of it Such is the unspotted Purity and Perfection of the Divine Nature that it is not possible that God should give the least countenance to any thing that is Evil. Psal 5.4 5. Thou art not a God says David there to him that hast Pleasure in iniquity neither shall evil dwell with thee The wicked shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all the workers of iniquity 5. We are ashamed likewise to do any thing that is Evil and unseemly before those who we are afraid will publish our faults to others and will make known and expose the folly of them Now whenever we Sin it is before him who will most certainly one day bring all our works of darkness into the open light and expose all our secret deeds of dishonesty upon the publick Stage of the World and make all the vilest of our actions known and lay them open with all the shameful Circumstances of them before men and Angels to our everlasting Shame and Confusion This is the meaning of that Proverbial Speech so often used by our Saviour There is nothing cover'd that shall not be revealed neither hid that shall not be made manifest All the Sins which we now commit with so much caution in secret and dark retirements shall in that great day of Revelation when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed be set in open view and in so full and strong a light that all the World shall see them and that which was plotted and contrived in so much secrecy and hardly whisper'd in this World shall then be proclaimed aloud and as it were upon the House-tops 6. and Lastly We are ashamed and afraid to commit a fault before those who we believe will call us to an account for it and Punish us severely A Man may suffer innocently and for a good Cause but all suffering in that case is by wise and good men esteemed honourable and glorious and tho' we are Condemned by men we are acquitted in our own Consciences But that which is properly called Punishment is always attended with Infamy and Reproach because it always supposeth some fault and crime as the ground and reason of it Hence it is that in this World men are not only afraid but ashamed to commit any fault before those who they think have Authority and Power to punish it He is an impudent Villain indeed that will venture to cut a Purse in the presence of the Judge Now when ever we commit any Wickedness we do it under the Eye of the great Judge of the World who stedfastly beholds us and whose Omnipotent Justice stands by us ready armed and charged for our Destruction and can in a moment cut us off Every sin that we are guilty of in thought word or deed is all in the presence of the Holy and Just and Powerful God whose Power enables him and whose Holiness and Justice will effectually engage him one time or other if a timely Repentance doth not prevent it to inflict a terrible Punishment upon all the Workers of iniquity You see then by all that hath been said upon this Argument how shameful a thing sin is and what Confusion of face the reflection upon our wicked Lives ought to cause in all of us What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed If ever we be brought to true Repentance for our sins it cannot but be matter of great Shame to us We find in Scripture that shame doth continually accompany Repentance and is inseparable from it This is one Mark and Character of a true Penitent that he is ashamed of what he hath done Thus Ezra when he makes Confession of the sins of the People he testifies and declares his Shame for what they had done I said O my God! I am ashamed and blush to lift up mine Eyes to thee my God for our iniquities are increased over our Heads and our trespasses are grown up to the Heavens Ezra 9.6 And may not we of this Nation at this day take these words unto our selves considering to what a strange height our sins are grown and how iniquity abounds among us So likewise the Prophet Jeremiah when he would express the Repentance of the People of Israel Jer. 3.25 We lye down says he in our shame and our Confusion covereth us because we have sinned against the Lord our God In like manner the Prophet Daniel after he had in the Name of the People made an humble acknowledgment of their manifold and great Sins he takes shame to himself and them for them Dan. 9.5 We have sinned says he and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled in departing from thy Precepts and from thy Judgments O Lord righteousness belongeth to thee but unto us confusion of face as at this day to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and unto all Israel that are near and that are far off through all the Countries whither thou hast driven them because of their trespass which they have trespassed against thee O Lord To us belongeth confusion of face to our Kings to our Princes and to our Fathers because we have sinned against thee By which we may judge how considerable and essential a part of Repentance this Holy Man esteemed shame for the sins they had been guilty of to be And indeed upon all occasions of solemn Repentance and Humiliation for sin this taking shame for their sins is hardly ever omitted as if there could be no sincere Confession of sin and Repentance for it without testifying their shame and Confusion of face upon the remembrance of their sins Now to stir up this affection of shame in us let me offer to you these three Considerations I. Consider what great reason we have to be heartily ashamed of all the sins and offences which we have been guilty of against God It was a good old Precept of Philosophy that we should reverence our selves i. e. that we should never do any thing that should be matter of Shame and Reproach to us afterwards nothing that misbecomes us and is unworthy of us I have shewn at large that all Sin and Vice is a dishonour to our Nature and beneath the Dignity of it that it is a great reproach to our Reason and directly contrary to our true and best Interest that it hath all the aggravating circumstances of Infamy and Shame that every sin that was at any time committed by us was done in the presence of one whom of all Persons in the World we have most Reason to reverence and against him to whom of all others we stand most obliged for the greatest Favours for innumerable Benefits for infinite Mercy and Patience and Forbearance towards us in the presence of the Holy and Just God who is at the farthest distance from sin and the greatest and most implacable Enemy to it in the whole World and who will one day punish all our faults and expose us to open shame
before is call'd the prayer of faith meaning that Miraculous Faith in the Power whereof Christians did obtain of God whatever they were inspir'd to ask of him according to our Saviour's promise in the Gospel concerning the efficacy of the Prayers of Christians which we find mention'd among the other Miraculous Powers which were to be conferr'd upon them by the coming of the Holy Ghost 2. Confession of our Sins to Men is likewise reasonable in order to the ease and satisfaction of our minds and our being directed in our Duty for the future In this Case common Reason and Prudence without any Precept of Scripture will direct men to have recourse to this remedy viz. to discover and lay open our disease to some skilful spiritual Physician to some faithful Friend or prudent Guide in order to spiritual advice and direction for the peace and satisfaction of our minds And then 3. In case our Sins have been publick and scandalous both Reason and the practice of the Christian Church do require that when men have publickly offended they should give publick Satisfaction and open Testimony of their Repentance But as for private and auricular Confession of our Sins to a Priest in all cases and as of absolute necessity to our obtaining Pardon and Forgiveness from God as the Church of Rome teacheth this is neither necessary by divine Precept nor by any Constitution and Practice of the ancient Christian Church as I have shewn in my former discourse Not to mention the bad consequences of this Practice and the impious and dangerous use which hath been made of this Seal of Confession for the concealing and carrying on of the most wicked and barbarous designs and the debauching of the Penitents by drawing them into the Commission of the same and greater Sins than those which they confessed which the more devout Persons of that Church have frequently complain'd of I proceed now to shew briefly in the III. Place the Grounds and Reasons of the necessity of confessing our Sins to God and I shall but just mention them 1. From the Precept and Command of God for which I have already produced clear Proof of Scripture 2. From the Nature of the thing because without this there can be no Repentance towards God He that will not so much as own the faults which he hath been guilty of can never Repent of them If we will not confess our Sins to God we are never like to be sorry for them Thus much for the first thing in the Text the Confession of our Sins I proceed now to the Second Ingredient of Repentance mentioned in the Text which is Sorrow for Sin I will declare mine iniquity and be sorry for my Sin In the handling of this Argument I shall I. Consider the Nature of this Passion of Sorrow II. The Reason and Grounds of our Sorrow for Sin III. The Measure and Degrees of it IV. How far the outward expression of our inward grief by Tears is necessary to a true Repentance I. For the Nature of this Passion Sorrow is a trouble or disturbance of Mind occasioned by something that is evil done or suffer'd by us or which we are in danger of suffering that tends greatly to our damage or mischief So that to be sorry for a thing is nothing else but to be sensibly affected with the Consideration of the evil of it and of the mischief and inconvenience