capable of Nay I will go lower If God had made no express Promise and Declaration of a Future Happiness and Reward to those that serve him and suffer for him Yet if any Man out of a sincere Love to God and awful Regard to his Laws endure Trouble and Affliction if there be a God and Providence this is Assurance enough to us that our Services and Sufferings shall one time or other be Considered and Rewarded For as sure as any Man is that there is a God and that his Providence regards the Actions of Men so sure are we that no Man shall finally be a loser by any thing that he doth or suffers for him So that the Matter is now brought to this plain Issue That if it be Reasonable to Believe there is a God and that his Providence Regards and Considers the Actions of Men it is also Reasonable to endure Present Sufferings in Hope of a Future Reward and there is certainly enough in this Case to govern and determine a Prudent Man that is in any good measure Persuaded of another Life after this and hath any tolerable Consideration of and regard to his Eternal Interest Indeed if we were sure that there were no Life after this if we had no expectation of a Happiness or Misery beyond this World the wisest thing that any Man could do would be to enjoy as much of the present Contentments and Satisfactions of this World as he could fairly come at For if there be no resurrection to another life the Apostle allows the Reasoning of the Epicure to be very good Let us eat and drink for to morrow we dye But on the other hand if it be true that we are designed for Immortality and that another State remains for us after this Life wherein we shall be Unspeakably Happy or intolerably and Eternally Miserable according as we have behaved our selves in this World it is then evidently Reasonable that Men should take the greatest Care of the longest Duration and be content to bear and dispense with some Present Trouble and Inconvenience for a Felicity that will have no end and be willing to Labour and take Pains and deny our present Ease and Comfort for a little while that we may be Happy for ever This is reckoned Prudence in the Account of this World for a Man to part with a Present Possession and Enjoyment for a much greater Advantage in Reversion But surely the disproportion between Time and Eternity is so vast that did Men but firmly believe that they shall live for ever nothing in this World could reasonably be thought too good to part withal or too grievous to suffer for the obtaining of a Blessed Immortality In the Virtue of this Belief and Persuasion the Primitive Christians were Fortified against all that the Malice and Cruelty of the World could do against them and they thought they made a very wise Bargain if thorugh many tribulations they might at last enter into the Kingdom of God because they believed that the Joys of Heaven would abundantly Recompence all their Sorrows and Sufferings upon Earth And so confident were they of this that they looked upon it as a special Favour and Regard of God to them to call them to Suffer for his Name So St. Paul speaks of it Phil. 1.29 Vnto you it is given on the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake Yea they accounted them happy who upon this account were miserable in this World So St. James expresly pronounceth of them Jam. 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation meaning the Temptation of Persecution and Suffering for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him And this consideration was that which kept up their Spirits from sinking under the weight of their greatest Sufferings So St. Paul tells us 2 Cor. 4.14 16. Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus For which cause we faint not but tho' our outward man perish yet our inward man is renewed day by day The Sufferings of their Bodies did but help to raise and fortifie their Spirits Nay so far were they from fainting under those Afflictions that they rejoyced and gloried in them So the same Apostle tells us Rom. 5.2 3. that in the midst of their Sufferings they rejoyced in hope of the Glory of God and that they gloried in tribulations as being the way to be made Partakers of that Glory And Heb. 10.34 That they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance And for this Reason St. James Chap. 1.2 exhorts Christians to account it all joy when they fell into divers temptations that is various kinds of Sufferings because of the manifold Advantages which from thence would redound to them Now what was it that Inspired them to all this Courage and Chearfulness but the Belief of a mighty Reward far beyond the Proportion of all their Sufferings and a firm Persuasion that they should be vast Gainers by them at the last This Consideration St. Paul urgeth with great force 2 Cor. 4.17 18. Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory whilst we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal If we would compare things justly and attentively regard and consider the invisible Glories of another World as well as the things which are seen we should easily perceive that he who suffers for God and Religion does not renounce Happiness but puts it out to Interest upon terms of the greatest advantage I shall now speak briefly to the Second Part of this remarkable Saying in the Text If we deny him he also will deny us To which is subjoined in the words following if we believe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we deal unfaithfully with him yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself that is he will be constant to his Word and make good that solemn Threatning which he hath denounced against those who for fear of Suffering shall deny him and his Truth before Men Matt. 10.33 Whosoever faith our Lord there shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven Mark 8.38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the Holy Angels This is a Terrible Threatning to be disowned by Christ at the Day of Judgment in the presence of God and his Holy Angels And this Threatning will certainly be made good and tho' we may renounce him and break our faith with him yet
