Well of Living Waters Dilherus renders it Puteus aquae viventis a deep Well non collectitiae clausae atque stagnantis sed ultrò scaturientis that by its copious frequent and uninterrupted ebullitions waters all the neighbouring Regions they are the only Waters can quench the Thirst of reasonable Souls this is the Well after which they pant and breath As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks Psal 42. HERE Interpreters take care to distinguish betwixt a Fountain and a Well Every Well is a Fountain but every Fountain is not a Well So the Well implies great depth and profundity and this Phrase added to the former does insinuate that the Waters of the Sanctuary are not only pure clear and serene but very deep they are not a puddle nor a standing Lake not like the Waters of Gomorrha where Fishes cannot live but the smooth and deep Rivers of Paradise THIS Metaphor then duly considered does imply the Purity Profundity and free Communication of these Oracles First I SAY the Purity of these Waters The Church of Christ is not to be fed with Dreams and Fancies and corrupt Doctrines not with noise ostentation and popular tricks but with Words of Eternal Life 2 Tim. 1.13 Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus We are to take heed 1 Tim. 4.16 to our selves and to our doctrine for this is the way to save our selves and them which hear us THE Hereticks of all Ages have been proud and subtile and indefatigable and there is no Antidote against their Poyson but to adhere to the Simplicity of the Gospel the pure Canon of the Scriptures the antient Creeds and Liturgies of the Church the faith which was delivered to the Saints the Doctrines that have been received uno ore apud omnes Christianos the Golden Rule of Vincentius Lirenensis quod apud omnes quod ubique quod semper This is certainly the Rule of Faith and by this Standard were the antient Heresies examined baffled and confounded Reason Scripture and Universal Tradition were the Weapons by which they defended the Truth For the Apostle foretells 2 Cor. 4.2 3. That the time would quickly come when men could not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts they should heap teachers to themselves and turn their ears from the truth and follow after fables They did so in a little time and the offspring of Simon Magus covered the Church as the Frogs did Egypt This occasioned the Heresiologies of Irenaeus Epiphanius S. Augustine Many forsook the Simplicity of Faith and mixt the Waters of Life with the putrid Streams that they drew from their own Cisterns THE Credenda of our Religion are but very few and the Constitution of Human Nature did require that they should be few For since our Saviour did calculate his Religion not for any particular Sect or Party but for the whole Body of Mankind it cannot be thought that he design'd that it should be spun out into Nice Decisions Metaphysical Distinctions odd and Barbarous Words When the School Divinity began to be the Learning of the Western Church and Aristotle's Philosophy gave Laws to their Theology how miserably was the Christian Religion mangled and broken into airy Questions uncertain Conclusions and idle Problems that eat out the Life of true Learning and Devotion And Articles imposed on the Belief of the Church neither necessary in their Nature nor revealed by Christ nor taught by the Apostles nor founded in Reason nor consisting with the Analogy of Faith The Christian Religion thus ratified unto nothing became feeble and dry lost its force and primitive vigour And the truth is since the Thirteenth Century in which that kind of Learning domineered in all Schools Colleges and Monasteries all Discourses even the Homilies that exhort the People to Repentance and a Holy Life were all blended with that bombast Jargon But our Religion was first plainly delivered and loves perspicuity and fixes its residence in the most ingenuous Souls and if it be covered and mantled in darkness who can distinguish it from Nonsense and Vanity AND therefore since Christ by us conveys these Waters to his Church let us not sully them with Chimerical Guesses and Uncertainties but let us pour them out in their original Purity and Simplicity without alteration corruption or addition How often doth the Apostle exhort to this 2 Tim. 7.8 In doctrine shewing uncorruptedness gravity sincerity sound speech that cannot be condemned And Titus 1.9 holding fast the faithful word as thou hast been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convince gainsavers AND this is not done by Passion or reviling Language for where did you ever hear that a man was recovered from Heresie or Schism by heaping reproaches upon him Our Arguments may be intrinsecally strong but if they are set off with venom rancour and personal aspersions they may well irritate the Disease but they shall never reclaim the Erroneous and therefore when we deal with any such either on the right or left hand let us state the Controversies fairly else we but beat the Air neither must we multiply them needlesly nor are we to toss and bandy those Questions to serve the designs of Fame Ostentation of Learning or Popularity but with a sincere resolution to edifie the Church to fight under the Royal Standard of Christ to preserve his Church his chast and dearly beloved Spouse Secondly THIS Metaphor implies the profound Nature of Gospel Mysteries 't is puteus profundus aquae viventis The Woman of Samaria said to our Saviour of Jacobs Well that it was very deep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how much more profound are the Wells of Salvation The Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven the deep things of God the Mysteries kept hid from Ages and Generations Great is the Mysterie of Godliness God manifested in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels believed on in the the World received up into Glory We are taught by the Gospel to speak the Wisdom of God in a Mysterie The illuminated Apostle of the Gentiles in contemplation of these Mysteries fell in a transport of admiration O the depth of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God how unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out THOUGH there be nothing in the Gospel that overthrows Reason or subverts its Principles yet its Mysteries and Revelations are beyond it The whole Contrivance of our Redemption is a Mysterie and then certainly we ought to approach the administrations of his House with pure hearts and clean hands Let us wash our hands in innocence when we compass his Altar They were to look to their feet that came to the Temple of Jerusalem much more should the Sons of Aaron the immedidiate Servants of the Sanctuary prove the keenest enemies to all prophanation of holy things I am no friend to Superstition and as little to Giddiness and
that they were wrought by the power of Magick we need no other answer than that of our Saviour himself who told them that the Devil was not such a fool as to employ his power against himself since it was undeniably manifest that no discipline did so visibly and irreconcileably oppose all Magical Arts and Charms as did the Religion of Jesus So a great number of them that had followed those curious Arts brought their costly Books to the Apostles and burnt them And when they endeavour'd to alledge that equal Miracles have been done by others amongst the Pagans 'T is so idle a story that they are far form believing it who first invented it The story of Vespasian's restoring a blind man to his sight did proceed from the artifice of Egyptian flattery and is reported by his own Historians with so much diffidence and reserve that it is scarce worth the naming As for the prodigious seats of Apollonius Tianeus we can look upon them as no other than fictitious and Romantick Fooleries vouched by no competent Authority Whereas the Miracles done by our Saviour and his Apostles were not only of a different Nature from those little Tricks of Magick but were wrought amongst great crowds of People to the view of the World and acknowledg'd by the most bitter and implacable of his Enemies And this Power he had not only in himself but bestowed it on his Apostles Besides the full discovery of those Objections depends on so much History that they cannot be contracted within such narrow bounds as I am confind'd to THE Result of all is this Such as despise the Gospel do it upon the most unreasonable grounds For whereas they alledge that our Ministry was not attended with Wisdom and Proofs borrowed from Philosophy they betray their Ignorance For the Doctrine that we propagate and assert being of its own Nature wholly Divine and beyond the reach of all human enquiries it must needs have its Proofs and Demonstrations from Heaven Without this it could not prevail and when it is attended with this it is impossible that it can miss of its effect So we come not with the enticing words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power Now we find that those Miracles were necessary at the first establishment of Christianity to point out the Person of the Messias to baffle the Devil and to satisfie the expectations of all Men and that thus rationally we can give an account of the speedy and universal propagation of the Christian Religion Thirdly WE consider the design and scope of this Oeconomy That their Faith might be built on the surest Foundations i. e. on the Power of God And here I might reckon up the motives of Credibility that obliged us to assent to the Christian Religion if they can be numbered But I chuse to improve what is said in one Word of Application Blessed be God who hath so fully provided