was to be raised from the Grave and his Soul being in no other Sense capable of Resurrection was to be reunited to the Body and both to continue for ever joyned since by his Death and Resurrection he is become the Mediator of a new and eternal Covenant Thus I have passed through the several parts of the Text and from the whole I shall make but one Inference proper to the Solemnity of this day If the Resurrection of Christ be the great and ultimate Confirmation of the Christian Religion that upon which our Faith is founded our hopes are raised that by which the Mystery of our Redemption is compleated the Author of it Crowned and advanced to be the Head of all the faithful who look for the same Resurrection it becomes us to celebrate this Festival Dedicated to the Memory of it with a suitable Religion We are not to account it an Arbitrary institution or the invention of the Church that this day is accounted Sacred beyond all others of the Year Our Lord hath made it so by rising from the Dead and compleating the Redemption of Mankind on it No revealed Religion was yet ever professed in the World which did not celebrate some certain and solemn Festivals at fixed times of the year and to cast off the publick Solemnization of those Festivals upon which the most illustrious Acts of the Life of our Saviour were performed is no other than in Fact to deny all belief in him and relation to him It is not enough to say that he hath declared he will be worshipped in Spirit and Truth He was himself then going up to Jerusalem to celebrate a solemn Festival when he spake those words And surely unless there be solemn times and places of worshipping him in Spirit and Truth it will never appear that he is so worshipped nor is he worshipped in Truth when Men pay no external Acknowledgments of those eminent Benefits which he hath truly obtained to them Himself hath consecrated this day by his rising from the Grave on it The Apostles have Dedicated it to this sacred Use by their own and by Divine Authority The Jews had before celebrated one day in seven in Recognition of their adoring that God who had created the World in Six days and rested on the Seventh and that Seventh day which they celebrated rather than any other of the Week was sanctified in Memory of their Deliverance out of Egypt wrought upon that day as it is Deut. V. 15. Remember that thou wast a Servant in the Land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day As the Jews therefore dated their Seventh day for ever from that day of their Deliverance out of Egypt so the Apostles began and the Church hath to this day continued to date their Seventh day from the day upon which their Redemption was compleated A Redemption so far greater than that given to the Jews from the Bondage of Egypt that well might the day instituted in remembrance of their Deliverance give way to the day celebrated in Honour of our Redemption This change therefore was made by the Apostles immediately upon the Resurrection of our Lord and even before his Ascension and so no doubt by his personal Direction and Approbation For all the religious Assemblies we find of them both before and after his Ascension were upon the first day of the Week That so as the Jews acknowledged their belief in God the Creator of the World by celebrating one day in seven and manifested their Worship of that God who brought them out of Egypt by Solemnizing for ever that Seventh day in which he brought them out So we Christians should declare that we worship the same God the Creator of the World by celebrating one day in seven and also manifest that we worship him in and through Jesus Christ by Sanctifying for ever that Seventh day upon which the great and last Act of our Redemption wrought by him was performed which is therefore in Scripture called the Lords Day Rev. I. 10. Farther as the particular Day of the weekly Festival of the Jews was determined by their Deliverance out of Egypt wrought upon the Seventh day so the far greatest of their Annual Solemnities was instituted in Commemoration of that Deliverance effected in the first Month of the year This God did institute by a special Command which was at large repeated to you in the first Lesson of this day And exacted the Observation of it with so great Rigour that he declared That Soul which did not keep this annual Feast should be cut off from Israel And can we imagine that God should require such eminent external Testimonies
more having more largely treated of it in my Discourse upon easter-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
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
without controul dared to reject his Doctrine vilifie his Person and put him to an ignominious Death but now they were to be convinced by uncontestable Proofs from Heaven that his Person was more than Humane his Doctrine Divine and themselves guilty of the most Enormous wickedness in crucifying the Lord of Life The Justice of God the Father had suffered Aspersions in not revenging the Sufferings and rewarding the Labours of his Son But now this was to be cleared and the Jews convinced that neither their Wickedness should pass unpunished nor his Merits unrewarded The Devil had triumphed in his supposed Conquest over Christ and his imagination of having baffled the Design of the Redemption of Mankind by procuring the Author of it to be put to Death but his arrogant Pretensions were henceforth to be checked his Hopes to be defeated his Empire to be dissolved All these Advantages were to flow from the Mission of the Holy Ghost and all these our Lord sums up and Promises in the words of my Text And when he is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment In which words we may enquire I. In what Sense all these Effects and Advantages are to be ascribed to the Mission of the Holy Ghost II. How far these promised Effects and Advantages of his Mission were performed As to the First the word reproving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is used in the Text in the Original is taken from judicial Proceedings and signifieth a Confutation of the adverse Party by such Proofs and Testimonies as by an impartial Judge should be allowed to be valid The Office therefore of the Holy Ghost was to be the Paraclet the Advocate of our Saviour upon Earth to plead his Cause to produce these Proofs to urge and propose them to the World There were indeed abundant Proofs before in the Nature of the thing but Proofs are not convictive till laid open declared and proposed This was the Office of the Holy Ghost in this he was to be the Advocate of our Saviour and this he performed by pouring extraordinary Gifts upon the Apostles as on this day which might enable them with Power and Eloquence with Courage and Success to propose those Proofs and convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment They were to be the Instruments of this Reproof this Conviction not only by their Gifts received and Labours performed as upon this day but by all their Miracles Sermons and Preaching performed in the whole Course of their Ministry All these Actions were equally directed to the same end the conviction of the World yet all in vertue of those Abilities which they received upon this day All their Gifts and Labours were solely owing to his power and derived from his Grant their Knowledge to his Inspiration their Courage and Constancy to his Support their Speaking to his Impulse their Miracles to his Power their Success to his Blessing So that all which they performed ought truly and properly to be ascribed to him All the Miracles Actions and Prophesies of their Lord before the Mission of the Holy Ghost all the Miracles and Labours of themselves after it were to contribute to the Conviction of the World but all the Efficacy the Application of this Conviction was to proceed solely from the Abilities conferred on them at the time of his Mission And thus the Holy Ghost continueth his Office of Advocate not only during the Apostles times but in all Ages of the Church since those Gifts which he then began to dispense to the Apostles he still continueth to diffuse to the Faithful and by the Efficacy of these Gifts it is that the Church is maintained the Faithful enlivened the Conviction continued He then convinced the World by the Preaching of the Apostles and he now convinceth it by the Preaching of their Successors acted with the same Spirit and by the reading of the Holy Scriptures written by them through his assistance and direction His Gifts indeed conferred on them were far more eminent because more necessary his Administration of the Church in their time more remarkable because manifesting the Completion of many particular Prophesies of our Saviour Upon which account the Promises of this Text were then more eminently fulfilled And that they were so I come next in Order to consider First then the Holy Ghost by his coming reproved or convinced the World of Sin because they believed not on Christ as it follows in the 9. Verse By the World we are here primarily to understand the Jews who notwithstanding all the mighty Signs and Miracles performed by Christ denied Assent to his Doctrine This disbelief of theirs before the Mission of the Holy Ghost our Saviour in many places seems to excuse and pardon and St. Pet. in the III. of the Acts V. 17. extenuates their crucifying the Lord of Life by their Ignorance Which Plea would have been but trifling had not their Ignorance in some measure been excusable but after the Mission of the Holy Spirit to stand out against those manifold Convictions that were then offer'd could be no other than an inexcusable Perverseness and Incredulity Of this we may assign two several Reasons First that although our Lord had in his own Person performed many and those stupendious Miracles yet these affected no other than the Spectators of them For while alive he never blazoned abroad his Miracles nor employed his Disciples in spreading the Report and testifying the Truth of them So that however many particular Persons who were Eye-witnesses of his Miracles could not but be abundantly convinced of his Divinity yet the universal Conviction of the whole Nation of the Jews was to be reserved to the Mission of the Holy Ghost When the Apostles were to be endued with Courage and Power from on high to proclaim his Actions and Doctrines to all Men and if need were to assert the Truth of them by other no less extraordinary Miracles Secondly the chief Note affixed by God whereby to judge of the Truth of any Prophet and particularly of the Messias was the Completion of his Prophesies Thus in Deut. XVIII when Moses assureth the Children of Israel That God should raise them up in the latter days a Prophet like unto himself whom they should be obliged to hear in all things he gives them this Token whereby to judge between the true and any false Messias If the Predictions of him who took upon him the Name and Character of the Messias did really come to pass then they should acknowledge him to be the true Messias The most eminent and almost only Predictions of our Lord which could serve as Signs of this nature to the Jews of that Age were the Mission of the Holy Ghost the Resurrection of himself after three days Imprisonment in the Grave and the Final destruction of Jerusalem before that Generation should pass away The first was happily accomplished upon this day when the Gifts of the Holy Ghost
