the good fight finished his course kept the Faith overcome all his Spiritual Enemies resisted the temptations of Satan subdued and mortified his own Lusts and Corruptions despised the Derision of those Fools that sit in the seat of the scornful trampled upon all the vain pomps and flattering Glories of this present World and after all this perhaps at the last is called to suffer an ignominious and painful Death for the testimony of a good conscience and to endure the cruellest torments that the wit and malice of wicked Men can inflict upon him then he takes up his Cross with joy goes like a Lamb to the Slaughter acknowledging that he hath done nothing that he is but an unprofitable Servant that he is less than the least of all God's Mercies and that his Life is a Sacrifice unworthy of his acceptance and therefore he desires to appear before God's Tribunal not having his own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith This is such a Righteous Man as is here meant in my Text This is that Blessed Man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity and in whose Spirit there is no guile And this is that Man who as it is plain from my Text shall Scarcely be saved How that comes to pass I shall hereafter endeavour to shew you For though he shall be Scarcely saved yet saved he shall be infallibly for to him that is faithful unto Death Christ will give a Crown of Life SERMON XI 1 PET. IV. 18. And if the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Ungodly and the Sinner appear IN the handling of these words I have already shewed you who the Righteous Man is and how he is distinguished from the rest of the World He is a Man of a Temper and Conversation exceedingly different from the generality of Mankind and lives amongst them like a Stranger and a Sojourner in a foreign Countrey where he hath few or no Acquaintance like a single Stalk of good Corn in a large Field of Tares Few Men mind him few regard him few keep him company few delight in his Conversation and fewer imitate it He is a Proverb and a By-word among the Ungodly who account his Life madness and his End to be without Honour For Christ's sake he bears Reproach They that sit in the Gate speak against him and he is the Song of the Drunkards The World and he are irreconcilable Enemies as contrary one to the other as Light and Darkness as Heaven and Hell as Christ and Belial while the Wicked and Ungodly rejoice he mourns while they laugh he weeps while they triumph in the very Gall of Bitterness and Bonds of Iniquity he is a Prisoner of Jesus Christ while they are in great Power and spread themselves like a green Bay tree lie upon Beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches and eat the Lambs out of the Flock and the Calves out of the midst of the Stall live in Idleness and Luxury and Pleasure nourishing their Hearts as in a day of slaughter and pampering up those Lusts which of themselves are too apt to rebel he keeps under his Body and brings it into subjection crucifies the old Man that the Body of Sin may be destroyed subdues and mortifies his Corruptions by Prayer and Fasting and walks mournfully before the Lord of Hosts He meets with scarce any thing in this sinful World which can delight his Soul but almost every Spectacle that he beholds is to him an occasion of sorrow He grieves for his own Sins and he grieves for those of other Men whom he sees with so much Eagerness and Jollity posting towards the Gates of Death He grieves for the Afflictions of Joseph and laments to see the Church of God in Adversity Nothing contents him nothing pleases him in this Valley of Tears but that he is pleased at nothing here below but his Affections are set on those things which are above and the earnest Desire of his Heart is to depart and to be with Christ Which happy End he shall at the last most certainly attain to though it shall not be without great Pains and Difficulty and as my Text expresses it scarcely And so I proceed to make good my second Undertaking which was To shew you why St. Peter here supposes the Righteous to be scarcely saved Which word implies not an Impossibility that they should be saved for certainly then of all Men they would be most miserable nor a Possibility that any one of them should not be saved For every one of them is as sure to obtain Salvation as he is sure to obtain it scarcely Those that thou gavest me saith our Saviour I have kept and none of them is lost but the Son of Perdition who never was one of the Number of the Righteous But this word scarcely denotes only the many and great Difficulties and Troubles and Dangers through which the Righteous are to pass in their way to Heaven They must be tempted afflicted scorned derided persecuted They must labour they must sweat they must die that they may be saved and pass by the very Gates of Hell in their way to Paradise There are large Mansions and a Glorious and Everlasting Kingdom prepared for them but they have many potent and malicious Enemies all which they must overcome before they can take possession of it There is a Crown of Glory laid up for them but they must run for it if they will obtain it They must wage War with Devils and wrestle against Principalities and Powers before they can be accounted worthy to be Companions for Angels And now if David that reposed so great a Confidence in his God and was sufficiently assured that he was ordained to be King over Israel did nevertheless begin to despond and was sore afraid that he should one Day perish by the Hand of Saul much more may the Righteous fear and tremble who have far greater and mightier Enemies than Saul to oppose them able to dismay the stoutest Souldier in the Camp of Christ had he not a Shield of Faith to defend him from their Weapons and an Eye of Faith to discover that those that are for him are more than those that are against him When a mighty Host of the Syrians besieged Elisha God placed Horses and Chariots of Fire round about him for his Defence So though the Righteous Man hath Devils for his Enemies yet he hath Angels for his Guardians and Jesus Christ the Captain of his Salvation He may march on then with Confidence and Assurance of the Victory but he must fight if he will obtain it Heaven is his Inheritance the Kingdom prepared for him from the Foundation of the World but he is a Stranger and a Pilgrim here in a far Countrey and his Journey to it is long and troublesome He hath a narrow and rugged way to walk in tedious and irksome to Flesh
as he himself required with which his Justice is fully satisfied and his Wrath appeased And this was that Oblation of himself of his own most precious Body and Blood when he poured out his soul unto death to be an offering for sin upon the Altar of the Cross Christ being come an High-Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this building neither by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us Hebr. 9.11 12. And without looking any further that one Epistle to the Hebrews may satisfie us in this Point the main Design of it being to convince the Jews that Jesus Christ was such an High-Priest as we are speaking of Who was once offered to bear the sins of many and who shall appear unto them that look for him the second time without sin unto salvation Secondly as our blessed Saviour hath offered this holy spotless and most acceptable Sacrifice of himself unto God for us so doth he likewise continually intercede for us at his right hand pleading the merits of his most precious Death and Passion in our behalf that we thereby may be delivered from the Curse of the Law and receive the adoption of Sons Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us Hebr. 9.24 and Hebr. 7.25 He tells us That he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them So Rom. 8.34 Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us And if any man sin saith S. John we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous 1 Joh. 2.1 Thus then it is evident that our blessed Saviour is by the holy Evangelists and Apostles that have given us a true and faithful account of him represented to be as great an High-Priest as it was possible that the Messias could be for who can be higher than he that is set down at the right hand of God And this naturally brings me to the Consideration of his last and highest Office which is that of a King For surely he that is exalted unto the right hand of God can be no less than a King in the highest Degree a King of Saints and Angels a King of Kings and Lord of Lords Let the Jews perswade themselves what they please concerning the greatness of the Kingdom of their imaginary Messias whom they fondly dream is yet to come into the world though they cannot deny that the time prefixed for his coming by the Prophets is long since past yet a greater King they cannot imagine him to be than we know and are fully assured by the unanimous Testimony of most faithful and unexceptionable Witnesses that our blessed Saviour already is who is and ever shall be a King upon Gods holy hill of Sion whom he hath exalted and set at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come and put all things under his feet and given him to be the head over all things to the Church Eph. 1.20 21 22. That our blessed Saviour was to be such a King as this the Angel Gabriel expresly foretold to the Virgin Mary at his Conception Luk. 1.31 Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdom there shall be no end Which words plainly imply that he was not to be a temporal King a King of this World whose Kings and Kingdoms shall all perish and come to an end but a spiritual King of a Kingdom which is everlasting Such a King as this our Lord owned himself to be I appoint unto you a Kingdom saith he to his Disciples as my father hath appointed unto me that ye may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel Luk. 22.29 30. A King even Pilate himself seemed positively to declare him by the Superscription upon his Cross Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews which he would by no means alter at the request of the chief Priests Such a King he most powerfully demonstrated himself to be by his triumphant Resurrection from the Dead Such a King he yet more fully proved himself to be by his most glorious Ascension into Heaven Having first told his Disciples that all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth he shews them the truth of it by ocular Demonstration visibly in their sight ascending up into Heaven to take Possession of his eternal Kingdom sending moreover two Angels to comfort them and assure them that he the same Jesus which was taken up from them into heaven shall so come in like manner as they had seen him go into heaven Act. 1.11 And after all this according to his Promise as a King that was ascended on high that had led captivity captive and received gifts for men he bestows upon them a gift fit for the King of Heaven to bestow upon his choicest Favourites even that of the Holy Ghost upon the Day of Pentecost thereby to the astonishment of all that beheld them impowering them to work Miracles and to speak with Tongues in order to the accomplishing that great work about which he employed them which was to proclaim him over all the World to be such a King such a Saviour and to gather him a Church out of all the Nations of the Earth declaring that unto all those that will believe and obey him and receive him for their Soveraign Lord and King he will most assuredly be the authour of eternal salvation having redeemed them from the Curse of the Law and purchased for them the adoption of sons and that when at the last day he shall come again in the Glory of his Father to judge the world in righteousness he shall then as an omnipotent King whose Power nothing can resist execute Vengeance upon all his Enemies and reward all his faithful and obedient Subjects with everlasting Felicity receiving them into his heavenly Kingdom there to Reign together with him in Glory as Kings and Priests unto God for ever thus I have proved to you I hope beyond all Contradiction except such as proceeds from wilful and obstinate Malice or notorious Ignorance or Prejudice which must
