us Satisfaction of the Truth and Divinity of the Doctrine of the Christian Religion which hath had so eminent a Confirmation given to it from Heaven and did at its first setting out so strangely prevail in the World against all Humane Probability not by might nor by power but by the spirit of the Lord. No man can well suppose a Religion in Circumstances of greater Disadvantage and upon all Humane Accounts more unlikely to sustain and bear up it self than the Christian Religion was The first Appearance of it was so mean and its Beginnings so small that no Man but would have thought it would presently have come to nothing and no other account can be given of the strange Success and Prevalency of it but that it was of God and therefore it could not be overthrown II. This Discourse may likewise satisfie us of the Reason why this Miraculous Power which accompanied the Gospel at first is now ceased because there is not the like Reason and Necessity for it which there was at first It was highly Necessary then to introduce the Christian Religion into the World and to be a sensible Evidence to Men of the Divinity of that new Doctrine which was Preached to them but now that the Gospel is generally entertained there is not the same Reason why this Miraculous Power should still be continued Acquisito fine cessant media ad finem when the End is once obtained the Means cease and the Wise God who is never wanting in what is Necessary does not use to be lavish in that which is Superfluous Now that the Christian Religion hath got firm footing in the World God leaves it to be propagated and advanced by its own Rational Force upon the Minds of Men now that the Prejudices of Education in a Contrary Religion are removed and the Powers of the World are reconciled to Christianity there is no need of such violent and extraordinary Means for the continuance of it now that it stands upon equal Advantages with other Religions God hath left it to be carried on in more humane and ordinary ways and such as are more level and accommodate to the Nature of Man That Miracles are long since ceased is acknowledged by the Fathers who lived an Age or two after the ceasing of them particularly by St. Chrysostome who gives the same Reason for it which I have just now assigned But the Church of Rome would still bear us in hand that this Miraculous Power does still continue in their Church and according to Bellarmine must always continue because he makes it an inseparable Property and Mark of the True Church But we pretend to no such Power nor have we any Reason so to do because all the Doctrines of our Religion are the Ancient Doctrines of Christianity delivered by our Saviour and by his Apostles publisht to the World and these are sufficiently confirmed already by the Miracles which our Saviour and his Apostles wrought in the Primitive Times of Christianity But the Church of Rome hath great Occasion and Need of New Miracles to confirm their New Doctrines and therefore as they have Reason they usually apply them to the Confirmation of their New Doctrines some to confirm Purgatory and to give countenance to Indulgences others to encourage the Worship of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints others to confirm that which all the Miracles in the World are not sufficient to confirm I mean the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which because it overthrows the certainty of Sense is in the Nature of it peculiarly incapable of being confirmed by a Miracle III. and Lastly The Consideration of what hath been said does justly upbraid us that this Religion which was so powerful at first and hath such Characters of Divinity upon it coming down to us confirmed by so many Miracles should yet have so little Effect upon most of us who call our selves Christians We have all the Advantages of the Christian Religion having been educated and brought up in it and yet it hath less Effect upon us than it had upon those whose Minds were prejudiced and whose Manners were depraved by the Principles of a false Religion for those who were reduced from Paganism to Christianity did on the sudden become better Men and were more Holy and Virtuous in their Lives than the greatest part of us who have been instructed and trained up all our lives in the Doctrine of Christianity The true Reason of which is that many of us are Christians upon the same account that they were at first Heathens because it was the Religion of their Country and they were born and bred up in it but Christianity was the Religion of their Choice and there were no Motives to perswade them to the Profession of that Religion but what were as powerful to oblige them to the Practice of it Let us also be Christians not only by Custom but by Choice and then we shall live according to our Religion He that takes up a Religion for any other Reason than to obey and practice it does not choose a Religion but only counterfeits the Choice of it We have beyond Comparison the best and most reasonable Religion in the World a Religion that hath the greatest Evidence of its Truth that contains the best Precepts and gives men the greatest Assurance of a future Happiness and directs them to the surest Way of attaining it Now the better our Religion is the worse are we if we be not made good by it The Philosophy of the Heathen made some virtuous and there were many eminent Saints under the Imperfection of the Jewish Institution What Degrees then of Holiness and Virtue may be expected from us upon whom the Glorious Light of the Gospel shineth so brightly I will conclude all with the Words of the Apostle Heb. 2.1 2 3 4. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the holy Ghost according to his own will SERMON VI. The Nature Office and Employment of Good Angels Preached on the Feast of St. Michael HEB. 1.14 Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation THis is spoken of Good Angels whose Existence as well as that of Evil Spirits the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament do every where take for granted no less than they do the Being of God and the Immortality of the Soul And well they may since they are all founded upon the general Consent of all Ages VOL. II. derived down to
John 3.8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might dissolve or demolish the works of the Devil by which St. John does more especially mean the idolatrous worship of the Heathen which consisted in the multitude of their Gods and the bloody and barbarous Rites and Sacrifices whereby they Worshipped them and likewise in the multitude of their Mediators between the Gods and Men who were also esteemed by them an inferiour sort of Deities Both these kinds of Idolatry had strangely prevailed and over-run the World before the appearance of our Lord and Saviour who came on purpose to deliver Mankind from the horrible Superstition and Slavery of the Worship of false Gods to pull down this Kingdom of the Devil and to demolish that Fabrick which he had been so long a rearing and to beat him out of those strong holds which he thought had been impregnable God indeed gave some check to these many Ages before and not long after their first appearance by the Jewish Religion which was on purpose introduced and confirmed and established by so many and such mighty Miracles to preserve and keep alive in the World the primitive Tradition and Belief of the One true God and likewise to be as it were some Shadow and rude Draught of that more perfect Dispensation of the Christian Religion which by one Sacrifice once offered and by one Mediator between God and men was to put an end to the infinite Superstitions of the Heathen Worship and all the bloody and barbarous Rites of it and likewise to the Idolatry they were guilty of in the Worship of their inferior Deities whom they look'd upon as a middle sort of Powers between the Gods and Men and therefore addrest themselves to them as Mediators between the Superior and Heavenly Gods and Men here on Earth This was plainly one of the great designs of the Christian Religion and therefore it concerns Christians to understand it and to be very careful that they do not suffer themselves to be deluded by any specious Pretences whatsoever to bring these things back again into the Christian Religion for the ruin and extirpation whereof it was purposely designed and intended And this seems plainly to be the meaning of that Caution wherewith St. John concludes his Catholick or General Epistle namely That Christians should be very careful that they were not carryed back again into the Heathen Idolatry by the confident Pretences of the Gnostick Hereticks to higher Degrees of Knowledge and. Illumination than other Christians had that is by their pretending to be the Infallible Church and the only true and genuine Christians For it is against this Sect that this Epistle is plainer designed which St. John thus concludes Chap. 5. from Ver. 18. to the end We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not meaning that he doth not commit the Sin unto death which he had spoken of just before viz. Apostacy from Christianity to the Heathen Idolatry or that which was very like it whosoever is born of God doth not commit this sin but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not that is he preserveth himself from the Contagion of Idolatry into which the Devil was so busie to seduce Mankind And we know that we are of God that is do belong to the true God and are Worshippers of him And the whole world lieth in Wickedness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in the power or under the dominion of that wicked One that is the greatest part of Mankind was sunk into Idolatry and the Worship of the Devil And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true We know that is we Christians are better Taught by the Christian Religion to acknowledge and worship the only true God And we are in him that is true in or by his Son Jesus Christ that is we Worship the only true God by his Son Jesus Christ And then he concludes Little Children keep your selves from Idols Intimating hereby that the Worshipping of any other besides this only true God and by any other Mediator than Jesus Christ is Idolatry There were indeed two very ancient and common Notions both amongst Jews and Gentiles of the Original whereof it is hard to give any certain account only this is certain that they did prevail very early and did very generally possess Mankind And they were these First That God was not to be appeased towards Sinners meerly upon their Repentance without the Death and Suffering of some other in their stead and that God would accept of this vicarious Punishment and Suffering instead of the Death of the Sinner himself And this seems to have given the Original to the Sacrifices of Living Creatures to appease the Wrath of God towards Sinners which in process of time as the Worship of false Gods prevailed in the World did proceed to that Degree of Superstition and barbarous Inhumanity that by the instigation of the Devil Men offered up the Blood of their Children and Sacrificed their Sons and Daughters to their Idols and false Gods Secondly Another common Notion which had likewise possest Mankind was That God was not to be immediately approached by sinful Men but that their Prayers were to be offered up to the Deity by certain Mediators and Intercessors that were to procure for them the Favour of the Gods and the gracious Answer and Acceptance of their Prayers And this was the Original of that other sort of Heathen Idolatry which consisted in the Worship of their Demons and Heroes that is of Angels and Souls departed viz. of such eminent Persons as had been great Benefactors to Mankind and for their worthy Deeds upon Earth were Canonized and translated into the number of their Inferior Gods By these as the chief Courtiers and Favourites of Heaven they address'd their Prayers and Supplications to the Superiour Gods Now with these Notions which had generally possess'd Mankind how imperfect soever God was pleased to comply so far as in the Frame of the Jewish Religion which was designed for a Type of the more perfect Institution of the Christian Religion and a Preparation for it I say God was pleased to comply so far with these Notions as to appoint Sacrifices to be slain and offered up for the Sinner and likewise an High Priest that once a year should enter into the Holy of Holies with the Blood of Sacrifices that were offered up for the People to make Expiation for them and in vertue of that Blood should interceed for the People as the Apostle to the Hebrews does declare at large And when God sent his Son in the fullness of time he was pleased likewise in the dispensation of the Gospel that perfect institution which was never to be altered to have so much regard to these common Notions and Apprehensions of Mankind as to
Heresie of the Collyridians which he calls the Heresie of the Women because they first began the Worship of the Virgin Mary declares most expresly against the Worship of any Creature whatsoever For neither says he is Elias to be worshipped though he is reckoned among the living meaning that he was taken up into Heaven Body and Soul nor John nor any other of the Saints And as for the Virgin Mary he particularly adds that if God will not have us to worship the Angels how much more would he not have us to worship her that was born of Anna And concludes let Mary be had in Honour but let the Lord be worshipped St. Chrysostom in a long Discourse persuades Men to address their Prayers immediately to God and not as we address our selves to great Men by their Officers and Favourites and tells us that there is no need of such Intercessors with God who is not so ready to grant our Petitions when we entreat him by others as when we pray to him our selves Lastly St. Augustine because the Scripture pronounces him accursed that puteth his trust in Man from thence he argues that therefore we ought not to ask of any other but of our Lord God either the Grace to do well or the Reward of it The contrary to which I am sure is done in several of the Publick Prayers used in the Church of Rome And l. 12. de Civ Dei he expresly tells us that the Names of the Martyrs were recited in their Prayers at the Altar but they were not invocated by the Priest who did celebrate Divine Service And in the Third Council of Carthage which was in St. Augustin's time it is enjoined Can. 33. that all Prayers that were made at the Altar should be directed to the Father Which how it is observed in the Church of Rome we all know To conclude this matter it cannot be made appear that there were any Prayers to Saints in the Publick Offices of the Church till towards the end of the Eighth Century For in the Year 754. the Invocation of Saints was condemned by a Council of 338 Bishops at Constantinople as is acknowledged by the Second Council of Nice which first establish'd this Superstition in the Year 787 and this very Council was condemned Seven Years after in a Council at Frankfort and declared void and to be no otherwise esteemed of than the Council of Ariminum Thus you see when this Doctrine and Practice so contrary to the Doctrine and Practice of a great many of the first Ages of the Christian Church was first established namely at the same time with the Worship of Images and when the first Foundation of Transubstantiation was laid which as they began at the same time so they are very fit to go together I should now have proceeded to the next thing which I propos'd namely to answer the chief Pretences which are made for this Doctrine and Practice But of That in the following Discourse SERMON IV. Christ Jesus the only Mediator between God and Men. The Third Sermon on 1 Tim. II. 5 6. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all IN the Two former Discourses upon this Text I have treated on the Second Proposition I laid down from the Words viz. That there is but one Mediator between God and men the Man Christ Jesus In treating on this Proposition I shewed First That it is agreeable to Scripture Secondly VOL. II. That it is agreeable to one great End and Design of the Christian Religion and of our Saviour's coming into the World which was to destroy Idolatry out of it Thirdly That from the Nature and Reason of the thing there can be but one Mediator or Intercessor in Heaven with God for Sinners and that he can be no other than Jesus Christ Fourthly I shew'd how contrary to this Doctrine the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome is in their Invocation of Angels and the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and making use of their Mediation and Intercession with God for Sinners This I endeavoured to do by shewing 1st How contrary this is to the Doctrine of the Scriptures 2ly How contrary to the Doctrine and Practice of the Church for several of the first Ages of it And thus far I have gone I proceed now in the 3d. Place to answer the chief Pretences and Excuses which are made by those of the Church of Rome Serm. IV. for this Doctrine and Practice As 1. That they only say that it is lawful to Pray to Angels and Saints but do not enjoyn and require it To this I answer Two things 1. In saying that it is lawful to Pray to Saints and Angels if they went no farther they say that which they can never make good because Prayer is an Act of Religious Worship and peculiar and proper to God only and therefore cannot be given to any Creature Angel or Saint This I have proved from Scripture where our Saviour commands us when we pray to say Our Father which art in Heaven that is to direct and address our Prayers to God only And St. Paul likewise forbids the worshipping Angels by invocating of them and making use of them as Mediators between God and us in his Epistle to the Colossians which Theodoret expresly interprets concerning the Invocation of Angels and applying our selves to them as Mediators and Intercessors with God in Heaven for us And the Council of Laodicea declares this Practice to be Idolatry Besides that the ancient Fathers of the Christian Church for above Three Hundred Years never spake of praying to any but God only and do expresly condemn the Invocation of Angels much more of the Saints who are Inferior to them and therefore they always define Prayer to be an Address to God a Conversing and Discoursing with God which would be a false Definition of Prayer if it were lawful to pray to any but to God only All which considered one may justly wonder at the Confidence of some Men who would have it taken for granted without any Proof that the Invocation of Saints and Angels is Lawful 2. If it were true that it is lawful to pray to Angels and Saints it is not true that the Church of Rome does only declare it to be lawful but does not require and enjoyn it as some of their late Writers pretend With what Face can this be said when there are so many Prayers to Angels and Saints and especially to the Blessed Virgin in the Publick Offices of their Church in which all are supposed to join as much as in the Prayers which are put up to God by the Priest 'T is true indeed the People understand neither but they are present at both and join in both alike that is as much as Men can be said to join in that which they do not understand as that Church supposeth People may do and receive great Edification
Salvation of Mankind I judge nothing more needful to be added to what has fallen in concerning that Subject in my handling the Second Proposition in this and the two former Sermons SERMON V. The general and Effectual Publication of the Gospel by the Apostles Preached on Ascension-Day 1688. Mark XVI 19 20. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right Hand of God And they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with Signs following IN these Words you have these Two great Points of Christian Doctrine I. Our Saviour's Ascension into Heaven and Exaltation at the right hand of God VOL. II. he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right hand of God II. The Effect or Consequence of his Ascension and Exaltation which was the general and effectual Publication of the Gospel they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following And both these are very proper for this Day but I shall at this time handle the latter Point namely the Effect op Consequence of our Saviour's Ascension into Heaven and Exaltation at the right hand of God they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following And these Words contain two things in them I. The general Publication of the Gospel by the Apostles they went forth and preached every where II. The Reason of the great Efficacy and Success of it namely the Divine and Miraculous Power which accompanied the Preaching of it Serm. V. the Lord wrought with them and confirmed the Word with signs following I. The general Publication of the Gospel by the Apostles they went forth and Preached every where And indeed the Industry of the Apostles and the other Disciples in publishing the Gospel was almost incredible What Pains did they take what Hazards did they run what Difficulties and Discouragements did they contend withal in this work and yet their Success was greater than their Industry and beyond all Humane Expectation As will appear if we consider these Five things 1. The vast Spreading of the Gospel in so short a space 2. The wonderful Power and Efficacy of it upon the Lives and Manners of Men. 3. The Weakness and Meanness of the Instruments that were imployed in this great Work 4. The powerful Opposition that was raised against it 5. The great Discouragements to the Embracing the Profession of it I shall speak briefly to each of these 1. The vast Spreading of the Gospel in so short a space This is represented Rev. 14.6 by an Angel flying through the midst of Heaven and preaching the Everlasting Gospel to every nation and kindred and tongue and people No sooner was the Doctrine of the Christian Religion publish'd and made known to the World but it was readily embraced by great numbers almost in all places where it came And indeed so it was foretold in the Prophecies of the Old Testament Gen. 49.10 That when Shiloh that is the Messias should come to him should the gathering of the people be And Isa 2.2 That in the last days the mountains of the house of the Lord should be establisht in the top of the mountain and be exalted above the hills and that all nations should flow unto it Isa 60.8 the Prophet speaking of Mens ready submission to the Gospel and the great number of those that should come in upon the Preaching of it they are said to flie as a Cloud and as the Doves to the windows So quick and strange a Progress did this new Doctrine and Religion make in the World that in the space of about 30 Years after our Saviour's Death it was not only diffused through the greatest part of the Roman Empire but had reached as far as Parthia and India In which we see our Saviour's Prediction fully verified that before the Destruction of Jerusalem the Gospel should be Preached in all the World Math. 24.14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all Nations and then shall the end come But this is not all Men were not only brought in to the Profession of the Gospel but 2. This Doctrine had likewise a wonderful Power and Efficacy upon the Lives and Manners of Men. The generality of those that entertained the Gospel were obedient to it in word and deed as the Apostle tells us concerning the Gentiles that were converted to Christianity Rom. 15.18 Upon the change of their Religion followed also the change of their Manners and of their former course of Life They that took upon them the Profession of Christianity did thenceforth not walk as other Gentiles did in the lusts of the flesh and according to the vicious course of the world but did put off concerning their former conversation the old man which was corrupt according to deceitful lusts and were renewed in the spirit of their mind and did put on the new man which after God was created in righteousness and true holiness So strange an Effect had the Gospel upon the Lives of the generality of the Professors of it that I remember Tertullian in his Apology to the Roman Emperor and Senate challengeth them to instance in any one that bore the Title of Christian that was condemned as a Thief or a Murderer or a Sacrilegious Person or that was guilty of any of those gross Enormities for which so many Pagans were every day made Examples of Publick Justice and Punisht and Executed among them And this certainly was a very admirable and hapy Effect which the Gospel had upon Men to work so great and sudden a Change in the Lives of those who entertained this Doctrine to take them quite off from those vicious Practices which they had been brought up in and accustomed to to change their Spirits and the temper of their Minds and of lewd and dishonest to make them sober and just and holy in all manner of Conversation of proud and fierce contentious and passionate malicious and revengeful to make them humble and meek kind and tender-hearted peaceable and charitable And that the Primitive Christians were generally good Men and of virtuous Lives is credible because their Religion did teach and oblige them to be such which tho' it be not effectual now to make all the Professors of it such as it requires they should be yet it was a very forcible Argument then in the Circumstances in which the Primitive Christians were For Christianity was a hated and persecuted Profession No Man could then have any inducement to embrace it unless he were resolved to practise it and live according to the Rules of it for it offered Men no Rewards and Advantages in this World but on the contrary threatned Men with the greatest Temporal Inconveniences and Sufferings and it promised no Happiness to Men in the other World upon any
