depends on its Capacity of Knowledge and Circumstances it is then naturally in or how far it is liable to be mistaken in it self or impos'd upon by such Agents as will certainly as much as they can deceive it and when and where and how far God will permit or interpose by his special Acts of Information and Perswasion But that God should decree absolutely or will any Evil is an Opinion so full of Absurdities yea and in its tendency so apt to over-throw all Religion that no single probability or other difficulty can perswade a considerate Man to believe it therefore I think I need say no more in this matter 51. And now after all these Considerations I cannot but reflect and consider with Grief the miserable State of Christianity and the Professors thereof as well as of the rest of Mankind of the generality of those that call themselves the Reformed and Protestants as well as of the Papists between whom I can see but very little difference they agree so much still in many the same Unreasonable Doctrines as the Fundamentals of Religion as well as consent in the like wicked Practices as the Upholders and Effects of those Doctrines How much is the World and many the highest Pretenders to Religion in it alienated and changed from True Religion and the Scope and Design thereof in its Primitive Purity and Plainness How much more busie and concern'd are Men in contriving and contending for idle and uncertain Speculations and Niceties than in doing the plain undoubted and necessary Duties of the Gospel Natural Religion or the Practice of Love Goodness Mercy Brotherly Kindness Patience Meekness Humility Truth c They seem much more intent in considering according as every ones Fancy and Education leads him how Men are or may be saved or not saved than in working out their own or in furthering other Mens Salvation Whilst they place the main business in hitting the right notion how Salvation is wrought and in this they are also commonly mistaken they labour very little in conforming to the easily known Will of God according to the Precepts and Pattern he hath given us in the Man Christ Jesus whose pure holy Life seems hard and uneasie to the Rebellious Will but to be saved in the Theory is look'd upon now as more pleasant and desireable And how apt are Men now a-days to judge and condemn one another and that merely on the account of their Differences even in their idle Speculations in which Censures some are so ridged that they will hardly allow any but themselves and a few whose Noses are just of the same length and fashion to have smell'd out the way of Happiness or to be fit for Christian Brotherly Communion with them But we will not be afraid to affirm That whosoever truely loves God and his Neighbour shall certainly be saved or happy nay is pass'd from Death to Life Whosoever does not cannot be happy till he does tho' he may have the finest yea the best System of Divinity in his Head Tho' he have all Faith even to remove a Mountain of Contradictions to believe the greatest Mysteries Absurdities or Nonsense imaginable That one pure simple Act and Habit of Child-like Love to God is really more influencing to persevering Obedience and pleasing to God than the most Catholick Orthodoxy in the World He more truely knows God even by experience that loves him tho' but a Child than the most eloquent and subtile Teacher in the World that does not love But I am afraid nay I think I need not question it that the life of Religion is very much eat out and weakned by those many unreasonable Doctrines Whilst we have it taught either implicitly or expresly That God is the Author of Evil. One that made the greatest part of the Creation for that very end to be inevitably miserable for ever and consequently that they must needs be and continue Sinners to make them so That he is one that loves the Miseries of his Creatures and takes such pleasure in their Pains that he will bear with their Rebellion for ever rather than not have them unhappy That he made the most of them on purpose to shew his Power and Sovereignty in their everlasting Disorders Yea that that little number that he is said to be dearly hired and hardly perswaded to spare are continually afflicted with one Mischief or other from his hand tho' they are seeking him and crying after him continually he is not so ready to hear but often hides himself from them And yet that tho' this little number is sohardly saved they are infallibly sure of Salvation do or not do what they will Who would not rather be astonished and confounded and render'd inactive than influenced to love and obey God by these Doctrines When farther I am told that I cannot keep God's Commandments but that Christ hath keept them for me consequently my keeping them is not so necessary if suppos'd possible and God reckons Christ's Perfect Righteousness to be mine and I am perfect in him tho' I am not like minded all is done for me without me if I can but believe that is fancy so Ah but my Heart misgives me may one that considers say I fear that if Christ hath done all for me without me he will be happy also for me without me and I shall go to Heaven but by Proxy Who will be humbled before God and thankful for his free Beneficence and Forgiveness when we are perswaded that Christ hath purchased it at a full rate of him by his Doings yea and Sufferings for us and we may demand Happiness of God as our due But I fear many such Confidents will be put off with I know you not Nay how do we acknowledge God just and good and ready to forgive when we are perswaded that tho' he does not satisfie himself in punishing us for our Sins yet he will have them punished somewhere or other and rather than any where in the most Innocent Man Jesus on whom they say he laid all