were poured out upon the Apostles in so illustrious a manner as the Jews could not but take notice of the exact Completion of his Promise of sending the Comforter not many days after his Ascension in such a manner as drew the eyes of all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem both Jews and Strangers upon them and tended no less to demonstrate the Power than the Truth of Christ. The second Prediction indeed that of his Resurrection was fulfilled fifty days before but became not an Argument of Conviction to the Jews till now as being not till now publickly attested by the Apostles who were the Witnesses of it The Report of his Resurrection had been indeed rumoured in Jerusalem which put the Sanhedrim upon that shameful Device of corrupting the Soldiers who guarded his Sepulchre but the certain and publick Knowledge of it was not delivered till the Apostles were enabled and enboldened to proclaim and testifie it to the whole World by those Gifts which they received upon this day After the exact Completion of these Prophesies and the authentick attestation of them no excuse remained to the Jews whereby to extenuate their unbelief according to the Rules laid down by Moses they were now obliged to acknowledge Christ to have been a true Prophet and the true Messias and were convinced of their hainous Sin before commited by them in the Rejection of his Doctrine and Crucifixion of his Person the horror of which Sin might induce them the more readily to believe in Christ and lay hold of his Merits that so they might obtain Remission of it Otherwise they were to expect the most severe Execution of Divine Vengeance for their wilful obstinacy and disbelief as Moses had assured them in the same place Deut. XVIII 19. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him This Sentence and therein the Prophesie of Christ was in a most eminent manner executed and fulfilled in the Destruction and intire Desolation of the whole Nation of the Jews about forty years after the Ascension of our Lord whereby the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord then alive acted by the Holy Ghost were farther enabled invincibly to plead his Cause against the opposition of the unbelieving World both Jews and Gentiles For however the Mission of the Holy Ghost and the Consequences of it did more especially convince of Sin the Jews who were then alive and had been guilty either of rejecting the Preaching or contriving the Death of our Lord yet it contributed no less effectually to manifest the Unreasonableness of all both Jews and Gentiles who either in that or in all Ages to come should reject the Faith of Christ when proposed to them For the Belief of him was to be proposed to all Creatures under Heaven and confirmed by Arguments drawn from hence which were so rational and convictive so clear and demonstrative that they could not be rejected without the most extream Perverseness and if rejected the Holy Ghost should hereby plead the cause of Christ against them and convince the whole World and their own Consciences also if rightly judging that in rejecting the Gospel they had sinned against their own Souls and that nothing remained to them but a certain fearful Expectation of the fiery Judgment to be most justly inflicted on them The second point of which the Comforter was to reprove or convince the World was of Righteousness the reason of which is assigned in the 10th Verse Because I go to my Father and ye see me no more The Justice of God had to the eyes of Men been clouded when he permitted his only begotten Son to be delivered up and crucified by wicked Men when he abandoned him to the Rage of his Enemies and rescued him not from the Insults of the Jews by an extraordinary Interposition from Heaven The Majesty of the Deity seemed then to be eclipsed and suffer diminution when subjected to the Contradiction and Affronts of unreasonable Men. Men naturally expect that God should even in this World declare in behalf of oppressed Innocence either by rescuing it from the Malice of its Enemies or taking a severe Revenge upon the Oppressors of it And even Christians who have a better and more certain Knowledge of the Methods of Providence cannot but expect and are allowed so to do that if no Discrimination be made between the Good and the Bad in this life yet at least that it shall be in the next when Innocence shall be crowned with Rewards which shall be enhanced by Patience in Sufferings and Violence chastised with Punishments which shall be so much the sharper if reserved intire to another World if no part of them be inflicted in this This a faithful Christian expects from the Justice of God and this the Scripture assureth them Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest 2 Thess. I. 6. And God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour Heb. VI. 10. If then this Justice may be securely hoped for from God by all the Members of Mankind how much more by the Son of God whose Person was of infinite Dignity his Sufferings fraught with the highest Aggravations of Misery and his Persecutors guilty of the most enormous Wickedness That the Justice of God might be therefore vindicated herein that Sin might no longer triumph and Innocence pass unregarded God exalted his Son to his own right hand seated him in the Heavens gave him Dominion over all things crowned him with glory and worship The knowledge of this was published to the World by the Mission of the Holy Ghost by whose Direction and Assistance the Apostles openly testified the Ascension of their Lord and by which all might be convinced what Place and Power Christ now obtained in Heaven who could showre down such glorious Gifts and Priviledges upon his Followers on Earth These were so many undeniable Testimonies that the Malice of his Enemies was defeated that our Lord was yet alive set above their reach and Insults and not only so but invested with supreme Majesty and Dominion able to protect his Church and punish his Enemies that his former Sufferings had not been then more calamitous than his present State was now glorious that if God had for a time withdrawn in appearance his Favour and Protection from his Humane Nature he had now in recompence exalted it to an eternal Throne in Heaven The last thing of which the Comforter was to reprove or convince the World was of Judgment and that for this reason Ver. 11. Because the prince of this world is judged It is a Principle even of Natural Religion that God is the supreme Judge of the World and that of invisible as well as visible Beings The Devil who is frequently in Scripture called the prince of this world had now for many Ages exercised an
uncontrouled Tyranny in the World He had withdrawn the far greatest part of Mankind from the worship of the true God and caused the worship of himself to become the publick Religion of all Nations except the Jews Even the Jews he had often seduced to Idolatry and Disobedience to the Divine Commands and had newly instigated them to imbrue their hands in the Blood of their Messias All these enormous Crimes this continued Rebellion against God and particularly the last and greatest the Death of Christ did require from the Judge of all the World a severe Punishment which is therefore called Judgment in the Text because a Sentence proceeding from the Rules of Justice This Sentence was to be executed under the Gospel of Christ as we are told above in the XII 31. Now is the judgment of this world now shall the prince of this world be cast out The Execution of it was to be performed by the Preaching of the Gospel which should destroy the Powers of Hell free Men from the Captivity of Sin and withdraw the World from the Worship of Devils This to those proud Spirits was the sharpest Punishment which could possibly be inflicted and this was begun by the Mission of the Holy Ghost and carried on and compleated by the Gifts and Graces derived down and continued to the Church from his blessed Influence From the Blessings of this day it was that the Apostles received Abilities and Courage to preach the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the Earth to beat down the strong holds of Sin to ruin the power of Satan to turn Men to the Knowledge and Obedience of God From the Continuation of these Blessings the Church hath been always defended from the secret and open Assaults of these infernal Spirits the Governors and Ministers of the Church have been enabled to preach the Truth and discharge their Office successfully and all the Members of the Church have been established in the Faith and supported against all the Temptations of wicked Spirits So eminently did God upon this day exercise Judgment upon the Prince of this World that thenceforward his Kingdom continually decreased his Oracles were silenced his Altars abandoned his Worship relinquished his Disciples diminished until a glorious Church was founded in all parts of the Earth which by a solemn Engagement her Vow in Baptism professeth Enmity unto him Upon all these accounts did the Holy Ghost as a most faithful Advocate at his first Mission plead the Cause of Christ against his Adversaries whether the Devil or the Jews his Persecutors and upon the same accounts doth that blessed Spirit who was promised to remain with the Church till the end of the World and execute the Office of Advocate till the Consummation of all things still continue to plead the Cause of Christ against all his Enemies and that he should do so is highly requisite The Devil still assaults the Church by open Force or secret Temptations and to these the Holy Spirit opposeth his Gifts and Graces Infidels and Hereticks still profess Unbelief to the Doctrines of it and to these he opposeth the same Arguments of Conviction which were before manifested to have proceeded from his Mission All these remain yet in their full force Lastly even in the bosom of the Church