and the Terrors of Conscience he will blow them up again Now any reigning Lust is a Viceroy of Satan's and keeps Possession for him and consequently excludes the Son of God from Admission into the Heart 3. He perswades Men that Religion in its Power and Strictness is not necessary the abstaining from enormous Crimes and the performance of some outward Service will be available for Salvation Hell is the Portion of the Devil and his Children and none are of his Race but incarnate Devils unclean Spirits in brutish Bodies He makes use of carnal Men under the pretence of Friendship to perswade those who make a Shew of Conscience to be less tender and vigilant by telling them this Strictness is superfluous 't will spoil you make you unsociable and odious the Wise and Learned that think to go to Heaven with the first take a greater liberty they will say Moderation is a Vertue and by the pretence of Temper cherish the loathsom Distemper of Lukewarmness that is as fatal as a deadly Coldness The Tempter will permit Men to make use of Religion as a Medicine a little in fainting Fits to relieve and recover them but not as our daily Food not to be their diligent and constant Practice The crafty Serpent will abuse the Words of the holy Spirit Be not righteous overmuch As Judas said of the precious Ointment poured upon our Saviour Why was this waste so carnal Men are apt to say Why these severe Restraints from satisfying the natural Appetites Why such Circumspection in our walking Why keep the Lord's-day so religiously Is it not enough to hear the Sermons May we not afterwards unbend and enjoy free Society and recreate our selves with carnal Contentments They do not believe that God is so strict in his Commands nor will be so exact in requiring an account for them fond Creatures to entertain such carnal Conceits of God to think him like themselves They are apt to say the Ministers will fetter them all by imaginative Rules of Holiness unprescribed in the Scriptures For Men would fain have the Light and the Law that regulates them to be sutable to their Appetites and Actions But are we not commanded to imitate and honour our Pattern to be holy as our Heavenly Father is holy in all manner of Conversation Are we not enjoined to work out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling to cleanse our selves from all Pollutions of Flesh and Spirit and to perfect Holiness in the Fear of God to follow Holiness with the most zealous and unsatisfied Desires that if it were possible we might anticipate Heaven on Earth Can there be any Excuse for neglecting these holy Duties There are none more dangerously deceived than those that think they are holy enough and make no question of the Favour of God and their final Happiness They condemn profane outragious Sinners those who visibly come short of them they think will fall short of Salvation but to excel them they think is a needless Preciseness a Pride of Singularity a Mask of Hypocrisy 'T is one of Satan's Arts to conceal the Good that is in the Saints that they may condemn themselves and to conceal the Evil that is in the Unregenerate that they may flatter themselves How many fall as deep as Hell from such high Hopes for he that does not seriously desire and endeavour to be renewed into the unspotted Image of God was never truly renewed SERMON VIII LUKE xiv 23. The Lord said to the Servant Compel them to come in that my House may be full 3dly IF Conscience be not seared and senseless but awakens Sinners to reflect upon their Condition and to seek for the pardoning Mercy of God he deceives them with false Notions of Faith and Repentance and hinders their entire Compliance with the Terms of Mercy offered in the Gospel Final Unbelief and Impenitence utterly exclude Men from Salvation for the Death of Christ was not appointed to be a Sacrifice for those Sins There is no Salvation to be obtain'd without the Remission of Sin no Remission without the Blood of Christ no Application of that precious Blood without Faith This is the vital Qualification required in all justified Persons for it has a peculiar Efficiency in receiving Christ and Pardon and ascribes the Glory of it intirely to the Mercy of God and Merits of Christ. 'T is said To as many as received him he gave Power to become the Sons of God to those who believed on his Name Receiving is relative to God's Offer of Christ to the Condemned and Miserable and implies the taking him in all the Essentials of his Office as a Prophet to instruct us in our Duty and Happiness by his Word and Spirit as a Priest to atone the Divine Displeasure by his Propitiation and Intercession as a King to govern us by his Law and to bestow spiritual and eternal Blessings on us Faith receives whole Christ as a Kingly Priest and a saving Prince he is stiled a Priest upon a Throne a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance and Remission of Sins He purchas'd the Forgiveness of Sins as a Priest by his Sufferings on the Cross and pardons as a King upon the Throne from hence it necessarily follows that Faith receives Pardon from him in that Relation wherein he procur'd it and confers it The Apostle declares He died for our Sins and rose again for our Justification and thereby redeem'd us and acquir'd a Dominion over us then 't is clear and consequent that saving Faith receives him for