Edwin Mayor, Curia Special ' tent ' apud domum Mancionat. Jacobi Collet, mill. unum vic. die Mercur. xxvii. die Aprilis in Hebdomada Paschae, 1698. Annoque Regni Regis Willielmi Tertii, Angliae, &c. Decimo. THis Court doth desire Dr. Freeman, Dean of Peterborough, to Print his Sermon Preached on Tuesday last, at the Parish Church of St. Bridget's, before the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Governours of the several Hospitals of this City. Goodfellow. A SERMON preached before the Right Honourable THE Lord Mayor, THE ALDERMEN and GOVERNORS of the several Hospitals of the City. AT St. Bridget's Church, On Easter-Tuesday, 1698. Being one of the Anniversary Spittle-Sermons. By S A. FREEMAM, D. D. Dean of Peterborough and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty. LONDON, Printed by Tho. Warren for Thomas Bennet at the Half Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1698. A SERMON preached before the Lord Mayor AND COURT of ALDERMEN. 1 Cor. xv. 58. Therefore my beloved Brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable always abounding in the Work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. IN the words there are these two things very worthy of our serious Consideration. First, A Pathetical exhortation to a most seasonable and necessary duty, My beloved Brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Secondly, A most powerful motive and argument to enforce it, For as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. For the better and more useful understanding of both which I shall endeavour to show you. I. What's meant by the work of the Lord. II. What it is to be steadfast and unmovable in it. III. What, to abound in it. IV. In what sense he that thus does the work of the Lord, his labour is not in vain in the Lord. V. The truth and certainty of this Proposition, That he that constantly and faithfully does God's work, does it not in vain. The Apostle speaks of it as a thing of knowledge, that might be demonstrated, and his argument is taken from our Saviour's Resurrection from the Dead, as you see in the beginning of the Chapter. I. What's meant by the work of the Lord, viz. That work that he hath set us about and expects from us, and this is usually divided into matters of belief and matters of practise. Matters of belief, as concerning the nature and Attributes of God, the Persons and Offices of his Eternal Son and the holy Ghost; these are summarily contained in that which is commonly called the apostles Creed, more fully expressed in the Written word of God. The Church of Rome indeed would have this written word to contain but a Part of our Faith and the rest left to unwritten Traditions; but if the word of God was committed to Writing by the Direction of the Holy Ghost, then is writing the best way to convey down Divine Truth; and if Writing be the best way, then is all of it written, because the Holy Ghost does always what is best: Writing is either the best way, or it is not. If it be not, Why was any of it written? If it be, Why not the whole? Matters of practise, Those are in a great measure discovered by the light of Nature; epitomized and written, as it were in a short hand, in the Ten Commandments, more fully explained, improved and perfected in our Saviour's most Divine Sermons on the Mount: Amongst these alms and Charity deservedly take the first place, a duty made necessary by innumerable Precepts, Illustrated by a most Glorious Example, made Easy by Promises of Divine Assistance, made Pleasant and Profitable by assurances of unspeakable rewards. II. What it is to be steadfast and unmovable in the work of the Lord. These words particularly relate to that part of our duty which Concerns our belief, and so, to be steadfast and unmovable in it, denotes a firm and resolved Temper of Mind in adhering to and persevering in the profession of it, in opposition either to the being shaken from it, by the violence of persecution, or corrrupted in it by the insinuations of heresy; Blessed be God, we are delivered from the fear of the former, and I wish I could say, we were in no danger of the latter; St. judas exhorts us earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the Saints, for this reason, there were certain Men crept in unawares,— Ungodly Men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Christ was so abundantly confirmed by the many Miracles he wrought, and the accomplishment of all Prophecies that went before concerning him, that a Man may as well say, the Sun is dark, as that the Gospel is not true; strange is it therefore that there should be any amongst us baptized into it and Educated in the profession of it, that should not only secretly but openly oppose and Blaspheme it, ridiculing the