other terms than of denying ungodliness and worldly lusts and of living soberly righteously and godly in this present world And besides this Consideration we have the best Testimony in the World of their Unblameable Lives viz. the Testimony of their profest Enemies who did not persecute them for any personal Crimes which they charged particular Persons withal but only for their Religion acknowledging them otherwise to be very innocent and good People Particulary Pliny in his Letter to Trajan the Emperor who had given him in Charge to make particular Enquiry concerning the Christians gives this honourable Report of them That there was no fault to be found in them besides their obstinate refusal to Sacrifice to the Gods that at their Religious Meetings it was an essential part of their Worship to oblige themselves by a solemn Sacrament against Murder and Theft and Adultery and all manner of Wickedness and Vice No Christian Historian could have given a better Character of them than this Heathen Writer does But 3. The Success of the Gospel will appear yet more strange if we consider the Weakness and Meanness of the Instruments that were employed in this great Work A company of plain and illiterate Men most of them destitute of the advantages of Education went forth upon this great Design weak and unarmed unassisted by any worldy interest having no Secular Force and Power on their side to give countenance and authority to them and this not only at their first setting out but they remained under these Disadvantages for three Ages together The first Publishers of the Christian Religion offered Violence to no Man did not go about to compel any by Force to entertain the Doctrine which they Preached and to list themselves of their number they were not attended with Legions of armed Men to dispose Men for the reception of their Doctrine by Plunder and Free-Quarter by Violence and Tortures this Modern Method of Conversion was not then thought of nor did they go about to tempt and allure Men to their Way by the Promises of Temporal Rewards and by the Hopes of Riches and Honours nor did they use any artificial insinuations of Wit and Eloquence to gain upon the Minds of Men and steal their Doctrines into them but delivered themselves with the greatest plainness and simplicity and without any studied Ornaments of Speech or fine Arts of Perswasion declared plainly to them the Doctrine and Miracles the Life and Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ promising Life and Immortality to them that did believe and obey his Doctrine and threatning Eternal Wo and Misery in another World to the despisers of it And yet these contemptible Instruments notwithstanding all these disadvantages did their work effectually and by the Power of God going along with them gained numbers every day to their Religion and in a short space drew the world after them Nor did they only win over the Common People but also several Persons considerable for their Dignity and Eminent for their Learning who afterwards became zealous Assertors of Christianity and were not ashamed to be Instructed in the Saving Knowledge of the Gospel by such mean and unlearned Persons as the Apostles were for they saw something in them more Divine and which carried with it a greater Power and Perswasion than Humane Learning and Eloquence 4. We will consider the mighty Opposition that was raised against the Gospel At its first appearance it could not be otherwise but that it must meet with a great deal of difficulty and opposition from the Lusts and Vices of Men which it did so plainly and so severely declare against and likewise from the Prejudices of Men that had been brought up in a contrary Religion no Prejudice being so strong as that which is founded in Education and of all Prejudices of Education none so obstinate and hard to be removed as those about Religion yea tho' they be never so absurd and unreasonable Hath a Nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods Men are very hardly brought off from the Religion which they have been brought up in how little Ground and Reason soever there be for it the being trained up in it and having a reverence for it implanted in them in their tender Years supplies all other defects Had Men been free and indifferent in Religion when Christianity first appeared in the World and had they not had their Minds prepossest with other apprehensions of God and Religion and been inured to Rites and Superstitions of a quite different Nature from the Christian Religion or had they at that time been weary of the Superstitions of their Idolatrous Worship and been enquiring after a better way of Religion then indeed the Christian Religion had appeared with great advantage and would in all probability have been entertained with a readiness of Mind proportionable to the Reasonableness of it But this was not the Case When the Doctrine of the Gospel was first Publisht in the World the whole World both Jews and Gentiles were violently prejudiced against it and fixt in their several Religions The Jews indeed in former times had been very prone to relinquish the Worship of the True God and to fall into the Heathen Idolatry But after God had Punisht them severely for that Sin by a long Captivity they continued ever after very strict and firm to the Worship of the True God and never were they more tenacious of their Religion and Law than at that very time when our Saviour appeared in the World And though He was foretold in their Law and most particularly described in the authentick Books of their Religion the Prophets of the Old Testament yet by reason of certain groundless Traditions which they had received from the Interpreters of their Law That their Messias was to be a great Temporal Prince they conceived an invincible Prejudice against our Saviour upon account of the Mean Circumstances in which he appeared and upon this Prejudice they rejected him and put him to death and persecuted his Followers And though their Religion was much nearer to the Christian than any of the Heathen Idolatries yet upon this account of our Saviour's Mean Appearance they were much more averse to the Entertainment of it than the grossest Idolaters among the Nations Not but that their Prejudice also was very great the common People being strongly addicted to the Idolatry and Superstitions of their several Countries and the Wiser and more Learned whom they call'd their Philosophers were so puft up with a conceit of their own Knowledge and Eloquence that they despised the rudeness and simplicity of the Apostles and look'd upon their Doctrine of a Crucified Saviour as ridiculous and the Story of his Resurrection from the dead as absurd and impossible So St. Paul tells us that the Cross of Christ was to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness But besides the Opposition which the Gospel met withal from the Lusts and Prejudices of Men
the Powers of the World did likewise strongly combine against it Among the Jews the Chief Priests and Rulers did with all their force and malice endeavour to stifle it in the birth and to suppress it in its first rise and several of the Roman Emperors who were then the great Governors of the World engaged all their Authority and their whole Strength for the extirpation of it and raised such a storm of Persecution against it as swept away greater numbers of Mankind than any Famine or Plague or War that ever was in the Roman Empire And yet this Religion bore up against all this Opposition and make its way through all the Resistance that the Lusts and Prejudices of Men armed with the Power and Authority of the whole World could make against it And this brings me to the 5. and last Consideration I mentioned the great discouragement that was given to the Entrance of this Religion There was nothing left to invite and engage Men to it but the Consideration of another World for all the Evils of this World threatned every one that took the Profession of Christianity upon him Whoever was known to be a Christian was liable to Reproach and Ruin to cruel Mockings and Scourgings to Banishment or Imprisonment and Confiscation of Estate but these were slight and tolerable Evils in comparison of others that were commonly inflicted upon them they were condemned to the Mines and to the Lions and all imaginable Cruelties were exercised upon them the most exquisite Torments that could be devised and Death in all its fearful shapes was presented to them to deter Men from embracing this Religion and to tempt them to quit it And yet they persisted in the Profession of their Religion and for the sake of it did not only take joyfully the spoiling of their goods but the most barbarous usage of their Persons and demeaned themselves not only with Patience and Courage but with Exultation and Triumph under those Tortures which no Man can hear or read of without horror And they did not only bear up thus manfully for one brunt but when these violent Persecutions were renewed and repeated upon them Christianity supported it self under all these daunting Discouragements for almost Three hundred Years and held out till the very Malice of their Persecutors was out of breath and their Cruelty had tired it self Nay it did not only support it self under all these Oppositions but grew and prospered and the Blood of Martyrs became the Seed of the Church and Christians sprang up faster than any Persecution could mow them down For Men by Degrees became curious to enquire into the Cause of such Sufferings and the Reason of so much Constancy and Patience under them and upon enquiry were satisfied and became Christians themselves and many times their very Persecutors were ready to Sacrifice their Lives the next Day for that very Cause for which but the Day before they had put others to Death And it cannot here be reasonably Objected that Christians yielded up themselves to all these Sufferings upon the same Account that some brave Spirits among the Heathen laid down their Lives for their Country namely out of a desire of Fame and to perpetuate their Names in After-ages this I say cannot reasonably be said in this Case because these Sufferers were not the great and ambitious Spirits the Flower and Select Part of Mankind but the Common People and many of them of the tenderer Sex and Age who have usually a greater Sense of Pain than of Glory and yet so were they animated by their Religion and Transported beyond themselves as not only to submit but many times to offer themselves to those Sufferings by declaring themselves to be Christians when no Man accused them and when they knew they should die for making that Profession so that it is harder to justifie their forwardness to Suffer than the sincerity of their Sufferings Besides that nothing could be more foolish and unreasonable than for Men to hope to get a Name by Suffering in a Crowd and to be particularly remembred to Posterity when they dyed in such multitudes that no Man knew the Names of the greatest part of the Sufferers You see then how strongly the Gospel prevailed how soon this new Religion over-ran the World how suddenly it subdued the Spirits and changed the Manners of Men and by what mean and despicable Instruments to all humane appearance this great Work was done and how in despite of all Opposition and Discouragements it was carried on Can any one of the false Religions of the World pretend to have been propagated and establisht in such a manner meerly by their own force and the Evidence and Power of Truth upon the Minds of Men and to have born up and sustained themselves so long under such fierce Assaults as Christanity hath done As for the Religion of Mahomet it is famously known to have been planted by force at first and to havâ— been maintained in the World by the same violent means So that great Impostor openly declares that he came not to plant his Religion by Miracles but the Sword And as for the Idolatries of the Heathen they came in upon the World by insensible degrees and did not oppose the Corruptions of Men but grew out of them and being suited to the vicious Temper and Disposition of Mankind they easily gained upon their Ignorance and Superstition by Custom and Example They were just such a Corruption of Natural Religion in such times of darkness and ignorance and by such insensible steps as there hath been since of the Christian Religion in some Parts of the World which we all know But no sooner did the Light of the Gospel shine out upon the World but the Idolatry and Superstition of the Heathen fell before it like Dagon before the Ark of God and tho' it had the Power of the World and Countenance of Authority on its side yet it was not able to maintain its ground and no sooner was that Prop taken away which was the only support of it but it presently sunk and vanisht it was not driven out of the World by Violence and Persecution but upon the breaking in of so great a Light it silently withdrew as being ashamed of it self And when afterwards the Emperor Julian endeavoured to retrieve it by his Wit and Authority and used all imaginable Arts and Stratagems to suppress and extinguish Christianity he was able to effect neither for the Christian Religion kept its ground and Paganism after it had made a little Blaze died with him Now to what Cause shall we ascribe this wonderful Success and Prevalency of the Gospel in the World There can but these Two be imagined the Excellency of the Christian Religion and the Power and Presence of the Divine Spirit accompanying it 1. The Excellency of the Christian Religion which both in respect of the goodness of its Precepts and the assurance of its Rewards hath plainly the advantage
By what Marks and Characters we may know that zeal which here and elsewhere in Scripture is condemned as not being according to knowledge III. How far the doing of any thing out of a zeal for God doth mitigate and extenuate the Evil of it For when the Apostle here testifies concerning the Jews that they had a zeal of God he speaks this in favour of them and by way of mitigation of their Faults When I have handled these Three Particulars I shall apply my Discourse to the present Occasion of this day I. What are the Qualifications and Properties of a zeal according to knowledge I shall mention these Three 1. That our Zeal be right in respect of its Object 2. That the Measure and Degree of it be proportioned to the Good or Evil of things about which it is conversant 3. That we pursue it by lawful ways and means 1. That our Zeal be right in respect of its Object I mean that those things which we are zealous for be certainly and considerably Good and that those things which we are zealous against be certainly and considerably Evil. A mistake in any of these quite marrs our Zeal and spoils the Virtue of it And tho' it be never so much intended for God it is not at all pleasing and acceptable to him because it is a blind and ignorant and mistaken Zeal And the hotter the worse it is not an heavenly fire that comes down from above but it is like the fire of Hell Heat without Light If we mistake Good and Evil and be zealously concerned against that which is Good or for that which is Evil the greater our Zeal is the greater is our Fault and instead of doing God and Religion Service and Credit we do the greatest Mischief and Dishonour we can to them both Or if the thing about which our Zeal is conversant be of a doubtful and uncertain nature this is not properly an Object of Zeal Men should never be earnest for or against any thing but upon clear and certain Grounds that what we contend so earnestly for is undoubtedly Good and that which we are so violent against is undoubtedly Evil If it be not we are zealous for we know not what and that I am sure is a zeal not according to knowledge And if the thing be certainly Good or Evil which we are so concerned about it must also be considerably so otherwise it will not warrant our being zealous about it All Truth is Good and all Error Bad but there are many Truths so inconsiderable and which have so small an influence upon Practice that they do not deserve our Zeal and earnest Contention about them and so likewise are there many Errors and Mistakes of so slight and inconsiderarable a Nature that it were better Men should be let alone in them than provok'd to Quarrel and Contend about them Thus that great Heat that was in the Christian Church about the Time of observing Easter was in my Opinion a Zeal not according to knowledge They were on both sides agreed in the main which was to celebrate the Memory of our Saviour's Resurrection But there were different Customs about the Time which was a matter of no such consideration as to deserve so much Heat and Zeal about it especially considering the uncharitable and mischievous Consequences of that difference 2. That our Zeal may be according to knowledge the Measure and Degree of it must be proportioned to the Good or Evil of things about which it is conversant That is an ignorant Zeal which is conversant about lesser things and unconcerned for greater Such was the Zeal of the Scribes and Pharises who were mightily concerned about external and lesser Matters but took little or no care of inward Purity and real and substantial Goodness they were very careful not to eat with unwasht hands and to make clean the outside of the cup and platter but then they were full of extortion and all unrighteousness they pay'd tythe of mint and anise and cumin but omitted the weightier things judgment mercy and fidelity or as St. Luke expresseth it they past over Judgment and the love of God A zealous strictness about external Rites and Matters of difference where there is a visible neglect of the substantial Duties of Religion and the great Virtues of a good life is either a gross Ignorance of the true Nature of Religion or a fulsome Hypocrisie And so likewise is a loud and zealous out-cry against Rites and Ceremonies and the Imposition of indifferent things in Religion when Men can release themselves from the Obligation of Natural and Moral Duties and pass over mercy and justice and charity 3. A Zeal that is is according to knowledge must be pursued and prosecuted by Lawful and Warantable Means No Zeal for God and his Glory for his true Church and Religion will justifie the doing of that which is morally and in it self evil Will ye speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him We do not know what belongs to the Honour of God and Religion if we think to promote his Glory by means so dishonourable and offensive to him The Apostle pronounceth it a Damnable Sin for any to charge this Doctrine upon Christianity that evil may be done for a good end and to promote the glory of God Rom. 3.8 As we he slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say let us do evil that good may come whose damnation is just And yet nothing is more frequent than for a Man out of a Zeal for God and Religion to over-look the Evil and Unlawfulness of the Means they use for the advancing so good an End This is that which hath sanctified those refined Arts of Lying and Perjury by Equivocation and Mental Reservation those seditious ways of disturbing the Peace of Kingdoms by Treason and Rebellion by the Excommunicating and Disposing of Princes upon pre tence of Heresie of Extirpating those whom they please to call Hereticks by Inquisitions and Croisado's and Massacres and this not only in the opinion of private Persons but in the judgment of Popes and of General Councils I proceed in the II. Place to shew by what Marks and Characters we may know the contrary Zeal that which is not according to knowledge which is condemned here in the Text and very frequently in other Places of Scripture And tho' this may be sufficiently known by the contrary Marks and Properties which I shall but briefly mention yet to discover it more fully I shall add One or Two more very gross and sensible signs and instances of it 1. It is a zeal without knowledge that is mistaken in the proper Object of it that calls good evil and evil good a Zeal for gross Errors and Superstitions plainly contrary either to the revelation of God's Word or the light of Reason or to common Sense any or all of these cannot be a zeal according to knowledge A Zeal for the Worship of Images for praying