among the Professors of Christianity are many to be found against whom it is necessary that the Holy Spirit should still plead the Cause of Christ which they discredit by their Sins and blaspheme by their Lives crucifying afresh the Lord of life and putting him to an open shame In that no less guilty than all those Enemies of Christ which the Holy Ghost at his first Mission was to convince For did the Jews disbelieve the Doctrine of Christ before the undeniable Confirmation added to it in the Mysteries of this day These Men by their Actions proclaim their Unbelief even after the Reception of this Confirmation Did the Spirit of God take so much pains to manifest the unerring Justice of God in the distribution of Rewards and Punishments After all these Men live insensible of either slighting his Rewards and defying his Punishments Did Christ come into the World and die a painful Death Did God exert his Power in so many Miracles Did the Holy Spirit descend as upon this day to put an end to the Empire of the Devil These Men by Perseverance in Sin endeavour to re-establish it in the World and do effectually restore it in their own Souls Justly therefore may this Eternal Advocate implead these Men before the last Tribunal I have conveyed the Knowledge of the true God even to these Sinners I have convinced them of the Truth of the Christian Faith at least they will pretend themselves to have been convinced I have nourished this Knowledge by causing the Holy Scriptures to be writ for their Edification I have endeavoured the Improvement of it by the constant Exhortation of those my Officers which I have settled in the Church I have assisted it by the grant of all necessary Graces as often as desired yet notwithstanding all this they have lived as if they knew not of it much less as if they were convinced of it All my Graces and Sollicitations of them have produced no other effect than to render their Sin the more hainous in that they have wilfully disobeyed my Commands slighted my Directions contemned my Exhortations and stifled my Motions All false Perswasions which might betray them to Sin and Disobedience I have long since corrected If they imagine the Disbelief or which is all one the Neglect of my Doctrines to be no hainous Crime I have long since convinced the World of Sin If they fancy God not to be an unerring and infallible Judge in the Dispensation of Rewards and Punishments I have long ago reproved the World of Righteousness If they pretend the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil to be irresistable I have long since judged the prince of this world taken away his Kingdom and limited his Power These then are the most criminal Enemies of the Name of Christ who being by me convinced of their Duty to obey his Laws refused to perform them who serving under his banner and kindly intreated by him deserted his Service and delivered up themselves to his and their own Enemy from whose Tyranny I had before freed them What then shall we plead in behalf of our selves at that dreadful day Shall we alledge want of Conviction That we pretend not to or if we should the Holy Ghost hath by the Wonders and Benefits of this day effectually confuted that pretence Shall we say that we believed not God to have been in earnest when he allured us with Rewards or threatened us with Punishments That Plea is removed by the Assertion of the Righteousness of God made upon this day Or shall we excuse our selves with want of extraordinary Assistances and Graces of the Holy Spirit enabling us to perform our Duty and overcome
in obedience to him and then Temptation in them will be so far from being a Crime that it will be an Act of Duty On the other side God could not be excused from the Imputation of all those ill Consequences as might attend such Temptation For whatsoever is performed by a supernatural Power derived from him is to be ascribed to him only Whatsoever happens in the ordinary Course of things or is effected by the natural Power of any Creature is only permitted by him he is not to answer for it but what is caused by his extraordinary Power delegated to any Creature may truly be said to be done by his direct Will and special Commission So that to avoid the charging of Injustice upon God we ought not to entertain any such Opinion of him He permits indeed the Devil to exert his Malice in the continual Temptation of Men and hinders not his Operations by a perpetual interposition of his Almighty Power nor would it be reasonable for us to expect it much less to conceive unworthy Thoughts of the Divine Government of the World which hath so settled the Frame of things that as if the Pleasures of the World the violent craving of a sensual Appetite and the Difficulty of Vertue were not sufficient to divert Men from their Duty the restless Sollicitation of evil Spirits is added to all these Arguments and Incentives to sin That it should be so was not a primary institution but a depravation of Nature accidental to the order of the World at first settled by the Author of it which when once happened God was no more obliged to remove or suspend by an extraordinary Miracle than he is to hinder the bad example Suggestions or Sollicitations of one Man to another And this is no small Encouragement to us to oppose the assaults of evil Spirits with Constancy and Resolution to consider that they act not against us by any extraordinary Communication of an infinite Power but by their own natural force only which must be finite and limited We read indeed in Scripture that the Devils are sometimes extraordinarily employed by God to execute his Will and that in relation to Mankind in which case they act by a supernatural Power derived from him but this extendeth not to Temptation They were at their first Creation intended for Ministerial Spirits an Office which the Blessed Angels still enjoy and although those wicked Spirits endeavoured to free themselves from Subjection to God which endeavour occasioned their fall yet what is none of their least Torments they are forced to acknowledge their subjection by executing his Commands An eminent example of this we find to have been frequent in the Apostles times when Persons who were Excommunicated by the Church with the highest censure or formally delivered up to Satan were seized on by him in a conspicuous manner and either wholly possessed by him and deprived of the use of their reason or immediately afflicted with violent Diseases Thus in the case of the incestuous Corinthian St. Paul commandeth the Governours of that Church solemnly to excommunicate him to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the Flesh that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. V. An employment surely very ungrateful to the Devils since nothing could tend more to the confirmation of the Christian Faith the Glory of God and the conviction of Men than such visible punishments which conduced also to the Salvation even of those who were affected with them striking them with a due awe of the Almighty Power of God and forcing them to enter into a serious consideration of their unhappy State and abhorrence of those sins which occasioned it If such exemplary punishments do not at this day attend the solemn Censures of the Church it is for the same reason for which the Gift of Miracles is denied to it although it is to be believed that the Devil acquires still no small power over such Persons when the Sentence is rightly and justly pronounced by their loss of that supernatural Grace which all true Christians receive in their Communion with the Church and in vertue of which they are chiefly enabled to withstand the wiles of the Devil Another example of this extraordinary power given to the Devils may be that of Demoniacks whose number seems to have been considerable at the time of our Saviour and perhaps somewhat of a like if not the same kind may still be found That the Devils possessed these unhappy Persons not by their own natural power but by extraordinary commission derived from God seems unquestionable For it cannot be imagined that any finite Being could by its ordinary power alter the course of Nature If so Miracles would be no Argument of Divinity and the foundation of all revealed Religion would fall One of the most eminent and frequent Miracles of our Saviour was the cure of Demoniacks Now if the Devils could take possession of Men by their own power they might also quit that possession at their will and by quitting it opportunely perform the same Miracle as to the Eyes of Men which Christ himself did They acted therefore herein as the Executioners of God who might command and impower them to seize on the Bodies of Men to alter their natural Constitutions bereave them of the use of their Reason and afflict them with continual Torments in punishment of their Sins For which reason also we may well believe these Demoniacks to have been more numerous among the Jews than they ever were among Christians For the Covenant of the Jews included chiefly Temporal Rewards and Punishments in vertue whereof the Honour of God was concerned to inflict dreadful Punishments upon Notorious Sinners even in this Life while he had not yet made fully known to the World his Resolution of punishing Men in another Life But neither of these Cases doth infer a Command or Commission to the Devil to tempt Men yet there is one instance in Scripture which if not rightly understood may seem to infer it And that is the case of Job whose Patience and Submission God tried by the Ministry of the Devil It were enough to say that such extraordinary Examples are no more to be brought in proof and illustration of the ordinary conduct of God in relation to us than was his Command to Abraham of offering up his Son Isaac However neither here did the Devil receive any extraordinary Power of tempting Job in a strict Sense He was impowered indeed to raise that Tempest whereby the Sons of Job were buried in the ruins of their House But this is very agreeable with what I laid down before and may well be supposed to have been in punishment of their Sins of the greatness of which Job was so sensible that he daily offered Sacrifice to God in expiation of them The Devil was further enabled to destroy his Possessions and torment his Body with a loathsome Disease But all this
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