shew how contrary to this Doctrine of the Christian Religion concerning one only Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome is in this matter namely in their Invocation of Angels and the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and flying to their Help and making use of their Mediation and Intercession with God for Sinners As likewise how contrary all this is to the Doctrine and Pratice of the Christian Church for several of the first Ages of it And then I should have answered their chief Pretences and Excuses for these things and shew'd that this Practice of theirs is not only needless being no where commanded by God but useless also and unprofitable and not only so but very dangerous and impious being contrary to the Christian Religion and highly derogating from the Virtue and Merit of Christ's Sacrifice and from the Honour of the only Mediator between God and Men. But of this another time SERMON III. Christ Jesus the only Mediator between God and Men. The Second Sermon on 1 Tim. II. 5 6. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all IN these Words are four Propositions three exprest and the fourth implied I. That there is one God II. That there is one Mediator between God and men Christ Jesus III. That he gave himself a ransom for all VOL. II. IV. That the Mediation or Intercession of Jesus Christ is founded in his Redemption of Mankind That because he gave himself a Ransome for all men therefore he and he only is qualified to intercede for all Men in Vertue of that Sacrifice which he offer'd for the Salvation of all Mankind The Second of these I spake to the last time and endeavour'd to shew 1. That God hath appointed but one Mediator or Advocate or Intercessor in Heaven for us by whose Mediation we are to offer up all our Prayers and Services to God 2. That this Doctrine of one Mediator is most agreeable to one main End and Design of the Christian Religion and of our Saviour's coming into the World which was to destroy Idolatry 3. That from the Nature and Reason of the thing viz. because Intercession for Sinners is founded in the Merit of that Sacrifice by which Expiation of Sin is made there can be no other Mediator of Intercession Serm. III. but he who hath made Expiation for Sin by a Sacrifice offered to God for that purpose and this Jesus Christ only hath done Thus far I have gone I proceed now to The Fourth thing which I proposed in the handling of this Argument namely to shew how contrary to this Doctrine of the Christian Religion concerning one only Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us the Doctrine and the Practice of the Church of Rome is in this matter namely in their Invocation of Angels and the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and flying to their help and making use of their Mediation and Intercession with God for Sinners And that I may proceed more distinctly in this Argument I shall handle it under these particular Heads First I shall endeavour to shew That the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome in this matter is contrary to the Doctrine of the Christian an Religion concerning one only Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us Secondly That it is contrary to the Doctrine and Practice of the Christian Church for several of the first Ages of it Thirdly I shall endeavour to answer their chief Pretences and Excuses for this Doctrine and Practice Fourthly to shew that this Doctrine and Practice of theirs is not only needless being no where commanded by God but useless also and unprofitable Fifthly And not only so but very dangerous and impious because contrary to the Christian Religion and greatly derogating from the Vertue and Merit of Christ's Sacrafice and from the Honour of the only Mediator between God and Men. First I shall endeavour to shew that the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome in this Matter is contrary to the Doctrine of the Christian Religion concerning one only Mediator and Intercessor in Heaven for us namely in their Invocation of Angels and the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and flying to their Help and making use of their Mediation and Intercession with God for Sinners That Jesus Christ is our only Mediator and Intercessor with God in Heaven by whom we have access to God in any Action of Religious Worship and that all our Prayers and Services are to be offered up to God only by him and in his Name and Mediation and no other I have plainly shewed from Scripture and proved it by an invincible Argument taken likewise from Scripture namely because the Efficacy and Prevalency of his Mediation and Intercession is founded in the Vertue and Merit of his Sacrifice and that he is therefore the only Mediator between God and Men because he only gave himself a Ransom for all he is therefore our only Advocate with the Father because he only is the propitiation for our Sins and for the Sins of the whole World I have shewed likewise that the Scripture excludes Angels from being our