Nations and his selling it to inrich his Family quod non fecerant Barbari fecerunt Barberini may with changing the Name and Occasion be applyed to a great many others that they have been guilty of those Cruelties against Christians upon account of difference in Religion which the most Barbarous Nations never exorcised upon one another I have done with the Observations and the Text and shall I now need to make any Application of what hath been said to the Occasion of this day The thing applys it self since the horrid Design of this Day was undertaken and carried on upon the same Pretences and Principles upon which the Jews persecuted the Disciples of our Lord and much in the same Method for they first thunder'd out an Excommunication against them and then took it for granted that it would be an acceptable Sacrifice to God to destroy them I will not go about to aggravate the Comspiracy of this Day it is past my skill nor will I extend the blame and guilt of it any farther than the plain Evidence and Reason of the thing does enforce It is a thing so scandalous to Humane Nature and so great a Reflection upon any Church and Religion to be accessory to the contriving or countenancing of any such Design that I am very well contented that it should be confined to as narrow a compass as may be and none esteemed guilty of it but those that were openly in it or have since endeavour'd to excuse it All that we desire of others is that they would declare their hearty detestation of such abominable Practices and be as good as their word and that they would not account it a service and sacrifice to God to destroy all that cannot be of their Mind So that the Inference from all this Discourse in short shall be this that Men should take great care to inform their Consciences aright and to govern them by the plain Rules of Good and Evil the Law of God written upon our hearts and revealed in his Word which forbids such Practices as I have been speaking of as clearly as the Sun shines at Noonday and that we would always be afraid to do a bad thing tho' gilded over with never so glorious Colours and specious Pretences of zeal for God and his Truth For a Man may do a thing with an honest Mind and for a religious End and be Commissioned and Countenanced as St. Paul was by them who take themselves to be the only true Church in the World and yet at last prove to have been all the while a Blasphemer and a Murderer and the greatest of Sinners for none of these Pretences are sufficient to warrant and sanctifie a wicked action Before this can be done the immutable nature of Good and Evil must be changed I will conclude all with that gentle Reproof of our Blessed Saviour to his Disciples when their Zeal for him had transported them to make that cruel Request to him that he would as Elias had done upon a like occasion call for fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritans Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of for the Son of man came not to destroy mens lives but to save them hereby declaring to us the true Spirit and â—â—â—per of Christianity and that they 〈◊〉 contrary to it are ignorant 〈…〉 â—ature of the Christian Religion Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of for the Son of man came not to destroy mens lives but to save them SERMON XV. The Duty and Reason of Praying for Governours Preached on the 29 of May. 1693. 1 TIM II. 1 2. I exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in authority that we way lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty I Need not tell any here that this Day is appointed by Authority for an Anniversary Solemnity in a grateful Commemoration of the great Mercy of God to these Nations VOL. II. in putting an end to the intestine Wars and Confusions of many Years in restoring to us our own ancient Government and Laws and in bringing home as upon this Day the rightful Heir of these Kingdoms to the Crown and Throne of his Fathers And tho' the Glory of this Day hath been not a little sullied and obscured by many things which have happened since that Time fitter now to be buried in Silence and Oblivion than to be mention'd and raked up yet it hath pleased God in scattering those black Clouds which not long since hung over us to restore this Day to its first Lustre and brightness so that we may now with great joy look back upon it as designed by the wise Providence of God to make way for the Happiness which we now enjoy under their present Majesties by whom under God we have been delivered from that terrible and imminent Danger which threatned our Religion and Laws and the very Constitution it self of our ancient Government And to this Occasion no kind of Argument can be more proper and suitable Serm. XV. than that which the Text affords to our Consideration in this Injunction of St. Paul to Timothy to take care that in the Publick Worship of God Supplications and Thanksgivings be put up to God for Kings and all that are in authority I exhort therefore c. In which Words there are Four things considerable First The Duty here enjoyn'd which is Prayer expressed to us in several Words which seem to denote the several kinds or parts of Prayer I exhort therefore that supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men For Kings and for all that are in authority c. Some of these words are of a very near signification and yet there seems some difference betwixt them most probably this 1. By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render Supplications is probably meant that part or kind of Prayer wherein we supplicate God for the Pardon of our Sins and for the averting and removing of Evils whether Temporal or Spiritual from our selves or others 2. By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render Prayers seems to be meant Petitions for Blessings and good things from God and these are most properly call'd Prayers 3. By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to be particularly meant Pleadings and Intercessions on the behalf of others 4. By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is certainly intended Praises and Thanksgivings to God for his Blessings and Goodness to our selves and others This seems to be the difference between them which whether it be exactly so or not is not very material since these are unquestionably the several kinds or parts of Prayer And these several sorts of Prayer St. Chrysostom in his Comment upon this Text tells us were Publickly used in his Time in the daily Service of the Church this says he all Communicants do know is done every day Morning and
his Will which he denied to many Prophets and righteous men who desired to see the things which we see but could not see them and to hear the things which we hear but could not hear them There were good Men in the World under those imperfect Revelations which God made to them but we have far greater Advantages and more powerful Arguments to be Good than ever they had And as we ought thankfully to acknowledge these blessed Advantages so ought we likewise with the greatest Care and Diligence to improve them And now how does the serious Consideration of this Condemn all Impenitent Sinners under the Gospel who will not be reclaimed from their Sins and perswaded to Goodness by all that God can do by the most plain Declaration of his Will to the World by the most perfect Precepts and Directions for a good Life by the most encouraging Promises to Obedience and by the most severe Threatnings of an Eternal and Unutterable Ruin in case of disobedience by the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men by the Terrors of the great day and the Vengeance of Eternal Fire by the wonderful and amazing Condescension of the Son of God appearing in our Nature by his merciful undertaking for the Redemption of lost and sinful Man by his cruel Sufferings for our Sins and by the kindest Offers of Pardon and Reconciliation in his Blood and by the glorious hopes of Eternal Life What could God have done more for us than he hath done What greater concernment could he shew for our Salvation than to send his own son his only son to seek and save us And what greater demonstration could he give of his Love to us than to give the Son of his Love to die for us This is the last Effort that the Divine Mercy and Goodness will make upon Mankind So the Apostle tells us in the beginning of this Epistle chap. 1.1 that God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son And if we will not hear him he will speak no more after this it is not to be expected that he should make any farther Attempts for our recovery he can send no greater and dearer Person to us than his own Son If we despise him whom will we Reverence If we reject him and the great Salvation which he brings and offers to us we have all the reason in the World to believe that our case is desperate and that we shall die in our sins This was the Condemnation of the Jews that they did not receive and believe on him whom God had sent And if we who profess to believe on him and to receive his Doctrine be found disobedient to it in our Lives we have reason to fear that our Condemnation shall be far heavier than theirs For since the appearance of the Son of God for the Salvation of men the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men especially against those who detain the truth of God in unrighteousness that is against those who entertain the Light of God's Truth in their Minds but do not suffer it to have its proper Effect and Influence upon their Hearts and Lives and make that a Prisoner which would make them free So our Lord tells us that the truth shall make us free but if after we have received the knowledge of the truth we are still the servants of sin our Condemnation is much worse than if the Son of God had never come For the Christian Religion hath done nothing if it do not take men off from their Sins and teach them to live well Especially at this time when we are celebrating the coming of the Son of God to destroy the works of the Devil we should take great heed that we be not found guilty of any Impiety and Wickedness because this is directly contrary to the main Design of the grace of God which brings Salvation and hath appeared to all men and the appearance whereof we do at this time commemorate for That teacheth men to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godlily in this present world And we cannot gratifie the Devil more than by shewing our selves more diligent than ordinary to uphold his Works at this very time when the Son of God was manifested on purpose to dissolve them We cannot possibly choose a worse a more improper Season to sin in than when we are Celebrating the Birth of the Blessed Jesus who came to save us from our sins This is as if a sick Man for joy that a Famous Physician is come to his House should run into all manner of Excess and so do all he can to enflame his Disease and make his case desperate Not but that our inward Joy may lawfully be accompanied with all outward innocent Expressions of it but we cannot be truly thankful if we allow our selves at this time in any thing contrary to the Purity and Sobriety of the Gospel It is matter of just and sad complaint being of great scandal to our Saviour and his holy Religion that such irregular and extravagant things are at this time commonly cone by many who call themselves Christians and done under a pretence of doing Honour to the Memory of Christ's Birth as if because the Son of God was at this time made Man it were fit for Men to make themselves Beasts If we would honour him indeed we must take care that our Joy do not degenerate into Sin and Sensuality and that we do not express it by Lewdness and Luxury by Intemperance and Excess by prodigal Gaming and profuse wasting of our Estates as the manner of some is as if we intended literally to requite our Saviour who being rich for our sakes became poor This is a way of parting with houses and land and becoming poor for his sake for which he will never thank nor reward us This is not to commemorate the Coming of our Saviour but to contradict it and openly to declare that we will uphold the Works of the Devil in despight of the Son of God who came to destroy them It is for all the World like that lewd and sensless piece of Loyalty too much in fashion some Years ago of being Drunk for the King Good God! that ever it should pass for a piece of Religion among Christians to run into all manner of excess for Twelve days together in honour of our Saviour A greater Aggravation of Sin cannot easily be imagined than to abuse the Memory of the greatest Blessing that ever was Christ coming into the World to take away sin into an opportunity of committing it this is to represent the Son of God as a Patron of Sin and Licentiousness and to treat him more contumeliously than the Jews did who bowed the Knee to him and mocked him and called
him King and spat upon him and under a pretence of rejoycing for his Birth to crucifie to our selves afresh the Lord of life and glory and to put him to an open shame I will conclude all with the Apostle's Exhortation Rom. 13.12 13 14. Let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the Armour of Light Let us walk decently as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christy and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Now to our most gracious and merciful God the great Friend and Lover of Souls who regarded us in our low and lost Condition and cast an Eye of pity upon us when we were in our Blood and no other Eye pityed us and when we had lost and ruined our selves was pleased in tender compassion to Mankind to send his only begotten Son into the World to seek and save us and by the Purity of his Doctrine and the Pattern of his Life and the Sacrifice of his Death to purchase Eternal Life for us and to direct and lead us in the way to it And to him also the Blessed Saviour and Redeemer of Mankind who came down from Heaven that he might carry us thither and took Human Nature upon him that we thereby might be made Partakers of a Divine Nature and humbled himself to Death even the Death of the Cross that he might exalt us to Glory and Honour and whilst we were bitter Enemies to him gave such a Demonstration of his Love to us as never any Man did to his best Friend Vnto him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb that was slain to God even our Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ the first begotten from the dead and the Prince of the kings of the Earth to him who hath loved us Serm. II. and washed us from our sins in his own Blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and honour dominion and power now and for ever Amen SERMON II. Christ Jesus the only Mediator between God and Men. Preached at St. Peter's Cornhill ON THE Feast of the Annunciation 1691. 1 Tim. II. 5 6. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all THESE Words contain in them these four Propositions three of them express and the fourth of them sufficiently implyed in the Text. I. That there is one God VOL. II. II. That there is one Mediator between God and men Christ Jesus III. That he gave himself a ransom for all IV. That the Mediation or Intercession of Jesus Christ is founded in the Redemption of Mankind For this seems to be the Reason why it is added that he gave himself a ransom for all to signifie to us that because he gave himself a ransom for all therefore he interceeds for all In virtue of that Sacrifice which he offered to God for the Salvation of Men he offers up our Prayers to God and therefore it is acceptable to him that we should pray for all men This seems to be the true connexion of the Apostle's Discourse and the force of his Reasoning about our putting up publick Prayers for all men I have in a former Discourse handled the first of these See a Sermon concerning the Unity of the Divine Nature Printed in the year 1693. I proceed now to the II. That there is one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus One Mediator that is But one for the expression is the very same concerning one God and one Mediator and therefore if the Apostle when he says there is one God certainly means that there is but one God it is equally certain that when he says there is one Mediator between God and men he means there is but one Mediator viz. Christ Jesus He is the only Mediator between God and Men. In the handling of this Argument I shall proceed in this Method 1. I shall endeavour to shew That God hath appointed but one Mediator or Advocate or Intercessor in Heaven for us in whose Name and by whose Mediation and Intercession we are to offer up our Prayers and Services to God 2. That this is most agreeable to one main End and Design of the Christian Religion and of our Saviour's coming into the World 3. That it is likewise evident from the Nature and Reason of the thing it self That there is but one Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us to offer up our Prayers to God and that there can be no more And then 4. and Lastly I shall endeavour to shew how contrary to the Doctrine of the Christian Religion concerning one Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome in this matter is in their Invocation of Angels and the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and making use of their Mediation and Intercession with God for Sinners as likewise how contrary it is to the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Christian Church And then I shall answer their several Pretences for this Doctrine and Practice and shew that this Practice is not only needless but useless and unprofitable and not only so but very dangerous and impious First I shall endeavour to shew That God hath appointed but one Mediator or Advocate or Intercessor in Heaven for us in whose Name and by whose Intercession we are to offer up all our Prayers and Services to God Besides that it is expresly said here in the Text there is but one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus and that the Scripture no where mentions any other I say besides this we are constantly directed to offer up our Prayers and Thanksgivings and to perform all Acts of Worship in his Name and no other and with a Promise that the Prayers and Services which we offer in his Name will be graciously answered and accepted John 14.13 14. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son If ye shall ask any thing in my name I will do it And Ch. 16.23 24. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be be full In that day that is when I have left the World and am gone to my Father as he explains it at the 28th verse In that day ye shall ask me nothing but whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you That is You shall not need to address your Prayers to me but to my Father in my Name And ver 26 27. At that day ye shall ask in my name that is from the time
that I am ascended into Heaven ye shall put up all your Prayers and Requests to God in my Name and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loveth you that is I need not tell you though I shall certainly do it that I will interceed with the Father for you for he of himself is kindly disposed and affected towards you for my sake The Father himself loveth you because ye have loved we St. Paul likewise commands Christians to perform all Acts of Religious Worship in the Name of Christ Col. 3.16 17. Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord and whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God and the Father by him And this Precept of addressing all our Prayers and Thanksgivings to God by Jesus Christ as the only Mediator between God and us is the more remarkable because it is given in opposition to the Worshipping of God by any other Mediators and Intercessors in Heaven for us and to that Superstition which had begun so early to prevail among some Christians at Calosse and Laodicea of Worshipping God by the Mediation and Intercession of Angels against which he had cautioned in the former Chapter Ver. 18 19. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels not holding the head Intimating that for Christians to address themselves to God by any other Mediator but Jesus Christ only was a defection from Christ the Head and High Priest of our Profession And that this is the Apostle's meaning Theodoret assures us in his Comment upon this Place where he tells us That some who maintained an observance of the Law together with the Gospel asserted also That Angels were to be worshipped saying That the Law was given by them And this Custom he tells us remained a long time in Phrygia and Pisidia and that upon this account it was that the Synod of Laodicea in Phrygia about the middle of the 4th Century forbad Christians by a Law to pray to Angels And yet more expresly in his Comment upon those Words Chap. 3. Ver. 17. Whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God and the Father by him For because says he they meaning those of whom St. Paul warns the Colossians to beware because they did command men to worship Angels he enjoins the contrary that they should adorn both their words and actions with the memory or mention of the name of Christ their Lord And send ye up saith he thanksgiving to God and the Father by him and not by the Angels And then he makes mention of the Canon of the Synod of Laodicea which says he in pursuance of this Rule and being desirous to cure that old Disease made it a Law that none should pray unto Angels nor forsake the Lord Jesus Christ It seems then that some Reliques of that Impious Custom of praying to Angels which Theodoret here calls That old Disease had continued from St. Paul's time to the Council of Laodicea which was the occasion of that severe Canon then made about that matter the very Words whereof I will set down because they are remarkable viz. That Christians ought not to forsake the Church of God and go away from it and to invocate Angels and to make Conventicles all which are forbidden If any therefore be found giving himself to this secret Idolatry let him be Anathema because he hath forsaken our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God and is gone over to Idolatry What shall be said to them who do not only secretly and in their Private Devotions but in the Publick Assemblies of Christians and in the most Publick Offices of their Church invocate Angels and pray to them So that it was praying to Angels or making use of them as Mediators and Intercessors with God for us which St Paul here reproves so severely in the Colossians as a Defection from Christ and the Christian Religion And indeed considering how frequently the Scripture speaks of Christ as our only way to God and by whom alone we have access to the throne of grace we cannot doubt but that God hath constituted him our only Mediator and Intercessor by whom we are to address all our Requests to God John 14.6 Jesus there saith unto Thomas I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the Father but by me I am the way the truth and the life that is the true and living way to the Father which the Apostle calls a new and living way Heb. 10.19 20. Having therefore boldnenss to enter into the holieft by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us No man cometh to the Father but by me that is we can have no access to God by Prayer or by any other Acts of Religious Worship but by him So St. Paul tells us Eph. 2.18 For through him speaking of Christ we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father We both that is both Jews and Gentiles Under the Law the Jews had access to God by their High Priest who interceeded with God and offered up Prayers in behalf of the People The Gentiles they addressed themselves to God by innumerable Mediators by Angels and the Souls of their departed Heroes which were the Pagan Saints Instead of all these God hath appointed one Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us Jesus the Son of God and by him all mankind both Jews and Gentiles have access by one Spirit unto the Father And we have no need of any other as the Apostle to the Hebrews reasons Chap. 7.24 25. But this person speaking of Christ because he continueth for ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Priesthood which doth not pass from one to another as the Priesthood under the Law did when upon the Death of one High Priest another succeeded in his Place but our High Priest under the Gospel since he abides for ever is able to save to the utmost all those that come to God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us So that Jesus Christ is an All-sufficient Mediator and able to carry on and accomplish the Work of our Salvation from first to last And as we do not find that God hath appointed any other so we are sure that there needs no other since he is able to save to the utmost all those that come to God by him and that he lives for ever to make intercession for us Secondly I proceed now in the Second place to shew That this Doctrine or Principle of one Mediator between God and men is most agreeable to one main end and design of the Christian Religion and of our Saviour's coming into the World which was to destroy Idolatry out of the World which St. John calls the works of the Devil 1
