were poured out upon the Apostles in so illustrious a manner as the Jews could not but take notice of the exact Completion of his Promise of sending the Comforter not many days after his Ascension in such a manner as drew the eyes of all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem both Jews and Strangers upon them and tended no less to demonstrate the Power than the Truth of Christ. The second Prediction indeed that of his Resurrection was fulfilled fifty days before but became not an Argument of Conviction to the Jews till now as being not till now publickly attested by the Apostles who were the Witnesses of it The Report of his Resurrection had been indeed rumoured in Jerusalem which put the Sanhedrim upon that shameful Device of corrupting the Soldiers who guarded his Sepulchre but the certain and publick Knowledge of it was not delivered till the Apostles were enabled and enboldened to proclaim and testifie it to the whole World by those Gifts which they received upon this day After the exact Completion of these Prophesies and the authentick attestation of them no excuse remained to the Jews whereby to extenuate their unbelief according to the Rules laid down by Moses they were now obliged to acknowledge Christ to have been a true Prophet and the true Messias and were convinced of their hainous Sin before commited by them in the Rejection of his Doctrine and Crucifixion of his Person the horror of which Sin might induce them the more readily to believe in Christ and lay hold of his Merits that so they might obtain Remission of it Otherwise they were to expect the most severe Execution of Divine Vengeance for their wilful obstinacy and disbelief as Moses had assured them in the same place Deut. XVIII 19. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him This Sentence and therein the Prophesie of Christ was in a most eminent manner executed and fulfilled in the Destruction and intire Desolation of the whole Nation of the Jews about forty years after the Ascension of our Lord whereby the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord then alive acted by the Holy Ghost were farther enabled invincibly to plead his Cause against the opposition of the unbelieving World both Jews and Gentiles For however the Mission of the Holy Ghost and the Consequences of it did more especially convince of Sin the Jews who were then alive and had been guilty either of rejecting the Preaching or contriving the Death of our Lord yet it contributed no less effectually to manifest the Unreasonableness of all both Jews and Gentiles who either in that or in all Ages to come should reject the Faith of Christ when proposed to them For the Belief of him was to be proposed to all Creatures under Heaven and confirmed by Arguments drawn from hence which were so rational and convictive so clear and demonstrative that they could not be rejected without the most extream Perverseness and if rejected the Holy Ghost should hereby plead the cause of Christ against them and convince the whole World and their own Consciences also if rightly judging that in rejecting the Gospel they had sinned against their own Souls and that nothing remained to them but a certain fearful Expectation of the fiery Judgment to be most justly inflicted on them The second point of which the Comforter was to reprove or convince the World was of Righteousness the reason of which is assigned in the 10th Verse Because I go to my Father and ye see me no more The Justice of God had to the eyes of Men been clouded when he permitted his only begotten Son to be delivered up and crucified by wicked Men when he abandoned him to the Rage of his Enemies and rescued him not from the Insults of the Jews by an extraordinary Interposition from Heaven The Majesty of the Deity seemed then to be eclipsed and suffer diminution when subjected to the Contradiction and Affronts of unreasonable Men. Men naturally expect that God should even in this World declare in behalf of oppressed Innocence either by rescuing it from the Malice of its Enemies or taking a severe Revenge upon the Oppressors of it And even Christians who have a better and more certain Knowledge of the Methods of Providence cannot but expect and are allowed so to do that if no Discrimination be made between the Good and the Bad in this life yet at least that it shall be in the next when Innocence shall be crowned with Rewards which shall be enhanced by Patience in Sufferings and Violence chastised with Punishments which shall be so much the sharper if reserved intire to another World if no part of them be inflicted in this This a faithful Christian expects from the Justice of God and this the Scripture assureth them Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest 2 Thess. I. 6. And God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour Heb. VI. 10. If then this Justice may be securely hoped for from God by all the Members of Mankind how much more by the Son of God whose Person was of infinite Dignity his Sufferings fraught with the highest Aggravations