all those Uses for which God did appoint him and accordingly purifies the Heart overcomes the World works by Love and Love is the Spring and Substance of every Duty the fulfilling of the Law Now Carnal Men are deceived in this Imagination that the single Act of resting upon Christ is sufficient to entitle them to the Promise of Salvation to all that believe in him they desire an Interest in Christ to quiet their Consciences and the World to satisfy their Affections They will rest on him as a Redeemer but reject him as a Lord they would enjoy his Salvation but will not endure his Dominion they will come to partake of the Festival-Entertainment the Pardon of their Sins but not for the Honour of the Bridegroom As if the Gospel were a free Charter to Sin and gave an impure Indulgence to the vicious Affections which is as inconsistent with it as the Darkness of the Night with Noon-day in the same Hemisphere for then it would foil it self and frustrate its own End Our Saviour first redeems from Sin from the vain Conversation then from Hell There can be no regular saving Trust on his Death without an unfeigned Resolution to live within the Compass of his Laws He is the Author of Eternal Salvation to all that obey him 'T is a blasphemous Conceit that he will save Men with their Sins If they will die in such a pleasing Dream who can prevent it
it was requisite to atone the just Displeasure of God for our Offences 'T is said he offered his own Body on the Tree his peculiar Right in it was requisite to make it a proper and acceptable Sacrifice 'T is true the Father and holy Spirit had the same Right in the Human Nature of Christ as the Son had with respect to the making it but the Son by assuming it into a Personal Union with himself has a peculiar Right in it and offer'd his own in a strict sense And in Consequence to this his Sacrifice was of infinite Value He did not compound with God but paid a Ransom equivalent to what was due for Sinners He bled a Fountain from his wounded Side that cleanses from all Sin 2dly By his Intercession He is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him for he ever lives to make Intercession for them God pardons Sin as a Soveraign upon the Throne his Authority is preserved entire without any Condescension of his Person therefore the Blood of Christ shed on the Cross is pleaded in Heaven to reconcile God to us he satisfied Justice and sollicites Mercy his Blood speaks still and its Voice is as powerful as ever The Prevalency of his Intercession depends upon the Dignity of his Sacrifice the Dearness of his Person to the Father does also assure us of his favourable Audience He declar'd on Earth I know thou always hearest me 3dly The Gospel sets forth his Willingness to save us Faith has an Aspect upon Christ as able and willing to save for Power without a Will to save is unprofitable and the Will without Power is fruitless and ineffectual For the begetting of Faith we are to consider the Proposal and Offer of Grace in the Gospel and the Promise of it 1. In the Gospel there is a Proposal of Grace to all the Invitation is universal Whoever will let him come to the Waters of Life freely Our Saviour gave this Command to the Apostles Preach the Gospel to every Creature Neither the number nor quality of Mens Sins are a Bar against their coming to Christ for Life None are excluded but those who exclude themselves In the Parable those were earnestly invited by the Command of the Master of the Feast who refused to come This Offer of Grace and Life to all that will humbly receive it is the first Foundation of Faith and induces our Acceptance of it for without this the self-condemned Sinner sinks into Misery bottomless and helpless The most miserable Despair is drawn from Impossibility If Men think 't is impossible to obtain what they desire they will not endeavour to obtain 'T is easily clear'd by the Scriptures if Men will believe the Scriptures when they are clear that as the Brazen Serpent the Sign of Salvation was lifted up on high and made obvious to every Eye to convey healing Virtue to those who were stung by the fiery Serpents so our crucified Saviour is lifted up in the Gospel for every Soul-wounded Sinner to regard The belief of inviting Mercy opens the Springs of Godly Sorrow a Natural Sorrow arises from the sense of oppressing Evils and is terminated upon our selves a Spiritual Sorrow proceeds from the sense of our Unworthiness and the Divine Goodness that is so ready and desirous to save us 2. There is a Promise of Grace to all that repent and believe Our Saviour encourages us Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you Rest. Those who feel Sin as an intolerable Burden and their fainting Souls are without Support let them devolve their Burden upon him and trust entirely in him they shall obtain blessed Rest. The timerous Sinners that tremble under the Weight of their Guilt are encouraged for in this condition Christ invites them to come to him and promises Rest. Let them aggravate their Sins to the highest yet St. Paul challenges the Precedence as the chief of Sinners and obtained Mercy When the Heart is broken for Sin and from it not to believe the Promise of Mercy is dishonourable to our Saviour's Love and the Value of his Blood as if not sufficient to save poor Souls that would fain live in him We have the