Sacred Scriptures and all revealed Religion as Cheat and Imposture. They own, they tell us, the being of God and Providence, the difference between Good and Evil, Rewards and Punishment in the other World; the Bible, they are contented should pass for a pretty good History of matters of Fact, and the Christian morals they admire above all the Schemes of morality that ever were in the World before it. But yet they see nothing here but what the light of Nature might have discovered and the reason of Mankind have found out; and therefore they ask what necessity was there that God should sand his Son into the World to teach Men that which they knew before, and by his Death to make atonement for Sin, which to the greater Glory of his Grace, he might have forgiven without one. The Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation are riddles to them, which because they cannot unfold, they will not believe, and for the sake of them disbelieve all the rest. And here fall in another gang of Men not much different from the former, who, whilst they profess to own the Christian Faith do, by expounding away some of the chief and fundamental Articles of it, dangerously sap and undermine it; these are the Men that can swallow nothing but what they can grasp and fathom, believe nothing but what they can discover the causes and manner of, and a clear and distinct perception of things is to them the only Foundation of Faith as well as of knowledge. This they call Sense and Reason, as if there was none in believing the Revelations of God, as if there was no difference to be made betwixt things contrary to Nature, and things Superior to it and above it, and as if these latter, when clearly taught in the Divine Oracles were not the properest objects of Faith. So that as our Saviour baffled all the Temptations of the Devil, so may we silence all the objections of these Pretenders to Reason, Scriptum est, It is written, and I believe it: After all, it may be all the reason they have against the Gospel is, that the Gospel is against them, they will not believe that Gospel which condemns those Vices they are resolved not to forsake, they repented not that they might believe; but could we persuade these Men to change their Lives, we should find it no hard matter to convince their judgments, the passage being easy from Virtue to Christianity. III. What it is to abound in the Work of the Lord. Now this phrase, respects the practical part of our Duty, and chiefly that of Charity, as the former did the Credential; and so to abound in the Work of the Lord, is to rise to the highest degree of all Virtue, that our Nature assisted by the Grace of God is capable of, and especially of the Grace of Charity: And being particularly applied to this Grace, it signifies, to give all sorts of Alms, to all sorts of Men; and that in the largest measures, wherein their wants may crave, and our own abilities can reach unto: To enlarge on this, I shall not need to do more than to red to you this true Report, and turn your Eyes on this glorious Sight here before you. The true Report, &c. Here are five Eminent Hospitals, all full of variety of Indigent and Distressed Persons; and every one of them a most powerful Argument, to melt your Hearts into a flowing Stream of Mercy and Bounty to them: If you are ready to give, and desire only to be directed how you may do it wisely and safely; I grant, it is a just Consideration; but here you cannot do amiss, you may pick and choose; though, if you would abound, the best way is to give to all. The first that presents itself is the Hospital of Christ-Church; concerning which, I am very sorry to say, so heavy a Debt lies upon her Revenue, that, as I am informed, she has not been able for these three Years to add one to the number of her poor Orphans; and that nothing but a large and generous Contribution can open her Arms and Gates again to receive them. Do but enter a little within her Walls, how few are there in the World that can vie with her, for the Beauty of her Buildings, the Commodiousness of her Apartments, the Excellency of her Government, the Wise and Faithful Management of her Revenue, the exact Order and Discipline that's kept in her? See how Wholesomely those poor Children are Fed, how Decently Clothed, how Diligently Taught, how Religiously Educated, Instructed in the Knowledge of God and our Saviour, in their Duty to Him, Themselves, and Others; secured in their Faith from error, and in their Manners from 'vice; trained up in the most useful Learning; and when duly fitted and prepared, either sent to the University, or put out to such Callings or Employments, as are most suitable to their Genius, and will be most serviceable to the Community. See what a great number of