provide for the supply of those two great Wants which they seem'd always to have laboured under and concerning which they were at so great a loss viz. an effectual expiatory Sacrifice for Sins upon Earth and a powerful Mediator and Intercessor with God in Heaven And both these by the same Person Jesus Christ who appeared in the end of the World to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself and in the Merit and Vertue of that Sacrifice appearing in Heaven in the Presence of God for us is become a perpetual Advocate and a most powerful Intercessor with God in Heaven for us So that instead of the endless Sacrifices of the Jewish Religion which were ineffectual to the real Expiation of Sin and only Types and Shadows of the true expiatory Sacrifice and instead of the bloody and inhumane Sacrifices of the Heathen Idolatry the Son of God hath by one Sacrifice for Sin once offered perfected for ever them that are sanctified and obtained eternal Redemption for us And instead of the Mediation of Angels and the Souls of their departed Heroes which the Heathen made use of to offer up their Prayers to the Gods We have one Mediator between God and Men appointed by God himself Jesus the Son of God who in our Nature is ascended into Heaven to appear in the presence of God for us And who so fit to be our Patron and Advocate as he who was our Sacrifice and Propitiation Thus the Method of our Redemption as it was by the Wisdom of God admirably suited to the common Apprehensions of Mankind concerning the necessity of a Sacrifice to make Expiation of Sin and of a Mediator to intercede with God for Sinners so was it likewise excellently fitted not only to put an end to the Jewish Sacrifices but likewise to abolish the barbarous Sacrifices and Rites of the Heathen Idolatry and to cashier that infinite number of Mediators and Intercessors by whom they address'd their Prayers to the Deity and instead of all this to introduce a more reasonable and spiritual Worship more agreeable to the Nature and Perfections of God and the Reason of Mankind which was one of the main and principal Designs of the Christian Religion And therefore to bring in any other Mediators to intercede in Heaven for us whether Angels or Saints and by them to offer up our Prayers to God is directly contrary to the Design of the Christian Religion Thirdly It is likewise evident from the Nature and Reason of the thing it self that there is but one Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven who offers up our Prayers to God and that there can be no more Because under the Gospel there being but one High Priest and but one Sacrifice once offered for Sin and Intercession for Sinners being founded in the Merit and Virtue of the Sacrifice by which Expiation for Sin is made there can be no other Mediator of Intercession but he who hath made Expiation of Sin by a Sacrifice offered to God for that purpose and this Jesus Christ only hath done He is both our High Priest and our Sacrifice and therefore he only in the Merit and Virtue of that Sacrifice which he offered upon Earth can intercede in Heaven for us and offer up our Prayers to God Others may pray to God for us as our Brethren upon Earth do and perhaps the Angels and Saints in Heaven but none of these can offer up our Prayers to God and procure the acceptance of them for that can only be done in Virtue of a Sacrifice first offered and by him that offered it this being the peculiar Office and Qualification of a Mediator or Intercessor properly so called It is the plain Design of the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews to prove that Christ is our only Mediator in Heaven in Vertue of that Sacrifice for Sin which he offered upon Earth and that he alone appears in the Presence of God for us to present our Requests to him and obtain a gracious Answer of them and he shews at large how this was particularly typified by the Jewish High Priest who upon the great day of Expiation after the Sacrifice was slain without enter'd alone into the Holy of Holies with the Blood of the Sacrifices in Vertue whereof he made Intercession for the People Answerable to this Jesus the High Priest of our Profession offered himself a Sacrifice for the Sins of Men and in vertue of that Sacrifice is enter'd into the High Place not made with Hands that is into Heaven it self there to appear in the Presence of God for us where he lives for ever to make intercession for us in Vertue of that Eternal Redemption which he hath obtained for us by the Price of his Blood as the Apostle declares in several Chapters of that Epistle So that this Intercession being founded in the Merit of a Sacrifice which he alone offered he is of necessity the only Mediator between God and Men. And for this Reason it is that the Mediation and Intercession of Christ is so frequently in Scripture mentioned together with the Expiation which he made for the Sins of Men or which is the same with the price which he paid for the Redemption of Mankind because the one is founded in the other and depends upon it So we find 1 John 2.1 2. If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but also for the Sins of the whole World And here likewise in the Text There is one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all therefore the only Mediator between God and men because he only gave himself a Ransom for all men The Efficacy and Prevalency of his Mediation being founded in the Merit and Vertue of the Ransom of his Blood And the force of these Texts and the reasoning from them is not to be avoided and turned off by distinguishing between a Mediator of Redemption and of Intercession and by saying that it is true that Christ is the only Mediator of Redemption but there may be many Mediators of Intercession For if the Force of his being Advocate or Intercessor be founded in the Virtue of his Ransom and Propitiation as I have plainly shewn to the Conviction of any that are not strongly prejudiced and that will read and consider what the Scripture says in this matter without Prepossession then it is plain that none can be a proper Mediator of Intercession but he that paid the Price of our Redemption So that the Mediator of our Redemption and our Mediator of intercession must of necessity be one and the same Person and none can appear in the Quality of our Advocate with the Father but he only who is the Propitiation for the sins of the whole World I should now have proceeded to The Fourth thing I proposed in the handling of this Argument namely To
shew how contrary to this Doctrine of the Christian Religion concerning one only Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome is in this matter namely in their Invocation of Angels and the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and flying to their Help and making use of their Mediation and Intercession with God for Sinners As likewise how contrary all this is to the Doctrine and Pratice of the Christian Church for several of the first Ages of it And then I should have answered their chief Pretences and Excuses for these things and shew'd that this Practice of theirs is not only needless being no where commanded by God but useless also and unprofitable and not only so but very dangerous and impious being contrary to the Christian Religion and highly derogating from the Virtue and Merit of Christ's Sacrifice and from the Honour of the only Mediator between God and Men. But of this another time SERMON III. Christ Jesus the only Mediator between God and Men. The Second Sermon on 1 Tim. II. 5 6. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all IN these Words are four Propositions three exprest and the fourth implied I. That there is one God II. That there is one Mediator between God and men Christ Jesus III. That he gave himself a ransom for all VOL. II. IV. That the Mediation or Intercession of Jesus Christ is founded in his Redemption of Mankind That because he gave himself a Ransome for all men therefore he and he only is qualified to intercede for all Men in Vertue of that Sacrifice which he offer'd for the Salvation of all Mankind The Second of these I spake to the last time and endeavour'd to shew 1. That God hath appointed but one Mediator or Advocate or Intercessor in Heaven for us by whose Mediation we are to offer up all our Prayers and Services to God 2. That this Doctrine of one Mediator is most agreeable to one main End and Design of the Christian Religion and of our Saviour's coming into the World which was to destroy Idolatry 3. That from the Nature and Reason of the thing viz. because Intercession for Sinners is founded in the Merit of that Sacrifice by which Expiation of Sin is made there can be no other Mediator of Intercession Serm. III. but he who hath made Expiation for Sin by a Sacrifice offered to God for that purpose and this Jesus Christ only hath done Thus far I have gone I proceed now to The Fourth thing which I proposed in the handling of this Argument namely to shew how contrary to this Doctrine of the Christian Religion concerning one only Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us the Doctrine and the Practice of the Church of Rome is in this matter namely in their Invocation of Angels and the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and flying to their help and making use of their Mediation and Intercession with God for Sinners And that I may proceed more distinctly in this Argument I shall handle it under these particular Heads First I shall endeavour to shew That the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome in this matter is contrary to the Doctrine of the Christian an Religion concerning one only Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us Secondly That it is contrary to the Doctrine and Practice of the Christian Church for several of the first Ages of it Thirdly I shall endeavour to answer their chief Pretences and Excuses for this Doctrine and Practice Fourthly to shew that this Doctrine and Practice of theirs is not only needless being no where commanded by God but useless also and unprofitable Fifthly And not only so but very dangerous and impious because contrary to the Christian Religion and greatly derogating from the Vertue and Merit of Christ's Sacrafice and from the Honour of the only Mediator between God and Men. First I shall endeavour to shew that the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome in this Matter is contrary to the Doctrine of the Christian Religion concerning one only Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us namely in their Invocation of Angels and the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and flying to their Help and making use of their Mediation and Intercession with God for Sinners That Jesus Christ is our only Mediator and Intercessor with God in Heaven by whom we have access to God in any Action of Religious Worship and that all our Prayers and Services are to be offered up to God only by him and in his Name and Mediation and no other I have plainly shewed from Scripture and proved it by an invincible Argument taken likewise from Scripture namely because the Efficacy and Prevalency of his Mediation and Intercession is founded in the Vertue and Merit of his Sacrifice and that he is therefore the only Mediator between God and Men because he only gave himself a Ransom for all he is therefore our only Advocate with the Father because he only is the propitiation for our Sins and for the Sins of the whole World I have shewed likewise that the Scripture excludes Angels from being our Mediators with God from the main Scope and Design of the Epistle to the Colossians and much more are the Saints departed excluded from this Office being inferior to the Angels not only in the Dignity and Excellency of their Beings but very probably in the Degree of their Knowledge In short Prayer is a proper act of Religious Worship and therefore peculiar to God alone and we are commanded to Worship the Lord our God and to serve him only And no where in Scripture are we directed to address our Prayers and Supplications and Thanksgivings to any but God alone and only in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ Our Blessed Saviour himself hath taught us to put up all our Prayers to God our heavenly Father Luke 11.2 when you pray say Our Father which art in Heaven Which plainly shews to whom all our Prayers are to be address'd and unless we can call an Angel or the Blessed Virgin or a Saint Our Father we can pray to none of them And elsewhere he as plainly directs us by whom we are to apply our selves to God and in whose Name and Mediation we are to put up all our Requests to him John 14.6 I am the Way and the Truth and the Life no man cometh unto the Father but by me And then it follows Ver. 13 14. And whatsoever you shall ask in my name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son If ye shall ask any thing in my name I will do it Nothing is clearer in the whole Bible than one Mediator between God and Men Christ Jesus and that he is our only Advocate and Intercessor with God in Heaven for us Secondly I shall endeavour to shew That the Doctrine and Practice of the
Church of Rome in this matter is contrary to that of the Christian Church for several of the first Ages of it As for the Ages of the Apostles it hath been already proved out of their Writings That it was not practised in the three first Ages we have the Acknowledgment of Cardinal Perron and others of their learned Writers and they give a very remarkable Reason for it namely Because the Worship and Invocation of Saints and Angels and addressing our Prayers to God by them might have seem'd to have given Countenance to the Heathen Idolatry From whence I cannot forbear by the way to make these two Observations 1. That the Invocation of Saints and Angels and the Blessed Virgin and addressing our selves to God by their Mediation was not in those Primitive Ages esteemed a Duty of the Christian Religion because if it had it could not have been omitted for fear of the Scandal consequent upon it And if it was not a Duty then By what Authority or Law can it be made so since 2. That this Practice is very lyable to the Suspicion of Idolatry and surely every Christian cannot but think it fit that the Church of Christ should like a chast Spouse not only be free from the Crime but from all Suspicion of Idolatry And for the next Ages after the Apostles nothing is plainer than that both their Doctrine and Practice were contrary to the Doctrine and Practice of the present Church of Rome in this Matter The most ancient Fathers of the Christian Church do constanly define Prayer to be an address to God and therefore it cannot be made to any but God only And after the rise of Arianism they argued for the Divinity of Christ against the Arians from our Praying to him which Argument were of no force if Prayers might be made to any but God and this was in the beginning of the Fourth Age. And we no where find any mention of those Distinctions of Gods by Nature and Gods by Participation as Bellarmin calls the Angels and Saints or of a supream and inferior Religious Worship or of a Mediator of Redemption and a Mediator of Intercession which are so commonly made use of by the Church of Rome in this Controversie And which is as considerable as any of the rest the ancient Fathers were generally of Opinion that the Saints were not admitted to the Beatifick Vision till after the Day of Judgment and this is acknowledged by the most Learned of the Church of Rome But this very Opinion takes away the Foundation of Praying to Saints because the Church of Rome grounds it upon their Reigning with Christ in Heaven and upon the Light and Knowledge which is communicated to them in the Beatifick Vision and if so then they who believed the Saints not yet to be admitted to this Vision could have no Reason or Ground to pray to them And Lastly The ancient Church prayed for Saints departed and for the Blessed Virgin her self and therefore could not pray to them as Intercessors for them in Heaven for whom they themselves interceeded upon Earth And therefore the Church of Rome in complyance with the change which they have made in their Doctrine have changed the Missal in that Point and instead of praying for St. Leo one of their Popes as they were wont to do in their ancient Missal in this form Grant O Lord that this Oblation may be profitable to the Soul of thy Servant Leo the Collect is now changed in the present Roman Missal into this Form Grant O Lord that by the Intercession of Blessed Leo this Offering may be profitable to us And as the Gloss upon the Canon Law observes this change was made in their Missal upon very good Reason because anciently they prayed for Leo but now they pray to him which is an ingenuous Acknowledgement that both the Doctrine and Practice of their Church are plainly changed from what they anciently were in this matter What the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome are in this matter all the World sees and they themselves are so ashamed of them that of late all their endeavours have been to represent them otherwise than in truth they are and to obtrude upon us a new Popery which they think themselves better able to defend than the old which yet they have not shewn that they are so well able to do and therefore now instead of defending the true Doctrines and Practices of their own Church they would fain mince and disguise them and change them into something that comes nearer to the Protestant Doctrine in those Points As if they had no way to defend their own Doctrines but by seeming to desert them and by bringing them as near to ours as possibly they can But take them as they have mollified them and par'd them to render them more plausible and tenable that which still remains of them I mean the solemn Invocation of Saints and Angels as Mediators and Intercessors with God in Heaven for us is plainly contrary both to the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Ages of Christianity As for the Age of the Apostles I have already shewn it and the matter is as clear for several of the next following Ages as I shall briefly shew from a few very plain Testimonies In the Age next to the Apostles we have an Epistle of one of the Seven Churches I mean the Church of Smyrna in which in Vindication of themselves from that Calumny which was raised against them by the Jews among the Heathen That if they permitted the Christians to have the body of the martyred Polycarp they would leave Christ to worship Polycarp I say in vindication of themselves from this Calumny they declare themselves thus Not knowing say they that we can neither leave Christ who suffered for the Salvation of the World of those that are saved nor Worship any other or as it is in the old Latin Translation nor offer up the Supplication of Prayer to any other Person for as for Jesus Christ we adore him as being the Son of God but as for the Martyrs we love them as the Disciples and Imitators of the Lord. So that they plainly exclude the Saints from any sort of Religious Worship of which Prayer or Invocation was always esteemed a very considerable part Ireneus likewise tells us l. 2. That the Church doth nothing speaking of the Miracles which were wrought by the Invocatin of Angels nor by Inchantment nor by any other wicked Arts but by Prayers to the Lord who made all things and by calling on the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Here all invocation of Angels and by the same or greater Reason of the Saints is excluded And Clemens Alexandrinus delivers it as the Doctrine of the Church That since there is but one good God therefore both we and the Angels pray to him both for the giving and the continuance of good things In the next Age Origen is so full and express
of the Church of Rome I mean the School-men who cannot be content to be ignorant of any thing do assign of the Knowledge which the Saints in Heaven have of the Condition and Wants of men here below They tell us that they know all our Prayers and Wants in the Glass of the Deity or Trinity which Metaphor of the Glass of the Deity or Trinity if it have any meaning it must be this that the Saints in Heaven beholding the Face of God or the Divine Essence in which the Knowledge of all things is contained they may in that Glass see all things that God knows But then they spoil all this fine Speculation again by telling us that this Glass does not necessarily represent to them all that Knowledge which is in the Divine Mind but that it is a kind of voluntary Glass in which the Saints are only permitted to see so much as God pleaseth but how much that is they cannot tell us Which amounts to no more than this that the Saints in Heaven know as much of our Condition here upon Earth as God is pleased to reveal to them And if this be all it is as good a Reason why we should pray to good men in the East or West-Indies to pray for us and help us because they also know as much of our Necessities and Prayers as God thinks fit to reveal to them But if the Saints must have a Revelation from God of our Prayers before that they know that we pray to them then the shortest and surest way both is to pray to God and not to them or however as Bellarmine confesseth it were very fit to pray to God before every Prayer we make to the Saints that he would be pleased to reveal that Prayer to them that upon this Signal and Notice given them by God they may betake themselves to pray to God for us But unless it were very clear from Scripture that God had appointed this Method it is in Reason such a way about as no Man would take that could help it And it seems to me to as little purpose for why should not a Man think God as ready to grant him all his other Requests without the Mediation and Intercession of Saints as this one Request of revealing our Prayers and Wants to them And if this way be not thought so convenient I know but one more and that is to pray to the Saints to go to God and beg of him that he would be pleased to reveal to them our Spplications and Wants that they may know what to pray to him for in our behalf which is just such a wise course as if a Man should write a Letter to his Friend that cannot read and in a Postscript desire him that as soon as he hath received it he would carry it to one that can read and entreat him to read it to him Serm. VI. So that which way soever we put the Case what course soever we take in this Matter it will be so far from seeming Reasonable that we shall have much ado and must handle the business very tenderly to hinder it from appearing very Ridiculous Thus I have examined their chief Pretences from Scripture for the Countenancing this Doctrine and Practice and have shewn how little or rather nothing at all is there to be found for it and That alone is Reason enough against it though there were nothing in Scripture against it that there is nothing in Scripture for it But I have already produced clear Proof out of the New Testament against it And because they think the least shew and probability from Scripture a good Argument on their side I will offer them a probable Argument out of the Old Testament upon which though I will lay no absolute stress yet I believe it would puzzle them upon their Principles to give a clear Answer to it and it is from 2 Kings 2.9 where Elijah just before he was taken up into Heaven says to Elisha Ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee thereby intimating as one would think that then was the last Opportunity of asking any thing of him But if Elijah had understood the Matter right as the Church of Rome does now he should rather have directed him to have pray'd to him when he was in Heaven where he would have a more powerful Interest and be in a better Capacity to do him a Kindness For the Reason the Church of Rome gives why they did not pray to the Saints under the Old Testament namely because they were not then admitted into Heaven will not hold in the Case of Elijah who was taken up into Heaven Body and Soul and consequently in as good Circumstances to be prayed to as any of the Saints and Martyrs that have gone to Heaven since I should now have proceeded in the Fifth and last place to have shewen That this Practice is not only Needless and Vseless but very Dangerous and Impious because contrary to the Christian Religion and greatly derogating from the Merit and Virtue of Christ's Sacrifice and from the Honour of the only Mediator between God and Men Christ Jesus And indeed how can we apply our selves to any other Mediators and Intercessors with God in Heaven for us without a gross and apparent Contempt of the High Priest of our Profession Jesus the Son of God As if we either distrusted his Kindness and Affection or his Power and Interest in Heaven to obtain at God's hand all those Blessings which we stand in need of The Apostle to the Hebrews tells us expresly that he is able to save to the utmost all those that come to God by him that is who address their Prayers and Supplications to God in his Name and Mediation But if we will chuse other Mediators for our selves of whom we are not sure that they can either hear or help us we may fall short of that Salvation which the Apostle tells us we are secure of by the Mediation of Jesus Christ for he is able c. But this hath been shewn so abundantly in the former part of this Discourse and is so clearly consequent from the whole that I shall here conclude my Discourse upon the Second Proposition I laid down from the words of my Text viz. That there is but one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus As to the Third Proposition contained in the Text viz. That this one Mediator Jesus Christ gave himself a Ransom for all I have treated on that Subject particularly on another * A Sermon concerning the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ Printed in the year 1693. Occasion And as to the Fourth and last Proposition viz. That the Mediation or Intercession of Jesus Christ is founded in his Redemption of Mankind and because he gave himself a Ransom for all therefore He and He only is qualified to Intercede for all men in vertue of that Sacrifice which he offered for the