of Misery and his Persecutors guilty of the most enormous Wickedness That the Justice of God might be therefore vindicated herein that Sin might no longer triumph and Innocence pass unregarded God exalted his Son to his own right hand seated him in the Heavens gave him Dominion over all things crowned him with glory and worship The knowledge of this was published to the World by the Mission of the Holy Ghost by whose Direction and Assistance the Apostles openly testified the Ascension of their Lord and by which all might be convinced what Place and Power Christ now obtained in Heaven who could showre down such glorious Gifts and Priviledges upon his Followers on Earth These were so many undeniable Testimonies that the Malice of his Enemies was defeated that our Lord was yet alive set above their reach and Insults and not only so but invested with supreme Majesty and Dominion able to protect his Church and punish his Enemies that his former Sufferings had not been then more calamitous than his present State was now glorious that if God had for a time withdrawn in appearance his Favour and Protection from his Humane Nature he had now in recompence exalted it to an eternal Throne in Heaven The last thing of which the Comforter was to reprove or convince the World was of Judgment and that for this reason Ver. 11. Because the prince of this world is judged It is a Principle even of Natural Religion that God is the supreme Judge of the World and that of invisible as well as visible Beings The Devil who is frequently in Scripture called the prince of this world had now for many Ages exercised an
uncontrouled Tyranny in the World He had withdrawn the far greatest part of Mankind from the worship of the true God and caused the worship of himself to become the publick Religion of all Nations except the Jews Even the Jews he had often seduced to Idolatry and Disobedience to the Divine Commands and had newly instigated them to imbrue their hands in the Blood of their Messias All these enormous Crimes this continued Rebellion against God and particularly the last and greatest the Death of Christ did require from the Judge of all the World a severe Punishment which is therefore called Judgment in the Text because a Sentence proceeding from the Rules of Justice This Sentence was to be executed under the Gospel of Christ as we are told above in the XII 31. Now is the judgment of this world now shall the prince of this world be cast out The Execution of it was to be performed by the Preaching of the Gospel which should destroy the Powers of Hell free Men from the Captivity of Sin and withdraw the World from the Worship of Devils This to those proud Spirits was the sharpest Punishment which could possibly be inflicted and this was begun by the Mission of the Holy Ghost and carried on and compleated by the Gifts and Graces derived down and continued to the Church from his blessed Influence From the Blessings of this day it was that the Apostles received Abilities and Courage to preach the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the Earth to beat down the strong holds of Sin to ruin the power of Satan to turn Men to the Knowledge and Obedience of God From the Continuation of these Blessings the Church hath been always defended from the secret and open Assaults of these infernal Spirits the Governors and Ministers of the Church have been enabled to preach the Truth and discharge their Office successfully and all the Members of the Church have been established in the Faith and supported against all the Temptations of wicked Spirits So eminently did God upon this day exercise Judgment upon the Prince of this World that thenceforward his Kingdom continually decreased his Oracles were silenced his Altars abandoned his Worship relinquished his Disciples diminished until a glorious Church was founded in all parts of the Earth which by a solemn Engagement her Vow in Baptism professeth Enmity unto him Upon all these accounts did the Holy Ghost as a most faithful Advocate at his first Mission plead the Cause of Christ against his Adversaries whether the Devil or the Jews his Persecutors and upon the same accounts doth that blessed Spirit who was promised to remain with the Church till the end of the World and execute the Office of Advocate till the Consummation of all things still continue to plead the Cause of Christ against all his Enemies and that he should do so is highly requisite The Devil still assaults the Church by open Force or secret Temptations and to these the Holy Spirit opposeth his Gifts and Graces Infidels and Hereticks still profess Unbelief to the Doctrines of it and to these he opposeth the same Arguments of Conviction which were before manifested to have proceeded from his Mission All these remain yet in their full force Lastly even in the bosom of the Church among the Professors of Christianity are many to be found against whom it is necessary that the Holy Spirit should still plead the Cause of Christ which they discredit by their Sins and blaspheme by their