Mediators with God from the main Scope and Design of the Epistle to the Colossians and much more are the Saints departed excluded from this Office being inferior to the Angels not only in the Dignity and Excellency of their Beings but very probably in the Degree of their Knowledge In short Prayer is a proper act of Religious Worship and therefore peculiar to God alone and we are commanded to Worship the Lord our God and to serve him only And no where in Scripture are we directed to address our Prayers and Supplications and Thanksgivings to any but God alone and only in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ Our Blessed Saviour himself hath taught us to put up all our Prayers to God our heavenly Father Luke 11.2 when you pray say Our Father which art in Heaven Which plainly shews to whom all our Prayers are to be address'd and unless we can call an Angel or the Blessed Virgin or a Saint Our Father we can pray to none of them And elsewhere he as plainly directs us by whom we are to apply our selves to God and in whose Name and Mediation we are to put up all our Requests to him John 14.6 I am the Way and the Truth and the Life no man cometh unto the Father but by me And then it follows Ver. 13 14. And whatsoever you shall ask in my name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son If ye shall ask any thing in my name I will do it Nothing is clearer in the whole Bible than one Mediator between God and Men Christ Jesus and that he is our only Advocate and Intercessor with God in Heaven for us Secondly I shall endeavour to shew That the Doctrine and Practice of the
very grievous to them if they be sensible of what is done here below I mean to Worship them and to Pray to them and to the great Disparagement of the powerful Intercession of our great High Priest Jesus the Son of God to make them the Mediators and Intercessors in Heaven with God for us Of this the Scripture hath no where given us the least intimation but hath expresly commanded the contrary to worship the Lord our God and him only to serve and to pray to him alone in the name of Jesus Christ who is the only Mediator betwixt God and Man Nor are there any Footsteps of any such Practice in the primitive Church for the first Three Hundred Years as is acknowledged by our most Learned Adversaries of the Church of Romer The Scripture no where propounds the Saints to us for Objects of our Worship but for the Patterns of our lives This is the greatest Respect and Veneration that we can or ought to pay to them and whatever is beyond this is a Voluntary Humility injurious to God and our Blessed Saviour and most certainly displeasing to those whom we pretend to Honour if they know how Men play the fool about them here below Let us then endeavour to be like them in the Holy and Virtuous Actions of their Lives in their constant Patience and Suffering for the Truth if God shall call us thereto And we may be like them if we do but sincerely endeavour it and pray to God for his Grace and Assistance to that end For these Examples were not left for our Admiration only but for our Imitation We frequently read the Lives of the Apostles and first Founders of our Religion But I know not how it comes to pass we choose rather lazily to admire them than vigorously to follow them as if the Piety of the first Christians were Miraculous and not at all intended for the Imitation of succeeding Ages as if Heaven and Earth God and Men and all things were alter'd since that time as if Christianity were then in its Youthful Age and Vigour but is since decayed and grown old and hath quite lost its Power and Virtue And indeed the generality of Christians live at such a faint and careless rate as to make the World believe that either all the Stories of the Primitive Christians are Fables or else that the Force of Christianity is strangely abated and that the Holy Spirit of God hath forsaken the Earth and is retired to the Father But Truth never grows old and those Laws of Goodness and Righteousness which are contained in the Gospel are still as reasonable and apt to gain upon the Minds of Men as ever God is the same he was and our Blessed Saviour is still at the Right Hand of God Interceding powerfully for Sinners for mercy and grace to help in time of need The Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel are still as true and powerful as ever and the holy Spirit of God is still in the World and effectually works in them that believe Let us not then deceive our selves in this matter The Primitive Christians were Men like our selves subject to the same Passions that we are and compassed about with the same Infirmities so that altho' that extraordinary Spirit and Power of Miracles which God endowed them withal for the first planting and propagating of the Gospel in the World be now ceased yet the sanctifying Power and Virtue of God's Holy Spirit does still accompany the Gospel and is ready to assist us in every good work In a word We have all that is necessary to work the same Graces and Virtues in us which were in them and if we be not slothful and wanting to our selves we may follow their faith and at last attain the end of it even the Salvation of our Souls Let us then from an idle admiring of those excellent Patterns proceed to a vigorous imitation of them and be so far from being discouraged by the Excellency of them as to make even that Matter and Ground of encouragement to our selves according to that of Tertullian Admonetur omnis aet as fieri posse quod aliquando factum est all Ages to the end of the World may he convinced that