which is like to redound to us from it Which if it be a Moral evil such as Sin is to be sorry for it is to be troubled that we have done it and to wish with all our hearts that we had been wiser and had done otherwise and if this Sorrow be true and real if it abide and stay upon us it will produce a firm Purpose and Resolution in us not to do the like for the future 'T is true indeed that we are said to be sorry for the death and loss of Friends but this is rather the effect of Natural Affection than of our Reason which always endeavours to check and moderate our grief for that which we cannot help and labours by all means to turn our Sorrow into patience And we are said likewise to grieve for the miseries and sufferings of others but this is not so properly Sorrow as Pity and Compassion Sorrow rather respects our selves and our own doings and Sufferings I proceed in the II. Place To enquire into the Reasons and Grounds of our Sorrow for Sin and they as I have already hinted are these two the Intrinsecal or the Consequent evil of Sin either the evil of Sin in it's self or the mischiefs or inconveniencies which it will bring upon us For every one that is sorry for any fault he is guilty of he is so upon one of these two accounts either upon the score of ingenuity or of interest either because he hath done a thing which is unworthy in it's self or because he hath done something which may prove prejudicial to himself either out of a principle of love and gratitude to God or from a principle of self-love And tho' the former of these be the better the more generous principle of Sorrow yet the latter is usually the first because it is the more sensible and toucheth us more nearly For Sin is a base and ill-natur'd thing and renders a Man not so apt to be affected with the injuries he hath offer'd to God as with the Mischief which is likely to fall upon himself And therefore I will begin with the latter because it is usually the more sensible cause of our Trouble and Sorrow for Sin 1. The great Mischief and Inconvenience that Sin is like to bring upon us When a Man is thoroughly convinc'd of the danger into which his sins have brought him that they have made him a child of wrath and a Son of perdition that he is thereby fallen under the heavy dipleasure of Almighty God and liable to all those dreadful curses which are written in his Book that ruin and destruction hang over him and that nothing keeps him from eternal and intolerable torments but the Patience and Long-suffering of God which he does not know how soon it may cease to interpose between him and the wrath of God and let him fall into that endless and insupportable misery which is the just portion and desert of his Sins he that lays to Heart the sad Estate and Condition into which he hath brought himself by Sin and the Mischiefs which attend him every moment of his continuance in that state and how near they are to him and that there is but a step between him and Death and hardly another between that and Hell he cannot surely but be very sorry for what he hath done and be highly displeased and offended with himself that he should be the Author of his own ruin and have contributed as much as in him lies to his everlasting undoing 2. Another and better Principle of Sorrow for Sin
is ingenuity because we are sensible that we have carried our selves very unworthily towards God and have been injurious to him who hath laid all possible obligations upon us For he hath made us and hath given us our beings and hath charged his watchful Providence with the continual care of us his bounty hath ministred to the necessities and comforts of our Life all the Blessings that we enjoy are the Effects of his meer love and goodness without any hope of requital or expectation of any other return from us than of love of gratitude and obedience which yet are of no advantage to him but very beneficial and comfortable to our selves For he does not expect Duty and Obedience from us with any regard of Benefit to himself but for our sakes and in order to our own Happiness Nay his kindness did not stop here but after we had abused him by our repeated provocations yet he still continued his care of us and when we had farther provoked him to withdraw his Love and to call in his abused Goodness and had done what lay in us to make our selves miserable he would not suffer us to be undone but found out a Ransom for us and hath contrived a way for the pardon of all our offences and to reconcile us to himself and to restore us to Happiness by the most stupendous and amazing condescension of love and goodness that ever was even by giving his only Son to dye for us And can we reflect upon all this and not be sorry and grieved at our very hearts that we should be so evil to him who hath been so good to us that we should be so undutiful to so loving a Father so unkind to so faithful and constant a Friend so ungrateful and unworthy to so mighty a Benefactor If any thing will melt us into Tears surely this will do it to consider that we have sinned against him who made us and continually preserves us and after all our unkindness to him did still retain so great a love for us as to redeem us from Hell and Destruction by the Death and Suffering of his Son and notwithstanding all our offences does still offer us Pardon and Peace Life and Happiness Such Considerations as these seriously laid to heart should one would think break the hardest heart and make Tears to gush even out of a Rock I proceed in the III. Place to consider the Measure and Degree of our Sorrow for Sin That it admits of degrees which ought to bear some proportion to the heinousness of our Sins and the several aggravations of them and the time of our continuance in them is out of all dispute For tho' the least Sin be a just cause of the deepest Sorrow yet because our greatest grief can never bear a due proportion to the vast and infinite evil of Sin God is pleased to require and accept such measures of Sorrow as do not bear an exact correspondence to the Malignity of Sin provided they be according to the capacity of our Nature and in some sort proportioned to the degree and aggravations of our Sins i. e. Tho' the highest degree of our Sorrow doth necessarily fall below the evil of the least Sin yet God requires that we should be more deeply affected with some Sins than others But what is the lowest degree which God requires in a true Penitent and will accept as it is impossible for me to tell so it is unprofitable for any body to know For no Man can reasonably make this enquiry with any other design than that he may learn how he may come off with God upon the cheapest and easiest terms Now there cannot be a worse sign that a Man is not truly sensible of the great evil of Sin than this that he desires to be troubled for it as little as may be and no longer than needs must And none surely are more unlikely to find acceptance with God than those who deal so nearly and endeavour to drive so hard a bargain with him And therefore I shall only say this in general concerning the degrees of our Sorrow for Sin that Sin being so great an evil in it self and of so pernicious a consequence to us it cannot be too much lamented and grieved for by us And the more and greater our Sins have been and the longer we have continued and lived in them they call for so much the greater Sorrow and deeper humiliation from us For the reasoning of our Saviour concerning Mary Magdalene She loved much because much was forgiven her is proportionably true in this case those who have sinned much should sorrow the more And then we must take this Caution along with us that if we would Judge aright of the truth of our Sorrow for Sin we must not measure it so much by the Degrees of sensible trouble and affliction as by the rational Effects of it which are hatred of Sin and a fixt purpose and resolution against it for the future for he is most truly sorry for his Miscarriage who looks upon what he hath done amiss with abhorrence and detestation of the thing and wisheth he had not done it and censures himself severely for it and thereupon resolves not to do the like again And this is the Character which St. Paul gives of a Godly Sorrow 2 Cor. 7.10 that it worketh repentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it produceth a real change in our minds and makes us to alter our purpose and resolution And tho' such a Person may not be so passionately and sensibly afflicted for Sin yet it appears by the Effect that he hath a deeper and more rational resentment of the evil of it than that man who is sad and melancholy and drooping for never so long a time and after all returns to his former sinful course the Degree of his Sorrow may appear greater but the Effect of it is really less IV. As for the outward expressions of our Grief and Sorrow The usual sign and outward expression of Sorrow is Tears but these being not the Substance of our Duty but an external Testimony of it which some tempers are more unapt to than others we are much less to Judge of the Truth of our Sorrow for Sin by these than by our inward sensible Trouble and Affliction of Spirit Some Persons are of a more tender and melting disposition and can command their Tears upon a little occasion and upon very short warning and such Persons that can weep for every thing else that troubles them have much more reason to suspect the Truth of their Sorrow for Sin if this outward expression of it be wanting And we find in Scripture that the Sorrow of true Penitents does very frequently discover it self by this outward sign of it Thus when Ezra and the people made Confession of their Sins to God it is said that they wept very Sore Ezra 10. Peter when he reflected upon that great Sin of denying his Master 't is said He
