Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you IF the Resurrection of Christ had been of his Person only it would have been a rare and glorious Event but an Event of no Concern to us and if we did meet only this Day to celebrate his Resurrection from the Dead and not our Own that shall be though we celebrated a Great Miracle we should not celebrate a Great Benefit But S t Paul teaches us in my Text how we may be assured to commemorate our own Resurrection as well as Christ's namely If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us Those whom the Spirit does not inhabit in this Life when they dye they dye for ever but they on the other side in whom it dwells and inhabits now the Resurrection of Christ is not to them a History but a Precedent and such Persons shall not be only Admirers but themselves Partakers of the Miracle If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken c. To look further into this Mystery and the Expedient propos'd to bring this Wonderful thing to pass I shall observe in the Words these three Particulars I. What it is for the Spirit of God or which is all one of him that raised up Jesus from the dead to dwell in us II. The Effect or Consequence of such In-dwelling of the Spirit of God viz. if it be in a Man He that raised up Christ from the Dead shall raise up his Mortal Body III. By what Means God will produce this Effect in such a Man even by that which dwelleth in him by his Spirit that dwelleth in him I. What it is for the Spirit of God to dwell in a man The Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead is no other than the Eternal Spirit of God the third Person in the Trinity the Spirit which is mentioned in Genesis that in the beginning of the World gave Life to all things is the same Spirit that still gives the Palingenesia the second Genesis or Regeneration whether we understand the Word of the Change and Renovation of our Soul and Affections to the Will of God in this Life or the Resuscitation of the Body from the Grave in the next and the Reuniting it with the Soul in order to Eternal Bliss The Spirit is said here to be the Spirit Of God but not the Spirit In God as if it dwelt in God as it dwells in us it is in God Personally and Essentially as his Being but 't is in us only by way of Tenancy as an Inhabitant or Inmate to excite in us its Gifts and Graces And this may serve to refute and silence those deceived Souls who of late times through their misunderstanding of the Union of the Saints with God exprest in Scripture have run into such high-flown and horrible Blasphemies as to say They are In-Godded in God and In-Christed in Christ thus claiming Prerogative instead of Priviledge and affirming Divinity instead of a Divine Spirit to be in them supposing themselves to be inspired even Essentially with the Divine Nature But such Blasphemous Conceits as these so audacious and injurious to the Deity are so far from being Effects of God's Spirit which is the Principle of Eternal Life in those it dwells that they are Demonstrations of the Spirit of Satan an Affectation to be like the Most High and to equal their Maker and unrepented of will certainly consign them to have a Portion with him in Eternal Death for what the Jews blindly objected against our Lord as a Crime That being but a Man he made himself God may be justly charged on these that being indeed but Men and commonly but the Dreggs of Men they fansie themselves to be Gods Only the Sin of these is more unpardonable in regard that after so long a time and so much warning of the like Miscarriage in this kind they have not exploded this old worn out Stratagem of Satan's But though this Diabolical Frenzy must be abhorr'd yet when 't is said that the Spirit of God dwells in a Man we must look upon it as denoting something more Extraordinary and Excellent than the common Lodging or Abiding of an Inhabitant in a House as representing rather God's Residence in his Temple at Jerusalem which Temple as it was Splendid and Glorious with all that Art and Cost could make it a Representation of Heaven so God by wonderful Tokens and Testimonies declared his Divine Presence in it And after this manner the Heart of every Christian ought to be embellish'd with Vertue and sanctified like a Temple appear like a little Heaven upon Earth in which the Holy Spirit may be seen to dwell by shewing his Divine Operations Know ye not says S t Paul that your Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost Solomon built God but one Material House but Christ by his Spirit has raised to God as many Living Temples on Earth as there are Believers But to be more particular Dwelling in a House implies three things 1. Legitimate Possession by Legal Title and Introduction 2. Command and Dominion 3. Residence or Mansion And all these Properties the In-dwelling of the Spirit of God ought to have in those whom it hereafter quickens to Everlasting Life 1. The Spirit must have Legitimate Introduction and Possession God dwelt not in his Temple at Jerusalem till it was Dedicated and consecrated to him till he was introduced into it by Supplications and Sacrifices And his Holy Spirit will not dwell in Mens Hearts till they be dedicated and consecrated to him by Baptism and he be introduced by Prayer and Vows of Faith and Repentance Ephes. 3.17 S t Paul beseeches God that he would grant to the Ephesians according to the riches of his Glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the Inner-Man that Christ may dwell in their Hearts by Faith They that by Faith in Christ do not unite themselves unto him and so receive of his Spirit have not yet introduced the Spirit into its Temple and they that recede again from the Faith after they have received it dislodge and thrust the Holy Spirit out of his Tenure and Occupation The Jews reckoned that God was still among them as before when they had rejected and crucified the Holy One but after such their Infidelity and Wickedness he remained no more in their Hearts than he did in their Material Temple after that Voice was heard to come out of it migremus hinc let us depart hence Wheresoever it is so That either Men believe not on the Son of God or else having believed on him through the Allurements of the World and the Flesh fall back again into Unbelief and chuse rather to dispossess his Spirit than their Sins and Lusts there no Quickening Power will be found to revive their Mortal Bodies at the