needs be weak and groundless that our blessed Saviour is the true Messias whom God hath long since sent forth into the World and that none other is to be expected by us and this I have done according to my propounded method chiefly by those Arguments with which my Text furnishes us taken from the Consideration of the time when the manner how and the reason and end wherefore he came into the World And in the doing of it I have insisted more or less upon all the material Circumstances mentioned by the Prophets as it were so many infallible Notes and Characters by which the Messias was to be known and discerned from all the rest of Mankind and shewed you that every one of them is exactly fulfilled to a tittle in the person of our Saviour and that it is absolutely impossible that they ever should agree to any other person whatsoever the time prefixed by God for the coming of the Messias being long since past so that it is now beyond the Power of Omnipotence it self to recal it If then our blessed Saviour be the true Messias whom God out of his great love to Mankind hath sent into the World to reconcile it unto himself redeem us from the Curse of the Law that we might receive the adoption of sons and that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life woe be to all those that receive him not as such How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved but that of the Lord Jesus Christ In him therefore let us stedfastly believe committing the keeping of our souls unto him in well-doing as unto a faithful Redeemer that is both mighty and willing to save us owning him to be our great Prophet that hath revealed unto us the whole Will of God by our firm Belief of all his Divine Doctrine owning him to be our great High Priest who by the Sacrifice of himself once offered hath made an atonement for our Sins and ever liveth to make Intercession unto God for us by our relying wholly upon his merits for Salvation owning him to be our Soveraign our Almighty Lord and King able to defend and protect us in this World and to reward us in the next by yielding a constant impartial and universal Obedience to all his most holy Laws and Commandments Thus if we own him here before men he will hereafter own us before his Father which is in Heaven and when those that have rejected him shall be covered with eternal Shame and Confusion blacker than that darkness into which they must be for ever banished from the Presence of the Lord he shall cloath us with the glorious Robe of his own righteousness and admit us into the everlasting Happiness of his heavenly Kingdom to those Pleasures which are at God's right hand for evermore SERMON IV. 1 COR. VI. 20. For ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods INgratitude is a Crime so base and unnatural so repugnant to the Dictates of reason that no Man of a generous Spirit can endure to be guilty of it The slightest Favour we receive from any of our Friends if it proceed from an hearty Intention to do us good deserves at least our kind acceptance and thanks But such a Signal and extraordinary Obligation may be laid upon us even by an earthly Benefactor that we can do no less than devote our lives and fortunes to his Service and think it little enough for an acknowledgment of his kindness But still the greatest Benefits that we can receive from the hand of Man are nothing in comparison of the least of those which we receive daily from the hand of God from whom alone comes every good and perfect gift Every Favour of his is inestimable that we breath his Air that we drink his Water that we tread upon his Earth that we seed upon his Creatures that we behold his Light that he created us and brought us out of the dark Abyss when before we had no Being and that he still preserves and protects us these Mercies sufficiently declare that all that we have all that we are except what we made our selves by sin we have and are from him and that therefore he most justly Challenges a right both to our Bodies and our Souls all that we can do or suffer for him is inconsiderable in comparison of the good we have received from him And yet all these Mercies which I have already mentioned are nothing to that which is behind his Redemption of us by the Death of his only begotten Son whereas otherwise we had been lost and undone for ever This surely was the utmost Effort of infinite Love and Goodness a Mercy which the more it is considered the more it will be admired and will be the eternal Subject of our wonder as well as of our Praise and Thanksgiving in Heaven And now what doth God require of us as an acknowledgment of this unconceivable Favour Not thousands of rams nor ten thousands of rivers of oyl 't is only this that we will glorifie him that hath redeemed us For ye are bought c. Which words contain these three things 1. God's Mercy towards us he hath bought us with a Price and so we are his by right of Purchase 2. The Duty which thereupon he requires us to perform to him we must therefore glorifie him 3. The manner how we must do it in our Body and in our Spirit forasmuch as he hath redeemed and purchased both of them and both are his For ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods Let us take a view of God's mercy towards us first and when we have had a true Prospect of that we shall be the better enabled to discern how great an Obligation lies upon us to perform that Duty which thereupon the Apostle in the name of God requires of us To take a view of God's mercy is an hard Task though it is a very pleasant one to take a full view of it is indeed impossible for either Men or Angels since his mercy is as himself is infinite and the greatest instance of his mercy which the Scripture makes mention of is that which he hath shewed to Mankind 'T is true he created Creatures of an higher order and nobler nature than Man even the glorious Angels of Light whom he ordained to be the immediate Attendants about his Throne and advanced to the highest Honour and Felicity in his heavenly Kingdom These as they were the First-born of the Creation so they received a double Portion from their Creator and whereas he made Man only the Lord of his Footstool here below he admitted them to be Inhabitants of his Palace above and assigned to them everlasting Mansions of Light and Glory Thus far God's Love
Joh. 3.16 In the prosecution of this Point I might be very large for I should insist first upon that blessed Estate that Man enjoyed at his first Creation in innocence the Consideration of which would give us a truer prospect of that Misery which he afterwards brought upon himself by his disobedience for none can be so miserable as they that were once happy and lastly I should shew you how great Glory this price hath purchased for us which would appear likewise the greater after the sight of that Misery from which it hath redeemed us for rest is most welcome to the weary ease and liberty is by none so highly valued as by those persons that have been long detained in Bondage and Slavery and Joy and Happiness doubles its sweetness to them that have drunk deepest of sorrow But who is sufficient for these things How can we that are all conceived and born in Sin apprehend the Happiness of the state of Innocence Who is able to describe the horrour of the infernal Pit or to tell what it is to lie in Chains of darkness exiled for ever from the Divine Providence Who can ascend into the holy Hill of the Lord that he may give us an account of those Pleasures which are at God's right hand for evermore Even St. Paul himself tho' he was bred up at the feet of Gamaliel and abounded with Learning and Eloquence yet wanted words to tell us what he heard and saw when he was caught up into the third Heaven and could say no more of that wonderful Vision than that he heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words or things unutterable And in another place he tells us that eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him No these Subjects are all of them too great either for our tongue to express or for our thoughts to comprehend Let it suffice us then to know in short that whereas by Sin we had rendered our selves obnoxious to the greatest Misery that could possibly befal us had sold our selves to be Slaves and Vassals of Satan to be the most forlorn Objects of the eternal Scorn and Insolence and Cruelty of the Devil and his Angels God in his infinite Mercy hath been pleased by paying an inestimable price for our Ransome even the precious Blood of his only begotten Son to redeem us out of this Bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of God He hath bought our Bodies from the everlasting torment of those Flames which never shall be quenched and our Souls from the gnawing of that Worm which shall never die to be the Temples of his holy Spirit here and hereafter to be fellow-citizens with the saints and of the houshold of God in the heavenly Jerusalem We are bought with a price And hath God thus bought us with so invaluable a Price out of so dreadful Misery unto so unspeakable Felicity What returns then ought we to make unto him of praise and thanks for such infinite Mercy How can we chuse but stand astonished and break out into the Psalmists Exclamation Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him What was Man being in Honour when he was but a degree lower than the Angels that God should regard him above the rest of his Creatures that he should make him have dominion over the works of his hands and put all things under his feet But when through his own fault he fell into Dishonour and became like the Beasts that perish what was he then or what else could he expect but that God should cast him for ever out of his Presence as the filth of the Creation And when after all this he meets with Mercy instead of Vengeance when God himself becomes his Advocate instead of his Enemy and instead of condemning him to Hell sends his only begotten Son to purchase for him the adoption of Sons and to make him more than ever the Darling and Favourite of Heaven what Testimony of gratitude ought we to shew for so incomprehensible Love What can we say what can we do to this Preserver