Hopeful Plants are here, which by degrees, with the Blessing of God may grow up and bear much Fruit for the public Good and Safety. Now is not here a Noble Occasion for an abounding Charity? Will it not be for your Eternal Honour to open these sluices, and remove those dams that have for a while stopped up part of this Fountain, that it could not flow in so large a Stream, as otherwise it would have done? May not the Rich and Great, had they Minds suitable to their Abilities, create here a never failing Fund, raise an Inexhaustible Bank of Blessings for their Families and Posterities? Next to this are the Hospitals of St. Bartholomew and St. Thomas; and here the Blind and the Lame, the Sick and the Wounded, with the most moving and powerful rhetoric, that of Pain as well as Poverty, address to you, that you would with Compassionate Hearts, Soft and Tender Hands help to bind up their Wounds and heal their Sores; these Miserable Wretches want not only Food and raiment, but Hands and Feet too, that should supply the other; and the more disabled and shiftless their State is, the greater Obligation are Men under to Administer to their Necessities; what our Blessed Lord did on Earth by Miracle and without Means, the Good Man does here by his Charitable Assistances, he makes the Blind to See, the Lame to Walk, the Sick to Recover, and the Diseased to be Whole. In the Hospital of bridewell, besides a number of Youths brought up Yearly at a vast expense to divers Arts and Trades, here we have 'vice Corrected, Wayfaring Vagrants Relieved, and sent Home to their proper Places of Abode: And can there be a more acceptable Charity to God and Men, than that which is employed in suppressing Lewdness, and Reforming the Manners of loose People? The last is Bethlem, and here though the lunatic and Distracted, being not sensible of their Condition, cannot make it known to you, yet, I think, the sadness of their Condition is the most melting Oratory in the World. Can we behold those, whom we formerly knew to be Persons of good Understanding, and wise Behaviour; it may be of great Abilities, as to judgement and Wit, now in a senseless Condition, either under a deep silent Melancholy, or raging with hideous Noises, and broken Speeches? Can we see so Noble a Creature as Man become a mere Brute? The Glorious Image of God stamped on him so miserable defaced? and have no Pity and Concern for them? Can there be any Charity like that which restores a Man to himself, and a right Mind, which fixes his roving Fancy, methodizes his confused Thoughts, dispels the Mists and Vapours that sit so thick on his Understanding, and give a false Tincture and Colour to all before it; which couches the eye of his Reason, and restores to it its true discerning and distinguishing Faculty? A Diseased Body is a very great Affliction; but a distempered Mind is unspeakably so; and that Man must be voided of Humanity as well as Grace, that does not readily come in to the succour of so deplorable an Object. After all hadst thou rather Contribute to New Foundations than Enlarge or Assist the Old? In the name of God, go on and prosper; here's room enough for more, great Need, if not absolute Necessity for Work-Houses, and a public Stock to set the Poor to Work in them; and this certainly, must be owned to be a most useful Charity, which keeps the Poor at once from Starving, and from Sloth, and in some degree, makes them helpful to the public, that are now an intolerable Burden to it; This would very much lessen the Number of your Street-Beggars, which, perhaps, can effectually be done no other way, whilst as other Hospitals may maintain the Poor that cannot work, these may employ those that can, and so put them in a way to maintain themselves. In sum, would you place your Charity to the greatest Advantage, where it may turn to the best Account? Put it into their Hands, of whose Prudence, Faithfulness, and Care, you have had so great Experience; theirs, who not only manage other Mens Charities, but give their own. To the Immortal praise of the Governours of this great City, and the several Hospitals of it, it must be spoken; here Charity gains its point, and obtains its true end; here are the greatest Examples of Charity, here all the Provident, Discreet, and Upright Management of it. Give me now leave to become an humble Petitioner to you, but it is only to do as you have done already, or rather to abound; and if it be not a Matter of too great a Difficulty, to out do yourselves; always remembering, that your Labour, that is, as the Apostle speaks, 2 Thess. 