last Day for where the Spirit it self is not its Operations cannot be expected 'T is true indeed that Sinners and Infidels shall rise again as S t Paul says Acts 24.15 There shall be a Resurrection of the Dead both of the Just and Vnjust Those that crucified Christ in the days of his Flesh and those that crucifie him by their Wicked Lives now in his Glory shall rise no less than True Believers than his holy Apostles and Martyrs But how and to what Resurrection shall they rise Even to such a Resurrection as is no other than a Second and Worse Death a Death not of Extinction or annihilation but a Death of Eternal Duration in Torment Non-Existence being not the State of the Second Death but Endless and Insupportable Misery insomuch that they shall wish that the Grave had for ever swallowed them up that as they liv'd like the Beasts that perish so they had also dyed like them without the Expectation of any After-Being So that the Resurrection of the Wicked is but an Aequivocal Resurrection as the lifting up of the Head of Pharaoh's Baker on the Gallows and the hanging Haman fifty Cubits high were but Aequivocal Advancements The Bodies of the Saints that rose after the Passion dy'd again the same Death but those that shall rise at the Last Day not having the Spirit shall dye again not the same Death that would be a Happiness but a Death that shall have no End and the Miseries of which we can no more describe than we can the Joys of Eternal Life but we must suffer a Change and be endued with new Powers and Faculties before we can support the Bliss of the one or the Torments of the other The second Property of an Inhabitant or Dweller in a House is to Command and Rule 'T is the Saying of every man to those that withstand the Exercise of their just Authority or but their Civility Give me leave to Command in my own House The Spirit of God must Rule and Command where it dwells we must not only give it House-room but Dominion look upon him as a Tenant but revere as our Land-Lord resign our Actions Wills Affections the Whole Man to his Dispose and Guidance Faith invites the Holy Ghost but Obedience and Submission to his Gracious Motions perfumes his Habitation and makes him delight to stay in it The Spirit of Love Meekness Purity and Holiness will not reside but where these and the like Vertues bear the Sway. Let the Word of Christ says S t Paul dwell in you Richly in all Wisdom So let the Spirit of God dwell in you Richly in all Wisdom it will not Cohabit with the Sons of Men unless it be Richly i. e. in the Abundance of its own Divine Graces and Operations If we will have the Spirit of God quicken our Mortal Bodies hereafter we must suffer him to quicken our Souls in this Life if we hope to reign by his Power in the World to come we must submit to his Dominion in this present World The third Property is Residence and Mansion our Houses are called our Manours and Places i. e. the Places where we ordinarily abide and where the Law presumes we are to be found so that if a Writ be delivered to any of the Houshold or but fastned to the Ring of the Door 't is counted the same thing as if given into our hands Thus our Hearts must be the Holy Spirit 's Manour or Place for what David says of God's constant Abode in his Temple on Mount Sion This is the Hill which God delights to dwell in yea the Lord will dwell in it for ever the like must be said of the constant Abode of the Holy Spirit in our Hearts This is the Habitation of the Holy Spirit and if we grieve him not nor drive him away by our Sins he will delight to dwell in us for ever When we were devoted to God in Baptism we devolved and made-over to his Holy Spirit an Estate in our Hearts even the Whole Term we had to live in this World and if we make good this Grant or Demise he will never abandon his Tenements till he has raised them up to Eternal Glory The Reason that a Great Schole-Man gives Why God punishes the Sins of Men which were but Temporal with an Eternity of Torments is Quia peccaverunt in suo aeterno because they sinn'd out all the Eternity they had i. e. all the Time God allowed them in this World and had he continued their Lives to the End of all Ages they would have continued still the same Wicked Persons The like Reason may be given for God's rewarding the Temporal Obedience of the Righteous with Eternal Glory Quia obedientes fuerunt in suo aeterno because they were Obedient all that little Eternity he allowed them in this World and would have persever'd in their Obedience if he had drawn out their Lives to the last Period of Time Abiding and Persevering in Righteousness is that which will give us Immortality if we give up the Possession of our Souls to the Dispose and Conduct of the Blessed Spirit the Whole Little Aeternum we have in this World we shall certainly obtain an Eternity that shall have no end in the next And thus I have shew'd the Manner of the Spirit 's Dwelling