went forth and wept bitterly David also was abundant in this expression of his grief In the Book of Psalms he speaks frequently of his sighs and groans and of watering his couch with his tears yea so sensibly was he affected with the Evil of Sin that he could shed tears plentifully for the Sins of others Psal 119.136 Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because men keep not thy law In like manner Jeremiah tells us that his Soul did weep in secret places for the pride and obstinacy of the Jews that his eye did weep sore and run down with tears Jer. 13.17 And so likewise St. Paul Philip 3.18 19. There are many that walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies to the Cross of Christ And there seems to be this natural Reason for it that all great and permanent impressions upon the Mind all deep inward resentments have usually a proportionable effect upon the Body and tâ—â— inferiour Faculties But tho' this happen very frequently yet it is not so constant and certain For all men have not the same tenderness of Spirit nor are equally prone to tears nay tho' a Man can weep upon natural accounts as upon the loss of a Child or near Relation or an intimate Friend or when he lyes under a sharp Bodily pain yet a Man may truly repent tho' he cannot express his Sorrow for Sin the same way provided he give Testimony of it by more real Effects And therefore the Rule which is commonly given by Casuists in this case seems to be more ensnaring than true and useful Namely that that man that can shed Tears upon account of any evil less than that of Sin as certainly all natural evils are ought to question the Truth of his Repentance for any Sin that he hath committed if he cannot shed Tears for it This I think is not true because there is scarce any Man of so hard and unrelenting a Spirit but the loss of a kind Father or a dear Child or other near Relation will force Tears from him And yet such a Man if it were to â—ave his Soul may not be able at some times to shed a Tear for his Sins And the Reason is obvious because Tears do proceed from a sensitive trouble and are commonly the Product of a natural affection and therefore 't is no wonder if they flow more readily and easily upon a natural account because they are the Effect of a Cause suitable to their Nature But Sorrow for Sin which hath more of the Judgment and Understanding in it hath not it's Foundation in natural affection but in Reason and therefore may not many times express it self in Tears tho' it may produce greater and more proper Effects So that upon the whole matter I see no Reason to call in question the Truth and Sincerity of that Man's Sorrow and Repentance who hates Sin and forsakes it and returns to God and his Duty tho' he cannot shed Tears and express the bitterness of his Soul for his Sin by the same significations that a Mother doth in the loss of her only Son He that cannot weep like a Child may resolve like a Man and that undoubtedly will find acceptance with God A learned Divine hath well illustrated this Matter by this Similitude Two Persons walking together espie a Serpent the one shrieks and cries out at the sight of it the other kills it So is it in Sorrow for Sin some express it by great Lamentation and Tears and vehement transports of passion others by greater and more real effects of hatred and detestation by forsaking their Sins and by mortifying and subduing their Lusts But he that kills it does certainly best express his inward displeasure and enmity against it The Application I shall make of what hath been said upon this Argument shall be in two particulars I. By way of Caution and that against a double mistake about Sorrow for Sin 1. Some look upon Trouble and Sorrow for Sin as the whole of Repentance 2. Others exact from themselves such a degree of Sorrow as ends in melancholy and renders them unfit both for the Duties of Religion and of their particular Calling The first concerns almost the generality of men the latter but a very few in comparison 1. There are a great many who look upon Trouble and Sorrow for their Sins as the whole of Repentance whereas it is but an Introduction to it It is that which works repentance but is not Repentance it self Repentance is always accompanied with Sorrow for Sin but Sorrow for Sin does not always end in true Repentance Sorrow only respects Sins past but Repentance is chiefly preventive of Sin for the future And God doth therefore require our Sorrow for Sin in order to our forsaking of it Heb. 6.1 Repentance is there call'd repentance from dead Works It is not only a Sorrow for them but a turning from them There is no Reason why men should be so willing to deceive themselves for they are like to be the losers by it But so we see it is that many men are contented to be deceived to their own ruin and among many other ways which men have to cheat themselves this is none of the least frequent to think that if they can but shed a few Tears for Sin upon a death-bed which no doubt they may easily do when they see their Friends weeping about them and apprehend themselves to be in imminent danger not only of Death but of that which is more terrible the heavy displeasure and the fiery Indignation of Almighty God into whose hands it is a fearful thing to fall I say they think that if they can but do thus much God will accept this for a true Repentance and hereupon grant them Pardon and eternal life And upon these fond hopes they adjourn their Repentance and the Reformation of their lives to a dying hour Indeed if I were to speak to a Man upon his Death-bed I would encourage him to a great Contrition and Sorrow for his Sins as his last and only remedy and the best thing he can do at that time but on the other hand when I am speaking to those that are well and in health I dare not give them the least Encouragement to venture their Souls upon this because it is an hazardous and almost desperate remedy especially when men have cunningly and designedly contriv'd to rob God of the Service of their lives and to put him off with a few unprofitable Sighs and Tears at their departure out of the World Our Saviour tells us that it is not every one that shall say unto him Lord Lord that shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and that there is a time when many shall seek to enter in but shall not be able The Summ of this Caution is that men should take heed of mistaking Sorrow for Sin for true Repentance unless it be followed with the forsaking of Sin
Sins and of being sprinkled upon the head and covered over with filth and dirt with dust and ashes in token of our shame and confusion of Face for all our Iniquities and transgressions Hence are those Expressions in Scripture of Repenting in Sackcloath and Ashes of lying down in our shame and being cover'd with confusion in token of their great sorrow and shame for the manifold and heinous Sins which they had been guilty of Of the former of these viz. Trouble and Sorrow for our Sins I have very lately * Ser. 3. treated and of the latter I intend now by God's assistance to speak viz. Shame for our Sins and that from these Words which I have recited to you What fruit had ye then in those things c. In which Words the Apostle makes a comparison between an Holy and Virtuous and a Sinful and Vicious course of Life and sets before us a perfect enumeration of the manifest Inconveniences of the one and the manifold Advantages of the other First The manifest Inconveniences of a Vicious and Sinful course and the Apostle mentions these three I. It is unprofitable it brings no manner of present Benefit and Advantage to us if all things be rightly calculated and consider'd What fruit had ye then in those things Then i. e. at the time when you committed those Sins had you any present Advantage by them No certainly but quite contrary II. The reflection upon our Sins afterwards is cause of shame and confusion to us What fruit had you then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed III. The final issue and consequence of these things is very dismal and miserable The end of those things is death Let us put these things together and see what they amount to No Fruit then when ye did these things and shame now when ye come afterwards to reflect upon them and death and misery at the last Secondly Here is likewise on the other hand represented to us the manifold Benefit of an Holy and Virtuous Life And that upon these two accounts I. Of the present Benefit of it which the Apostle calls here fruit Ye have your fruit unto Holiness II. In respect of the future Reward of it And the end Everlasting Life Here is a considerable Earnest in hand and a mighty Recompence afterwards infinitely beyond the proportion of our best Actions and Services both in respect of the greatness and the duration of it Everlasting Life for a few transient and very imperfect actions of obedience a perfect and immutable and endless state of Happiness I shall begin with the First of the two general Heads viz. The manifest Inconveniences of a Sinful and Vicious course and the Apostle I told you in the Text takes notice of three I. It is unprofitable and if all things be rightly calculated and consider'd it brings no manner of present Advantage and Benefit to us What fruit had ye then in those things Then i. e. When ye committed those Sins had you any present Advantage by them No certainly quite the contrary as if the Apostle had said if you seriously reflect upon your former course of Impiety and Sin wherein you have continued so long you cannot but acknowledge that it brought no manner of advantage to you and when all accounts are truly cast up you must if you will confess the Truth own that you were in no sort gainers by it For the words are