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in perfecuting and flaying the Prophets, while they were alive; yet had they a mighty veneration for their piety and virtue, after they were dead, and thought no honour too great to be done to them. They would be at the charge of raising monuments to the memory of those good men, whom their fathers had flain; and whom they would certainly have ufed in the very fame manner, had they either lived in the days of thofe Prophets, or those Prophets had lived in their days, as our Saviour plainly told them.

All that now remains, is, to draw fome inferences from what hath been faid by way of application; and they fhall be these three:

1. To vindicate the honour and refpect which the Christian church, for many ages, hath paid to the memory of the first teachers and martyrs of our religion.

2. To encourage us to piety and goodnefs, from this confideration, that the righteous fhall be in everlasting remembrance.

3. That when we pretend to honour the memory of good men, we would be careful to imitate their holiness and virtue.

1. To vindicate the honour which the Christian church hath, for many ages, done to the first teachers and martyrs of our religion; I mean more especially to the holy Apostles of our Lord and Saviour; to whofe honour the Christian church hath thought fit to fet apart folemn times, for the commemoration of their piety and fuffering, and to ftir up others to the imitation of them.

This certainly can with no good colour, either from fcripture or reafon, be pretended to be unlawful: and when David here fays, The righteous fhall be in everlasting remembrance, he cannot certainly be thought to exclude the moft folemn way of commemorating their piety and virtue.

I do not pretend this custom can be derived from the very firft ages of Chriftianity; but furely it is fufficient, for the lawfulness of it, that it is no where forbidden : nay, it is rather required here in the text; the best way to preferve the memory of good men, being thus to commemorate them. And it may be of great ufe to us, if it be not our own fault; the fetting before our eyes the

holy

holy lives of excellent men being in its own nature apt to excite us to the imitation of them.

Befides that I could tell you, that though this cannot be proved fo ancient, as fome vainly pretend; yet it is of great antiquity in the church, and did begin in fome of the best ages of Chriftianity. Memoria martyrum, "the meetings of Chriftians at the tombs of the mar"tyrs," was practifed long before the degeneracy of the Weltern church; and the Chriftians were wont at thofe meetings folemnly to commemorate the faith and conftancy of thofe good men, and to encourage themselves from their examples.

I know very well, that this did in time degenerate into grofs fuperftition, which afterward gave colour and occafion to that grofs and idolatrous practice in the church of Rome, of worshipping faints. But this abufe is no fufficient reafon for us to give over the celebrating of the memory of fuch holy men, as the Apostles and martyrs of Christ were; and propounding them to ourselves for our patterns. We may ftill lawfully give them their due honour; though the church of Rome hath fo overdone it, as to rob God of his.

2. Let this confideration, that the righteous fhall be in everlasting remembrance, be an encouragement to us to piety and goodness. This to a generous nature, that is fenfible of honour and reputation, is no fmall reward and encouragement. Before the happiness of heaven was clearly revealed, and life and immortality brought to light by the gospel, one of the greatest motives to worthy and virtuous deeds, was the carneft defire which men had of leaving a good name behind them, and of perpetuating the fame and glory of their actions to after ages. Upon this ground chiefly, many of the braveft fpirits among the Heathen were animated to virtue, and, with the hazard of their lives, to do great and glorious exploits for their country.

And certainly it is an argument of a great mind, to be moved by this confideration, and a fign of a low and bafe fpirit to neglect it. He that hath no regard to his fame, is loft to all purposes of virtue and goodness : when a man is once come to this, not to care what others fay of him, the next step is, to have no care what him

felf

313 felf does. Quod confcientia eft apud Deum, id fama eft apud homines: "What confcience is in refpect of God, that is fame in refpect of men." Next to a good confcience, a clear reputation ought to be to every man the dearest thing in the world. Men have generally a great value for riches; and yet the fcripture pronounceth him the happier man that leaves a good name, than him that leaves a great eftate behind him, Prov. xxii. 1. A good name is rather to be chofen than great riches.

If then we have any regard to a good name, the best way to fecure it to ourselves, is by the holy and virtuous actions of a good life. Do well, and thou fhalt be well fpoken of; if not now, yet by thofe who fhall come after. The fureft way to glory, and honour, and immortality, is by a patient continuance in well-doing. God hath engaged his promise to us to this purpose, 1 Sam. ii. 30. Them that honour me, I will honour; and they that defpife me, fhall be lightly eflcemed. The name of the wicked fhall rot, fays Solomon, Prov. x. 7. But God doth ufually take a particular care to preserve and vindicate their memory, who are careful to keep his covenant, and remember his commandments to do them.