strongest Testimony of his Love in dying for us when we were Enemies Christ came with this Intention to save Sinners and when they come to him will he reject them He cannot deny himself he 's Truth and he has most expresly declar'd Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out and this Promise is confirm'd by the Will of his Father that sent him Christ invites thirsty Souls to partake of the Waters of Life and when he has inspir'd them with ardent Desires and they come will he send them away empty 'T is absolutely impossible for him who is incarnate Love and Mercy to despise and reject the Soul that looks to him that longs and languishes after him and will be ever unsatisfied without him In short the precious Promises in the Gospel of the Pardon of Sin and eternal Salvation are so proposed to us that the Hope of returning Sinners may be cherish'd and confirm'd and the Presumption of secure Sinners may be dash'd and controul'd While we are in this middle State the fear of Caution join'd with the lively hope of Mercy is the most congruous Temper and becoming the Breast of a Christian. The Presumer is like a Ship without Ballast floating so lightly in his own Folly that every Gust of Temptation oversets him The fearful Spirit is like a Ship over-laden and if not lightned will certainly sink and perish Fearless Security exposes to all the Temptations that gratify the Carnal Appetites desponding Fear causes a neglect of the Remedy If there be no fear of Punishment or no hope of Pardon the Consequences are equally fatal 3. 'T is necessary in order to the bringing Men to Christ to remove their carnal Prejudices The first and most fear'd Difficulties are That serious Religion will be a damp to all their Joys a harsh and unreasonable Restraint of their Liberties a Bar against all the Advantages of the World the sickly Fancy is frighten'd at the thoughts of this If the Way to Heaven were short and fair Men would like it but 't is long and deep and they are discouraged as the Israelites with the tedious and troublesom Wilderness before their arrival at the Land of Promise Accordingly Carnal Men cast a slanderous Shade upon Religion as a melancholy severe and joyless Discipline Now we may rectify these Mistakes by the Light of Scripture of Reason and of Experience 1. The Scrpiture declares that the Ways of Wisdom are Ways of Pleasantness and all her Paths are Peace The Entrance the Progress and Continuance in these Ways is joyful to the renewed Soul Let us take a right View of the Divine Commands the Sum of them is this That Men would be happy here and for ever We are commanded
and Love but the Prophets under Shadows and Figures in the Promises the Apostles clearly in the Truth and Accomplishment The first invited while the Preparations were making but the Evangelical Ministers are more earnest and pressing Come for all things are now ready And in comparing these two Periods of Time there is the most shining and sensible Evidence of the Truth of the Christian Religion for the Marks of it are clear in the Prophecies by their exact References to the Accomplishment in the Person of Christ and they are clear in the Accomplishment by the Correspondence to the Prophecies Who can suspend Assent that our Redemption by Jesus Christ is the Work of Divine Providence when the design of it is so exactly delineated in the Prophecy Thus the unchangeable Firmness and Stability of God's Counsel is the Foundation of our Faith The Consummation of the Marriage will be at the second coming of Christ. II. The Success of the Invitation is related They all with one Consent began to make Excuse The first said I have bought a piece of Ground and I must needs go to see it Another said I have bought five Yoke of Oxen and go to prove them And another said I have married a Wife and I cannot come All the Carnal Affections are readily and presently conspiring in the refusal It may seem that the Allegations of a Purchase and Marriage for not coming to a Feast were very reasonable but the Feast represents Celestial Happiness in comparison of which all the Profits and Pleasures of this World are but Loss and Dung 'T is evident then their Excuses are strong Accusations of their Folly and Ingratitude Of Folly in preferring Shadows before substantial Felicity Moments before Eternity Of Ingratitude in rejecting contumeliously the most gracious and earnest Offer of such a Happiness This is spoken of the Jews who lived in the time of the Son of God's Descent for the Salvation of Men The love of the World caused them to despise his mean Appearance and neglect the Call of humble Mercy Upon their refusal the Servant came and shewed his Lord these things Then the Master of the House being Angry said to his Servant Go out quickly into the Streets and Lanes of the City and bring in hither the Poor and the Maimed and the Halt and the Blind And the Servant said Lord it is done as thou hast commanded and yet there is Room And the Lord said unto the Servant Go out into the High-ways and Hedges and compel them to come in that my House may be filled For I say unto you that none of those Men that were bidden shall taste of my Supper The Refusers are for ever excluded from the Joy of this Royal Feast being as unworthy as unwilling to partake of it This Judgment is still visible upon the Nation of the Jews