1.3. your Labour of Love, and Work of Charity is not in vain in the Lord: And this leads me to the fourth Particular. IV. In what Sense he that does the Work of the Lord Faithfully and Constantly, his Labour is not in vain in the Lord. There is a 〈◇〉 in the Words, a great deal more implyed than expressed. Is not in vain, that is, shall turn to his huge Advantage; sometimes in this World, but always in the next. 1 Tim. 4.4. Godliness, says the Apostle, has the Promise of this Life, and of that which is to come: God usually requites Men in that very way wherein they endeavour to Glorify Him; so that for those, who, for God's sake impart their Substance to their poor Brethren, he in regard thereto many times blesses their Estates, and prospers their Dealings; but Good-men are not always Happy in this World, and itis no great matter, 'tis but little worth: But in the other World he shall never miss of it, and the Happiness there is Infinite and Eternal; enough to make him amends for all his Labours and Sufferings, and to give him unconceiveably more. You cannot expect that I should give you a full description of Heaven, or of those constant Joys holy Souls are there taken up with. We must first be in Heaven ourselves, and experience in our own Souls those Glorious, Pleasant, and Delightsome Affections and Actions, wherewith the Saints above do live on God, before we can give any good account of them to others: Holy writ sometimes represents them by things the most coveted and admired in this World, by Crowns, and Thrones, and sceptres, by a Banquet and Marriage-Feast, and the like; not that the Joys of Heaven consist in the Enjoyment of these, but to let us see that they are infinitely more Delightful and Ravishing to Souls purified and made meet for them, than all these things can be to the Men of this World: But the expressions in Scripture that come the nearest, and discover most of the Heavenly State, are these two, seeing God, and being with Christ. Seeing God. Oh the transporting Knowledge! The Ravishing view of his Glorious Countenance! Oh the infinite Pleasure of Loving God, and of the full assurance of being beloved by Him? 1 Joh. 3.2. We shall be like Him, for we shall see him as he is. We shall be transformed into his Image, and made partakers of his Nature, and consequently of his Happiness as far as we are capable of it; for certainly those Perfections will make Men Happy, that make God himself to be so. The other is Being with Christ: Phil. 1.23. Then we shall ever have our Redeemer before our Eyes, and the liveliest Sense, and freshest Remembrance of his dying, bleeding Love always upon our Souls: Oh how will it fill our Hearts with perpetual Ravishments, to see him who suffered so much for us on Earth, crowned with Immortal Honour and Glory in the highest Heavens! A Glory so Transporting! That those three Apostles, Peter, James, and John, when at his Transfiguration they saw but a glimpse, mat. 17.2. had as it were but a flash of it, would never have left the Place which it once had lightened: Master, it is good for us to be here, let us go down no more, let us build three Tabernacles, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. V. I proceed to the last Particular, the Truth and Certainty of this Proposition; the Apostle speaks of it as a thing of Knowledge that might be demonstrated, for as much as ye know: And, 1. Every Man carries a witness of this Truth about him in his own Breast, the natural Dictates and Testimonies of his own Conscience; for how comes it to pass that Men are so brave and comfortable in their Spirits, when they have done Well and Worthily, that they are then courted and kindly warmed in their Hearts with Peace and Joy; that they can look up to God with Delight, and towards Death without Consternation? And on the other side, what's the cause that their Spirits are down, their Countenances fallen, and all things look black and melancholy round about them, when they are conscious to themselves of having lived Wickedly, and done base and unworthy Actions? What other account can be given of this remarkable diversity in Men's secret Sense? But only this, it's the Voice of God and Nature, telling them as they did Cain, if thou dost well, shalt thou not be accepted, but if thou dost ill, Sin lies at the door. 2. It's evident from the Nature and Attributes of God, who being infinitely Just, must render to every Man according to his Works, and that either here, or hereafter; but he does not hear, for there is a Righteous Man to whom it happens according to the way of the Wicked, and a Wicked Man to whom it happens according to the way of the Righteous; and therefore he must hereafter, when the Righteous shall be Comforted, and the Wicked Tormented. It was by this Argument chiefly, that a considerable part of the Heathen World arrived to a good degree of Belief, as to another Life; they observed that Good Men many times were