Discourses on Divers Texts of Scripture, Discourses 2 · Sermon 6
MAT. 10. 41,Mat. 10. 41
He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet, shall receive a Prophets reward.
OUR blessed Saviour giving his Apostles their mission to preach the Gospel, unfurnished with outward things, and forewarning them what harsh and unkinde usage they and their successors were like to finde amongst men: for the better encouragement of such as should entertain and minister unto them; he pronounceth, That whosoever received them, received him, and he that received him, received him that sent him: Whereby it appeareth how honourable an office it was to afford them entertainment, and such as the noblest need not be ashamed of. But because the hope of reward is the most forcible spur to all undertakings, he addeth that too in the words of my Text, He that receiveth, saith he, a Prophet in the name of a Prophet, shall receive a Prophets reward: that is, he that receiveth a Prophet, not for any respect, but quatenus talis, because he is a Prophet, shall have a Prophets reward.
Which words contain in them evidently these two Propositions: First, that there is some speciall and eminent degree of reward due unto a Prophet above other men. Secondly, That he that shall entertain a Prophet, and do any good office unto him under that name, that is, for his office sake, shall be partaker of that Reward. Of these two I intend to treat, beginning with the first, the more generall.
That there shall be differing degrees of Reward in the life to come, is evident by sundry places of Scripture: As first, from that so often iterated passage, wherein God is said to reward every man according to his works; which is not to be understood only of the differing quality of our works, good and evill, which God rewards accordingly, the one with everlasting blisse, the other with eternall fire, (as some here except) but also of the differing works of just men compared together, as is manifest by that 1 Cor. 3. 8. where the Apostle comparing his own and Apollo's work together, saying, He had planted, and Apollo watered; addes, That both should receive their reward, according to their work; that is, as their work differed, so should their reward do. In the second place the same is represented by that Parable, Luke 19. of the ten servants who received of their Lord, being to go into a far Countrey, ten pounds to trade with till his return. At what time he that had increased his pound to ten pounds, was made ruler over ten Cities; He that had gained but five pounds, over five Cities, and so the rest, according as they had improved the stock given them. A third place is that 1 Cor. 15. 42. There is one glory of the Sun, another of the Moon, and another glory of the Stars, for one star differeth from another in glory. So also is the Resurrection of the dead. Here is the full stop, and not the words to be referred to that which follows, to wit, That the body is sown in corruption, and riseth again in incorruption, as some would have them. For the Apostle speaks here of the difference of things heavenly and glorious, (one star, saith he, differs from another in glory;) and not of the difference between glorious, and inglorious, corruptible and incorruptible: For this belongs to his other similitude; There are celestiall bodies, and bodies terrestriall, but the glory of the celestiall is one, and the glory of the terrestriall is another. A fourth place is that 2 Cor. 9. 6. where the Apostle speaking of the reward of beneficence, avoucheth, that he which soweth sparingly, shall reap sparingly, and he that soweth bountifully, shall reap bountifully. Fifthly, that speech of our Saviour to the twelve, Mat. 19. imports as much; Behold, we, saith S. Peter, have forsaken all and followed thee: foreign; what shall we have therefore? Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, foreign, in the Regeneration, or Resurrection, when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of his Glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve Tribes of Israel. S. Luke relates it upon another occasion; whereby it appears our Saviour uttered it more then once, You (saith he to the Twelve) are they which have continued with me in my temptations: Therefore I appoint you a Kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my Table in my Kingdome, and sit on Thrones, judging the twelve Tribes of Israel. Luk. 22. 28, &c. Whatsoever is meant by the reward intimated in this expression, for the quality thereof: 'Tis plain there is some peculiar and more eminent degree of glory here promised the Apostles, which shall not be common to others with them: First, because it is the reward of their proper and peculiar service unto Christ, as the Text shews. Secondly, because these twelve thrones in regard of their number, can befit no more but these twelve. Thirdly, supposing the twelve Tribes of Israel here mentioned, to be likewise in a condition of blisse and happinesse; it must needs be, that those who sit upon twelve Thrones to judge, that is, to govern them, must be in a higher degree of dignitie, then those over whom they shall be set: Whatsoever therefore the meaning of the reward be, thus much may be gathered from the description thereof, That there shall be differing degrees of glory in the Kingdome of Christ to come. To conclude; It hath been the ancient and constant Tradition of the Church, testified by the unanimous consent of all the Fathers, was never questioned by any, untill that Peter Martyr in this last age Age first began to doubt thereof, and others since more boldly adventured to contradict it.