of any Religion that ever yet appeared in the World And this is a great Advantage indeed But by this alone it could never have been able to have broken through all that mighty Opposition and Resistance which was made against it and therefore that it might be able to encounter this with Success 2. God was pleased to accompany the first Preaching of it with a mighty and sensible Presence and Power of his Spirit And this brings me to the Second Part of the Text the Reason of the wonderful Efficacy and Success which the Apostles had in the Preaching of the Gospel the Lord wrought with them and confirmed the Word with signs following Which words express to us that Miraculous Power of the Holy Ghost which accompanied the first Preaching of the Gospel by which I do not intend to exclude the inward Operation of God's Holy Spirit upon the Minds of Men secretly moving and inclining those to whom the Gospel was Preached to embrace and entertain it which the Scripture elsewhere speaks frequently of and may possibly be intended in the first of these Expressions the Lord working with them and the latter may only be meant of the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit with regard to which God is said to confirm the Word with signs following or accompanying it But I rather think they are both intended to express the same thing and that the latter is only added by way of explication of the former to shew more particularly how the Lord wrought with them namely by giving Confirmation to their Doctrine by those miraculous Gifts and Powers of the Spirit which they were endowed withal the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following that is with those Miracles which accompanied the first Preaching of the Gospel For these words do plainly refer to the Promise of the Spirit at the 17th verse and these signs shall follow them that believe which is the Reason why they are here call'd signs following that is Miracles which accompanied the Word that was Preached And that this is the full meaning of this Text will appear by comparing it with one or two more Rom. 15.18 19. where St. Paul speaking of the things which Christ had wrought by him to make the Gentiles obedient to the Gospel he says they were done through mighty signs and wonders by the Power of the Spirit of God which is the same with that which is said here in the Text of the Lord 's working with the Apostles and confirming the Word with signs following So likewise Heb. 2.3 4. the Apostle there tells us that the Gospel which was first spoken by the Lord was confirmed by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost So that the great Confirmation which is said here to be given to the Gospel was by the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit which were poured forth upon the Apostles and Primitive Christians In speaking of which I shall briefly do these Two things I. Give an account of the Nature of these Gifts and of the Vse and End to which they served And then shew in the II. Place how the Gospel was Confirmed by them I. For the Nature of these Gifts and the Vse and End to which they were designed They are those Miraculous Powers which by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the day of Pentecost the Apostles were endowed withall to qualifie them to Publish the Gospel with more speed and success Such was the Gift of speaking divers Languages and the Gift of Interpreting things spoken in divers Languages And these Two Gifts were not necessarily united in the same Person for the Apostle tells us that some had the one and some the others the Gift of Prophecy and foretelling things to come which was always a sign of a Person Divinely Inspired the Miraculous Powers of Healing Diseases of Raising the Dead and of Casting out Devils a Power of inflicting Corporal Diseases and Punishments upon scandalous and obstinate Christians who would not submit to the Apostles Authority and Government which is in Scripture call'd a delivering up to Satan for the destruction or tormenting of the Body that the Soul may be saved nay in some cases this Power extended to the inflicting of Death it self as in the case of Ananias and Saphira Not that all these Miraculous Powers were given to every one of the Apostles or that they could exercise them at all times some were bestowed upon one and some upon another according to God's good pleasure and as was most expedient for the Vse and Benefit of the Church and most subservient to those Ends for which God gave them only we find that all the Apostles had the Gift of Tongues and that the Power of Casting out Devils in the name of Christ was common to every Christian and continued in the Church for a long time after the other Gifts were ceased as Tertul. Arnob. and Min. Felix do testifie even of their own times But II. I shall briefly shew how the Gospel was Confirmed by these Miraculous Gifts Now besides the particular Vses and Ends of those Miraculous Gifts as the Gift of Tongues did evidently serve for the more speedy Planting and Propagating of the Christian Religion in the World and the Power of inflicting Corporeal Punishments in a Miraculous manner upon Scandalous and Disobedient Christians did maintain the Power and Authority of the Apostles and was instead of an ordinary Magistratical Power which Christians were destitute of whilst the Roman Empire continued Heathen I say besides the particular Ends and Vses of all these Miraculous Gifts they did all in general as they were Miracles serve for the Confirmation of the Gospel The Apostles delivered the Doctrine of Christ and were Witnesses of his Resurrection from the dead as the great Miracle whereby his Doctrine was confirmed now there was all the Reason in the World to believe them whom God was pleased to give such a Testimony from Heaven for who could make any doubt of the Truth of Their Testimony concerning the Resurrection of Christ who were enabled to raise others from the dead and by many other wonderful things which they did gave such clear Testimony that God was with them Never had any Religion fewer worldly Advantages to recommend it and so little temporal Countenance and Assistance to carry it on but what it wanted from Men it had from God for he gave witness to it with signs and wonders and divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost God seems on purpose to have stript it of all Secular Advantages that the Christian Religion might be perfectly free from all suspition of Worldly Interest and Design and that it might not owe its Establishment in the World to the Wisdom and Contrivance of Men but to the Arm and Power of God The Inferences I shall at present make from this Discourse shall be these I. To give
us from the first Spring and Original of Mankind of which general Consent and Tradition it is one of the hardest things in the World to assign any good Reason if the Things themselves were not true Therefore I shall not go about to force my way into this Argument concerning the Existence of Spirits and Beings distinct from Matter by dint of dispute which perhaps would neither be so proper nor so profitable for this Assembly but shall take the thing as I find it received by a general Consent of Mankind And so the Books of Divine Revelation do Nor was there Reason to proceed in any other method than to suppose these things and take them for granted as generally assented to by Mankind without either asserting them for new Discoveries or attempting to prove what was so universally believed The Scriptures indeed have more particularly declared the Nature of these Spirits as also their Order and Employment as in the words which I have read to you where the Office and Employment of Good Angels is more particularly discovered Serm. VI. Are they not all says the Text ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation The Author of this Epistle to the Hebrews having had occasion in comparing the two Dispensations of the Law and the Gospel to speak of the Angels by whose Ministry the Law was given did not think fit to entertain those to whom he wrote with any nice and curious Speculations for School Divinity was not then in fashion about the Nature and Order of Angels but tells us what it concerns us more to know namely what their Office and Employment is in regard to us Concerning their Nature he only tell us that they are Spirits as to their Office and Employment he says in general that they are Ministring Spirits that is that they stand before God to attend upon him ready to receive his Commands and to execute his Pleasure more particularly that they are upon occasion appointed and sent forth by God to minister on the behalf and to do good Offices for them that shall be heirs of salvation Which last words are a description of pious and good Men such as had sincerely embraced the Christian Religion and were thereby become the Children of God and Heirs of Eternal Salvation So that these words are a brief Summary of the Doctrine of Good Angels and of what the Scripture has thought fit to reveal to us concerning them Which may be referred to these Three Heads First Their Nature Are they not Spirits Secondly Their general Office and Employment Are they not Ministring Spirits Thirdly Their special Office and Employment in regard to good Men they are sent forth to minister for them that is in their behalf and for their benefit who shall be heirs of salvation And this is as much as is necessary for us to know concerning them and all this is very agreeable to the general Apprehension of Mankind but the Scripture hath very much cleared and confirmed to us that which was more obscure and less certain before I shall briefly explain and illustrate these Three Heads and then draw some useful Inferences from the whole First For their Nature they are Spirits This is universally agreed by all that acknowledge such an Order of Beings that they are Spirits But whether they are pure Spirits devested of Matter and all kind of corporeal Vehicle as the Philosophers term it hath been a great Controversie but I think of no great Moment and Consequence Not only the ancient Philosophers but some of the ancient Christian Fathers did believe Angels to be cloathed with some kind of Bodies consisting of the purest and finest Matter which they call Aetherial And this Opinion seems to be grounded upon a pious Belief that it is the peculiar Excellency and Prerogative of the Divine Nature to be a pure and simple Spirit wholly separate from Matter But the more current Opinion of the Christian Church especially of later times hath been that Angels are mere and pure Spirits without any thing that is Material and Corporeal belonging to them but yet so that they have a Power to assume thin and airy Bodies and can when they please appear in Humane Shape as they are frequently in Scripture said to have done And this seems most agreeable to the Scripture Account of them tho' I think it is no necessary Article of Faith either to believe that they are cloathed with some kind of Bodies or that they are wholly devested of Matter But however this be they are described in Scripture to be endowed with great Excellencies and Perfections they are said to excell in strength Psal 103.20 and in Knowledge and Wisdom Hence are those Expressions of being as an Angel of God to discern good and bad 2 Sam. 14.17 Wise according to the wisdom of an Angel v. 20. To be of great Activity and Swiftness in their Motions hence it is that they are represented in Scripture as full of wings and to excel in purity and holiness hence is that Title given them in Scripture of the Holy Angels This is the Summ of what the Scripture hath in several places delivered to us concerning the Nature and Properties of good Angels and beyond this all our Kowledge of them is mere Conjecture and Uncertainty and the nice Speculations concerning them idle and wanton Curiosities Indeed the Scripture gives sufficient intimation of several Ranks and Orders among them by calling Michael an Archangel and Chief Prince and by distingushing them by the names of Principalities and Powers and Thrones and Dominions But what the difference of these Names import though some have attempted to explain yet I do not find that they have discovered any thing to us besides their own Ignorance and Arogance in pretending to be wise above what is written intruding into those things which they have not seen being vainly puft up in their fleshly minds as the Apostle censures some in his time Secondly We have here their general Office and Employment they are ministring Spirits they are as I may say domestick Servants and constant Attendants upon that great and glorious King whose Throne is in the Heavens and whose Kingdom ruleth over all they stand continually before him to behold his face expecting his Commands and in a constant readiness to do his Will For tho' the Omnipotence of God and his perfect Power of acting be such that he can do all things immediately by himself whatever he pleaseth in Heaven and in Earth can govern the World and steer the Affairs of it and turn them which way he thinks best by the least nod and beck of his Will without any Instruments or Ministers of his Pleasure yet his Wisdom and Goodness has thought fit to honour his Creatures especially this higher and more perfect Rank of Beings with his Commands and to make them according to their several Degrees and Capacities the ordinary Ministers of his Affairs in the
God both in the Old and New Testament But yet I am sensible that all this is no Conviction to the perverse and contentious Men will not believe even the Evidence of Sense it self when they are strongly prepossess'd and prejudiced to the contrary For do we not see great numbers of Men even so many as have the face to call themselves the Catholick Church that can make a shift when they have a mind either to believe or disbelieve things contrary to the plainest Evidence of their Senses All that I shall say further about this matter is that this Doctrine of Angels is not a peculiar Doctrine either of the Jewish or Christian Religion but the general Doctrine of all Religions that ever were and therefore cannot be objected against by any but the Atheists And yet after all I know not whence it comes to pass that this great Truth which is so comfortable to Mankind is so very little considered by us Perhaps the Corruption of so great a part of the Christian Church in the point of the Worship of Angels may have run us so far into the other extream as scarcely to acknowledge any Benefit we receive by them But surely we may believe they do us good without any Obligation to pray to them and may own them as the Ministers of God's Providence without making them the Objects of our Worship I confess it seems to me a very odd thing that the Power of the Devil and his Influence upon Men and the particular Vigilancy and Activity of Evil Spirits to tempt us to Sin should be so readily owned and so sensibly talkt of among Christians and yet the Assistance of good Angels should be so little taken notice of and considered by us The Scripture speaks plainly of both and the Reasons for believing both are equal For God forbid but that good Angels should be as officious and forward to do us good as the Devil and his Angels are malicious and busie to do us Mischief And indeed it would be very hard with Mankind if we had not as much Reason to Hope for the Assistance and Protection of good Spirits as we have cause to Fear the Malice and Fury of the bad Good Angels are certainly as Powerful and have as strong a Propension and Inclination to do good as the Devil has to do harm and the Number of good Angels is probably much greater than of Evil Spirits The biggest Number that are used in Scripture are applied to good Angels Dan. 7.10 it is said of the Angels about God's Throne that thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him And Revelations 5.11 the number of them is said to be ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands And the Apostle to the Hebrews ch 12.22 calls them an innumerable company of Angels What then should be the Reason that Men should be so apt to own the Snares and Temptations which the Devil lays before us in all our ways but take so little notice of the Attendance and good Offices done to us by good Spirits I can imagine but these Two Reasons and I am sorry I can find no better That we are more mindful of Injuries than of Benefits and are glad to take in others for the excuse of our Faults but are loth any should come in for a share in the Good that is done by us And yet methinks it should be a very comfortable Consideration to us against the Enmity and Cunning of the Devil and his Angels that the Holy Angels of God are as Intent and Industrious to do us good and to help forward our Salvation as Evil Spirits can be to work our ruin and destroy us Secondly We should with great thankfulness acknowledge the great Goodness of God to us who takes such Care of us as to appoint his Angels and to give them particular Commission and Charge concerning us to protect and assist us in all our ways and especially to promote the great Concernment of our Eternal Happiness And that not only some particular and inferiour Spirits but the Chief Ministers of this great King of the World those that stand in his Presence and behold his face and not a few of these but the whole Order of them are imployed about us So the Apostle seems to say by the Question which he puts in the Text Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister That is all at one time or other And though they be principally appointed to minister to us in order to our Salvation yet we have no Reason to doubt but God imploys them many times for our Temporal Safety and makes use of them more especially in those great Revolutions in which his Cause and Religion are more immediatly concern'd In such a Case it is not at all incredible that God should give his Angels a particular Charge concerning those that fight his Battels to pitch about their Camps and secretly to assist them against their Enemies and to ward off and put by many dangerous blows and thrusts which are made at them and wonderfully to preserve them when the Instruments of death fly about them and do execution on every side of them To what can we ascribe such and so many remarkable Deliverances of a Person upon whom so much depends but either to the immediate hand of God or to the Ministry of Angels And where God is provided so abundantly with such powerful Beings and Ministers of his Will though they may be invisible to us yet there is great Reason to believe that he very seldom works without them And now what an astonishing Regard is this which the great God is pleased to have for the Sons of Men that he should make the whole Creation serviceable to us not only the visible Creation for the support of our Bodies and the diversion of our Minds but even the noblest of all his Creatures the great and glorious Inhabitants of the invisible World mightily surpassing us mortal Men in the simplicity and purity of their Nature in the quickness and largeness of their Understandings and in their Power and Vigour of Acting I say that God should give these excellent and glorious Beings the Charge over us and send them forth to Minister to us for the Safeguard of our Persons for the success of our Affairs and for the Security and Furtherance of our eternal Salvation Lord what is man that thou art thus mindful of him that when thou madest him lower than the Angels thou shouldest yet make the Angels to minister unto him Thirdly If the Angels have particular Charge of good Men we should take heed how we despise or be any way injurious to them For how despicable so ever they may appear to us they are certainly very dear to God since he deems them so considerable is to employ his Chief Ministers about them and to commit the Charge of them to those who by their Office do more immediately