oppressed, and Wise Men lost their Liberty, that the Unjust Cause prospered, whilst Truth and Righteousness were driven into Corners; and therefore they concluded that there would be an after-day of Reckoning, when the most Just God would distribute Rewards more suitable to the Nature of Men's Actions; and they who like God did Excellent Things, should like God have an Excellent Portion. This is the Apostles Argument in this Chapter, where speaking of those times of Persecution, he says, if only in this Life Good-Men had hope in Christ, they were of all Men most Miserable; Ver. 19. and that, as to his own particular, it was to no purpose that he had been condemned,( as their custom at Ephesus was to treat Malefactors) to Combat with wild Beasts on the Theatre; if there was no Life after this, then the Epicure had some reason on his side, when he said, let us Eat and Drink, Ver. 32. for to Morrow we Die. 3. We have the concurrent Testimony of all Nations and Religions to confirm this Truth; how disagreeing soever the Religions of the Heathens were in other Matters, in this there was an unanimous and universal Consent, that there was an other Life after this, of Rewards and Punishments. Hence arose the many Fables of the Poets, concerning the Punishment of wicked Men in Hell, and their Descriptions of the Elysian Fields, which they made to be the happy Seat of Holy and Innocent Souls; hence was it that those Good Heathens who were Conscious to themselves of having lived up to the Light they had, spake such excellent Things of the Future State, and were so Fearless and Undaunted when they came to Die. Thus Pythagoras taught his scholars, that If they lived virtuously here, they should after Death go to Heaven, be like God and enjoy him with all those great and noble Souls that were gone before them; and Cato and Socrates not only laid it down for a truth, that after Death it would fare infinitely better with good Men than with bad; but as they are represented in the Writings of Tully and Plato, were under such feeling and passionate apprehensions of the happiness of another Life, that they breathed and panted after it. Now how it came to pass that all the several Parties and Sects in Religion in all the Nations of the World, whilst they so fiercely disputed and contended about other matters, should be so unanimous in this point of future rewards and punishments, cannot easily be resolved into any thing else, but either into some Principles of Reason which are common to all Men, or else some Revelation that was made very early by God in the beginning of the World; Be it one or t'other of these, either proves the Proposition; for if they agreed in the persuasion of a future state from the force of Natural Principles, what greater evidence can there be that they reasoned truly, than that all that used their reason should argue alike, and agree in the same conclusion: But if their agreement herein was the effect of some early Revelation from God, what stronger Argument can there be that the Revelation was full and clear, than that it hath spread so wide, and lasted so long in the World; and if there was such a Revelation,( as it is probable there was from the prophesy of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, mentioned in St. Jude's Epistle,) it might easily be propagated till it came down to Noah, and when the Nations came to be divided and dispersed, the several Heads of Tribes and Families, being all Noah's Posterity, might carry it along with them wherever they went, and leave it in Charge with their Children, as a thing of the greatest Consequence to Mankind, to be conveyed down successively to all Generations. 4. After all this, Whether Natural Light can give sufficient Security of a future Glorious Reward to Good Men, it matters not much, now that we have Divine Revelation; our Saviour hath brought Life, and Immortality to light, and fully demonstrated the certainty of it, by his Resurrection from the Dead. And this is the apostles Argument in the beginning of this Chapter. In our Saviour's Resurrection we may behold not only his Triumph over Death, but ours also, being assured by his of our own to a Blessed Immortality. That our Saviour did arise from the Dead, is abundantly confirmed by the Testimony of a great number of credible Witnesses, Ver. 7.9. He was seen, says the Apostle, of Cephas, then of the twelve, then of five hundred Brethren at once. And that his Resurrection is enough to beget in us a firm Belief of a Glorious State of Happiness in the other World, appears from hence: 1. As his Resurrection gives us the greatest assurance of the Truth of his Doctrine, and therein, of the Article of Everlasting Life. It being granted, that nothing less than a Divine Power can