of men The Apostle tells us in the following words of my Text we must glorifie him Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods And so I pass from God's mercy to our Duty He hath bought us with a price we must therefore glorifie him How easie an acknowledgment of how great a Mercy What could God do more for us than he did and what could we offer to him even for the least of his Benefits less than what he requires of us for the greatest The slightest Favour that we receive from the bountiful hand of God surely most justly Challenges from us the Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving and he requires no more of us when he hath given us the highest Demonstration of Love that ever he shewed to any of his Creatures when he hath redeemed us from the lowest Abyss of misery into which our Nature could sink unto the most glorious and unspeakable Felicity of which it could be capable and hath done all this by paying for our Ransome the richest and most precious Jewel that was to be found in all the Treasury of Heaven still he asks but the same thing of us that he did before viz. that we will glorifie him And is it possible that there should be any man found that can refuse to perform so reasonable and pleafant a Service as this to so great a Benefactor Is it possible that when the blessed Son of God hath for our Salvation shed his most precious Blood laid down his Life and poured out his righteous soul unto death and made it an offering for our sins we should after all this think much to offer unto him the calves of our lips and refuse to sing an Hymn of praise to our Redeemer saying with the Saints in the Revelation Salvation and glory and honour and power unto the Lord our God Yes it is so possible that this black Ingratitude should be found amongst us that the greatest part of Mankind are guilty of it How many thousands are there amongst the Sons of men that instead of glorifying God in their body and in their spirit even in the very face of the glorious light of the Gospel that shines about them against all the strength of Reason the universal Consent of Mankind in all Ages and the secret Reluctancies and dreadful Checks of their own Consciences impudently deny both the being of God and the immortality of their own Souls How many thousands are there more who though they own the name of Christians and acknowledge one eternal and omnipotent God yet instead of glorifying God because they are bought with a price against the express words of the Apostle in my Text and the concurrent Sense and Harmony of the whole
and Blood and the Gate that must admit him into those Mansions of Glory is exceeding strait and he must strive hard if he will enter in at it Thus ye see in general that the Righteous shall scarcely be saved that is it shall cost him much Labour and Sweat and Pains to work out his Salvation and through much Tribulation through many and great Troubles and Afflictions through many amazing Difficulties and affrighting Dangers he shall at the last enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and receive a Crown of Glory And this will appear more plainly if we consider distinctly these several Difficulties which he hath to encounter in his way to Heaven And these are First his own natural Corruptions The best and holiest of Men our Blessed Saviour only excepted who was sanctified from the Womb are all conceived and born in Sin By one Man saith St. Paul Sin entred into the World and Death by Sin and so Death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned Rom. 5.12 And this Original Sin as it is generally stiled by Divines which the Righteous themselves even the best of God's Saints as well as other Men bring into the World with them deriving it from Adam by a wonderful but certain Propagation is of a spreading and infectious Nature as dangerous and deadly to the Soul if it be not carefully subdued and mortified as Leprosie to the Body It is ever active and stirring labouring and struggling continually to get the Mastery over the Soul that so it may break out into open and actual Transgressions And too often it doth so even in good Men and prevails sometimes over the most pious and devoutest Christians This was that which moved David to commit Adultery and Murder This was that which shook the Constancy of Peter and made him so timorously and basely to deny his Master And this is that which causes so many Weaknesses and Failings in all the Saints of God so that there is not a just Man upon Earth that doth good and sins not but in every Man there is a Law in his Members warring against the Law of his Mind and bringing him into Captivity to the Law of Sin which is in his Members Rom. 7.23 In every Man as the same Apostle speaks Gal. 5.17 The Flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these two are contrary the one to the other so that by means of this intestine War within him it comes to pass often times that he cannot do the things that he would Even the Heathen Philosophers did observe and complain of though they knew not the Cause of this strange Depravation of humane Nature Plato tells us that Men are by Nature wicked and cannot be perswaded to do that which is right and that the two great and principal Diseases of the Soul are Ignorance and Vice And to the same Effect Tully observes that Nature is to Man a Stepmother that brings him into the World with a naked Body feeble and helpless and with a Soul throughout the whole Course of his Life sorrowful and distracted with Multiplicity of Cares and Troubles tormented with Fears tired with Labour and prone to Lust wherein the Divine Light Wit and good Manners are as it were overwhelmed and stifled This sad Condition which all Mankind is in by Nature I say the wiser Sort even amongst the Heathen amidst the gross Darkness of Paganism and Idolatry had some little Knowledge of though they were utterly ignorant of the true Cause and Reason of it And therefore they made it their chief Care and Business by their Learning and Philosophy according to the best of their Power to correct and amend it But unto us Christians God hath unlocked this Secret and hath fully discovered this great and hidden Mystery which all the Learning of the profoundest Heathen Philosophers was not able to search out In the lively Oracles of the Holy Scriptures he hath fully explained unto us both the Cause and Danger and Remedy of this Corruption of our Nature In that Sacred Book we have it represented to us under divers Names and Characters all of them foul and abominable like it self This is that which Rom. 7.17 St. Paul calls the Sin that dwells in us Because since the Fall of our First Parents it is become natural and hereditary to us and never leaves us nor forsakes us in this World but abides continually in our Flesh even unto Death whence in the same Chapter it is called the Evil that is present with us and Hebr. 12.1 the Sin which doth so easily beset us because it cleaves to us so closely and inseparably and with so much Force and Violence presses and besieges all the Strength and Powers of our Soul The word in the Original is very Elegant and Emphatical and but once used in all the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sin which doth so easily beset us that Sin which doth as it were hug and embrace us and is continually insinuating and winding it self like a Serpent into our Hearts with a Design to deceive and beguile us This is that which ver 15. of the same Chapter is called a Root of Bitterness springing up to trouble us because it is ever plentiful in producing evil Branches and corrupt and deadly Fruit. This is that which by St. James is called the Lusts that war in our Members James 4.1 and by St. Peter the fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 St. Paul calls it the old Man and the Body of Sin Rom. 6 6. And what the Members of that Body are he tells us Coloss 3.5 Fornication Uncleanness inordinate Affection evil Concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry Thus ye see the first Difficulty that the Righteous Man hath to encounter within his way to Heaven which renders that way so troublesome to him that notwithstanding all his Courage and Resolution he cannot walk in it without great Pains and Labour He carries a most unwelcome and heavy Clog about him from which he cannot possibly disengage himself which continually pulls him back and hinders and retards his Soul in its Flight towards those glorious Mansions of Joy and Happiness towards which it doth so eagerly press forward And had he no other Enemies but this one to vanquish even this alone might be sufficient to satisfie us that he shall scarcely be saved since it is most certain that he never shall be saved at all except he do overcome this first Enemy of his Salvation which of all others is the most formidable One deceitful Dalilab was worse to Samson than all the Philistines and this one innate intestine Foe of ours which lies continually in our Bosom is more dangerous to us than either the World or the Devil both which join their Forces together with this to bring us to Destruction And could we as we have all solemnly promised and engaged to do in our Baptismal Vow renounce all the sinfull Lusts
Secondly That he should make an atonement for our Sins and satisfie the Justice of God incensed against us by our Disobedience And thirdly That he should assist and defend us against all the attempts of our spiritual Enemies and furnish us with means sufficient for the working out our Salvation And accordingly we find him represented in the Scriptures of the Old Testament sometimes as a Prophet that should in a more eminent manner than any that ever were before or shall be after him publish and declare the Will of God This God himself foretold unto Moses and by him unto all Israel Deut. 18.18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my Name I will require it of him Sometimes we find him represented as a Priest that should make an atonement for the Sins of his People So Psal 110.4 The Lord hath sworn and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck And wherein his priestly Office chiefly consisted the Prophet Isaiah informs us chap. 53. He was to pour out his soul unto death to be an offering for sin to be numbred with the transgressours to bear the sin of many and to make intercession for the transgressours And sometimes we find him to be represented as a King reigning with soveraign Power and Authority in a Kingdom that should have no end So Psal 2.6 8. Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession Thus it was necessary that the Messias should be qualified in order to the accomplishing the great Work of our Redemption Since by Nature we are utterly ignorant of the Will of God and destitute of all saving Knowledge it was necessary that he should be a Prophet sent from Heaven to reveal it unto us Since by Sin we were become Enemies unto God it was necessary that he should be a Priest to make Reconciliation and Intercession for us And since we were to engage in a dangerous War to fight against Principalities and Powers Adversaries far stronger and mightier than our selves that with all their force continually withstand us in our way to Heaven and that had already enslaved us all under their accursed Tyranny by the Dis-obedience of our first Parents it was necessary that he should be a mighty King endued with Power from on high to assert our Liberty and to subdue and discomfit our Enemies before us All these Qualifications I say were necessarily required in the Messias and all are expresly ascribed unto him in the Old Testament Now that our blessed Saviour did come into the World for this very end for which the Prophets foretold that the Messias should come and that he was most eminently qualified in the same manner as they foretold he should be is most clearly evident in the account which the holy Evangelists and Writers of the New Testament have given us of him First he came for that very end for which the Messias was to come which as the Prophet Daniel speaks was to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness which is the same in effect which the Apostle saith here in my Text To redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons That this was the end of our Saviour's coming not only my Text but almost every page of the New Testament assures us The son of man saith our Saviour of himself is come to seek and to save that which was lost Luk. 19.10 and Matth. 20.28 The son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransome for many There is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransome for all to be testified in due time 1 Tim. 2.5 6. I need not insist any more upon this Point than which nothing is more evident in all the Scriptures For this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners The end of all his Sermons of all his Miracles of his most holy Life and heavenly Doctrine of his most meritorious Death and Passion of his most glorious and triumphant Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven of his most gracious Mission of the Holy Ghost and of his continual Intercession for us at the right hand of God was that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Thus ye see the end of our blessed Saviour's coming into the world is both by himself and his Apostles plainly declared to be the very same for which the Messias was to come But still this is not sufficient for one that was but an Impostor might impudently avouch himself to be the Messias and go about to perswade the world that he came for this very end But it was necessary that he that did come for it indeed and did truly accomplish it should bring with him as it were credential Letters from Heaven to assure the world that he was truly and really sent by God upon so great an Embassy And that he did do so is evident beyond all Contradiction in the Gospel All those eminent Offices which the Prophets in the Old Testament ascribe unto the Messias he undertook and performed to a tittle and was both a Prophet a Priest and a King in all respects incomparably beyond what ever the world either did or shall behold First he was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people His Doctrine was most Divine and Heavenly far surpassing what had been formerly delivered by Moses and the Prophets and agreeable to what they foretold should be delivered by the Messias Though it is most true that the Religion which was taught by Moses and the Prophets had God himself for its Author and therefore could not chuse but be good yet it is certain that it was a far more imperfect Revelation of the Divine Will than what was afterwards to be made by the Messias who was to establish a Religion unto which not only the Jews but all mankind should be obliged to submit or perish upon their refusal of it For the proof of this I might produce many places out of the Writings of the Prophets but the beginning of Isa 42. shall suffice for all Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my spirit upon him he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his
Almighty Creatour But though the reasonableness of this Duty must needs be apparent to all Men that believe that there is a God and they that believe not that though they may seem to be Rational Creatures are certainly most notorious Fools yet all Men are not so clearly agreed how to perform this Duty and that is the next thing that falls under our Consideration and the last Particular to be handled in my Text the manner how we must glorifie God we must do it in our Body and in our Spirit forasmuch as he hath redeemed and purchased both of them and both are his For ye are bought with a price c. First We must glorifie God in our Spirit that is in our Soul and in this all Parties are agreed even the very Quakers themselves the most stupid and senseless Fanaticks that have surfeited upon Religion and overwhelmed and oppressed their Reason by that very thing which was designed to refine and perfect it will all of them acknowledge that God is to be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth and that their Soul ought to bow to him though their Body be as inflexible as a Pillar of Marble And indeed this is the chief and main thing that we are to take care of in the worship of God that our Soul be zealously and earnestly intent upon what we are about for God sees not as Man sees he regards not so much the outward Gestures of our Body though as I shall shew hereafter he expects these from us too but he looks especially upon the inward Thoughts and Intentions of our Heart and if these be not right all our bodily worship is nothing worth If we draw near to God with our Lips and our Heart be far from him if we lift up our Eyes and our Hands to Heaven and our Mind be wedded to the World if we prostrate our Bodies upon the Earth and lay our Mouths in the Dust yet if our Spirit be not proportionably humbled all this is no better than gross Hypocrisie a downright mocking of God who cannot be deceived with counterfeit shews and shadows of Religion If therefore we desire to glorifie God aright we must be sure chiefly and principally to glorifie him in our Spirit and as Solomon advises us we must keep our Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life Prov. 4.23 Now this glorifying God in our Spirit implies briefly thus much That we make a free-will-offering of our Soul unto God committing the keeping of it unto him as unto a faithful Creator permitting him to guide and govern it according to his own good will and pleasure throughout the whole course of our life in whatsoever circumstances both in Prosperity and Adversity so that every thought and motion of it may evermore tend to his Glory He that hath made such an Offering as this unto God will always remember that he is not his own but that his Body and Soul are bought with a price and that both of them are God's and consequently will be careful to direct all his Thoughts Words and Actions to this one end that the Glory of God may be advanced by whatsoever he undertakes He will have God always in his thoughts as the only Object of his highest Love and Adoration and this will make him watch continually over his Soul and keep it pure and undefiled that no unclean thing may enter into that Spirit which is wholly devoted to the God of Purity For certainly nothing can be a more powerful motive to induce us to keep our Heart with all diligence than the consideration of God's Omnipresence and Omniscience that he sees us perpetually in our most private Retirements and searches and knows our most secret and hidden thoughts Hence it was that God himself gave that command to the Father of the Faithful Gen. 17.1 Walk before me and be thou perfect He that walks before God that is he that orders his whole Life and Conversation as knowing and considering that God's Eye is always upon him cannot chuse but endeavour to keep both his Soul and his Body blameless and undefiled and strive to be perfect as his Father which is in Heaven is perfect Again he that hath made such an Offering as this of his Soul unto God will be careful that in all things his Soul be obedient and conformable to the Will of God In his Health and Prosperity if Riches increase he will not set his Heart upon them but with Humility and Thankfulness will receive them as knowing himself not to be a Proprietor but a Steward only of the manifold Blessings of God and will accordingly dispose of them so that God may have the Glory and his distressed Brethren the benefit of his Wealth On the other hand if God sends Trouble and Affliction unto him if he deprives him of his Estate or his Health or both together whatsoever Calamity befalls him he will still bless and praise his Name as well when he takes away as when he gives when he smites as well as when he heals knowing and considering that whatsoever he either enjoys or suffers in this World comes to him from the Hand of an infinitely wise and good and gracious Father that will be sure first or last to make all things work together for good to them that love him Thus will the blessed Will and Pleasure of God be unto him as it were the Load-star to guide and direct his Soul how to steer its course towards the Haven of everlasting Happiness streight and steddy through all the Changes and Chances of this mortal life teaching him that hard Lesson which so few can learn how to separate Riches from Pride and Poverty from Impatience that neither the one may prevail with him to forget God and worship Mammon nor the other to repine at the Divine Providence and to fret and vex himself at the Prosperity of his Brethren If God blesses him he will acknowledge himself to be less than the least of all his Mercies and if he afflicts him he will receive it as the Correction of a tender Father that pities and loves his Children even when he chastizes them Lastly He that hath made this Offering of his Soul unto God whensoever he is in God's House in order to the celebration of his Publick Worship or whensoever he is in his Closet performing his Private Devotions will be exceeding careful to set his Heart and Affections then especially upon those things which are above he will be sure to banish all worldly thoughts out of his Mind and study to behave himself so as becomes one that is admitted to appear in the Presence-Chamber of the King of Kings either to put up his Petitions to him or to receive his Commands following that excellent Counsel of Solomon Eccl. 5.1 Keep thy Foot when thou goest to the House of God and be more ready to hear than to give the Sacrifice of Fools for they consider not that