the Punishment or Misery due for the Sins of all Men and yet nevertheless most of them are damn'd and all of them die and that he reckon'd him guilty of others Sins tho' he were not so O Justice how unjustly hath the Malice of the Adversary represented the Fountain of Goodness and Justice But what shall the Generality of Mankind do What Encouragement shall they have to their Duty How shall they be stir'd up to seek Life and Happy Immortality especially the poor Convinced Souls that cannot get up so high as to read their Names in the Eternal Decree of Life or see yet much of the Effects thereof in themselves When they are told unless they are of that little number Christ has made Satisfaction for and ten thousand to one whether they be or no all their Repentance is in vain and their best Works are Sins in the sight of God tho' perhaps splendid Ones When they are taught that greater Goodness Justice Mercy Truth c. in one Man is less acceptible to God than much less in another and so God a Respecter of Persons Supposing I cannot perswade my self as I think all Predestinarians do that I am one of the Elect or do not believe that God has absolutely decreed either to save or damn any I am nevertheless convinced of my Sin and Duty as the way of Unhappiness or Happiness and would fain be happy Shall not I do my Duty on a Fancy that God has not decreed the Event or must I despair in it the former were but Madness the latter a miserable Condition But I must leave these things to the Thoughts of the Considerate and to them I would propose this Question What has been the reason that no more of Mankind have embraced Christianity and where has the fault been I think surely Original Goodness has not hinder'd nor has the fault been in the Christian Religion it self or in the want of the Love of Happiness in Mankind I believe you must confess that the generality of its Professors have discredited Christianity and given the World a false Draught or Picture thereof Till which is mended what hopes can we have of the Conversion to Christianity of those who have not from their inconsiderate years its Deformed Doctrines impos'd upon them and the disagreeing Lives of its Professors recommended to them What Expectations can we have of convincing Jews Turks and Pagans when not only the above-named Doctrines and an hundred more perhaps have represented Christianity as full of Contradictions and Absurdities and unsuitable to the Condition and Nature of Man But we even seem to differ in our Notions whether there be One or More Objects of Divine Worship insomuch that if those that have not yet embraced Christianity were to hear our Discourses and Forms of Worship they could not I believe but think that a great part of Christians believe and worship more Gods than One and even enjoin such a Faith and Practice upon pain of Damnation yea some of them having no better Arguments urge it by the Rack of Persecution while their Lives also are as different from Unity in pure Christian Morality Which now adays is distinguish'd from Religion O Times and a Moral Man is spoken of with Contempt in comparison with the Religious as a different Person But I must confess I look upon nothing as a Doctrine of Christianity or think can reasonably be represented as such or proved so to be by Scripture which does not naturally tend to promote Morality or Influence to those Good Manners which become our relation to God and which are convenient and profitable towards the true Interest of Mankind I would that Men would once come to try Doctrines by their natural Inferences and Tendencies then I should hope Truth would more appear But I must here conclude tho' I have been very short on every Particular I have been discoursing as unable now to write all I could wish to say of the Natural of the True Christian and of our Laodicean Religion promising my Reader an Answer to what he shall rationally object against whatever has been said in this Discourse and therewith a fuller Demonstration of things if God give me Life and Opportunity supposing that my whole Life must be spent in labouring against our common Errors if the Appearance of Christ don't bring on their Period sooner FINIS
or willing otherwise than God wills And all Acts of Sin are essentially the same and every reiterated Act of Sin is virtually the Approbation and Ratification of all Sins past and to come 22. Now for as much as the Creature is found guilty and convicted of this mighty Disorder has done Evil and it cannot possibly be undone but that it will eternally remain true that the Creature has sinn'd it follows to be consider'd what is now to be done or how the Creature ought to behave himself as guilty and conscious of Sin And there are these things which by natural and right consequence should arise in Man from this Consideration First an humble Acknowledgment and Confession to God of what he hath foolishly done not to fancy he can hide his Sin from God or to go about to extenuate it and excuse it Secondly A Sorrow Regret and Displeasure with himself for so foolish and unreasonable Doings which Sorrow tho' it supposes and is naturally consequent of Evil yet it becomes a Medium in order to future Joy because the troublesome Thoughts or Sense of what we have done amiss urges and instigates to that which is the Third and chief thing Man should do having sinn'd viz. Repent or study what is God's Will and resolve to do it or will as he wills for the future Which things on the same reason ought to be reiterated as oft as Man shall fall again or reiterate Acts of Sin With these there should be a hearty Desire to God that he will forgive or manifest to us anew some Acts of his Wisdom Goodness and Power whereby we may be effectually influenced to