for our Illumination and Confirmation that we might rest in his Word and Testimony with full assurance of mind For the Apostles did not follow cunningly devised fables when they made known unto us the Power and Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Let us give up our selves to it without wavering and hesitation of Spirit resolutely maintaining it even unto Death And above all endeavouring to adorn it by a Holy Conversation adding to our faith vertue to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance c. Let us esteem and love it for its genuine Grandure and Majesty even when it is not attended with the Ornaments of human Art For how shall we escape if we neglect so great a Salvation that was first confirm'd by Miracles and Wonders LET us not desire that supernatural Truths be recommended to us chiefly and only by human Art So weak are we that we relish not Heavenly things unless they smell of the Earth When we hear the Word of God the corruption of our Nature leads us to notice more the air accent and gesture of the Preacher than the great Truths that he recommends and all these be they never so plain innocent and unexceptionable they have their fate and censure not from our unbyassed reason but from that part of us that is carnal I am not of the opinion that the Mysteries of the Gospel are to be handled confusedly and negligently in a slovenly dress such garments become not the Majesty of that Religion whose Ministers we are The Oracles of God deserve that we should Meditate in them night and day But we are so to study them that we preach not our selves but Christ Jesus the Lord and our selves your Servants for Christs sake that we may not think that the success of our Labours depends on the skill and contrivance of our Composures but on God that giveth the Increase To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be Glory and Dominion for ever Amen A SERMON Preached at the ABBEY of Holy-Rood-House MAY 1686. ON MATT. V. V. 20. For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven MY design from these words of our Saviour is to hint shortly at the Scope and Drift of Christian Religion and then to state the comparison between it and the Pharisaical Religion And in the next place to direct you in the Practice of true and sincere Godliness WHEN our Saviour appeared the Church was sadly over-run with the grossest Immoralities and the most absurd Superstitions and Delusions The Law of God which was in it self pure and just and holy was perverted by their Commentaries and made to truckle under such designs as were hateful to God and subversive of all true Morality Their plausible glosses and corrupt maxims destroy'd the natural force of Religion and withal they deceiv'd the poor People into an Opinion that they themselves were the peculiar favourites of God even then when our Saviour told them that the publicans and the sinners should enter into the kingdom of heaven before them WHEN we read the Sermon on the Mount we find that it was our Saviour's great design to plant and establish amongst his Disciples a manly rational and heroick temper of mind a higher kind of Philosophy than the Pharisees understood or the Pagans pretended to The rule of Life that he gave us was so accurate and so suitable to our Nature in its first and original constitution that nothing can equal it for purity and holiness The wisest sayings and the best thoughts of Jews and Pagans scattered here and there in all their books are very far outdone in one Page of the New Testament He removes our errors prejudices and mistakes concerning God our selves and the rewards of another Life He opens our eyes to see thorow the little tricks hypocritical designs and superstitious follies of the Pharisees And by the most cogent proofs he forces us to acknowledge that there is no
Christian all of them acknowledge that this is pure and undefiled Religion because it is agreeable to the Nature as well as the Authority of God for he hath no pleasure at all in the death of a sinner And therefore we are plainly told by the Prophets and the Apostles that nothing short of true integrity can please God and that this is his delight Have I any pleasure at all that the Wicked should dye saith the Lord God and not that he should return from his ways and live Consider that remarkable advertisement of the Prophet Micah He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Therefore we are commanded by the Baptist to bring forth fruits meet for repentance It is not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven The conclusion of all this is no other than that every one that nameth the name of Jesus must depart from all iniquity Our Religion is very pure and it is the last revelation of his Will that God vouchsafes to Mankind And therefore it bears the nearest resemblance of the Divine Nature and is perfective of ours and the Disciples of this Religion must not think to recommend themselves to God or Mankind by artificial knacks of hypocrisie disfigured faces and Pharisaical Prayers but rather by ardent zeal unaffected simplicity the most generous charity sincere mortification and a Will resign'd to his Infinite Wisdom 2. LET us suppose that the Scriptures did not so peremptorily inculcate the necessity of this change yet the Notions that we have of God confirm this truth that nothing short of true Piety can recommend us unto Him that in order to our Salvation we must be partakers of the Divine Nature Is he such an easie Majesty that he may be put off with multitude of Sacrifices costly Oblations and outward Solemnities of Religion Can he be diverted from the execution of his Justice by complemental Addresses Pray what do we take him to be Is he fond of Trifles and Ceremonies To imagine that sighs and tears and melancholy reflections will propitiate the Deity charges him with severity and cruelty as if he took pleasure in the calamities and sufferings of his Creatures Whereas nothing is intended but our true reformation and freedom from sin We are to remember that Innocence Purity Ingenuity and Simplicity Heavenly mindedness and Charity are the Sacrifices most agreeable to the Deity 3. SUCH is the distance of our Nature from Heaven and the employment of that State that we must do violence to our corrupt inclinations before we can act our part among the Spirits of just men made perfect we must become meet partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Sin though pardoned yet if it is not extirpated must sink us unto Hell It is in its nature most opposite unto God i. e. to his Wisdom Goodness and Power because it carries along with it all the lineaments of baseness weakness and malice This should make us hate all those Principles in Religion that make the way broad that our Saviour hath pronounced strait All those Doctrines and Opinions that seem to promote licentiousness folly and wickedness if the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness but when corrupt Nature and corrupt Principles are combin'd together there is no hope of our recovery and we are carried headlong into all folly and misery 2. LET us enquire wherein the Characters of the Divine Nature appear God is the first and original beauty and true Religion is but a Transcript of his Nature And 1. IT carries the Lineaments of his Power and Victory True Religion is a Confederacy with the Almighty We can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth us The Lord is my strength saith David my rock and my fortress my deliverer my God in whom I will trust My buckler the horn of my salvation and my high tower His Power is visible in our conquests over sin we must prove our selves to be the Sons of God by our triumphs and victories over the World because he that is in us is greater than he that is in the World THE ravishing beauty of the Divine Nature shines in the conversations of the righteous For all round about them see their good works and glorifie their father which is in heaven They are blameless and harmless without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation THE Purity of the Divine Nature is copied in the life of a Christian pure and undefil'd Religion flies from all filthiness and hypocrisie by a divine instinct and sensation The Scripture seems to search for all Metaphors to represent unto us the filthiness of sin The Rottenness of the Grave the Vomit of Dogs the Poyson of Vipers the Filthiness of Swine are some of the expressions that point unto us the odious Nature of sin But God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity And the Wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie THE Wisdom of God is no less seen in the lives of good men True Religion is the knowledge of the most excellent Truths the contemplation of the most glorious objects and the practice of such duties as are most serviceable to our happiness The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom The Children of this World are said to be wiser in their own generation than the Children of Light i. e. they are more skilful to manage worldly affairs But in the true estimate of things they are fools in the strictest sense The truly Religious is the only Wise Man he alone improves his Reason to the best advantage for he looks to things future as well as to the things present he prefers great things to small things and chuses the fittest Means to attain his ends this is to be wise unto salvation WE are taught by the Christian Religion to imitate the Divine Goodness his unenvious Bounty his unconstrain'd Liberality Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you that you may be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven for he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and unjust GREATNESS of Spirit is a branch of the Divine Nature and the Christian is great in his Victories Expectations and Behaviour nothing mean and sordid in the behaviour of the true Sons of God they are heirs of God and coheirs with Christ and therefore must needs have the world under their feet FROM what I have said we may easily