Their main reasons or objections are these two: First, that the Reward to come depends not upon the virtue or dignity of our works, but only upon the merit and satisfaction of Christ: But his merits and satisfaction is uniform and the same to all: Ergo, The Reward also which is to be given by virtue thereof shall be so. This Objection proceeds from that scrupulosity, which many of ours have to admit of any relation or connexion between our works and the reward to come: Whence also is that, that they should not be done intuitu mercedis; which is an assertion repugnant to the tenour of the Scripture, where the Holy Ghost is wont to ground his Exhortations upon the hope and promise of reward. Now what an unreasonable conceit is it to think that where wages is promised for the encouragement of the labourer, the labourer should be bound to work without having any eye or respect to his wages? But to the objection I answer thus; That it is true, the merits and satisfaction of Christ is the foundation of our reward, namely, that alone which makes our works capable thereof, without which they were not: neverthelesse it is true also, that our works are the subject of Reward; and the same merit of Christ, makes differing works capable of a different reward.
Their other objection hath a little more likelihood, and seems therefore somewhat more difficult to answer: It is taken from the Parable, Mat. 20. where the Kingdome of heaven is compared to a Vineyard, the Master whereof went out in the morning to hire labourers, and agreed with them for a peny a day: Three hours after, or at the third hour, and so again at the sixth and ninth hours; yea at the eleventh, but an hour before Sun went down, he did likewise. And when they came all to receive their wages, he gave the last hired as much as he had agreed with the first, to wit, every one a peny, neither more nor lesse: Whence it seems to follow, that the reward to come, signified by the peny, shall not be proportioned according to the difference of works, but be one and the same to all.
I answer; First, the Parable proves no more but this; that the sooner or later comming of men into the Vineyard of the Church, (for all were not to be called at one time, nor in one age) shall not make their reward greater or lesser: not that the reward shall not be different according to the diversity of our works. Secondly, I adde, that this Parable hath respect to the Churches of the Jews and Gentiles not called, nor to be called at the same time: For the Jews were hired into the Vineyard betimes in the morning, the Gentiles not till the day was far spent; yet shall they by the goodnesse of their heavenly Master receive the same reward of eternall life, which was promised to the Jew, with whom the Covenant was first made, and who bare the heat of the day, whilest the other stood idle. Besides, in the new Vineyard of the Gospel the turn is changed; for into it (because the Jews would not) the Gentiles have first been hired, though at severall hours, the Jew being not to come in untill the eleventh hour; yet when Christ comes to give us wages, shall receive his peny, that is, eternall life as well as we.
This to be the genuine scope of the Parable, may be gathered by that which is presently subjoined by our Saviour as it were to be the key thereof. So the last (saith he) shall be first, and the first last; foreign, for many are called, but few are chosen: which I understand thus; The last, that is, the Gentiles who came in last, shall be the first partakers of Christs Kingdome. The Jews who were first in Covenant, and had wrought so long before us in Gods Vineyard, shall be last in the Covenant of Christ, and not converted till the fulnesse of the Gentiles be come in: For though many of them were invited at the first comming of Christ, yet few or none obeyed, and so the Nation became not of his peculium, but stands yet rejected; foreign. To the like purpose is the same speech used by our Saviour, Luk. 13. They shall come, saith he, from the East, and from the West, and from the North, and from the South, and shall sit down in the Kingdom of God. And behold, there are last, which shall be first, and there are first, which shall be last. What means this? Out of the eighth of S. Matthew, where the same passage is related, we shall hear it expounded; for there the words run thus, Many shall come from the East and West, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob, in the Kingdom of heaven: But the children of the Kingdom (that is, the whole generation of Israel, who received not the Gospel, at the Preaching of Christ and his Apostles, and all the generations since, who have continued in unbeleef) shall be cast out into utter darknesse.
And here by the way, because the Parable useth the notion of a day, to signifie a time of many ages; it will not be altogether unseasonable to note, that the Metaphor may appear the easier, how that the Scripture often elsewhere cals the whole time of mans pilgrimage in this world, by the name of a Day; As, To day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. S. Paul, Heb. 3. 13. Exhort one another foreign, every day, whilest it is called to Day; where we say Day to include every day. And I beleeve we are thus to understand Day in the Lords Prayer, in that Petition, Give us this day our daily Bread; that is, the whole time we live in hoc seculo. For in stead of S. Matthews This Day, spoken after the Hebrew notion, Saint Luke hath in the same Petition, foreign, that is, every day. Therefore S. Matthews Hodie, must comprehend S. Lukes Every day, if the sense of the Petition in both of them be the same, as I beleeve it is. Nay more then this; The world to come, even seculum aeternitatis, or eternity it self is likewise termed a day, 2 Pet. 3. ult. Domino nostro, saith he, & servatori Iesu Christo, sit gloria & nunc, foreign, & in diem aeternitatis: A long Day indeed. But this obiter.