Lives crucifying afresh the Lord of life and putting him to an open shame In that no less guilty than all those Enemies of Christ which the Holy Ghost at his first Mission was to convince For did the Jews disbelieve the Doctrine of Christ before the undeniable Confirmation added to it in the Mysteries of this day These Men by their Actions proclaim their Unbelief even after the Reception of this Confirmation Did the Spirit of God take so much pains to manifest the unerring Justice of God in the distribution of Rewards and Punishments After all these Men live insensible of either slighting his Rewards and defying his Punishments Did Christ come into the World and die a painful Death Did God exert his Power in so many Miracles Did the Holy Spirit descend as upon this day to put an end to the Empire of the Devil These Men by Perseverance in Sin endeavour to re-establish it in the World and do effectually restore it in their own Souls Justly therefore may this Eternal Advocate implead these Men before the last Tribunal I have conveyed the Knowledge of the true God even to these Sinners I have convinced them of the Truth of the Christian Faith at least they will pretend themselves to have been convinced I have nourished this Knowledge by causing the Holy Scriptures to be writ for their Edification I have endeavoured the Improvement of it by the constant Exhortation of those my Officers which I have settled in the Church I have assisted it by the grant of all necessary Graces as often as desired yet notwithstanding all this they have lived as if they knew not of it much less as if they were convinced of it All my Graces and Sollicitations of them have produced no other effect than to render their Sin the more hainous in that they have wilfully disobeyed my Commands slighted my Directions contemned my Exhortations and stifled my Motions All false Perswasions which might betray them to Sin and Disobedience I have long since corrected If they imagine the Disbelief or which is all one the Neglect of my Doctrines to be no hainous Crime I have long since convinced the World of Sin If they fancy God not to be an unerring and infallible Judge in the Dispensation of Rewards and Punishments I have long ago reproved the World of Righteousness If they pretend the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil to be irresistable I have long since judged the prince of this world taken away his Kingdom and limited his Power These then are the most criminal Enemies of the Name of Christ who being by me convinced of their Duty to obey his Laws refused to perform them who serving under his banner and kindly intreated by him deserted his Service and delivered up themselves to his and their own Enemy from whose Tyranny I had before freed them What then shall we plead in behalf of our selves at that dreadful day Shall we alledge want of Conviction That we pretend not to or if we should the Holy Ghost hath by the Wonders and Benefits of this day effectually confuted that pretence Shall we say that we believed not God to have been in earnest when he allured us with Rewards or threatened us with Punishments That Plea is removed by the Assertion of the Righteousness of God made upon this day Or shall we excuse our selves with want of extraordinary Assistances and Graces of the Holy Spirit enabling us to perform our Duty and overcome
without controul dared to reject his Doctrine vilifie his Person and put him to an ignominious Death but now they were to be convinced by uncontestable Proofs from Heaven that his Person was more than Humane his Doctrine Divine and themselves guilty of the most Enormous wickedness in crucifying the Lord of Life The Justice of God the Father had suffered Aspersions in not revenging the Sufferings and rewarding the Labours of his Son But now this was to be cleared and the Jews convinced that neither their Wickedness should pass unpunished nor his Merits unrewarded The Devil had triumphed in his supposed Conquest over Christ and his imagination of having baffled the Design of the Redemption of Mankind by procuring the Author of it to be put to Death but his arrogant Pretensions were henceforth to be checked his Hopes to be defeated his Empire to be dissolved All these Advantages were to flow from the Mission of the Holy Ghost and all these our Lord sums up and Promises in the words of my Text And when he is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment In which words we may enquire I. In what Sense all these Effects and Advantages are to be ascribed to the Mission of the Holy Ghost II. How far these promised Effects and Advantages of his Mission were performed As to the First the word reproving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is used in the Text in the Original is taken from judicial Proceedings and signifieth a Confutation of the adverse Party by such Proofs and Testimonies as by an impartial Judge should be allowed to be valid The Office therefore of the Holy Ghost was to be the Paraclet the Advocate of our Saviour upon Earth to plead