in every Christian and they that pretend to his In-dwelling without these Properties boast of an In-mate which they have not and as they want this Divine Guest so they will want the Blessed Effects and Consequence of his inhabiting in them the quickning of their Mortal Bodies at the last Day to Glory Which is the second thing I propos'd to explain The Effect or Consequence of the Spirit 's dwelling in us If the Spirit dwell in you He that raised up Jesus from the Dead shall quicken your Mortal Bodies The Words suggest two things to our Consideration 1. What shall be done to such Persons in whom the Spirit dwells He shall quicken their Mortal Bodies 2. Who shall be the Author to effect or bring this to pass He that raised up Jesus from the Dead 1. What shall be done to such Persons in whom the Spirit dwells 'T is said He shall quicken their Mortal Bodies Our Bodies are Mortal three Ways by Natural Death the Dissolution of the Substance of them by Eternal Death which succeeds the Natural that Riddle of a Death which by its Existence is in truth a Life but by the Torments belonging to it may deservedly be called a Death and by Spiritual Death which is the Cause of the other two Now our Mortal Bodies may be quicken'd or reviv'd again to three Lives To a Life of Eternal Duration to a Life of Eternal Joy and to a Spiritual Life or a Life of Grace which is the Cause in us of the other two Lives Some understand these Words shall quicken our mortal bodies only of Spiritual Proselytism of the raising us from the Death of Sin and
SERMONS PREACHED Partly Before His MAJESTY AT WHITE-HALL And Partly Before ANNE Dutchess of York AT THE CHAPPEL at S t JAMES By HENRY KILLIGREW D. D. Master of the Savoy and Almoner to his Royal Highness LONDON Printed by J. M. for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty MDCLXXXV THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER THERE are so many Sermons upon all sorts of Subjects already extant that the Author of these had he been perfectly left to his own liberty would not have increased the Number But there were some Reasons which made it in a manner necessary for him to add unto the Heap though as the common complaint goes it be grown too big And none were more forcible to extort them from him than the kindness he hath for some persons Which every one that feels any touch of that passion knows to have a power to constrain us unto those things which merely for our own satisfaction alone we should not chuse to do Some near Relations that is were desirous to converse with him by the help of these Discourses when he is dead and were perswaded withal that others might now reap some profit by them in the reading whom the lowness of his Voice could not reach when they came to hear them No man I can bear him witness is more sensible than he that there are more elaborate and more universally useful Sermons and Tracts already in the peoples hands but Mankind having several tastes as well as faces and very different relishes it is possible these Discourses may be better fitted to some palates and touch some hearts more smartly than those which in themselves may be more excellent This I can say of them That there are many seasonable Truths delivered in them and expressed in words so apt so pure and clean that while they display the Object which they represent they strengthen and cherish the sight In short they both instruct and delight satisfie the appetite and excite it present solid nourishment and give it a grateful taste Nothing here I am sure is insipid much less nauseous nothing feeble and flagging much less dead but there is quickness and life every where both in the sense and in the Style Which may please even this delicate not to say fastidious Age wherein things very commendable are wont to be disrelished But whether the nice and curious be pleased or no the Author is not concerned if the pious and vertuous reap any profit by these Sermons and be the better for them And then we grow better when as the Apostle speaks we approve the things that are excellent or things that differ not entertaining falshood under the appearance of truth nor evil under the shew of Good but having a right judgment in all things and making the same difference between good and bad in our lives that we do in our minds preserve our selves sincere and without offence unto the Great Day of Judgment Ian. 26. 1684 5 S. Patrick The CONTENTS SERMON I. On Christmas-Day 1 John iii. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin SERMON II. On January the 30 th 1 Sam. xii 25 But if ye shall still do wickedly ye shall be consumed both ye and your King SERMON III. John ii 4 Woman what have I to do with thee mine hour is not yet come SERMON IV. On Wednesday before Easter Dan. ix 26 And after threescore and two Weeks shall Messiah be cut off but not for himself SERMON V. On Good Friday Zech. xiii 6 And one shall say unto him What are these wounds in thine hands Then shall he answer Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends SERMON VI. On Easter-Day Rom. viii 11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you SERMON VII On the 29 th of May. Psal. ii 6 Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion SERMON VIII On Whitsunday John xvi 8 And when he is come he will reprove the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment SERMON IX and X. Mark vii 37 He hath done all things well he maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak SERMON XI Amos iii. 2 You only have I known of all the Families of the Earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities SERMON XII Psal. cv 44 45. And he gave them the lands of the