a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Apostle plainly intends more than he expresseth What fruit had ye then in those things i. e. The wicked course which ye formerly lived in was so far from being any ways Beneficial to you that it was on the contrary upon all accounts extreamly to your prejudice and disadvantage And this is not only true in respect of the final Issue and Consequence of a Sinful and Vicious course of Life that no Man is a gainer by it at the long run and if we take into our consideration another World and the dreadful and endless misery which a wicked and impenitent Life will then plunge men into which in the farther handling of this Text will at large be spoken to being the last of the three Particulars under this First general head But it is true likewise even in respect of this World and with regard only to this present and temporal Life without looking so far as the future Recompence and Punishment of Sin in another World And this would plainly appear by an Induction of these three Particulars 1. It is Evident that some Sins are plainly mischievous to the temporal Interest of men as tending either to the disturbance of their minds or the endangering of their Health and Lives or to the prejudice of their Estates or the blasting of them in their Reputation and good name 2. That there are other Sins which tho' they are not so visibly burdened and attended with mischievous Consequences yet are they plainly unprofitable and bring no manner of real Advantage to men either in respect of gain or pleasure such are the Sins of Profaneness and customary Swearing in common Conversation 3. That even those Sins and Vices which make the fairest pretence to be of Advantage to us when all Accounts are cast up and all Circumstances duly weigh'd and consider'd will be found to be but pretenders and in no degree able to perform and make good what they so largely promise before hand when they tempt us to the commission of them There are some Vices which pretend to bring in great profit and tempt worldly-minded men whose minds are disposed to catch at that bait such are the Sins of Covetousness and Oppression of Fraud and Falshood and Perfidiousness And there are others which pretend to bring pleasure along with them which is almost an irresistable temptation to voluptuous and sensual men such are the Sins of Revenge and Intemperance and Lust But upon a particular examination of each of these it will evidently appear that there is no such profit or pleasure in any of these Vices as can be a reasonable temptation to any Man to fall in love with them and to engage in the Commission and Practice of them But I shall not now inlarge upon any of these having lately discours'd upon them from another Text. I shall therefore proceed to the II. Inconvenience which I mentioned of a sinful and vicious Course viz. that the reflection upon our Sins afterwards is cause of great Shame and Confusion to us What fruit had you then in those things whereof you are now ashamed And this is a very proper Argument for this Season * Preach'd in Lent because the Passion of Shame as it is the natural and usual consequent of Sin so it is a Disposition necessarily required to a true Repentance Most Men when they commit a known Fault are apt to be ashamed and ready to blush whenever they are put in mind of it and charged with it Some Persons indeed have
very reproachful to us that we destroy our selves by our own folly and neglect of our selves and become miserable by our own choice and when the Grace of God hath put it into our Power to be wise and to be happy I should now have proceeded to the Second thing I proposed which was to consider Sin in relation to God and to shew that it is no less shameful in that respect than I have shewn it to be with regard to our selves But this I shall refer to another oportunity SERMON VI. Serm. 6. The Shamefulness of Sin an Argument for Repentance The Second Sermon on this Text. ROM VI. 21 22. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed For the end of those things is death But now being made free from sin and become Servants to God ye have your fruit unto Holiness and the end Everlasting Life IN these words the Apostle makes a comparison between an Holy and Virtuous and a Sinful and Vicious course of Life and sets before us a perfect enumeration of the manifest inconveniences of the one Vol. 8. and the manifold advantages of the other I began with the First of these viz. to shew the manifest inconveniences of a sinful and vicious course I am upon the Second inconvenience of a sinful course viz. That the reflection upon it afterwards is cause of great Shame and Confusion of face to us and that First in Relation to our selves Which I have dispatch'd and proceed now in the Second Place to consider Sin in respect of God against whom and in whose sight and presence it is committed and upon examination it will appear to be no less shameful in this respect than the other There are some Persons before whom we are more apt to be ashamed and blush than before others as those whom we reverence those to whom we are greatly oblig'd and those who are clear of those faults which we are guilty of and those who hate or greatly dislike what we do especially if they be present with us and in our company if they stand by us and observe and take notice of what we do and are likely to publish our folly and make it known and have Authority and Power to punish us for our faults we are ashamed to have done any thing that is vile and unworthy before such Persons Now to render Sin the more Shameful God may be consider'd by us under all these Notions and in all these respects 1. Whenever we commit any Sin we do it before him in his presence and under his eye and knowledge to whom of all persons in the world we ought to pay the most profound reverence I remember Seneca somewhere says that There are some Persons quorum interventû perditi quoque homines vitia supprimerent that are so awful and so generally reverenc'd for the eminency of their Virtues that even the most profligate and impudent sinners will endeavour to suppress their Vices and refrain from any thing that is notoriously bad and uncomely whilst such Persons stand by them and are in presence Such an one was Cato among the Romans The People of Rome had such a Regard and Reverence for him that if he appeared they would not begin or continue their usual sports till he was withdrawn from the Theatre thinking them too light to be acted before a Person of his Gravity and Virtue And if they were so much aw'd by the presence of a Wise and a Virtuous Man that they were ashamed to do any thing that was unseemly before him how much more should the presence of the Holy God who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity make us blush to do any thing that is lewd and vile in his sight and fill us with shame and confusion of face at the thoughts of it Now whenever we commit any Sin God looks upon us and he alone is an ample Theatre indeed That he observes what we do ought to be more to us than if the Eyes of all the World besides were gazing upon us 2. He likewise is incomparably our greatest Benefactour and there is no Person in the World to whom in any degree we stand so much oblig'd as to him and from whom we can expect and hope for so much good as from him the consideration whereof must make us ashamed so often as we consider and are conscious to our selves that we have done any thing that is grievous and displeasing to him We are wont to have a more peculiar Reverence for those to whom we are exceedingly beholden and to be much ashamed to do any thing before them which may signifie disrespect and much more enmity against them because this would be horrible ingratitude one of the most odious and shameful of all Vices And is there any one to whom we can stand more obliged than to him that made us than to the Author and Founder of our Beings and the great Patron and Preserver of our lives And can there then be any before whom and against whom we should be more ashamed to offend When the Prodigal in the Parable would set forth the shamefulness of his Miscarriage he aggravates it from hence that he had offended against and before one to whom he had been so infinitely obliged Father says he I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight 3. We are ashamed likewise to be guilty of any fault or crime before those Persons who are clear of it or of any thing of the like nature themselves Men are not apt to be ashamed before those who are their fellow-Criminals and involved with them in the same guilt because they do not stand in awe of them nor can have any reverence for them Those who are equally guilty must bear with one another We are not apt to fear the censures and reproofs of those who are as bad as our selves but we are ashamed to do a foul and unworthy Action before those who are innocent and free from the same or the like Sins and Vices which we are guilty of Now whenever we commit any Sin it is in the presence of the Holy God who hath no part with us in our crimes whose nature is removed at the farthest distance from Sin and is as contrary to it as can be There is no iniquity with the Lord our God And therefore of all Persons in the World we should blush to be guilty of it before him 4. We are apt also to be ashamed to do any thing before those who dislike and detest what we do To do a wicked Action before those who are not offended at it or perhaps take pleasure in it is no such matter of shame to us Now of all others God is the greatest hater of Sin and the most perfect Enemy to it in the whole World Hab. 1.13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity i. e. with patience and without an infinite hatred and abhorrence