they do evil And how few there are that do follow this Counsel is but too evident from that vain and loose Deportment of many persons which we daily see in the Church to the great scandal and grief of all pious and devout Christians who cannot chuse but be exceedingly troubled and offended to see God publickly dishonoured and affronted in his own House by persons that pretend to come thither on purpose to joyn in the Celebration of his Publick Worship and Praise But of this I shall have occasion to speak more anon when I come to shew you how we are to glorifie God in our Body which I proceed now to do And First as before I observed That we are to glorifie God in our Spirit by keeping it pure and undefiled by sin so must we do in our Body too For it is impossible that a clean Soul should dwell in an unclean Body but if the one be foul the other will certainly partake of its Pollutions Indeed it is impossible that the Body should sin without the Soul since it cannot act but by the Command and Concurrent Assistance of the Soul whereas the Soul may sin without the help of the Body and we may commit Adultery or Murder or Theft in our Heart though our Body never be concerned in the perpetration of any such Crimes And therefore whosoever truly and sincerely glorifies God in his Spirit will by a most inevitable consequence glorifie him in his Body also He that hath banished all unchast thoughts out of his Mind will make a Covenant with his Eyes too that they shall not cast a wanton glance upon Beauty He whose Heart is free from all covetous Desires after his Neighbour's Goods will keep his Hands also from picking and stealing He that is perfectly in Charity with all Men and is not only ready to forgive but heartily loves his Enemies will not only fetter his Feet that they shall not be swift to shed Blood but he will also bridle his Tongue and keep it from evil-speaking lying and slandering and will be so far from hurting any Man by word or deed that he will most gladly embrace every opportunity that is offered him of doing good to any that stand in need of help He therefore that hath devoted his Soul wholly to the Glory of God will devote his Body likewise to the same end he will be careful to cleanse his Hands as well as his Heart to purifie his whole Man and since God hath bought his Body as well as his Soul with a price since one as well as the other is a Temple of the Holy Ghost and a Member of Christ he will endeavour to the best of his power that both of them may be preserved blameless and undefiled and unspotted of the World knowing that God will in no wise accept of a polluted Offering And this is the direct sense and meaning of the Apostle's Argument from the fifteenth Verse to the end of this Chapter whereby he labours to disswade the Corinthians from Fornication and all manner of Uncleanness Flee Fornication saith he every sin that a Man doth is without the Body but he that committeth Fornication sinneth against his own Body What know ye not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God and ye are not your own For ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's But further if we will glorifie God in our Body as we ought we must not only be careful to keep it chast and undefiled by Lust and Wantonness but we must study to adorn and beautify it so that it may be acceptable in the sight of God by Temperance and Sobriety and Moderation in all things endeavouring to preserve it free from all manner of Luxury and Excess whether in Meat or Drink or Apparel or Recreation or whatsoever else with which it is concerned Meat and Drink in this mortal life are so necessary to us that we cannot live without them but if we indulge our selves in the immoderate use of either of them instead of preserving our Health it will most certainly destroy it So likewise modest and decent Raiment is in a manner as necessary for the covering our Nakedness and defending us from the Injuries of the Weather but still at the best it is but the Devil's Livery which we had never worn had it not been for the Disobedience of our first Parents and which it much better becomes us to be ashamed of than to glory in If therefore we affect vain and pompous Attire if we long for every fantastick Dress as fast as the apish Fashion-mongers can invent them till we have array'd our selves so that we think we may vie both for Smell and Beauty with the Lilies of the Field by so doing though we may hide the Nakedness of our Body we shall most certainly discover that of our Soul and we shall appear loathsome and deformed not only in the Eyes of God from whom nothing can be hid but in the Eyes also of all godly and sober Christians and shall stink in their Nostrils amidst all our precious Odours and Perfumes And therefore our Blessed Saviour hath commanded us not to take any care for the Provision either of Meat or Drink or Raiment any further than what Necessity and Decency requires Matth. 6.31 Take no thought saying What shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithall shall we be cloathed for after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your Heavenly Father knows that ye have need of all these things But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Such care as this much better becomes an Epicure that expects his Portion in this life than a Christian that owns himself to be but a Stranger and a Sojourner here upon Earth and whose Treasure and Heart and Conversation is in Heaven Therefore as our Apostle exhorts us 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do let us do all to the Glory of God Again we are to glorifie God in our Body by labouring daily in some honest Calling that so we may provide for our selves and our Families and be useful and serviceable to our Country It was a Command as well as a Curse that God laid upon all Mankind in the person of Adam immediately after his Transgression In the sweat of thy Face shalt thou eat Bread And if we yield a consciencious Obedience to this Command labouring as God hath ordained in a lawful Employment we may turn this Curse into a Blessing and provide for our selves not only that Meat which perishes in this World but that which endures unto everlasting life in the next And on the other hand whosoever thinks to exempt himself from the force of this Command until some natural or accidental Infirmity hath dispensed with him shall not
escape the Sentence of the Curse but if he will not sweat here he shall be sure to burn hereafter he shall have no Bread in this World or at least none that he can justly call his own and he shall want Water in the other wherewithal to cool his Tongue Not that all Men are obliged by this Command to the same measure and Degree of bodily Labour this were to degrade the States-man from the Council-table to the Threshing-floor and the King himself from sitting upon his Throne to grind at the Mill but that all Men are obliged in their several Stations and Capacities to employ their Body as well as their Soul to the Glory of God and to the Service of the Country wherein they live And this may be done by him that manages but a Pen as well as by him that holds a Plough and if he orders his business well of the two the former undoubtedly doth not only do the greatest service both to God and Man but takes the greatest pains also and doth most hurt and prejudice to his Health for the wise Man hath told us That of making many Books there is no end and much study is a weariness of the Flesh Eccl. 12.12 Therefore as our Apostle exhorts us again 1 Cor. 7.24 Let every Man wherein he is called therein abide with God But further We must glorifie God in our Body not only by our Sweat but if we be called to it by our Blood too which we must be always ready patiently and chearfully to shed for his sake whensoever he is pleased to require it of us The Cross of Christ is a Burden that every Christian is obliged to bear and none ought to think it grievous though many now-a-days are ashamed of the very sign of it And Persecution tho' it be a thing at which Flesh and Blood is apt to startle yet it is no more than what every Disciple of Christ must expect to have his share of Our Saviour himself hath told us as much Luke 14.26 If any Man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple And whosoever doth not bear his Cross and come after me cannot be my Disciple And St. Paul tells us That all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution 2 Tim. 3.12 This indeed is the hardest Task that God requires us to perform but as it is the hardest so it is the noblest that which of all things tends most to the Glory of God and to our own Happiness and therefore we should be so far from fearing it that above all things we should most earnestly desire it and as our Saviour commands us and as we read that the Apostles and Primitive Christians did we should rejoyce and be exceeding glad whensoever God calls us to suffer Persecution knowing that great is our reward in Heaven and that our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory Lastly for I do but name these Particulars designing to insist something more largely upon that which I am now propounding We must glorifie God in our Body by an humble reverent and decent behaviour of our Body in the House of God especially in the time of the Celebration of his Publick Worship This is a thing so undeniable that one would think it should be very needless to produce any Arguments to enforce the practice of it and surely that Man must either have lost the use of his Reason or at least must have extreamly impaired it by Prejudice and a bad Education that will not readily acknowledge that God is to be glorified and worshipped by us as well with our Body as with our Soul But yet if we consider the prophane and graceless deportment of many especially of the vulgar sort of People in our Country Churches now-a-days that are so far from worshipping God with a bended Knee that they will not vouchsafe so much as to uncover their Heads before him but most irreverently and impudently sit themselves down upon their Seats and put on their Hats even in the very Face of the Lord of Hosts as if they came into his House rather to defie him than to adore him and to publish to the World that Dust and Ashes dares presume to sit unconcerned in the presence of that infinite Majesty before whose Throne Angels and Archangels and all the glorious Inhabitants of Heaven cast their Crowns and fall down and worship it cannot but be granted that it is both seasonable and needful to prove the necessity of Bodily Worship in the House of God and to exhort all Men to the practice of it which I shall do as briefly as I can from these following Considerations And first that we must worship God with our Body as well as with our Soul is evident from this one Consideration because God hath redeemed our Body as well as our Soul from Hell and designs to glorifie the one as well as the other in Heaven which is the Apostle's Argument in my Text and is abundantly sufficient of it self though there were no more to back it For ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's What hath God redeemed our Bodies as well as our Souls from everlasting Misery and hath he promised to raise our vile Body out of the Dust and to change it into a Glorious Immortal and Incorruptible Body and to admit it together with our Soul into the Regions of Eternal Joy and Happiness and shall this Body as if it were utterly insensible of this inestimable Favour shew no demonstrations of Gratitude to so great a Benefactour What can be more ungrateful What can be more unreasonable Secondly That God requires that we should worship him with our Body as well as with our Soul is plain from the Second Commandment wherein he hath forbidden us to bow down our Body before an Image for this very reason because he is a Jealous God i. e. jealous of his Honour which he declares that we rob him of whensoever we bow our Body thereby intending Religious Worship to any other but himself alone And therefore we find in the Revelation that when St. John offers to fall down and worship before the Feet of the Angel the Angel forbids him See thou do it not for I am thy fellow Servant and of thy Brethren the Prophets and of them which keep the Sayings of this Book worship God Rev. 22.9 Whosoever therefore neglects to pay Religious Worship unto God with his Body transgresses the Second Commandment as well as he that pays that worship to any other thing or person but God only Hence is that pathetical Exhortation of the Psalmist O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker which our Church hath appointed daily to be repeated