his Cause to produce these Proofs to urge and propose them to the World There were indeed abundant Proofs before in the Nature of the thing but Proofs are not convictive till laid open declared and proposed This was the Office of the Holy Ghost in this he was to be the Advocate of our Saviour and this he performed by pouring extraordinary Gifts upon the Apostles as on this day which might enable them with Power and Eloquence with Courage and Success to propose those Proofs and convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment They were to be the Instruments of this Reproof this Conviction not only by their Gifts received and Labours performed as upon this day but by all their Miracles Sermons and Preaching performed in the whole Course of their Ministry All these Actions were equally directed to the same end the conviction of the World yet all in vertue of those Abilities which they received upon this day All their Gifts and Labours were solely owing to his power and derived from his Grant their Knowledge to his Inspiration their Courage and Constancy to his Support their Speaking to his Impulse their Miracles to his Power their Success to his Blessing So that all which they performed ought truly and properly to be ascribed to him All the Miracles Actions and Prophesies of their Lord before the Mission of the Holy Ghost all the Miracles and Labours of themselves after it were to contribute to the Conviction of the World but all the Efficacy the Application of this Conviction was to proceed solely from the Abilities conferred on them at the time of his Mission And thus the Holy Ghost continueth his Office of Advocate not only during the Apostles times but in all Ages of the Church since those Gifts which he then began to dispense to the Apostles he still continueth to diffuse to the Faithful and by the Efficacy of these Gifts it is that the Church is maintained the Faithful enlivened the Conviction continued He then convinced the World by the Preaching of the Apostles and he now convinceth it by the Preaching of their Successors acted with the same Spirit and by the reading of the Holy Scriptures written by them through his assistance and direction His Gifts indeed conferred on them were far more eminent because more necessary his Administration of the Church in their time more remarkable because manifesting the Completion of many particular Prophesies of our Saviour Upon which account the Promises of this Text were then more eminently fulfilled And that they were so I come next in Order to consider First then the Holy Ghost by his coming reproved or convinced the World of Sin because they believed not on Christ as it follows in the 9. Verse By the World we are here primarily to understand the Jews who notwithstanding all the mighty Signs and Miracles performed by Christ denied Assent to his Doctrine This disbelief of theirs before the Mission of the Holy Ghost our Saviour in many places seems to excuse and pardon and St. Pet. in the III. of the Acts V. 17. extenuates their crucifying the Lord of Life by their Ignorance Which Plea would have been but trifling had not their Ignorance in some measure been excusable but after the Mission of the Holy Spirit to stand out against those manifold Convictions that were then offer'd could be no other than an inexcusable Perverseness and Incredulity Of this we may assign two several Reasons First that although our Lord had in his own Person performed many and those stupendious Miracles yet these affected no other than the Spectators of them For while alive he never blazoned abroad his Miracles nor employed his Disciples in spreading the Report and testifying the Truth of them So that however many particular Persons who were Eye-witnesses of his Miracles could not but be abundantly convinced of his Divinity yet the universal Conviction of the whole Nation of the Jews was to be reserved to the Mission of the Holy Ghost When the Apostles were to be endued with Courage and Power from on high to proclaim his Actions and Doctrines to all Men and if need were to assert the Truth of them by other no less extraordinary Miracles Secondly the chief Note affixed by God whereby to judge of the Truth of any Prophet and particularly of the Messias was the Completion of his Prophesies Thus in Deut. XVIII when Moses assureth the Children of Israel That God should raise them up in the latter days a Prophet like unto himself whom they should be obliged to hear in all things he gives them this Token whereby to judge between the true and any false Messias If the Predictions of him who took upon him the Name and Character of the Messias did really come to pass then they should acknowledge him to be the true Messias The most eminent and almost only Predictions of our Lord which could serve as Signs of this nature to the Jews of that Age were the Mission of the Holy Ghost the Resurrection of himself after three days Imprisonment in the Grave and the Final destruction of Jerusalem before that Generation should pass away The first was happily accomplished upon this day when the Gifts of the Holy Ghost