positae quoniam suaves miscetis odores And this is prophesied of the Messias that his Garments should smell of Myrrhe Aloes and Cassia And from him the Church hath all those excellent Smells mentioned Verse 14. Saffron Calamus and Cinnamon to teach us that though the Gifts of the Spirit are and have all their several excellencies yet they are all useful to the Church whose garments are made of needle work and different colours and therefore it is an unpardonable vanity in the People to make saucy comparisons between the Gifts of Ecclesiasticks for stabit unus quisque sorte sua and the Philosophy of S. Paul to the Corinthians should teach them more modesty If the foot shall say because I am not the Eye I am not of the Body is it therefore not of the Body If we look up to our Superiours for assistance conduct and direction they must look down to us for obedience deference and submission THE third Thing that I promised was the rise of those Waters they come from Mount Libanus by an impetuous force and vigour Nothing can more lively represent the first rise and beginning of those heavenly Oracles The Gospel is the day star from on high and the Doctrine that our Saviour hath revealed is from Heaven We are told by Historians that at the foot of Mount Libanus there arises a pleasant Fountain aquas habens limpidissimas that run down from it through subterraneous passages most impetuously and there burst forth in great plenty and by several Conduits waters all the Gardens of the Plain And this leads us naturally to the Divinity of our Religion but here I stop being afraid that I have transgress'd already the time that was allowed me To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be Glory for ever Amen A SERMON ON ROM xii 1. I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service THE Apostle in the former part of this Epistle asserted the Doctrine of Evangelical Justification against the unbelieving Jews who stuck so tenaciously to the System of Moses's Laws And now he sums up in one pathetic Exhortation the strength and design of the Gospel and of all Religion Christianity was not a Collection of dry and airy Notions calculated to amuse the World but a Discipline the highest and the purest that ever was received amongst men the immediate Revelation of Infinite Wisdom which brought along with it true and everlasting righteousness And therefore they ought not to let their thoughts dwell so much and so long on the glory of their Temple and the variety of their Sacrifices under the Levitical Oeconomy They were now invited to offer unto God more valuable Oblations than any of their former They were to bring themselves to the Altar of God and resign their Will to his Will And this was more agreeable to the nature of true Religion the design of the Gospel and the highest exercise of Reason When we bring unto God only things that are without us we mistake his Nature and despise his Goodness Reason taught us that the best things are to be offered unto God and therefore the Heart and Soul and Mind of Man are the only Sacrifices that are truly valuable And this is the reason why the Apostle addresses to the Christians at Rome with so much zeal and affection I will shortly consider 1. His Preface 2. His Exhortation And 3. The Motive to enforce it And 1. For the Preface By the mercies of God We easily infer from the fervour and solemnity of the Apostles Introduction the weight and importance of his Exhortation i. e. I do beseech you with all the earnest passion and true tenderness that I am capable of I exhort you by the Mercies of God i. e. by what is uppermost in his Nature his boundless Compassions that are in the front of all his glorious Perfections and in the Language of the Psalmist from everlasting to everlasting by all that is great sacred and venerable that which takes up the wonder of Angels the praises of men and the adorations of the Saints in glory that you no longer resist the Light of the Gospel but since you are redeem'd from the pompous drudgery of an external Religion that you would think no Sacrifices worthy of God but such as are attended with your life strength zeal and devotion for this is the true Worship of the New Testament when our Will is united to the Will of God 'T IS easie to observe the holy Violence and Fire of S. Paul's Spirit when he endeavours to plant-true and solid Religion Here he speaks as if his Soul was ready to crack the strings that ty'd it to his Body He is all flame all love all endeavour all charity He wishes himself an Anathema i. e. a publick Sacrifice for the unbelieving Jews if this could recover them from their Infidelity to the acknowledgement of the Truth as it is in Jesus HE made use of this weighty Argument in this place because there is none of greater force If the Angels were to preach to us and gain us to the belief of the Gospel they could not fly higher in their Perswasives than the Mercies of God It is by them that he chuses to proclaim all his Titles of Honour to the World The Lord the Lord God slow to anger and of great goodness So when the Apostle exhorts by the Mercies of God he exhorts by God himself and all those ineffable appearances of his Goodness that are felt by the intelligent World and every moment proclaim'd with wonder and acknowledgement HOW merciful must he be who suffers without present revenge the many horrid Crimes that are daily committed the provocations that fly in the face of Heaven their multitude their variety and their circumstances as if men would pull down the Almighty from his Throne and reverse the foundations of good and evil And yet such is the love of God to mankind that after many unkind denyals and rude affronts he besieges the Consciences of men by the force of his Convictions he makes the Light of his Word to pierce to the bottom of the Soul and powerfully overcome the stubborness of our Will How wisely does he conduct us through the labyrinth of tentations How sweetly does he engage us by the motions of his Spirit How kindly does he receive the Prodigal when as yet he had but some small beginnings of wisdom sobriety and calmness He saw him afar off he ran to him fell upon his neck and kissed him WHEN we remember that the Mercies of God are our surest Refuge and Sanctuary in all our fears straits and difficulties we need say no more to amplifie them This is the strong Hold that we flee to when we are assaulted by fear despair or the terrour of the Law WHEN Nathan the Prophet by a
witty Parable forc'd open the Conscience of David when the terrours of God began to take hold of him he immediately ran to the horns of this Altar According to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my sins and my transgressions This is the argument which God himself cannot resist See with what zeal and holy Rapture it is pleaded by Daniel in behalf of the Captives of Babylon O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do defer not for thine own sake O! my God for thy City and thy people are call'd by thy Name NOW we may easily guess what stress the Apostle laid upon this Argument like a skilful Orator he reserves his strongest motives for the last Place that by one stroke he might batter down all Objections He had sufficiently reasoned the case in the former Chapters and now he pleads that his Reasonings may not be in vain that they may not resist so much Light and Authority but rather that they ought to give way to their own Convictions and the true designs of Christianity and yield up themselves an entire Victim to the Will of God IT is usual with the Apostle when he recommends those comprehensive Duties that have in them the Soul and strength of Christianity to enforce them by this Argument If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of Love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels of mercies c. But shortly the reasons why the Apostle pitch'd upon this Argument are these I. BECAUSE the contempt of God's mercies is attended with the sharpest and the saddest marks of his displeasure and indignation And this is just in its self if we consider that we have nothing to say on our own behalf when we trample upon his Love and Mercy So argues the Author to the Hebrews How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him And again He that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy that hath trodden under foot the blood of the Son of God The contempt of his Love and Mercy manifested in the Gospel is the most inexcusable folly and madness This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light This is the Vinegar and Gall that fill the Souls of the damn'd with self-horror confusion and indignation This is the thought that eternally disquiets the dark Habitations below viz. that once they might have been sav'd that once they had their day and that they refus'd the Light when it shin'd No Tortures so exquisite as the lashes of an inrag'd Conscience The Light that they despis'd whilst they were here looks them broad in the face and makes them roar to all Eternity And these accusations of the Soul against it self the upbraidings and inward whips of the Mind make up the miseries of an intellectual Being 2. THE Apostle made choice of this Argument