by us in her Morning Service that so we might be continually put in mind of this duty and be careful always to behave our selves Humbly Reverently and Devoutly in the House of God Thirdly It is necessary that we worship God with our Body for the satisfaction both of Men and Angels It is the peculiar Prerogative of God that he only can discern the secret Thoughts and Intentions of our Hearts and therefore though a private Ejaculation of our Soul wherein our Body is not at all concerned may be very acceptable and well-pleasing in his sight at other times yet in the time of our Publick Devotions in the Church the case is otherwise For there both Men and Angels are Spectators of our Piety neither of which can judge of the Sincerity of it any otherwise than by our outward Behaviour which if it be devout and reverent they will conclude that our Soul is so too and will gladly joyn with us in our publick Worship of that God who is the common Lord and Master of us all But if otherwise not only all good Men will take offence at our Prophaneness but we shall much more offend those blessed Spirits and provoke them to loath and abhorr our Religious Assemblies which delight to frequent them so long as they observe that we behave our selves so that they may plainly discern our inward Piety by our outward Deportment And for this reason St. Paul forbids Men to be covered in the Church and Women to be uncovered because of the Angels 1 Cor. 11. The Angels cannot endure to behold any such indecency and disorder in the Church but are highly displeased at it as a thing that tends much to the dishonour of God and most evidently discovers that such persons as are guilty of it are destitute of true Religion for it cannot be imagined that when every little Passion of our Mind causes more or less some visible alteration in our Body that Religion which is the noblest Passion with which our Soul can be affected and that too at that very time when we come with a pretence to profess it openly before Men and Angels in God's own House should cause no alteration at all but that our Body all this while should sit as unconcerned as one of the Pillars of the Church No certainly if our Soul were truly humbled as it ought to be before the Throne of Grace it would command the Body to humble it self likewise to uncover the Head and bend the Knee to lift up the Eyes and the Hands and to bear it company with a devout and reverent behaviour of all its Members in its Suit and Supplication to the Divine Majesty Therefore as St. James exhorts us to shew our Faith by our Works so likewise let us shew the Devotion of our Soul by that of our Body For as Faith without Works is dead so is inward Piety especially in the time of God's Publick Service in the Church dead also except it be accompanied by bodily Worship Lastly That God is to be worshipped with our Body as well as with our Soul is evident from the universal consent and practice of Mankind in all Ages all Nations and Countries of the World whatsoever Not only Christians but Jews Mahometans Heathens and Pagans all agree in this point that Divine Worship is to be performed by our Body as well as by our Soul And therefore those Men that imagin Bodily Worship to be needless in the Service of God and behave themselves accordingly do in effect render themselves no better than Monsters not only to be wondered at but even to be abhorred in that particular by all the rest of Mankind and certainly an honest Pagan being before acquainted with the Custom of our Country which obliges us to uncover our Heads and to stand bare in the presence of our betters though but mortal Men like our selves should he come into some of our Churches and observe Men sitting irreverently with their Hats on in the House of God even at the very time when they are receiving a Message concerning their everlasting Salvation from the Mouth of his Ambassadour would stand astonished and exclaim against Christianity as the most impious and profane Religion in the World that allowed men to be hail fellow well met with that God whom they pretend to worship shewing him less respect and reverence even in his own House than they ordinarily pay to a Man that is but a little their Superiour either in Estate or Quality And I would fain have those persons that dare be thus impudent in the presence of the Almighty answer me this one Question Whether they would do the same thing in case they should see God visibly sitting upon his Throne of Glory or in case they should see the Lord Jesus coming in the Clouds of Heaven attended with all his Angels If in this case they would fall down and worship as I question not but that they would I know no reason why they should not likewise behave themselves with a profound Reverence and Devotion both of Body and Soul in the Church which is the place of God's special and extraordinary presence and is when we behave our selves in it as we ought a lively emblem and representation of Heaven it self and then surely it is but reasonable that we that sit at God's Foot-stool here on Earth should uncover our Heads and bend our Knees in his presence when we read that the Holy Angels do no less above casting their Crowns and falling down and worshipping before his Throne in Heaven and if we will not follow their Example now it is greatly to be feared that we shall never be admitted to bear them company hereafter But after all this granting which I hope I have sufficiently proved that bodily Worship of God is necessary it may reasonably be demanded wherein this bodily worship chiefly consists and what Gestures and Ceremonies are to be used by us in our performance of it To which I answer that herein we are to be determined by the Custom of the Countrey wherein we live and the appointment of the Church whereof we are Members In general therefore those Gestures and Ceremonies which by the Custom of our Countrey we are obliged to use in token of civil Honour and Respect in our Addresses to men that are much our Superiours as for Example to the King himself we are to use likewise by way of religious Worship to Almighty God If therefore it be an affront to the King for a Subject to be covered in his presence or to offer a petition ro him in any other posture but upon his Knees reason will tell us that it must needs be a much greater affront to God for any man to put his Hat on in his house or to sit irreverently upon his Seat when the Minister is upon his Knees offering up Prayers and Supplications unto the Throne of Grace in the Name of the whole Congregation Persons that thus mis-behave
themselves in the Worship of God may justly expect such an answer from him as he gives to the Priests that offered polluted bread upon his Altar Mal. 1.8 Offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy Person saith the Lord of Hosts In the Oriental Countries therefore where men never use this Ceremony of uncovering their Heads to their Superiours but stand covered even in the Presence of their Emperour neither is it practicable in their Temples since amongst them the uncovering of the Head is so far from being acknowledged to be a Demonstration of Honour and Respect that it is indeed lookt upon to be an absurd and ridiculous thing and therefore instead thereof they use to put their Shooes off their feet whensoever they enter'd into their Churches which is a Custom in those parts of greater Antiquity perhaps than Moses himself it being not at all improbable that that command which God gave to him in the Bush Exod. 3.5 was no institution of a new Ceremony but only an information that that place was hallowed by the extraordinary Presence of God and therefore he ought to behave himself with the same fear and reverence and to use the same manner of Worship and Adoration which in those Countries was usual and customary in the Temples and holy Places dedicated to the Service of God Put off thy shooes saith he from off thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground And had the Ceremony of uncovering the Head been in use in those Countries as it is here we may rationally conjecture that God would have altered his Command accordingly But to leave these remote Countries with which we are not much concerned and to return to our own from what hath been said it is plain that the outward Gestures and Ceremonies which we are obliged to use in the publick Worship of God are chiefly these three kneeling at Prayers Standing up at other times when it is appointed by the Church and having our Heads uncovered at all times As for sitting though the general practice of all men hath made it to be connived at in the time of the Sermon or the like yet it is a posture that is never very commendable in the Church it is certainly in the time of Prayer most intolerable and he that uses it least at other times deserves most commendation and comes nearest to the practice of the first and purest Ages of Christianity It was therefore a pious resolution of Biship Hall to this purpose in one of his Meditations God saith he is the Lord of my Body also and therefore challenges as well reverent Gesture as inward Devotion I will ever in my Prayers either stand as a servant before my Master or kneel as a Subject to my Prince I might instance in more particulars but that I may hasten to a conclusion I shall name only this one which will comprehend all the rest and that is That our Bodily Worship may be compleat we must take care that our Tongue be duly employed in bearing its part in the publick Service of God as the Church hath appointed which if we would do we should avoid that scandalous Behaviour which is too commonly seen in our Churches of whispering and laughing and playing idle Tricks which is a thing to be abominated by all pious and devout Christians Thus I have shewed you according to my ability the Summ and Substance of this duty of glorifying God in our Body and in our Spirit which that we may evermore perform effectually God of his infinite mercy vouchsafe to direct sanctifie amd govern both our hearts and Bodies in the ways of his Laws and in the Works of his Commandments that through his most mighty protection both here and ever we may be preserved in Body and Soul through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ SERMON VI. HEB. IV. 14. Seeing then that we have a great