what hath been done is possible to be done There have been such Holy and Excellent Persons in the World and therefore it is possible for Men to be such Let us not then be slothful but followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Since we are compast about with such a Cloud of Witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us and let us run with Patience the Race which is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the Shame and is now set down at the right hand of God SERMON IX The Encouragement to Suffer for Christ and the Danger of denying him Preached on All-Saints Day 2 Tim. II. 11 12. It is a faithful saying For if we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reign with him If we deny him he also will deny us IN the beginning of this Chapter St. Paul encourageth Timothy to continue steadfast in the Profession of the Gospel notwithstanding the Sufferings which attended it VOL. II. Verse 1. Thou therefore my Son be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus and Verse 3. Thou therefore endure hardship as a good Souldier of Jesus Christ And to animate him in his Resolution he quotes a Saying which it seems was well known and firmly believed among Christians a Saying on the one hand full of Encouragement to those who with Patience and Constancy Suffered for their Religion and on the other hand full of Terrour to those who for fear of Suffering denyed it It is a faithful saying This is a Preface used by this Apostle to introduce some remarkable Sentence of more than ordinary weight and concernment 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save Sinners and chap. 4.8 9. Godliness is profitable unto all things having a promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation Titus 3.8 This is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly Serm. IX that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works And here in the Text the same Preface is used to signify the Importance of the saying he was about to mention It is a faithful saying If we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reign with him If we deny him he will deny us The First Two Sentences are Matter of Encouragement to those who Suffer with Christ and for him and
his Will which he denied to many Prophets and righteous men who desired to see the things which we see but could not see them and to hear the things which we hear but could not hear them There were good Men in the World under those imperfect Revelations which God made to them but we have far greater Advantages and more powerful Arguments to be Good than ever they had And as we ought thankfully to acknowledge these blessed Advantages so ought we likewise with the greatest Care and Diligence to improve them And now how does the serious Consideration of this Condemn all Impenitent Sinners under the Gospel who will not be reclaimed from their Sins and perswaded to Goodness by all that God can do by the most plain Declaration of his Will to the World by the most perfect Precepts and Directions for a good Life by the most encouraging Promises to Obedience and by the most severe Threatnings of an Eternal and Unutterable Ruin in case of disobedience by the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men by the Terrors of the great day and the Vengeance of Eternal Fire by the wonderful and amazing Condescension of the Son of God appearing in our Nature by his merciful undertaking for the Redemption of lost and sinful Man by his cruel Sufferings for our Sins and by the kindest Offers of Pardon and Reconciliation in his Blood and by the glorious hopes of Eternal Life What could God have done more for us than he hath done What greater concernment could he shew for our Salvation than to send his own son his only son to seek and save us And what greater demonstration could he give of his Love to us than to give the Son of his Love to die for us This is the last Effort that the Divine Mercy and Goodness will make upon Mankind So the Apostle tells us in the beginning of this Epistle chap. 1.1 that God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son And if we will not hear him he will speak no more after this it is not to be expected that he should make any farther Attempts for our recovery he can send no greater and dearer Person to us than his own Son If we despise him whom will we Reverence If we reject him and the great Salvation which he brings and offers to us we have all the reason in the World to believe that our case is desperate and that we shall die in our sins This was the Condemnation of the Jews that they did not receive and believe on him whom God had sent And if we who profess to believe on him and to receive his Doctrine be found disobedient to it in our Lives we have reason to fear that our Condemnation shall be far heavier than theirs For since the appearance of the Son of God for the Salvation of men the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men especially against those who detain the truth of God in unrighteousness that is against those who entertain the Light of God's Truth in their Minds but do not suffer it to have its proper Effect and Influence upon their Hearts and Lives and make that a Prisoner which would make them free So our Lord tells us that the truth shall make us free but if after we have received the knowledge of the truth we are still the servants of sin our Condemnation is much worse than if the Son of God had never come For the Christian Religion hath done nothing if it do not take men off from their Sins and teach them to