heathen and they inherited the labour of the people That they might observe his statutes and keep his laws SERMON XIII Mark viii 2 3. I have compassion on the multitude because they have now been with me three days and have nothing to eat And if I send them away fasting to their own houses they will faint by the way for divers of them came from far SERMON XIV Luke xvi 9 Make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive ye into everlasting habitations SERMON XV. On the Fifth of November Psal. xi 3 If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do SERMON XVI John xvi 23 Whatsoever ye shall ask the father in my nome he will give it you SERMON XVII Luke xvii 37 And they said unto him Where Lord And he said unto them Wheresoever the Body is thither will the Eagles be gathered together SERMON XVIII and XIX 1 Pet. iv 8 And above all things have fervent Charity among your selves for Charity covereth the multitude of Sins SERMON XX. and XXI Matth. xxii 46 On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets SERMON XXII Lam. iii. 39 40. Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. The First Sermon 1 JOHN iii. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sin and in him is no sin THE main Drift and Scope of Saint John throughout this whole Epistle is to perswade the Christians to whom he writes Not to sin These things says he in the former Chapter I write unto ye that ye sin not For such Christians it seems there were then as well as now who believed that the Faith and a wicked Life were not inconsistent together that men might profess the Gospel and not forsake their Vices They acknowledged Christ to be the promised Messiah and Saviour that was to come into the World but they understood not rightly wherein Salvation consisted viz. that 't was not only in the remission of sins but in the reclaiming men from the commission of them not only in taking away their guilt but in reforming their evil lives The Apostle therefore to set them right in a matter of so high concernment alledges in the foregoing Chapter many Reasons against their indulging themselves in any vicious course As the
should be the Reception of the Messiah the Entertainment that the Prince of Peace should find in the World when he came to offer Peace to the World And that he may set it off the more lively he does it by way of Dialogue shews it in a kind of Drama or Acted Representation introduces a Nameless Person to be astonish'd at the Strange Spectacle of an Ambassadour wounded a publick Minister invaded like a publick Enemy and the Person so used giving as strange an account of his Usage viz. that 't was not on the Road but in the City not in the Camp but in the House again not in the House of his Enemies but in the House of his Allies and Friends And one shall say unto him What are these Wounds in thy hands Then shall be answer Those with which I was wounded in the House of my Friends I am not ignorant that the Generality of Interpreters a few only excepted as well ancient as modern apply these Words to the False Prophet mentioned ver 5. and not to Christ but though I affect not to follow the Few rather than the Many yet I find it hard to resign a Picture so perfectly resembling our Lord as my Text does and allow it to be drawn for a False Prophet I shall therefore shew upon what Considerations I have been induced to understand the Words as I do and if they are not convincing content my self to handle them by way of Accommodation to the Business of the Day though not by way of Interpretation In the first Verse of the Chapter the Times of the Messiah are confessedly spoken of In that Day there shall be a Fountain opened to the house of David and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for Sin and for Vncleanness In the five following Verses the things transacted preparatory to the Coming of the Messiah are set down viz. the rooting Idolatry out of the Land of Israel and the destroying of the False Prophets as at ver 2. For God having for a time determined to silence all Prophecies and to restrain all Miracles that greater Notice might be taken of his Son when he came in the Power of both with that lumine prophetico which Justin Martyr says Christ first kindled again after 't was Extinguish'd False Prophets from hence took occasion to arise and having nothing Divine to countenance their pretended Mission from Heaven they apishly imitated the Outward Garb and Austerity of the true Prophets as 't is ver 4. wore rough Garments and used boldness of Speech But God not suffering these Impostors to frustrate his Divine Counsels sent a Discerning Spirit into his People and stir'd them up to bring them to condign Punishment as at v. 3. The very Father and Mother of the False Prophet shall thrust him through and force him to confess that he spoke Lies and that he was not sent by God but was a Herdsman that had kept Cattel from his Youth And Christ at this Season entering on the Stage of Judaea in a Mean and Poor Condition far Unlike that Glorious and Warlike Prince that carnal Nation had fansy'd him the Priests and Rulers set him at nought and out of a pretence of Zeal to God's Glory as the faithful Jews had a little before laid hands upon the False Prophets did the like on the Messiah and crucifi'd him for an Impostor as these things are imply'd partly in the Words of my Text What are these Wounds in thy hands c. and partly in the Verse immediately following Awake O Sword against my Shepherd against the Man which is my Fellow says the Lord of Hosts smite the Shepherd and the Sheep shall be scattered Which last Words our Lord also applies to himself Matth. 