who consent to their Progenitors rejecting and condemning the Messias and will not be convinced of the obstinate Imposture that was devised to prevent the Belief of his Resurrection But it did not become the Wisdom and Goodness of God that such costly Preparations should be lost it was requisite that some Persons should actually come to the Feast that is obey the Heavenly Call and receive the Gospel for otherwise the Redemption the Son of God so dearly acquir'd had been without Fruit he had died in vain which is directly contrary to the Promise of God to him I will give thee for a Light to the Gentiles that thou mayst be my Salvation to the ends of the Earth Accordingly the Servant is ordered to bring in the Poor the Lame and the Blind and to go into the High-ways and Hedges and compel them to come in that the House may be filled These Expressions declare the extream Misery of the Heathens who were at that time without Christ Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel Strangers from the Covenants of Promise having no Hope and without God in the World Compel them to come in The Papists allege this Text to give colour to their Cruelty in their violent ways of making Proselytes to their Idolatry Their convincing Arguments are Swords and Racks and Gibbets and Fires If this be a proper Method of converting Men to Religion the greatest Tyrants are the most infallible Teachers The Vanity and Impiety of the Pretence will appear by considering 1. 'T is ridiculous to Reason to use forcible Means for such an End for the Understanding is a reasonable Faculty and can only be convinc'd by instructing Reasons It cannot judg of things but as they appear nor assent against its Judgment Indeed Threatnings and Tortures may make Men Infidels but not sincere Believers it may make them Hypocrites and Comedians in Religion but not unseigned Professors This is abundantly exemplified in France where the vast number of servile Converts have been made by their Dragoons not their Doctors 2. This is most contrary to the Practice of our Saviour and to the Spirit of the Gospel The Sword that Christ useth in subduing his Enemies and making them willing Subjects to his Scepter goes out of his Mouth His Kingdom was introduced into the World by Preaching and Miracles by doing Good and suffering Evil he open'd the way for the Gospel not by killing his Enemies but by dying himself and in his Members The establishing and enlarging his Religion are by sutable means the Illumination of Mens Minds the Perswasion of their Wills the drawing of their Affections to embrace it Accordingly the Apostle tells us The Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong Holds Casting down Imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the Knowledg of God and bringing into Captivity every Thought to the Obedience of Christ. The Weapons are sutable to the Warfare and the Warfare to the Kingdom which is spiritual not of this World The using of Force to constrain Men to embrace the Christian Religion is contrary to the Love the Goodness Meekness Clemency and Benignity the blessed Temper the Gospel plants in the Breasts of Christians How severely did our Saviour rebuke the fiery Spirit in James and John You know not what manner of Spirit you are of the Son of Man came not to destroy Mens Lives but to save them 'T is contrary to the Golden Rule given to all his Disciples What you would have others do to you do you to them But this must be acknowledged that 't is very congruous that the Papists make use of the material Sword when the Sword of the Spirit the Word of God strikes through the Heart of Popery The Doctrine of the Mass is a clear Contradiction to the Scripture and a notorious derogating from the Value and Virtue of Christ's Death they say 't is an unbloody Sacrifice of Christ propitiatory for the Living and the Dead Whereas our Saviour was offered up but once the Mass is ten thousand times
in a day repeated Christ's Sacrifice was with Blood and an unbloody Sacrifice is not propitiatory nor can obtain Remission Where can they find in Scripture the Religious Worship of the Saints They set up an infinite number of Intercessors and rob our Saviour of his Glory as if he were defective either in his Compassionate Love to us for whom he mediates or in his Power with God They prefer his Mother before him in dispensing Mercy of which Sinners have the most need they represent him as strict and severe but she is composed of Sweetness he is the Judg she the Advocate and Saviour we will leave them to the jealous God I shall only observe farther that many erring Sects preserve their Allegiance to the Divine Authority in the Scripture for they do not assume an Infallibility to themselves but mistake the Sense of Scripture but the Papists by asserting that the Authority of Scripture depends upon the Testimony of their Church that is the Sun borrows its Beams from her Eyes and by arrogating an Infallibility to it do in effect renounce Homage to the Authority of God in his Word And from hence it is that the Adherers to that Religion are so inconvincible tho Sense Reason and Scripture discover their Doctrines to be plainly impossible Their Doctrine of Transubstantiation involves such Contradictions as destroy the Essence and End of Miracles Their Doctrine of the Pope's Supremacy implies there are two Monarchs of one Kingdom two Heads of one Body two Husbands of one Spouse No Errors are more strong and fatal than such as are arm'd with Authority especially if that Authority be esteem'd sacred But to return from this Digression tho not impertinent Compel them to come in The word signifies the use of all constraining Motives and the most earnest Intreaties that are congruous to prevail upon those who are invited to a Feast The same word is used Mat. 14. 