his own Eyes the miraculous Works performed by them or if God should please to admonish him by the Admonition of some departed Soul he should then carefully observe the Precepts of Religion and live up to the Rules of it let him be assured That he deceivâ—th his own Soul that if the present Arguments of Christianity afforded to him in the ordinary Rule cannot induce him to the belief or practice of his Duty neither would that extraordinary method which he so much desireth He hath already sufficient Motives of Conviction and Instruction in the Scripture in the Exhortations of those who are appointed by God for this very Office and if he rejecteth these neither would he be any more moved altho' God should speak to him from Heaven The same Lusts and Vices which hinder the Efficacy of the one would defeat the Success of the other and even if he should be satisfied in his fond Desires he would still fly off and seek some other Cloak for his Impiety Let us rather be thankful to God for those ordinary means of Instruction aâ—d Admonition which he hath afforded â—s Let us by a right use of them approve our selves worthy of them and then that Satisfaction and Conviction which others may pretend they can receive alone from Miracles Inspirations and Apparitions we shall infallibly find in Moses and the Prophets in the common methods of Salvation in the Writings of the Holy Pen-men and in the constant Instructions of the Church This Knowledge will be raised and actuated by a careful discharge of the Duties enjoyned by it by a frequent Conversing with those means whereby it is communicated by a diligent use of all those Religious Offices and Participation of Holy Rites whereby it may be improved So shall what we now know certainly indeed but not Demonstratively be at last advanced into an absolute and perfect Demonstration when we shall see our Lord Face to Face and sensibly enjoy what we now assuredly hope To the Fruition of this Joy and Completion of this Hope God of his infinite Mercy bring us all for the sake of Jesus Christ Amen The Tenth SERMON Preach'd on the 22. of Decemb. 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL St. 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 AMONG all the Metaphorical Expressions wherewith Christ is either prefigured in the Old Testament or denoted in the New none is more expressive of the Excellency of his Person and the Nature and Design of his Office than this of Light which he applieth to himself in the Text. Nothing is more necessary and desirable to Men nothing of more universal influence and benefit to the whole World than Light Upon which account the most Glorious Descriptions of God and his Effects and Benefits are in Holy Scripture generally represented by the Denomination or Comparison of Light Himself is called by that Name God is light saith St. John 1 Epist. I. 5. and in him is no darkness at all He is termed the Father of Lights by St. James I. 17. His Habitation because nothing more Glorious than Light can be conceived is described to be in the Light And the Light dwelleth with him Dan. II. 22. Who only hath immortality dwelling in the Light which no man can approach unto 1 Tim. VI. 16. The Magnificence and the Joys of Heaven are amplified by the exceeding Light of it in Apoc. XXI And in innumerable places of the Old Testament the Joy and Comfort of Men is expressed by the conferring of Light upon them or the Springing up of Light to them Among the Heathens who knew little of Divine Matters and followed the Dictates of their natural Inclinations the Benefits of Light were always esteemed so far to exceed all other advantages of Nature that in choosing to themselves a Deity they all betook themselves in the first place to the Sun that great Fountain of Light and paid their Adoration to it as to the most beneficial of all visible Beings Now what the Sun is to the visible World to the Eyes of Men and to all corporeal Objects which receive his Influences the same is Christ to the Soul of Man dispensing the same Benefits to it producing the same Effects in it dispelling the Darkness of it animating quickning and enlivening it enlightning and directing it and Communicating his beneficial Influences to all who receive and follow the Light which he holds out to them All this Christ affirms of himself in the Text the Greatness and Brightness of his Light in the former words I am the Light of the world And the Communication of that Light and the Benefits of it to all his Followers in the latter words He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the Light of Life A great and eminent Character indeed to be the Light of the world and which can be verified of none but that Messias who was to enlighten the World Yet a Character so exactly agreeing to our Lord that if there were no other Arguments to prove him the true Messias this alone might Evince it The Properties and Benefits of Light are to dispel Darkness and to enlighten the World whereby Men and other Creatures may be directed in their Motions and Actions This our Lord hath in a most perfect manner performed to the intellectual World the Soul of Man and thereby approved himself the true Light of the World and abundantly satisfied those ancient Prophesies which went before concerning him that he should confer an extraordinary Light upon Mankind dispel the Darkness under which they laboured and introduce a Glorious state of Light He was of old prefigured by the Name of a Star which should arise in Jacob But afterwards by more full and ample Significations Isa XLIX 6. He is Promised to be given for a Light to the Gentiles A Prophecy renewed by Old Simeon Luk. II. 32. when at his Presentation in the Temple he foretold he should be a Light to lighten the Gentiles A Promise made in more than one place of the Old Testament For we read also in the XLII of Isa. I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will give thee for a covenant of the people for a Light of the Gentiles to open the blind eyes And in the LX. Ch. Arise shine for thy Light is come and the Glory of the Lord is risen upon thee And the Gentiles shall come to thy Light and Kings to the brightness of thy rising And of the times of the Messias it is foretold by the same Prophet XXX 26. Moreover the Light of the Moon shall be as the Light of the Sun and the Light of the Sun shall be seven fold as the light of seven days in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people and healeth the stroke of their wound and LX. 19. The Sun shall be no more thy Light by day neither for
upon his constant Guard least he should at any time be surprized And surely a Surprize is hard to be avoided where so many passages must be guarded when the Enemy may enter in by the Senses or Imagination by the Operation of external Objects or the suggestion of internal Thoughts and all these as numerous and various as are the Objects from whence they proceed or about which they are imployed Scarce in the best of Men may we not discover some Passion predominant to the rest and which might he be allowed to indulge he would confidently undertake for the good Behaviour of all the rest But this Liberty Christianity denieth to him injoyneth him an universal Conquest of all his Passions a general performance of the whole Will of God forbids the Omission of any one Duty upon Pain of incurring the Guilt of all And this is truly so great a Difficulty that we need not seek any farther Reasons why the best Christians of all Ages are but hardly saved I proceed to the Difficulties peculiar to the latter Ages of Christianity and which more nearly concern us I will mention but two 1. The want of an universal Example and 2. The want of Miracles By these the ancient Christians converted the Heathen World and through want of these we are almost returned to Heathenism It could not but be a powerful Argument of Vertue to all ingenuous Men when they could not so much as retain the Character they had undertaken without a diligent Exercise of Piety when to be a vicious Christian was to be a Monster in the account of the World when Vice was a Singularity and Dissent from all others of the same Denomination Whereas in latter Ages the whole hath been inverted the Character universally retained without any regard to the Conditions of it A pious Christian must dissent in the Course of his Life from the greater part of the Christian World and Vertue is become a Singularity inasmuch as what cannot be sufficienty lamented many ingenuous Minds have been betrayed to sin to which otherwise they were not inclined least they should appear uncivil and morose And when unlawful Customs can acquire the Esteem of Civilities among Christians we cannot but confess an extreme Degeneracy of the true Spirit of Christianity It may truly be said of Examples in general that they have more influence upon the greater part of Mankind than Reasons or Arguments Men of ordinary Capacities such as make up the Body of Christendom take their measures of Christianity from the Practice of the Professors of it as Men do of the Laws of any Countrey from the Practice of the Courts of Justice and will hardly be perswaded that Christianity is so severe and serious a Matter when they perceive the far greater part of Christians trifle with it It is natural for Men to hope for impunity in a multitude to fall into impiety when no shame restrains them when a prevailing Example leads them As for Men of more raised Understandings it is impossible they should thus deceive themselves about the Obligation of their Religion yet even those escape not this universal Contagion they fear to be accounted singular are forced to dissemble and perhaps at last to stifle their Knowledge as not being able to withstand the force of such a mighty Torrent This Difficulty receives yet farther Aggravation if we reflect that it proceeds from our own Guilt that our selves are the Authors of it The Difficulties of the Apostolick Age were purely extraneous for which those Christians were not accountable They brought not their Persecutions upon themselves and their Sins committed before Conversion could not afterwards be justly imputed to them as Christians Whereas this disadvantage we now complain of is the Effect of our Sins committed in the Profession of Christianity to which every one of us have contributed somewhat and besides the internal Guilt of the Crime committed have upon that account increased our sin The Sense of which ought to be a Motive to us to endeavour by the Exemplariness of our future Conduct I will not say to remove this Difficulty and retrieve the glorious Example of former times for that can scarce be hoped but to compensate the Injury which we have done to the Christian Religion by our sinful Deportment The other disadvantage of the present Age which I mentioned the want of Miracles cannot indeed be ascribed to any Fault of ours nor yet be retrieved by us Yet a sensible disadvantage it