see as it is the Disorder or Evil of our sinful Will to change our Mind fully to conform for the future to God's Will that God may be to us for time to come as he would have been if we had never sinned This I say is the natural Duty of a Sinner To repent or be sensible of his doing amiss and to change his Mind to do well and such a Sinner may boldly if humbly ask and expect Forgiveness of God Now if we consider the Forgiveness of God well I think nothing can be truely and properly Forgiveness but as I have said the New Manifestation of some Acts of God towards the Creature upon its Sinning and Sense of it whereby it is effectually perswaded to change its Will and go on to change it till it comes to will again as God wills In which God relieves the Creature more or less according to the degree of its new Obedience it finds in it self from the uneasie Thoughts of its past Sins and affects it with the same Pleasure and Satisfaction proportionable to the progress of its Repentance the Creature would have had in God if it had never sinn'd God abating so much of his due as cannot possibly be paid viz. the keeping of his Law which has not been done for the time past This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Forgiveness of Sin to be pray'd for and believed and expected in God But what-ever Acts of God we may suppose towards the Creature if it is not brought to will again as God wills sometime or other to do its Duty it is not really forgiven its Sins pardoned or done away divorsed or loosed from it as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies 23. Now for as much as the Creature considering the Unreasonableness of its Sin its Will not being quite changed or but little changed and its Understanding not fully inform'd may be apt to doubt as too inclinable to measure God by its self whether God will indeed thus add to act towards the Happiness of a once Rebellious Creature We shall consider by what rational Arguments we may be perswaded that God will indeed yea is ready to forgive First it is God's unchangeable Will and Command that the Creature be obedient to the Will of his Maker as what is most just and reasonable for God cannot be suppos'd to change his own Will or will what is not just and reasonable To suppose he can is all one as to suppose him imperfect or not God or not wise and good If so he must needs be suppos'd willing Repentance or a Leaving or Remission of Sins in the Creature that has sinn'd and God cannot cross or contradict himself Besides it is better that the Sinner repent and become obedient than that he go on in Sin and Disobedience and God cannot be suppos'd to will that which is not best Again if it be a Good to will as God wills and the Creature having found the Unreasonableness of the contrary some what desires so to do is somewhat inclinable so to do it cannot be suppos'd that the Creature should desire more Good than God does or will any real and to it possible and suitable Good which God does not will God will therefore hear the Creatures desire forgive or promote the Creatures good desire and give it fresh Arguments effectually to perswade it more and more to will as he wills and when it is brought perfectly or exactly so to do it is perfectly or fully acquitted and fully justified or made just and not till then because it is not so till it is so nor can God reckon think or account or declare it so till it is so because he can neither be deceived nor deceive But as Repentance is a work of time even of our whole Life so Forgiveness or Justification is a work of time not perfected till Sin is done away That God has given intelligent Creatures a Capacity of willing as he wills they should is evident If he had not they could not be obliged so to do and that they might possibly and have will'd otherwise is as apparent as Experience can make a thing It is moreover manifest that he has given them a Capacity of knowing when they have will'd otherwise than their Maker wills An Understanding capable of seeing the Unreasonableness with a Will sometime sensible of the Unhappiness of so doing We have already found that he wills his own Will to be done and that his Will is best and unchangeably so is evident that he adds upon the Creatures Sin fresh Arguments to perswade the sinning Creature to change and go on to change its Evil will till it is changed wholly that it becomes God so to do while nothing can be suppos'd better or possibly so good either to the Manifestation of God's Excellencies or the Creatures Happiness makes us positively conclude that God will never be wanting on his part to the Sinner But here perhaps some will start a not-altogether impertinent Question 24. Why God made the Creature capable of sinning or willing contrary to his Maker's Will I answer That it was most becoming the Perfections of God and their Manifestation in and to the Creatures and the Creatures Happiness thereby to make them capable or able either to obey and will as God wills or to disobey or