more having more largely treated of it in my Discourse upon Easter-day which I will not repeat The Nineteenth SERMON Preach'd on June 1st 1690. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Mark XVI 19. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right hand of God WE lately celebrated the Memory of the Ascension of our Lord and the Offices of our Church direct us to employ our thoughts upon it in this intermediate time between that and Whitsunday To do this we are not only induced by that near Relation which it bears to Christ who by it took his last Farewel of his Disciples and entred upon the Possession of his Kingdom but also by those eminent Benefits which the whole Church received from it the Gift of the Holy Ghost the Confirmation of Faith and the increase of Hope In Discoursing of it I will confine my self to these three Considerations I. The necessity and convenience of the Ascension of Christ. II. The Truth of it III. The Advantages and Benefits which we receive by it I. That it was necessary our Lord should leave the Earth and ascend into Heaven himself often declared and in Joh. XVI 7. gives the Primary Reason of it Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is convenient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you The Mission of the Comforter that is the Holy Ghost was absolutely necessary and the necessity of it confessed by the Disciples of Christ yet could not this be effected untill Christ should ascend into Heaven It was convenient for the Apostles that the Comforter should be sent as by whom they received a most invincible Confirmation of their Faith and their Hopes What greater Consolation can be imagined to Disciples afflicted for the Departure of their beloved Lord than to receive such an infallible Assurance of his Being placed in Power and Glory in Heaven as did arise from the eminent Operations of Divine Power brought down by the Holy Ghost at his Intercession What stronger Confirmation of their Faith could they receive than that the Promises of their Master concerning a Comforter were effected which demonstrated the Truth of all he had said the actual Possession of that Glory which was vailed in the Infirmities of his humane Nature while he conversed upon Earth and the Prevalency of his Intercession with God the Father in their behalf What more could be desired to assure them of the continuance of their Masters Love after his Departure or to enable them successfully to discharge that Office of converting an unbelieving World which was imposed on them than that such Gifts should be conferred on them as were never before vouchsafed unto Mankind the knowledge of all Tongues the Faculty of speaking Eloquently and Boldly and the Power of working Miracles All these Reasons made it convenient and desirable to the Apostles that the Comforter should be sent unto them To the whole Church this was much more necessary which without that Mission could never have had Existence being founded and maintained by those Divine Gifts and Influences which were derived from thence Yet neither could the Apostles nor the Church have been Blessed with this so necessary so often Promised and so much to be desired Mission of the Holy Ghost had not our Lord first ascended into Heaven and there by his Power and Intercession have procured it The Comforter as he was to be the Advocate the Deputy to plead the Cause of Christ on Earth could not naturally take place but in his Absence and the very Mission of him as it was an Act of Regal Power could not be administred by Christ until he had taken Possession of his Kingdom which commenced at his Ascension into Heaven Nor is this the only Reason which made it convenient for the Church that our Lord should remove his visible Presence from us but the Possibility at least the increase of Man's Reward did depend upon it The Design of the coming of the Messias so long expected was known and confessed to be to restore the lost Happiness of Mankind to redeem them from their former Misery and to advance them to a State of Glory In prosecution of this Design if we consider either the Wisdom of God or the Nature of Man it could not but be expected that this Happiness should be affixed to certain Rules consequent to certain Conditions to be performed by Man not indifferently bestowed on all nor yet on any without Respect to their peculiar Merits The Application of it was to be directed and determined according to the right use of Reason and Free-will in every Man The whole of this consists in Obedience to the Laws of God and one great Branch of it in assenting to his Authority and believing all his Revelations And as an Assent to all the Revelations of God made at all times was the Duty of Man so more especially an Assent to those last and most considerable Revelations made by his own Son incarnate was required of Man and was farther intended to qualifie him for the Reception of that super-natural Happiness which was by him to be conveyed unto the World