must be acknowledged when we compare our selves with former times whose Faith and Zeal were constantly awakened kept up and enlivened by the frequent sight of Miracles which confirmed to them the Truth of what they had received the certainty of what they expected and the Power and the Favour of that God they worshipped But I wave the farther Consideration of this Difficulty because the removal of it is not in our Power Yet this use we may make of it to take occasion from it to reflect upon the infinite Goodness and most Wise Providence of God which hath so contrived the advantages and disadvantages of former and latter Ages that both of them have very near equal Assistances and Difficulties in the Prosecution of their Duty that so he might without derogation to his Justice perform what our Lord Promiseth in the Parable of the Housholder in the XX. of St. Matthew reward those whom he had called in the eleventh hour equally with those whom he had hired in the Morning who had born the heat and burden of the day which the Fathers generally expound of this very Case For now those whom he called first who underwent such grievous Afflictions and fierce Persecutions for the defence of the Faith cannot justly complain that we are equally rewarded with them who endured none of those Calamities The Church indeed in latter Ages hath enjoyed Peace and Quiet hath not maintained the Faith of Christ with the expence of her Blood so neither doth she enjoy those Miracles with the sight of which they were Blessed The remembrance of the eminent Example the Miracles and the Sufferings of our Lord were yet fresh in the minds of Men the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost were every where Conspicuous the Apostles yet alive who spoke and writ by the immediate impulse of God and even after their death the same Gifts and Miracles were continued till Peace was given to the Church All these advantages we want which they enjoyed Peace and Security we have which was denied to them If we proceed in the Comparison we want also that glorious Example of universal Piety which shone forth in their Days But then on the other side we enter not upon the Profession of Christianity with the same Prejudices and Habits of Vice with which they did They felt not the mischief of an ill Example prevailing among Christians So neither did they enjoy the benefit of a Christian Education Thus God hath most wisely in all Ages made
his own immediate Power or by those Commissioners to whom he hath delegated part of his Power Not to prevent the Justice of God herein and forestall his Judgment For that is the meaning of those words But rather give place unto wrath Leave room for the Wrath or just Anger of God against such Sinners to take place and display it self Do not you therein arrogate to your selves the Office of a Judge and by pretending to punish the Offender prevent the Punishment designed by the proper Judge The Reason follows and that not new but delivered many Ages since in the Old Testament For it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. I am the Supreme Judge of the World the Lord of all Mankind To me only as such it belongeth to execute Judgment and punish the demerits of Men. Whosoever takes upon him to avenge himself violates my Authority and invades my Office An hard Lesson this as it should seem to restrain the natural Passions of Man to forbid the returning of Evil to avowed Enemies to tye up the hands of Men and that not only as it may happen from retaliating past Injuries but also from preventing future Wrongs Nay to reluctant Minds this generally appears and is represented as yet more Difficult as destroying the Peace of the World taking away the means of Self-defence and exposing the Observers of it to the Injuries and Tyranny of all other Men. Yet if the Matter be well considered nothing is more reasonable or more conducing to the Peace of the World that as it may be universally affirmed of the Doctrine of Christ that it is in all things agreeable to humane Reason and the Law of Nature so more eminently it will appear in this point to have restored the depraved Notions of natural Reason and to have introduced a right Sense of the Duty of Man in Relation to the suffering and returning of Injuries To clear this we must first fix a right Notion of Revenge and it will then be manifest that the Execution of it belongeth to God alone And here in the first place Self-defence is to be distinguished from Revenge the want of which distinction hath mightily promoted the cause of Revenge while all the Arguments which warrant a Self-defence Men have employed in Assertion of Revenge Christianity forbids not those lawful means of Self-preservation which Nature allows and hath not herein in the least abridged the Priviledges of Mankind It is still lawful to repel force with force to seek the Preservation of Life and Fortune even with the Destruction of an Adversary if it can be obtained no other way provided that this Priviledge be never employed to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the World or in opposition to those lawful Powers to whom both Life and Fortune are subjected So far was God from disarming his People in this Case and forbidding to them the means of Self-defence that he often exhorts them to fight their Battels Couragiously sent them Prophets to conduct them endued their Commanders with Wisdom and Valour and was even Content that his own positive Precepts should yield to Self-defence when the latter could not be maintained without the Violation of the former as in the Case of fighting on the Sabbath day A plain Argument that Self-defence is not only permitted by God to Men but even commanded to them otherwise it could never take place of a positive Divine Precept and that it is a Sin to neglect the lawful means of Self-prefervation In the Gospel our Lord bids us indeed If any one smites us on the one Cheek to turn to him the other also and if he takes away our Coat to give him our Cloke also But all this as it appears from the Context to have been spoken in opposition to that eager Prosecution of Revenge which was familiar to and thought lawful by the Jews so it plainly amounts to no more than this that rather than to endeavour Revenge properly so called rather than to delight in the Misery of an Enemy retaliated by us upon him we should suffer a yet much greater Loss that it were more preferable to endure a double Injury than to contract the guilt of Malice or Revenge Otherwise our Lord who professeth it far from his Intentions to alter the least Tittle of the Moral Law hath neither forbidden nor discountenanced a Self-defence when free from Revenge and Malice On the contrary he hath ratified and approved and even instituted the Civil Magistrate for St. Paul calls it the Ordinance of God and put the Sword into his hand on purpose to punish Malefactors and repel the Injuries of one Man from another by violence For upon this Principle of Self-preservation all Government is founded and every Act of it every Punishment inflicted on a Malefactor is done in Prosecution of the same Design Thus doth not this Self-defence in the least interfere with the Prohibition of Revenge since it necessarily includeth not Hatred or desire of Revenge or if it should include it it hath passed its Bounds and is to be called by another name The sole end of Self-defence is to preserve Life or Goods not to offend any other whereas the Nature of Revenge consists wholly in designing or desiring the Death Loss or Misery of another not as contributing to our own Self-preservation but as returning and punishing his Malice and hatred to us Thus Revenge being separated from the Cause of Self-defence will easily appear what it truly is and will want those Arguments to recommend it which it borrowed from the latter It is the desire or endeavour of bringing Evil upon another Man solely or chiefly for this end that he may suffer some loss or grief when we return an Injury to any one for this only Reason because we have received one either real or imaginary from him Thus Self-defence may easily degenerate into Revenge when a Man not Content to have secured his own safety to have disarmed his Enemy or to have made a fair retreat presseth upon his Adversary pursueth his advantage and seeketh the hurt or destruction of him when any one Projects how to return a like Injury to that he hath received when he conceiveth a personal Hatred of the Man studieth to create some disadvantage to him at least retains so much Malice in his Heart that he envieth and maligneth him and should entertain his Misfortunes with Complacency The methods and kinds of Revenge are as different as are the secret workings of Malice nor can either Malice or Envy be ever found without the conjunction of Revenge and Imagination of some past Injury It is said that Cain slew his Brother out of Envy yet was that Envy accompanied with the desire of Revenge for having as he thought robbed him of the favour of God by procuring the greater share of it to himself Other Acts of Revenge may more eminently appear to belong to that Denomination as when Joab killed Abner for the