from the Mercies of God in this place when he summ'd up the whole Christian practice into one Exhortation because his Mercies in the Gospel are his last remedy for our Recovery Upon other occasions the Apostle moves men to their duty by the consideration of his Power So he exhorts the Corinthians Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we persuade Men. But there are other Arguments to move us when those from his Power and Sovereignty are us'd If we sin against his Dominion and Power we fly to his Mercy but when we sin against his Mercy there is not another Attribute in God to which we can fly his Mercy is the last remedy for the recovery of Mankind This is decipher'd excellently in that Parable of the Gospel the Master of the Vinyard when all his former Servants and Messengers had been baffled and abus'd resolves at last to send his beloved Son It may be said he they will reverence him when they see him and if they did not the patience and goodness of God was no longer to struggle with them If we reflect a little on the weight and solemnity of this Preface we may justly infer the consequence of that Exhortation to which it is prefix'd I beseech you by the most sacred Mysteries of our Religion I beseech you by all that is amiable and delightful by the mercies of God that soften the most rugged dispositions and melt the most obdur'd hearts by that great Propitiation brought to light by the Gospel that you would present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service AND this leads me to consider this Exhortation more particularly The Apostle asserted formerly our freedom from the Levitical Sacrifices and lest we should think that by our Christian Liberty we are loos'd from all worship and obedience he informs us here what was the Sacrifice that was chiefly design'd under the Symbols and Figures of the ancient Law and indispensably requir'd under the Oeconomy of the Gospel And tho Interpreters may vary in their Expressions yet all of them must agree that there is no more intended than that the Christians instead of Beasts and bloody Sacrifices would offer up themselves i. e. their Wills Strength and Affections with purity and zeal to the service of God The word in the Original in several good Authors signifies persons That ye present your bodies i. e. Your selves for this under the New Testament is the only acceptable Sacrifice This is the whole of the Christian Religion this is the life and design of the former Ceremonies and this is the Abstract and Compend of all true Worship And because this one truth is of such vast consequence to the Souls of Men and hath in it the Spirit and Quintessence of all practical Devotion I shall endeavour to recommend it and give further light unto it in the following Method 1. I WILL consider the excellency of this Sacrifice abstractly and in it self 2. THE value that God did set upon it when the Levitical Sacrifices were prescribed by the Law and were most in vogue amongst the Jews 3. THAT this Sacrifice was principally intended by all the care caution and ceremony wherewith all other Sacrifices were offered 4. I WILL separately explain the Epithets by which this Sacrifice is recommended with allusion to the old Sacrifices of the Law And from all these particulars we must necessarily conclude that this is the Sacrifice that truly recommends us to God 1. LET us view the excellency of this Sacrifice and total surrender of our selves to his disposal There is nothing else suitable to the Divine Nature it is not Gold nor Frankincense nor the costly Perfumes of Arabia that propitiate the Deity a Soul purified from vice and sin is his peculiar Habitation Nothing quenches the fire
Religion so worthy of God to reveal so proper for us to be taught in as that system of true Piety and unaffected Morality that he has brought to Light WHEN I say Morality I do not understand Morality in the usual lame and defective signification of it as it regards our outward behaviour towards Man But rather the whole of our profound submission and obedience to the first and second Table of the Law And in this true and comprehensive notion I affirm that it was our Saviour's design to advance it unto practice and reputation amongst Mankind THE Jewish Religion take it all together was rather Gods indulgence and toleration than his law and commandment And tho it had the Seal of his Authority yet it was not in it self the best Religion but the best that they could bear When they returned from Aegypt the impressions of their servitude were not so soon worn off but that their proneness to Idolatry and former slavish dispositions remain'd And ever and anon upon all occasions for a long time after they relapse into their superstitions and Aegyptian Ceremonies IF we view them in the best periods of the Jewish Oeconomy their Religion was defective Many things were plainly permitted or tacitely conniv'd at as Polygamy and Divorce and some degrees of uncharitableness and revenge which natural and uncorrupted reason dislikes and condemns But when Our Saviour appear'd it was then high time to recover the World from their beggarly elements and to give us the true notions of Almighty God the spirituallity of his Worship and the extent of his universal Empire over Jew and Gentile and to form our manners by that accurate rule of his Doctrine and Example By which we were not only assured of Eternal Life but partly in a manner put in the possession of it A scheme of Christian Morals is given us in the Sermon on the Mount so pure and angelical that at first view we are forc'd to acknowledge that it came down from the Father of lights We are exhorted to whatsoever things are true honest just pure lovely and of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise to think on these things TO advance and facilitate the practice of this Morality was the design of our Saviour's undertaking when we consider the Gospel in its uniform strength and vigour as also to calm the consciences of men to remove our fears and to teach us to approach the Throne of God with a generous assurance of mind to bind us in the strongest bonds of Society amongst our selves and to liberate us from the yoke of Moses Law This was our Saviour 's business when he took upon him our Nature when we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth 1. I SAY one great part of his design was to form us into true Morals This is the comprehensive character by which good men are distinguished in the Holy Scriptures In this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother Thus runs the description of Job that he was a man perfect and upright one that feared God and eschewed evil AND David's religious man walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart The great character of Moses was that he was very meek above all the men upon the face of the Earth And Cornelius the Centurion is said to be a devout man and one that feared God with all his house which gave much alms to the People and prayed to God alway BUT all along the New Testament the Pharisees are stigmatiz'd that they were cold and indifferent in the great Morals of Religion while they were very zealous and pragmatick to advance the rituals of it They were blind guides who strain'd at a Gnat and swallowed a Camel They tithed Mint Annise and Cummin and neglected the weightier matters of the Law WHEN the whole of Religion is summ'd up in the most compendious manner there is nothing else nam'd but the love of God and our neighbour Or the most ingenuous expressions of both What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And our Saviour tells us that on the Love of God and our neighbour hangs all the Law and Prophets And this is the same Doctrine that is preached by S. Paul for Love is the fullfiling of the Law And therefore we find that the Prophets upon all occasions did endeavour to withdraw the thoughts of the Jews from the External drudgery of their Religion to that Immortal Deity that was Worshiped and to convince them that if their Sacrifices were not attended with the Love of God and their Neighbour they could not be acceptable The blood of Bulls and of Goats was no entertainment for him that made Heaven and Earth A Soul disengaged from the corruptions of Life and animated in all its actions with true zeal and sincerity was the only acceptable Sacrifice AND the Rituals of Christianity if they are destitute of their true Spirit and Life are of no greater value Our Faith without works is dead in the language of S. James And S. Peter compares our Baptism if separated from Purity of Manners to the washing of Swine And our Communicating without Devotion is by S. Paul said to be our coming together to condemnation It is the pure heart and clean hands the modest and ingenuous temper of Spirit that perfume our Faith our Prayers and our Assemblies When we look into the New Testament this Doctrine runs through all its parts and breaths almost in every Line the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all Men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works And for this very purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil IN all ages men have endeavoured to cross and oppose this part of our Saviour's design and to reconcile by little distinctions plausible and artificial tricks their Religion to their Lusts Some Religion they must have and that which renders them truly acceptable unto God penetrates too deep into the Soul searches the Hearts and Reins and teaches them to live in opposition to the corrupt Spirit of the World and to lead captive secret thoughts and imaginations unto the obedience of Christ The impressions of the Divinity are folded up in the Soul of Man the apprehensions and fears of an after reckoning haunt us whether we will or not