High-priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our Profession THERE are four several Steps or Degrees of our Saviour's Exaltation Three of which are already past and the other is yet to come The first is his Resurrection from the Dead The second is his Ascension into Heaven The third is his Session at the Right Hand of God The fourth is his coming again with Glory to judge both the Quick and the Dead The first of these his Resurrection from the Dead we Commemorated at Easter and the present time invites us now to Exercise our Meditations upon the second his Ascension into Heaven and any Text furnishes us with a very excellent Method for the doing of it to the Glory of God and the Good and Comfort of our own Souls For first the Apostle lays down the Truth of this Doctrine that our Saviour is ascended into Heaven and secondly he shews us what influence the consideration of his Ascension should have upon us So that the Text it self is an Epitome of a Sermon containing both Doctrine and Application The Doctrine that our Saviour is ascended into Heaven the Apostle takes for granted in the former part of the Verse Seeing then that we have a great High-priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God And this Doctrine he confirms chap. 9. ver 24. For Christ is not entred into the Holy Places made with Hands which are the Figures of the true but into Heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us and chap. 7. ver 26. Such an High-priest became us who is Holy Harmless Vndefiled separate from Sinners and made higher than the Heavens The Application which the Apostle makes of this Doctrine is in the latter part of my Text and it is this that since Christ is ascended into Heaven we ought stoutly and resolutely to maintain the Profession of our Christian Religion and to contend earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints Seeing then c. In speaking to which Text I shall do these three Things First I shall shew that Jesus Christ our Redeemer the Eternal Son of God is truly ascended into Heaven Secondly That he ascended thither as our High-priest And Thirdly I shall conclude with the Apostles Application and shew you how strongly this should oblige us to hold fast our Profession First I shall shew you That Jesus Christ our Redeemer the Eternal Son of God he who we own and believe to be the true Messias whom all the Prophets pointed at is truly ascended into Heaven And here it will be necessary to clear two Things by the way First What is meant by that Heaven into which Christ is ascended And secondly how and in what manner he is said to have ascended thither For the first of these not to trouble you with an account of all the several Significations of the word Heaven in Scripture we are to understand by that Heaven into which our Saviour is ascended the Heaven of
Heavens the highest and most glorious Heaven which is the Imperial Throne of the Majesty of God far above all those Celestial Orbs which are visible to our Sight wherein the Sun and Moon and Stars perform their constant and regular Motions according to those Laws which God gave them at their first Creation Through all these Heavens our Saviour passed in his Ascension as is plain from my Text if we consult the Original for what our Translation Renders is passed into the Heavens is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is passed through the Heavens i. e. through all these visible Heavens into that invisible one wherein he dwelt with his Father in inaccessible Light and Glory and Majesty from all Eternity And that this is the meaning of that Heaven into which our Saviour is ascended is plain from that Expression of our Apostle which I cited before Hebr. 7.26 where he tells us That such an High-priest became us as was made higher than the Heavens And likewise from that Eph. 4.10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all Heavens Thus ye see what is meant by that Heaven into which our Saviour is ascended For the second Thing how and in what manner he is said to have ascended thither I answer he ascended not by any local Motion or Translation of his Divine Nature from Earth to Heaven for that being Infinite and Omnipresent filling all places at once cannot be supposed to be capable of being removed any whither where before it was not but he ascended by translating his humane Nature his whole Man both Body and Soul from Earth where he had assumed that Nature and hypostatically united it to his Divinity unto the Right Hand of God in the highest Heavens And that Christ is thus ascended into Heaven the Scripture most amply and plainly assures us First this Ascension of his was typified and prefigured under the Mosaical Law by the High-priests entering once a Year into the Holy of Holies to make an Atonement for himself and the People as our Apostle shews us chap. 9. of this Epistle The Holy Ghost this signifying saith he That the way into the holiest of all was not made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing which was a Figure for the time then present But Christ being come an High-priest of good Things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with Hands that is to say not of this Building neither by the Blood of Goats and Calves but by his own Blood entered in once into the Holy Place having obtained Eternal Redemption for us Again this Ascension of our Saviour into Heaven was Typified by those extraordinary Translations of Enoch and Elias Secondly it was foretold by the Prophets as appears by that of Ps 68.18 Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led Captivity Captive Thou hast received Gifts for Men which place St. Paul expresly applies to our Saviour's Ascension Eph. 4.8 and Ps 24. is almost all of it a prophetical Description of this Ascension and is therefore very fitly appointed by our Church to be Read upon that Day which we set apart for the Commemoration of it To the same effect is that Prophecy of Isai chap. 63.1 where the Prophet describes the Holy Host of Heaven rejoicing and wondering at the Glorious Ascension of our Lord into those everlasting Mansions Who is this say they that cometh from Edom with died Garments from Bozrah This that is Glorious in his Apparel travelling in the greatness of his Strength I that speak in Righteousness mighty to Save And as our Saviour's Ascension was typified and foretold in the Old Testament so we find that all those Types and Prophecies were made good and fulfilled in the New There we have a most faithful and punctual Account as of his Nativity his Passion his Resurrection from the Dead so likewise of his Ascension into Heaven This we find that our Saviour himself plainly foretold some Days before it came to pass Go to my Brethren saith he to Mary Magdalen and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God Joh. 20.17 And when this was to be fulfilled that there might not want sufficient Witnesses to attest the truth of his Ascension the Evangelist St. Luke tells us That when he was about to ascend up to his Father he led his Disciples out as far as to Bethany and that there he lift up his Hands and Blessed them and that while he Blessed them he was parted from them and carried up into Heaven But still further lest any should doubt notwithstanding our Saviour's being visibly parted from his Disciples and received up into the Air whether he did really ascend into Heaven or not to remove all manner of occasion of such doubting God immediately sends two Angels from Heaven to certifie them that he was really ascended thither for the story tells us Acts 1.10 That while they looked stedfastly toward Heaven as he went up behold two men stood by them in white Apparel which also said Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven Now there remains no ground at all of doubting whether our Saviour be really ascended into Heaven or no since what the Apostle's eyes were not able visible to behold the Testimony of two Angels hath undeniably confirmed Thus much briefly of my first particular that Christ our Redeemer is truly and really ascended into Heaven i.e. that his humane Nature both Body and Soul are actually by the Omnipotent Power of his God-head translated into the highest Heavens The next thing to be considered is that he is ascended into Heaven as our High-priest It is true that Christ ascended into Heaven for his own sake as well as for ours For surely he that for the expiation of God's Wrath had humbled himself so low he that had wrought so glorious a Work as the Redemption of Mankind and that by undergoing most bitter and unconceivable Sufferings did highly deserve to be exalted to the Right-hand of his Heavenly Father And therefore he himself saith that these sufferings of his were the way to his glory Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory Luke 24.26 But although Christ ascended into Heaven for himself that he might take possession of that Kingdom which he had justly deserved yet he ascended thither for us also As at his Resurection he arose from the dead not for himself only but for us also and became the First-fruits of them that slept so likewise at his Ascension he passed into the Heavens as our High-priest by virtue of whose Ascension all his Elect shall ascend up after him unto the same place of Glory and Immortality This is evident from these words of my Text Seeing then
was sore against the hair It was an hard thing he thought to sell his Possessions to take up a Cross an hard thing to part with his Wealth to purchase Affliction and to exchange a Garland of Roses for a Crown of Thorns If Salvation must cost so much he was resolved to let it alone and thought it not worth his while to part with his present Enjoyments for the Reversion of Heaven but though he had made so great a shew of Religion and had kept as he pretended all the Commandments from his Youth yet Christs Yoke was too heavy for him and he went away sorrowing for he had great Possessions This is no doubt the case of many now in the world that pass in the Eyes of Men for good Christians They make a very fair shew of Religion insomuch that they cheat even their own selves and perswade themselves into a groundless presumption of their own Salvation and that the condition of their Souls is very good when it must of necessity be otherwise so long as they harbour a Serpent in their bosom which will be sure to sting them to death some beloved sin or other of which they cannot find in their Hearts to repent Perhaps they come to Church constantly and for the most part receive the word with gladness But nevertheless their goodness is but as a morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away Though sometimes at the hearing of a searching Sermon their affections may be extraordinarily moved for the present yet the good seed of the word can take no firm Root in such stony Ground It is but only a sudden Motion that they feel in their Hearts which passes away as quick as it came It is but a faint representation an empty shadow of that unspeakable comfort and joy in the Holy Ghost which is a continual Feast to the Godly a Heaven upon Earth to all those happy Souls who are sealed unto the day of Redemption These