by whose Power the Soul of Christ was rejoyned to the Body 2. Christ was the Author of our Salvation the Founder of a revealed Religion and therefore it was not possible not convenient he should be holden of death The Resurrection of Christ was to be the ultimate and chief Proof of the Divinity of his Mission and Authority of his Revelations so clear a Testimony that the Reason of Man should not be able to withstand the Evidence thereof To this therefore he at all times refers as to the last and greatest Proof of his Mission This was the only Sign which he would give to the Jews demanding a Miracle in Confirmation of his Authority that as Jonas was three days and three nights in the Belly of the Whale so the Son of Man should be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth Upon this he had fixed the Expectation of his Disciples and of all his Hearers and by this he was to set the Truth of his Doctrine and the Divinity of his Person beyond all Contradiction Had he left his Body in the Grave after all these Assurances the Jews might have insulted over his Disciples with as much Reason as Christians do over the Followers of Mahomet who promised to rise again after a Thousand years little imagining that his Name or Religion should continue so long in the World although now after more than a Thousand years expired the Impostor still lieth in Hell Had Christ not risen again the Apostle confesseth 1 Cor. XV. 14. Their preaching had been vain and your faith also vain But when so illustrious a Testimony of Divine Authority hath intervened when Heaven it self hath declared it so eminently to deny Assent would be to fight against God The Jews in the most violent Execution of their Hatred and Malice engaged to believe on him if he would come down from the Cross and save himself It had been no less easie for our Blessed Lord to have descended from the Cross than to have ascended from the Grave But first the Design of his Sufferings did not permit it since he was to lay down his Life as an Expiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the World and then he would not suffer the Exercise of Divine Power manifested in restoring himself to Life to Labour under any doubts Had he descended from the Cross before he died he could not have attoned for the Guilt of our sin Had he descended immediately after his Death it would have been pretended that he had not died yet even this they would have Confessed to be miraculous but perhaps referred the Cause of it as they did his former Miracles not to a Divine Power but to Magical Operation Whereas this Pretence did wholly vanish in the Miracle of his Resurrection Since no Magick or Diabolick Power remaineth after Death In short so great was the Evidence of the Divinity of Christ arising from his Resurrection so undeniable the Fact and so important that the Apostles in all their Sermons imployed this as the chief Argument of Conviction And when they chose Matthias to the Apostleship described his Office to be no other than to witness the Resurrection of Christ. God had more than once before his Crucifixion declared him by Voices from Heaven by constant Miracles to be his Son yet so far is the Evidence of this inferiour to that Proceeding from his Resurrection that he is in many places said to have then adopted Christ for his Son because he then eminently declared to him be so As Acts XIII 33. The Promise made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled in that he hath raised up Jesus again as it is in the Psalm II. Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And Rom. I. 4. Jesus Christ our Lord declared to be the Son of God with Power by the Resurrection from the dead He was from all Eternity his Son as to his Divine Nature he was from the Incarnation his Son as to his Humane Nature but the Truth of this appeared to the World chiefly in his Resurrection 3. By the Resurrection of Christ we are assured chiefly that we also shall rise again and therefore it was not convenient that he should be holden of Death Christ had promised to his Disciples That where he was there they should be also When he therefore rose from the Dead and ascended into an incorruptible State of Glory they then raised their Hopes and conceived full assurance of Immortality Till then Mankind had found by long Experience that there was no Redemption from the Grave and by this alone could be convinced that either their Nature was capable of Immortality or that God would vouchsafe to confer it on them They might perceive in the Person of Christ the Dissolution of Death the Capacity of their Nature and the Favour of God and then considering their own Relation to Christ might hope to partake of the same Happiness Christ is the Head of his Church and what more natural than for the Members to follow their Head He was by his Resurrection declared to be the Son of God and himself hath often promised that his faithful Followers should be Co-heirs with him He is called the first born from the Dead the first fruits of the Resurrection which being accepted by God Entitled the whole Mass the whole race of Mankind to the same Favour Only it is required and that justly if that we desire to follow him in his Resurrection we must also imitate him in his Death For so the Promise runs in the whole VI. Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his Death we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection If we crucifie our Sin as it is there expressed if we as fully forsake all vicious Habits as he who dieth is bereaved of vital Actions if farther we imitate the Death of Christ in the Perfection of it that as he died but once but liveth for ever so we henceforward be dead unto sin but alive unto righteousness then we may reasonably assure our selves that we shall follow the Example of him the forerunner in our Resurrection which we have so nearly expressed in our Death we are then truly Members of himself the Head being made conformable to his Sufferings we are sanctified by the gracious Acceptation and raising up of him the first fruits of them that slept while we inviolably continue our Relation to him Others indeed were before him raised from Dead to Life as those raised by Elijah Elishah and by Christ before and at his Crucifixion But these were all to die again and so thereby gave no assurance of immortality to Mankind It was Christ alone who being raised from the dead dieth no more who in behalf of Mankind hath taken Possession of immortality which he hath acquired for us and will communicate to us unless we chuse rather to imitate the imperfect Resurrection of those mortal Men
Worship that is in the Church All which put it beyond all doubt that St. Paul doth in this place treat of the publick worship of God and of publick Prayer to be used in Churches In the first place then if all Prayer be an Act of Worship publick Prayer is more eminently so The intention of private Prayer is in the first place to obtain Supplies to the wants of the Petitioner and then to worship God Whereas in publick Prayer on the contrary the worship of God is the chief design and the supply of Necessities but a Secondary intention So that to intermit the use of publick Prayer and pray only in private is for Man to worship God only in Subordination to his own designs It cannot be denied that publick Worship and Prayer do far more effectually tend to the Honour and Glory of God when Men do openly and in the hearing of all others confess their Subjection to God magnifie his Benefits deprecate his Anger and acknowledge their own unworthiness This is truly and properly to give Glory to God Whereas he who confineth his Devotion to a Closet may perhaps be allowed to have a just Esteem of the Divine Benefits but seems ashamed to confess so much to other Men that he is the Creature of God as well as others that he equally depends upon him that he hath also violated his Commands and wants his Mercy The Psalmist therefore upon the receiving of great and eminent Benefits is wont to affirm that he will praise God in the Congregation as well knowing that such a publick acknowledgement of them did far more contribute to the Honour of God and was also more pleasing to him It is not enough to say that God receiveth no increase of Honour from our Praises For neither doth he receive any such advantage from private Worship yet it would be impious to say that the worship of God is not the Duty of Man But by publick worship Men do more evidently manifest their gratitude to God and the Sense which they have of his Benefits and their own Obligation than by private Prayer and Adoration And upon this account the former is more acceptable to God who delights in the good of his Creatures which good can be no otherwise procured or maintained but by an exact discharge of their Duty one part of which is a just return of Gratitude and Worship to himself God receiveth not increase of Honour from the Praises of Angels any more than from those of Men. Yet all the Descriptions which we find of Heaven represent them as incessantly singing Praises to their great Creator Who not content to retain a reverent Conception of the Divine Majesty in their own thoughts communicate them to each other and publish them to the whole World And indeed to what purpose can we imagine that God should both under the Old and the New Testament found Churches that is separate Societies of Men united by certain Laws and under one common Form of worship if it be not the Duty of all the Members of those Churches to meet together at certain times and places and adore him by one common Form If God had intended to rest satisfied with private Worship in vain did he contrive and found Churches by wonders of Providence as he hath that both of the Jews and Christians in vain hath he given to them particular Laws and annexed many Priviledges and Promises to the whole Society and to the Members of it as such Under the Old Law he required every Male to appear before him in the publick Place of worship three times in the year and commanded publick Worship to be continually paid to himself in daily Sacrifices Yet as he declared altho' he cared not for ten thousand Bullocks nor for Rivers of Oyl he would not remit the Duty and adjoyned Rewards to it because it publickly declared the Subjection of the devout Sacrificers to himself In these publick Forms of worship in the Jewish Temple our Lord while one Earth constantly gave his Attendance at appointed times After his Ascension and the Gift of the Holy Ghost the Apostles as we find in the III. of the Acts frequented the Temple at the usual hours of Prayer and joyned in the common Forms of Prayer there made use of altho' by the Operation of the Holy Ghost then received by them they could have poured out Extempore far more excellent and devout Prayers than those received in the Temple which were of humane Composition If then God so strictly exacted the Practice of publick Worship in all times if Christ and his Apostles so exactly performed it if for this very Purpose God hath gathered and united a Church under common Laws and the hopes of a common Reward what account can they make who either lay aside all publick Worship as superfluous or decry the daily Sacrifice of prayer and praise to God offered up in the Church or when themselves meet once a week to worship God place the Religion of the day in hearing a Sermon which is properly no part of Worship but only an Exhortation to and direction how to worship God In the next place as the Obligation of publick Prayer is greater than that of private so the Promises made to the one are far greater than to the other Our Lord hath promised That wheresoever two or three shall be gathered together in his name wheresoever there shall be an Assembly of Christians joyned together to offer up Prayer and to worship God he will be in the midst of them He will watch over them with his Providence he will own them as Members of his Body he will excite and render effectual their Devotion by the Operation of his Holy Spirit he will intercede with God for the Grant of their Petitions And how effectual must those Prayers be wherein our Lord himself concurrs Or what doubt can remain of the acceptance of our Worship and the grant of our Desires when he is present with us All the glorious Promises of Assistance Pardon Favour and Protection which were anciently made to the Jews worshipping God at the Temple in Jerusalem are now translated to the Christian Churches The only difference is that whereas among them the publick worship of God was confined to one place in the Christian Religion which was given not to one Family or Nation but to the whole World the same Priviledge is made common to all places of publick Worship in all parts of the World wherever Christianity doth prevail To Worship offered up from publick places alone the Promises of the greater and more illustrious Blessings of God are annexed And no wonder since by this alone the publick Religion of any Nation doth appear by this alone the publick Honour of God is maintained in the World While the Tabernacle made by Moses and afterwards the Temple at Jerusalem stood while daily Sacrifices and Worship were performed therein it was an undeniable Evidence that the Jews worshipped the