Therefore they must needs invent a Religion that is calculated to serve their designs and to silence the troublesome alarms of their mind But be not you deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap Our Saviour set himself to undeceive the World in this great affair and to remove the Pharisaical paint and varnish from the Law and to let us understand that our God is not an Idol that he values no Sacrifices but such as resemble his Nature For he is a Spirit and must be worshiped in Spirit and in Truth 2. A SECOND part of our Saviour's design was to give true repose and tranquillity to the Spirits of Men. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest The inward disorder of our Spirits is the cause of all our trouble when the Light of the Gospel removes our Errors and by its beams warms our affections the day-star from on high ariseth in our breasts our fears and dreadful apprehensions are over and there is a perfect calm and tranquillity One great instruction in our Saviour's Commission was to bind up the broken hearted The Souls of Men are at variance with themselves until they are united unto God He fixes their Spirits in their operations and choice and creates within them that harmony and peace which the World cannot give them Then they are arm'd against all events and disasters they are like a Rock of Adamant immoveable against the most tempestuous waves and storms the winds may blow and the storms may threaten and beat upon the Rock with the loudest roarings but they are quickly beat back into froth and disappointment The righteous are like mount Zion which cannot be mov'd THAT it was a part of our Saviour's design to establish this tranquillity of Spirit appears from this very Sermon on the Mount where he endeavours by so many arguments to fortifie us against all fears discouragments and solicitude The Wisdom of God levell'd the strongest arguments against the most desperate diseases and therefore the Doctrine of the Gospel in all its branches hath an admirable tendency to create this peace When we believe that all things are ordered and dispos'd by an universal infinitely wise unlimited and active Providence With what acquiescence and serenity of Spirit may we give up all things to his conduct and government Not a hair of your head falleth to the ground without his pleasure The nature and frame of all the Graces of the Spirit the whole spiritual furniture of the Gospel naturally lead to peace love joy and meekness We are assured that all things work together for good to them that love God Even our light afflictions that endure but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory And the belief of this establishes the mind against all the shakings of adversity And we may add to all the former considerations that we are frequently exhorted to place our affections on the things that are above to leave this World ' its hurry and noise and to get above it in our affections and to view with satisfaction and ease amidst our lowest depressions that Country that is above 3. ANOTHER part of our Saviour's design was to unite us together in the straitest bonds of humane society In order to which he hath made Love the badge and character of his profession So exactly fulfilling the Prophecies concerning the Messias that in his days the Wolf should dwell with the Lamb the Leopard and the Kid should ly down together i. e. that the fierceness of human Nature should be banish'd and all the rugged and uneven excrescencies of passion the boisterous swellings of humour should be filed off John the Baptist told that every valley should be fill'd and every mountain brought low the crooked should be made straight and the rough ways should be made smooth i. e. All injustice fraud and oppression all pride hypocrisie and violence should give place unto everlasting righteousness every one should keep his own post and move in his own Orb with contentment and sobriety Hence Servants are exhorted not to repine at their condition for as the members of the body natural must hold their distance and situation so must the members of the body political 4. ANOTHER part of his design was to liberate us from the Yoke of Moses Law I only name this particular I will not insist on it at present Now if the design of Christian Religion was to restore true morality the image of God humility patience the love of God and contempt of the World and to discover the hypocrisie and wickedness of the Pharisees Let us then enquire In the Second place IN what instances the Pharisaical Religion did cross the Christian and we shall discover the manifest opposition of the one to the other When we consider 1 THE Vices that they were most addicted to 2. THE Prejudices that they were blinded with 3. THE Maxims and shifts that they espous'd into their Doctrine to defend their wickedness and immoralities 1. Do but consider the Vices that they were most addicted to Pride contrary to the humility of the Gospel Avarice in opposition to that contempt of the World that our Saviour taught Hypocrisie that overthrows the ingenuity recommended and enjoyn'd by our Religion Revenge Cruelty and Rebellion contrary to the Loyalty Meekness and Obedience of our most holy Faith We are inform'd by Josephus though he was himself much addicted to the Sect of the Pharisees that they were a crafty and subtile generation of men and so perverse even to Princes themselves that they would not fear many times openly to affront them They had a mighty ascendent over the People and by their long prayers superstitious tricks and disfigur'd faces they got the Rable once of their side and by their interest in the multitude they became terrible to the Governours Alexander Jannaeus when he lay a dying advis'd his Queen not to irritate and displease the Pharisees and told her plainly that this was the very thing that deriv'd the Odium of the Nation upon him that he had comply'd so little with that restless and pragmatick Generation IF the Vices of the Pharisees prevail amongst the Christians what a reproach is it unto us and to our Religion When we remember that we are to obey for Conscience sake We may easily see that there is nothing more opposite to Christianity than Rebellion And this very Sect amongst the Jews strove to advance their Religious Tyranny above the Highest Powers as if they had been bred near the Infallible Chair or a General Assembly Many Popes declar'd it to be of necessity to Salvation to every humane Creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff and the instances are many as they are undeniable Therefore we are smoothly told by some of them that this is not matter of Faith but Discipline I confess it is
that kind of Religion to which they were most addicted And therefore our Religion must needs be of another stamp entirely pure gentle easie to be intreated full of good works without partiality and without hypocrisie 2. They thought that they might compensate for moral Miscarriages by long prayers and bodily severities And they would gladly submit to any thing rather than reform what ought to be truly amended 3. They believ'd they might merit eternal Life by the observation of one Precept though they liv'd in the habitual contempt and violation of all the rest Such a Precept they took their Sabbath to be WHEN we view the pure and unaffected complexion of our Religion how great an Enemy it is to all unworthy shifts and disguises how generous and refin'd above that Spirit that prevails in the World how amiable in the Eyes of God and Men then I say we may easily perceive that there is nothing more opposite unto it than that peevish superstition and hypocrisie that prevail'd in the Jewish Church when our Saviour appear'd And to the end that we may feel the force of our Religion to the best advantages Let us observe the following Directions 1. WE must understand our Religion thorowly and fix it in our Souls by the most accurate and serious consideration For though the motives of Christianity be of that moment that they may easily conquer our Souls yet unless they are duly applyed by Thought Reason and Meditation they loose their force and efficacy and they never impart to us the least degree of spiritual courage and activity God assaults our Reason in the first place and when we are overcome by Argument we are then a willing People we are Subjects by our choice and not by constraint Therefore are we frequently to view and consider the motives and arguments of our Religion and weigh them in the balance against the difficulties that oppose us That when we have examin'd and seriously debated whatsoever makes for or against our being Christians we may go forth to meet our Enemy with spiritual furniture and strength Shall the World and its triffling Interests notwithstanding that we are convinc'd of its emptiness and vanity take up so many of our Thoughts And shall we forget our immortal Souls and the Judgment to come Religion enters the Soul by Meditation and no Man can be Religious but by the acts of his Mind It is a reasonable service that we are call'd to and to make us continue in it with delight our Reason must be first engag'd How necessary this consideration is our Saviour represents in the Gospel of S. Luke What King goeth out to war doth not first sit down and consider if with his ten thousand he be able to meet him that comes against him with twenty thousand Or if a man resolve to build a Tower he first computes the expence and then he builds SUCH as are hastily engag'd in the