Thus having cleared my Proposition in thesi, or in generall; That there shall be differing degrees of glory in the reward to come: It remains that I make it good in the hypothesis concerning a Prophet; namely, that to them who instruct others in the ways and will of God, which is the Office of a Prophet, there belongs a preheminence of reward, above and besides that which is common to all Saints. This preheminence of glory the Schoolmen term Aureola, that is, an Additament of felicity to that essentiall glory in the Vision of God, which they term Aurea: This Aureola or Coronet to be added to the Crown of glory, they ascribe to three sorts of persons; To Virgins, to Martyrs, and to Doctors or Prophets. The two first are out of my scope: The third, of Prophets, let us see how it is proved out of Scripture. First therefore it is apparent from my Text, He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet, shall receive a Prophets reward; Ergo, there is some speciall or peculiar reward belonging to a Prophet, and that too an eminent one; otherwise our Saviours speech will have no enforcement in it, as he that considers thereof may easily see. The second is, Dan. 12. 3. where the Angel prophesying of the Resurrection to be at the end of Time, and saying, That many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake; some to everlasting life, and some to shame, and everlasting contempt; he addes, And those that be wise (that is, have learned the true wisdome, which consists in the fear of God) shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament. But those that turn many unto righteousnesse (that is, the Teachers and Instructers) as the stars for ever and ever. Here the difference between those that teach and are taught, is as much as between the light of the Stars, and the brightnesse of the Firmament. Some will have the whole sentence to speak of the eminency of glory laid up for Prophets, Translating foreign in the first place not docti or intelligentes, but Doctores: The Teachers shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament, and they that turn many unto righteousnesse, as the stars for ever and ever: but I have followed that interpretation, which our Translators thought most likely. Thirdly, to this eminency of glory the Angel seems also to have respect in the end of that Chapter, when he says, But go thy way Daniel, till the end be; for thou shalt rest, and stand up in thy lot at the end of days: in sorte tua, i. in sorte Prophetarum. And this perhaps may be that too which our Saviour intends, Mat. 5. Qui fecerit & docuerit, magnus vocabitur (i. erit) in regno coelorum. The reason of all this is, because those who teach & convert others to righteousness, have an interest and a kind of title to all the good works which they shall do: How then can their reward but be great and eminent, when not onelyonly their own works, but the works of their converts and disciples, shall be brought into their account?
A matter, if we consider it, of no small encouragement and comfort unto us, whom God hath placed in this condition to be Teachers and Instructers of others, if so be we bury not our Talent in a Napkin, but imploy it for the advantage of our Lord and Master. For it is not the habit or faculty, but the work, which shall reap the reward we speak of: Happy are we therefore, if we neglect not this opportunity of blisse, which God hath given us.
And thus having done with the first Proposition I undertook, I come unto the second; which is, That he that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet, shall be partaker of a Prophets reward: He that receives, that is, doth any good office, or deserves well of a Prophet: For this to be the meaning, may appear by that which follows; He that receiveth a righteous man, in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous mans reward; where righteous is to be taken by way of eminency, for one of eminent sanctity, such as among the Jews had therefore the sirname of Iusti, as Simeon Iustus, Iacobus Iustus, and other the like. Then in the next words the expression is varied; Whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones, a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, shall not lose his reward: whence I say we may gather what good office, the word receiving before used, intimated to us, namely, to relieve, maintain, support, and the like. He therefore that thus receives a Prophet, shall be partaker, saith our Saviour, of a Prophets reward; that is, have an eminent reward, or of the quality of a Prophet, though himself be none.
The reason is, because he that supports and enables a Prophet for his duty, hath an interest in his work, and consequently in the reward that belongs unto it: This appears by the contrary, because he that maintains and abets those, who commit an evil act, makes himself guilty of their sin, and so of the punishment due to the same. An example whereof we have in that of the Benjamites in the Book of Judges, who by abetting the men of Gibeah, who committed that foul abomination with the Levites Wife, made themselves guilty of their sin, and brought that hideous judgement, which at first was deserved only by a few sons of Beliall, upon the Heads of the whole Tribe: It is a known story. Now it is par ratio for a man to entitle himself to anothers good works, as to his ill.