26.31 The Prophet Zechary recounting so close together the semblable Treating of these two most Unresembling Persons the Messiah and the False Prophets and shifting his Narration from the one to the other without any transition has made it hard to distinguish which he speaks of But in Prophetick Writings this Abruptness is common as the Rabbins say lumen propheticum est lumen abruptum and S t Hierom Non curae fuit Spiritui prophetali Historiae ordinem sequi the Spirit of Prophecy is not sollicitous to observe Method but despising all Historical and Logical Contextures makes the Exits and Intrats of Persons in an unaccountable Manner And such a Freedom it uses in this Chapter that 't is impossible rightly to apply the Particulars related to the Persons they belong but by considering what was truly and indeed done to each of them And by this Rule Piercing the Hands plainly alludes to Crucifying and must belong to the Messiah this being a Punishment never practised among the Jews till they fell under the Roman Yoke Stoning being the Penalty of a False Prophet by the Law and then if we consider Wounding the Hands is not only a punishment differing from that prescribed but also an Odd one that no way comports with the Crime it being more sutable to the Offence to have bored the Tongue of the False Prophet than his Hands But the truth is the Prophet had exprest the Punishment of the False Prophet before at the third Verse namely by Thrusting him through which might be done jure Zelotarum by the Right of Zealots God exciting his own Relations against him Or else the Punishment may refer to Exod. 19.12 where God commands That if Man or Beast came within the forbidden Precincts of the holy Mount they should be Thrust through with a Dart Our Prophet threatning here the same Death to those that Uncall'd invaded the Prophetick Office which was threatned there to such as presumptuously intruded to pry into God's Mysterious and Dreadful Appearance Which things being premis'd I shall proceed to handle the Words as they are applicable to our Saviour and so they contain in them two Great Mysteries of our Faith which I shall explain by enquiring I. For what Reason the Divine Goodness so order'd it That Christ our Saviour should be a Wounded Saviour in satisfaction to this Question What are these Wounds in thy Hands II. For what Reason the Divine Goodness so order'd it That he should be wounded by those he deserved Best from in exposition of these Words Those with which I was wounded in the House of my Friends I begin with the First of these Why Christ was to be A Wounded Saviour What are these Wounds in thy Hands The Wounds in Christ's Hands do more particularly relate to the Wounds made by the Nails of the Cross but by the Figure of a Part for the Whole they may stand for the Wounds he received all his Body over and not only so but for all his Sufferings whether in Body or in Spirit from his Cradle to his Grave from the Manger at Bethlehem to his Crucifixion at Mount Calvary and the Summ Total of this Question What are these Wounds in thy Hands imports no less Than what is the meaning
the enlivening us to a Life of Grace But though this meaning sutes well with S t Paul's Design in this Epistle to confute the Imagination of the Jews that they could obtain Eternal Life by Virtue of the Law of Moses without Faith in Christ Yet the Words of my Text point at the Blessed Immortality the Righteous shall hereafter be Partakers of and are only to be understood after this manner If Christians give themselves up to be led and governed by the Spirit of God in this World which is the Spirit that raised up Jesus they in like manner shall be raised up by it at the Last Day and the more they are quickned to a Life of Grace here the more they may be assured they shall be quickned to the Life of Glory hereafter Many Practical Uses and Advantages might be inferred from hence but I shall collect only this one which may be of great Encouragement to our Christian Industry and Endeavours to lead a Godly Life and that is the Expedition we shall make towards the attaining the Unspeakable Rewards of the Kingdom of Heaven There are three Lives to be attained and all to be attained by the Well-Ordering of One of our Spiritual Life alone in this World if we rise from the Death of Sin to Newness of Life we shall attain by the same Performance three Resurrections to that of perfect Grace to that of perfect Time or Duration and to that of perfect Joy and Glory This I say is so rich a Harvest and to be purchas'd with such Expedition that the Nicest and most impatient of Toil and Difficulties may be encouraged to strive for it Happy is he says S t John that has a share in the first Resurrection i. e. in the Life of Grace for the other are but Corollaries or Additional Complements of this Sanctification is as certain and assured a Way to Glorification as Childhood is the Way to Manhood 't is the Inchoation or Beginning of it and in a sense may be said to be it Those whom he Justify'd says S t Paul those he also Glorify'd as if these were done together and not in process of Time But to proceed The Author secondly of this Grace and Bounty is God And why did not the Apostle express himself so in a Word but used this Circumlocution He that raised up Jesus from the dead Because since Christ's coming in the Flesh and having performed the Work of our Salvation God has left off to govern in the Church immediately by himself and does all things by and through our Lord Jesus Christ. God Created and Drowned the World and wrought all the other wonderful things we read of in the Old Testament in his Own Name as God But now under the Gospel he dispenses all his