service of Religion are frequently forc'd to retire with shame and dishonour And this is the usual result of rash and unsettled purposes which men make in the heat of their passion and under the power of some transient conviction 2. WE are always to perfer the Morals of Religion to its lesser Appendages and Ceremonies and to remember that the last are only subservient to advance the first True Christian Life is the Transcript of the Divine Nature Be ye holy as I am holy And again Be ye merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful There are such legible impressions of the Divine Nature felt in the Souls of the Regenerate that they attract his presence they are his peculiar habitations where he fixes his residence Nothing so enlarges the Spirit of a Man as to fix his eyes on the Life of Jesus to view with attention and delight how much he was above the World when environ'd with its terrors and flatteries He spoke of the invisible things as one does of his own Country He reason'd men out of their folly by all the force and weight of Heaven and Eternity And if we allow him to speak to our Consciences it is not possible to resist his reasonings He went about doing good He made himself accessible to us by the interposal of his humanity that we might see as well as hear the beauties of Christian Religion He taught us a Doctrine that is exactly calculated to refine our Nature to make us better in all relations And by this rule we are to examine the different pretences of all divided Parties If they advance by the plainest and nearest methods true Piety Innocency and Simplicity and propagate them in the Spirit of Love Unity and Subordination this is the surest mark to know that they belong to the Household of Faith 3. WE are here but Pilgrims and Strangers we are so to demean our selves as Candidates for Eternity Our Christian Life is but a flight from the World and the more we are alienated from the Spirit that prevails in it the more ripe we are for that incorruptible inheritance that is reserv'd for us Let us make the things of another World present to our selves by Faith For the fashion of this World passeth away And we are shortly to appear before Gods Tribunal stript naked of all the thin cobwebs and excuses whereby we endeavour'd to hide our deformities upon Earth 4. And lastly WHEN you have deliberately resolv'd consider the evil of back-sliding and its dreadful consequences There are but few who plainly and openly deny the Faith unto which they are Baptized yet many hundreds deny the Lord that bought them by their wicked Lives and unchristian Practices Now the just shall live by Faith but if any man draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him But we are not of them who draw back into perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the Soul To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Glory Praise and Dominion for ever Amen A SERMON Preached on Whitsunday 1688. ON ACTS ii v. 1 2 3 4. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sat upon each of them And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance THE Christian Church from the Ascension of our Blessed Saviour into Heaven until the Effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles was full of great expectations and great fears they had not yet quite broke off from the Communion of the Jewish Church yet they continued in their solitude and retirements and in the true exercise of Charity and Patience until our Saviour should scatter his Royal Donatives upon his solemn and magnificent entrance into the
and comfort to the truly penitent Indeed when we look narrowly to the nature of it it is one of the surest Pillars of our Faith for this we do in remembrance of his Death and Passion and his blood that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel is still of the same force and value with God Let us not therefore entertain narrow Notions of the Almighty as if he delighted in the death of sinners as if he took pleasure in their miseries for God is Love and it is below his infinite Majesty to crush to ruin and destruction such as appeal to his Mercy If thou hatest thy sins if thou perceivest how vile they make thee and how miserable if thou implore the goodness of God to deliver thee thy freedom is already begun and God will advance it into a full Victory 5. COME unto this Sacrament reconciled to thy Brother Peace and Love are the dispositions that make our Souls fit Mansions for the Holy Ghost the vapours and smoak of Contention drive him from our Habitations This is one of our Saviours great directions in his Sermon on the Mount therefore if thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift If the Sacrament of the Altar be not here strictly meant yet by the nearest Analogy and consequence it is intended and the most judicious Interpreters think that our Saviour gave this direction with a special Eye to that Sacrament which he was afterwards to appoint And the same direction for the matter is repeated If you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you The unreasonable rigidity of the Bankrupt-servant towards his fellow is loathsom in the Eyes of God and of all good men We are exhorted by St. Peter to lay aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings And we are inform'd by St. Paul that Love is the fulfilling of the Law and that the works of the flesh are manifest among which are reckon'd hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance When we consider the nature of our Religion the whole tendency and design of the Gospel we must conclude that there is nothing more opposite unto its harmonious and blessed temper than malice and revenge and therefore we must be ruled by other measures than those that prevail most in the World He is thought mean-spirited low and abject that is ready to forgive an injury yet it is the height of true Courage and Magnanimity if we consider the whole Scheme of our Religion how much it is twisted with meekness gentleness and charity or the supreme Authority of God to whom Vengeance doth belong our own in inward Peace and Tranquility or the order and settlement of publick Societies we cannot refuse to comply with our Saviour's direction and therefore St. Paul commands us that as we desire to approve our selves the Elect of God holy and beloved that we put on bowels of compassion kindness humbleness of mind meekness long suffering forbearing one another if any man have a quarrel against any and that above all we put on Charity which is the bond of perfectness True and universal Charity is the great glory and perfection of our Religion in which Christians ought to outshine all others It is that by which we resemble our Father above and prove our selves to be his off-spring in the highest and truest sense Our blessed Saviour after He had commanded us to love our Enemies concludes with this Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect The Jews themselves who were indulged or rather connived at to be more rugged and untractable than the Christians were yet obliged to shew many acts of benevolence to their Enemies of their own Nation and Profession And many of the Philosophers did look upon the forgiving of injuries as an instance of true Valour and Fortitude NEXT Let us consider that Hatred and Variance and Strife make us unfit for any particular act of Worship and therefore are we commanded in our Prayers to lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting And secondly Contention and Enmity exclude us from all hopes of Pardon as oft as we say the Lords Prayer we appeal to the Omniscience of God that we desire to be pardoned no otherwise than we heartily pardon and forgive the lesser injuries of our Brethren done to us and if we retain in our hearts the seeds of Rancour and Malice against our Brethren we pronounce sentence against our selves we change our Prayers into imprecations and instead of the great blessings of Peace and Pardon we are consign'd over to the saddest doom and horrour Then let us consider that if we are commanded to lay aside our prejudices and evil designs against such as have provoked us how much more ought we to forbear affronting of them who were never injurious to us and therefore we must recompence evil for evil to no Man we must be tender-hearted and charitable to the poor and necessitous Alms and Fasting are said to be the two Wings by which our Prayers fly to the Throne of God the Providence and Promise the Power and Goodness of God are all engaged in defence of the charitable Man this is the universal Voice of the New and Old Testament the language of Nature and Religion Jew and Gentile do acknowledge it from all the ties of Virtue and Humanity Let us therefore remember the hardships of them who are indigent their sad groans and lamentable sighs and according to our ability relieve them not scrupulously weighing our own strength so much as their straits and calamity Let us not lay up treasure upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt but in heaven where they are not expos'd to any danger or decay still remembring that he that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly When we are thus far prepar'd we cannot but feel the sharpest hunger after this spiritual Food our Souls are then inflam'd with the strongest desires we breath after God in the affections and language of the Psalmist As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God my soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God When shall I converse with him in the most intimate manner that this state of frailties and weaknesses can allow of The Solemnities of Religion recruit our strength against our Lusts and corruptions we are made more chearful and resolute to grapple with our Enemies when we feel the influences of his Spirit uniting us to God and exposing to our view all our former sins in all their deformities we conclude from such