live well Especially at this time when we are celebrating the coming of the Son of God to destroy the works of the Devil we should take great heed that we be not found guilty of any Impiety and Wickedness because this is directly contrary to the main Design of the grace of God which brings Salvation and hath appeared to all men and the appearance whereof we do at this time commemorate for That teacheth men to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godlily in this present world And we cannot gratifie the Devil more than by shewing our selves more diligent than ordinary to uphold his Works at this very time when the Son of God was manifested on purpose to dissolve them We cannot possibly choose a worse a more improper Season to sin in than when we are Celebrating the Birth of the Blessed Jesus who came to save us from our sins This is as if a sick Man for joy that a Famous Physician is come to his House should run into all manner of Excess and so do all he can to enflame his Disease and make his case desperate Not but that our inward Joy may lawfully be accompanied with all outward innocent Expressions of it but we cannot be truly thankful if we allow our selves at this time in any thing contrary to the Purity and Sobriety of the Gospel It is matter of just and sad complaint being of great scandal to our Saviour and his holy Religion that such irregular and extravagant things are at this time commonly cone by many who call themselves Christians and done under a pretence of doing Honour to the Memory of Christ's Birth as if because the Son of God was at this time made Man it were fit for Men to make themselves Beasts If we would honour him indeed we must take care that our Joy do not degenerate into Sin and Sensuality and that we do not express it by Lewdness and Luxury by Intemperance and Excess by prodigal Gaming and profuse wasting of our Estates as the manner of some is as if we intended literally to requite our Saviour who being rich for our sakes became poor This is a way of parting with houses and land and becoming poor for his sake for which he will never thank nor reward us This is not to commemorate the Coming of our Saviour but to contradict it and openly to declare that we will uphold the Works of the Devil in despight of the Son of God who came to destroy them It is for all the World like that lewd and sensless piece of Loyalty too much in fashion some Years ago of being Drunk for the King Good God! that ever it should pass for a piece of Religion among Christians to run into all manner of excess for Twelve days together in honour of our Saviour A greater Aggravation of Sin cannot easily be imagined than to abuse the Memory of the greatest Blessing that ever was Christ coming into the World to take away sin into an opportunity of committing it this is to represent the Son of God as a Patron of Sin and Licentiousness and to treat him more contumeliously than the Jews did who bowed the Knee to him and mocked him and called
of any Religion that ever yet appeared in the World And this is a great Advantage indeed But by this alone it could never have been able to have broken through all that mighty Opposition and Resistance which was made against it and therefore that it might be able to encounter this with Success 2. God was pleased to accompany the first Preaching of it with a mighty and sensible Presence and Power of his Spirit And this brings me to the Second Part of the Text the Reason of the wonderful Efficacy and Success which the Apostles had in the Preaching of the Gospel the Lord wrought with them and confirmed the Word with signs following Which words express to us that Miraculous Power of the Holy Ghost which accompanied the first Preaching of the Gospel by which I do not intend to exclude the inward Operation of God's Holy Spirit upon the Minds of Men secretly moving and inclining those to whom the Gospel was Preached to embrace and entertain it which the Scripture elsewhere speaks frequently of and may possibly be intended in the first of these Expressions the Lord working with them and the latter may only be meant of the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit with regard to which God is said to confirm the Word with signs following or accompanying it But I rather think they are both intended to express the same thing and that the latter is only added by way of explication of the former to shew more particularly how the Lord wrought with them namely by giving Confirmation to their Doctrine by those miraculous Gifts and Powers of the Spirit which they were endowed withal the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following that is with those Miracles which accompanied the first Preaching of the Gospel For these words do plainly refer to the Promise of the Spirit at the 17th verse and these signs shall follow them that believe which is the Reason why they are here call'd signs following that is Miracles which accompanied the Word that was Preached And that this is the full meaning of this Text will appear by comparing it with one or two more Rom. 15.18 19. where St. Paul speaking of the things which Christ had wrought by him to make the Gentiles obedient to the Gospel he says they were done through mighty signs and wonders by the Power of the Spirit of God which is the same with that which is said here in the Text of the Lord 's working with the Apostles and confirming the Word with signs following So likewise Heb. 2.3 4. the Apostle there tells us that the Gospel which was first spoken by the Lord was confirmed