that those who have made Conscience of their Duty to God and men and have lived soberly righteously and godly in this present World shall be unspeakably and eternally Happy in the next but those who have lived lewd and licentious lives and persisted in an Impenitent Course shall be extreamly and everlastingly miserable without Pity and without Comfort and without Remedy and without Hope of ever being otherwise I say if men were fully and firmly perswaded of these things it is not Credible it is hardly Possible that they should live such Prophane and Impious such Careless and Dissolute Lives as we daily see a great part of Mankind do That Man that can be aw'd from his Duty or tempted to Sin by any of the Pleasures or Terrors of this World that for the present enjoyment of his Lusts can be contented to venture his Soul what greater Evidence than this can there be that this Man does not believe the threatnings of the Gospel and how fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God That Man that can be willing to undergo an hard Service for several years that he may be in a way to get an Estate and be rich in this World and yet will not be perswaded to restrain himself of his Liberty or to deny his Pleasure or to check his Appetite or Lust for the greatest Reward that God can promise or the severest Punishment that he can threaten can any Man reasonably think that this Man is perswaded of any such Happiness or Misery after this Life as is plainly revealed in the Gospel that verily there is a reward for the righteous and verily there is a God that judgeth the Earth For what can he that believes not one syllable of the Bible do worse than this comes to A strong and vigorous Faith even in Temporal Cases is a powerful Principle of Action especially if it be back'd and enforc'd with Arguments of fear He that believes the reality of a thing and that it is good for him and that it may be attained and that if he do attain it it will make him very happy and that without it he shall be extreamly miserable such a Belief and Perswasion will put a Man upon difficult things and make him to put forth a vigorous endeavour and to use a mighty industry for the obtaining of that concerning which he is thus perswaded And the Faith of the Gospel ought to be so much the more powerful by how much the Objects of hope and fear which it presents to us are greater and more considerable Did men fully believe the Happiness of Heaven and the Torments of Hell and were they as verily perswaded of the truth of them as if they were before their Eyes how insignificant would all the Terrors and Temptations of Sense be to draw them into Sin and seduce them from their Duty But altho' it seems very strange and almost incredible that men should believe these things and yet live wicked and impious lives yet because I have no Mind and God knows there 's no need to increase the number of Infidels in this Age I shall chuse rather to impute a great deal of the wickedness that is in the World to the Inconsiderateness of men than to their Unbelief I will grant that they do in some sort believe these things or at least that they do not disbelieve them and then the great cause of mens ruin must be that they do not attend to the Consequence of this Belief and how men ought to live that are thus perswaded Men stifle their Reason and suffer themselves to be hurried away by Sense into the embraces of sensual Objects and things present but do not consider what the end of these things will be and what is like to become of them hereafter for it is not to be imagined but that that Man who shall calmly consider with himself what Sin is the shortness of its Pleasure and the Eternity of its Punishment should seriously resolve upon a better Course of life And why do we not Consider these things which are of so infinite Concernment to us What have we our Reason for but to reflect upon our selves and to mind what we do and wisely to compare things together and upon the whole matter to judge what makes most for our true and lasting Interest to Consider our whole selves our Souls as well as our Bodies and our whole duration not only in this World but in the other not only with regard to Time but to Eternity to look before us to the last Issue and Event of our Actions and to the farthest Consequence of them and to reckon upon what will be hereafter as well as what is present and if we suspect or hope or fear especially if we have good reason to believe a future state after Death in which we shall be happy or miserable to all Eternity according as we manage and behave our selves in this World to resolve to make it our greatest Design and Concernment while we are in this World so to live and demean our selves that we may be of the number of those that shall be accounted worthy to escape that Misery and to obtain that happiness which will last and continue for ever And if men would but apply their Minds seriously to the Consideration of these things they could not act so imprudently as they do they would not live so by chance and without design taking the Pleasure that comes next and avoiding the present Evils which press upon them without any regard to those that are future and at a distance tho' they be infinitely greater and more considerable If men could have the Patience to debate and argue these matters with themselves they could not live so preposterously as they do preferring their Bodies before their Souls and the World before God and the things which are Temporal before the things that are Eternal Did men verily and in good earnest believe but half of that to be true which hath now been declared to you concerning the miserable state of impenitent Sinners in another World and I am very sure that the one half of that which is true concerning that state hath not been told you I say did we in any measure believe what hath been so imperfectly represented What manner of persons should we all be in all holy conversation and godliness waiting for and hastening unto that is making haste to make the best preparation we could for the coming of the day of God! I will conclude all with our Saviour's Exhortation to his Disciples and to all others Watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things and to stand before the Son of Man To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory world without end Amen SERMON VIII Serm. 8. The present and future Advantage of an Holy and Virtuous Life The Fourth Sermon on this Text.
intercourse with men There are other Virtues that are apt to oblige Mankind to us and to gain their Friendship and good Will their Aid and Assistance as Kindness and Meekness and Charity and a generous Disposition to do good to all as far as we have Power and Oportunity In a word there is no real Interest of this World but may ordinarily be as effectually promoted and pursued to as great Advantage by a Man that Exercises himself in the Practice of all Virtue and Goodness and usually to far greater Advantage than by one that is Intemperate and Debauch'd Deceitful and Dishonest apt to disoblige and provoke sour and ill-natur'd to all Mankind For there is none of these Vices but is to a Man's real hinderance and disadvantage in regard of one kind of Happiness or another which men aim at and propose to themselves in this World III. A Religious and Virtuous Course of Life doth naturally tend to the prolonging of our days and hath very frequently the Blessing of Health and long Life attending upon it The Practice of a great many Virtues is a great Preservative of Life and Health as the due government of our Appetites and Passions by Temperance and Chastity and Meekness which prevent the chief Causes from within of Bodily Diseases and Distempers the due government of our Tongues and Conversation in respect of others by Justice and Kindness and abstaining from Wrath and Provocation which are a great security against the dangers of outward Violence according to that of St. Peter 1 Epist 3.10 He that will love life and see good days let him refrain his Tongue from evil and his Lips that they speak no guile let him eschew evil and do good let him seek peace and ensue it And beside the natural tendency of things there is a special Blessing of God which attends good men and makes their days long in the land which the Lord their God hath given them IV. There is nothing gives a Man so much Comfort when he comes to die as the reflection upon an holy and good Life and then surely above all other times Comfort is most valuable because our frail and infirm Nature doth then stand most in need of it Then usually mens Hearts are faint and their Spirits low and every thing is apt to deject and trouble them so that we had need to provide our selves of some excellent Cordial against that time and there is no Comfort like to that of a clear Conscience and of an innocent and useful Life This will revive and raise a Man's Spirits under all the Infirmities of his Body because it gives a Man good hopes concerning his Eternal State and the hopes of that are apt to fill a Man with Joy unspeakable and full of glory The difference between good and bad Men is never so remarkable in this World as when they are upon their Death-Bed This the Scripture observes to us Psal 37.37 Mark the perfect Man and behold the upright for the end of that Man is peace With what Triumph and Exultation doth the Blessed Apostle St. Paul upon the review of his Life discourse concerning his Death and Dissolution 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8. I am now ready says he to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finish'd my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge will give me at that day What would not any of us do to be thus affected when we come