excellent beginnings that we shall be made more than Conquerours through Jesus Christ that loved us and we resign our selves to his conduct and goodness and by them we put to silence all our fears and anxieties Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my Countenance and my God To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Praise Power and Dominion for evermore Amen A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL Of the Right Honourable WILLIAM Viscount of Strathallan Lieutenant-General of all His MAJESTIES Forces within the Kingdom of SCOTLAND At Inverpeffray April 4. 1688. LONDON Printed for Joseph Hindmarsh at the Golden Ball over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1693. A SERMON ON JOHN xi 25. Jesus said unto her I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live Compared with 1 Cor. 15.12 13 14. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead how say some among you that there is no resurrection from the dead But if there be no resurrection of the dead then is Christ not not risen and if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain THE first Sentence that I have read is placed in the Frontispiece of the Office for the Burial of the Dead the clear foresight we have of our after subsistence being the only and the strongest Antidote against the Terrors of Death and the Solemnities of our Entrance into the Grave What more proper to be told the Sisters of Lazarus than that which rais'd their thoughts from the Corruptions of the Earth to that State of Celestial Vigour to which we shall arrive one day when we shake off the Dishonours of Weakness and Mortality The Article of the Resurrection is the great Pillar of the Christian Faith the Corner-stone of our Religion our Hope is founded on it and as the Apostle reasons our Belief without it is but one continued Fable and Imposture This alone hath in it the Strength and Quintescence of all Consolation and there is no remedy against our present Trouble but to believe our condition shall be changed into a better Humane Nature feels it self relieved by no other thought than the sure prospect of our happiness to come The wise sayings and pretty knacks of the Philosophers who had no view of the Resurrection did avail but little to support the Mind against Grief and Sorrow So S. Paul concludes that if in this life only we had hope we were of all men the most miserable There was indeed a general Tradition of the Immortality of the Soul that had overspread Mankind and so much we might gather from the Writings of Cicero and Seneca But to believe that the dispers'd parts of a Mans Body shall be rang'd and dispos'd into their true order and situation after they have been scatter'd thorough all the Corners of the Earth that they shall be reduc'd unto a temper fit to serve the Soul in all its Vital Functions that those Atoms shall be joyn'd to that Spirit from whom they have been separated was and is the peculiar Belief of the True Church WE cannot think of our utter Dissolution without horror and amazement we are naturally enemies to Sadducism and death in its strictest Notion The most barbarous Nations have something in their Rites and Religious Ceremonies that carry their thoughts beyond the Grave The very Phrase by which the ancient Romans did express Death let us see that they could not with patience think of being entirely extinct and annihilated when their Souls left their earthly habitations As for the Jews they could not but be fully acquainted with the Doctrine of the Resurrection though not from the Law of Moses yet the sayings of their Wise Men the Comments and Predictions of their Prophets the Traditions of the Patriarchs did establish them fully in the Belief of the Resurrection As we are informed by the Prophecies of Daniel and Job And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt and 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 Could any of the Christians prophesie with greater assurance of the Resurrection than Job I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me It s the Observation of S. Hierom upon these words that none spoke so clearly of our Saviours Resurrection and his own as Job before the Incarnation did And the following Prophets teach the same Doctrine Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise Awake and sing ye that dwell in dust for the dew is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead But the Doctrine of the Resurrection hath received much Evidence and Certainty from our Lord Jesus Christ himself who brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel who not only asserts it frequently but proves it convincingly from the Books of Moses by the clearest and most undeniable consequence I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living IT is needless for me or my design to trouble you with the more accurate inquiry of the order and coherence of those Words that I have read either out of the Gospel or the Epistle though we should disjoin them from their neighbour places yet they are entire in themselves full of light and comfort Martha told our Saviour her Faith now being almost overcome with Grief that he was highly in favour with God and so probably might prevail with him and obtain any thing he desired Our Saviour assures her that her Brother shall rise again this puts some life into her expectations and she seemed artificially to wave what she hoped and did insinuate that she understood him of the general Resurrection But he quickly saw into the darkest recesses of her mind and told her plainly that there was no necessity to let her thoughts fly so far off as the general Resurrection He who was the first efficient cause of the Resurrection and the Author of Life was himself present and so might when he pleas'd raise his subjects and followers from the captivity and dishonours of the Grave FROM both the places that I have read I invite your attention to Meditate First On the Resurrection of our Saviour as the Author and finisher of our Faith Secondly Our Resurrection who
though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wooll 'T is in the vertue of this blood that we approach the Throne without fear and diffidence the God of Pity and Compassion cannot shut his ears against those prayers that are made under the mediation of Jesus Christ the hands of Justice are bound up when his bloody Sweat and Agony his Passion Death and Burial are commemorated How fixt and immoveable is this foundation of our Faith that we have such an High-Priest at the right hand of the Father who by one Oblation of himself through the Eternal Spirit sat down victorious on his Throne Powers Dominions and Principalities being put under him Though the Doctrine of the Cross be the Scorn of Jews and Gentiles yet let us say with S. Paul God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ And this is still so much the surer when we consider the Nature of that Attonement that our Saviour made This Sacrifice was propitiatory and piacular for he suffered not only for our good but in our room and they who would make him to act no more in all this than the part of a resolute Martyr destroy one of the prime foundations of our Religion and of our hope in the hour of death and at the day of Judgment Fourthly WHEN we fix our thoughts on the death of Jesus we ought to practise those Graces that then appear'd most eminently in him his Contempt of the World his Love to his Enemies his Patience and Resignation Can we dwell on the thoughts of his love towards Mankind and not be inflam'd with the highest Zeal to serve him How can we forget the glorious adventures of his Love who dyed for us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword V. 38. For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Power Praise and Dominion World without end Amen A SERMON ON 1. COR. ii V. 3 4 5. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling And my speech and my preaching was not with inticing words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God IN the First Chapter S. Paul had in his view the allaying the differences that had arisen amongst the Corinthians concerning their Teachers whom they should follow He puts them in mind how he had preached the Gospel amongst them and by what Arguments they had been perswaded to embrace it i. e. not with the wisdom of words And again not with enticing words of mans wisdom HE thought it not proper to advance his doctrine and design amongst them by the accurate and artificial reasonings of the wise men of the Gentiles but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power THE elegant Orations and Philosophical Discourses of the Learned Gentiles by which they were wont to put off their opinions to the people withal he did not judge proofs proper for and suitable to the nature of his Doctrine It being wholly Divine it required divine demonstration something above the reach of human speculation something yet untraced by their most accurate Disquisitions So the supernatural gifts bestowed on the followers of Christ by which they were made to interpret the sacred Oracles and ancient Prophecies concerning the Messias and accommodate those Prophecies to the most particular circumstances of his Kingdom By which they were enabled to discern Spirits and dispossess Devils such and such miraculours