by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost So that the great Confirmation which is said here to be given to the Gospel was by the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit which were poured forth upon the Apostles and Primitive Christians In speaking of which I shall briefly do these Two things I. Give an account of the Nature of these Gifts and of the Vse and End to which they served And then shew in the II. Place how the Gospel was Confirmed by them I. For the Nature of these Gifts and the Vse and End to which they were designed They are those Miraculous Powers which by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the day of Pentecost the Apostles were endowed withall to qualifie them to Publish the Gospel with more speed and success Such was the Gift of speaking divers Languages and the Gift of Interpreting things spoken in divers Languages And these Two Gifts were not necessarily united in the same Person for the Apostle tells us that some had the one and some the others the Gift of Prophecy and foretelling things to come which was always a sign of a Person Divinely Inspired the Miraculous Powers of Healing Diseases of Raising the Dead and of Casting out Devils a Power of inflicting Corporal Diseases and Punishments upon scandalous and obstinate Christians who would not submit to the Apostles Authority and Government which is in Scripture call'd a delivering up to Satan for the destruction or tormenting of the Body that the Soul may be saved nay in some cases this Power extended to the inflicting of Death it self as in the case of Ananias and Saphira Not that all these Miraculous Powers were given to every one of the Apostles or that they could exercise them at all times some were bestowed upon one and some upon another according to God's good pleasure and as was most expedient for the Vse and Benefit of the Church and most subservient to those Ends for which God gave them only we find that all the Apostles had the Gift of Tongues and that the Power of Casting out Devils in the name of Christ was common to every Christian and continued in the Church for a long time after the other Gifts were ceased as Tertul. Arnob. and Min. Felix do testifie even of their own times But II. I shall briefly shew how the Gospel was Confirmed by these Miraculous Gifts Now besides the particular Vses and Ends of those Miraculous Gifts as the Gift of Tongues did evidently serve for the more speedy Planting and Propagating of the Christian Religion in the World and the Power of inflicting Corporeal Punishments in a Miraculous manner upon Scandalous and Disobedient Christians did maintain the Power and Authority of the Apostles and was instead of an ordinary Magistratical Power which Christians were destitute of whilst the Roman Empire continued Heathen I say besides the particular Ends and Vses of all these Miraculous Gifts they did all in general as they were Miracles serve for the Confirmation of the Gospel The Apostles delivered the Doctrine of Christ and were Witnesses of his Resurrection from the dead as the great Miracle whereby his Doctrine was confirmed now there was all the Reason in the World to believe them whom God was pleased to give such a Testimony from Heaven for who could make any doubt of the Truth of Their Testimony concerning the Resurrection of Christ who were enabled to raise others from the dead and by many other wonderful things which they did gave such clear Testimony that God was with them Never had any Religion fewer worldly Advantages to recommend it and so little temporal Countenance and Assistance to carry it on but what it wanted from Men it had from God for he gave witness to it with signs and wonders and divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost God seems on purpose to have stript it of all Secular Advantages that the Christian Religion might be perfectly free from all suspition of Worldly Interest and Design and that it might not owe its Establishment in the World to the Wisdom and Contrivance of Men but to the Arm and Power of God The Inferences I shall at present make from this Discourse shall be these I. To give
are the very same in Sense If we be dead with him that is if we lay down our lives for the Testimony of the Truth as he did we shall also live with him that is we shall in like manner be made Partakers of Immortality as he is If we suffer or endure as he did we shall also reign with him in Glory The other Sentence is Matter of Terrour to those who deny him and his Truth If we deny him he also will deny us to which is subjoyned another Saying much to the same Sense if we believe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we be unfaithful yet he remaineth faithful he cannot deny himself that is he will be as good as his word and make good that Solemn Threatning which he hath denounced against those who shall for fear of Suffering deny him and his Truth The Words being thus explained I shall begin with the First Part of this remarkable Saying If we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reign with him This it seems was a noted Saying among Christians and whether they had it by Tradition of our Saviour or whether it was in familiar use among the Apostles as a very proper and powerful Argument to keep Christians stedfast to their Religion I cannot determine It is certain that Sayings to this Sense are very frequent especially in the Epistles of St. Paul Rom. 6.5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection and Verse 8. Now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him 2 Cor. 4.10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of our Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body and Verse 18. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh and Rom. 8.17 If so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together Phil. 3.10 11. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made comfortable unto his death If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead 1. Pet. 4.12 13. Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as tho' some strange thing happened unto you but rejoyce in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy You see that the Sense of this Saying was in frequent use among the Apostles as a powerful Argument to Encourage Christians to Constancy in their Religion notwithstanding the Dangers and Sufferings which attended it This is a faithful saying If we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reign with him And the Force of this Argument will best appear by taking into consideration these Two things I. What Virtue there is in a firm Belief and Persuasion of a Blessed Immortality in another World to support and bear up Mens Spirits under the greatest Sufferings for Righteousness sake and even to animate them if God shall call them to it to lay down their Lives for their Religion II. How it may be made out to be reasonable for Men to Embrace and Voluntarily to submit to Present and Grievous Sufferings in Hopes of a Future Happiness and Reward concerning which we have not nor perhaps are capable of having the same degree of Certainty and Assurance which we have of the Evils and Sufferings of this present Life I. What Virtue there is in a firm Belief and Persuasion of a blessed Immortality in another World to support and bear up Mens Spirits under the greatest Sufferings for Righteousness sake and even to animate them if God should call them to it to lay down their Lives for their Religion If Men do firmly believe that they shall change this Temporal and Miserable Life for an Endless State of Happiness and Glory and that they shall meet with a Reward of their Sufferings infinitely beyond the proportion of them both in the Weight and Duration of it this must needs turn the Scales on that side on which there is the greatest Weight And there is a sufficient ground for a firm Belief of this For if any thing can certainly be concluded from the Providence of God this may That Good Men shall be happy one time or other And because they are very often great Sufferers in this Life that there is another State remains for them after this Life wherein they shall meet with a full Reward of all their Sufferings for Righteousness sake But besides the Reasonableness of this from the consideration of God's Providence we have now a clear and express Revelation of it life and immortality being brought to light by the Gospel This St. John tells us is the great Promise of the Gospel 1 John 2.25 This is the promise which he hath promised us even eternal life And this Promise our Saviour most expresly makes to those who Suffer for him Mat. 5.10 11 12. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falslly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven Mark 10.29 Verily I say unto you there is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the Gospel's but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time with persecutions that is so far as a State of Persecution would admit and in the world to come eternal life And if such a Perswasion be firmly fixt in our Minds the Faith of another World and the assured Hope of Eternal Life and Happiness must needs have a mighty force and Efficacy upon the Minds of Sober and Considerate Men because there is no proportion between Suffering for a little while and being Unspeakably and Etternally happy So St. Paul tells us he calculated the matter Rom. 8.18 I reckon says he that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us The vast disproportion between the Sufferings of a few Days and the Joys and Glory of Eternity when it is once firmly believed by us will weigh down all the Evils and Calamities of this World and give us Courage and Constancy under them For why should we faint if we believe that our light affliction which is but for a moment will work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory As the same St. Paul assures us 2 Cor. 4.17 If our Minds be but throughly possest with the hopes of a Resurrection to a Better and
that Church will impose her Errors upon all that are of her Communion then those who refuse to comply do not sepavate themselves but are cut off do not depart but are driven out of the Communion of that Church and Separation in that case is as innocent and free from the guilt of Schism as the Cause of it is for the terms of Communion are become such that those who are convinced of those Errors and Corruptions can have no Salvation if they continue in that Communion and then I am sure their Salvation will not be endangered by leaving it or being Excommunicated out of it for that would be the hardest case in the World that Men should be Damned for continuing in the Communion of such a Church and damned likewise for being cast out of it Therefore no Man ought to be terrified because of the boldness and presumption of those who with so much Confidence and so little Charity damn all that are not of their Communion for we see plainly from the Text that Men may be in the right and surest way to Salvation and yet be Excommunicated by those who call themselves the true Church and will not allow Salvation to any but those of