to leave the World and to be able to bear the thoughts of Death and Eternity with so quiet and well satisfi'd a Mind why let us but endeavour to live Holy lives and to be useful and serviceable to God in our Generation as this holy Apostle was and we shall have the same ground of Joy and Triumph which he had For this is the proper and genuine effect of Virtue and Goodness The work of righteousness is peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever All the good Actions that we do in this Life are so many seeds of Comfort sown in our own Consciences which will spring up one time or other but especially in the approaches of Death when we come to take a serious review of our lives for then mens Consciences use to deal plainly and impartially with them and to tell them the truth and if at that time more especially our hearts condemn us not then may we have comfort and confidence towards God V. An Holy and Virtuous Life doth transmit a good Name and Reputation to Posterity And this Solomon hath determined to be a much greater Happiness than for a Man to leave a great Estate behind him A good name says he is rather to be chosen than great riches Pious and Virtuous men do commonly gain to themselves a good Esteem and Reputation in this World while they are in it but the Virtues of good men are not always so bright and shining as to meet with that respect and acknowledgment which is due to them in this World Many times they are much clouded by the Infirmities and Passions which attend them and are shadowed by some affected singularities and morosities which those which have liv'd more retir'd from the World are more liable to Besides that the Envy of others who are not so good as they lies heavy upon them and does depress them For bad men are very apt to misinterpret the best Actions of the good and put false colours upon them and when they have nothing else to object against them to charge them with Hypocrisie and Insincerity an Objection as hard to be answer'd as it is to be made good unless we could see into the Hearts of men But when good men are dead and gone and the bright and shining Example of their Virtues is at a convenient distance and does not gall and upbraid others then Envy ceaseth and every Man is then content to give a good Man his due Praise and his Friends and Posterity may then quietly enjoy the Comfort of his Reputation which is some sort of Blessing to him that is gone This difference Solomon observes to us between good and bad men The memory of the just is blessed or well spoken of but the name of the wicked shall rot VI. And lastly Religion and Virtue do derive a Blessing upon our Posterity after us Oh that there were such an heart in them saith Moses concerning the People of Israel that they would fear me and keep all my Commandments always that it might be well with them and with their Children for ever And to this purpose there are many Promises in Scripture of God's Blessing the Posterity of the righteous and his shewing mercies to thousands of the Children of them that love him and keep his Commandments And this a great motive to Obedience and toucheth upon that Natural Affection which men
shew afterwards 2. If the Injury was done by more who did all equally concur to the doing of it they are all equally bound to make Satisfaction and they are bound to concur together to that Purpose and in Case of such concurrence every one is not bound to satisfie for the whole but pro ratâ parte for his share provided they do among them make full Satisfaction 3. If all will not concur those that are willing are bound among them to make Reparation for the Injury nay if all the rest refuse to joyn with thee in it thou art bound in solidum to make full Reparation so far as thou art able because every one was guilty of the whole Injury For instance if four men conspire together to cheat a Man or to rob him any one of these if the rest refuse is bound to make entire Satisfaction yea tho' he was only partaker in the Benefit because as I said before he is guilty of the whole Injury 4. If the Injury be done by more who do unequally concur to the doing of it he that is Principal is chiefly and principally bound to make Satisfaction and here I do not take Principal strictly in the Sense of the Law but in the Sense of Equity not for him always who is the more immediate cause of the Injury but for him who was the greatest cause and by whose influence chiefly it was procured and done but if the principal will not the Accessories and Instruments are bound at least for their share and according to the proportion of the Hand they had in it But if the Principal do satisfie in the name and upon the account of the rest then the Accessories are free from any Obligation to Restitution and are only bound to Repentance 5. If the Injury devolve upon another by descending as a burden upon the Estate he who enjoys the Estate is bound to make Satisfaction And when Injuries do thus descend as Burdens and Incumbrances upon Estates and when not the Civil Laws of the place where we live must determine but then where my Case falls within the compass of the Law I am bound voluntarily to satisfie without the Compulsion of the Law For instance If an Estate fall to me charged with a debt which hath been unjustly detained I am bound voluntarily to discharge the debt so soon as it appears to me before I am compell'd thereto by the Law 6. As for Personal Injuries which do not lie as Burdens upon the Estate nor do by the Law descend upon the Son or Heir tho' in strict Justice a Man be not bound to make Compensation for them for that would be endless infinitum in lege repudiatur No Law can take notice of that which is infinite and endless for quae exitum non habent habentur pro impossibilibus Those things which have no end to which no bounds can be set are esteemed among things impossible to which no Man can be obliged but tho' in strict Justice the Heir be not bound to make Reparation for the Personal injuries of him whom he succeeds in the Estate yet in many Cases it is equitable and generous and christian for such Persons to make some kind of Reparation for palpable and notorious Injuries For instance If I be Heir to an Estate part of which I know certainly was injuriously gotten it is not only Christian but Prudent to make Satisfaction in the Case to the party injur'd if certainly known if not to give it to the Poor for by this means I may take out the Moth which was bred by injustice in the Estate and rub off the Rust that sticks to the Gold and Silver which was got by oppression or fraud and so free the remaining part of the Estate from that secret and Divine Nemesis which attends it and follows it And for the same Reason it is very Noble and Christian for the Son and Heir of an unjust Father to make some Reparation for his Father's injuries by Restitution if the thing be capable of it if not by doing all good Offices to the injured Persons which is some kind of Compensation And in this Case the Obligation is greater because by this means a Man does not only do what in him lies to cut off the curse which by his Father's oppression and injustice is intail'd upon the Family and Estate but likewise because a Son ought much more to be concern'd for his Father than any other Person and to consult the Honour and Reputation both of him and his own Family and the Reparation which the Son makes is in some sort the Father's Act because he succeeds him and comes into his stead Secondly As to the Persons to whom Satisfaction is is to be made For the Resolution of those Cases which may fall under this Head I shall lay down these Propositions 1. If the injured Person be certainly known and be alive and extant the Satisfaction is to be made to him 2. If he be not alive or which is all one not to be found or come at Satisfaction is to be made to his nearest Relations his Wife or Children or Brothers or other nearest Kindred The Reason is because Satisfaction being due and I having no right to keep that which I have injuriously gotten if I cannot restore it to the Party himself I ought in all Reason to place it there where I may most reasonably presume the Party injur'd would have bestowed his Estate and this part of it among the rest had he been possessor of it And by the same Reason that I am bound thus to restore the part of his Estate which I have injuriously taken or detained from him I am likewise obliged to give Satisfaction to the same Person for any other injury for to whomsoever I would pay a debt due to one that is deceased to the same Person I ought to give Satisfaction for other injuries by which a debt is tho' not formally yet virtually contracted 3. If the Party injured be not certainly known or have no near Relations known to me in that Case I think it very adviseable to give so much to the Poor or to some Charitable use or if the Party injured be not capable of proper Satisfaction as sometimes it is a Community and Body of men that we have injured in this Case it is proper to repair the injuries to Communities or Bodies of men by equivalent good Offices or by some publick good Work which may be of common Benefit and Advantage This is the Fifth thing I proposed to speak to the Persons concern'd in Restitution both the Persons who are bound to make Restitution and the Persons to whom it is to be made Of the rest hereafter SERMON XIII Ser. 13. The Nature and Necessity of Restitution The Second Sermon on this Text. LUKE XIX 8 9. And if I have taken any thing from any Man by false accusation I restore him fourfold And Jesus said unto him This day is