Since no greater Evidence of a right use of Reason and Veneration of the Divine Majesty could be offered than to inquire after to Assent to and obey the Revelations communicated by him It would be tedious and unnecessary to repeat those great Commendations of this eminent Act of right Reason call'd Faith and those many Promises of Reward annexed to it which may be found in the Scripture But from the whole it appeareth that this was to be the principal Condition of the Justification and therein of the Happiness of Man That this Act therefore might be the more Illustrious and might be Crowned with a more noble Reward it was convenient that Christ should withdraw his visible Presence from the World and therein give way to the Operation of Faith which is the Evidence of things not seen Had Christ continued for ever upon Earth in that glorious Majesty which was to take place after his Resurrection had he presented to the Senses of every Man sensible Demonstrations of his Divine Power in that Case to have believed on him would have been no more praise worthy no more meritorious than to assent to the ordinary Reports of Sense Who ever pretended to have acquired Merit by believing an Axiom of Mathematical Demonstrations Or who ever thought it an Argument of a true and just â—anagement of the Will and Understanding to believe that one Colour differeth from another or that the Sun doth shine These things strike our Senses and force a Belief whether we will or no in this Case to offend while the Soul enjoys its Reason and the Body the Organs of Sense is not so much as possible To have believed the Divinity of Christ while the Sense of an illustrious
presumptuous Opinion of a peculiar unaccountable Love of God dispensing with the Necessities of these Conditions in any one or indulging to him more than to another Such are the Presumptions indeed and such is the ordinary Success of Favorites on Earth where Favour is often distributed not according to the Merits but the Fancies of Men. But with God it is otherwise the Reasons of whose Favour are certain fixed and universal Equally distributed to all who shall perform the Conditions of it bestowed on none who shall not qualifie himself by performance of these Conditions May we all therefore upon a full Conviction of the impartiality of God in the distribution of his Favours seriously apply our selves to the acquisition of 'em by the ordinary and certain Means Then shall we not doubt to obtain our Desires the assurance of which our Lord giveth to us in this blessed Sacrament that as surely as we here eat his Flesh and drink his Blood so surely will he compleat his Promises to us of Happiness hereafter The Sixth SERMON PART I. Preach'd on the 1st of Sept. 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL 1 Pet. V. 8 9. Your Adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour Whom resist stedfast in the Faith IT is not the least Benefit of the Christian Religion that it makes known to Men the Causes and Occasions of that depravity of Nature and proneness to Sin that aversion to their Duty and readiness of complying with unlawful Suggestions which all discover in themselves All cannot but take notice that it is not without Labour and Difficulty without assiduous Care and Vigilancy that any habits of Piety or Vertue can be formed that it cannot be without strugling against the natural Desires and over-ruling the Propensity of the Soul when negligence alone or letting loose the Reins to the natural Appetite will produce an habit of Vice Whereas if we consider the nature and the end of Man we might rather hope the contrary since the performance of his Duty is no more than the end of his Creation and all things naturally tend to the acquisition of their end And Vice being a deviation from that end doth thereby become unnatural Yet the Experience of that Depravation of the Will of Man which we complain of is so undeniable that it hath put Men in all Ages upon enquiring into the Causes of it Some resolved it into Fate others into the contexture of the Body some into the malign Influences of the heavenly Bodies and not a few into the innate Principles of the Soul But as all these Conceptions were gross in themselves they could give no satisfaction to the Mind of Man and the matter would have still continued to have been Unaccountable without the assistance of Revelation Nor doth all Revelation clear this Doubt In the Jewish Religion little light was added to it it is Christianity alone which fully manifests the Causes and Occasions of this Unhappiness and as the discovery of Diseases facilitates the Cure of them thereby enables us to avoid or at least overcome the Contagion of it The Occasions manifested by Revelation only are two the Corruption of our Nature succeeding the fall of Adam or Original Sin and the temptation of evil Spirits or Devils The knowledge of both is of great concernment to us that so we may be able to apply fit Remedies to them yet the nature of both is little known by the ordinary Sort and frequently mistaken