But there is a modification in the Text, whereupon this reward we speak of depends, otherwise not to be looked for: And that is, This good office must be done in nomine Prophetae, not for any other respect, then as he is, and because he is a Prophet: He that receiveth a Prophet in nomine Prophetae, shall receive a Prophets reward: not he that receives him onelyonly for some personall or by-respect, because he is his kinsman, friend, or friends ally, or which is the ground of the most respect the Prophet gets among the most now adays, because he is one of their own side and faction; but setting all such respects aside, eo nomine quia Prophet…, with meer respect to their office and calling, or because they are (as Valens and Valentinian in their Rescript apud Theodoretum cals them) foreign, Procuratores magni Regis. I may tell you that this is no ordinary thing now adays; we may perhaps finde some that can be content to make much of the Prophet for some personall qualities of his, or perhaps because he hath abilities above ordinary, or because it may be he is like to further the way they wish good luck to, or that they may gain repute among some sort of men, or other respects of like nature. But are there many which regard them in nomine Prophetae? How then comes it to passe that their courtesies are so appropriate to the persons of some, that they shew no respect or esteem to the calling in others?
Whence comes that Unchristian, or indeed Atheisticall language, A base Priest, A paultry Priest? It would never have grieved me, if any other had served me thus, but to be served thus by a base Priest, who can endure it? Tell me in good earnest, is this to honour a Priest or a Prophet in nomine Prophetae; or not rather point-blank unto it, to reproach and dishonour him under that reverend Name; that is, to despise and reproach the Calling it self? For can a man honour that condition, the name whereof he thinks to be a reproach? Is any man wont to say, A base Lord, A base Knight, A base Gentleman, A base Christian? No: And why? because he accounts them all terms and titles of honour. Judge then by this, what account they make of Gods Ambre, who turn the very title of their Calling into a name of reproach, and what reward by proportion they are like to merit at Christs hands: Not a Prophets I am sure; and whether a Christians or not, themselves may judge. 'Tis often, and too often true indeed, that for our persons we are unworthy of any better respect, but even then it best appears, whether a man hath respect to the Calling eo nomine, when there is nothing in the Person to move him to it.
But there is another sort of men, who honour not a Prophet in the name of a Prophet, yet behinde, namely, such as rob and spoil them of their livelihood and daily bread, and not onelyonly themselves give nothing to enable and encourage them the better to perform their Ministery; but take from them severall ways, that which the piety and bounty of their Ancestors hath allotted them; yea to many, if not to the most, no gain or theft is more sweet, then that which is gotten out of the Priests portion: But whether it will prove so at that day, when the just God shall reward every man according to his works, may be greatly feared. I told you a little before, that the reason, why he that receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet, shall be partaker of a Prophets reward, is, because he that supports and enables a Prophet to do his duty, hath thereby an interest in his work, and consequently to the reward due to the same. If this be so; what can they look for, who by subtracting their daily bread from them, hinder and disenable them from the free and chearfull performance of their duty, by distracting them with the cares of providing for their bodily life? Do they not derive upon themselves the guilt of whatsoever impediment comes hereby to the propagation of the Kingdom of Christ? Shall not the losse of every soul that perisheth for want of due provision to maintain an able Minister, be cast in their account at the last day? I will speak nothing now of the burden which Sacriledge it self, being a robbing of God, carries with it, (see Prov. 20. 25. It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy; and after vows to make enquiry;) nor of those dreadfull execrations, which the Donors of such things were wont antiquo ritu, to lay upon the heads of all such as should divert them to profane uses, wherewith these men willingly and wilfully involve themselves. But for a close, let us join in an humble and hearty acknowledgement of Gods goodnesse and mercy, and say, Blessed be God our heavenly Father, who notwithstanding the malignity of many, hath not left us destitute, but in every age hath raised up some to shew kindnesse unto the Prophets, and to provide entertainment for them: Witnesse the goodly structures, and liberall endowments in our two Seminaries for the entertainment and education of Prophets and Prophets Sons; being the bounty of those Worthies, the fruits of whose Piety and Devotion, the whole Church of God by his Divine goodnesse doth enjoy; To whose blessed Names, as their deserts challenge from us, let all due honour and thankfulnesse be for ever rendred.