Efficacy of it with an unjust Judge It had been sufficient to have introduced the Person of a just and benign Man that so his Justice if compared with the Divine Clemency might demonstate the force of Prayer For if a good Man receives those kindly who address themselves to him how much more will God the Greatness of whose Bounty exceeds our comprehension It had been enough as I before said to have proposed the Person of a just Judge but to represent a cruel impious inhumane Judge unmerciful to others but kind and easie to Supplicants instructeth us that even a wicked Nature may be by Prayer inclined to Lenity and Mercy This therefore our Lord chose to do more lively to express the force fo Prayer When in the next place he carrieth us from the Consideration of this severe Judge cruel by Nature but mollified by Prayer to the Consideration of God the Father most good kind gentle merciful slow to anger and forgiving sins bearing with insuperable Patience the daily Affronts of Men the Honours paid to his Adversary the Devil and the Contumelies therein offered to his own Son what Success may we not then hope to our Prayers made to him if they be presented with a due Reverence and necessary Preparation The unjust Judge although he feared not God nor regarded Man yet did Justice to the Widow for her importunity What Fear could not do Prayer obtained Neither Threats nor the Fear of Punishment could incline the Man to Justice yet the Cries and Supplications of a poor Widow softned his Nature and made him tractable If she could obtain so much from a rough ill-natur'd Man how much greater Kindness Goodness and Love may we not expect from God who always desires to shew Mercy but never to exercise Severity whose very Threats and Punishments are intended for our good and directed to deterr us from Disobedience Let us once more review the effect of Prayer upon this unjust Judge that we may the better discover the infinite kindness and love of God to Men. If he who never willingly and of his own accord did any good changed on the sudden by the Petitions of a poor Supplicant and was moved to Compassion much more will the importunate Prayers of Men be prevalent with him whose Nature includeth an infinity of Goodness and who dispenseth the Emanations of that Goodness in vast and constant Benefits even without intreaty For who doth not see that the Light of the Sun the influences of Heaven the Fruits of the Earth Riches Life and Health are given by God to all Men to the good and to the bad and that only for his immense Kindness to Mankind but if he so favours cherisheth and maintaineth those who ask him not and are not perhaps so much as sensible that the Benefit proceedeth from him what will he not bestow on those who spend a considerable part of their Lives in Prayer and Supplication The last Reason of doubting in Prayer is the Conscience of unworthiness in the Supplicant which Conscience is either founded in the natural unworthiness of Man or arises from the Sense of his want of these Qualifications of Prayer which are required to make it acceptable The former falls in with that doubt which I last spoke of and the latter is in the Power of every Man to remove and to perswade the necessity and convenience of that removal hath been the Subject of this days Discourse I shall therefore add no more upon this Head Upon the whole it doth appear that the Duty of Prayer is necessary the place of it to be regarded the posture not to be neglected the Conditions indispensable and the Success certain The Eighteenth SERMON Preach'd on May 4. 1690. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Acts X. 40 41. Him God raised up the third day and shewed him openly Not to all the People but to Witnesses chosen before of God THE Resurrection of our Lord from the Dead being so illustrious a Confirmation of the Truth of that Religion which he taught so undeniable an Argument of the Divinity and Authority of his Person so firm an Assurance of those Hopes which we conceive of our own Resurrection deserveth at this Season more than a single Consideration It is the knowledge and conviction of that which chiefly Establisheth the Faith of a Christian continueth his Expectations of enjoying hereafter a better State and after a serious Meditation of the Actions of his Saviour here on Earth wrought for his sake compleats his Joy In the ancient Church therefore all the time between Easter and Whitsunday was dedicated to the Memory of this wonderful Mystery as was manifest by the particular expressions of Joy during that whole Season in the publick Offices and Ceremonies of the Church And as the benefit of Christs Resurrection doth no less extend to the Christians of these Times than to those of more ancient Ages so our Gratitude and Rejoycing in Memory of it ought to be no less intense It may be pretended that those ancient Christians living nearer to the time of Christ had more certain assurance of the Truth of the Fact related than we now have at so great a distance and that the Will of Man always acting agreeably to the perswasions of the Understanding cannot now be so much affected by the consideration of an uncertain Interest as they were then when the Experience of frequent Miracles rendred it most certain Or that however the Apostles and those Five hundred Disciples who were blessed with the presence of Christ after his Resurrection had no less just Cause of Joy than Admiration Yet that others who were not convinced of the same Truth by the report of their own Senses could not but be less concerned at the relation by how much the less they were ascertained of the reality of it And as the Mind of Man is fruitful in inventing Arguments opposing the Obligation of Religion some have been brought to doubt of and others even to deny the Resurrection of Christ upon this consideration that after he is said to be risen from the Dead he appeared not in Publick conversed not in solemn Places and among the Multitude as before but only shew himself to some few Disciples of his own whom he had chosen for that purpose To take off this Objection and assert the Truth of our Lord's Resurrection I will endeavour to manifest the reasonableness of that conduct of Christ related in the Text Whom God raised up and shewed openly not to all the People but to Witnesses chosen before of God To this purpose I will divide my designed Discourse into these three parts I. That to have shewed Christ after his Resurrection to the whole unbelieving Multitude of the Jews was unbecoming the Majesty Justice and Wisdom of God II. That it would have failed of creating an universal Conviction III. That God hath notwithstanding offered to Mankind sufficient Arguments of reasonable Conviction First then neither the Wisdom Justice and Honour
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
brightness shall the Moon give Light unto thee but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting Light and thy God the Glory And as the Effect of all this IX 2. The people which sate in darkness saw great Light and to them which sate in the region and shadow of death Light is sprung up Which Prophecy St. Matthew observeth to have been exactly fulfilled by our Saviour in the IV. 16. of his Gospel After so many Magnificent Prophesies concerning the extraordinary Light to be brought into the World by the Messias we cannot but raise our Apprehensions and expect somewhat more than humane Knowledge to be communicated by him to the World somewhat more than humane Light to be dispensed by him Nor shall we be deceived in our Expectations the Light communicated by our Lord to the World is so universal in the extent so resplendent in the Nature so constant in the Duration of it that it in no ways falls short of those Glorious Predictions which went before concerning it and justly gives to our Lord the Author and Conveyer of it the Title of the Light of the World This will appear evidently if we consider either I. The Doctrine Or II. The Example of Christ Upon both which Accounts he was the Light of the World I. Then the Doctrine of Christ gave Light unto the World by removing the Errors of it and teaching it the Rules of Truth which might point out the way to Happiness To conceive the better the happy Effects of the Doctrines of Christ let us take a view of the state of the World at that time and we shall find as in the beginning Darkness to have over-spread the face of the Earth A very small part of Mankind enjoyed the benefit of Revelation and even they had corrupted and almost effaced the Divine Truths revealed to them by false Glosses and gross Interpretations they had forsaken the weightier Matters of the Law and even those who were most Conscientious among them busied themselves wholly in observing such trivial Ceremonies as themselves had for the most part formed by mistaken Interpretations But the infinitely greater part of Mankind lived as without God in the Word They had intirely lost those revealed Notions which were delivered to their Fore-fathers immediately after the Deluge and the natural Notions of Religion they had so far corrupted that their Worship was downright Impiety and all their religious Actions so many gross Superstitions In the far greater part of the World all Notions of Morality and a Natural Law were intirely lost and it was a brutish Fear only which kept up any sort of Religion among them Which after all was such a Religion as was their greatest Crime being no other than a most stupid Idolatry In the more polite part of the World which