by the more knowing Sort of Christians I intend at this time to discourse of the latter taking occasion from the words of the Apostle who enforceth his Exhortation of Sobriety and Vigilance from the consideration of the constant Danger whereto Christians are exposed by the perpetual Snares and Temptations of the Devil who as their Adversary walketh about seeking their Destruction from the violence of Rage and Force wherewith he assaults the Faithful denoted by comparing him to the most terrible of Wild Beasts when enraged as a roaring Lion and from the miserable Consequence of being seduced by him which is to be devoured by him as utterly deprived of spiritual Life and Happiness as that Man is of natural Life who is devoured by a Wild Beast For Your Adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour Whom resist stedfast in the Faith Which Words will oblige me to treat of I. The manner and method of the Temptations of the Devil II. Our Duty Ability and Means of resisting him First then Altho' the manner whereby the Devil tempteth us be very obscure as are all the Actions of immaterial Beings and altho' it becomes us not to determine rashly what we do not certainly know yet our enquiries herein will be Lawful while guided by Reason and useful because teaching us a Matter which doth so nearly concern us rectifying our Mistakes which may be fatal to us and convincing the opposition of unbelieving Men who mock at this Article of our Belief And here it is not my present purpose to prove the Existence of such evil Spirits For altho ' the common and constant Opinion of Mankind herein produced by their visible Effects doth render it highly probable altho' the nature of Things and the Existence of other immaterial Beings differing only in accidental Qualities prove it to be possible and altho' Divine Revelation added to all these hath put it beyond all Doubt yet it is not my design to improve and urge these Arguments since we enquire not after the Existence of Devils but the Manner of their Operation It will however be necessary to speak somewhat of their Nature and the Motives which induce them to busie themselves in tempting Men. Their Nature is the same with that of the blessed Angels from whom they differ no otherwise than as bad from good Men save that as the Purity of Angels exceedeth that of the best Men So the Wickedness of Devils exceedeth that of the worst Men They were once at their first Creation of the same Order with Angels endued with the same Faculties and enjoyed the same Happiness but when through Pride and Ambition they rebelled against God disobeyed his Commands forsook that Station wherein he had placed them and aimed at higher Dignities they were deprived of their former Happiness and thrown down from Heaven That whereas before they were infinitely happy in reflecting upon the Purity of their own Nature the Favour of God and that perpetual Communication of Light and Joy which the Angels may be supposed to receive from God in extraordinary Emanations they having now debased their Nature by violating the end of their Creation drew upon themselves the displeasure of God and being deprived of the Fruition of any Divine Illuminations were reduced into that State of Darkness which the Scripture describeth The thoughts of this Loss could not but infinitely disquiet them as soon as they perceived the Disappointment of their ambitious Designs and as they
Nature will be so far from helping it that it will infinitely aggravate the sharpness of its Pains For its Immortality will render them eternal and its Understanding will heighten the sense and feeling of them In this Life Sinners often are pleased with their own miserable Condition and Fancy themselves seated in Paradise when environed with Pleasures and glutted with Enjoyments They can stifle the Dictates of their Consciences and securely make use of their imaginary Happiness But in Hell their fire is not quenched and their worm dieth not The Sharpness of their Torments will not suffer them to rest And if those should be extinguished yet will they still be tormented with an inward Fire so much the more violent because then they will be certainly convinced in Judgment that they acted against their own Interests and the plain Rules of Reason in running the Danger of eternal Punishments for the sake of a few gross and trifling Pleasures We may next consider the peculiar influence of that Sin which our Saviour here chiefly intends This is the Sin of Apostacy or denial of the true Religion against which Christ fore-arms his Followers by inculcating this necessary truth of preferring the goods of the Soul to those of the Body For this foul Sin is ever committed for some temporal End being too odious to recommend it self without some outward Advantages Men deny not their God out of a dislike or disbelief of him but to secure to themselves a Fortune in the World prevent some Inconveniencies or gratifie some Lusts. This is a Crime of the same Nature and Contagion with Idolatry under the old Law For to worship a false