by any Man no nor by all Men nor can a Man enjoy what he is capable of enjoying altogether and at once So that where ever God forbids what we could desire it is but where a smaller Enjoyment will hinder our having a greater one frustrate our having many a small Present and short one disappoint us of a future great and lasting one And what Folly is it to be displeased because God some way forbids a Bodily or Sensual Pleasure that we may have a better a Rational or Mental one or a Joy in a Creature where it would hinder our Rejoycing in the Creator himself I believe if we had time to trace in particular the Disorders of Men we should find that all and every of them even their most beloved ones do but abate their Felicity Where is any that does not tend to destroy our Health or Peace or Wealth or Ease c. and so bring upon us some Mischief or other by which the little Pleasures in them are very much out-ballanced Is it not highly reasonable as well as for our Interest that God who is most wise and good should be our Chooser if he condescends to choose for us Is it not the greatest Presumption and Affront to our Maker who is the Cause of all our Good that we should act as if we knew better than he what is best for us Is it not the greatest Injustice not to love him and study his Will to obey it who has no profit by us but does all for our Benefit If we may receive all the Profit shall we deny to give him all the Honour For God indeed cannot be profited by his Creatures he sees his own Excellencies in them as Shadows but in himself as in the Substance but there can be no increase of his Perfections who is Self-sufficient necessarily Nor can Man's Disobedience take away any thing from his Happiness or affect him with the least Infelicity Sin does indeed obscure his Glory but not from himself but only from the Sinners who thereby loose that most pleasant and happy Vision And a cause of that great dislike of Sin in God which hath been sometimes express'd by the Symbols of Anger and Wrath is that he loves his Creature so well that he cannot approve any Action that in the least hides his Glory and Goodness from his beloved Works And as God neither looses nor gets any thing by the Creatures Sin or Obedience so in particular his Justice or Righteousness cannot be impaired He is not unrighteous or unjust tho' he suffers Man to be unrighteous and unjust The Creature cannot possibly bring any change upon God or lay him under any necessity or obligation God alone can oblige himself by his Promise and that is not properly an Obligation in God for 't is but the Declaration of his constant and free-will To say God cannot in Justice break his Promise is no more than to say he will not If he leave the Creature to reap the fruits of Sin he does him no wrong if he perswade the Creature to leave his Sin and be happy he wrongs not himself He can neither loose nor get any thing by the Creatures Sin and Unhappiness or Repentance and Happiness God is essentially righteous or just before Creatures had a Being and his Essential Righteousness or Justice as I have else-where said is to love and approve himself and to do his own Will His Justice in relation to the Creatures is his Approbation of them so far as they are his Work and according to his Will what he has made he shews his Approbation of by upholding and continuing the Being of He approves not the Creatures denial of him in disobeying his Will but shews the greatest Testimonies of his Dislike of its Disobedience So that if the Creature goes on in willing or acting contrary to God's Will God will not or which is all one he cannot make it happy and joyous in its continuing so to do unless he could make it to be God and cease to be God himself For the Creature cannot be satisfied with willing Good while it wills Evil nor can it be pleased in having its Will while it wills that which is impossible and while it leaves God's Will or willing that which is good and possible it must be miserable more or less according to the strength of its Evil Will and if it for ever goes on seeking Pleasure in vain or to satisfie its Will so as it cannot be satisfied it must for ever be unhappy and reap the Natural Fruit and Work of its own Doings unless and until it acknowledge God's Will Sovereign just and good and its own Will as disagreeing with its Maker unjust and evil and that it ought to be subject and be perswaded to change its foolish Will and desire to know and do the Will of God for the future that is unless or until the Sinner repent 28. But the Creature having once chose its own Will against the Will of God having committed one Act of Rebellion against its Maker is or seems much more inclinable and propense to go on and persist in its Sin than to repent and will well again For having once affected to be its own Lord and Arbiter or to be independant which is the greatest Perfection and best Manner of Being tho' impossible to a Creature it goes on with a strong Desire whose perpetual Acts perfuing so great a Thing hinder its Understanding to judge and reflect on the Impossibility Absurdity Injustice and Consequents of such an Attempt And every fresh act of Sin does but strengthen its Disobedience in which perhaps it would go on for ever if God did not upon its mistake give it abundant Arguments by one means or other to bring it to a stand cause it to consider convict it of its Folly and Disorder and so change its Will Till which change is effectually begun it is always and only endeavouring the Impossibility of separating the unpleasant or bitter effects it finds either in or following or fears may find the fruits of its disorderly Actions So that it would not be saved from its evil Will the Cause but from the Displeasure it finds attending it the Effect 29. But when it is once throughly convinced that its own Will disagreeing with the Will of God is an impossible way or means of Happiness or lasting Pleasure and sees the Unreasonableness and Badness of such an Attempt the Soul is very unapt to believe that God will forgive And considering it Self and its Sin more than God and his Goodness the sight of its most irrational Acts which it hath committed with the Tendency thereof often makes such a horrid Impression on the Soul and takes up its Thoughts so much that tho' God has given Arguments enough to perswade that he wills all Men to repent with various and clear Notices that he is ready to forgive and yet make happy those that by persisting in Rebellion do not render