3. and lastly, Whenever we pretend to do honour to the memory of good men, let us charge ourfelves with a ftrict imitation of their holiness and virtue. The greatest honour we can do to God, or good men, is to endeavour to be like them; to exprefs their virtues, and represent them to the world in our lives. Upon thefe days, we fhould propound to ourselves, as our patterns, all thofe holy and excellent perfons who have gone before us; the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour, and all thofe bleffed faints and martyrs, who were faithful to the death, and have received a crown of life and immortality.

We should represent to ourselves the piety of their actions, and the patience and conftancy of their fufferings, that we may imitate their virtues, and be followers of them, who through faith and patience have inherited the promifes. And feeing we are compaffed about with fuch a cloud of witneffes, we fhould lay afide every weight, and run with patience the race that is fet before us.

Let us imagine all thofe great examples of piety and

VOL. IV.

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virtue standing about us in a throng, and fixing their eyes upon us. How ought we to demean ourselves in fuch a prefence, and under the eye of fuch witnesses ! And how should we be afhamed to do any thing that is unworthy of fuch excellent patterns, and blush to look upon our own lives, when we remember theirs! Good God! at what a distance do the greatest part of Christians follow thofe examples! and while we honour them with our lips, how unlike are we to them in our lives!

Why do we thus reproach ourselves with these glorious patterns? Let us either refolve to imitate their virtues, or to make no mention of their names; for while we celebrate the examples of faints and holy men, and yet contradict them in our lives, we either mock them, or upbraid ourselves.

Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jefus Chrift, &c.

SERMON

LXXVII.

The duty of imitating the primitive teachers patterns of Christianity.

and

Preached on All-Saints day, 1684.

HE B. xiii. 7.

The latter part of the verse.

Whofe faith fellow, confidering the end of their converfation.

The whole verfe runs thus:

Remember them which have the rule over you, who have Spoken unto you the word of God: whofe faith follow, confidering the end of their converfation.

T

HE great fcope and defign of this epiftle is, to perfuade the Jews who were newly converted to Chriftianity, to continue ftedfaft in the profeffion

of

of it, notwithstanding all the fufferings and perfecutions it was attended withal. And to encourage them hereto, among many other arguments which the Apoftle makes ufe of, he doth feveral times in this epiftle propound to them the examples and patterns of faints and holy men that were gone before them; especially thofe of their own nation, who, in their refpective ages, had given remarkable teftimony of their faith in God, and conftant adherence to the truth: Chap. vi. 11. 12. And we defire that every one of you do fhew the fame diligence, to the full affurance of hope unto the end: that ye be not flothful, but followers of them, who through faith and patience inherit the promifes. And chap. xi. he gives a catalogue of the eminent heroes and faints of the Old Teftament, who by faith had done fuch wonders, and given fuch teftimony of their patience and conftancy, in doing and fuffering the will of God; from whence he infers, chap. xii. 1. that we ought to take pattern and heart from fuch examples to perfevere in our Chriftian courfe: Wherefore, feeing we alfo are compassed about with fo great a cloud of martyrs, or witneffes, let us lay afide every weight, and the fin which doth fo easily befet us, and let us run with patience the race that is fet before us; efpecially fince they had greater examples than thefe nearer to them, and more fresh in memory; the great example of our Lord, the founder of our religion; and of the first teachers of Christianity, the difciples and Apoftles of our Lord and Saviour. The example of our Lord himself, the captain and rewarder of our faith, y 2. of that 12th chapter: Looking unto Jefus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was fet before him, endured the cross, defpifing the Shame. 3. For confider him that endured fuch contradiction of finners against himself, left ye be wearied and faint in your minds. This indeed is the great pattern of Chriftians, and, in regard of the great perfection of it, furpaffeth all other patterns, and feems to make them ufelefs; as having in it the perfection of the divinity, not in its full brightness, (which would be apt to dazzle rather than direct us), but allayed and fhadowed with the infirmities of human nature; and, for that reafon, more accommodate and familiar to us, than the divine perfections abstractedly confidered.

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