into Whence it comes to pass that Good Men are frequently defrauded of their due Praise and Reputation while alive I proceed to the Second Enquiry namely What Security Good Men have of a Good Name after Death And the true Account of this is to be given partly from the Providence of God and partly from the Nature of the Thing 1. From the Providence of God which is concerned herein upon a twofold account 1. In respect of the Equity of it 2. In regard of the Example of it 1. In respect of the Equity of it God who will not be behind-hand with any Man concerns himself to secure to Good Men the proper Reward of their Piety and Virtue Now Praise is one of the most proper Recompences of good and virtuous Actions this Good Men seldom meet with in this life without a great deal of allay and abatement and therefore the Providence of God hath so ordered thing that it should come in the properest Season when our Work is done and when we are out of the Danger of the Temptation of it 2. In regard of the Example of it It is a great Argument to Virtue and an encouragement to Men to act their Part well to see Good Men applauded when they go off the Stage Every Man that hath any spark of Generosity in him is desirous of Fame and tho' Men care not how soon it comes yet they will be glad to have it after Death rather than not at all Piety and Virtue would be but very melancholy and uncomfortable things if they should always be so unfortunate as never to meet with due Esteem and Approbation but when Men are assured that they shall have this Reward one time or other and observe it to be so in experience this is a great Spur and Encouragement to do virtuously And a great Mind that hath a just sense of Reputation and a good Name will be content to lay in for it beforehand and patiently to wait the time which God knows fittest for the bestowing of it 2. The other part of the Account of this Truth is to be given from the Nature of the Thing Because Death removes and takes away the chief Obstacle of a Good Man's Reputation For then his Defects are out of sight and Men are contented that his Imperfections should be buried in his Grave with him Death hath put him out of the reach of Malice and Envy his Worth and Excellency does now no longer stand in other mens light his great Virtues are at a distance and not so apt to be brought into Comparison to the prejudice and disadvantage of the living mortui non mordent The Example of the dead is not so cutting a reproof to the Vice of the living the Good Man is removed out of the way and his Example how bright soever is not so scorching and troublesom at a distance and therefore Men are generally contented to give him his due Character Besides that there is a certain Civility in Humane Nature which will not suffer Men to wrong the dead and to deny them the just commendation of their worth Even the Scribes and Pharisees as bad a sort of Men as we can well imagine though they were just like their Fathers in persecuting and slaying the Prophets while they were alive yet had they a mighty Veneration for their Piety and Virtue after they were dead and thought no Honour too great to be done to them They would be at the Charge of raising Monuments to the Memory of those Good Men whom their Fathers had slain and whom they would certainly have used in the very same manner had they either lived in the days of those Prophets or those Prophets had lived in their days as our Saviour plainly told them All that now remains is to draw some Inferences from what hath been said by way of Application and they shall be these Three 1. To vindicate the Honour and Respect which the Christian Church for many Ages hath paid to the Memory of the first Teachers and Martyrs of our Religion 2. To encourage us to Piety and Goodness from this Consideration that the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance 3. That when we pretend to honour the Memory of Good Men we would be careful to imitate their Holiness and Virtue 1. To vindicate the Honour which the Christian Church hath for many Ages done to the first Teachers and Martyrs of our Religion I mean more especially to the Holy Apostles of our Lord and Saviour to whose Honour the Christian Church hath thought fit to set apart Solemn Times for the Commemoration of their Piety and Suffering and to stir up others to the imitation of them This certainly can with no good colour either from Scripture or Reason be pretended to be unlawful and when David here says the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance he cannot certainly be thought to exclude the most solemn Way of commemorating their Piety and Virtue I do not pretend this Custom can be derived from the very first Ages of Christianity but surely it is sufficient for the lawfulness of it that it is no where forbidden nay it is rather required here in the Text the best way to preserve the Memory of Good Men being thus to commemorate them And it may be of great Use to us if it be not our own fault the setting before our eyes the holy lives of Excellent Men being in its own nature apt to excite us to the Imitation of them Besides that I could tell you that though this cannot be proved so ancient as some vainly pretend yet it is of great Antiquity in the Church and did begin in some of the best Ages of Christianity Memoriae Martyrum the Meetings of Christians at the Tombs of the Martyrs was practised long before the degeneracy of the Western Church and the Christians were wont at those Meetings solemnly to commemorate the Faith and Constancy of those Good Men and to encourage themselves from their Examples I know very well that this did in time degenerate into gross Superstition which afterward gave colour and occasion to that gross and Idolatrous Practice in the Church of Rome of Worshipping Saints But this Abuse is no sufficient Reason for us to give over the Celebrating of the Memory of such holy Men as the Apostles and Martyrs of Christ were and propounding them to our selves for our Patterns We may still lawfully give them their due Honour tho' the Church of Rome hath so over-done it as to rob God of his 2. Let this Consideration that the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance be an encouragement to us to Piety and Goodness This to a generous Nature that is sensible of Honour and Reputation is no small Reward and Encouragement Before the Happiness of Heaven was clearly revealed and life and immortality brought to light by the Gospel one of the greatest Motives to worthy and virtuous Deeds was the earnest desire which Men had of
the Infirmities yet he was free from the Corruption of Humane Nature therefore the Examples of meer Men liable to sin as we are may in many respects be more suitable and accomodate to encourage us to the imitation of those Virtues which are attainable by us in this state of Imperfection for which Reason the Apostle hath thought fit likewise to propose to us the highest Examples of that kind the first Teachers of our Religion for of these he seems to speak here in the Text namely those Apostles or Apostolical Men by whom they had been instructed in the Faith of Christ but who were now departed this life it being very probable that the Apostle here speaks of such as were dead when he says Remember them which have the rule over you or those that have been your Guides who have spoken to you the word of God whose Faith follow considering the end of their conversation I say this is very probable because he minds them to remember them which supposeth them to be absent but especially because he minds them to consider the end of their conversation by which surely he means the Blessed State of those Good Men after Death which is elsewhere called the end of our faith even the salvation of our souls 1 Pet. 1.9 So likewise Rom. 6.22 this is said to be the End of a holy Life ye have your fruit unto holiness and the End everlasting life And it very much favours this Interpretation that the Apostle afterwards speaks of the living Guides and Governours of the Church v. 17. Obey them which have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls So that it is highly probable that the Apostle here speaks of such Guides and Governours of the Church as had once been over them but were now departed this Life and therefore he might with more freedom and less envy recommend their Example to them and bid them call to mind their Faith and exemplary Conversation among them and propose it for a Pattern to themselves considering the happy End of it viz. The Blessed State they were now in and the Glorious Reward they were made Partakers of in another Life In the Words thus explained you have I. A Duty enjoyned which is to propose to our selves for our Imitation the Examples of Good Men that have gone before us especially the primitive Patterns of Christianity and the first Teachers of our Religion Remember them which have been your Guides and have spoken to you the Word of God whose Faith follow II. The Motive or Encouragement to it from the Consideration of the Reward of it Considering the End of their Conversation I. The Duty enjoyned which is to propose to our selves for our Imitation the Example of Good Men that have gone before us especially the Primitive Patterns of Christianity and first Teachers of our Religion Remember them that have had the rule over you that have been your Guides and have spoken to you the word of God whose Faith follow In which Words the Apostle bids them call to mind their first Guides and Instructors in Christianity whom they had known and heard and conversed with in this World but who were now rested from their labours and were receiving the Reward of them to remember the Doctrines they heard from them and the Virtues they had seen in them and to embrace the one and imitate the other Thus We cannot remember the Primitive Teachers and Patterns of Christianity the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour became we did not personally know them and converse with them living at the distance of many Ages from their time But we may do that which is equivalent and a kind of Remembrance of them we may commemorate their Faith and the Virtue and Holiness of their Lives and what we hear and read of them we may propose for Patterns to our selves and copy them out in our Lives and Actions And this is our Duty and the same in substance with theirs who had the happiness to know and converse with those excellent Persons to hear them Preach and to see the Rules and Precepts of that Holy Doctrine which they Taught exemplified in their Lives In the handling of this Argument I shall do these Three things First Shew why amongst all the Examples of Good Men we should more especially propose to our Imitation the Primitive Teachers and Patterns of our Religion Secondly Wherein we should Imitate them The Apostle expresseth it in one Word in their Faith whose Faith follow Thirdly The Encouragement to this from the Consideration of the happy State they are in and the glorious Reward they are made Partakers of Considering the End of their Conversation First I shall endeavour to shew why among all the Examples of Good Men we should more especially propose to our Imitation the Primitive Teachers and Patterns of our Religion I mean the holy Apostles of our Lord and Saviour whose Faith we should endeavour to follow and to Imitate the holiness and virtue of their Conversation For These certainly come nearest to that most Perfect and Excellent Pattern of all Goodness our Blessed Saviour and are the fairest Transcripts of that unblemisht Original Hence it is that St. Paul so frequently exhorts Christians to Imitate his Example and the Examples of the other Apostles it being reasonable to presume that They came nearest to the Pattern of our Lord. 1 Cor. 11.1 Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ Phil. 3.17 Brethren be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an Ensample For our Conversation is in Heaven And this is reasonable that the first in every kind should be the Rule and Pattern of the rest and of all that follow after because it is likely to be most perfect In process of Time the best Institutions are apt to decline and by insensible degrees to swerve and depart from the Perfection of their first state and therefore it is a good Rule to preserve things from corruption and degeneracy often to look back to the first Institution and by that to correct those Imperfections and Errors which will almost unavoidably creep in with Time If we would preserve that Purity of Faith and Manners which our Religion requires we should have frequent recourse to the Primitive Teachers and Patterns of Christianity and endeavour to bring our Belief and Lives to as near a Conformity with theirs as is possible Who so likely to deliver the Faith and Doctrine of Christ pure and uncorrupted as the Primitive Teachers of it who received it from our Lord himself and were by an extraordinary assistance of the Holy Spirit secured from Error and Mistake in the delivery of it And who so likely to bring their Lives and Conversations to an exact Conformity with this holy Doctrine as they who were so throughly Instructed in it by the best Master and shewn the Practice of it in the most perfect Example
necessary if we expect the Crown of Life and hope for the same happy End which they had for none but they that continue to the end shall be saved 4. We should imitate them in the efficacy and fruitfulness of their Faith in the Practice and Virtues of a good Life Whose faith follow considering the end of their Conversation that is their Perseverance in a holy Course to the end And these must never be separated a sound Faith and a good Life Without this our Faith is barren and dead as St. James tells us ch 2. v. 17. Our Knowledge and Belief of the Christian Doctrine must manifest it self in a good Conversation Who is a wise man says the same St. James ch 3. v. 13. Who is a wise man and endowed with knowledge amongst you Let him shew-out of a good conversation his works This is a faithful saying saith St. Paul to Titus ch 3. v. 8. and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they who have believed in God be careful to maintain good works And herein the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour were eminent Examples They lived as they Taught and Practised the Doctrine which they Preached So St. Paul strictly chargeth Timothy 1 Tim. 4.12 Be thou an example of the Believers in word in conversation in charity in faith in purity And our Saviour tells us that hereby chiefly false Prophets and Teachers might be known from the true Apostles of Christ Matth. 7.20 By their fruits ye shall know them And indeed we do not follow the faith of those Excellent Persons if we do not abound in all the fruits of righteousness which by Jesus Christ are to the praise and glory of God I come now to the Third and Last Thing I Proposed viz. the Encouragement to this from the Consideration of the happy state of those Persons who are proposed to us for Patterns and the glorious Reward which they are made Partakers of in another World Considering the end of their Conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their egress or departure out of this Life into a Blessed and Glorious State where they have received the Crown and Reward of their Faith and Patience and Pious Conversation in this World or else which comes much to one considering the conclusion of their Lives with what Patience and Comfort they left the World and with what joyful Assurance of the happy Condition they were going to and were to continue in for ever And this is a great encouragement to Constancy and Perseverance in Faith and Holiness to see with what Chearfulness and Comfort good Men die and with what a firm and steady Perswasion of the Happiness they are entring upon For who would not be glad to leave the World in that Calmness and Serenity of Mind and comfortable Assurance of a Blessed Eternity Bad Men wish this and are ready to say with Balaam Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his But if we would have the Comfort of such a Death we must live such Lives and imitate the Faith and good Conversation of those whom we desire to resemble in the manner of their Death and to go into the same Happy State that they are in after Death If we do not make their Lives our Pattern we must not expect to be conformable to to them in the happy Manner of their Death When we hear of the Death of an eminent good Man we do not doubt but he is happy and are confident that he will meet with the Reward of his Piety and Goodness in another World If we believe this of him let us endeavour to be like him that we may attain the same Happiness which we believe him to be possest of and as the Apostle exhorts ch 6.12 Let us not be slothful but followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Let us shew the same Diligence that they did that we may have the same full Assurance of Hope unto the End which they had The Inference from this Discourse which I have made upon this Argument is to shew what Use we ought to make of these excellent Examples which are set before us of the first Founders and Teachers of our Religion and what is the proper Honour and Respect which we ought to pay to their Memory Not Invocation and Adoration but a zealous Imitation of their Faith and good Conversation The greatest Honour we can do them the most acceptable to God the most grateful to them and the most beneficial to our selves is to endeavour to be like them Not to make any Images and Likeness of them to fall down before them and worship them but to Form the Image of their Faith and Virtues upon our Hearts and Lives Not to Pray to them but to Praise God for such bright and glorious Examples and to endeavour with all our Might to imitate their Faith and Patience and Piety and Humility and Meekness and Charity and all those other Virtues which were so resplendent in them And this is to remember the Founders of our Religion as we ought to follow their Faith and to consider the end of their Conversation Had the Christian Religion required or intended any such thing as of latter Times hath been practised in the World it had been as easy for the Apostle to have said Remember them that have been your Guids and have spoken to you the Word of God to erect Images to them and to worship them with due Veneration and to pray to them and make use of their Intercession But no such thing is said or the least Intimation given of it either in this Text or any other in the whole Bible but very much to the contrary Their Example indeed is frequently recommended to us for our Imitation and Encouragement and for this Reason the Providence of God hath taken particular Care that the Memory of the Apostles and so many primitive Christians and Martyrs should be transmitted to Posterity that Christians in all succeeding Ages might propound these Patterns to themselves and have perpetually before their Eyes the Piety and Virtue of their Lives and their patient and constant Sufferings for the Truth that when God shall please to call us to the like Tryal we may not be wearied and faint in our Minds but being compassed about with such a Cloud of Witnesses having so many Examples in our Eye of those who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises and do now as it were look down from their happy State upon us here below who are combating with manifold Temptations to see how we behave and acquit our selves in our Christian Course we may take encouragement to our selves from such Examples and such Spectators to run with Patience the Race which is set before us I know indeed that other Use than this hath been and is at this Day made of the Memory of the Saints and Martyrs of former Ages very dishonourable to God and
are the very same in Sense If we be dead with him that is if we lay down our lives for the Testimony of the Truth as he did we shall also live with him that is we shall in like manner be made Partakers of Immortality as he is If we suffer or endure as he did we shall also reign with him in Glory The other Sentence is Matter of Terrour to those who deny him and his Truth If we deny him he also will deny us to which is subjoyned another Saying much to the same Sense if we believe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we be unfaithful yet he remaineth faithful he cannot deny himself that is he will be as good as his word and make good that Solemn Threatning which he hath denounced against those who shall for fear of Suffering deny him and his Truth The Words being thus explained I shall begin with the First Part of this remarkable Saying If we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reign with him This it seems was a noted Saying among Christians and whether they had it by Tradition of our Saviour or whether it was in familiar use among the Apostles as a very proper and powerful Argument to keep Christians stedfast to their Religion I cannot determine It is certain that Sayings to this Sense are very frequent especially in the Epistles of St. Paul Rom. 6.5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection and Verse 8. Now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him 2 Cor. 4.10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of our Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body and Verse 18. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh and Rom. 8.17 If so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together Phil. 3.10 11. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made comfortable unto his death If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead 1. Pet. 4.12 13. Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as tho' some strange thing happened unto you but rejoyce in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy You see that the Sense of this Saying was in frequent use among the Apostles as a powerful Argument to Encourage Christians to Constancy in their Religion notwithstanding the Dangers and Sufferings which attended it This is a faithful saying If we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reign with him And the Force of this Argument will best appear by taking into consideration these Two things I. What Virtue there is in a firm Belief and Persuasion of a Blessed Immortality in another World to support and bear up Mens Spirits under the greatest Sufferings for Righteousness sake and even to animate them if God shall call them to it to lay down their Lives for their Religion II. How it may be made out to be reasonable for Men to Embrace and Voluntarily to submit to Present and Grievous Sufferings in Hopes of a Future Happiness and Reward concerning which we have not nor perhaps are capable of having the same degree of Certainty and Assurance which we have of the Evils and Sufferings of this present Life I. What Virtue there is in a firm Belief and Persuasion of a blessed Immortality in another World to support and bear up Mens Spirits under the greatest Sufferings for Righteousness sake and even to animate them if God should call them to it to lay down their Lives for their Religion If Men do firmly believe that they shall change this Temporal and Miserable Life for an Endless State of Happiness and Glory and that they shall meet with a Reward of their Sufferings infinitely beyond the proportion of them both in the Weight and Duration of it this must needs turn the Scales on that side on which there is the greatest Weight And there is a sufficient ground for a firm Belief of this For if any thing can certainly be concluded from the Providence of God this may That Good Men shall be happy one time or other And because they are very often great Sufferers in this Life that there is another State remains for them after this Life wherein they shall meet with a full Reward of all their Sufferings for Righteousness sake But besides the Reasonableness of this from the consideration of God's Providence we have now a clear and express Revelation of it life and immortality being brought to light by the Gospel This St. John tells us is the great Promise of the Gospel 1 John 2.25 This is the promise which he hath promised us even eternal life And this Promise our Saviour most expresly makes to those who Suffer for him Mat. 5.10 11 12. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falslly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven Mark 10.29 Verily I say unto you there is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the Gospel's but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time with persecutions that is so far as a State of Persecution would admit and in the world to come eternal life And if such a Perswasion be firmly fixt in our Minds the Faith of another World and the assured Hope of Eternal Life and Happiness must needs have a mighty force and Efficacy upon the Minds of Sober and Considerate Men because there is no proportion between Suffering for a little while and being Unspeakably and Etternally happy So St. Paul tells us he calculated the matter Rom. 8.18 I reckon says he that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us The vast disproportion between the Sufferings of a few Days and the Joys and Glory of Eternity when it is once firmly believed by us will weigh down all the Evils and Calamities of this World and give us Courage and Constancy under them For why should we faint if we believe that our light affliction which is but for a moment will work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory As the same St. Paul assures us 2 Cor. 4.17 If our Minds be but throughly possest with the hopes of a Resurrection to a Better and