Mercies as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and we must expect the Gift of Grace the Pardon of Sin Resurrection to Eternal Life and all his other Blessings and Favours from his Relation to his Son It is indeed by the Power of God that all men shall be raised from the Dead but then it is again for the Merits sake of Christ and their Believing in him that they shall be raised to Glory And that we should take notice of the Change of his Name in the New Testament from that he delighted to be called by in the Old is his own Will and Pleasure Says he there By my name Jehovah I will be known but now to us by the Name of his Relation to his Son as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Manichees from the Mistake of some Passages and Observations like this raised their detestable Heresie That the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New were two Different Persons the Father of Christ another God from the Creator of the World who sent his Son in the Flesh with a Design to win men from the Creator of the World But these are Wicked and Impious Dotages 't is only an Other Name that God has taken 't is not an Other God that acts among us there is but One God from and to all Eternity whose Name be Blessed for ever The meaning of the Scripture is only to teach us That 't is not God quatenus God that we expect should quicken us at the Last Day but God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this manifests the Perverseness of the Jews who still adhere to Moses and the Synagogue for their hopes of Salvation and the Blindness also of those who perswade themselves they can please God and attain Heaven by Natural and Moral Performances without Faith in Christ But the time permits me not to insist on these things I haste therefore to my last Particular The Means by which God will quicken our Mortal Bodies at the last Day viz. By his Spirit that dwelleth in us This Particle By in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does not infer any Means that God shall use as Instrumental for the quickening our Mortal Bodies but implies here and in many other places the Motive only or Reason that invites the Agent to perform an Action God will raise us from the Dead as he does all his other Works by his Word or Omnipotent Power but though his Power does the thing yet 't is for something in Men that invites him to do it namely his Holy Spirit which he gave them to that very End and Purpose to dispose and fit them for the receiving Eternal Life David says of himself immediately and Christ typically and of all Faithful People mystically Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption i. e. God will not leave or forsake the Righteous either in their Life or Death as if he had forgotten them and the Motive of this his Favour to them is Because they are Righteous or Holy Ones And the Psalmist expresses the thing with some Indignation and as if it were an injury to God to imagine that he could suffer in his very Nature that that which was Holy should be swallowed up in the Grave that which was Righteous should perish that which was Incorruptible should see Corruption And indeed there is not only an Incongruity but an Impossibility that this should be For what the Apostle says of Christ's Resurrection God raised him up having loosed the Pains or Bands of Death because it was possible he should be held of them may be said of the Resurrection of all the Faithful with this Difference only That the Impossibility of Christ's being detain'd in the Grave proceeded from his Divine Nature ours from a Divine Promise Nay we may add and with good Warrant That the Impossibility of our remaining in the Grave depends not only on an External Promise but on Something With-in our selves though not Of our selves even on the Spirit of God which dwelleth in us by which we are united to Christ and made Members of his Body he being the Head and our Resurrection must
they were not born with cannot immediately make a Right Use of them and upon this account divers Counterfeits have been detected while they have too soon confest a distinct Knowledge of Objects and their Accidents after their pretended Recovery shewing at once both their Fraud and Ignorance by their too quick revealing their Experience This therefore I say greatly adds to the Glory of the Miracle if it were indeed so that the Organ and the skill the Faculty and the Learning were both given together We are taught from hence these two Lessons 1. That whatever our Wants or Distresses are however amazing and seemingly insuperable our Dangers yet to trust and confide in that Omnipotent God to whose Power nothing can give check who when the Senses could not be cured could yet create them and when there was no Remedy in Nature could find one by a Miracle 2. We are taught no less to adore his Bounty and Goodness who knows no other Measure of Giving but to supply all that is Necessary who to the Impotent Man gave Senses to his Senses added Knowledge to his Knowledge Faith to his Faith Salvation For God deals no otherwise with men at this day if they reject not his Grace whoever are his Patients he desires should be also his Disciples upon whomsoever he bestows Corporal or Worldly Blessings he is more ready to bestow Spiritual and Heavenly And let this suffice to be said of the first Particular the Substance of Christ's Performance his giving of Hearing and giving of Speech I shall consider in the next place the Manner of his doing it or the Ceremony and Circumstances which he used in performing his Cure The first of which was The Touch of his Finger But you will say what need was there of this Do but speak