God is the same thing as to deny the true one and the first cannot be done without the latter How heinous God accounted this appeareth from the whole Tenour of the Mosaick Law which is chiefly directed against this Sin alone All the Writings of the Prophets are employed against it and all the Judgments which God ever inflicted upon his People of Israel are solely owing to this Cause Insomuch as there is no Record left in sacred History of any Pardon ever granted to the Commission of this Sin And indeed a wilful Apostacy from the true Religion dissolves the very Union between God and Man and leaves no place for Pardon Such a Person openly by his Act proclaims to the World that he will have nothing to do with God bids defiance to him and disclaims his Pardon It would prostitute the Divine Mercy and make it cheap and easie to bestow it upon such execrable Villanies which do violence to Heaven and are the very last Efforts of Impiety This cannot but degrade the Soul from its Affinity to God and debar it from all nearer approach to his Presence We cannot hope to have any Interest left in God after a denial of him nor can without Horror entertain any remembrance of him How then shall we make our Souls happy with the continual Meditation of his Perfections or please our selves with the Hopes of the future Fruition of him In that Case it will be our Interest to banish all thoughts of God and remove from our selves as far as possible all Considerations of a future State that so we may not be alarmed with the dread of an angry God and the Terrors of future Torments Thus a denial of God against the Light of our own Consciences doth not only render us unhappy but causeth us to endeavour to become yet more unhappy by a total and wilful stifling of all Thoughts and Meditations of God in which alone true Happiness consists And this is true not only in the Case of notorious Apostacy when any one openly renounceth his Religion and denieth his belief of the true God which Case in these peaceable times of the Church doth not often happen but also in the Commission of every deliberate Sin which in truth is a no less formal Apostacy from God than that before-mentioned where the Sinner puts in the Scale the present Pleasure and Convenience of the Sin with the future Consequence and Divine Prohibition of it and after having weighed each rejects the Command of God of which he is very Conscious and prefers the present Satisfaction of the Sin This is done in every deliberate Sin and this is indeed a no less true Apostacy than an open denial of God For this we may be assured that whosoever upon a deliberate Choice prefers the seeming Pleasures of any sin to the Command of God would never foregoe all the Pleasures of this Life and even Life it self in obedience to the Will of God It remains that I make some Application of what hath been said First then if the Interests of the Soul be much greater than those of the Body and the Happiness of the Soul consists only in the due Contemplation of God and the possession of Piety and Vertue let us endeavour to render our Soul even in this Life as Happy as we possibly can It is not reasonable that all the Cares of our Life should be employed in providing Necessaries or rather Superfluities to the Body or attending to the Pleasures of it That no farther use should be made of the Soul than to serve as a Slave to the Body to heighten its Enjoyments and refine its Pleasures Let us remember that we carry about with us a more noble Being which deserveth our Care in the first place and cannot be neglected without the loss of Happiness May not God justly say to Mankind I have given to you great and Celestial Souls endued with wonderful Perfections and capable of much greater when rightly cultivated your Bodies I formed from the Clay of the Earth but your Souls I sent down from Heaven the one I permit to return to Corruption but the other I have invested with Immortality How justly might I expect that you would have valued these two according to their several worth and Dignity That you should not indeed starve the Body nor Tyrannize over it but however attend chiefly to the Concerns of the Soul that it might not fall short of that Happiness which I intended for it nor be deprived of those spiritual Enjoyments which it is capable of But alas Man is turned back and grown foolish employeth himself with all his Diligence to procure Pleasures for his Body rises early sits up late and eats the bread of carefulness to heap up Riches for the Continuation of these Bodily Enjoyments makes this the only Business of his Life and thinks of nothing else As for his Soul he makes it a Slave to his Body refuseth to receive Directions from it and sometimes forgets that he hath any What shall we answer to these Expostulations of God I fear we cannot plead Innocence Our Actions and the whole Course of our Lives demonstrate the contrary We are continually busie about enlarging our petty Acquisitions in the World we trouble and turmoil our selves about the Conveniencies of the Body but