he remains faithful who hath threatned and cannot deny himself This is matter of great Terror and seriously to be thought upon by those who are tempted to deny Christ and his Truth either by the hope of worldly Advantage or the fear of temporal Sufferings What worldly Advantage can we propose to our selves by quitting our Religion which can be thought an equal Price for the loss of our immortal Souls and of the Happiness of all Eternity Suppose the whole World were offered us in consideration yet what is a man profited if he should gain the whole world and lose his own Soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul as our Saviour Reasons Matt. 16.26 And on the other hand if the fear of Temporal Suffering be such a Terror to Men as to shake their Constancy in Religion and to tempt them to renounce it the fear of Eternal Torments ought to be much more Powerful to keep them stedfast to their Religion and to deter them from the denial of it If Fear will move us then in all Reason that which is most Terrible ought to prevail most with us and the greatest Danger should be most dreaded by us according to our Saviour's most Friendly and Reasonable Advice Luke 12.4 5. I say unto you my friends be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that have no more that they can do But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear Fear him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him If there can be no doubt which of them is most to be dreaded there can be no doubt what we are to do in case of such a Temptation I shall now draw some Inferences from this Discourse by way of Application First If this be a faithful saying that if we be dead with Christ we shall also live with him if we suffer we shall also reign with him but if we deny him he will also deny us The Belief of it ought to have a mighty influence upon us to make us stedfast and unmoveable in the Profession and Practice of our Holy Religion This Inference the Apostle makes from the Doctrine of a Blessed Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.58 Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. If any thing will fix Men in the Profession of their Religion and make them serious in the Practice of it the Belief of a Glorious Resurrection and of the Reward which God will then give to his Faithful Servants must needs have a very powerful Influence upon them to this purpose Upon the same ground the Apostle to the Hebrews exhorts them to hold fast the Profession of their Faith without wavering because he is faithful that hath promised If we be constant in the Profession and Practice of our Holy Religion God will be faithful to the Promise which he hath made of Eternal Life to those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality If under the dark and imperfect Dispensation of the Law Good Men shewed so much Courage and Constancy for God and Religion as we read in that long Catalogue of Heroes Heb. 11. How much more should Christians whose Faith is supported much more strongly than theirs was by a much clearer Evidence of another Life and a Blessed Immortality than they had by more express Promises of Divine Comfort and Assistance under Sufferings than were made to them and by the most Divine and Encouraging Example of the greatest Patience under the greatest Sufferings that the World ever had in the Death and Passion of the Son of God who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the Shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God! When we consider this Glorious Example of Suffering and the Glorious Reward of it how can we be weary and faint in our minds If the Saints and Apostles of the Old Testament did such great things by Virtue of a Faith which relyed chiefly upon the Attributes and Providence of God what should not we do who have the Security of God's express Promise for our Comfort and Encouragement We certainly have much greater Reason to take up our Cross more chearfully and to bear it more patiently than they did Secondly We should always be Prepared in the Resolution of our Minds to Suffer for the Testimony of God's Truth and a good Conscience if it should please God at any time to call us to it This our Saviour hath made a necessary Condition of his Religion and a Qualification of a true Disciple If any man will be my disciple let him take up his Cross and follow me so that we are to reckon upon it and to prepare for it that if it comes we may not be surprized as if some strange thing had happened to us and may not be unresolved what to do in such a case And God knows when we may be called to it However it is wise to forecast it in our Minds and to be always in a Preparation and Readiness to entertain the worst that may happen that if it come we may be able to stand out in an evil day and if it does not come God will accept the Resolution of our Minds and reward it according to the Sincerity of it He that knows what we would have done will consider it as if we had done it Thirdly The less we are called to suffer for God the more we should think our selves obliged to do for him the less God is pleased to exercise our Patience we should abound so much the more in the active Virtues of a good Life and our Obedience to God should be so much the more chearful and we more fruitful in every good work If there be no need of sealing the Truth with our Blood we should be sure to adorn and recommend it by our Lives Fourthly and Lastly If the hopes of Immortality will bear Men up under the extremity of Suffering and Torments and give Men Courage and Resolution against all the Terrours of the World they ought much more to make us victorious over the Temptations and Allurements of it For certainly it is in Reason much easier to foregoe Pleasure than to endure Pain to refuse or lay down a good Place for the Testimony of a good Conscience than to lay down our lives upon that Account And in vain does any Man pretend that he will be a Martyr for his Religion when he will not rule an Appetite nor restrain a Lust nor subdue a Passion nor cross his Covetousness and Ambition for the sake of it and in hope of that eternal life which God that cannot lye hath promised He that refuseth to do the less is not like to do the greater It is very improbable that a Man will die
dead which die in the Lord as if St. John had said considering the Extremity and cruel Circumstances of this last and severe Persecution we may from that time forward reckon those who are already dead supposing that they died in the Lord to be very happy in that they did not live to see and suffer those things which will then befall the faithful Servants of God when the Devil shall come having great wrath because he knoweth he hath but a short time Much in the same Sense as Solomon when he considered the oppressions that were done under the Sun says Eccl. 4.2 That he praised the dead which were already dead more than the living which were yet alive that is considering the Oppressions which were so frequent in the World he reckoned those happier that were out of it than those who still lived in it And as this is very agreeable to the Scope of what goes before so it suits very well with what follows after as the Reason why those Persons are declared to be so happy yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them that is that they may be at an end of their Troubles and Sufferings and may not be tryed beyond their Strength and Patience under that Terrible Persecution which will Reign at that time and likewise that they may receive the Reward of all the Good they have done and the Evils they have suffered in this World in the very same sense that the righteous are said to be taken away from the evil to come Esai 57.1 2. The righteous is taken away from the evil to come he shall enter into peace They shall rest in their beds each one walking in his uprightness that is enjoying the comfort of his Integrity and Sincerity towards God And now the main Difficulty being over we shall need to trouble our selves the less about the other Expressions in the Text Yet there are Two which I shall a little explain to you 1. What is here meant by dying in the Lord. And this sort of Phrase in the Lord in Christ and in the name of Christ is used in Scripture very variously In general it signifies the doing or suffering any thing with relation to Christ and upon his account and so to die in the Lord doth most frequently signifie to die in the Faith of Christ and the Profession of the Christian Religion Sometimes it signifies to die for his Cause and to bear Testimony to his Truth which is therefore called Martyrdom as St. Paul is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 4.1 A Prisoner in the Lord that is for his Cause So likewise St. Peter If ye be reproached 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the name of Christ happy are ye And 't is probable that the expression 1 Cor. 15.18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ is to be stood of those that died for his Cause because it follows immediately if in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable that is considering how much Christians Suffered for him in this Life they were in a most miserable Condition if there were nothing to be expected beyond it but especially if we consider the parallel Phrase 1 Thess 4.14 So them also that sleep in Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Jesus sake that is them that have suffered Martyrdom for him will God bring with him And in this sense many understand the Phrase in the Text as spoken of Martyrs Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord that is for his Cause And tho' I think the Phrase may well enough be understood more generally yet I shall not reject this Sense Because it is not unsuitable to the Scope and Occasion of the words For considering that last and extreme Persecution which he had described it was not altogether improper to pronounce those happy that had Suffered Martyrdom already and were taken away from those dreadful Calamities which in these last days of Antichrist were to fall upon the faithful Servants of Christ The other Expression is the last in the Text And their works do follow them So we render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which yet does most properly signifie to accompany or go along with one and so indeed the Expression will rather be more Emphatical they rest from their labours and their works accompany them But whether the word be rendred to follow or to accompany the difference is not very material Thus you see what the particular sense and meaning of the words probably is to declare the happy Estate of those Saints or Martyrs who were already dead in and for the Faith of Christ and should not live to see those cruel and fearful Sufferings which should afterwards come upon the Christians But then this is grounded upon that general Truth that they are happy that dye in the Lord. And this is that which I intend now to prosecute abstracting from the Particular occasion upon which these words were spoken which brings me to the Second thing I propounded and chiefly designed to handle upon the occasion of this day namely the happy Estate of Good Men after they are departed out of this Life And in speaking to this I shall confine my self to Two Particulars which the Text mentions as the Reasons and Grounds why they that dye in the Lord are declared to be in so Blessed a Condition yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them 1. Good Men when they are departed this Life are freed from all the Labours and Pains they were exercised with in this World That they may rest from their labours 2. They reap the Comfort and Reward of all the Good which they have done in this World And their works do follow them or rather go aloâ—â— with them to receive the Reward which God hath promised to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality 1. Those who die in the Lord are freed from the Evils and Miseries of this Life And this is so great a Felicity that some and those who think themselves no small Philosophers have placed the chief Happiness of Man in freedom from Pain and Trouble But tho' Happiness do not consist in this alone yet it cannot be denied to be a great part of it For tho' some have been so phantastically obstinate as against the Reason and Common Sense of Mankind to maintain this Paradox that a wise Man may be as happy upon the Rack or in Phalaris his Bull as in the greatest ease and freedom from Pain that can be imagined Yet Nature cries shame of this Hypocrisie and there are none of those wise Men they speak of were ever such Fools as to try the Experiment and to shew by their Actions that it was indifferent to them whether they lay'd themselves down upon their Beds every Night or were stretcht upon
a Rack which yet ought to have been indifferent to them had they believed themselves and really esteemed that which others account Pain to be as Happy a Condition as that which is commonly called Ease But we need not trouble our selves to confute so stupid a Principle which is confuted by Nature and by every Man's Sense and Experience I think we may take it for granted that Freedom from Misery is a very considerable part of Happiness otherwise Heaven and Hell if we consider only the Torment of it would be all one But certainly it is no small endearment of Religion to the common Sense of Mankind that it promiseth to us in the next Life a Freedom from all the Evils and Troubles of this And by this the Happiness of Heaven is frequently described to us in Scripture Esai 57.2 speaking of the righteous Man he shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds 2 Thess 1.7 where the Apostle speaking of the Reward of those who should Suffer Persecution for Religion It is a righteous thing with God says he to recompense to you who are troubled Rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels And the Apostle to the Hebrews frequently describes the Happiness of Christians by entring into rest And Rev. 21.4 the State of the New Jerusalem is set forth to us by Deliverance from those Troubles and Sorrows which Men are subject to in this World and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are past away Thus it is with us in this World we are liable to Sorrow and Pain and Death But when we are once got to Heaven none of these things shall approach us The former things are pass'd away that is the Evils we formerly endured are past and over and shall never return to afflict us any more And is not this a great Comfort when we are Labouring under the Evils of this Life and Conflicting sorely with the Miseries of it that we shall one Day be past all these and find a safe Refuge and Retreat from all these Storms and Tempests When we are Loaded with Afflictions and even tired with the Burden of them and ready to faint and sink under it to think that there remains a rest for us into which we shall shortly enter How can it choose but be a mighty Consolation to us whilst we are in this vale of tears and troubles to be assured that the Time is coming when God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes and there shall be no more sorrow nor crying There are none of us but are obnoxious to any of the Evils of this Life we feel some of them and we fear more Our outward Condition it may be is uncomfortable we are poor and persecuted we are destitute of Friends or have many Enemies we are despoiled of many of those Comforts and Enjoyments which we once had Our Bodies perhaps are in Pain or our Spirits troubled or though we have no real Cause of outward Trouble yet our Souls are ill Lodg'd in the dark Dungeon of a Body over-power'd with a Melancholy Humour which keeps out all Light and Comfort from our Minds And is it no reviving to us to think of that Happy Hour when we shall find a Remedy and Redress of all these Evils at once Of that blessed Place where we shall take Sanctuary from all those Afflictions and Troubles which pursued us in this World Where Sorrow and Misery and Death are perfect Strangers and into which nothing that can render Men in the least unhappy can ever enter Where our Souls shall be in perfect rest and contentment and our Bodies after a while shall be restored and reunited to our Souls not to Cloud and Clog them as they do here but so happily changed and refined to such a Perfection that they shall be so far from giving any disturbance to our Minds that they shall mightily add to their Pleasure and Happiness And when we are once Landed in those Blessed Regions what a Comfort will it be to us to stand on the Shore and look back upon those rough and dangerous Seas which we have escaped How pleasant to consider the manifold Evils and Calamities which we are freed from and for ever secured against To remember our past Labours and Sufferings and to be able to defie all those Temptations which were wont to assault us in this World with so much violence and with too much success And this is the Condition of the Blessed Spirits above They find a perfect cessation of all Afflictions and Troubles they rest from their labours But this is not all For. 2. They are not only freed from all the Evils and Sufferings they were exercised withal in this World but they shall receive a plentiful Reward of all the Good they have done in it their works do accompany them When Pious Souls go out of this World they do not only leave all the Evils of the World behind them but they carry along with them all the Good they have done to reap there the Comfort and Reward of it Just as on the other hand Wicked Men when they die leave all the good things of this World all the Pleasures and Enjoyments behind them but the Guilt and Remorse of their wicked Lives accompany them and stick close to them to Torment them there and that there they may be Tormented for them Thus the Scriptures represent to us the different Condition of Good and Bad Men Esai 3.10 11. Say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings Wo unto the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him Which is many times true in this World but however that happen will most certainly and remarkably be made good in the other And this is most Emphatically exprest to us in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Luke 16.25 where the Rich Man Petitions Abraham for some Ease and Abraham returns him this Answer Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented What a Change was here How Comfortable to the one and how Dismal to the other Lazarus found rest from all his Labours and Sufferings and his Piety and Patience accompanied him into the other World and conveyed him into Abraham's Bosom Whereas the Rich Man was parted from all his good things and the Guilt of his Sins went along with him and lodged him in the place of Torments But my Text confines me to the bright side of this Prospect The consideration of that Glorious Recompence which Good Men shall receive for the Good Works which they have done in this World Indeed the Text doth not expresly say
himself and our Blessed Saviour But then they hate and persecute the living with as great violence and cruelty as ever was used by any part of Mankind towards one another 'T is true they do it under the Notion of Heresie and so did the Scribes and Pharisees too as St. Paul witnesseth After the way which ye call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things that are written in the Law and in the Prophets So they call us Hereticks tho' we receive and believe all that is written in the Holy Scriptures only rejecting their Additions whereby they would make the Commandment of God of none effect And as Rome is parallel with Jerusalem in many other respects so especially in the bloody Persecution of righteous Men And as Jerusalem is charged by our Saviour with the blood of all the Prophets and righteous men of all Ages so St. John in the Revelation says of Rome that in her was found the blood of Prophets and of Saints and of all that were slain upon the earth ch 18.24 Which is no less true of Rome Christian than of Rome Pagan In all the Churches and Religions in the World and perhaps in Rome Pagan her self hath not so much innocent Blood been shed as in Rome Christian and Catholick and that under a pretence of Religion And no doubt there is a Day a coming when she shall be called to a heavy Account for these things when the Heavens shall rejoyce over her and the Holy Angels and Prophets because God hath avenged them on her SERMON XIII The Danger of Zeal without Knowledge Preached on November 5. 1682. ROM X. 2. I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge THere is nothing more commonly cryed up than Zeal in Religion and yet there is nothing in which Men do more frequently and fatally mistake and miscarry and in the Expressions and Effects whereof Men ought to govern themselves with more Care and Caution VOL. II. To speak the truth Zeal is as all other Passions are in its own Nature indifferent and of it self neither Good nor Bad but according to the Object and Degree of it for Zeal is nothing else but an earnest Concernment for or against something and a violent Pursuit and Prosecution of it For if it be applied to a right Object so as we be earnestly concerned for things that are unquestionably Good and against things that are unquestionably Evil and in a due Degree that is if the Expression of it be Proportionable to the less or greater Good or Evil of things then it is a commendable Quality or Virtue But if it be wrong placed and we be earnestly concerned for that which is Evil and against that which is Good or about things which are of an indifferent or doubtful Nature as to the Good and Evil of them or if we notoriously exceed in the Degree of it being more zealously concerned about things than they deserve and zealously concerned about lesser things to the prejudice of greater in any of these Cases it is so for from being a Virtue that it is a Vice Serm. XIII of a most pernicious and mischievous consequence and many times hath as bad Effects as can proceed from the worst Principle or Disposition of Mind It is sometimes used in a good Sense but it is when it is applyed to the best things in which the Honour of God and the Salvation of Men is concern'd to the great and unquestionable Duties of Religion As Zeal for the Honour of God and the Place of his Publick Worship in opposition to Profaneness John 2.17 The Zeal of thine house hath eaten me up For an earnest desire of those Gifts whereby we are to Edifie the Church 1 Cor. 12.31 But covet earnestly the best gifts so we render the words be zealous of the best gifts so it is in the Greek For a Forwardness and Readiness to relieve the Necessities of the Saints 2 Cor. 9.2 I know the forwardness of your minds and your zeal hath provok'd very many And to the same purpose is that Expression Tit. 2.14 Zealous of good works And then for a Zeal for the Salvation of Mens Souls 2 Cor. 11.2 I am zealous of you with a godly zeal But the word is much more frequently in Scripture used in a bad Sense for a malicious and furious Rage against the Professors of Christianity Acts 5.17 18. Then the high Priest and they that were with him were filled with indignation the word is Zeal and laid their hands on the Apostles and put them in prison And Chap. 13.45 it is said the Jews were fill'd with Zeal and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul contradicting and blaspheming And Chap. 17.5 The Jews which believed not moved with Zeal gathered a company and set all the City in an uproar 'T is frequently reckoned amongst the works of the flesh and mentioned in the company of the greatest Vices and Crimes Wrath Contention Division Sedition Murthers Tumults Confusions Rom. 13.13 Let us walk honestly as in the day not in Chambering and wantonness not in strife and zeal 1 Cor. 3.3 Whereas there is among you zeal and strife and divisions are ye not carnal 2 Cor. 12.20 Lest there be debates zeal wrath strife Gal. 5.19 20 21. The works of the flesh are manifest among which the Apostle reckons hatred variance zeal wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murthers St. James calls it a bitter zeal Jam. 3.14 15 16. But if ye have bitter zeal and strife in your hearts glory not and lye not against the truth This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish For where zeal and strife is there is confusion and every evil work By which it appears that zeal most frequently goes under a bad Name and Character in Scripture zeal I mean in matters of Religion for of that most of the Texts I have mentioned speak and this is that which St. Paul means here in the Text by a zeal of God that is a zeal about Religion and divine things I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowlede In which words the Apostle being desirous to say the best he could of his Countrymen the Jews he commends the good meaning of their zeal and blames the ill conduct of it I bear them record 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I give this testimony on their behalf that they have a zeal of God that is that by all this fierceness against the Christian Religion they intend the honour of God and think they do him service but yet this Zeal is greatly to be condemned because it is a mistaken and misguided zeal not at all directed as it should be they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge From which words I shall take into consideration these Three things I. What are the Qualifications and Properties of a Zeal according to knowledge II.