raise the Dead, it cannot be supposed that the God of Truth would employ it to bear witness to a falsehood. Our Saviour as he was Man, could not raise himself, no more than one that's Dead can give itself Life. The Devil would not do it, had he been able, it being apparently Destructive to his Interest and Kingdom; it could be nothing but the Power of God; and if God is as True as he is Powerful, he cannot be supposed to work a Miracle to attest a lie. 2. As his Resurrection gives us a discharge from the Guilt and Punishment of Sin, and so opens to all Believers the Kingdom of Heaven. As God in the Death of our Saviour did manifest his Wrath towards us, and execute his Justice upon us, so in raising him from the Dead, he hath declared himself appeased, and his Justice satisfied; as we in his Sufferings were Punished, the Iniquity of us all being laid upon him, so in his Resurrection we are acquitted and restored to Grace. So speaks the Apostle, he was deliv●red for our Offences, Rom. 4.25. and rose again for our Justification: And again, Who shall lay any thing to the Charge of God's Elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that Died, yea rather that is Risen again, who is also at the Right-Hand of God, making Intercession for us. 3. As the Resurrection of Christ infers ours, Christ's Resurrection not only demonstrates the possibility of ours, but gives an ample assurance of it: His raising himself, shows that he hath in him a Power to raise us; and his being our Head and Representative, that he hath a Will, as well as a Power to do it; so that we are already risen in our Causes, since our Head and Representative is risen, and hath the same Power and Will to raise us, as he had to raise himself, hence he is called the first Born from the Dead, and the first Fruits of them that rise; that is, the Pledge and Hansel of our Resurrection. The first Fruits under the Law hallowed all the rest. The Jews were obliged when they reaped their Harvest to bring a Sheaf of the first Fruits to the Priest; and when this Oblation was made, Levit. 23.9. 'twas in lieu of all the rest, and the whole lump was hallowed by it; So that as that one Sheaf had relation to the whole Harvest, so the Resurrection of Christ implies that of his Members: Well then might St. Peter break out into Blessing and Praising of God on this account, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; which, 1 Pet. 1.3. according to his abundant Mercy, hath begotten us again unto a Lively Hope, 〈◇〉, as another Greek Copy has it, to a Hope of Life, by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead, to an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in Heaven for you. To conclude; What a mighty Encouragement have we here to persevere in the Faith of Christ, and to abound in every Good Work? This solemnity returns every Year, and you have had all the Arguments to Charity over and over prest upon you; you have been told more than once, that it's the most Natural, the most Necessary, the most Pleasant, the most Profitable, the most Christian, nay, the most Godlike Virtue. We at this season commemorate the Resurrection of our Lord from the Dead, and our best conformity to it is a Divine Life; Col. 3.1, 2. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those Things that are above, where Christ sits at the Right-Hand of God: Set your Affections on Things above, and not on Things here below; that is, if ye will demonstrate yourselves to be Christians indeed, risen with Christ, and alive to God as Christ is; you can do it no other way than by a generous contempt of this World, and a Life of Charity? It is to the Righteous and Charitable, that we owe all our National Blessings; they are the Pillars that support our fabric, which otherwise would soon crack about our Ears, and sink under the load of our Sins and Follies: You cannot but be sensible, how very loose, and profane an Age we live in; Atheism and Infidelity, and other Doctrines directly tending that way, never abounded so much amongst us as now they do: These are impudent and daring Sins, they do as it were challenge and defy God to his Face; and were it not that Holy and Charitable Souls, like Moses, stand in the gap, and keep off God's Judgments from us, we might justly fear his Wrath would be kindled against us to the uttermost, and burn up our Place and Nation. I hope, I need say nothing more to keep this Holy Fire alive within you, burning in your Breasts, and flaming out in your Actions; Remember 'tis the Work of the Lord, that which he most strictly enjoins, and will most gloriously Reward; for as much as ye know that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. ERRATA. page. 3. line 10. deal a, p. 7. l. 4. for or red and. FINIS.