the Word as the Centurion said and my Servant shall be whole so do but speak the Word and the Deaf and Dumb shall hear and speak Christ's Ephata had been enough without his Touch the Breath of his Mouth could have wrought the Cure without the help of his Finger 'T is true and in many of his Miracles our Lord used only his Voice he restored Lazarus to Life still'd the Tempest cast out Devils merely by his Word But yet frequently he did his Cures by his Touch he took the Damsel that was dead by the hand and she arose and he laid his hands upon the Sick and healed them For some reason therefore it must be that not only at this time but at many others he performed by many Circumstances what he could have performed if he had pleased by fewer or by none at all And the first Reason might be this That the Beholders might see the Cure came from himself from no Confederacy with Spirits or any External Power and from thence might have a greater Veneration both of his Person and his Doctrine be perswaded that what proceeded from his Mouth must be True when they saw what proceeded from his Body was Divine The second Reason might be That by a greater Number of Circumstances the Miracle might make a deeper Impression and be longer remembered both by the Person healed and by the Standers-by remain a Monument as well as a Demonstration of his Power and Goodness God in the days of Moses gave not only his Precepts in Writing but expos'd them to the Touch and Sight of his People made his Commandments dangle between their Eyes in Phylacteries and trail at their feet in Fringes that what they would have forgot in Books they might remember wearing as Dresses and Ornaments And 't was for a like reason to this that our Lord instituted Baptism and his Last Supper for he could have convey'd to us the Pardon of our Sins and the Grace of his Holy Spirit without the Ceremonies of Washing and breaking of Bread but he thought fit to adde these Performances not only to make Spiritual things more plain and conceiveable but to make Transient things more permanent that his Benefits being thus rendred operatiora more full of Business and Toil they might be also memorabiliora more full of Remark and better fixt in our Minds The third Reason why our Lord wrought this Miracle by his Touch and such a Singular Touch as thrusting his Finger into the Ear and putting his Spittle upon the Tongue might be because these Actions have a Resemblance and kind of Similitude to the Means which Art ordinarily uses in like Cases Obstructions are opened by Perforations and Lenitives cause Lubricity and Volubility and the more to set off the Greatness of his Power he would have it seen that he could cure by the Figures and Images only of those things by which Surgeons and Physicians exercise their Narrow and restrained Skill he used as one says Metaphoram in facto a Metaphor in Fact employ'd his Finger as a Probe and his Spittle as an Ointment It was a wonderful Performance to cure an Original Dumbness and Deafness by any Means but to do it by such things as were indeed No Means that was more Wonderful To proceed the second Ceremony Christ used was The Lifting up of his Eyes and Sighing A Look to Heaven and a Sigh are the Prayers of them that have no other Opportunity to make their Supplications Levavi oculos meos says the Psalmist I lift up mine Eyes unto the Hills from whence cometh my help That little Motion of the Prophets the looking only for Help in Faith was his Impetration of it and S t Paul says By Sighs and Groans the Spirit makes Intercession for things that cannot be uttered or distinctly exprest Thus our Lord by casting up his Eyes to the Throne of God made his Petition and his Sighing was his Strong Intercession Not that the Father did not hear him readily and at all times as himself said but he pray'd after this manner to shew the Correspondence he held with Heaven and that the People might see that the Miracles which he wrought were the Return of his Prayers that as his Finger toucht the Ear and Tongue of the Impotent Man so his Request toucht the Throne of God But we must look upon this and all other Ceremonies which Christ used in working his Miracles as things no way needful to what he did but needful to our Imbecillity to help our Faith not to help him in his Performances they were like the Voices that came to him from Heaven not for his own Sake but for the sake of the Standers-by The third Circumstance was the Word our Lord used Ephata or be opened And if the former Circumstances which he made use of express'd any seeming Weakness or Insufficiency this last declared the Fullness of his Power and Omnipotence it being a Word like that which God spake at the Creation Let there be Light and there was Light a Word pronounced as Imperatively and Magisterially and which found as ready Obedience it was dictum factum as 't is said a Word and a Deed. The