any thing in his calling for who would trust a Man with any thing who is liable every moment to have it taken from him So that the Reason of this plenary discharge is this that men who are otherwise hopeful and in a fair probability of recovering themselves may not be render'd incapable of getting an Estate afterwards whereby they may support themselves and discharge their debts Now this discharge being given in order to these ends it cannot be imagined that it should be intended to defeat them but it is in all Reason to be supposed that the Creditors did not intend to take off the Obligation of Equity and Conscience only to put the Man into a Condition of doing somthing towards the enabling him to discharge his debt So that unless it were exprest at the Composition that the Creditor would never expect more from him upon account of Equity and Conscience but did freely forgive him the rest the contrary whereof is usually done I say unless it were thus exprest there 's no Reason why the Creditor's favour in making a Composition should be abused to his prejudice and why a legal discharge given him on purpose for this Reason among others to put him into a capacity of recovering himself and giving full Satisfaction should be so interpreted as to extinguish the equitable right of the Creditor to the remainder of his debt The Second Use of this Doctrine of Restitution should be by way of prevention that men would take heed of being injurious and so take away the occasion of Restitution and free themselves from the Temptation of not performing so difficult and so unwelcome a Duty It is much easier of the two not to cozen or oppress thy Neighbour than after thou hast done it it will be to bring thy self to make Restitution therefore we should be very careful not to be injurious to any one in any kind neither immediately by our selves nor by aiding and assisting others by our Power and Interest or skill in the Law or by any other way to do injustice SERMON XIV Ser. 14. The Usefulness of Consideration in order to Repentance DEUT. XXXII 29 O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end THIS Chapter is call'd Moses his Song in which he briefly recounts the various Providences of God toward the People of Israel and the froward Carriage of that People towards him First He puts them in mind how God had chosen them for his peculiar People and had by a signal Care and Providence conducted them all that tedious Journey for the space of fourty years in the Wilderness Vol. 8. till he had brought them to the promised Land which they had now begun to take Possession of And then he foretels how they would behave themselves after all this mercy and kindness God had shewn to them ver 15. Jesurun waxed fat and kicked and forsook God which made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his Salvation Upon this he tells them God would be extremely displeased with them and would multiply his Judgments upon them ver 19 20. When the Lord saw it he abhorred them because of the provoking of his Sons and of his Daughters And he said I will hide my face from them I will see what their end shall be for they are a very froward generation children in whom is no Faith And ver 23. I will heap mischief upon them I will spend mine arrows upon them And then enumerates the particular Judgments which he would send upon them nay he declares he would have utterly consumed them but that he was loth to give occasion of so much Triumph to his and their Enemies ver 26 27. I said I would scatter them into corners I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy lest their adversary should behave themselves strangely and lest they should say our hand is high and the Lord hath not done all this And he adds the Reason of all this severity because they were so very stupid and inconsiderate ver 28. For they are a Nation void of Counsel neither is there any Vnderstanding in them And in the conclusion of all he represents God as it were breaking out into this vehement and affectionate Wish O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end O that they were wise that they understood this What is that This may refer to all that went before O that they were wise to consider what God had done for them and what they had done against him and what he will do against them if they continue or renew their former Provocations O that they were but duly apprehensive of this and would lay it seriously to heart But from what follows it seems more particularly to refer to those particular Judgments which God had threatned them withal and which would certainly befal them if they still continued in their disobedience O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end That is the sad consequences of these their Provocations that by the Consideration thereof they might prevent all those Evils and Calamities by turning from those Sins which would unavoidably bring them upon them From the words thus explained I shall observe these four things I. That God doth really and heartily desire the Happiness of men and to prevent their Misery and Ruin For the very design of these words is to express this to us and it is done in a very vehement and as I may say passionate manner II. That it is a great point of wisdom to consider seriously the last Issue and Consequence of our Actions whither they tend and what will follow upon them And therefore wisdom is here described by the Consideration of our latter end III. That this is an excellent means to prevent that Misery which will otherwise befall us And this is necessarily implyed in this wish that if they would but consider these things they might be prevented IV. That the want of this Consideration is the great cause of mens Ruin And this is likewise implyed in the words that one great reason of mens Ruin is because they are not so wise as to consider the fatal Issue and Consequence of a sinful Course I shall speak briefly to each of these I. That God doth really and heartily desire the Happiness of men and to prevent their Misery and Ruin To express this to us God doth put on the vehemency of a Humane Passion O that they were wise c. The Laws of God are a clear evidence of this because the observance of them tends to our Happiness There is no good Prince makes Laws with any other design than to promote the publick Welfare and Happiness of his People and with much more Reason may we imagine that the infinite good God does by all his Laws design the
the Story but for the Moral of it I will namely that Consideration is one of the best and most likely means in the World to bring a bad Man to a better Mind I now come to the IV. And last particular namely that the want of this Consideration is one of the greatest Causes of mens Ruin And this likewise is implyed in the Text and the Reason why God does so vehemently desire that men would be wise and consider is because so many are ruin'd and undone for want of it This is the desperate folly of Mankind that they seldom think seriously of the Consequence of their Actions and least of all of such as are of greatest Concernment to them and have the chief influence upon their eternal Condition They do not consider what Mischief and Inconvenience a wicked Life may plunge them into in this World what Trouble and Disturbance it may give them when they come to die what Horror and Confusion it may fill them withal when they are leaving this World and passing into Eternity and what intolerable Misery and Torment it may bring upon them to all Eternity Did men ponder and lay to heart Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell and would they but let their thoughts dwell upon these things it is not credible that the generality of men could lead such profane and impious such lewd and dissolute such secure and careless Lives as they do Would but a Man frequently entertain his Mind with such thoughts as these I must shortly die and leave this World and then all the Pleasures and Enjoyments of it will be to me as if they had never been only that the remembrance of them and the ill use I have made of them will be very bitter and grievous to me after all Death will transmit me out of this World into a quite different State and Scene of things into the presence of that great and terrible that inflexible and impartial Judge who will render to every Man according to his works and then all the evils which I have done in this Life will rise up in Judgment against me and fill me with everlasting Confusion in that great assembly of Men and Angels will banish me from the presence of God and all the Happiness which flows from it and procure a dreadful sentence of unspeakable Misery and Torment to be past upon me which I can never get reverst nor yet ever be able to stand under the weight of it if men would but enter into the serious Consideration of these things and pursue these thoughts to some Issue and Conclusion they would take up other Resolutions and I verily believe that the want of this hath ruin'd more than even infidelity it self And this I take to be the meaning of that question in the Psalmist Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge that is no Consideration intimating that if they had they would do better All that now remains is to perswade men to apply their hearts to this piece of wisdom to look before them and to think seriously of the Consequence of their Actions what will be the final Issue of that Course of Life they are engaged in and if they continue in it what will become of them hereafter what will become of them for ever And here I might apply this Text as God here does to the People of Israel to the publick Condition of this Nation which is not so very unlike to that of the People of Israel for God seems to have chosen this Nation for his more peculiar People and hath exercised a very particular Providence towards us in conducting us through that Wilderness of Confusion in which we have been wandring for the