their own Communion The Disciples of our Lord and Saviour were certainly very good Men and in a safe way of Salvation tho' they were Excommunicated and put out of the Synagogue by the chief Priests and the Rulers of the Jewish Church I proceed to the 3. Observation which was this that from uncharitable Censures Men do by an easie step and almost naturally proceed to Cruel Actions After the Jews had put the Disciples of our Lord out of their Synagogues and thereby concluded them to be Hereticks and Reprobates no wonder they should proceed to kill those whom they thought not worthy to live they shall put you out of their Synagogues says our Saviour and when they have done that they will soon think it a thing not only fit and reasonable but Pious and Meritorious and a good Piece of Service done to God to put you to death Uncharitableness naturally draws on Cruelty and hardens Humane Nature towards those of whom we have once conceived so hard an opinion that they are Enemies to God and his Truth And this hath been the source of the most barbarous Cruelties that have been in the world witness the severity of the Heathen Perfection of the Christians which justified it self by the Uncharitable Opinion which they had conceived of them that they were despisers of Religion and the Gods and consequently Atheists that they were pertinacious and obstinate in their Opinions that is in the Modern Stile they were Hereticks And the like uncharitable conceit among Christians hath been thought a sufficient ground even in the judgment of the Infallible Chair for the justification of several bloody Massacres and the cruel Proceedings of the Inquisition against Persons suspected of Heresie for after Men are once Sentenced to Eternal Damnation it seems a small thing to torment and destroy their Bodies 4. Men may do the vilest and most wicked things not only under a grave Pretence of Religion but out of a real Opinion and Perswasion of Mind that they do Religiously Murder is certainly one of the greatest and most crying Sins and yet our Saviour foretels that the Jews should put his Disciples to Death being verily perswaded that in so doing they should offer a most acceptable Sacrifice to God yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offers a Sacrifice to God Not but that the great Duties and Virtues of Religion are very plain and easy to be understood and so are the contrray Sins and Vices But then they are only plain to a teachable and honest and well-disposed mind to those who receive the word with meekness and are not blinded with wrath and furious Zeal to those that receive the truth into an honest heart and entertain it in the love of it they are plain to the humble and meek for the humble God will guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his ways such as these God seldom suffers to fall into fatal mistakes about their Sin or Duty so as to call good evil and evil good to call light darkness and darkness light to think Uncharitableness a Virtue and downright Murder a great Duty But if Men will give up themselves to be swayed by self-Love and self-Conceit to be governed by any base or corrupt Interest to be blinded by Prejudice and intoxicated by Pride to be transported and hurried away by violent and furious Passions no wonder if they mistake the Nature and confound the Differences of things in the plainest and most palpable cases no wonder if God give up Persons of such corrupt minds to strong delusions to believe lies It ought not to be strange to us if such Men bring their Understandings to their Wills and Interests and bend their Judgments to their Prejudices make them to stoop to their Pride and blindly to follow their Passions which way soever they lead them for God usually leaves such persons to themselves as run away from him and is not concerned to secure those from splitting upon the most dangerous Rocks who will stear their Course by no Compass but commit themselves to the wind and tide of their own Lusts and Passions In these Cases Men may take the wrong Way and yet believe themselves to be in the right they may oppose the Truth and persecute the Professors of it and be guilty of the blackest Crimes and the most horrid Impieties Malice and Hatred Blasphemy and Murder and yet all the while be verily perswaded that they are serving God and Sacrificing to him Of this we have a plain and full instance in the Scribes and Pharisees the chief Priests and Rulers among the Jews who because they sought the Honour of Men and not that which was from God and loved the Praise of Men more than the Praise of God because they were prejudiced against the Meanness of our Saviour's Birth and Condition and had upon false Grounds tho' as they thought upon the Infallibility of Tradition and of Scripture interpreted by Tradition entertain'd quite other Notion of the Messias from what he really was to be because they were proud and thought them selves too wise to learn of him and because his Doctrine of Humility and self-Denyal did thwart their Interest and bring down their Authority and Credit among the People therefore they set themselves against him with all their Might opposing his Doctrine and blasting his Reputation and persecuting him to the Death and all this while did bear up themselves with a conceit of the Antiquity and Priviledges of their Church and their profound Knowledge in the Law of God and a great External shew of Piety and Devotion and an arrogant Pretence and Usurpation of being the only Church and People of God in the World And by virtue of these Advantages they thought