in these days Lord Lord but do not the Will of God A Vain and Superstitious Citation of Christ's Name will avail none in their Prayers his Name is no Charm and if there be no Vertue in the Users of it there will be as little in the Letters or Sound as in other Names Which the Sons of Sceva the Jew found Acts 19. when they call'd over the Evil Spirits the Name of the Lord Jesus in imitation but not with the Faith of S t Paul for the Name protected them not but left them to the Outrage of the Devil strengthen'd and not subdu'd by the undue Invocation of it Saint Peter best interprets these Words in my Name Acts 3. when he cur'd the Lame man in the Name of Christ His Name says he through Faith in his Name has made this man Strong And our Lord himself John 15.7 shews that 't is not the Vocal but Vertual Using of his Name that prevails If you abide in me says he and my Words in you ye shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you So that the true Quatenus or Reason of the Return of men's Prayers the Secret wherein their Strength lyes as Samson's did in his Hair is their Discipleship to Christ or in other words their doing the Will of God this only powerfully insinuates and effectually presses his Name to the Father When mere Nominal Christians present themselves before God in the Congregation of Believers 't is but as Satan intruded Job 1. among the Sons of God they are of their Company but not of their Number neither will they find any Advantage by using Christ's Name God is not to be impos'd upon like Isaac by false Pretences by counterfeit Hands a borrow'd Name or Garments but will discover the Cheat through all and he that to the Righteous is all Ear to the Wicked will be as an Idol that has Ears and hears not those I say that regard not the Words of his Commandments nor understand the Voice of his Spirit are to him also as Barbarians as a People whose Language he understands not Nay and 't is well if it fares no worse with them than not to be understood and that their Petitions are only answered with Silence for God many times breaks forth in Fury and Indignation against such for their double Provocation of him for rebelling against him and presuming to make Addresses for his Favour Vnto the Wicked says God What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed c. Such as these when they make their Prayers add Sacriledge to Disobedience and as they have corrupted themselves they prophane the Ordinances of Religion and God is not only deaf to their Devotion but angry at their Presumption Men themselves are not patient of such an Usage that those that injure them be they never so much their Near Relations should importune them for the highest Benefits And can we imagine that God should brook the bold and impudent Sollicitations of those that Sin against him which are his only Enemies be they Jews or be they Christians Esse Christianum grande est non videri as S t Jerome says 't is a Blessed and Glorious Priviledge to be a Christian but not only to be call'd one and they are hugely deceiv'd as the Father goes on that think a Good Name can profit those that do wickedly a fair Appellation justifie such as have foul Manners If we will have God Kind and Propitious to us we must be first Kind to our Selves if we will have his Ears open to our Prayers we must keep our Ears open to his Commandments we must be Obedient if we expect he should be Gracious like David we must search and try our Hearts whether any Iniquity be found in us for we may assure our Selves where Iniquity is found Favour will not be found There is no Name under Heaven given among men whereby they can be sav'd but that of the Lord Jesus But as we must not trust in a Wrong Name so neither must we trust in the Right Name a Wrong Way we must not entertain Vain Confidences in our Saviour himself hope that he will countenance any thing contrary to his Gospel as S t Paul says Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity Which God give us Grace all to do to whom be ascrib'd all Honour Glory c. The Seventeenth Sermon LUKE xvii 37 And they said unto him Where Lord And he said unto them Wheresoever the Body is thither will the Eagles be gathered together AS the Spirit of God before the time of the Gospel was fain to turn and winde it self as I may say many ways to reclaim the World from Sin So after the Son of God came into the World to preach to it he found it necessary to use many holy Arts to win upon it Sometimes the Convictions of Miracles sometimes the Invitations of Promises sometimes the Terrours of Threats and Judgments as in my Text and those Judgments not only temporal which concerned the Jewish Nation but eternal which concerned all Mankind And we that live in these Days so much nearer the Approach of the final Judgment prophesy'd of by our Lord have reason to deplore the strange Contumacy which is yet seen in the World that the Hearts of men are still so Unalterable from their Evil Ways that those Engines that heretofore were so successful in oppugning Sin should now like antiquated Engines of War become wholly unserviceable those powerful Methods of the Gospel which could convert the Heathen World cannot reclaim the Relaps'd and Apostate If the Preacher does paulo majora canere add Terrours to his Perswasions join the Voice of the Trumpet and even of the last Trumpet to his own Voice leave Christ's Sermons and take his Prophecies for Texts threaten Destruction to restrain Vice Damnation to awe Impiety it effects nothing But where the Pulpit is Ominous Men are Obstinate and Obdurate hear of Christ's coming in the Clouds and their appearing before his Tribunal as unconcerned as they hear a Poetick Fable shew not that Fear and Amazement however mixt with hesitancy and doubting which the yet raw Disciples did upon their being informed of these things And they said unto him Where Lord And he said unto them Wheresoever the Body is thither will the Eagles be gathered together Before I proceed to explain the Words it will be necessary to shew to what they appertain The which that I may do I must have recourse to the 24 th Chapter of S t Matthew where the Subject of which my Text is but a Branch is more fully treated of than by our Evangelist And there we read at the third Verse That the Disciples enquired of our Lord three things When the Time of his Coming the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and the End of the World should be To which