it and keep it within bounds It is like fire a good Servant but a bad Master if it once get head it consumes and devours all before it and the great danger and mischief of it is that it is most commonly found where it should not be and possesses those most who are least fit to govern it and most frequently employed about what it should not be and ten to one but it is either mistaken in the Object or in the Measure and Degree of it and even when it is a Virtue it is a nice and dangerous one for the wisest Men are apt to mingle their own Passions and Interests with their Zeal for God and Religion So that it is not enough that Men are acted by a zeal for God and do sincerely follow the dictates of their Consciences but they must be careful to inform their Consciences and not suffer themselves to be violently transported and hurried on by their own Passions and Prejudice and by a blind and furious zeal without knowledge But what then Would we have Men not follow their own Consciences or act contrary to them No by no means For tho' Conscience be not our Rule yet it is our immediate Guide and he does ill who does act against his Conscience But Men must be careful how they settle their Practical Judgment of things and conclude things to be Lawful or Unlawful Duties or Sins without Reason and good Ground God hath given us Understandings to try and examine things and the light of his Word to direct us in this tryal and if we will judge rashly and suffer our selves to be hurried by Prejudice or Passion the Errours of our Judgment become Faults of our Lives For God expects from us that we should weigh and consider what we do and when he hath afforded us light enough to discern betwixt Good and Evil that we should carefully follow the direction of it that we should be suspicious of our selves when our Zeal carries us to do things that are furious and cruel false and treacherous and have a horrid appearance even to the light of Nature we should question that zeal which is so contrary to Christian Goodness and Meekness to Peace and Charity and which tends to Confusion and every Evil Work I will conclude all with that excellent Passage of St. James which will shew us how little regard is to be had to many Mens Pretences of Zeal for Religion Jam. 3.13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge amongst you Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom But if ye have bitter zeal and strife in your hearts glory not and lye not against the truth This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish For where zeal and strife is there is confusion and every evil work But the wisdom which is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace SERMON XIV The best Men liable to the worst Treatment from Mistaken Zealots Preached on November 5. 1686. JOHN XVI 2. They shall put you out of the Synagogues Yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service THESE words were spoken by our Blessed Saviour when he was about to leave the World at the thoughts whereof finding his Disciples to be exceedingly troubled VOL. II. he comforts them by the Consideration of the great Benefit and Advantage which from thence would accrue to them he tells them that he was going to Heaven to interceed for them and to make way for their admission there and withall promiseth that his Father would send the Holy Ghost who should abundantly supply the want of his Presence with them but he tells them at the same time that they should meet with very ill Entertainment and Usage from the World but so had He Ch. 15.18 If the world hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you and why should they expect to be better treated than He was v. 20. Remember the word that I said unto you the servant is not greater than the Lord if they have persecuted me they will also persecute you And at the beginning of this Chapter he tells them that he did on purpose forewarn them of these things to prepare their Minds beforehand and to arm them against the worst that might happen v. 1. These things have I I have spoken to you Serm. XIV that ye should not be offended And then he declares more particularly how far the Rage and Malice of Men should proceed against them and in what kind they should suffer They shall put you out of the Synagogues Yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service So that our Saviour here fortells Two sorts of Persecution which his Disciples should be Exercised withal Excommunication they shall put you out of their Synagogues And Excision Yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will thinks that he doth God service And these perhaps were but several Kinds and Degrees of Excomunication for the clearer understanding whereof it will be requisite briefly to explain the Three Degrees of Excommunication among the Jews The First call'd Niddui is that which our Saviour here means by putting out of the Synagogue and which he elsewhere expresseth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or separation Luke 6.22 Blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate yon from their company And the Effect of this Excommunication was to exclude Men from the Communion of the Church and People of God and from his Service which was a great disgrace because after this Sentence none of the Jews were to converse with them but to look upon them as Heathens and Publicans The Second Degree of this Censure was called Cherem which included the first but extended farther to the Confiscation of Goods into the Sacred Treasury and devoting them to God after which there was no Redemption of them And of this we find express mention Ezra 10.7 8. where it is said That they made Proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem and that whosoever would not come within three days according to the Counsel of the Princes and Elders all his substance should be devoted and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carriied away The Third Degree ws Shammatha when the Rebellious and Contumacious Person was Anathematiz'd and Devoted and as some conceive according to the Law Levit. 27.29 was to be put to death tho' other very konwing Men in the Jewish Learning think it amounted to no more than a final Sentence whereby they were left to the Judgment of God by some remarkable Judgment of his to be cut off from
they might do any thing and that whosoever opposed the Authority of so ancient and good a Church must needs be very bad Men and deserve to be proceeded against in the severest manner As if any pretence of Piety could give a Priviledge to do wickedly and by how much the Wiser and Holier any Man took himself to be he might do so much the worse things There is another remarkable Instance of this in St. Paul who out of a blind and furious Zeal for the Traditions of his Fathers Persecuted the true Church of God by Imprisonment and Death and all manner of Cruelties and all this while he verily thought that he was in the right and that he ought to do all these things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth And if God had not in a miraculous manner checkt him in his course and changed his Mind he would have spent his whole life in that course of Persecution and Cruelty and would with Pope Paul the IV. upon his Death-Bed have recommended the Inquisition or if he could have thought of any thing more severe to the chief Priests and Rulers of the Jewish Church I will not trouble you with nearer Instances tho' the Jewish Church is not the only Church in the World that hath countenanced the Destruction and Extirpation of those who differed from them as a piece of very acceptable Service to God and meritorious of the Pardon of their Sins 5. I observe that such Actions as these are never the less horribly Wicked and Impious notwithstanding the good Mind with which and the good End for which they are done The Jews were not excused from the guilt of Persecution and Murder for all they thought they did well in killing the Disciples of our Lord. For to make an Action good and acceptable to God the goodness of all Causes and of all Circumstances must concur and any one defect in any of these does vitiate the whole Action and spoil the goodness of it We must do it with a good Mind being verily perswaded that what we do is good and acceptable to God in which sense St. Paul saith that whatever is not of Faith is Sin and we must do it for a good End for the Honour of God and the Service of Religion and the Benefit and Edification of Men. But there is one thing wanting yet which is often forgotten but is mainly considerable viz. what we do with a Good Mind and to a Good End must be Good and Lawful in it self commanded or allowed or at least not forbidden by God If it be what good Circumstances soever may belong to the Action the whole Action is stark naught because the very Matter and Substance of it is Evil and Unlawful and Damnable tho' done for never so good an End So St. Paul tells us that they who said they might do evil that good might come their damnation was just He tells us indeed that some would have charged this Doctrine upon the Christians and particularly upon himself but he rejects it with the greatest detestation and which is not unworthy of our observation in his Epistle to the Roman Church as if the Spirit of God to whom all Times are present had particularly directed him to give this Caution to that Church that in future Ages they might be warned against so Pernicious a Principle and all wicked Practices that are consequent upon it And we find that St. Paul after his Conversion did think it no sufficient Plea and Excuse for himself and his Persecution of the Christian Profession that what he did was out of Zeal for God and his true Religion as he was verily perswaded but notwithstanding that acknowledged himself a Murderer and one of the greatest Sinners for which without the great Mercy of God he had perisht everlastingly 6. And lastly I observe that the Corruption of the best things is the worst Religion is certainly the highest Accomplishment and Perfection of Humane Nature and Zeal for God and his Truth an excellent Quality and highly acceptable to God and yet nothing is more barbarous and spurs Men on to more horrid Impieties than a blind zeal for God and false and mistaken Principles in the matter of Religion Our Saviour compares the Christian Religion and the Ministers and Professors of it to Salt and Light The most useful and delightful things in the World Religion enlightens the minds of Men and directs them in the way wherein we should go it seasons the Spirits and Manners of Men and preserves them from being Putrified and Corrupted but if the Salt lose its savour if that which should season other things be tainted it self it is thenceforth the most insipid and offensive thing in the World good for nothing but to be cast upon the Dunghil if the light that is in us be darkness how great is that darkness Mistakes and false Principles are no where so pernicious and of such mischievous Consequence as in Religion A blind and misguided Zeal in Religion is enough to spoil the best Nature and Disposition in the World St. Paul for ought appears was of himself of a very kind and compassionate Nature and yet what a Fury did his mistaken Zeal make him It is hardly credible how madly he laid about him but that he himself gives us the account of it Acts 26.9 10 11. I verily thought with my self says he that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth which thing I also did in Jerusalem and many of the Saints I shut up in Prison having received authority from the Chief Priests And when they were put to death I gave my voice against them and I punished them oft in every Synagogue and compel'd them to blaspheme and being exceedingly mad against them I persecuted them even to strange Cities I might descend lower and give Instances both of former and later times of Emperours and Princes both Heathen and Christian that of themselves were mild and gentle and yet through a mistaken Zeal and the instigation of their Chief Priests have been carried to Cruel and Bloody things And indeed nothing gives so keen an edg even to the mildest Tempers as an erroneous and wild zeal for God and Religion it is like Quick-Silver in the back of a Sword that is not very sharp of it self which gives a mighty force and weight to its blow and makes it to cut terribly And it is very sad to consider that the zealous Prosecution of Mistakes in Religion hath produced sadder and more barbarous Effects in the World and more frequently than the ordinary Corruptions and Degeneracy of Natural light is apt to do as the decay of the richest and most generous Wines makes the sowerest Vineger so that the Pasquil or Libel against Pope Vrban the VIII upon occasion of his taking off the Brazen Roof of the Old Capitol which had held out so many Ages and that notwithstanding Rome had been so often sackt by Barbarous
We may sit down every man under his own Vine and under his own Fig-tree and that there shall be none to make us afraid So that if Security is necessary to the Comfort and Happiness of Mankind then Government is so too For without this the Societies of Men would presently dissolve and fall in pieces and all things would run into Confusion and Disorder 2. Another great Benefit which may reasonably be expected from Government tho' it does always so happen is that Men are protected by it in the free Exercise and Practice of Religion and Virtue Therefore we should pray for Kings and for all that are in authority says the Apostle that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty that is in the Practice of Piety and Devotion towards God of Sobriety and Temperance in regard to our selves and of Justice and Charity toward all Men. It 's true indeed and so the Apostles and first Christians found it by experience that the Edg and Authority of Laws may be and sometimes is turned upon the true Religion and the sincere Professors of it But even then tho' Good Men may receive great harms and injuries from Persecuting Princes and Governors as the Primitive Christians did from several of the Roman Emperors yet then it so happens that Good Men have some considerable Benefit and Protection from the Civil Government and Laws being for the most part preserved from the fury and rage of the Multitude so that tho' particular Persons undergo the Tryal of Cruel Sufferings yet much greater Numbers do escape and are preserved And which is very considerable in this Matter against several of the main and essential Parts of Religion there never was any Humane Laws made as against the inward Love Honour and Reverence of Almighty God and the Worshipping him in our Hearts and in Secret of this Part of Religion Humane Laws can take no cognizance Nay farther yet against Humility and Meekness against Modesty and Patience against Temperance and Chastity against Peaceableness and obedience to Government against Justice and Gratitude against Charity and Forgiveness of Injuries against these and such like Virtues the Apostle has told us there is no Law Against the Practice of these without some of which Government could not possibly subsist no Perfection was ever raised no not by the worst of Governors On the contrary in the Practice of these Virtues Good Men have been in all Ages and Times protected by Law 'T is true indeed that Good Men have many times been grievously Perfected by the Civil Government and Authority for the external Profession of revealed Religion which was the case of the Christians at that Time when the Apostle commanded them to pray for Kings and for all that were in Authority that under their protection they might lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty St. Paul knew very well when he gave this injunction to them that Supplications and prayers be made for Kings and for all that are in authority that the Powers of the World did not at that Time favour Christianity But he knew likewise that Government was necessary to the Happiness of Mankind and that Christians even in that State of Perfection did enjoy many considerable Benefits and Advantages by it so that they were not perpetually exposed to popular Rage and Cruelty and the Violence of Wicked and Vnreasonable Men Which would not only have hindred the progress of Christianity but would in a short time have endangered the extinguishing of it Besides that by the favour and protection of Government the Christians had many considerable Intervals of Peace and Ease which gave Christianity a breathing time and opportunity to recover it self and tho' the Secular Authority did for a long time discountenance Christianity and keep it under Hatches that was but an accidental effect and abuse of Government and Obedience was still due and Prayers for it so much the more necessary yea and Thanksgivings to God for it very reasonable upon account of the common Benefits and Advantages of it to Humane Society Besides that Christians did hope and believe that the Civil Government might in time be gained to give its countenance and assistance to Christianity and that Kings and Princes might become nursing Fathers to the Church as was expresly foretold by the Prophets and afterwards in God's due time was remarkably accomplisht In the mean time Christians were patiently to Obey and Suffer in expectation of those Glorious Rewards in another World which were promised to their Faith and Patience and to pray for the Powers that Persecuted them that they also might be brought to the acknowledgment of the Truth and might use that Power which God had committed to them for the protection of Truth and Innocency and for the Continuance and Support of the true Religion which blessed be God was afterwards the Case of Christianity for several Ages I proceed in the Second Place to shew what Obligation the Consideration of the mighty Benefits and Advantages of Government lays upon us both to pray to God on the behalf of Princes and Governors and likewise to praise God for them Because in their Welfare and Prosperity the Publick Peace and Happiness doth chiefly consist and in the Publick Good consists the Good of particular Persons and above all the Piety and Goodness of Princes and Magistrates especially those who are in highest Place of Authority have a general good influence upon the Manners of Men both for the discountenancing of Wickedness and Vice and for the encouragement of Religion and Virtue which are the main Pillars and Foundation of publick Peace and Prosperity A King sitting in the Throne of Judgment saith Solomon Prov. 20.8 scattereth away all evil with his eyes The Pattern of a Religious and good Prince is a living Law to his Subjects and more than the Example of Ten thousand others to Mould and Fashion the Manners of the People to a Conformity to it Besides that there is as one expresseth a kind of Moral Connexion and Communication of Evil and of Guilt betwixt Princes and People so that they are many times mutually Rewarded for the Virtues and good Actions and Punished for the Sins and Faults of one another Of which proceedings of the Divine Justice towards the People of Israel there are many remarkable instances in Scripture where God Rewarded the Piety of Good Princes with great Blessings upon their People and Punisht the Personal Faults of their Kings with publick Judgments upon the whole Nation So that in Truth it is the greatest Kindness and Charity to our selves to pray for our Princes and Governors because our welfare is involved in theirs and we suffer not only in all the Misfortunes and Calamities which befal them but many times upon account of their Personal Faults and Miscarriages Quicquid delirant Reges plectuntur Achivi the Extravagances of Princes are punisht in the Misfortunes of their Subjects Thus David