space of above forty years and when things were come to the last extremity and we seemed to stand upon the very brink of Ruin Then as it is said of the People of Israel ver 36. of this Chapter God repented himself for his servants when he saw that their Power was gone that is that they were utterly unable to help themselves and to work their own deliverance And it may be said of us as Moses does of that People Chap. 33.29 Happy art thou O Israel O people saved by the Lord the shield of thy help and who is the Sword of thy excellency Never did any Nation struggle with and get through so many and so great difficulties as we have several times done And I fear we have behaved our selves toward God not much better than the People of Israel did but like Jesurun after many deliverances and great mercies have waxed fat and kicked have forsaken the God that made us and little esteemed the Rock of our Salvation by which we have provoked the Lord to jealousie and have as it were forc'd him to multiply his Judgments and to spend his arrows upon us and to hide his face from us to see what our end will be so that we have Reason to fear that God would have brought utter Ruin and Destruction upon us and scatter'd us into corners and made the remembrance of us to have ceased from among men had he not feared the wrath of the enemy and lest the adversaries should have behaved themselves strangely and lest they should say Our hand is high and the Lord hath not done all this that is lest they should ascribe this just vengeance of God upon a sinful and unthankful Nation to the goodness and righteousness of their own Cause and to the favour and assistance of the Idols and false Gods whom they worship'd to the Patronage and Aid of the Virgin Mary and the Saints to whom contrary to the Will and Command of the true God they had offer'd up so many Prayers and Vows and paid the greatest part of their Religious worship but the Lord hath shewn himself greater than all Gods and in the things wherein they dealt proudly that he is above them for our Rock is not as their Rock even our enemies themselves being Judges And we have been too like the People of Israel in other respects also so sickle and inconstant that after great deliverances we are apt presently to murmur and be discontented to grow sick of our own Happiness and to turn back in our hearts into Egypt so that God may complain of us as he does of his People Israel that nothing that he could do would bring them to Consideration and make them better neither his mercies nor his Judgments Isa 1.2 3. Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth For the Lord hath spoken I have nourished and brought up Children but they have rebelled against me The Ox knoweth his owner and the Ass his Masters Crib but Israel doth not know my People doth not consider And so likewise he complains that his Judgments had no effect upon them ver 5. Why should ye be smitten any more Ye will revolt more and more Well therefore may it be said of us as it was of them in the Verse before
repent without such a degree of God's Grace as cannot be resisted no Man's Repentance is commendable nor is one Man's Impenitence more blameable than anothers Chorazin and Bethsaida can be in no more fault for continuing Impenitent than Tyre and Sidon were For either this irresistible Grace is afforded to men or not if it be their Repentance is necessary and they cannot help it if it be not their Repentance is impossible and consequently their Impenitence is necessary and they cannot help it neither V. I observe from the main scope of our Saviour's Discourse That the Sins and Impenitence of men receive their Aggravation and consequently shall have their Punishment proportionable to the Opportunities and Means of Repentance which those Persons have enjoyed and neglected For what is here said of Miracles is by equality of Reason likewise true of all other Advantages and Means of Repentance and Salvation The Reason why Miracles will be such an Aggravation of the Condemdemnation of men is because they are so proper and powerful a Means to convince men of the Truth and Divinity of that Doctrine which calls them to Repentance So that all those Means which God affords to us of the Knowledge of our Duty of Conviction of the Evil and Danger of a sinful Course are so many helps and Motives to Repentance and consequently will prove so many Aggravations of our Sin and Punishment if we continue impenitent The VI. And last Observation and which naturally follows from the former is this That the Case of those who are impenitent under the Gospel is of all others the most dangerous and their Damnation shall be heaviest and most severe And this brings the Case of these Cities here in the Text home to our selves For in truth there is no material difference between the Case of Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum and of our selves in this City and Nation who enjoy the clear Light of the Gospel with all the freedom and all the Advantages that any People ever did The Mercies of God to this Nation have been very great especially in bringing us out of that darkness and superstition which covered this Western part of the World in rescuing us from that great Corruption and Degeneracy of the Christian Religion which prevailed among us by so early and so regular a Reformation and in continuing so long this great Blessing to us The Judgments of God have been likewise very great upon us for our Sins God hath manifested himself by terrible things in righteousness our Eyes have seen many and dismal Calamities in the space of a few years which call lowdly upon us to repent and turn to God God hath afforded us the most effectual Means of Repentance and hath taken the most effectual Course of bringing us to it And tho' our Blessed Saviour do not speak to us in Person nor do we at this day see Miracles wrought among us as the Jews did yet we have the Doctrine which our Blessed Saviour preach'd faithfully transmitted to us and a credible Relation of the Miracles wrought for the Confirmation of that Doctrine and many other Arguments to perswade us of the Truth of it which those to whom our Saviour spake had not nor could not then have taken from the accomplishing of our Saviour's Predictions after his Death the speedy Propagation and wonderful success of this Doctrine in the World by weak and inconsiderable Means against all the Power and Opposition of the World the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Dispersion of the Jewish Nation according to our Saviour's Prophesie besides many more that might be mentioned And which is a mighty Advantage to us we are free from those Prejudices against the Person of our Saviour and his Doctrine which the Jews by the reverence which they bore to their Rulers and Teachers were generally possest withal we are brought up in the belief of it and have drunk it in by Education and if we believe it as we all profess to do we have all the Obligation and all the Arguments to Repentance which the Jews could possibly have from the Miracles which they saw for they were Means of Repentance to them no otherwise than as they brought them to the belief of our Saviour's Doctrine which call'd them to Repentance So that if we continue impenitent the same woe is denounced against us that is against Chorazin and Bethsaida and we may be said with Capernaum to be lifted up to Heaven by the Enjoyment of the most excellent Means and Advantages of Salvation that any People ever did which if we neglect and still continue wicked and impenitent under them we may justly fear that with them we shall be thrown down to Hell and have our place in the lowest part of that dismal Dungeon and in the very Centre of that fiery Furnace Never was there greater cause to upbraid the impenitence of any People than of us considering the Means and Opportunities which we enjoy and never had any greater reason to fear a severer Doom than we have Impenitence in a Heathen is a great Sin else how should God judge the World But God takes no notice of that in comparison of the Impenitence of Christians who enjoy the Gospel and are convinced of the Truth and upon the greatest reason in the World profess to believe it We Christians have all the Obligations to Repentance that Reason and Revelation Nature and Grace can lay upon us Art thou convinced that thou hast sinned and done that which is contrary to thy Duty and thereby provoked the Wrath of God and incensed his Justice against thee As thou art a Man and upon the stock of Natural Principles thou art obliged to Repentance The same Light of Reason which discovers to thee the Errors of thy Life and challengeth thee for thy Impiety and Intemperance for thy Injustice and Oppression for thy Pride and Passion the same Natural Conscience which accuseth thee of any Miscarriages does oblige thee to be sorry for it to turn from thy evil ways and to break off thy Sins by Repentance For nothing can be more unreasonable than for a Man to know a fault and yet not think himself bound to be sorry for it to be convinced of the evil of his ways and not to think himself obliged by that very Conviction to turn from it and forsake it If there be any such thing as a natural Law written in Mens Hearts which the Apostle tells us the Heathens had it is impossible to imagine but that the Law which obligeth Men not to transgress should oblige them to Repentance in case of Transgression And this every Man in the World is bound to tho' he had never seen the Bible nor heard of the name of Christ And the Revelation of the Gospel doth not supersede this Obligation but adds new Strength and Force to it and by how much this Duty of Repentance is more clearly revealed by our Blessed Saviour in the Gospel by how much the