22. And Jesus constrained his Disciples to get into a Ship which certainly was not by violent driving or drawing them but by his commanding Authority So 't is related of the two that were with our Saviour in the Journey to Emmaus that they constrained him to abide with them The Constraint was by earnest Intreaties far from Force The same word is used of Peter's compelling the Gentiles to live after the Rites of the Jews that was by his Example Thus the Nations were compelled to receive the Gospel by the Apostles the Ambassadors for Christ who did ardently in season and out of season pray them in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God Their Doctrine was recommended by the Holiness of their Lives and confirmed by the Lustre of their Miracles In short the Expression signifies how pleasing it is to God that those who are invited by the Offers of Grace in the Gospel should come to Christ to obtain Life and that the Invitation shall be effectual in the Hearts of those who belong to the Election of Grace The Proposition that I shall insist on is this 'T is the great Duty of the Ministers of Christ to use their best Endeavours to instruct and perswade Men to embrace the saving Mercies of the Gospel The Commission was immediately given to the Apostles but extends to the end of the World till the Ministration of the Gospel shall cease I will explicate the Doctrine in this order I. Consider what is implied the Aversness in Men from consenting to the Terms of Salvation offered in the Gospel II. The Means by which they are wrought on and induced to come to the Celestial Feast III. Prove that 't is the great Duty of the Ministers of Christ to apply themselves with a holy Zeal to bring Men to partake of the saving Mercies revealed in the Gospel I. There is an Averseness implied in the Expression Compel them to come in This will be evident by considering that the World the Flesh and Satan are Enemies in Combination against the Souls of Men and raise an Army of Objections against their submitting to the Terms of the Gospel 1. The World is the general Temptation the natural World and the corrupt World the Things and Men of the World hinder our coming to Christ. 1st The natural World comprising all the Creatures in it was originally very good both in respect of the Things themselves and their designed Use for they were beneficial to Man in order to his serving and enjoying the blessed God But since his Fall from the State of unstain'd Nature they are accidentally evil to him The Creatures are made subject to Vanity not willingly they are perverted from their innocent use to foment and gratify Mens vicious Appetites Therefore the Apostle declares the whole Creation groans and travels in Pain is in a kind of Agony ready to faint not for the Labour but the Indignities they suffer The Charge that God fastens upon Idolaters is true against Worldly Men Ye have taken my Silver and my Gold and have carried into your Temples my goodly pleasant things The Riches the Pleasures the Greatness and Glory of the World are the Idols of their Heads and Hearts The Interposition of the Earth darkens their Minds eclipses their Esteem of the Fruition of God as their only Happiness the Love of it alienates and estranges their Affections from him their Trust in it slackens their due Dependance upon him From hence it is that the World which made by God was a fair and bright Theatre of his Perfections to raise the Thoughts and Affections of Men with Delight and Wonder to the blessed Creator as 't is manag'd by Satan and abus'd by the Lusts of Men is the Shadow of Death such as some Trees cast that not only intercept the refreshing Light of the Sun but shed a malignant contagious Influence Strange Alteration The World is present and sensible and makes an easy entrance into the Bosoms of Men. Their Souls are surpriz'd and deceived by the Suggestions of the Senses that represent earthly things as great Realities spiritual and future things are to them but matters of Fancy and Conceit The present and succeeding World are like Counterballances as the one rises the other sinks in Mens Opinions When the World has got Possession of them it commands and captivates all their Powers and Faculties All the Preaching in the World is in vain a Throng of Business or loose Diversions causes the neglect of the great Salvation Represent to them the attractive Mercies of God his melting Bowels open'd in the Gospel to all repenting Sinners they are unmoved frozen in their Dregs Remember them that their Bodies are dying every day and their Souls are already dead and that without sincere coming to Christ they cannot be recovered to the Life of Grace and Glory 't is in vain tell them they must shortly appear before the dread Lord of Spirits and be accountable for all things done in this World and the Consequence will be eternal all is in vain they