Men like Agrippa are but almost perswaded to be Christians Some good thing there is in the them toward the Lord but it is so very little that their faith is less than a grain of Mustard-seed They would fain enter into Heaven at the last but neither the hopes of Heaven nor fear of Hell can prevail with them to lay aside that darling Sin which doth so easily beset them They can be content to let God have a good share of their Heart but they cannot be perswaded to give him the whole They can endure to hear God's Word preached and perhaps for the most part they delight in it too They love to hear Sin condemned and Godliness commended so long as they imagine themselves to be unconcerned But if the Preacher chance to touch one of these Men to the quick and saith to him in plain Terms Thou art the Man then he is more ready to fly in his Face like Ahab and to tell him that he is a Troubler of Israel than to confess with David that he hath sinned against the Lord. Or at the best he goes away sorrowing like the Rich-man or trembling like Felix and desires to hear no more of those matters till the Archangel's Trump shall summon him to hear of them to his Everlasting Confusion Whilst the Prophet speaks to these Men smooth things so long they can hear him with pleasure and he is to them as Ezekiel was to the Jews as a very lovely Song of one that hath a pleasant Voice and can play well on an Instrument But if he sharply rebukes Sin and they find their own Consciences touched to the quick then they are pricked to the Heart not with godly Sorrow and Contrition but with Fury and Indignation While he speaks to them in the still small Voice of the Gospel and preaches the glad Tidings of Peace and Reconciliation with God by Jesus Christ they are pleased at the Heart and are too ready to lay hold on those Promises which belong only to the Israel of God But if he thunder out against them the Curses of the Law and denounces the Wrath of God against all impenitent Sinners then they sit but at little ease in their Seats and the Church begins to be too hot for them They like it well so long as the Spiritual Chirurgeon pours Balm into their Wounds but if he takes his Probe and begins to search them they are not able to endure it The Prophet Micaiah had never been condemned to be fed with Bread of Affliction and Water of Affliction had he been one of the lying Prophets and prophesied good concerning Ahab S. John Baptist's Head might have remained secure on his Shoulders and never have been served up in a Charger to satisfie the longing of a revengeful Woman had he but permitted Herod quietly to enjoy his beloved Herodias Our blessed Saviour had never been Crucified had he not so frequently and publickly reproved the Hypocrisie of the Scribes and Pharisees Thus ye see the Righteousness of these partial Professours of Piety and how dangerous a thing it is for Men to take the liberty to cherish any one Sin For though at the present it may seem to be but a little one it will one Day shew it self more at large appear in its proper Colours and like the little Cloud that arose out of the Sea like a Man's hand it will suddenly overspread their whole Heaven and darken their Consciences with Horrour and Astonishment They may pass for good Christians in fair Weather but what will they do in foul They may venture abroad and shew their Heads boldly while the Sun shines but can they out-face a Storm They appear like Saints in the Halcyon Days of the Church when she enjoys Peace and Tranquillity and flourishes under the Protection of pious and prudent Governours but surely they will tremble at the fiery Trial and make Shipwreck concerning Faith in the Tempest of Persecution They may bless God when they are in Prosperity while he makes an Hedge about them and their House but can they do it as heartily like Job when they are in Affliction A Judas may own Christ and cry Hosanna to the Son of David when he rides in Triumph towards Jerusalem and a Peter may deny him when he is at Calvary 'T is Persecution that is the surest Touch-stone to try a Christian 'T is that which will discover the true Metal from the counterfeit For certainly he that will readily lay down his Life for Christ's sake will much more be willing to part with all his Sins for him and will not dare to harbour the least Lust which may provoke his Displeasure But suppose there arises no such thing as Persecution to disturb them but all be calm and quiet such Persons as these must needs be very unhappy notwithstanding For surely they will find but very little Satisfaction in any of their Actions no not in their very Prayers themselves For we know that God hears not Sinners and he is
trespassed and in his Sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die Again The Righteousness of the Righteous shall not deliver him in the Day of his Transgression as for the Wickedness of the Wicked he shall not fall thereby in the Day that he turneth from his Wickedness neither shall the Righteous be able to live for his Righteousness in the Day that he sinneth Without all Controversie by the Righteous in these Places is meant one who is truly and indeed righteous and just in the sight of God as appears by the Description which he gives of him from the 5th Verse of this 18th Chapter of Ezekiel unto the 10th where he expresly declares him to be one that hath walked in his Statutes and hath kept his Judgments to deal truly For if we should understand it otherwise viz. of one that was only outwardly and hypocritically Righteous these Texts would be down-right Non-sense and must mean this which is indeed nothing When the Righteous i. e. the Hypocrite turneth away from his Righteousness i. e. his Hypocrifie he shall die Certainly God would never threaten to punish any Soul with Death for turning away from Hypocrifie neither would he oppose Hypocrifie to Iniquity as a thing contrary to it when he hath so frequently declared in his word that Hypocrifie it self is most gross Iniquity such as his Soul abhors Since therefore we cannot suppose God here to speak of Counterfeit and Hypocritical Righteousness it must needs follow from these Texts of Scripture That he who was once truly Righteous may turn from such Righteousness and commit Iniquity may fall from Grace into a State of Damnation and that he may continue in such a State and die in his Sins Again Thirdly This is evident from our Saviour's Parable John 15.1 2. I am the true Vine and my Father is the Husbandman Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away Now no Man can ever be a Branch of this Heavenly Vine which is Jesus Christ but by a true Faith And yet our Saviour declares here that such a Branch as this that was once in him may cease to bear Fruit and thereupon be taken away such a Man may depart from the Faith and fall from Christ Fourthly This is clear from that Passage 2 Pet. 2.20 If after they have escaped the Pollutions of the World through the Knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter End is worse with them than the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered unto them unto which Place that of Hebrews 6.4 5 6. is parallel From both which Places it appears that they who were once enlightened and had tasted of the Heavenly Gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and had tasted the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come that they who have escaped the Pollutions of the World through the Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ i. e. by a true Faith in him for none but such can enable any Man to escape those Pollutions may notwithstanding all this fall away ay and fall so too that it shall be impossible to renew them again unto Repentance I might produce many more Texts of Scripture for the Confirmation of this Doctrine But I shall content my self with those which I have already cited and for the further Proof of it I shall insist upon some few Examples of holy and just Men in Scripture who have fallen from Grace which certainly were recorded on purpose to teach us this excellent Lesson here in my Text that he that thinks he stands may take heed lest he fall And here I shall omit the Case of the fallen Angels who were once Holy but kept not their first Estate and the Case of our First Parents who though they were created by God in his own Image in Righteousness and Holiness yet quickly fell from that happy Condition into a State of Sin and Misery But the Examples I shall insist upon shall be these 1. Saul who certainly at the first was a pious and good King though afterwards he became quite otherwise and was finally rejected of God for his Disobedience The Adversaries to thâ—â— Doctrine object that Saul never was really good nor endued with true Grace But for all that the Story tells us plainly that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul and rested upon him while he behaved himself well and that afterwards he departed from him and an evil Spirit from the Lord troubled him And certainly unto whomsoever the blessed Spirit of God vouchsafes to come Grace and true Grace too must needs come along with him who is the Fountain and Authour of it and if ever he departs though but for a season Grace can never stay behind him They therefore that deny that Saul had once true Grace may with as good reason deny that the Man in the Parable Matth. 25. that received but one Talent ever had a true Talent and then he had very hard measure to be condemned for not putting it to the Exchangers when he had received nothing but false Coyn. But if this Example be not satisfactory perhaps the next may and that shall be that of David who the Scripture tells us was a Man after God's own Heart and there is no Man but will readily acknowledge that God had bestowed upon him an extraordinary Measure of Grace And yet by those two grievous Sins of Adultery and Murder he fell from this Grace and continued in a state of Sin and damnation for the space of many Months together and never thought of Repentance until he was restored again by the Ministery of the Prophet Nathan St. Paul tells us expresly that Adulterers shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1. Cor. 6.9 And S. John saith that no Murderer hath Eternal Life abiding in him 1 John 3.15 It is manifest therefore that by these Sins David did fall from Grace and had he died without Repentance must have perished Eternally I might instance further in Solomon who was once beloved of the Lord and yet in his old Age became an Idolater in S. Peter who denied his Saviour in Demas who was once one of the fellow-labourers with S. Paul and perhaps one of those he means Phil. 4.3 whose Names were in the Book of Life yet he forsook S. Paul having loved this present World 2 Tim. 4.10 but by what I have said already it is sufficiently evident from Scripture that true believers may depart from the Faith and fall from Grace I shall instance only in one thing more to shew that this is agreeable to the Doctrine of our Church In the Rubrick after the Order of publick Baptism of Infants the Church tells us that it is certain by God's Word that Children which are baptized dying before they commit actual Sin are