retained Civility and pretended to Letters the natural Law indeed was kept up among the more Learned of them but even by them so mistaken and corrupted that they allowed as lawful the Practice of some enormous Vices which to convince of unlawfulness needed no more than to consult the common Reason of Mankind as Fornication Sodomy practising the idolatrous Worship of the Country although at the same time convinced of the Folly of it Self-murder and many other Vices which the most refined of their Philosophers defended to be lawful As for the common People their Notions of God were such as the publick Religion of the Country infused into them the most vile and unworthy of a Deity which can be imagined such as patronized all the Crimes they could commit provided they violated not the Laws of their Country For by these Corruptions no Notion of Morality was left among them nor any other distinction of Good and Evil than what the Laws of their Country imprinted in them They could not but imagine that such Actions were good in their own Nature which their chief Gods had practised altho' their inconvenience to the publick had caused them to be forbidden In a word conceive a People ignorant both of God and their own Nature desirous of Happiness but knowing not where to find it and pursuing methods directly contrary to it groping in Darkness without the least ray of Light and such was the state of the World at that time To rescue the World from this miserable Darkness to restore Light to the minds of Men was a noble undertaking and worthy the Son of God an undertaking which as it could be performed by none but the Son of God so was it most happily effected by him He saith of himself that he came a Light into the World that whosoever believeth on him should not abide in darkness John XII 46. His Design was to deliver us from the power of darkness as the Apostle assures us Coloss. I. 13. A Design first begun by himself in Person and afterwards carried on by the Apostles and their Successors to this day by his Command and through his Power whom he sent as St. Paul describes his Commission Acts XXVI 18. To open the eyes of the Gentiles or the ignorant and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God Himself while conversant on Earth busied himself in nothing more than in detecting the false Explications of the Moral part of the Jewish Law which was of equal Obligation to all Mankind in discovering the Corruptions of it and restoring it to its Primitive Integrity And not content only to discover the Errors of the World as it was commonly objected to the Heathen Philosophers that they could easily overthrow the Opinions of one another but could establish no Truth in the room of them he plainly revealed their whole Duty to them taught them even the Principles of the Moral Law that so Men might no more be subject to mistake in it To this he added the Revelation of the whole Will of God which concerns either the Rewards or Punishments annexed to this Law which might reinforce the Practice of it or the future Felicity of Man to be obtained by the Observation of it or the means of Pardon in Case of the Violation of it Nor was this Light to be confined to a Corner to be appropriated to a few it was to be made truly the Light of the World to be communicated to all to be continued to the end of the World The easiness and simplicity of it adapted to the Capacity and Practice of all Men fitted it for such an universal Communicaon And that it should be actually communicated he abundantly provided by proclaiming it himself to all while on Earth by establishing a numerous Order of Disciples who should propagate it successively to the end of the World by inspiring Holy Writers to commit it plainly and intirely to writing by founding a Church the Members of which should by certain solemn Rites or Sacraments oblige themselves to the Practice of it by contriving the Discipline and Government of this Church in such a manner as might
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
obtained by it I proceed in the last place to shew The Honour of God is promoted by the Praises and by the Service of Men. The Praise of God is directly promoted by the good Works of his own Servants while other Men viewing the Excellency of their Actions raise their Thoughts to God the Fountain of them and conceive somewhat yet greater and more excellent in him Necessarily concluding that if that imperfect Light which may be discovered in the Soul of Man be yet so glorious the Perfection of the Divine Nature exceedeth all Imagination That if such eminent Acts of Goodness be performed by frail Men in Obedience to his Will in him devoid of Frailty and Imperfection the Fulness of all Goodness dwells if the Actions of his Servants deserve Love and Praise much more will the Operations of him their Lord and Master proclaim him worthy of Honour and Adoration But this manner of reflecting Honour upon God from the good works of his faithful Servants is not so much respected by our Lord in this place as the Instruction and Conversion of other Men who by the good Example of true Christians may be brought to the knowledge of the Truth to the love of Vertue and to the practice of their Duty to effect which eminent Examples have no less force than Reason or Arguments This giveth Authority to Vertue and taketh off the Reproach of being singular It relieveth the Modesty of new Beginners and encourageth to pursue their Course so well begun notwithstanding the Scorn and Derision of prophane Men. To tender and unexperienced Minds there is no greater Obstacle of Goodness than the fear of being singular thereby The natural impressions of Reason may incline to the Exercise of Vertue but yet they have not the Courage to swim against the Stream to oppose their single Example to the prevailling Corruption of a sinful World nor bear up against the Contempt of wicked Men without the Patronage and Assistance of other great and good Examples whose practice they may plead in their own behalf and that defence which the weakness of their Judgment inableth them not to draw from Reason they may draw from their Authority Altho' not only weaker Minds but even more ingenuous and understanding Persons while unexperienced in the World are not able to shock the Power of a general Example If they be convinced of their Duty they yet want Boldness to execute it and dread nothing more than the Suspicion of Affectation or fear of appearing singular Whence it is that youth especially suffers by ill Examples who through a natural Modesty are ever wont to accommodate themselves to the prevailing Fashion Further a good Example instructeth the more ignorant part of Mankind both in the Rules and the Obligation of their Duty Few are enabled at least few take the pains to examine the Grounds of that Religion into which they were baptized to discover the Truth and convince themselves of the Obligation of it They rely herein upon the Judgment of others whom they esteem wiser than themselves whom they find to profess no Religion or which is all one to Act as if they had none they supercede the Labour of any further Enquiry and dismiss all Resolutions of Goodness On the contrary if it be found by them that wise Men or so accounted who by their Learning were fully enabled to discover the truth of things to find out the Cheat of Religion if it were indeed such have after a diligent and accurate search been so fully convinced of the truth of it that they have been content to hazard their Lives to restrain their Pleasures to deny their Passions from the perswasion of it if great and illustrious Persons who had opportunity of improving all the Pleasures of Life to the most exquisite satisfaction yet moderated and limited them in Obedience to the Laws of Religion To a vulgar Mind there can be no greater assurance than the experience of this and if he finds this he there rests satisfied if not he proceeds no farther And from this experience also he draws the Rules of his Conduct even after a general Conviction of his Obligation In all doubtful Actions and Cases of Conscience he consults the example of his Superiours and pursueth the way which they have marked out to him following them as he supposeth them to follow the true Light Nay to generous as well as vulgar Minds example is an effectual Motive of Vertue To such Emulation is the most powerful Argument and a noble disdain of being exceeded in any thing that is Excellent and Praise-worthy To them the preference of any other is a reproach of their own Sloth and when others have gone before with Reward and Praise it is uneasie to stay behind It was this Principle of generosity which kept up Vertue among the Heathens it is this which gave rise and increase to Arts and Sciences and which now maintaineth Valour Our Lord hath improved the use of it and directed it to a yet more noble End proposing the Excellency and the Rewards of Obedience holding out the Crown of Victory and encouraging us to strive for the Mastery He hath in this Precept concerning Exemplariness given to us a yet further Scope for the Exercise of Generosity not only proposing Rewards to the Conquerors to those of a more elevated Vertue but also to such who excited by their illustrious Example should follow them altho' at a distance making them thereby the Instruments of saving others and that possibly in great numbers At least there is scarce any one of us so inconsiderable who may not have so much Influence and Authority upon some one or other as to move and direct him by his Example which if he doth he will for ever enjoy this satisfaction that he hath been the occasion of infinite Happiness to another which to a good and a generous Mind is a strong Argument of the pursuit and practice of those Vertues and Perfections which may make him Exemplary that so he may promote the Reformation of the World and the eternal Happiness of other Men. It may seem indeed past hope that in this degenerate Age when so few endeavour to obtain their own Salvation or are good for their own sake any should attempt it for the sake of other Men. Yet I do not despair that there are yet such generous Minds left in the World who esteem it no small Felicity to themselves to promote the good of other Men and acting upon this perswasion study to be good and excellent that by their Example others may be drawn to the same Practice and thereby secure to themselves a state of Happiness To such exemplary Persons frequent Praise is given and eminent Rewards promised more particularly in Daniel XII 3. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever The Lustre of our Lord's Example is compared to