appearances together with the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles both upon the dead and the living were proofs of divinity in their own Nature far beyond the subtile reasonings of Orators and Philosophers more suitable to the design in hand more undeniable and authentick and therefore a proof much more solid and clear than if they had recommended the Doctrine of Christianity with all the eloquence and ostentation of words THIS method propos'd in the first Chapter He owns and vindicates in this from all the objections and carnal imputations that the admirers of Philosophy on the one hand and heretical Seducers on the other might lay to his charge He did not declare unto them the Testimony of God with the excellency of speech or wisdom It was not his design to read unto them Lectures of Plato's Philosophy but to recommend Christ and him Crucified to preach the humble doctrine of the Cross the plain and necessary Articles of Christianity the very first and indispensible principles of our Faith not the more abstruse mysteries of which as yet possibly they were not capable but those early lessons that we must know as soon as we become Disciples of that Heavenly Institution THIS Doctrine recommended at such a time and by such men so far above the genius of all the prevailing sects of Philosophers and appearing with so much modesty and humility had certainly been run down in triumph by the Patrons of Paganism and Infidelity if it had not been supported by another kind of proof and demonstration than that which was taught in the Athenian Schools Therefore the Corinthians ought not to be much stumbled at the petulancy and ignorance of false teachers who despis'd what they did not understand and measur'd wisdom by a standard of their own The Gospel was recommended amongst them by such proofs as were agreeable to its Nature that their belief might not depend upon any thing that was human and artificial but on the most solid and immoveable foundations the Wisdom and Power of God clearly display'd in vindication of the Gospel This is shortly the scope of the words that I have read The success and efficacy of what he preach'd did not at all depend on the order and composure of his periods tho one might observe Eloquence and Majesty in his Expressions if they were not too much addicted to what they valued amongst the Grecian Orators yet did he not at all affect that which the wise men of Greece most gloried in he design'd that it might be very clear That the success of his Doctrine should depend on supernatural proofs or the light and majesty and conviction that attends the power of miracles LET us view those words more closely and examine their phrase and dependance and see how clear a proof they contain of the excellency of Christian Religion And in them we have three particulars I. HIS uneasie
circumstances and weaknesses that made his work more difficult 2. THE manner of his address not with the enticing words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and in power 3. THE true reason of this whole Oeconomy that their faith might stand in the power of God And 1. WE have here his uneasie circumstances and weaknesses that made his work more difficult I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling The weaknesses wherewith the Apostle was emcompassed in preaching of the Gospel were partly his own bodily frailties partly the infirmities that did arise from the many persecutions of his implacable enemies for the Gospels sake The Jews and the Gentiles did daily thirst for his blood and from place to place he was hunted like a Partrige upon the mountains Those frailties whether incident to the peculiar structure of his body or whether left by the stripes and violences frequently offered unto him made his person appear despicable to them that only considered the outward appearance That mighty Soul that had nothing less in his view than the total overthrow of the Devils universal Monarchy this Soul I say dwelt in a ruinous tabernacle This he himself often acknowledged 2. Cor. 10. v. 1. I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ who in presence am base among you And again v. 7. Do you look on things after the outward appearance Consider also the 2. Cor. 4.7 We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us v. 8. We are troubled on every side yet not distress'd we are perplex'd but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroy'd And again Chap. 6. v. 4. In all things approving our selves as the Ministers of God in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labors in watchings in fastings Consider also 2. Cor. 7.5 6. For when we were come into Macedonia our flesh had no rest but we were troubled on every side without were fightings within were fears and it may be the messenger of Satan mentioned 2. Cor. 12.7 was some bodily infirmity NOW considering the natural temper of his body the extraordinary troubles watchings and labours that he endured and the voluntary restraints and chastisements he had used towards himself we may easily understand what a complication and series of difficulties he had to wrestle with Sometimes hardly escaping with his very life Let down in a basket by the wall and to put this account beyond all debate read 2. Cor. 11.23 forward Are they ministers of Christ I speak as a fool I am more in labours more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons more frequent in deaths oft v. 24. Of the Jews five times received I fourty stripes save one v. 25. Thrice was I beaten with rods once was I ston'd thrice I suffer'd shipwrack night and day I have been in the deep v. 26. In journeyings often in perils of waters in perils of robbers In weariness and painfulness in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fasting often in cold and nakedness NOW the natural result of this heap of Sufferings and Calamities so thick crowded together were fear and trembling Partly his innocent fear of dangers and persecutions partly his holy care and solicitude for the success and propagation of the Gospel though the false teachers vilified the blessed Apostle because of his Infirmities yet considering the nature of his Office and the design of his Ministry they were an undeniable proof of his authority and mission and consequently of the verity and divinity of Christian Religion FOR allow but the Apostles to be men of common sense and desirous to preserve themselves if they were not sure of the truth of what they delivered how unaccountable were their sufferings and therefore their calamities so much mistaken by other had in them the strongest proof of their sincerity since they were ready to sacrifice all that was dear to human Nature in defence of the Gospel How came they so readily and unanimously to part with all their justest Interests if they had not the highest assurances of their Commission and Authority and of a life after this more pure solid and immoveable than what we here enjoy How came they to be so ready upon all occasions to undergoe all that was most bitter and painful most disgraceful and ignominious and this for no other design than to advance a fable amongst mankind and for no other reward either here or hereafter than stripes tumults persecutions and martyrdoms He that supposes the Apostles to have been endowed with ordinary reason and judgment and yet will believe that they followed cunningly devised fables for no other design than to make themselves miserable to all intents and purposes will yield his assent to something more incredible more monstrously fictitious than the most Romantick Follies of imagination AND if we yet suppose that the Apostles were destitute of the use of their reason and still be able to the wonder and admiration of mankind to contrive the story of the Gospel so orderly and coherent and adapt the most antient Prophecies to its proof and illustration and that to the conviction and astonishment of the learnedest of their opposers He I say that believes all this which Atheists and Anti-scripturists are obliged to do believes something more fabulous more inconsistent than all the Legends of Poets and all the adventures of Knight-errantry The Apostle then is so far from denying his Infirmities that he glories in them as one special proof of his mission and authority highly agreeable to the Christian Religion and the tendency of that Doctrine that recommended Christ Crucified to the world In another manner and by other demonstrations than those demonstrations that the Schools of Philosophy did furnish I have chosen to discourse of the Sufferings and Infirmities of the Apostle under this aspect as they yield a clear proof of Christianity rather than to run out in the commendations of the courage and patience of Primitive Christians and it will appear in its greater lustre if we consider 2. THE manner of his address not in the eloquent and harmonious periods of Rhetorical Discourses but by a more heavenly and victorious demonstration more certain and undeniable than the surest Principles of the Grecian Philosophy not in the enticing words of mans wisdom but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power There are who understand by these words the inward and powerful illuminations and presence of the Divine Spirit upon a mans heart in order to his Sanctification I am very far from denying that Illumination to be necessary but that is not meant in this place nor by this phrase For the proof that the Apostle brings here is External and consequently must be referred to that demonstration of the Divine Power that waits upon the Apostles in preaching and asserting the Gospel